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Today's key developments
• US weapons supply: The Pentagon has asked the US defense industry to ramp up production as stockpiles run low during the Iran war. The issue has frustrated President Donald Trump, sources previously told CNN, as he seeks to maintain leverage over Tehran.
• Latest from the White House: Trump signaled an emphasis on increasing economic pressure on Iran, saying in an interview Sunday that Washington is “low-keying” negotiations with the country for now.
• In Tehran: Iran’s supreme leader has replaced his national security chief, appointing regime stalwart Moshen Rezaei in place of Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr. It comes just days after Zolghadr issued a list of conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
• Widening conflict: Meanwhile, the Houthi militant group claimed new strikes targeting Saudi Arabian forces in Yemen and a major oil refinery. Recent Houthi attacks underline the risk of Iranian proxy groups escalating the Middle East conflict.
Oil prices tick higher as Iran issues demands to reopen Strait of Hormuz
Oil futures rose 1.2% on Sunday after Tehran said it was not engaging in negotiations with the United States and submitted a list of demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose about 1.2% to $84.58 a barrel, and US crude rose about 1.1% to $79.28 a barrel.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump said the US is “low-keying” negotiations with Iran.
Tehran is demanding the US end its attacks on Iran and its regional allies, end the blockade of Iran’s ports, remove US military forces around Iran, lift US sanctions, unfreeze Iranian assets and compensate for war damages.
Oil tankers have been largely unable to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since Iran closed the critical waterway after fighting resumed in July. The renewed tensions essentially undid the ceasefire agreement signed in June, which included reopening the strait, through which about 20% of the world’s oil flows.
Tehran is in talks with Oman to approve safe passage through the strait but has warned that does not mean reopening the waterway.
Stalled oil flows have been exacerbated by the Iran-backed Houthis effectively blocking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait connecting the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea. The Houthi rebels also attacked a Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea coast.
US gas prices have remained higher, as they follow the trend set by oil prices. The national average for a gallon of gas was $4.01 on Sunday, down eight cents from a week ago, but 34.6% higher than before the war began.
Stock futures, meanwhile, opened flat.
Trump says US is “semi-negotiating” with Iran. There's little sign of progress on talks
President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States is “low-keying” negotiations with Iran and signaled an emphasis on increasing economic pressure on the country.
For its part, Tehran has said no direct talks can take place until the US honors the agreements from an interim deal signed in June — leaving the status of diplomatic efforts unclear.
Catch up on the latest developments below:
- “We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” Trump said in a phone interview with Axios. The president said Iran “is in very bad shape” economically and does not have money to pay soldiers. His comments come during a tenuous pause in strikes between the countries.
- Earlier Sunday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran is not engaged in talks with the US, adding that Tehran will not negotiate if Washington continues to breach the initial agreement from June.
- The Defense Department has urged US military contractors to ramp up weapons production amid concerns that stockpiles are running low during the war with Iran.
- Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has replaced his representative to the country’s Supreme National Security Council.
- We’ll be watching for the oil futures market to open later this evening, after a weekend of back-and-forth developments on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran and Oman appear close to a deal on managing the key waterway, but Iran’s national security chief issued a list of demands Saturday that he said the US must fulfill before the strait reopens, dampening hopes for an immediate boost to oil shipping.
- Meanwhile, Yemen’s military said it thwarted a new attack by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, hours after the militant group claimed strikes against Saudi Arabian forces in the country. Recent Houthi attacks underline the risk of Iranian proxies escalating the Middle East conflict.
This post has been updated for additional developments.
CNN’s Tim Lister, Ibrahim Dahman, Catherine Nicholls, Aileen Graef, Christian Sierra and Molly English contributed to this report.
Iran’s supreme leader names Rezaei his representative to national security council
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei has appointed Mohsen Rezaei as his representative to the country’s Supreme National Security Council, replacing Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, according to a decree published Sunday.
Rezaei is a senior Iranian military adviser and former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Citing Rezaei’s “valuable experience,” Khamenei described him as a pioneer of the eight-year “Sacred Defense,” Iran’s term for the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War.
“I wish you every success in carrying out this important responsibility,” the decree said. Khamenei also thanked Zolghadr for his “tireless efforts.”
Over the weekend, state media published a list of demands from Zolghadr that included the lifting of US naval blockade, withdrawal of military forces, and a permanent end to the war.
It is unclear whether Rezaei’s appointment affects the status of those demands.
Trump says US is “low-keying” negotiations with Iran
President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States is “low-keying” negotiations with Iran and signaled an emphasis on increasing economic pressure on the country.
“We are low-keying it,” Trump said in a phone interview with Axios.
“We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” he said.
Trump told Axios that Iran “is in very bad shape” economically, saying Tehran does not have money to pay soldiers.
The president’s comments come amid a new set of demands from the Iranians on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier today that Iran and the US are not engaged in talks.
“It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game,” Trump said.
We’re watching for an update on the oil market later this evening
The oil futures market opens at 6 p.m. ET, providing our first glimpse at prices after another weekend of uncertainty regarding the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian and Omani officials appear close to a deal on managing the key waterway, but Iran’s national security chief issued a list of demands Saturday that he said the US must fulfill before the strait reopens, dampening hopes for an immediate boost to oil shipping.
Here’s where prices stood entering the weekend:
US drivers got some mild relief on gas prices over the past seven days, with the average cost of a gallon down about 8 cents — but still well above levels at this time last year:
Pentagon asks defense companies to ramp up weapons production amid concerns over stockpile
The Defense Department has urged US military contractors to ramp up weapons production amid concerns that stockpiles are running low as the Iran war continues.
A memo written on Wednesday by Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg gave leaders in the industry no more than 21 days to submit plans to “drive significantly faster, more aggressive delivery schedules and/or increased production for critical capabilities.” The memo was first reported by the Washington Post.
“The August 5 memo is real. It will inform the fiscal year 2028 budget submitted to Congress for funding, and it is entirely consistent with our ongoing push to rebuild the defense industrial base. The fiscal year 2027 budget currently being considered on Capitol Hill could supercharge this effort today,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told CNN.
Parnell defended the memo, saying working directly with industry leaders is “not new.”
“Deputy Secretary Feinberg is a generational leader in that effort, driving the hard work of fixing our broken, antiquated, and immensely complex acquisitions system so we can actually produce the weapons our warfighters need at the pace the threat demands,” he said.
Yemeni armed forces say they repelled Houthi attack on Mocha
Yemen’s government armed forces said they “thwarted a treacherous terrorist attack by the Houthi militia,” hours after the Iran-backed militant group claimed it carried out an attack on Saudi forces in the Yemeni city of Mocha.
Forces intercepted an “explosive-laden drone boat” targeting the commercial port of Mocha, on the Red Sea, the government said.
The Houthis previously claimed they used “a large number of ballistic missiles and drones” in their attack on Mocha.
The government forces also said that the Houthis “launched an intense and indiscriminate missile bombardment of densely populated residential areas in Mocha,” and that several missiles fell in the vicinity of the a building belonging to a local television channel and near an Immigration and Passports Authority building.
It is not clear if both sides were referencing the same attack or whether there were two separate attempted strikes on Mocha.
Abbas Araghchi: Iran's foreign minister, veteran negotiator and nuclear expert
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a short while ago that Iran is not engaged in talks with the US, adding that Tehran will not start discussions if Washington continues to breach an interim deal the two sides signed in June.
Araghchi has a wealth of negotiating experience, with nearly 30 years in a variety of diplomatic roles.
Now 63, Araghchi was born in the central city of Esfahan and volunteered to fight in the Iraq-Iran war as a teenager, as did tens of thousands of young Iranians. After receiving a doctorate at the University of Kent in England, Araghchi joined the Iranian Foreign Ministry, and over the past 20 years has been a member of Iranian delegations on nuclear issues.
Other negotiators described him as highly competent with a command of the details. He was instrumental in negotiating the 2015 agreement with the West, Russia and China that set limits on Iran’s nuclear program before US President Donald Trump quit the accord in his first term.
Araghchi was appointed Foreign Minister in 2024 by President Masoud Pezeshkian, with a mandate to secure sanctions relief. He was soon negotiating with US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missiles programs — talks that ultimately failed.
Dozens of senior Iranian officials have been assassinated in airstrikes since the conflict began at the end of February but Araghchi does not appear to have been a target, perhaps because he is seen as a possible interlocutor in any settlement.
But to many commentators, Araghchi has been eclipsed by other officials closer to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and to the new supreme leader.
Houthis claim two separate attacks on Saudis, and Israel rejects Gaza peace plan. Catch up
The Iran-backed Houthi militant group has claimed to have carried out two separate attacks on Saudi Arabian targets today, as tensions continue to escalate in the Middle East.
We’ve been bringing you developments from across the region today. Here’s the latest:
- The Houthis claimed that today that they carried out a “large-scale and precise military operation” targeting Saudi forces in the Yemeni city of Mocha on the Red Sea, hours after they claimed an attack on Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery.
- Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says they are not engaged in talks with the US, adding that Tehran will not start discussions if Washington continues to breach an interim deal the two sides signed in June.
- Images of Iran’s supreme leader out in public will soon be released for the first time since his appointment in March, Iran’s official state-run Mizan news agency said, citing Basij Organisation deputy Qasem Qoraishi. There has been wide speculation about his health for months.
- Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the latest US plan to move towards the next stage of peace in Gaza, demanding the full disarmament of Hamas before any Israeli forces withdraw from the enclave.
- Netanyahu also said that as long as he is prime minister, “no Palestinian state will be established — not in Gaza and not in the West Bank.”
CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman, Aida Karimi, Sophie Tanno, Eugenia Yosef and Tim Lister contributed to this reporting.
Images of Iran's supreme leader to be released, state media reports
Images of Iran’s supreme leader out in public will soon be released for the first time since his appointment in March, Iran’s official state-run Mizan news agency cited Basij Organisation deputy Qasem Qoraishi as saying. There has been wide speculation about his health for months.
Yesterday, Iranian state media shared an undated video of Khamenei, the first since his appointment following the assassination of his father Ali Khamenei at the start of the Iran war. The footage showed Khamenei giving a religious lesson to a group of people and appears to have been taken before the war. The post provided no detail on the timing of the footage.
There have been questions over the supreme leader’s health and whether he had been injured during US-Israeli airstrikes earlier this year, with sources who spoke to CNN at the time of Mojtaba’s election saying he had suffered a fractured foot, as well as minor lacerations to his face, on the first day of the US and Israel’s bombardment campaign. The are no signs of injury in the latest footage.
The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) also on Sunday reported that Khamenei had held a meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, to discuss the nation’s “military and economic affairs.”
“During the meeting, the two held detailed discussions on the country’s challenges, particularly measures to address people’s cost-of-living needs, the current state of the Third Imposed War and the outlook ahead,” IRNA reported, referring to the current US-Israeli war with Iran.
CNN’s Hanna Ziady and Valey Arya contributed reporting.
Houthi attacks come after Saudi Arabia signed defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey
The Iran-backed Houthi rebel group claimed today that it targeted Saudi Arabian forces in the Yemeni city of Mocha and separately mounted an attack on a major Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea coast.
Notably, these reported attacks come just days after Pakistan and Turkey signed a NATO-style mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia in Mecca.
The pact stipulates that an attack on any of the three countries “shall be regarded as attack on them all.”
The official rationale for the agreement is “to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression” and further provide “for the enhancement of all aspects of defense cooperation among the three states,” according to a statement released by all three countries.
Turkey has the second-largest military in NATO, behind only the US, while Pakistan is the only nuclear-armed Muslim nation.
Iranian officials have warned since Friday that the mutual defense pact will not guarantee Saudi Arabia’s security, attempting to downplay the agreement.
“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,” Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on Friday.
CNN’s Sophia Saifi, Issy Ronald and Abbas Al Lawati contributed to this reporting.
Houthis claim lethal attack on Yemeni city of Mocha
The Iran-backed Houthi militant group claimed a short while ago that it had carried out a “large-scale and precise military operation” targeting Saudi forces in the Yemeni city of Mocha on the Red Sea.
It claimed the attack was carried out in response to Saudi Arabia’s “continued mobilization and reinforcement of its forces with weapons and equipment,” as well as attacks in western Yemen, the Houthis said in a statement.
Images circulating on social media and verified by CNN appear to show large plumes of smoke over Mocha. CNN has attempted to reach out to the Interior Ministry of Yemen’s United Nations-backed government for comment.
The Houthis said the strike on the city was “accurate” and that it “resulted in widespread destruction of equipment and weapons, and the death and injury of dozens, including Saudis, using a large number of ballistic missiles and drones.”
Yemen TV, which is owned by the country’s internationally recognized government, said the Houthis were “working to destroy the infrastructure of the Yemeni people by targeting commercial ports and deepening the siege against the civilian population.”
Some context: The war in Yemen dates back over a decade, and is primarily a conflict between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognized government.
After the Arab Spring in 2011, the Houthis seized a northern province and later the capital Sanaa, which they still hold, along with much of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline.
US-allied Saudi Arabia spent seven years trying and failing to dislodge the Houthis from northern Yemen, launching a large-scale offensive against the militant group in 2015. The ensuing conflict provoked one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
This post has been updated with developments. CNN’s Farida Elsebai, Nadeen Ebrahim and Anna Cooban contributed to this reporting.
Iran's Foreign Ministry stresses no talks with US while interim deal is violated
Iran and the US are not engaged in talks and Tehran will not start discussions if Washington continues to breach an interim deal between the two countries signed in June, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.
However, he added that Iran was continuing to exchange messages through intermediaries, and that these intermediaries were trying to find ways to resume negotiations.
Regarding ongoing negotiations with Oman to reach a deal to allow safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, Araghchi said they have “progressed well” and are now in the final stages, with the two countries set to determine a new sea route in the key waterway.
Iran sets out conditions to reopen Strait of Hormuz, as Houthis claim Saudi attack
Eyes are once again on the Strait of Hormuz today, after Iran issued a list of concessions the US must make in order for the vital waterway to be reopened.
Catch up on the latest developments below:
Strait of Hormuz
- Both Iran and Oman have both offered positive signals that an agreement on navigation through the Strait of Hormuz could be in reach, though Tehran was quick to state that the deal would not result in the waterway reopening immediately.
Iranian demands
- Iran’s national security chief made a list of demands for the US to fulfill before the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, including measures such as an end to the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, withdrawing military forces and permanently ending the war.
- The US is seeking to “maximize the amount of oil and gas…coming out of the Strait of Hormuz,” American Vice President JD Vance told Fox News yesterday, as Iran and Oman signaled progress on their deal to manage the waterway.
Expanding conflict
- Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed an attack today on Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery, a major crude oil refinery located on the Red Sea coast in southwestern Saudi Arabia, as the conflict between Riyadh and the Iran-backed militant group continues to escalate.
- Yemeni forces conducted a military operation targeting the Houthis yesterday, according to a statement published by Yemen’s Defense Ministry. The Houthis have “plundered” the country’s resources and wealth, “devastated” its economy, and “dragged Yemen into regional conflicts in service of foreign agendas and schemes,” the spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces said in a video statement.
CNN’s Hanna Ziady, Valey Arya, Eyad Kourdi, Sophie Tanno, Mitchell McCluskey, Julia Benbrook and Ibrahim Dahman contributed to this reporting.
Iran piles pressure on the US as it nears agreement with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz
The list of demands from Iran can’t have surprised the White House. Hardliners have been repeating the mantra on a daily basis: the limited agreement in the works with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz is not the same as reopening the vital waterway.
For that, they say, “America must correct its behavior.”
On Saturday, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, a highly influential figure in the Revolutionary Guards, set out what that correction would entail.
Zolghadr demanded the US lift its naval blockade and withdraw its military forces from around Iran.
The US must pay damages caused to Iran by the wars this year and in June last year (which was principally conducted by Israel), he said. And it must lift sanctions and release, unconditionally, Iranian assets frozen abroad.
The implication of Zolghadr’s statement was that these conditions must be fulfilled before or in tandem with any compromise on the strait, which US President Donald Trump has consistently pledged to reopen.
Iran’s demands are at odds with the memorandum of understanding reached with the US in June, which held that sanctions would be fully removed once a final deal regarding Iran’s nuclear program was reached and envisaged a phased release of assets
The Trump administration has not responded to the latest Iranian demands.
“What we’re really working through now is how you can actually set up a traffic scheme so that the ships that pass can pass through safely,” US Vice President JD Vance told Fox News on Saturday.
Houthis claim drone attack on Saudi oil refinery after fire breaks out
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed an attack on Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery Sunday, a major crude oil refinery located on the Red Sea coast in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, the Houthis said they “successfully targeted the Aramco refinery in Jazan with a drone,” adding that the attack was “in response to the Saudi enemy’s drones incursions into the airspace of Saada and Hajjah governorates.”
The Saudi Energy Ministry said a fire had broken out at dawn at a facility belonging to Saudi Aramco’s refinery in Jazan, that was extinguished by the company’s firefighting teams. It added that no injuries had been reported.
Remember: The incident comes as the Middle East war has been expanding. The Houthis are one of several Iranian proxies that have threatened to widen the conflict with the rebel group striking commercial shipping and recently ramping up attacks targeting Saudi Arabia.
For Riyadh, the revived Houthi threat is sabotaging its attempts to reroute millions of barrels of oil from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea for export as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut.
Aramco is the world’s top oil exporter. On Tuesday, the company’s CEO Amin Nasser, said 2.6 billion barrels of crude have been lost from global supplies during the war with Iran, Reuters reported.
Both Iran and Oman have claims to the Strait of Hormuz
Iran says it is “very close” to a deal with Oman on managing the Strait of Hormuz, but that an agreement won’t be sufficient on its own to reopen the vital waterway.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said under the agreement, vessels would transit the strait via a temporary route until the countries agreed to a new route that would replace the historic “Traffic Separation Scheme,” which ships had been using before the war.
The waterway has been effectively 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.
CNN’s Hanna Ziady, Aida Karimi and Sana Noor Haq contributed to this reporting.
US must meet Iran’s demands before reopening Strait of Hormuz, says security chief. Here’s the latest.
Tehran has issued a list of demands for the US to meet before it will agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to state media.
Meanwhile, fighting persists in Yemen, where troops carried out a military operation against Iran-backed Houthi militants on Saturday.
Here is the latest:
- Iran sets conditions: Tehran’s national security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr called for the US to lift its naval blockade, withdraw military forces and end the war permanently. “Until America corrects its behavior, the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened,” he said Saturday, in a statement published in state media.
- Managing Hormuz: Iran and Oman say they are close to striking a deal to manage the vital waterway. However, Oman urged caution, saying ongoing attacks on shipping could derail progress.
- Washington’s next move: Sources tell CNN the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has privately emphasized that the US needs to find an off-ramp from the war with Iran, as escalating militarily could backfire.
- In Yemen: Troops from Yemen’s internationally recognized government launched a military operation against Iran-backed Houthi militants on Saturday. A spokesperson for Yemen’s armed forces criticized the group, saying it has “dragged Yemen into regional conflicts in service of foreign agendas and schemes.”
- Supreme leader: Iranian state media released a video of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since assuming his role as the nation’s top political and religious figure. The video, shared Saturday, was undated which will likely only fuel speculation over his whereabouts and health.
Trump administration faces tough choices on the path forward in Iran
Over the last few weeks, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine has privately made clear to other top advisers that the US needs to find an off-ramp from the war with Iran.
The military options on the table to escalate the conflict could backfire and airpower alone is unlikely to achieve President Donald Trump’s stated objectives, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
Caine is not alone in his view that the war has reached a crossroads. He has discussed concerns about the military options for escalating the conflict and raised the prospect of finding an off-ramp from the war with other key Cabinet officials, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, two of the sources said.
The top US general has recently side-barred with some of those key, like-minded Trump advisers in an effort to ensure they are on the same page ahead of meetings with the president. The aim has been to make clear the limitations and pitfalls of the available military options, including those that do not involve putting US boots on the ground, the sources said.
Trump has consistently appeared averse to the idea of deploying ground troops in Iran, instead signaling he believes that air bombing can force them to agree to a deal on his terms.
Caine and others in Trump’s Cabinet privately view that outcome as unlikely and instead have sought to develop other options that fit within the president’s own parameters, according to multiple sources familiar with recent discussions.
Read the full story on the US military’s options in Iran here.
