Iran war news Highlights: - Iran's Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad resigns, says state media

Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad has stepped down from his position, with Hamid Bovard, the head of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), taking charge of the ministry in an acting capacity, state media reported on Sunday.

Iranian airlines resumed flights to Iraq's Najaf on Sunday after the United States granted Baghdad an exemption allowing sanctioned Iranian carriers to operate to the city holy to Shia Muslims, as per AFP.

Najaf airport official Hussein Muhanna told AFP that "flights between Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran have resumed via Najaf International Airport."

The first flight was operated by Caspian Airlines with AFP's correspondent at the airport reporting seeing the plane land at 5:15 pm (1415 GMT).

On Friday, the Iraqi government said it had secured an agreement with the US allowing Iranian airlines, except Mahan Air, to operate 40 daily flights to and from Najaf, which is home to one of the most revered shrines in Shia Islam.

---- AFP

Iran is currently assessing a response from the United States regarding a diplomatic proposal put forward during United Nations meetings in New York City.

The proposal, originally outlined by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, was conveyed to Washington through diplomatic intermediaries in an effort to address ongoing regional tensions.

Confirming the latest development, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi stated that Tehran is evaluating the terms delivered by the third-party channels, Al Jazeera reported.

“These views are currently under review in Iran. If the Islamic Republic of Iran’s final response is prepared, the necessary steps will be taken through the appropriate channels,” said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi.

— ANI

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they launched ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco sites in Riyadh and the Khurais area, claiming the attacks caused major fires, in response to what they said were 50 Saudi-led coalition air and missile strikes in Yemen over the past 12 hours.

— Reuters

The leader of Yemen's Saudi-backed government announced the beginning of a major military operation against the Iran-backed Houthis on Sunday, aimed at seizing the territory under their control.

Regional and western officials had previously told Reuters that Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies were planning to launch an assault on the Houthis, with the Saudis leading aerial combat and Yemeni forces fighting on the ground.

"Today, I announce the start of military operations to retake the remaining territory of the republic and extend the authority of the state and its institutions across the entire national territory," Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi said in a televised address.

Saudi Arabia entered neighbouring Yemen's civil war in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition in support of the internationally recognised government, which the Houthis had driven out of the capital Sanaa.

---- Reuters

The Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until seven Iranian conditions set out in a June interim agreement with the US are met, state media reported Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as saying on Sunday.

Iran presented a proposal during the UN General Assembly under which the Strait of Hormuz waterway could be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days if the conditions were met, with the US replying to this proposal last week via Qatari intermediaries.

"The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is completely clear and firm, and the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until our seven conditions, based on the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, are met," Qalibaf, who is Iran's top negotiator, was quoted as saying.

He said Washington “must understand that the period of dragging out the (diplomatic) process and dictating one-sided demands is over”.

— Reuters

Iran's top diplomat insisted on Sunday that there would be no military solution to the United States' war against the Islamic republic, with talks on ending the conflict apparently at an impasse.

A campaign of heavy bombardment failed to bring a decisive close to the war launched by the US and Israel in late February, and Washington in recent weeks has dialled back military operations in favour of economic pressure.

The main point of contention remains Iran's attempt to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, a vital conduit for Gulf oil and gas where a UK maritime agency reported on Sunday another tanker struck by an unknown projectile.

"If our enemies again choose the path of military confrontation, our response will be stronger than before, and we will defend ourselves with even more force," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at a gathering of foreign ambassadors.

"There is no military solution, nor any solution based on new sanctions," he continued, adding "only negotiations based on justice and fairness" could end the conflict.

The two sides agreed a memorandum of understanding in June that spelled out a framework for a permanent resolution, but Iranian attacks on vessels in the Hormuz prompted a return to US military operations.

— AFP

OPEC is set to keep oil production targets steady for November, three sources close to the matter said ahead of the group's meeting on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that there is no military solution to his country's conflict with the United States, with talks on ending the war apparently at an impasse.

"If our enemies again choose the path of military confrontation, our response will be stronger than before, and we will defend ourselves with even more force," Araghchi said at a gathering of foreign ambassadors. "There is no military solution, nor any solution based on new sanctions."

Omar al-Hassayna fled Gaza for Cairo after an Israeli airstrike wiped out much of his large family. Three years on, he remains there waiting for enough stability, security and reconstruction in his still devastated homeland to return.

Hassayna is one of more than 100,000 Gazans who left the enclave during the war that was triggered by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and who remain stranded overseas, according to Palestinian Authority figures. They still mourn dead relatives and their destroyed homes and neighbourhoods.

The Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until seven Iranian conditions set out in a June interim agreement with the US are met, Nournews reported Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as saying on Sunday, a few days after Tehran received Washington's reply to its diplomatic proposal.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has dismissed Houthi claims of an attack on the Saudi capital as “misleading”.

US President Donald Trump’s top national security aides held an unpublicised meeting at Camp David on Friday, conferring for several hours to discuss next steps in the war with Iran alongside the Saudi-backed campaign targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen, Axios reported, citing three US officials.

Israeli soldiers have stormed the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank and arrested at least one Palestinian man, according to local media.

The US aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush arrived off Thailand's resort island of Phuket on Sunday with about 4,800 personnel aboard for a rest-and-recreation break after months of supporting US operations in the Middle East.

Prosecutors in Portugal have opened an investigation into the legality of the government’s authorisation of the US’s use of the Lajes Air Base during ‌the war on Iran.

The Houthis launched a series of large-scale coordinated attacks on government positions. The fighting has now eased somewhat, but both sides continue to exchange artillery fire.

Yemen's government forces said Sunday they had struck Houthi targets around the country, deepening the conflict ravaging one of the world's poorest nations and the wider region.

Two members of Iran's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York were "kicked out" of the United States on Saturday after allegedly failing to comply with a US State Department order to leave the country, Axios reported, citing a US official, as tensions between Washington and Tehran continue to rise amid the West Asia crisis, particularly the Strait of Hormuz.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) said that Washington will take a decision on Iran, stating that the outcome would come either the "easy way or the hard way", while asserting that Iran has been "decimated".