Iran / Israel / U.S. / Lebanon / Energy crisis watch

U.S. President Donald Trump told Axios he is "low keying it" with Tehran and did not issue new threats of major strikes. He repeated that Iran is still the focus of pressure, but reported that no fresh U.S. military action was announced after Iran and mediators circulated updated Strait of Hormuz reopening terms. Axios said Iran’s new terms still condition strait access on war-ending steps, sanctions relief, and release of frozen Iranian assets.

Local time

12:55 PM New York time, Aug 9, 2026

Location

Washington, DC, United States

Relationship

Update

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there had been progress in discussions with Iran and Oman on getting more ships through the Strait of Hormuz, while confirming no final agreement had been reached. He said the United States is involved in those Oman-Iran negotiations, and framed the sequencing: "The denuclearization of Iran is the ultimate deal. I think the immediate deal, the one that you see a lot of focus on, is the strait." The remarks followed a threat by Trump referring to decapitation.

Local time

3:00 PM New York time, Aug 4, 2026

Location

Washington, D.C., United States

Relationship

Update

Iran said its talks with Oman on passage through the Strait of Hormuz were advancing positively, while continuing to deny direct negotiations with Washington. A Qatari official separately said diplomatic efforts to end the war were ongoing.

Local time

6:00 PM Tehran time, Aug 4, 2026

Location

Tehran, Iran / Muscat, Oman

Relationship

Update

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that a deal could be reached with Iran "today or tomorrow" to open the Strait of Hormuz to freedom of movement, saying "We are in talks with the Iranians." The claim echoed Trump's statement the previous day that talks were going on right now, and was contradicted the same day by Tehran.

Local time

9:00 AM New York time, Aug 4, 2026

Location

Washington, D.C., United States

Relationship

Update

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X that "no negotiations have been held with the US," hours after Trump described very good and productive conversations. Ghalibaf added that "fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped."

Local time

10:00 AM Tehran time, Aug 4, 2026

Location

Tehran, Iran

Relationship

Update

Trump said talks were under way and described the moment as a last chance for a deal, after the strikes he had ordered were called off. Tehran urged Washington to honour the June 17 memorandum it says the United States disregarded from the outset.

Local time

1:00 PM New York time, Aug 3, 2026

Location

Washington, D.C., United States

Relationship

Update

Iran's foreign ministry said there were no negotiations underway with the United States, and that its talks were with Oman on management of the Strait of Hormuz. The statement directly contradicted the Monday negotiations Trump had announced the day before. Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei had earlier said the strait "will in no way return to the status it was before February 28th."

Local time

11:00 AM Tehran time, Aug 3, 2026

Location

Tehran, Iran

Relationship

Update

Trump cancelled the planned strike on Iran, saying the "perimeters" of a deal had been reached and that negotiations with Tehran would begin Monday, with no deadline set. He said Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iran had all asked him to call it off. Iranian military sources rejected the account that Tehran had pleaded for restraint as a "new lie," and acting Defence Minister Majid Ebn-e-Reza called the pullback part of "psychological operations and a war of calculations." Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said separately that the Oman track on the strait was progressing.

Local time

4:00 PM New York time, Aug 2, 2026

Location

Washington, D.C., United States

Relationship

Update

The State Department issued warnings to U.S. citizens across the Middle East as reporting indicated Washington was preparing fresh strikes on Iran as soon as that weekend. Trump had told a Cabinet meeting the previous day, "We will be hitting them very hard." Mediators from Qatar and Pakistan worked to head off the escalation, including calls with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. Separately, the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre reported a tanker struck by an unknown projectile near the entrance to the strait off Oman.

Local time

2:00 PM New York time, Aug 1, 2026

Location

Washington, D.C. / Middle East

Relationship

Update

United Against Nuclear Iran reported that since U.S. forces reimposed the blockade on July 14, they had redirected 24 commercial vessels attempting to run it, disabled two that did not comply and boarded two more, as of July 30. The same tracking counted 66 tankers leaving the Gulf of Oman laden with Iranian oil and petrochemicals since the June 14 memorandum, roughly 80 million barrels. Laden tankers are clustering in anchorages along the Iranian coast.

Local time

3:00 PM New York time, Jul 31, 2026

Location

Gulf of Oman / Iranian coast

Relationship

Update

The Bermuda-flagged liquefied natural gas carrier Gaslog Shanghai was struck by a projectile and disabled while exiting the Strait of Hormuz carrying Qatari LNG.

Local time

12:00 PM Dubai time, Jul 31, 2026

Location

Strait of Hormuz

Relationship

Update

Iranian state broadcaster Press TV reported blasts in southern Iran in the early hours of Thursday local time, including at the port city of Bandar Abbas near the Strait of Hormuz and around Gulf islands including Kish. The Revolutionary Guard said it would "punish the aggressor today," warned that states assisting the United States would receive a harsh response, and asserted it retains full control of the strait.

Local time

2:00 AM Tehran time, Jul 30, 2026

Location

Bandar Abbas and Kish Island, Iran

Relationship

Update

Brent crude rose more than 7 percent to 90.66 dollars a barrel by 2:30 p.m. Eastern after Trump said it was "our turn" following the intercepted Iranian attack and promised a response. The United States said it had completed a round of strikes on Iran.

Local time

2:30 PM New York time, Jul 29, 2026

Location

Washington, D.C. / global oil market

Relationship

Update

President Masoud Pezeshkian urged Iranians to stand firm against what he called the enemy, as the United States accused the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of carrying out surprise ballistic missile attacks on American positions.

Local time

7:00 PM Tehran time, Jul 29, 2026

Location

Tehran, Iran

Relationship

Update

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the United States for talks that Trump characterised as friendly, while Tehran publicly restated that it intends to retain control over passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Local time

4:00 PM New York time, Jul 28, 2026

Location

Washington, D.C., United States

Relationship

Update

U.S. forces intercepted what officials described as a surprise attack by Iran on American positions in the Middle East. The United States said it also struck Iran-aligned groups in Iraq in an operation carried out alongside Saudi forces.

Local time

10:00 AM Dubai time, Jul 28, 2026

Location

U.S. positions, Middle East

Relationship

Update