Iran war live: Tehran threatens to prolong war until Trump’s term ends

Iran has suggested it could deliberately prolong the war with the US until Donald Trump leaves office, in order to send a message that attacking the country has lasting consequences.

Mohammad Reza Naghdi, senior adviser to the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said dragging out the war would show any future US administration that “there is a cost” to hostile endeavours against Iran.

"We have to attain deterrence so that the enemy never dares to attack us, so we can live with security," he told PBS NewsHour.

His comments came as Iran again rejected Donald Trump’s claims that the US has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority said “the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked” and it will not be opened until Iran’s conditions are accepted.

Trump earlier said that “praise be to Allah”, Washington has “total control over the Strait of Hormuz", adding: "I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!”

Amid their conflicting claims, data from trade intelligence firm Kpler showed shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was near a three-month low.

Just 13 vessels transited the waterway on Tuesday, around 90 per cent below the pre-war daily average.

Iran says it could prolong war until Trump leaves office

A senior adviser to the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Tehran could deliberately prolong the war until US President Donald Trump leaves office, in an effort to wear down its adversaries and deter future attacks.

Mohammad Reza Naghdi told PBS NewsHour that extending the conflict could impose a cost on any future US administration considering military action against Iran.

"We have to attain deterrence so that the enemy never dares to attack us, so we can live with security," he said.

Naghdi also defended Iranian attacks on civilian vessels attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz, saying Tehran needed to control shipping routes during wartime.

He said vessels passing through areas controlled by Iran could be viewed as a threat if they were suspected of carrying supplies for the enemy.

"When we are at war, vessels need to pass through a region we can control," he said. "When they leave an area that we control, it could be that they're transporting supplies for the enemy."

Asked whether attacking civilian ships violated international law, Naghdi said Iran had the right to control routes it considered threatening during a war.

Iran knew key details of Trump’s hotel in Turkey sparking the president’s great plane switch: report

U.S. intelligence officials reportedly identified threats from Iranian surface-to-air missiles and a potential shoulder-fired missile before President Donald Trump secretly swapped planes after leaving last month’s NATO summit in Turkey.

Iranians also knew specifically where the president was staying during the Ankara trip, down to the floor of the building, according to officials who spoke to The New York Times.

That information appeared to be deemed credible enough for the Secret Service to launch a covert operation to sneak Trump and senior members of his team from Air Force One into a smaller plane in the president’s caravan, while leaving members of the press — and some of his top Cabinet members — in the executive jet, effectively serving as a decoy for potential attacks.

Watch: Trump Hid In Catering Cart To Board Secret Flight After Iran Threat

Iran-backed Houthi rebels clash with Yemeni government forces and other Mideast developments

Clashes between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and government forces in Yemen raged overnight Thursday as renewed violence continues to spread and feed growing fears that the country's civil war could reignite and create a new front in the Middle East war.

Iran says no vessel can pass through Hormuz without its permission

Iran’s top joint military command has said that no vessel can transit through the Strait of Hormuz without Iran’s permission, according to a state media report.

Desperate bid to stop oil spill as Russian ship runs aground near Oman

A desperate bid is underway to half an oil spill, close to a nature reserve in the Arabian Sea off.

The Caroline Bezengi, carrying an ​estimated ⁠800,000 barrels of Russian oil and ‌under international sanctions, ran aground on June 30 after an apparent attack.

It is grounded near an Omani marine nature reserve that is home to wildlife including humpback ‌whales and Socotra cormorants.

Risk management firm ⁠Ambrey said on Thursday it was coordinating the salvage of a ship spilling Russian crude into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman in one of the world's worst oil spills for years.

Ambrey has contracted a "leading international oil spill response company" and is working with ⁠Oman and other stakeholders to secure the Caroline ​Bezengi ⁠tanker, it said in a statement.

Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia establish NATO-style defence pact

Turkey, Saudi ​Arabia and Pakistan will form political and military mechanisms under a defence pact signed last week, Turkey's defence ministry said on Thursday.

The three ​countries ⁠signed the "Mecca Joint Defence Agreement" on August 7, which stipulates that an ‌armed attack against any member would be regarded as an attack on ⁠all, similar to NATO's Article 5 collective defence clause.

At a weekly briefing in Ankara, the ministry said the mechanisms would include the three countries' defence ministers, foreign ministers, ‌and military chiefs.

It ​added that the joint military ‌exercises were also ⁠being planned under the ⁠pact, while cooperation could include joint production ‌and technology sharing ​in the defence ‌industry.

CIA ‘had low confidence’ in Trump assassination threat that sparked secret Air Force One swap

The CIA had “low confidence” in Iran’s threat against President Donald Trump last month but pressed ahead anyway with its elaborate “deception operation” to remove him from Turkey, according to a report.

The Washington Post reports that intelligence officials received the warning from Israel but did not regard it as “compelling,” expressing their skepticism when they passed the information on to Trump officials preparing for his departure from the Nato summit in Ankara.

The president had flown to the alliance gathering in the retrofitted Boeing 747-8 jet he was gifted by Qatar last year, only to return home via a legacy Air Force One when concerns were raised about the new model lacking the necessary security features.

Iran to join BRICS development bank

Iran will join a development bank established by the BRICS group of nations, its central bank governor has said, in a move aimed at deepening economic ties during its war with the US.

The bank’s governor, Abdolnaser Hemmati, said that Tehran would soon join the New Development Bank, two years after it joined BRICS.

The bank was set ‌up by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South ‌Africa in 2015 to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects. It has since expanded its membership to include the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and other emerging economies.

"The most ⁠important result of cooperation among BRICS member countries is the establishment of the New Development Bank, and our country will soon become a member of this bank," Hemmati said, according to state media.

Senior Iranian official claims Hormuz is 'under our control'

The Strait of Hormuz is “under Iran’s control and management”, a senior Iranian military official has said.

The head of Iran’s paramilitary unit, Hossein Taeb, claimed that Tehran retained its grip on the key waterway - a day after Donald Trump said it was under the “total control” of the US.

Taeb told the semi-official Fars news agency that the US had sought ‌to disrupt what ‌he described as the Islamic Republic's popularity in the region by launching ⁠another war in the Strait of Hormuz, but had once more been defeated despite claiming Iran had neither an air force nor a navy.

"Today you see ‌that the Strait of ​Hormuz is under the management ‌and control ⁠of the Islamic Republic," ⁠he said.