Main developments
Donald Trump said Tehran was keen to make a deal to end the war, though Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier on Thursday that the country is not asking for a ceasefire.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said Trump was “having a heck of a say in who runs Iran” after the president told US media he must be involved in picking the Islamic republic’s next supreme leader.
US crude prices soared to their highest since 2024 as the US-Israeli war with Iran continued to disrupt shipping and supplies from the Middle East. Brent settled 4.9% higher and European jet fuel prices soared to their highest level in nearly four years.
Iranian missile and drone attacks spread on the sixth day of the Middle East war. Azerbaijan said it was hit by a drone fired by Tehran and threatened to retaliate. Iran later denied firing any projectiles.
Waves of US and Israeli strikes continued to pummel Iran. Israel has also targeted Hizbollah in Lebanon.
China has ordered its biggest refineries to suspend exports of most oil and gas products.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said its navy had hit a tanker in the north of the Gulf. UK authorities said that a tanker off the coast of Kuwait suffered “a large explosion”.
Saudi Arabia destroys missiles launched towards air base near Riyadh
Saudi Arabia said it has intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles launched towards Prince Sultan Air Base to the south of capital Riyadh, according to a statement by the kingdom’s defence ministry.
US House blocks Democrat-led effort to rein in Trump’s war against Iran
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives blocked an effort by Democratic lawmakers to rein in Donald Trump’s war against Iran, one day after a similar effort failed in the US Senate.
The House voted 219-212 on Thursday to block a war powers resolution that would halt the president from taking further military action in Iran without congressional approval. The vote divided largely along party lines, with just four Democrats voting against the resolution and two Republicans voting in favour of it.
Wednesday’s failed vote in the Senate similarly split along party lines, with just one Republican and one Democrat breaking with their respective parties.