Washington has criticized settler attacks despite the US president’s endorsement of the Israeli PM and reported tensions between the two leaders
Washington has urged Israel to “crack down” on extremist settler violence following a brutal attack on an American journalist in the occupied West Bank, even as President Donald Trump has given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his “Complete and Total Endorsement” ahead of Israel’s October 27 elections.
The conflicting messages come amid reported tensions between Trump and Netanyahu over Israeli military operations in Lebanon, Gaza, and Iran. Nevertheless, the US president praised Netanyahu as a “Great Warrior Prime Minister” in a Truth Social post on Sunday, prompting the Israeli leader to thank him for his “tremendous support and the joint work.”
A day earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attack on American photojournalist Heidi Levine when questioned by reporters in Maryland.
“We’re very disturbed by those images and what we’re seeing. We’ve asked the Israelis, and continue to ask them, to crack down on that stuff,” he said.
Trump does not want to see “a crisis going on in the West Bank,” Rubio added. “The whole thing was just disturbing, not a good look.”
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also condemned the assault.
“Attacking a female photographer is despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards. Dishonorable act of senseless violence,” he wrote on X, calling for an investigation, arrests, and prosecution of the perpetrators.
Levine was attacked near the West Bank village of Abu Falah on Friday while covering the local Palestinian olive harvest, which has faced recurring settler violence. According to the Washington Post, Israeli settlers knocked down the veteran photographer, who was wearing a protective vest marked ‘PRESS’, stole her equipment, and repeatedly kicked her, breaking four vertebrae and a rib. Israeli soldiers were reportedly present but did not intervene.
On Saturday, masked Israeli settlers also attacked a convoy carrying European diplomats near Taybeh, a predominantly Christian Palestinian village in the West Bank.
The incidents came amid a surge in settler violence. UN officials said Friday that attacks had reached their highest level since 2006, with more than 1,600 incidents recorded between January and August.
Israel has also expanded settlement construction, approving nearly 11,000 new housing units in the West Bank this year, according to Israeli watchdog Peace Now.
The expansion has been championed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and backed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, both key members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition.
Clashes erupted in several major cities as unrest spread beyond France over the weekend
Tens of thousands took to the streets of European cities over the weekend to protest rising living costs, housing shortages and government policies, with demonstrations escalating into violent clashes, looting and arson in several countries. The unrest left smashed storefronts, damaged public buildings and burned-out vehicles in its wake.
France, where the protests first erupted, saw the most extensive destruction, while clashes also broke out in Belgium and Italy as a separate wave of anti-government demonstrations continued in Albania. In Portugal, tens of thousands also demonstrated, although no comparable scale of violence or damage was reported.
Footage from across Europe showed smashed shop windows, looted stores, burning vehicles and fires near public buildings.
In Limoges, France, flames engulfed the historic town hall, while masked demonstrators in Milan hurled stones at riot police near the Gothic cathedral and set fire to street barricades. In Brussels, protesters overturned a car, while in Tirana, demonstrators threw rocks and petrol bombs at police near the Education Ministry. Riot police in several cities used tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds.
The massive rallies reflect a range of national grievances rather than a coordinated movement. In France, demonstrations took place in Marseille, Strasbourg, Nantes, Lyon and other cities.
🇧🇪 Protests have spread from France to Belgium, with masked protesters, smashed bus stops, fires, water cannons and clashes with riot police.
More than 100 people have reportedly been arrested over property damage and arson.
Initially sparked by poor school conditions and teacher shortages, the protests have broadened to include anger over living costs, inequality, public services and proposed spending cuts. Authorities put Saturday’s nationwide turnout at 550,000, while organizers estimated 800,000.
In Belgium, student groups opposed to rising education costs and reforms they say could limit access to higher education. In Italy, marches against living costs and wars began peacefully before groups broke away and clashed with police in Milan and Bologna.
In Portugal, protesters rallied over low wages, rising rents and a shortage of affordable housing. Thousands marched in Lisbon, pitching tents in Rossio square to highlight the crisis.
Incredible scenes out of France where a fire tornado forms right in the middle of the protests.
In Albania, student-led protests entered a fifth consecutive day, with demonstrators demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation over corruption allegations, a lack of jobs and poor prospects for young people.
Opposition has also focused on a luxury tourism project on the southern coast linked to an investment firm founded by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
🔴 🇫🇷 LOOTING IN LYON: Shops looted and vandalized as rioting grips the Presqu’île district. Scenes of destruction across the city.#Francepic.twitter.com/y9yYNjiSAY
Police in France arrested nearly 1,800 people and reported more than 500 injured officers, gendarmes and firefighters. One demonstrator died after suffering a cardiac arrest in Paris.
Carrefour reported damage to 50 stores, 20 of which were looted, with losses reaching tens of millions of euros. Limoges estimated repairs to its fire-damaged town hall at €1 million, while Bordeaux reported up to 100 looted stores
In Belgium, 45 people were arrested in Liege, including 12 minors, amid clashes and property damage. Italy reported about 50 detentions in Milan and four in Bologna, where 36 law-enforcement personnel were injured. In Albania, reports gave differing totals for arrests and injuries over five days of unrest. Seven officers were suspended pending an investigation into alleged excessive force.
Hungarian PM Peter Magyar expects Trump to prolong Budapest’s exemption from American energy sanctions targeting Moscow, adding it is significant for the country
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar has said that he expects US President Donald Trump to prolong Budapest’s exemption from Washington’s sanctions targeting Russian energy after Trump announced a diesel deal with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
Trump eased restrictions on Russia’s diesel exports following a phone call with Putin last week in an attempt to reduce rising fuel prices ahead of the midterm election in the US on November 3.
The deal faced harsh criticism in the EU, with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni labeling it a “very risky” gamble that could undermine the whole Western sanctions policy towards Russia. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys argued that it “doesn’t help neither the price of oil products nor the unity of the transatlantic community.”
When asked to comment on Trump’s decision during his interview with the outlet 444 on Saturday, Magyar replied by saying that “the US president will make the deals that he wants. On the other hand, this agreement is significant for Hungary.”
Moscow has said that it would immediately release 300,000 metric tons of diesel, followed by another 500,000 metric tons next month. According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak, the fuel will arrive on the US market within 15 to 20 days after the signing of the relevant contracts between the Russian and American companies, which are currently being discussed.
“Hungary has an exemption from sanctions on Russian oil until November. This is extended annually by the Americans. If the US president has concluded an agreement on diesel exports, it would be illogical not to grant Hungary this exemption for at least another year,” Magyar said.
The exemption was agreed between Trump and Magyar’s predecessor, Viktor Orban, who was a harsh critic of Western economic restrictions on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict. Due to being a landlocked country, Hungary remains heavily dependent on deliveries of Russian pipeline oil and gas. Some 90% of its crude oil in 2025 had been provided by Moscow, according to S&P Global data.
The Hungarian prime minister stressed that he understood that the Russia-US diesel deal was “not welcome from Ukraine’s point of view.”
After it was announced, Vladimir Zelensky lashed out at Trump, calling the agreement “weak” and insisting that the actual reason for the global energy shortage was not Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries as the US president claimed, but the American war on Iran.
Following his address at the EU summit in Brussels on Friday, Zelensky told journalists that “we cannot accept these agreements [between Washington and Moscow]. Because gas deals will follow. And I am absolutely certain of this. After gas, they will lift sanctions on other things as well.”
On Saturday, Trump also signed an executive order to waive “the bone-crushing” sanctions, championed by the late US Senator Lindsey Graham, which proposed 500% tariffs on imports from Russia and 100% tariffs on major buyers of Russian oil and gas.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Taylor Rogers defended the move, saying that it “provides the president with additional authorities to pursue a peaceful resolution” of the Ukraine conflict. “Enforcing the sanctions provisions now would impede ongoing US efforts to negotiate a durable and comprehensive peace agreement,” she explained.
As Zelensky seems set on fighting ‘to the last Ukrainian’, those Ukrainians are asking: ‘What will be left of us when the fighting is over?’
There are mornings in wartime when the silence itself seems wounded.
The roads are still there, though fewer people travel them. The fields remain beneath the grey sky, though in places they are scarred by fire. Somewhere a railway station opens its doors, a baker lights an oven, a woman draws back a curtain – and for a moment life pretends that it has not been broken.
But the war goes on. And whenever a new round of negotiations, with American representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner taking part, ends with cautiously hopeful words from Moscow describing them as progressive and encouraging, Vladimir Zelensky later returns to the hard, uncompromising tone that has become familiar throughout these years.
Listening to him, one is left with a painful question.
Does he still believe that peace can be reached only through continued resistance, whatever the cost? Or has the language of war become so deeply rooted in Ukrainian politics that another language – the language of compromise, exhaustion and survival – has become almost impossible to speak?
It is a question that becomes harder to avoid as Ukraine itself disappears, piece by piece, beneath the war. The destruction continues tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow.
Ukraine has inflicted damage on Russia too. Its attacks have reached across the border, and Russian civilians have also suffered. But the scale and weight of destruction borne by Ukraine are impossible to ignore. The country is losing not only buildings and infrastructure, but something more difficult to measure: the fabric of ordinary life.
There are also reports of bitter internal struggles within the Ukrainian government. Zelensky’s former press secretary spoke recently of constant fighting at different levels of government.
War is dangerous enough when an enemy stands beyond the border. It becomes still more dangerous when a nation begins to quarrel with itself.
This is why any negotiations deserve attention. Perhaps they will fail. Perhaps the words spoken around the negotiating table will evaporate like mist over a river. Perhaps the armies will return to the battlefield and the familiar language of missiles, trenches and casualties will once again drown out every other voice. But negotiations, however imperfect, are preferable to another year of graves.
There is a moment in every long war when the question changes.
At first, people ask: How can we win?
Later they begin to ask: How much will victory cost?
And finally, sometimes very quietly, they ask the question that frightened leaders are reluctant to hear:
What will be left of us when the fighting stops?
Ukraine has received enormous support from its Western allies. Much of that support has been born of genuine sympathy and a desire to defend Ukrainian sovereignty. But Western governments also have their own histories, strategic interests and grievances concerning Russia – grievances that reach back decades.
That is the nature of international politics.
But Ukraine is not a chessboard.
It is a country where people wake before dawn because the electricity has returned. It is a mother waiting for a message from her son. It is an empty chair at a family table. It is an orchard in spring, flowering while artillery is heard somewhere beyond the horizon.
Those who advise Ukraine from comfortable offices far away will return home when the meeting is over.
Ukrainians cannot.
They will remain among the ruins.
Perhaps Zelensky should now listen not only to those who tell him how long Ukraine can continue fighting, but also to those who ask how long Ukraine can continue being destroyed.
Perhaps the future will demand compromises that today seem unbearable.
Perhaps Ukraine will never enter NATO in the way some once imagined. Perhaps membership of the European Union will remain a distant horizon rather than an immediate destination. Perhaps some political ambitions will have to wait for another generation.
History does not always give nations the future they desire. Sometimes it gives them only the future they can still preserve. There is nothing shameful in recognizing that.
Peace is not always a reward for victory. Sometimes it is an act of courage undertaken before victory becomes indistinguishable from ruin.
A leader must know when to fight. But a leader must also know when to stop.
The most dangerous words in wartime are sometimes not the words of the enemy. They are the words that tell a wounded nation that tomorrow will always be better than today if only it sacrifices a little more.
There is always another hill. Another offensive. Another shipment of weapons. Another season. And then another grave. At some point, someone has to look at the country itself.
Not at the speeches. Not at the flags. Not at the photographs of leaders standing before cameras, solemn and determined. At the country. At its empty villages. At its shattered cities. At its railway lines disappearing into the distance. At the blackened windows where, once, there were lights.
A country is not its government. It is not its president. It is not an alliance or a treaty. A country is the people who remain. And perhaps this is the moment when Zelensky must ask himself the simplest and hardest question of all:
How much of Ukraine must be destroyed before the world admits that saving Ukraine has to come before defeating Russia?
There is still time to ask it. But time, like everything else in war, is being spent. And one day there may come a morning when the guns finally fall silent – and the terrible discovery will be that there is almost nothing left to hear the silence.
Hospitals have been overwhelmed after a fire at a military training facility in Alberta, officials say
A major fire has swept through a military base in the Canadian province of Alberta, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens, local media outlets have reported, citing sources.
The blaze broke out on Saturday in a training area at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Wainwright, about 200 kilometers southeast of Edmonton.
Canadian Defense Minister David McGuinty confirmed fatalities and injuries but did not release casualty figures or explain what had caused the fire.
”I cannot recall an incident like this in recent memory,” McGuinty told reporters. “This is a very, very active and delicate situation.”
The Canadian Department of National Defense told a CBC journalist that officials did not find any indication of the incident at the base being linked to “any terrorist activity,” adding that the investigation into the causes was still ongoing.
Alberta MP Dane Lloyd said he had heard reports of “significant casualties” following an explosion and fire at the base.
According to multiple Canadian Armed Forces sources cited by Global News, a live-fire training exercise struck a gas line or gas well at the base around 4 PM local time, triggering the explosion.
Strong winds drove the flames beyond the base’s perimeter, according to municipal authorities. Firefighters from several jurisdictions battled the blaze between the installation and the nearby town of Wainwright, with military personnel and paramedics assisting the emergency response.
A “code orange” disaster response protocol was activated in Edmonton to handle a large influx of patients from Wainwright.
Warren Thirsk, an emergency physician at the city’s Royal Alexandra Hospital, told CBC News that patients were being directed to hospitals across Edmonton because Wainwright’s medical facilities were “completely overwhelmed.” Additional medical teams were called in.
”It is more patients than any of us want to count right now. It’s a disaster. It’s a one in every 15 to 25-year disaster,” he said.
Local authorities established an emergency coordination center and urged residents to stay away from the scene, keep roads clear, and avoid Wainwright Health Centre unless they required urgent medical attention.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched an investigation. McGuinty said the situation was being closely monitored but did not confirm whether the fire was under control.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith described the blaze as “significant and tragic,” saying military personnel had been affected. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said a “serious incident” had sparked the fire, adding that federal officials were working closely with Alberta’s government and local authorities.
Large parts of Alberta experienced a windstorm on Saturday, with gusts reaching 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph) in some areas, toppling trees and sending signs and garbage cans flying.
CFB Wainwright is one of Canada’s busiest military training bases; it prepares soldiers and units for combat operations. It houses the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre, which conducts realistic battlefield exercises, and the 3rd Canadian Division Training Centre, which provides basic infantry training.
The US secretary of state has denied that Washington ordered restrictions on satellite services used by Ukrainian drones
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has rejected Vladimir Zelensky’s claim that Washington ordered restrictions on satellite services used by Ukraine to carry out drone strikes deep inside Russia. The dispute comes amid a public spat between the Ukrainian leader and US President Donald Trump over sanctions and strikes on Russian energy facilities.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian officials said SpaceX’s Starlink terminals had suddenly stopped working on drones traveling faster than 160 km/h (100 mph). Zelensky told journalists on Saturday that tests on Starlink equipment in EU countries indicated that the restrictions imposed in Ukraine were “a planned operation.”
When asked to comment on Zelensky’s remarks later that day, Rubio offered a different account.
“I don’t know what Zelensky said. I’m not sure Zelensky knows what he’s talking about, but it wasn’t deliberate,” he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
“We had nothing to do with it. Nobody in the United States ordered that Starlink speed be slowed down. It sort of happened, but my understanding is it’s been restored. It’s back to where it was before,” the US diplomat said.
Rubio confirmed that Ukraine currently had no access to Starshield, Starlink’s military-grade sister service, but had requested it.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk similarly denied restricting Starlink in Ukraine but clarified that the service must be used for civilian and defensive purposes only, not offensive operations.
The Telegraph, however, reported on Friday that Musk had personally asked Trump to cap Starlink speeds for Ukraine, while Reuters reported that the White House had instructed the Pentagon to slow down Starshield. Trump has denied any involvement and said he did not believe Musk was responsible either.
Zelensky said on Saturday that the Starlink restrictions remained in place. A Ukrainian official told Axios that SpaceX had blamed the cap on “a technical problem.”
Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports earlier this month in an effort to curb rising energy prices ahead of the US midterm elections. On Friday, he went further, suspending new sanctions on Russian oil and gas trade on national security grounds. Trump also sought to pressure Ukraine to stop attacking Russian refineries, which he blamed for contributing to high energy prices.
Zelensky said he felt betrayed by Trump, who, in turn, argued that the Ukrainian leader was “not a good guy for us to deal with” and should be replaced.
France, Belgium and Poland have condemned the assault and demanded that Israel hold those responsible accountable
Masked Israeli settlers have attacked a convoy carrying European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, prompting condemnation from France, Belgium and Poland.
The incident took place on Saturday near Taybeh, a predominantly Christian Palestinian village, when a group of settlers, some armed with baseball bats, arrived to prevent Palestinians from harvesting olives. The mob surrounded vehicles carrying the Belgian consul general, French and Polish diplomats, and representatives of the Catholic Church.
Bernard Baudoux, mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, said settlers kicked him and beat him with iron bars. Video from the scene shows a disheveled Baudoux sitting near a jeep while wearing a sash in the colors of the French tricolor.
“They arrived completely enraged. It’s absolutely incredible that settlers can behave like this,” the mayor said, as quoted by AFP and Le Monde. The windows of a Belgian diplomatic vehicle were also smashed.
Vehicles carrying diplomats from France, Belgium, and Poland came under attack by Israeli terrorist settlers during an inspection tour of the Christian village of Al-Taybeh in the Ramallah district in the West Bank.
Europe still funds and arms Israel. https://t.co/8XS4sGZNUa
“As the occupying power, Israeli authorities must protect Palestinians, ensure the safety of diplomats and journalists, and bring those responsible to justice. Impunity for violent settlers must end,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot wrote on X.
He urged Israel to halt settlement expansion and “attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians from their land.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot urged Israeli authorities to arrest “those responsible for these outrageous acts and bring them to justice,” while Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Maciej Wewiór condemned attacks on diplomats as “absolutely unacceptable.”
In a statement on X, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar condemned the violence by “Israeli rioters” and said an investigation had been launched. He added that the diplomats’ visit had not been coordinated with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in advance.
“Such coordination could have helped safeguard the visitors’ security,” he said.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law. The UN has warned that settlement expansion undermines prospects for establishing a Palestinian state.
In July, the UN human rights office reported that settler attacks against Palestinians had reached an “all-time high” since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023.
The attack on the diplomatic convoy came a day after settlers beat and robbed Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine near the Palestinian village of Abu Falah.
Law enforcement deployed tear gas and water cannons as demonstrations over rising living costs turned violent in several Italian cities
Italian police have deployed tear gas and water cannons during clashes with protesters in Bologna and Milan amid nationwide demonstrations against the rising cost of living.
Organized by Italia in Piazza, a movement of students and young workers, the rallies began across Italy on Saturday to protest high fuel and energy prices, soaring rents, low wages, and deteriorating healthcare and education. Demonstrators also voiced opposition to military spending.
In Milan, where more than 5,000 people joined the march, participants carried a banner demanding “more money for families, less for wars.” In Genoa, crowds waved Palestinian flags and carried anti-war placards, calling for more funding for schools and housing rather than weapons.
While initially peaceful, the rally in Milan turned violent when demonstrators reached police cordons in the city center. Masked protesters threw stones and homemade explosive devices at officers, who responded with charges that split up the march.
Camionette dei carabinieri e della polizia costrette a indietreggiare. La situazione in Piazza Duomo va fuori controllo https://t.co/WR4MaWZJLt
Clashes spread to the area outside Milan’s iconic Duomo Cathedral, where protesters hurled metal barriers and trash bins and set barricades made from cafe tables on fire.
Make sure to inform everyone you know that the migrant gangs and their Antifa allies are also rioting in Milan, Italy tonight
Building are vandalized and fires are set in front of Milan Cathedral (the Duomo) https://t.co/0g8W1qZDsx
In the nearby Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping arcade, luxury stores lowered their shutters and staff and customers sheltered inside. Police charged into the arcade to disperse the groups.
Protesters kicked a police vehicle and pelted it with furniture and stones, forcing it to retreat. Tourists sheltered under porticoes amid broken glass, debris, and tear gas.
فوضى تامة خارج رمز المسيحية في ميلانو، الكاتدرائية. قنابل ورقية، ألعاب نارية، سيارات مدمرة، هجمات على الشرطة، إهانات وصراخ مباشرة أمام الدومو. لا إيطالي، حتى الأسوأ، يجرؤ على إشعال النيران وإطلاق الألعاب النارية ضد الدومو. إهانة لا يمكن تفسيرها أو نسيانها.
@hishamezzalarab https://t.co/QVLt9M4Wqf
Around 50 people were detained following unrest in Piazza Duomo, the square outside Milan’s cathedral, the nearby San Babila shopping district, and surrounding streets. Almost half were minors, according to Italian news agency ANSA. At least four officers and 20 protesters were reportedly injured.
In Bologna, demonstrators marched from Piazza Minghetti through the city center. Clashes erupted near the railway station after a group broke away and threw stones, bottles, and barriers at police. Officers responded with water cannons and fired more than 400 tear gas canisters. The unrest prompted the precautionary closure of the railway station.
Four minors were arrested and seven people were reported to prosecutors, while 36 police officers were injured, according to ANSA.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused the “thugs” of exploiting lawful demonstrations to sow chaos and “hold entire cities hostage.”
“Protesting is a right. Setting our cities ablaze is not,” she wrote on X.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said “the reasons for the protests were understandable” but condemned the attacks on law enforcement and damage to the city.
The protests echoed unrest in neighboring France, where public sector workers demanding better pay have joined students protesting over deteriorating learning conditions.
Tehran says normal shipping through the vital oil route could resume within seven days if Washington accepts its peace terms
Iran could restore normal shipping through the Strait of Hormuz within a week if Washington accepts a peace plan proposed by Tehran last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said. The terms were previously rejected by US President Donald Trump.
The Islamic Republic remains “committed to safe and secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” Araghchi told a ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Saturday, blaming disruptions to shipping through the key waterway on the “aggressive actions” of the US and Israel.
”Through Qatar, we have conveyed a concrete seven-day plan: if the necessary conditions are met, the Strait can be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days,” the minister said. “The choice now rests with the United States.”
“This issue will not be resolved on the battlefield. Peace cannot be built through threats of annihilation,” Araghchi added.
Tehran has offered to restore navigation through the crucial oil shipping route in exchange for Washington lifting its naval blockade, easing restrictions on the Islamic Republic’s oil exports and releasing some frozen Iranian assets. Iran is also demanding an end to hostilities “on all fronts,” including Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
Last month, Trump rejected Iran’s terms as “unacceptable.” He argued that the US retained full control over the strait and held a stronger negotiating position, while Iran was desperate to reach an agreement because it was “losing so badly.”
The US president has hinted that he could resume strikes, while American media outlets have reported that Pentagon officials and national security advisers briefed him on options involving the use of a massive conventional explosive nicknamed the “Mother of All Bombs.” However, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have ruled out attacks on Iran before the US midterms on November 3 and Israel’s parliamentary elections on October 27, respectively.
Iran closed the waterway, which handles around a quarter of global seaborne oil and LNG trade, shortly after the US and Israel launched their bombing campaign on February 28. Iranian forces have since fired on vessels traveling along routes designated by the US Navy, which Tehran considers illegal.
Two oil tankers caught fire after striking mines while crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said. The Singapore-flagged container ship GFS Pride also sank after striking a mine earlier this week, while another cargo vessel hit a mine but managed to reach port safely.
The prolonged disruption of shipping through Hormuz has driven up global energy prices and fueled inflation concerns. Brent crude surged to a five-month high on Friday, settling at $109.86 per barrel, up 3.7%, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate climbed above $100. Analysts have warned that uncertainty over Middle Eastern supplies is keeping a significant risk premium in oil prices, which could ease if Washington and Tehran reach an agreement restoring normal shipping.
The vessels reportedly attempted to cross the waterway without authorization from Tehran, with their transponders turned off
Two oil supertankers struck naval mines and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has told RT. Both vessels were carrying about two million barrels of crude oil, Iranian state media reported.
The incidents come amid a wave of attacks on tankers and cargo ships in the region in recent weeks, as talks between the US and Iran remain stalled and tensions persist.
One tanker was reportedly struck by a mine on Saturday morning. The second vessel was immobilized when the mine strike triggered an explosion in its engine room, the IRGC Public Relations Office said.
Both tankers had switched off their positioning and radar systems before attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz via routes unauthorized by Tehran, it said.
The news comes just days after a container ship sank in the key waterway following what Tehran described as a mine strike. All 21 crew members escaped unharmed.
Iran has demanded that all ships using the Strait of Hormuz first obtain permits from its newly established maritime authority, which was formed in May to formalize control over the waterway.
The US has also struck commercial shipping as part of its naval blockade of Iranian ports, which it imposed in July following the breakdown of talks with Iran.
Last week, US forces disabled the Panama-flagged bulker Ocean Molica in the Gulf of Oman after accusing it of attempting to breach the blockade. US forces have destroyed ten tankers allegedly linked to the IRGC since July, according to CENTCOM.
The fighting has severely disrupted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which handled around a quarter of global seaborne oil and LNG trade before the war. The disruptions have contributed to rising energy prices worldwide. Brent crude settled at $109.86 per barrel on Friday, up 3.7% and its highest close since May.
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