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(33)Here's what we covered today
• Iran military shakeup: Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Monday reshuffled the country’s military leadership, announcing six senior appointments. The move comes after the appointment of Iran’s new national security chief, a veteran Revolutionary Guards commander who has previously voiced skepticism about talks with the US.
• Strait of Hormuz: Oil prices remain elevated after Iran said an imminent agreement with Oman to manage the Strait of Hormuz would not be enough to reopen the vital waterway, unless the US meets a list of conditions.
• State of talks: US President Donald Trump also applied a new condition Monday saying he would seek compensation for past misdeeds. On Sunday, Trump signaled a US emphasis on increasing economic pressure on Iran, saying that Washington is “low-keying” negotiations with the country. Tehran said it was not engaging in talks with the US.
US blockade leads to paralysis at Iran's main oil export hub, experts say
The US naval blockade of Iranian ports has brought oil-export activity at Kharg Island – the terminal handling almost all of Iran’s crude exports – to a near halt.
All three terminals at Kharg have been empty for extended periods, according to shipping analysts at Windward.
In a report Monday, Windward said Kharg’s western terminal had seen no loadings for 22 consecutive days, the liquid petroleum gas terminal for 13 days and the eastern terminal for 10 days.
There have been no departures from Kharg since July 31, and there are 17 tankers at anchor in the waiting area close by, none of which are displaying their position, according to Windward.
Iranian exports via Kharg are a critical source of revenue to the regime. Most Iranian oil went to Chinese customers, and until the past two weeks, it continued to flow despite the conflict.
In a July 28 post, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency described Kharg as “a successful model of resilience and crisis management.”
But since the end of last month, Iranian media have said little about the volume of oil exports, instead focusing on keeping infrastructure operational to “ensure the sustainable continuation of oil exports,” according to a July 27 report.
The paralysis at Kharg comes as US President Donald Trump asserts that the US blockade is worsening Iran’s economic plight.
“We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” Trump told US news outlet Axios on Sunday.
Washington Post: Trump secretly switched planes in Turkey under threat of Iranian attack
President Trump secretly slipped off Air Force One and onto an airport catering truck, which shuttled him to a smaller military plane following a NATO summit in Turkey last month, according to the Washington Post, amid an Iranian assassination threat. Watch CNN’s Kaitlan Collins interview with Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe.
Iran reshapes military leadership while Trump issues new condition on talks. Catch up here
US President Donald Trump applied a new condition to talks with Iran on Monday, saying he would require compensation from the country for past misdeeds after Tehran said US compensation was required to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said an agreement with Oman to manage the waterway would not be enough to reopen it unless the US meets the list of conditions.
The back-and-forth suggested the two sides were no closer to reaching an agreement that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, the fresh requirements appeared to diminish prospects for a quick deal, despite optimism last week an agreement was near.
At this juncture, catch up on what else is happening in the region:
• Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei reshaped the country’s military leadership in announcing six senior appointments, including Ali Abdollahi as armed forces chief of staff, Ahmad Vahidi as commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ali Azmaei as IRGC Navy commander. Remember, Khamenei has not been seen in public since becoming leader following the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a late February 2026 strike.
• The US imposed the eighth round of sanctions on Iran this year. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said it will not buckle under the sanctions that only undermine the chances of a diplomatic resolution to the war. Iran had “demonstrated over decades that it will not be strangled by these exhausted refrains,” he added.
• Trump told reporters that the US has swept the Strait of Hormuz for mines and the navy has full control of the waterway. However, shipping traffic through the strategic waterway has remained “subdued” over the past week and “weakened further into the weekend,” maritime intelligence firm Kpler said Monday.
• Another Trump team peace initiative in the Middle East appears to have hit the rocks as well. After several rounds of talks between Israel and Lebanon, which began in April, an Israeli official tells CNN there are no dates in the diary for further meetings.
• An Iranian photojournalist has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for allegedly acting in the interests of Israel and the US after authorities searched her home and seized electronic devices, according to a US-based human rights group.
CNN’s Christina Macfarlane spoke with Dina Esfandiary, Middle East Lead at Bloomberg Economics, about the latest US-Iran developments.
CNN’s Mohammed Tawfeeq, Eyad Kourdi, Alejandra Jaramillo, Aida Karimi, Andrew Carey, Dana Karni, Kevin Liptak and Billy Stockwell contributed to this post.
Iran's reshuffle of military leaders shows hardline stance on negotiations, experts say
A reshuffle of Iran’s military leadership by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei reflects the political strength of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the regime’s hardline stance on negotiations with the US, experts say.
Khamenei on Monday made IRGC veteran Mohsen Rezaei the country’s national security chief alongside six other appointments to senior military positions.
Rezaei belongs to a faction of the IRGC that believes “the only way to get concessions from the US is the continuation of fighting, exerting pressure on the US and a steady dose of pain on (US President) Donald Trump,” said Sina Azodi, assistant professor of Middle East Politics at George Washington University.
His new position shows the increasing power of the IRGC and feeds into the overall Iranian strategy of prolonging the conflict and ensuring that Trump’s allies face defeat in the midterm elections, Azodi said.
Saeid Golkar, an associate professor of political science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said the appointments could also be an effort by Khamenei to install allies in influential positions in case growing economic pressures prompt another public uprising in Iran.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since becoming leader following the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at the start of the war.
Golkar said most of the other six appointees have a background in intelligence, underlining Iran’s increasing reliance on security and intelligence rather than military operations. “The picture we are seeing is the Islamic Republic moving toward a security-dominated bureaucratic regime,” he said.
One of the other appointees is Hossein Taeb, a former intelligence chief and “very close ally” of Khamenei, who will now head the Basij, an Iranian volunteer paramilitary militia under the IRGC. The appointment of Taeb and of Ahmad Vahidi as commander-in-chief of the IRGC represented a “continuation of challenging the United States” in the Strait of Hormuz and is “not a sign of moderation or normalization,” Golkar said.
US sanctions undermine chances of diplomatic resolution, Iran warns
Iran has hit back at new US sanctions, insisting it will not buckle and that the development only undermines the chances of a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in the Middle East.
It comes after the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Friday targeted individuals, exchange houses and companies across several countries that it accused of helping Iran’s Shahr Bank move hundreds of millions of dollars clandestinely.
In a post on X on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei noted that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had boasted of “suffocating” Iran through sanctions, but insisted the approach would not work. Iran had “demonstrated over decades that it will not be strangled by these exhausted refrains,” Baqaei said, adding that the latest measures only made a diplomatic solution less likely.
The Treasury has said these sanctions are its eighth in 2026 targeting Iran’s alleged shadow-banking system under Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign.
“Iran’s shadow banking system is buckling under Economic Fury, and the regime is running out of ways to move money,” Bessent said in a Treasury statement on Friday. He pledged to expose the networks and cut them off from the US financial system.
Trump says the US has "mine swept the entire" Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States has swept the Strait of Hormuz for mines and claimed the US Navy has full control of the vital waterway.
“It’s open now. Look, the only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now is the United States Navy,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“They will, on occasion, drop a mine, and we find the mine,” the president added. “You know, we’ve mine swept the entire strait, as you probably maybe heard, maybe you didn’t hear.”
He added that the United States controls the strait “100%.”
Earlier Monday, Trump applied a new condition to talks with Iran, saying he would require compensation from the country for past misdeeds after Tehran said US compensation was required to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said an agreement with Oman to manage the strait would not be enough to reopen the waterway unless the United States meets the list of conditions.
Busy day for Iran’s supreme leader as he reshapes military leadership
It’s been a busy day for Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who issued a flurry of decrees reshaping the country’s military leadership.
Six senior appointments were announced, including Ali Abdollahi as armed forces chief of staff, Ahmad Vahidi as commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ali Azmaei as IRGC Navy commander
He also appointed former intelligence chief Hossein Taeb as head of the Basij, an Iranian volunteer paramilitary militia under the IRGC.
The decrees call for stronger deterrence, readiness for “powerful offensive operations” and an expanded domestic intelligence network.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since becoming leader following the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a late February 2026 strike.
No dates for any future round of US-mediated talks between Israel and Lebanon
As the Trump team’s diplomatic endeavors on both Iran and Gaza continue to flash “Sell” — another of its Middle East peace initiatives appears to have hit the rocks as well.
After several rounds of talks between Israel and Lebanon, which began in April, an Israeli official tells CNN there are no dates in the diary for further meetings.
The talks are being mediated by the United States and have led to a withdrawal by Israeli forces from small pockets of Lebanese territory, creating what were termed “pilot zones” — to be controlled by Lebanon’s armed forces and kept free from Hezbollah militants.
The latest round of talks, which were held last week in Rome, were somewhat overshadowed by an increase in Israeli airstrikes on targets in southern Lebanon, after an explosion killed two Israeli soldiers conducting clearance operations on suspected Hezbollah infrastructure. The Israel Defense Forces has still not provided details of how the explosion was triggered.
Lebanese media, in reporting being circulated in Israeli news outlets, say that negotiators had been requesting Israel withdraw from more territory, including the villages of Bint Jbeil and Khiam, but Israel refused.
CNN has reached out to Israel’s Foreign Ministry for comment.
Trump applies new condition on Iran talks: compensation from Tehran
President Donald Trump applied a new condition on talks with Iran, saying he would now require compensation from the country for past misdeeds after Tehran over the weekend said US compensation would be required to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The back-and-forth suggested the two sides were no closer to reaching an agreement that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, the fresh requirements appeared to diminish prospects for a quick deal, despite optimism last week an agreement was near.
“I see that Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five month Military Conflict (started because, THEY WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON), even though it was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings!” Trump wrote on social media on Monday.
“But it is an interesting idea,” he went on, “because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts, for which they are famous.”
The president said payouts should also go to “the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months.”
“I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations,” he concluded.
A day earlier, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, a highly influential figure in the Revolutionary Guards, reeled off a maximalist set of demands for reopening the strait.
It included US compensation for damage caused during both this year’s war and the June 2025 conflict, which was fought principally by Israel.
Iranian photojournalist says she has been sentenced to 15 years in prison
An Iranian photojournalist has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for allegedly acting in the interests of Israel and the United States after authorities searched her home and seized electronic devices, according to a US-based human rights group.
The announcement comes as rights groups warn of an escalating clampdown on media outlets and journalists in Iran.
On Sunday, Yalda Moaiery, a well-known photojournalist who has documented social and political events across Iran throughout her career, announced her sentence on social media: “I got my sentence! 15 years in prison!”
Moaiery spoke to CNN in March from inside Iran, describing the struggles in the country amid US-Israeli strikes and an internet crackdown from Iranian authorities.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said Monday that Moaiery’s hearing was held in her absence last month at Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. The photographer stands accused of conducting “activities in furtherance of the interests of the Zionist regime and the United States,” HRANA said, citing Moaiery.
Moaiery has faced arrest and judicial proceedings before. She was arrested in Tehran during the 2022 protests following the death of Mahsa Amini and sent to prison, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
In a Sunday report, Defending Free Flow of Information, an independent human rights group monitoring press freedom in Iran, warned of an “unusually intense period” of pressure tactics, legal action and disruption targeting journalism. The group said at least 225 journalists or media outlets faced “judicial or security action” in 2025.
It added that 25 journalists or media executives were sentenced to a combined total of more than 30 years in prison, while eight outlets were suspended. CNN cannot independently verify these figures.
Pakistan shares with Iran "key aspects" of its defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar has shared “key aspects” of the NATO-style mutual defense pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi.
In a Monday call, Dar explained the recently signed agreement’s “objectives of strengthening strategic cooperation and contributing to regional peace and security,” according to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Araghchi thanked Dar for “sharing the key aspects of the agreement,” the ministry posted on X.
Iranian authorities did not immediately comment on the call.
What is the defense agreement? The three nations have signed a mutual defense pact that stipulates an attack against any of them “shall be regarded as an attack against them all.”
The agreement between the three US allies, which was signed in Mecca on Friday, comes as Saudi Arabia faces threats on multiple fronts, and compels each country to intervene if another is attacked.
Iranian reaction showed dissatisfaction toward the agreement, with a senior Iranian official warning it would not guarantee Saudi Arabia’s security. Tehran has repeatedly struck targets in Saudi Arabia during the war, including civilian infrastructure, energy facilities and US interests.
“The Saudis should understand that a paper agreement with Turkey and Pakistan will not bring them security, just as decades of one-sided dependence on the Americans failed to do so,” said Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.
CNN’s Abbas Al Lawati, Sophia Saifi and Issy Ronald contributed reporting.
Iran is insisting the US lifts its blockade. Here's how they work
Tehran has demanded the US lifts its naval blockade of Iranian ports before it reopens the Strait of Hormuz, among several conditions
Currently, the US blockade order applies to all Iranian ports, both inside and outside the strait — but what does a blockade entail?
A blockade is a tool of economic warfare as much as it is kinetic warfare.
The Newport Manual on the Law of Naval Warfare defines a blockade as “the capture of contraband, and the capture or destruction of enemy property found at sea.”
“These methods deny an enemy the chance of economic revenue from its exports and the benefits of imports that support its war effort,” the manual says.
To be legal, the imposition of a blockade must follow certain rules, including:
- It must be declared and notified, meaning warnings must go out to ships that it might affect.
- It must be effective, meaning the US must have the ships and aircraft to enforce it.
- It must be impartial, affecting the vessels of any nation.
- It cannot be targeted solely at civilian populations, but harm to civilians is acceptable.
- It must not block access to neutral ports and may not block a strait, like Hormuz, which Trump has said is open to international shipping unrelated to Iran.
A look at some of Trump's dealings with Iran in his first term
The US-Iran war is now in its sixth month, with President Donald Trump saying yesterday that the US is “low-keying” negotiations with Tehran.
Direct talks with Iran appear to have faltered, with a previously agreed upon ceasefire now in tatters.
The Trump administration’s tense relationship with Tehran started in his first term:
- In May 2018, Trump announced he was withdrawing the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, previously negotiated by President Barack Obama. Trump said he viewed the deal as “one-sided.”
- In April 2019, the US formally designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Tehran’s most powerful military institution, as a foreign terrorist organization. The move marked the first time the US designated a part of another government as a terror group. Iran responded by declaring the US a “state sponsor of terrorism.”
- Iran announced in June 2019 that it would ramp up enrichment of low-grade uranium after the US imposed several rounds of sanctions, originally lifted under the Iran nuclear deal.
- In January 2020, Trump ordered an airstrike in Iraq to kill Iran’s top general, Qasem Soleimani – a move that previous US presidents had considered far too provocative. Thousands of people flooded the streets of Iran to mourn Soleimani.
- Iran vowed retaliation, ultimately firing missiles at Iraqi bases that housed American troops a few days later. No lives were lost, and Trump responded by promising more sanctions. As tensions ran high, Iran mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet, attributing it to a fear of US aggression. All 176 people on board were killed.
Hormuz traffic "weakened further" over weekend, maritime firm says
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has remained “subdued” over the past week and “weakened further into the weekend,” maritime intelligence firm Kpler said Monday, even as Iran and Oman signal an agreement on navigation through the key waterway could be within reach.
Confirmed crossings fell from 15 on Friday to 11 on Saturday and six on Sunday, Kpler said. Around half of these journeys used the Iranian-approved northern route, while the route of 10 vessels could not be determined.
Tehran recently issued a list of demands for the US to fulfill before Iran reopens the vital chokepoint, through which one-fifth of global crude oil typically flows. The demands included an end to the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, withdrawing military forces from Iran’s vicinity and permanently ending the war.
Meanwhile, traffic through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, another critical maritime trade route, is “considerably more active, recording 116 crossings over the same period,” Kpler posted on X.
Daily traffic is relatively stable there, with 43, 37 and 36 vessels traversing the waterway over the three-day period, Kpler said, despite growing concerns over the Iran-backed Houthi group’s targeting of shipping in the region.
A closer look at Yemen's Houthi rebel group, as its conflict with Saudi Arabia escalates
Tensions escalated this weekend between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, as we’ve been reporting.
Both the Houthis and the internationally recognized Yemeni government released statements on the exchange of attacks, notably both calling themselves the “Yemeni Armed Forces.”
Here’s a closer look at the Houthis and how they got to where they are:
Who are the Houthis?
The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah (Supporters of God), is one side of the Yemeni civil war. It emerged in the 1990s, when its leader, Hussein al-Houthi, launched “Believing Youth,” a religious revival movement for a centuries-old subsect of Shia Islam called Zaidism.
The Zaidis ruled Yemen for centuries but were marginalized under the Sunni regime that came to power after the 1962 civil war. Al-Houthi’s movement was founded to represent Zaidis and resist radical Sunnism, particularly Wahhabi ideas from Saudi Arabia. His closest followers became known as Houthis.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, when Houthi forces stormed the capital Sanaa and toppled the internationally recognized and Saudi-backed government. The conflict spiraled into a wider war in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in an attempt to beat back the Houthis.
Nowadays, Sanaa is still under Houthi control, alongside much of the west of the country.
Who are they allied with?
The Houthis are backed by Iran, which began increasing its aid to the group in 2014 as the civil war escalated and as its rivalry with Saudi Arabia intensified. Iran has provided the group with weapons and technology for, among other things, sea mines, ballistic and cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a 2021 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Houthis form part of Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance” - an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias backed by the Islamic Republic.
I met Iran’s new security chief in June. Here’s what I learned
When Mohsen Rezaei entered the room, everyone fell silent. I interviewed the former commander who was then military advisor to Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, at a secret location in Tehran in early June.
Rezaei never raised his voice, spoke softly, even when conveying hardline positions. Speaking of possible renewed US-Israeli attacks against Iran, he bluntly threatened to expand the war beyond the Gulf Region.
“We will give another dimension to the war by attacking these other American bases,” he said in a calm tone. He also warned the US against a ground assault of Iran, saying “then the world will understand Iran’s true capabilities, because our land power is many times greater than our missiles.”
Rezaei talks about military confrontation with a superpower like the US with the calm of someone who has witnessed combat firsthand and believes in Iran’s military power and perseverance. That seems to be one of the reasons Iran’s Supreme Leader appointed him as the head of the Islamic Republic’s Supreme National Security Council.
“Considering your valuable experience, I am hereby appointing you, one of the first commanders in the triumphant 8-Year Sacred Defense, to be my representative to the Supreme National Security Council,” a post on X attributed to the Supreme Leader said.
Rezaei has been described as a hardline pragmatist, and that certainly showed in our interview. While demanding the immediate release of $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets to unblock a deadlocked negotiations process with the Trump administration, he also said Iran was willing to turn a page with the US if a larger peace deal is reached.
“This can be a new horizon for the future of Iran and America. Therefore, Trump must put aside his personal interests and think about the interests of the American people,” Rezaei said, adding that “the ball is in Trump’s court.”
A look at previous US presidents' dealings with Iran
President Donald Trump said yesterday the US is “low-keying” negotiations with Iran, signaling an emphasis on increasing economic pressure on the country.
Trump is the latest American president to come up against a hardline Iranian regime, with the conflict now in its sixth month.
Here’s a look at how some of Trump’s predecessors interacted with Tehran:
President Jimmy Carter
Almost two years after becoming president, Carter faced the Iran hostage crisis after 90 people, including 66 Americans, were taken hostage when the US embassy in Tehran was seized following the Iranian Revolution.
At the beginning of the crisis, Carter sent US officials to Iran to negotiate the release of the hostages, though Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini refused to meet with them.
Carter’s foreign policy team “often seemed weak and vacillating” during the crisis, according to the US Office of the Historian.
A week later, Carter ordered Iranian assets in US banks to be frozen. In April 1980, when only some of the hostages had been released, Carter cut diplomatic ties with Iran, announcing further sanctions and ordering all Iranian diplomats to leave the US.
The crisis was eventually resolved after US officials, via Algeria, were able to negotiate the release of the hostages.
On January 19, 1981, the US and Iran signed an agreement to release them, and to unfreeze Iranian assets. After more than a year in captivity and minutes after Carter left the presidency, the hostages were released.
President Ronald Reagan
Carter’s successor Ronald Reagan declared Iran a “state sponsor of terrorism” in 1984. But in 1986, his administration began covertly looking into ways to improve its relationship with Tehran, despite backing Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war.
Reagan approved a high-profit sale of weapons to Iran despite an embargo, in the hopes that it would yield the return of Americans held hostage in Lebanon by Hezbollah, a militia with close ties to Iran. Funds from some of the arms sales were diverted to the Contras, a minority Nicaraguan political group that was fighting the leftist Sandinista government.
The scandal was called the Iran-Contra affair, and it broke just before the 1986 midterm elections, posing an enormous threat to Reagan and his party.
According to PBS, when the scandal emerged, Reagan publicly denied that any operation had taken place. He then retracted his statement a week later, saying that it had not been an arms-for-hostages deal.
“Despite the fact that Reagan defended the actions by virtue of their good intentions, his honesty was doubted,” PBS explains. “Polls showed that only 14 percent of Americans believed the president when he said he had not traded arms for hostages.”
President Barack Obama
Obama managed to negotiate a tentative rapprochement with Tehran during his tenure, having vowed to unfreeze US-Iran relations in his 2008 presidential campaign.
Obama spoke by telephone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in 2013, the first direct conversation between leaders in Washington and Tehran since 1979, when Carter talked by telephone with Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi before Pahlavi was overthrown.
Also in 2013, after years of negotiations, a landmark agreement was reached that slowed Iran’s nuclear development program in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions that caused the country’s economy to stagnate.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), finalized two years later in 2015, capped Iran’s uranium enrichment for 15 years and facilitated UN-led inspections to ensure Tehran’s adherence to the deal, in exchange for partially dissolving sanctions on Iranian oil wealth and unfreezing billions of dollars in assets.
Trump withdrew from the deal in his first term.
What Iran's new security chief told CNN in June about the war with the US
CNN was granted a rare interview in June with the man who has now been appointed chief of Iran’s powerful Supreme National Security Council.
Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader and former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was appointed to the post on Monday, placing him at the centre of Iran’s security decision-making as its war with the US continues.
Here are some of the key points Rezaei made when he spoke to CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen:
- Unfreezing Iranian assets: Rezaei said the path to peace could begin with US President Donald Trump unfreezing Tehran’s assets, which he estimated could be worth $24 billion. Trump later agreed to release Iranian funds and assets under a short-lived Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) intended to pave the way for peace talks. The agreement was signed in June and unraveled in a matter of days.
- Expanding the war: Rezaei warned that Iran would “drag the war” beyond the Persian Gulf if the conflict continued. “We will give another dimension to the war by attacking these other American bases,” he said. Since the interview, the conflict has spread further, with Saudi Arabia carrying out strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets in Yemen, while the Houthis have launched attacks against Saudi infrastructure and threatened to disrupt shipping in and around the Red Sea. Iran-backed groups in Iraq have also remained involved in the wider conflict. During the war, Tehran had reportedly fired missiles as far as Diego Garcia, a joint US-UK military base about 2,000 miles from Iran.
- Reiterating Iran’s claim over the Strait of Hormuz: Rezaei said Iran and Oman have sovereignty over the waterway and would therefore manage it together. Since then, Tehran and Muscat have been negotiating over navigation through the strait and have signalled that an agreement could be within reach. Iranian officials have nevertheless stressed that any agreement would not necessarily mean the waterway would immediately reopen.
- Threats of invading US territory: Rezaei warned that Iran was prepared for a potential US ground invasion, saying “our land power is many times greater than our missiles.”
UN special envoy for Yemen "deeply concerned" by recent Houthi attacks
The United Nations’ special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, has said that he is “deeply concerned” by recent Houthi attacks on the Yemeni city of Mocha.
Yesterday, Yemen’s government armed forces said they’d “thwarted a treacherous terrorist attack by the Houthi militia,” hours after the Iran-backed militant group claimed it had carried out an attack on Saudi forces in Mocha.
The Houthis claimed they used “a large number of ballistic missiles and drones” in their attack on the city.
Recent Houthi attacks have “put civilians at grave risk” in areas across Yemen, Grundberg said, adding that the “escalation must stop, and civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected.”
The special envoy called on “the parties to exercise maximum restraint” and to work with his office to “de-escalate and prevent the further erosion of what the truce achieved for Yemeni civilians.”
“This conflict can only end sustainably through an inclusive political process, and escalation is taking Yemen in the opposite direction,” he said.
