Tehran has struck a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz as countries try to reopen the oil route.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards attacked a Singapore-flagged commercial vessel with a drone on Thursday, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News. According to an advisory from the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre, the ship’s bridge was damaged after it was struck on its starboard side off the coast of Dahit, Oman, though no casualties or environmental impacts were reported.
The attack poses an immediate challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to reopen the critical shipping corridor, which normally carries one-fifth of the world's oil.
Meanwhile, U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio has dismissed concerns raised by the UAE over an Iranian toll on the Strait of Hormuz as “semantics.”
“You can call it a toll, you can call it a fee, at the end of the day it’s all semantics,” Rubio said during a visit to Bahrain, where he is meeting the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
Washington has sought to reassure the region that no country, including Iran, will be allowed to charge tolls for shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Key Points
- Drone strike hits commercial vessel in Strait of Hormuz
- UN halts escort of ships through Hormuz after vessel comes under attack
- Two killed in Israeli strike on car in southern Lebanon
- Oil price fluctuations since US-Israeli war on Iran began
Saudi Aramco resumes oil loading today at Ras Tanura after 4-month halt
08:11 , Arpan Rai
Saudi Aramco has resumed oil loading today at its Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf after a near four-month halt, shipping data from LSEG showed, in a sign that Middle Eastern producers are pushing forward with plans to boost exports despite a ship attack in the Strait of Hormuz.
Ras Tanura sits on Saudi Arabia's eastern coast on the Gulf and is west of the Strait of Hormuz. It used to export more than 5 million bpd of crude before the conflict.
The country's largest domestic 550,000 bpd refinery is also located at Ras Tanura, which was shut during the war as a precautionary measure.
Aramco last loaded a cargo from the Ras Tanura port for China on 8 March, LSEG data showed, and had to divert its exports to the Red Sea port of Yanbu after the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz during its war with the US and Israel prevented ships from entering the Gulf.
The war has caused Saudi crude exports to slump to about 4 million bpd in the past three months, the data showed, from more than 7 million bpd in February.
Two Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) controlled by Saudi's shipping arm Bahri were seen loading crude at Ras Tanura, the world's biggest oil port, while another waited nearby, the data showed. Each VLCC is capable of loading 2 million barrels of oil.
South Korea president says three more ships to leave Strait of Hormuz over the weekend
07:58 , Arpan Rai
South Korean president Lee Jae Myung said on X on Friday that three additional vessels are set to depart the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend.
He added that this will leave five South Korean cargo ships trapped in the key waterway since the beginning of the US-Israel war with Iran.
Iranian wanted by US for hacking arrested by FBI and Montenegrin police
07:29 , Arpan Rai
Montenegrin police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested an Iranian national suspected of hacking attacks that damaged US infrastructure to the tune of $3.4bn, Montenegrin police said.
The 39-year-old man, with dual Iranian and Turkish citizenship, is sought by the Southern District Court in New York on charges including conspiracy to commit computer fraud, hacking, and identity theft.
He was arrested in the Adriatic coastal resort of Kotor, Montenegro’s police directorate said on Thursday.
“From 2013 onward,... he carried out massive hacking attacks ... targeting more than 150 universities in the United States, causing damage estimated at over $3.4 billion," it added in a statement.
The case will now go to a High Court judge in Montenegro’s capital of Podgorica for extradition proceedings, the police added.
The acquired data, as well as access to compromised university accounts, were used for the benefit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian entities, including universities, it said.
Soldiers wounded during the Iran war accuse Pentagon of downplaying their injuries
07:09 , Arpan Rai
Two U.S. soldiers wounded in the war with Iran have accused the Pentagon of downplaying the extent of their injuries, according to a report.
CBS News has conducted interviews with Chief Warrant Officer Rodney Bearman and Sergeant First Class Cory Hicks, both of whom were injured when an Iranian drone hit their base at Port of Shuaiba in Kuwait on March 1.
The attack, which saw six soldiers killed, was part of the retaliatory strikes against U.S. and Israeli allies in the Gulf launched by Tehran in response to the launch of Operation Epic Fury a day earlier.
Bearman, 57, was left with shrapnel wounds and also suffered concussion, hearing and vision loss and damage to his lungs, according to medical records reviewed by the network, but the U.S. Army classified his condition only as “not seriously injured.”
Soldiers wounded during the Iran war accuse Pentagon of downplaying their injuries
US-Iran agreement grants access to Tehran's nuclear sites, IAEA chief says
06:41 , Arpan Rai
The interim US-Iran peace accord gives inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog access to Iran, the agency's chief said this morning, after Tehran indicated that key sites would remain off-limits until a final deal with Washington is reached and sanctions are lifted.
“There is an agreement and to comply with that agreement, the IAEA will have to have access and inspect," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said at a news conference in Japan.
"We hope to be there soon."
Trump revisits Iran school strike months after attack, says ‘I don’t think it was us’
06:03 , Arpan Rai
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that it may never be determined who was responsible for a deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran that killed scores of children on the first day of the Iran war, as questions continue over whether US forces were involved.
The 28 February strike in Minab, southern Iran, killed more than 175 children and teachers, according to Iranian officials, triggering international outrage and renewed scrutiny of the US military operation.
Trump, speaking to reporters, said the circumstances surrounding the attack may never be fully resolved.
“I don’t know that they are ever going to solve that problem,” Trump said, referring to questions over responsibility.
“I don’t know that they are ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it because there were missiles flying all over the place, and it’s horrible what happened but there were missiles flying all over the place,” he added.
Trump said he had not seen evidence proving the strike was carried out by US forces.
Trump shrugs off deadly Iran school strike as questions over U.S. role remain
Watch: Rubio dismisses UAE fears over Strait of Hormuz toll as ‘semantics’ despite threat to peace talks
05:38 , Arpan Rai
Israeli troops fatally shoot a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank
05:10 , Arpan Rai
Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man inside his home in the occupied West Bank, a relative said on Thursday.
The Israeli military confirmed the shooting and said the man had thrown objects at the soldiers.
Mustafa Al-Khatib, 32, was found dead in his bedroom in the West Bank village of Sarta, about 32 kilometres (20 miles) north of Jerusalem.
Soldiers had broken through the front door, according to Al-Khatib's cousin, Amin Al-Khatib.
“I entered the house. They had broken the door,” Amin said. “He was lying in his bedroom. ... We found him on the ground.”
The Israeli military said it was operating in the area when a man started to throw objects at the soldiers. It said troops fired warning shots before aiming at the man.
Video footage from inside the house showed ransacked cupboards and bloodstains on the floor.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah said in a statement that Al-Khatib's death brought the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank to 72 since the beginning of the year.
Rubio tells Gulf allies Iran deal will ensure their security and promises access to Hormuz
04:59 , Arpan Rai
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Gulf allies on Thursday that any deal with Iran would take their interests into account, as he wrapped up a Middle East trip aimed at winning over regional partners with deep reservations about the preliminary accord.
Speaking at a meeting of Gulf Arab foreign ministers in Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, Rubio said Washington was seeking an enduring peace with long-time foe Iran that would not come at the expense of the security of allies in the oil-rich region, many of whom see the deal as too soft after coming under Iranian attack during the conflict.
Iran fought two of the world's most powerful armies, the US and Israel, during the conflict and took effective control of the vital Strait of Hormuz, heavily disrupting oil flows and rattling global energy markets and the wider economy.
He told reporters that Gulf allies shared some very serious concerns and that they wanted to be informed of every step of the peace accord, which includes provisions on Hormuz.
In a joint statement later on Thursday, the US and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said a lasting peace would mean addressing Iran's ballistic missiles, drones and support for proxy groups.
They also backed "free, unconditional, and unrestricted navigation" in the Strait of Hormuz without "any tolls, fees, or attempts to assert control."
If Iran threatens or blocks ships in the strait, "then we're going to have a problem," Rubio said, having earlier told ministers that "no country on Earth has the right to charge for the use of international waterways" and that fees for shipping would never be part of any deal.
Trump says US to buy farm goods with unfrozen Iranian assets
04:30 , Arpan Rai
Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States would soon buy wheat, soybeans and corn from American farmers using Iranian assets that have been frozen under US sanctions.
“We have a new market coming up, and that's called The Lovely Country of Iran. It's a beautiful place. Would anybody like to go there? They're having a hard time with food and we're going to be taking some of their money and we'll spend it and we're going to be buying wheat, soybeans, and corn, a lot of it, and that process is going to be starting soon. It’s going to be big,” he said.
Eight more South Korean vessels exit Strait of Hormuz, ministry says
04:28 , Arpan Rai
Eight more South Korean vessels have exited the Strait of Hormuz, South Korea's Oceans Ministry said today.
A total of five South Korean-operated ships remained in the area, with 47 crew members on board as of 9am Seoul time on Friday, the ministry said.
The ministry declined to disclose details on the vessels, citing requests from shippers and crew members.
UN halts escort of ships through Hormuz after vessel comes under attack
03:57 , Arpan Rai
The UN International Maritime Organization paused its operation to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday after a vessel reported an attack, reigniting concerns about whether a preliminary deal to end the Iran war would hold.
The IMO decided "to temporarily pause its implementation in order to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for the ships on our evacuation list and all those in the region", secretary general Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement.
It said the ship involved in the suspected attack was not part of its evacuation programme.
The cargo ship said it was hit close to Oman by a projectile, according to British naval agency UKMTO, hours after Tehran warned vessels against taking routes that it had not approved.
Two US officials told Reuters Iran had fired on the ship, while Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which Tehran established to manage requests for ships to travel through the strait, said vessels outside routes it had set would not be guaranteed safe passage.
“Consequences arising from passage through unauthorized routes shall be the responsibility of the owner, operator, and vessel commander," the Iranian authority said.
Drone strike hits commercial vessel in Strait of Hormuz
03:48 , Jasmine Fernández
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards attacked a Singapore-flagged commercial vessel with a drone on Thursday, damaging the ship's bridge off the coast of Oman, CBS News reported. Though no casualties were reported, the strike directly challenges ongoing international efforts to reopen the critical shipping corridor.
In response, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization has temporarily paused its evacuation plan for stranded ships to reconfirm safety guarantees. The attack creates a sudden setback just a week after a U.S.-Iran agreement briefly boosted maritime traffic back toward normal levels.
Trump was boasting of his ability to buy ‘good maple trees’ in early days of Iran war, book claims
03:00 , Alex Croft
President Donald Trump was more enthusiastic about buying “good maple trees” for the White House than discussing his recently-launched war with Iran when visited by two reporters in March, a new book claims.
In the latest advanced extract from Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, the authors recount an hour-long Oval Office meeting with the president in the early weeks of the conflict, a moment in which the Strait of Hormuz was newly-shutttered, driving up global oil prices.
Trump had attacked Haberman on Truth Social three days before the sitdown as a”SLEAZEBAG writer” but the pair found him in a buoyant mood.
Joe Sommerlad writes:
Trump boasted he was ‘good at buying maple trees’ in early days of Iran war: report
Iran and India discuss expanding energy ties
01:29 , Alex Croft
Iran and India discussed strengthening energy cooperation and trade during a meeting between their oil ministers on the sidelines of a BRICS energy ministers’ gathering in India, the Iranian oil ministry's news outlet Shana reported on Thursday.
Last week, Iran and the US signed an interim deal, after which Washington issued a temporary license for the export of Iranian energy products.
India has historically been an important buyer of Iranian crude, but suspended imports in 2019 following the re-imposition of US sanctions on the export of Iranian oil.
Watch: Tucker Carlson says Iran war is the end of Trump and MAGA has 'no future'
Friday 26 June 2026 00:00 , Alex Croft
Two killed in Israeli strike on car in southern Lebanon
Thursday 25 June 2026 23:00 , Alex Croft
An Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed two people on Thursday, medical and security sources said.
It is the second consecutive day such an event occurred.
In a similar strike on Wednesday killed at least two people despite a ceasefire, Lebanese security and medical sources told the Reuters news agency.
Soldiers wounded during the Iran war accuse Pentagon of downplaying their injuries
Thursday 25 June 2026 22:00 , Alex Croft
Two U.S. soldiers wounded in the war with Iran have accused the Pentagon of downplaying the extent of their injuries, according to a report.
CBS News has conducted interviews with Chief Warrant Officer Rodney Bearman and Sergeant First Class Cory Hicks, both of whom were injured when an Iranian drone hit their base at Port of Shuaiba in Kuwait on March 1.
The attack, which saw six soldiers killed, was part of the retaliatory strikes against U.S. and Israeli allies in the Gulf launched by Tehran in response to the launch of Operation Epic Fury a day earlier.
Bearman, 57, was left with shrapnel wounds and also suffered concussion, hearing and vision loss and damage to his lungs, according to medical records reviewed by the network, but the U.S. Army classified his condition only as “not seriously injured.”
Joe Sommerlad reports:
Soldiers wounded during the Iran war accuse Pentagon of downplaying their injuries
Israeli and Lebanese officials deny Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon
Thursday 25 June 2026 21:01 , Alex Croft
Senior Israeli and Lebanese officials denied that there had been any Israeli withdrawal from occupied southern Lebanon on Thursday, after a US official said it had done so in a good faith gesture toward Lebanon's government.
Israel and Lebanon have been discussing a US-backed proposal for Israeli forces to hand some of the territory they occupied in their war with Hezbollah to Lebanon's military, in a possible step toward restoring Lebanese control in the south.
The "pilot zone" proposal has been part of the latest round of Israeli-Lebanese talks in Washington mediated by the US, which resumed even as they appeared to be eclipsed by Iran's move to make Lebanon central to its own talks with Washington.
A US State Department official said that "Israel has already taken a concrete step by pulling back from a part of its buffer zone". The so-called buffer zone is a vast area of southern Lebanon that Israeli forces are occupying north of the Israeli border.
The official described the move as "a significant demonstration of good faith toward Lebanon's legitimate government."
Iran-US war in numbers: Five charts that lay bare the impact of Trump’s conflict
Thursday 25 June 2026 20:02 , Alex Croft
It is nearly four months since the US and Israel launched war on Iran - a decision which had a dramatic and devastating impact stretching almost every corner of the world.
From skyrocketing oil prices, rising costs of global commodities, and deepening levels of food insecurity and poverty, normal people have been paying the price for a war involving the world’s most advanced military and the two most powerful forces in the Middle East.
But a war that many believed would be short-lived - with Donald Trump repeatedly vowing it would end “soon” with a total victory - dragged on for days, weeks, and then months, inflicting spectacular damage not only on global finances, but on the US military’s reputation as an unassailable force.
The global impact of the Iran war ranges from jet fuel prices, to the price of food, to increases in household bills.
At the centre of the global impact was Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital chokepoint through which one fifth of the world’s oil supply flowed during peacetime.
Read our ‘in numbers’ piece on Iran.
Recap: Trump engages in shouting match with fellow Republicans over Iran war
Thursday 25 June 2026 19:01 , Alex Croft
Donald Trump engaged in a shouting match with Republican senator Bill Cassidy during a behind-closed-doors meeting with several of the GOPs senior memners.
This is according to other Republicans in the room, who said Cassidy demanded the administration explain the framework deal Trump signed last week, that gives Iran financial incentives but falls short of the goals he laid out at the war's beginning.
"The American people need to know more than we are being told," Cassidy afterwards told reporters. "It does not appear, although I don't know for sure, that the course of this is going the way that we were told."
Later, in what appeared to be an effort to please the president, the Senate's Republican leaders scheduled a late-night vote to block a resolution calling for an end to hostilities with Iran.
The Senate voted by 50 to 47, largely along party lines, to block a war powers resolution that had advanced on a procedural vote in May.
"This vote puts Iran on notice," Trump said on social media after Wednesday's late-night vote, although it does not affect the earlier vote.
Thursday 25 June 2026 18:00 , Alex Croft
India explores deeper energy cooperation with Iran
Thursday 25 June 2026 17:01 , Alex Croft
India's oil minister Hardeep Puri has said that he explored opportunities for New Delhi and Tehran to cooperate in the energy sector during his meeting with Iran's Petroleum Minister Mohsen Paknejad in New Delhi.
India remains committed to enhancing energy security via dialogue, partnership, and a mutually beneficial engagement, Puri said in a post on X.
Trump shrugs off deadly Iran school strike as questions over U.S. role remain
Thursday 25 June 2026 16:02 , Alex Croft
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that it may never be determined who was responsible for a deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran that killed scores of children on the first day of the Iran war, as questions continue over whether U.S. forces were involved.
The February 28 strike in Minab, southern Iran, killed more than 175 children and teachers, according to Iranian officials, triggering international outrage and renewed scrutiny of the U.S. military operation.
Trump, speaking to reporters, said the circumstances surrounding the attack may never be fully resolved.
“I don’t know that they are ever going to solve that problem,” Trump said, referring to questions over responsibility.
“I don’t know that they are ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it because there were missiles flying all over the place, and it’s horrible what happened but there were missiles flying all over the place,” he added.
Trump shrugs off deadly Iran school strike as questions over U.S. role remain
Iran and Oman foreign ministers stress need for cooperation over Strait of Hormuz
Thursday 25 June 2026 15:00 , Alex Croft
Iranian state media is reporting on a phone call between the foreign ministers of Iran and Oman, in which they stressed the need for continued bilateral coordination on maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Omani counterpart Badr al-Busaidi discussed recent regional developments, including maritime arrangements in the strait and temporary measures set for a 60-day period, a statement on Araghchi's Telegram account said.
The two sides also welcomed recent talks held in Muscat and agreed to continue diplomatic consultations and technical coordination on issues of mutual interest.
Iran rejects US claims that Iran will spend unfrozen assets on US agricultural products
Thursday 25 June 2026 14:35 , Alex Croft
Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Thursday that the US claims that Iran will spend its unfrozen assets to buy US agricultural products were false.
"The US only exports GMO soybeans, broken promises and trash talks," Qalibaf said in a post on X.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent echoed president Donald Trump on Wednesday and insisted that a large percentage of Iran's unfrozen assets would be used to buy US foods and medicine even as Iran says it would determine its spending.
Watch: US Senate votes to halt Iran war
Thursday 25 June 2026 14:10 , Alex Croft
Two killed in Israeli strike on car in southern Lebanon
Thursday 25 June 2026 13:44 , Alex Croft
An Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed two people on Thursday, medical and security sources said.
It is the second consecutive day such an event occurred.
In a similar strike on Wednesday killed at least two people despite a ceasefire, Lebanese security and medical sources told the Reuters news agency.
