Here's the latest
• Pause in hostilities: President Donald Trump is giving talks with Iran “some space” after diplomatic efforts ramped up in recent days, according to the US ambassador to the United Nations. A US source previously told CNN that military operations are “on a hold.” Regional allies have not reported fresh Iranian attacks during the pause in US airstrikes.
• White House meeting: Vice President JD Vance and the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff raised concerns about escalating the war as Trump weighed the possibility during a meeting last week, sources told CNN.
• US casualties: The Pentagon has quietly changed its accounting for Iran war casualties, updating its database to add more than 140 wounded US service members and restoring the record of four soldiers killed last weekend.
Where US gas prices stand on Sunday
Gas prices have surged in the United States during the war with Iran as the conflict disrupts the flow of oil through the Middle East.
While strikes between the two sides appear to have temporarily subsided this weekend, the situation in the region’s waterways remains murky: The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed, the US continues to enforce a naval blockade on Iranian ports, and Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have exchanged strikes around the Red Sea.
Iran’s new supreme leader reaffirms country's support for Hezbollah
Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, reaffirmed Iran’s support for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in a letter addressed to its leader Naim Qassem and its commanders and fighters.
In the letter, Khamenei praised Hezbollah’s “perseverance and steadfastness” and described the group as being at the forefront of resistance to Israel and its supporters. He also credited the Lebanese people, particularly communities in southern Lebanon, for supporting Hezbollah.
Khamenei said defending Hezbollah remained one of the Islamic Republic’s strategic policies. He asserted that preserving Lebanon’s territorial integrity and securing a “complete and unconditional” end to Israeli attacks were Iran’s principal conditions for any agreement ending the conflict.
The letter accused the United States and Israel of oppression and injustice and said “jihad and resistance” were the only remaining path.
Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shiite political party and militant group that functions as Iran’s most powerful and influential regional proxy in the Middle East.
Catch up: Trump is giving talks with Iran "some space" as fighting remains on hold
Strikes between the US and Iran appear to remain paused after nearly two weeks of nightly bombing by the American military and Iranian attacks on US allies.
Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said in interviews today that President Donald Trump is giving talks “some space” to develop after diplomatic efforts ramped up over the past few days.
Catch up on all the latest here:
- Munitions stockpile: Waltz also appeared to acknowledge that “a lot of stockpiles are depleted,” though he insisted the US still has “everything that it needs” to continue its military campaign. In a meeting last week, Trump administration officials discussed the possibility of a major escalation in the war, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine raised concerns about the level of US munitions needed for such a move, sources previously told CNN.
- Iranian response: Tehran has sought to paint the pause in hostilities as a victory, with one official claiming it signals the US is “experiencing strategic decision-making fatigue.”
- Saudi nuclear deal: Waltz also spoke today about the deal providing a civilian nuclear program for Saudi Arabia, reiterating that it won’t take effect until the kingdom normalizes relations with Israel.
- Israel-Bahrain call: Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he spoke by phone today with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, including about the Abraham Accords.
- Strait of Hormuz: Meetings between Omani and Iranian officials over the weekend did not lead to any change in the status of maritime traffic through the key waterway, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said, though it called the talks constructive.
- Ukrainian strike: Tehran also criticized Ukraine’s attack on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian sea, which killed one crew member and injured three. Ukraine has said it struck ships transporting military goods from Iran to Russia.
CNN’s Betsy Klein, Tim Lister, Aida Karimi and Chris Lau contributed reporting.
Waltz reiterates that nuclear deal is contingent on Saudi Arabia joining Abraham Accords
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz reaffirmed today that a deal providing a civilian nuclear program for Saudi Arabia will not take effect until the kingdom normalizes relations with Israel.
A quick refresher: The controversial deal was announced earlier this week, but one day after US and Saudi officials signed the agreement, US President Donald Trump placed a new condition on the pact.
Trump said Saudi Arabia must first enter into the Abraham Accords — the series of agreements aimed at establishing diplomatic ties between Israel and its neighbors in the Middle East. The Saudis have historically been resistant to such efforts.
What Waltz said today: The ambassador was pressed about the status of the deal during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
He suggested that the Saudis could have gone to “the Russians for nuclear technology” or “to the Chinese for nuclear technology,” but chose the US.
“They had options. They went with us. They’re going with American companies, American workers, but there is no enrichment envisioned in this plan,” Waltz said of the agreement.
GOP senator says Congress may need to vote to authorize Iran war soon
Republican US Sen. Bill Cassidy, who walked back his vote to rein in President Donald Trump’s war powers in Iran last month, says it may soon be time for Congress to weigh in on the dragging war.
Cassidy said it seems “unlikely” that Trump will be able to resolve the conflict quickly, adding, “if it doesn’t happen, then again, the president needs to come to Congress — the American people — and say, ‘These are the facts.’ And then we have a conversation.”
The Louisiana Republican joined three of his fellow Republicans in voting for a war powers resolution in late June after a testy exchange with the president during a closed-door lunch. However, the Senate took up the measure again the next day and Cassidy withdrew his support after receiving a briefing from the Trump administration.
Trump is giving Iran talks "some space," US ambassador says
President Donald Trump is allowing talks with Iran to develop during this weekend’s apparent pause in strikes, a top US official said Sunday.
In a separate interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Waltz said diplomatic efforts have ramped up “particularly in the past few days.”
But in the NBC interview, Waltz reiterated Trump’s warning that the US military is “locked and loaded” as those negotiations play out and said the president is “keeping all options on the table.”
Waltz claimed internal divisions within the Iranian regime have made negotiations challenging.
Stockpile concerns: CNN has reported that in a Friday meeting at the White House where Trump and top officials discussed the possibility of a major escalation in the war, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine raised concerns about the US munitions stockpile, among other potential negative implications.
Waltz appeared to concede to NBC that “a lot of stockpiles were depleted,” casting blame on US provisions to Ukraine and what he described as the “depleted situation” the Trump administration inherited from its predecessor.
Pressed by host Kristen Welker on whether he would acknowledge that US stockpiles are depleted, he emphasized that the US military “has everything that it needs to conduct this campaign as effectively as it needs to be.”
Iran condemns Ukrainian attacks in Caspian Sea
Iran has condemned the attack by Ukraine on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea, the route for much of the country’s trade with Russia.
Three crew members were injured and one seafarer killed aboard the ship, according to regional governor Hadi Hagh-Shenas on Sunday.
The vessel had been carrying a cargo of iron and was sailing from Astrakhan to Anzali, “a safe and reliable corridor for commercial exchanges between the two ports,” Hagh-Shenas said.
Ukraine launched long-range drone attacks on vessels in the Caspian on Saturday.
The attacks were “a sign of the continuation of the irrational and hostile approach of the Ukrainian regime” toward Iran, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
“Responsibility for the consequences arising from the adventurism of the head of the Ukrainian regime will rest with that regime and its supporters and instigators,” the ministry said.
Ukraine’s Chargé d’Affaires was summoned to the foreign ministry following the attack.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X Monday that he raised the incident in calls with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, warning that the action “cannot go unanswered.”
Some background: Ukraine said Saturday it had struck ships in the Caspian Sea that were transporting military goods from Iran to Russia.
Ukraine had “achieved very good results from long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X.
“Specifically, these include ships that were involved in transporting military cargo from Iran, as well as a warship,” Zelensky said.
Iranian officials have said that the United States has also recently attacked facilities on the Caspian Sea. The Gilan governorate announced an airstrike on an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base in the Zibakenar region early Friday, as the US broadened its targets inside Iran.
What to know about the US military blockade of Iranian ports
While the US and Iran appear to be holding off on new strikes for now, tensions in the region’s waterways remain in sharp focus. Officials from Tehran met with Omani officials about the Strait of Hormuz this weekend, and an American military blockade on Iranian ports is still in effect.
Yesterday, we reported that the US military had boarded a tanker in the Arabian Sea as part of its blockade enforcement.
The military said it completed the “verification boarding” on the Comoros-flagged M/T Charminar and the tanker eventually continued its journey.
Since reimposing the blockade earlier this month, the US military has redirected at least 12 commercial vessels and disabled two that “didn’t comply” with the blockade. It has also boarded two ships to “ensure total compliance,” according to US officials.
CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.
A look at Iran and Oman's claims to the Strait of Hormuz
As we reported earlier, the deputy foreign ministers of Iran and Oman held talks in Tehran about the Strait of Hormuz over the past two days, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
The vital waterway was effectively been closed by Iran since the US and Israel began the war back in February.
It is the main route for shipping crude from oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to the rest of the world.
Both Tehran and Muscat have Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) in the strait.
According to the United Nations, a state has “sovereign rights” to explore, exploit, conserve and manage the natural resources of the waters in its EEZ.
However, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), “ships of all States, whether coastal or land-locked, enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea.”
A coastal state should not “hamper the innocent passage of foreign ships through the territorial sea,” it says, except in specific outlined scenarios. It may “take the necessary steps in its territorial sea to prevent passage which is not innocent,” UNCLOS outlines.
The Iran conflict has become America's first one party war
As President Donald Trump pleads for tens of billions of dollars to pay for the nation’s war with Iran, Democrats in Congress have offered an unequivocal — and historically unusual — message.
No.
Trump’s operation in Iran has now become the most partisan war in modern US history, marking the first time that one party is willing to fully reject wartime funding requests from the country’s commander-in-chief.
Democrats are, for the first time in at least a century, in lockstep against a war from the start. They are refusing to support more funding. They are voting en masse to demand Trump pull troops out. They are even rejecting a broader Pentagon policy measure in protest — which includes provisions mostly unrelated to this particular war, such as one that would raise troop pay.
It’s a seismic political shift from years past, when Democrats would cower from accusations of not supporting troops in the middle of a conflict. But party lawmakers contend that the American public, including Republican voters, are on their side, and that the GOP’s support for the war will be a real dividing line heading into the November election.
GOP leaders are furious, with Speaker Mike Johnson calling it “shameful” for Democrats to refuse funding for the Pentagon, especially amid concerns about depleted munitions and as the administration has sought nearly $70 billion more in emergency cash to help pay for military operations in Iran.
Democrats’ opposition is multifold. The party is generally more skeptical now of foreign entanglements and much less sympathetic to Israel, the key US partner in Iran. But the party is even more suspicious of Trump — particularly compared to the last GOP administration in wartime — and are incensed at how he’s handled nearly every part of the war in Iran.
Read more here on how Trump’s operation in Iran has now become the most partisan war in modern US history.
Iranians warned that petrol prices may rise
Amid high inflation and widespread damage to infrastructure, the Iranian government has warned that heavily subsidized petrol prices may have to be raised.
The issue is a sensitive one among Iranians. When the government raised fuel prices by 50% in 2019, nationwide protests quickly escalated into broader anti-government unrest and were met with a sweeping security crackdown and an internet blackout.
A change in petrol prices or fuel rationing is certain, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Saturday, according to Iranian state television.
“We certainly need strategies for managing gasoline consumption because, as we know, the government is naturally subsidizing the price at which gasoline is sold to the public,” she said.
“It is obvious that a solution must be adopted to balance gasoline consumption … As for whether it will involve changes to the quota or to the price, the public will certainly be informed carefully, transparently, clearly, and honestly,” Mohajerani added.
Petrol is sold in Iran using three different tiers. Last December, the government introduced a higher rate for drivers consuming more than 160 litres (42 gallons) of petrol per month.
The head of Iran’s state fuel distribution company also warned of shortages in an interview on Sunday.
If high fuel consumption continues and production and import constraints persist due to damage to facilities, “it may become necessary to adopt measures aimed at maintaining the stability of fuel supply and the country’s energy security,” said Mohammad Sadegh Azimifar, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution company.
Speaking to the news outlet Khabaronline, Azimifar acknowledged the sensitivity of the issue.
“The government will not catch people by surprise over petrol. If any decision is to be made, it will first be announced publicly, public opinion will be taken into account, and only then will implementation take place.”
Iranian official claims lull in US strikes due to "strategic fatigue"
Iranian officials have sought to paint the apparent pause in strikes by the United States as a victory, with one military spokesman saying the US had failed to dent Iran’s defenses and was suffering from strategic fatigue.
The comments to Iranian state media outlets on Sunday follow reports that US Vice President JD Vance and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine both raised concerns about escalating the war in Iran during a White House meeting on Friday.
The US military has not announced any fresh strikes for the last two nights – after nearly two weeks of consecutive nights of attacks.
Operations are “on a hold,” a Department of Defense source told CNN on Saturday.
“We still cannot identify any clear strategy on the part of the Americans,” Iranian army spokesman Amir Akraminia told Iranian state television on Sunday, asserting the US was “experiencing strategic decision-making fatigue.”
The US had failed to force open the Strait of Hormuz or weaken or destroy Iran’s defensive capabilities, Akraminia said.
He added, “We now see that the geography of the war has extended to Bab al-Mandeb,” in the Red Sea, where the Iranian-backed Houthis have declared a blockade of Saudi shipping.
A spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebi, claimed that Israel was “trying to keep the United States in the region by provoking the US president and providing him with false information.”
Earlier this month Israel was reported to have provided the US with intelligence on an assassination plot against Trump.
Mohebi claimed that in the last two weeks Iran had destroyed a wide variety of US military facilities across the region. The US has acknowledged damage to some facilities, such as in Jordan, where three US soldiers were killed in one strike.
Iran and Oman hold talks on Strait of Hormuz
The deputy foreign ministers of Iran and Oman held talks in Tehran about the Strait of Hormuz over the past two days, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a Telegram post Sunday.
He said the talks were constructive and that progress had been made.
There has been no change of status of maritime traffic through Strait of Hormuz, he said, adding that the Omani delegation has left and technical and political consultations between the two sides are continuing.
Apparent pause in US strikes could signal attempt to deescalate, expert says
This weekend’s apparent pause in military action against Iran may hint at US moves to ease tensions in the Middle East, a former US national security adviser told CNN.
“It looks like Washington is just trying to cool the temperature, trying to enforce some form of deescalation,” said Negah Angha, former senior adviser at the US State Department and National Security Council during the administration of former President Joe Biden.
She added that Washington could be testing whether Tehran would reciprocate with similar restraint.
“Everyone is trying to find these diplomatic off-ramps and this could be one of those scenarios,” she said.
Some context: Earlier, a Department of Defense source told CNN that bombing operations were “on hold” – for the first time in almost two weeks.
Both Vice President JD Vance and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine raised concerns about escalating the war in Iran during a Friday meeting with President Donald Trump, according to a source familiar with the matter and a US official.
US appears to pause Iran strikes, but a new front emerges. Here's the latest
Operations are “on a hold,” a Department of Defense source told CNN on Saturday, as the US appeared to pause military action against Iran after striking the country for 13 straight nights.
US Central Command did not announce new strikes against Iran on Friday and Saturday.
It’s not clear if that was because there was no US military action against Iran in the past two days. CNN has reached out to CENTCOM for comment.
Regional US allies have not reported fresh Iranian attacks so far this weekend.
More headlines on the conflict:
- Latest from Washington: Vice President JD Vance and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine raised concerns about escalating the war as President Donald Trump weighed the possibility during a White House meeting on Friday, sources told CNN.
- Mixed messages: The US and Iran remain at odds – at least publicly – over the state of peace talks. Trump recently said Tehran was “getting more serious” about negotiations and would “love to make a deal,” but an Iranian military official contradicted those statements on Saturday.
- Red Sea attacks: The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they attacked Saudi installations on the Red Sea coast on Saturday, after Riyadh targeted the group in strikes a day earlier.
- US blockade: The US military said it boarded a tanker on Saturday as part of its blockade of Iranian ports, adding that the “naval blockade against Iran remains in full effect.”
- Fallen soldier identified: The Defense Department confirmed that Staff Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad was among the service members killed by Iranian strikes in Jordan earlier this month.
- Pain at the pump: US gas prices are back on the rise. The average price of a gallon of gas rose to $4.11 on Saturday, now up 11 cents in the past week. The volatility in the Red Sea is the latest factor impacting oil trade.
CNN’s Zachary Cohen, Jim Sciutto, Eyad Kourdi, Mitchell McCluskey, Tim Lister, Ibrahim Dahman, Farida Elsebai, Auzinea Bacon and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed reporting.
Vance, Caine raised concerns about escalating war in Iran, sources say
Vice President JD Vance and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine both raised concerns about escalating the war in Iran as President Donald Trump weighed the possibility during a White House meeting on Friday, a source familiar with the matter and a US official told CNN.
On Friday night, the US appeared to pause its bombing campaign on Iran after nearly two weeks of consecutive nights of strikes. Operations are “on a hold,” a Department of Defense source told CNN on Saturday.
On Friday, Caine specifically raised concerns about the US munitions stockpile and other potential negative implications, according to the sources. One of the sources said that Caine told Trump and the US military they could carry out the options available to him and be successful but then warned of the possible implications.
The stockpile concern was one of many raised to Trump during the meeting, both sources said. It’s currently unclear if that concern or the warning about escalation were the primary reasons why the US paused consecutive nights of strikes or whether it will continue to do so.
“Combined with successful sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy and 13 straight days of strikes against military targets in response to their repeated aggression, it would be wise for Iran to work towards a negotiated deal. Otherwise, they know what will happen,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“We have executed multiple successful operations across combatant commands while ensuring the U.S. military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
CNN has also reached out to Vance’s office for comment.
Katy Perry on White House's Iran strikes post featuring her music: "I did not approve this"
Katy Perry responded with strong words against the use of her hit 2010 song “Firework” by the White House in a video of declassified images of the US striking Iran.
Iran-backed Houthis take on Saudi Arabia
The Houthi rebels have long been backed by Iran and reviled by Saudi Arabia. A Shia group from the mountains of northern Yemen, they have controlled the capital Sanaa and much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast since 2014.
Key background: The Saudis launched a large-scale offensive against the militant group in 2015, and the ensuing seven-year conflict provoked one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
The Houthis survived, with help from Iran and other pro-Iranian groups such as Hezbollah, carrying out missile and drone strikes against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of which supported the UN-recognized government the Houthis had driven from Sanaa.
In 2023, the Houthis launched ballistic missiles against Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza, and disrupted Red Sea shipping. That provoked a campaign of US strikes early in 2025, which degraded their capabilities. But they remained defiant, almost relishing their resistance role.
The Trump administration’s determination to eradicate the threat posed by the Houthis ended without success. Ultimately, analysts say, only a ground offensive involving tens of thousands of troops is likely to remove them.
The latest developments: The Houthis have managed to survive a long blockade by Saudi Arabia and last week threatened a campaign against Saudi shipping in the Red Sea unless the blockade was lifted.
They subsequently claimed to have hit two Saudi tankers. Saudi Arabia acknowledged at least one vessel was struck and retaliated with airstrikes against Hodeidah, the main port under Houthi control.
Oil topped $100 a barrel for the first time since May after Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted Saudi ships in the Red Sea, threatening to cut off another route for oil exports already choked by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. CNN's Nic Robertson explains who the Iran-backed rebel group is.
Big picture: Analysts now see a real risk of uncontrolled retaliation as each side targets the other, with the growing importance of the Red Sea as a route to export Saudi oil an additional ingredient in a combustible situation.
In firing ballistic missiles early Saturday at two Saudi provinces, the Houthis “ended their recent restraint in targeting strategic infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia,” says analyst Mohammed Basha. “It also indicates an expanded target set that now includes critical energy infrastructure and maritime assets.”
The southern city of Jizan, which the Houthis said they targeted in strikes on Saturday, is a significant container port for Saudi Arabia and a key site for energy products and electricity generation. Protecting Jizan from regular Houthi strikes has been a prime motivation for past diplomatic efforts.
CNN’s Nic Robertson contributed to this report.
Yemen's Houthis claim they attacked Saudi installations along Red Sea coast
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen say they carried out attacks against Saudi installations on the Red Sea coast on Saturday, after Riyadh targeted the group in strikes a day earlier — as a new front in the Middle East conflict threatens to escalate.
In a statement, the Houthi armed forces said they had “carried out two qualitative military operations.”
“The first targeted sensitive Aramco-affiliated facilities in Jizan with dozens of ballistic missiles and drones. And the second operation targeted sensitive Aramco-affiliated facilities in Yanbu with a number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones,” the statement said.
Video geolocated by CNN shows large fires burning in an industrial area of Jizan, which is home to a huge oil refinery.
Saudi Arabia has not yet commented on the Houthi claims, but issued security alerts early Saturday for residents of both Yanbu and Jizan.
Referring to the Saudi strikes on Friday against the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, the Houthis said they confirmed “the Saudi enemy’s determination to continue its siege of our people and its violation of our country’s sovereignty.”
“This criminal enemy will find nothing from us but resistance and confrontation from our righteous position,” the Houthi statement added, reaffirming that the blockade against Saudi shipping declared earlier this week “remains in effect.”
“We will not hesitate to expand our operations and escalate our actions based on developments in the coming hours and days,” the statement added.
