Iran's foreign minister warned Wednesday that Tehran would respond forcefully to any threat against regime leadership after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was "marked for death."
"The terms of the Islamabad MoU are crystal clear and public for all to see," Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X.
"POTUS has committed the U.S. to muzzling its pets in Tel Aviv. If they ignore their master, Iran will school them," he added before warning that any "threat against our People and Leadership will receive Immediate Powerful Response."
Iran's U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, also sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres objecting to the remarks.
According to Ynet, Katz had also said that Khamenei was “a dead man.”
The cargo vessel that ran aground in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday is part of Iran's Shamkhani network and has been under U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions since last summer, TankerTrackers confirmed.
“Ahh, so it's THIS vessel. This is ARISTA (9348493),” the maritime intelligence firm said in a post on X.
“She is Comoros-flagged (as far as being ‘foreign’ goes) but is part of Iran's Shamkhani network.
“ARISTA has been under U.S. OFAC sanctions since last summer. She's actually been stuck in this same spot since mid-March 2026, at 27.12845, 56.46221, north of Hormuz Island, Iran,” TankerTrackers said.
Press TV, an Iranian state-linked media outlet had said the vessel ran aground after straying from a route designated by Iran and failing to obtain approval for its route from Iranian authorities.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has repeatedly warned that all commercial vessels transiting the strait must comply with its instructions, in coordination with Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO/PGSA).
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States is achieving the same level of success in its dealings with Iran as it has in regaining influence over the Panama Canal and in its approach to Venezuela.
“It opened,” Trump said of the Panama Canal before adding that, from “day one, it was very successful. And we gave it away.”
“It was the most expensive thing we ever built. And it was also the most profitable thing we ever built. That's a nice combination, a little bit like Venezuela,” he said at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Opening Ceremony.
“But now we're actually doing equally as well with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump added.
{{#rendered}}U.S. and Iranian negotiators used the second day of talks in Doha on Wednesday to discuss Iran's proposal to charge transit fees on ships using the Strait of Hormuz, according to reports.
Citing a U.S. official, Axios reported that Washington urged Tehran to abandon the idea.
The U.S. message to Iran was: "Think bigger," arguing that lifting sanctions under a broader deal would be "100 times more valuable" than "using a gangster tactic to try and charge a toll."
The toll issue has emerged as a sticking point in the negotiations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Iran would not be permitted to impose tolls on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz under any final agreement with Washington.
Iran has said it will waive transit fees through the strait for 60 days while nuclear talks with the United States continue, signaling the charges could take effect if negotiations fail.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Wednesday that talks between the Iranian delegation and Qatari officials in Doha had concluded, according to Reuters, citing Iran’s state news agency, IRNA.
Gharibabadi also said the two sides had agreed to establish a communication channel to report and discuss any breaches of the Iran-U.S. memorandum of understanding (MOU).
According to Iran International, Gharibabadi added that Iran and Qatar had also agreed that part of the $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds would be used to purchase goods based on Iran’s needs.
His remarks came after he met with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha to discuss the implementation of the MOU.
At the same time, indirect technical talks between the United States and Iran also began in Doha on Wednesday, with Qatar and Pakistan mediating the discussions, Reuters reported.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters Wednesday that a resumption of U.S. strikes on Iran is "up to the Iranians."
When asked by a reporter if the U.S. could commit to not returning to large-scale combat operations in Iran before the 60 day memorandum of Understanding (MOU) expires, Vance denied providing a hard commitment.
"I can't commit to anything because obviously it depends on what the Iranians are ultimately going to do," Vance said.
Referring comments he made during a speech to military personnel at Naval Air Station Oceana moments before, he said "what I can commit to is the president's not going to send our military back in unless he has to, unless there's a clearly defined purpose for it. I think that was really the contrast I was trying to draw between open ended military commitments with no clear objective, and what the president of the United States has done, which is define an objective, go and accomplish that objective."
"If we've got to do more, of course, that's kind of up to the Iranians. If they try to rebuild their nuclear program, if they try to start shooting at commercial vessels again, that's going to change our calculus. But right now, what the president has said is go and make a deal, go and negotiate in good faith. And that's what he's empowered us to do."
A Tuesday report from The Wall Street Journal revealed that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine were having conversations with President Donald Trump about resuming full-scale strikes on Iran.
Trump, however, downplayed that possibility earlier Wednesday, saying he thinks Iran has "come a long way."
{{#rendered}}Vice President JD Vance said Iran is "further away from developing a nuclear bomb than they have ever been" during a speech to military personnel at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia on Wednesday.
"As we sit here today, their navy is at the bottom of the ocean, and they have no ability to project power like they did even twelve months ago," Vance said.
Vance then detailed the mission President Donald Trump gave to U.S. soldiers in Iran.
"What else did he ask you to do? He asked you to destroy their nuclear program. And now, trust me, I know because I look at the intelligence estimates, if you look at what our own intelligence says about their nuclear program, they are further away from developing a nuclear bomb than they have ever been... since basically the last twenty or thirty years. And that is because of you and because of your hard work," he told the sailors.
"And finally," Vance continued, "what the president asks you to accomplish is to destroy the defense industrial base of that country so that if they ever decided to rebuild their military, or if they ever decided to rebuild that nuclear program, they would be hard pressed to do it. And you did that exactly as well."
Vance also warned that Iran would face consequences if its leaders chose to attack commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz again or if they attempted to resume Iran's nuclear program.
"We dropped some bombs a couple of days ago. You know why? Because the Iranians were shooting at commercial ships. So we dropped some bombs, we applied some leverage, and we've had free commercial transit for the last three days. If the Iranians try to rebuild the nuclear program, the president's got options again, because of you. If the Iranians try to threaten their neighbors or fund terrorism, we've got options again because of you. But what we must never do is drop bombs just for the sake of dropping bombs. And that is what the president will never ask you to do," Vance said.
German air carrier Lufthansa and Italian airline ITA Airways resumed flight operations to and from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday after a four-month hiatus from the Israeli airport during the Iran war.
Lufthansa-operated Austrian Airlines resumed Tel Aviv travel on June 2 but the Lufthansa airline itself did not resume flights until Wednesday.
Lufthansa and ITA announced plans to resume flights in May, following the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) decision to ease airspace safety warnings in the region.
ITA Airways Flight AZ806 landed in Tel Aviv from Rome at 1:30 p.m. local time Wednesday while Lufthansa Flight LH686 landed roughly an hour later, according to tracking data from flightradar24. Both landings were the airlines' first at Ben Gurion Airport since February.
Major U.S. carriers such as Delta and United plan to resume Tel Aviv landings in September while American Airlines is currently eyeing a January return to Ben Gurion.
The United Arab Emirates' (UAE) oil exports hit a record high in June, the month after the country left the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Reuters reported Wednesday.
The UAE averaged 3.7 million barrels of oil exported per day, surpassing the previous OPEC quota of 3.5 million barrels a day. The OPEC limit was reportedly a key reason for the UAE's departure.
In addition to its OPEC unshackling, the UAE is also benefitting from a strategy to avoid Iranian surveillance in the Strait of Hormuz. UAE tankers are reportedly transiting the straight with their transponders turned off, Reuters also reported.
{{#rendered}}Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touted striking an "historic breakthrough" between Israel and Lebanon while speaking at the State Memorial Ceremony for the Fallen of the Second Lebanon War at Mount Herzl on Wednesday.
"A few days ago, we achieved a historic breakthrough. We signed a memorandum of understanding that separates the Lebanese front from the Iranian front. The agreement recognizes Israel’s right to maintain the buffer zone in Lebanon until the threat from Hezbollah has been removed. The scale of the military and diplomatic blow this represents for Hezbollah and Iran cannot be overstated," Netanyahu said.
"Iran wanted to force us to withdraw from southern Lebanon . That will not happen. I am not saying there will not be further campaigns, challenges, and obstacles ahead. But thanks to the chain of heroism, from the First Lebanon War to the Second Lebanon War and now this third campaign, thanks to our strength, which is reshaping the Middle East, the door has opened to a different reality in relations between Israel and Lebanon," he continued.
"We have taken an important step toward ending the conflict, and we will do everything possible to eventually achieve a peace agreement between the two countries," Netanyahu said.
Israel and Lebanon signed on to a historic U.S.-brokered Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on June 26, outlining a plan to disarm the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah and restore Lebanese state sovereignty while establishing a phased withdrawal of the Israeli army from southern Lebanon.
President Donald Trump responded Wednesday to reports he was considering resuming all-out war with Iran.
Before the president boarded the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Trump was asked about him reportedly meeting with War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine about potentially returning to an all-out war with Iran.
"Does this mean you've been unhappy with Iran's adherence to the MOU?" a reporter asked.
"Well, I think they've come a long way. We hit them very hard last week. I think they're fine," Trump said. "It's the denuclearization of Iran. It's very simple. And Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon otherwise."
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Trump was meeting with Hegseth and Caine to consider all options in Iran, including returning to full-scale attacks in a move described as "finishing the job."
Trump's remarks Wednesday comes amid Iranian leadership's refusal to engage U.S. negotiators directly during denuclearization talks in Doha, Qatar.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are in Doha for the second day of denuclearization talks, though the U.S. delegation is only communicating with Iran through Qatari mediators.
President Donald Trump said that denuclearization talks with Iran are going well while speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday morning.
"The denuclearization of Iran is moving along well. They've had very good meetings and we'll see. We hit them very hard for three nights, as you know, but we're getting along very well. So I call it the denuclearization. And, it's all taking place. It's all going well," Trump said.
The president also added that the markets and oil prices are reacting positively to the diplomatic progress.
"The stock market is setting records virtually every day. The oil price is way down. We're down at 68. I see it hit 68 today. That's lower than when I started the... I guess you could call it an attack on Iran so that they never have a nuclear weapon. So the oil price is now lower, the retail prices, the gasoline is coming down rapidly," Trump said.
Crude oil futures prices fell below $69 per barrel on Wednesday, marking oil's lowest point since the Iran war began in February
{{#rendered}}A foreign cargo ship ran aground in the Strait of Hormuz after failing to approve its route with Iran, Iranian state media reported Wednesday.
"Foreign vessel runs aground in Hormuz Strait after straying from route designed by Iran," Press TV, an Iranian state-linked media outlet, wrote in an early Wednesday morning X post.
State broadcasters did not specify what country the ship was flagged from, but the ship "ran aground with its cargo because of shallow waters along the route it had chosen and was unable to continue sailing," state broadcasters reported, according to the Associated Press.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran's paramilitary force specializing in asymmetric warfare, has repeatedly stressed that all ships hoping to transit through the Strait of Hormuz must follow IRGC directions.
The Associated Press contributed to this post.
President Donald Trump has recently considered a return to all-out war with Iran, according to reports.
Citing U.S. officials, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Trump held "multiple conversations" in recent days with War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine about conducting more strikes.
The outlet said the president decided to stick with diplomatic talks — for now.
The meetings are said to have focused on whether Washington should abandon negotiations and resume full-scale attacks on Iran, which would mean "finishing the job."
Trump said another round of military action could derail diplomacy and reduce the chances of dismantling Iran's nuclear program, which is the president's overarching aim.
Live Coverage begins here