Iran says a deal with Oman to reopen the strait of Hormuz is close to being finalised – Middle East crisis live

Senior Democrats have accused Donald Trump’s administration of giving a green light to violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, warning that its policies created “a climate of impunity and unbridled violence” that endangers both Palestinians and US citizens.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, a group of 19 Democratic senators and representatives call for the restoration of sanctions against extremist settlers and demand independent US investigations into the deaths of nine US citizens killed in the West Bank since 2022.

The letter, signed by Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren among others, is addressed to Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary.

It argues that Trump’s promise last year that “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank” has been undermined by events on the ground. “In practice,” the Democrats write, “violent settlers and the [Benjamin] Netanyahu government have proceeded to rapidly extend Israeli control over civilian populations in the region.”

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A third day of US-mediated talks between Lebanese and Israeli negotiators have begun in Rome, as Beirut seeks Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

The negotiations are taking place a day after Israeli strikes killed at least one person and injured 11 others in the southern Lebanese town of Tebnine, while two IDF soldiers died in an explosion in the village of Majdal Zoun.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported further Israeli strikes overnight in Burj al-Shamali near the city of Tyre, injuring eight people.

The Associated Press has reported that Israeli prosecutors have charged a settler over the killing of Palestinian community leader Awdah Hathaleen in the occupied West Bank, according to an indictment filed with a district court.

Prosecutors allege that Yinon Levi, who lives at an outpost near Hebron, was responsible for Hathaleen’s death in July last year and charged him with reckless manslaughter. The indictment also includes charges of armed trespassing and intentional property damage.

Israeli rights group B’Tselem said the case is the first time since the 7 October 2023 attacks that an Israeli has been indicted for the killing of a Palestinian in the West Bank. The group said Israeli settlers and soldiers have killed at least 1,100 Palestinians in the territory during that period.

Hathaleen was a prominent voice advocating against settler violence and was involved in the 2025 Oscar-winning film No Other Land, which follows Palestinian activists and residents documenting the struggle to preserve their villages in the face of demolitions and displacement. A teacher and father of three, Hathaleen often hosted international activists and dignitaries in his home, AP reported.

Levi was among the Israeli settlers sanctioned by the US and other western nations over allegations of violence toward Palestinians in 2024. US President Donald Trump lifted the sanctions after taking office the following year.

Here are some pictures from southern Lebanon showing the aftermath of overnight Israeli strikes, which the country’s official National News Agency said injured eight people:

Donald Trump has hit back at media reports suggesting the US was running low on weapons after five months of war with Iran.

He said the US has “massive amounts of “munitions,” especially of certain types”, without giving further detail.

The Washington Post reported that the US president and defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, clashed during a cabinet meeting at Camp David last Friday over the munitions shortages. It meant Trump had to pull back from launching massive strikes on Iran in recent days, sources told the newspaper.

CNN also reported that dwindling supplies of long-range guided missiles and air defence interceptors have constrained the US’s military strategy in the conflict with Iran. According to sources cited by the network, the US has depleted nearly 80% of its terminal high-altitude area defence (THAAD) interceptors and 50% of its Patriot systems, leaving stockpiles “dangerously low”.

The Pentagon spokesperson, Sean Parnell, said the reports were “fictional”.

Writing on his Truth Social app, Trump said:

The U.S. has massive amounts of “munitions,” especially of certain types. Additionally, large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed. Defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history. The “leakers” of these treasonous statements are being hunted down. Long term jail sentences will be sought!

An Israeli strike that killed Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil and injured her colleague Zeinab Faraj in April was a war crime, three rights organisations said on Thursday.

Investigations from Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International and Legal Agenda showed that Israel deliberately and directly attacked Khalil and Faraj, with apparent knowledge that they were civilians. The organisations called for the attacks to be investigated as war crimes, while HRW called for states to halt arm sales to Israel and put targeted sanctions on Israeli officials responsible for ongoing crimes.

Deliberate attacks on civilians, which both journalists were, is a war crime. Israel has killed at least 15 journalists in Lebanon and 210 in Gaza since 2023, according to the UN human rights office.

The reports also indicated that Israel delayed Lebanese ambulances from reaching Khalil and Faraj for hours – at one pointing dropping stun grenades on Lebanese Red Cross workers and firing on their ambulances.

The delay in rescue might have led to Khalil’s death, as hospital reports indicate that she might have still been alive hours after an Israeli strike toppled a building on top of her and Faraj.

“The evidence is clear that the Israeli military knew, or should have, that Faraj and Khalil were civilians, but attacked them anyway, and then prevented paramedics from rescuing them for hours,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.

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Pakistan, which has played a key role in mediating talks between the US and Iran, said it hopes the Hormuz deal will pave the way for the resumption of talks under the memorandum of understanding signed by both countries in June.

“We hope that the agreement on the strait will pave the way for continuing dialogue, particularly the resumption of technical level talks between Iran and the United States,” foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said at a press briefing today.

Welcome to our live coverage of the latest in the ongoing Middle East crisis.

Iran said a deal with Oman to reopen the strait of Hormuz is close to being finalised, with reports suggesting Tehran would have control over ships entering the Gulf through the strategic waterway.

Both countries, which sit on opposite ends of the narrow strait, have been engaged in talks to jointly manage the key shipping route, which has been effectively closed since the start of the war in February. Iran has insisted the strait would not operate as it did before the conflict, as an open international waterway that carried about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply, as it seeks greater control over the flow of maritime traffic through the channel. Several media reports, citing sources familiar with the talks, suggest Oman would oversee outbound shipping through the strait.

But despite reports of potentially one of the biggest concessions yet to Iran, Reuters news agency said Iranian sources ⁠rejected US President Donald Trump’s claims that a deal to reopen the strait was imminent, saying important details ​were still to be agreed.

“The concession has already been made regarding some form of control over Hormuz,” one of the sources said.

Iran has also said that reopening the strait would hinge on the US lifting its blockade of Iranian ports.

Trump told Fox News earlier this week that talks over the strait were “moving along nicely”, adding that the strait “is going to be open very soon”.

Here’s our full report from last night on the proposed deal between Iran and Oman:

In Yemen, meanwhile, the Iran-backed Houthis said yesterday they had attacked two Saudi oil tankers with ballistic missiles, amid the group’s maritime blockade of the kingdom.

In other developments

• Two Israeli reserve soldiers were killed and four seriously injured in an explosion southern Lebanon, the military said this morning – the first Israeli deaths since the fragile truce between Israel and the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah in June. An Israeli military official told the Associated Press that “an explosion was detonated” when the soldiers entered a site in the village of Majdal Zoun and that the nature of the explosive was under review.

• One person was killed and 12 wounded in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese town of Tebnine, Lebanon’s health ministry said. The Israeli military earlier told residents of the southern Lebanese village of Mansouri to evacuate – the first such order in more than a month – saying it was in response to a Hezbollah ceasefire violation.

• The escalations came despite ongoing US-backed talks in Rome aimed at ending hostilities. Israel requested that yesterday’s talks with Lebanon end three hours early, a source told AFP, saying the Israeli delegation’s head had blamed alleged “misleading leaks” by the Lebanese side. But the talks are expected to resume today for a third and final day.

• A Houthi military spokesperson said its latest attacks targeted the eighth and ninth Saudi oil tankers since the start of its blockade last month. Saudi authorities had no immediate comment.

• Shipping traffic through the Hormuz and ⁠Bab-el-Mandeb straits – the key maritime chokepoints in the Gulf – reduced significantly yesterday from the ⁠previous ​day, shipping data showed.