Iran says it’s in the final stage of drafting an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz waterway with Oman, while two Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon. Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Thursday. Iran says a deal with Oman is close Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, has said an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz with Oman, which lies on the other side of the waterway, is in the “final stage” of drafting. Speaking Wednesday, he said a joint statement will be issued “if certain parties do not obstruct this process,” apparently referring to the U.S. The agreement is likely to be contingent on the U.S. lifting its blockade on Iran’s ports. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly said Thursday that any temporary routes through the Strait of Hormuz will not have impediments such as approvals, permissions, tolls or charges. Asked Thursday if a deal has been reached with Iran to reopen the vital waterway, U.S. President Donald Trump said he didn’t want to say. “It has been sort of open right now,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. The strait is crucial to global shipping and energy supplies. Before the war, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in February, about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through the waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Ships struck over the past week in the Strait of Hormuz At least two Greek-controlled ships were hit in the Strait of Hormuz in the past week, while several others reported near misses or warnings from entities claiming to represent Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, according to maritime data company Lloyd’s List Intelligence. The company added that Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels continued to claim attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The claims could not be independently verified. Vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz increased to 84 transits during the week of July 27 to Aug. 2, up from 45 the previous week. But traffic is still far below the more than 700 transits seen in a typical week before the crisis, Lloyd’s List said. Yemen’s Houthis kill 30 government forces in major attack More than 10 civilians, including a 4-year-old child, were injured in Saudi Arabia on Thursday after a series of attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, according to the Saudi military. The attacks, which took place in the southern region of Najran, near the Yemeni border, came hours after the Iran-backed rebels claimed responsibility for another series of strikes in central and eastern Yemen that killed at least 30 government troops and wounded at least 50 others. The back-to-back attacks mark a major escalation since a truce in 2022 largely halted fighting. The civil war pits the Iran-backed Houthis against a Saudi-led coalition allied with Yemen’s internationally recognized government. A Houthi leader said Saudi-backed troops were targeted in the attacks and that “hundreds” were either killed or injured. The assaults hit camps for forces of the internationally recognized government in the provinces of Marib and Hadramout, the Yemeni officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi military, said the later attack wounded seven Saudi nationals, one Yemeni, two Egyptians and one Pakistani expatriate. The Houthis did not release any statement. Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year. Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon as negotiators meet in Rome Two Israeli soldiers were killed and another four were seriously wounded in an explosion in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said Thursday. The deaths are Israel’s first since a shaky truce was implemented in June between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The Israeli army launched strikes Wednesday in southern Lebanon in response to what it described as Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire and issued a call for residents of another village to flee — the first such warning Israel has issued in Lebanon for weeks. The escalation came as Lebanese and Israeli negotiators met in Rome to discuss implementation of the June deal under which Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw from areas they occupy in southern Lebanon, in exchange for Hezbollah’s disarmament. Uganda approves sending troops for international force in Gaza Ugandan authorities won parliamentary approval Thursday to deploy troops as part of the International Stabilization Force for Gaza. The 20,000-strong force, proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in February to ensure “future prosperity and enduring peace,” has not yet materialized. Several other countries pledged troops to the mission, including Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Albania and Indonesia, which has since put its commitment of troops on indefinite hold. The Gaza ceasefire has stalled, as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that Israel will not withdraw from its current lines in Gaza until Hamas has completely disarmed. Israeli settler charged in West Bank killing of Palestinian activist Israeli prosecutors have charged a settler with the killing of a Palestinian community leader last year in the occupied West Bank. Prosecutors accuse Yinon Levi of reckless manslaughter in the death of prominent Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen in July 2025. The charge holds a lesser punishment than murder under Israeli law. The indictment also charges Levi with armed trespassing and malicious property damage. It is extremely rare for Israel to charge settlers with violence against Palestinians. Israeli rights group B’Tselem said the charges against Levi mark the first time since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that an Israeli has been indicted for the death of a Palestinian in the West Bank. In that time, the group said, Israeli settlers and soldiers have killed at least 1,100 Palestinians in the territory. Iraq moves to crack down on armed militia groups Iraq said Thursday that any armed activity outside of state authority after Sept. 30 will be prosecuted under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Law, the latest move in a push to bring all weapons under government control. Several powerful, Iran-backed armed factions have rejected calls to surrender weapons or dissolve their organizations, saying they remain committed to the “option of resistance.” Saudi Arabia and the U.S. launched strikes on Iraq last week after Riyadh accused Iraqi militias of using drones to attack its oil facilities. The retaliatory strikes in Iraq hit bases of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a collection of armed groups close to Iran that are officially part of Iraq’s security forces but often operate outside of state control. The Associated Press
