Iran using network of military agencies to re-arm as Pentagon prepares options for Trump

An Iranian lawmaker has called for Tehran to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and change its nuclear doctrine amid the ongoing war with the U.S. and Israel.

Mahmoud Nabavian, a member of Iran's parliament, said the country has already paid a "heavy" price through war and sanctions.

"Now that we have paid the heavy costs of war and sanctions, it is time for the Iranian nation to withdraw from the NPT treaty and change the nuclear doctrine," Nabavian wrote on X.

Pakistan's military said Friday it is "cautiously optimistic" about efforts to mediate between Iran and the U.S. after its army chief made his second visit to Tehran this month.

Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan's army chief and a key mediator in efforts to de-escalate the Iran war, traveled to Tehran on Monday alongside senior Saudi and Turkish officials, according to Reuters.

"Why would the Field Marshal be going twice if it is not for some positivity? So yes, of course," military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said when asked whether Munir's visits were a positive sign, the outlet reported.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The Israel Defense Forces said Friday that it destroyed two weapons storage facilities used by the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group, as well as at least six of its members. 

The IDF said the facilities were "used by Hamas' military wing in the Al-Bureij area and in the Gaza City area" of the Gaza Strip, and stored dozens of weapons including "RPGs, explosive devices, rockets, Kalashnikov rifles, grenades, magazines and additional combat equipment." 

Two strikes on Wednesday in Khan Younis and Rafah left four Hamas members dead, according to the IDF. 

It also said Friday that it killed "Ihab Jamil Abu Taqiya, a squad commander in Hamas’ military wing who was involved in holding numerous hostages in Hamas captivity at the beginning of the war," and "Ibrahim Gihad Muhammad Abu Oshaiba, a platoon commander in Hamas’ military wing." 

U.S. Central Command leader Adm. Brad Cooper said in a video released Friday that he recently flew over the Strait of Hormuz and observed no presence of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). 

"Earlier this week, I visited some of the more than 50,000 service members supporting operations across the Middle East, including our mission in the Strait of Hormuz," Cooper said. "When I flew over the strait, I saw dozens of commercial vessels transiting, all types — cargo, crude oil, liquid natural gas, or LNG — and I also saw our U.S. assets in the air and on the water, including a squadron of advanced sea drones that were on patrol supporting a defensive layer. 

"Here's what I didn't see. I didn't see the IRGC out there at all," Cooper added. "They patrolled the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters for decades, harassing and threatening and seizing commercial vessels at will. But they were not out there because Iran's navy is all at the bottom of the sea. 

"After we sank Iran's navy earlier this year, we also successfully cleared the strait's internationally recognized primary transit routes of Iranian sea mines," Cooper also said. "And today, U.S. forces remain highly vigilant and present to ensure that all primary transit routes in the Strait of Hormuz remain free and clear." 

Cooper added that this week, "we reached a significant milestone, having now assisted Gulf partners in exporting more than 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil since summer." 

A military court in Lebanon charged 13 people Friday in connection with a seized truck carrying explosives belonging to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist group, a report said. 

The truck was stopped at a checkpoint on the main highway linking Beirut to the eastern Bekaa Valley earlier this month, according to The Associated Press. 

It carried 1,720 pounds of explosives, including 550 pounds of TNT and 550 pounds of C-4 plastic explosives, the AP reported, citing judicial officials. 

Two defendants were arrested when authorities seized the shipment earlier this month and remain in custody. The other 11 remain at large and were charged in absentia. 

Hezbollah has acknowledged owning the explosives, saying they were intended for use against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, according to the AP. It said it had asked Lebanese authorities to return the shipment and release the two detainees.

The Associated Press contributed to this post. 

Yemen Foreign Ministry called on immediate United Nations actions to halt mine laying activity from Houthis in the region in a Friday post on X.

It also called on the UN Development Program to expand mine clearance programs, decontaminate affected areas, and assist victims of Houthi explosives.

"The Ministry strongly condemned, in a memorandum addressed to the UNDP Resident Representative in Yemen, the militia's continued intensive and indiscriminate planting of mines, particularly in villages and populated areas, and held it fully responsible for the humanitarian repercussions arising from these practices," the Friday post read.

Houthi terrorists, the Foreign Ministry charged, have laid camouflaged land mines across Yemen, in mountains, roads, and even in people's homes. It also claimed that women and children were among the near-daily casualites from the bombs.

"The Ministry affirmed that Yemen is among the most mine-contaminated countries in the world due to the militia's ongoing planting of anti-personnel mines, which, along with unexploded ordnance, pose grave dangers to the lives, safety, and livelihoods of the population," the statement added.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Brad Cooper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefed President Donald Trump on an array of military options in Iran during a Thursday meeting, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Top military brass met with Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday as the White House weighs resuming military strikes in Iran following the upcoming midterm elections.

“We may do another little Epic Fury,” Trump told a crowd at a rally last week, referring to the code name for the February joint Israeli-U.S. bombing on Iran that kicked off the now-months long war in February.

Trump officials have also briefed Arab allies to be prepared for a short but intense campaign following elections, the Journal reported.

Oil prices rose Friday, setting up what will likely be the fourth straight month of price increases as the market reacts to further instability in the transport routes in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude futures rose to $117.62 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures climbed to $113.58. The figures mark nearly a 14% monthly rise for Brent and a 15% increase for WTI.

"The oil market is getting increasingly spooked as we approach the midterms," Ole Hansen, the head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, told Reuters.

The U.S. military is presenting President Donald Trump with strike options in Iran for after the U.S, midterm elections on Nov. 3, a date which Trump has hinted he may resume bombing campaigns in Iran after.

Meanwhile in the Strait of Hormuz, commercial tankers continue to be targeted and struck with drones and other explosives as Iran attempts to wrestle control of the key waterway from the U.S. amidst an American naval blockade.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The Panama-flagged oil tanker Louise 1 caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday after a small boat attached two limpet mines to its hull, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization (UKMTO) reported.

While there were no injuries or environmental damage reported, the tanker's engine room did catch fire, temporarily disabling the craft, according to UKMTO.

The incident occurred on 25 nautical miles northeast of the city of Khasab in Oman.

Though nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosion, it fits a pattern of a recent string of attacks on commercial vessels by Iranian actors in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran claims it is hitting crafts that violate its restrictions on movement in the Strait.

It is, however, the first successful deployment of limpet mines in the Strait since the start of the war in February.

"The apparent ability of a small craft to approach a transiting tanker, deploy explosive devices and withdraw presents a significant security concern, particularly in the Strait's congested shipping lanes," Greece-based maritime risk management group Marisks said in a note on Friday.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, a former senior Pentagon strategist, admitted to leaking classified information about U.S. policies toward Iran and Ukraine to two reporters, Axios reported Thursday.

An internal Pentagon investigation is said to have found that Sylvia admitted to the leaks on video after failing four polygraph tests. War Secretary Pete Hegseth later fired the three-star general.

Sylvia, who served in the Joint Chiefs of Staff's Directorate for Strategy, Plans and Policy, made “unauthorized disclosures to the media,” investigators concluded.

The leaks began as early as June 2025 and involved encrypted Signal messages and a meeting with a reporter at an Arlington, Virginia, diner, according to Axios.

Investigators said Sylvia also used handwritten notes from a classified document to disclose details of U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Thursday the case had been referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

“Classified information is not personal property,” Parnell wrote on X.

“Leaking it for personal, political or professional gain is a betrayal of the trust placed in those responsible for keeping it.”

“Our commitment was not an empty promise,” he added. “We vowed to find you, and we meant it.”