Live: Trump says US not seeking to extend interim deal with Iran

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi says Baghdad will not allow its territory or airspace to be utilised for launching attacks against neighbouring countries, according to the Iraqi News Agency. 

"Iraq is working to protect its national security and sovereignty, and it will not allow its territory or airspace to be used as a launching pad for any aggression against neighbouring countries," Zaidi was quoted as saying during a visit to Iraq’s Air Defence Command Operations Centre.

"Iraqi skies and sovereignty are inviolable, and any violation of its airspace or infringement upon its security will not be tolerated from any quarter."

The chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council indicated the government does not want a deal with the Houthis.

"We are not for a new truce that reproduces previous experiences," Rashad al-Alimi said, and instead called for "lasting and sustainable peace" based on a state that holds a monopoly on weapons and sovereignty.

He added that the internationally recognised government has concluded that the Houthis amount to "a project of war and destruction, not a project of peace". 

Alimi also expressed that the international focus has shifted from how to accommodate the Houthis to how to protect Yemen, international navigation, the region and international peace and security.

"There will be no action by the Houthi militias from now on without a response or comprehensive deterrence," he said. "Our strategic objective is to restore state institutions and bring down the (Houthi) coup."

Saudi Arabia opposed Egypt joining the security pact signed with Turkey and Pakistan last week, despite Ankara's push for Cairo to be included, three Saudi sources familiar with the discussions told Middle East Eye.

One of the sources, a former senior adviser to the Saudi monarchy, said Riyadh did not want Egypt to join the agreement "at least for now".

All three sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue, said the Saudi position was driven by a growing frustration with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's government and a belief in Riyadh that Egypt no longer offered the strategic or military value it once did.

The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, which was signed in the Holy Muslim city of Mecca on Friday, commits Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan to regard an armed attack against any one of the three countries as an attack against all three.

According to the sources, the Saudi decision to oppose Egypt's entry was due to simmering tensions between Riyadh and Cairo.

Saudi Arabia reportedly blocked Egypt from joining its defence pact with Turkey and Pakistan, despite Ankara pushing for Cairo's inclusion. Saudi sources told MEE the decision reflects growing tensions with Egypt and doubts over its strategic value. pic.twitter.com/fX2Fg5iQSy

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) August 12, 2026

Hamas has condemned Israel for a Wednesday air strike on Gaza which left one killed and others wounded.

In a statement, the group said that the attack “confirms the occupation’s insistence on thwarting the efforts of the mediators, guarantors and the Board of Peace to reach an agreement that achieves a sustainable ceasefire”.

Lebanon's parliament on Wednesday passed a sweeping and long-awaited amnesty law that should benefit thousands of prisoners and wanted people, in the first legislation of its kind since 1991.

The law, which had been a demand of various political factions and a topic of debate for years, aims to reduce prison overcrowding, with many inmates awaiting trial for years.

The office of the country's parliament speaker announced the "approval of a draft law aimed at granting a general amnesty and exceptionally reducing the terms of certain sentences".

The authorities did not immediately announce the number of people who would benefit from the law.

A general amnesty was brought back into the limelight after the 2024 fall of Syria's former ruler Bashar al-Assad, as many prisoners in Lebanon were jailed over events linked to the Syrian civil war.

Israeli forces detained three Palestinians from Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, on Wednesday, including two who were tending farmland near the Karmei Tzur settlement, according to the Wafa news agency.

The three men, aged 37, 19 and 18, were detained in Khallet al-Kataleh, south of Beit Ummar, the report said.

Israeli forces earlier detained at least seven other Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank, including in areas near Jenin, Ramallah and Tulkarm.

The detainees included journalist Mohammad Awad from Beitunia, a former prisoner from Silat ad-Dhahr and residents of al-Yamun, Silat al-Harithiya, al-Bireh and Shweikeh.

Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree on a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source, who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.

The comments came as US President Donald Trump issued yet another broadside against Iran's leaders, following new attacks on shipping in the region on Tuesday.

The deal agreed in June declared an "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts", but quickly unravelled, with Trump saying it was "over" on 7 July and Iran's foreign ministry declaring it "suspended" a week later.

"One of the issues that is being discussed via mediators is the US returning to the interim agreement and defining a timeframe for implementing the commitments. There has been absolutely no progress on this issue," the Iranian source said.

A group of current and former Palestinianstudents and staff have sued Columbia University, accusing the Ivy League school of discriminating against Palestinians and targeting pro-Palestinian activism on campus.

The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court this week, alleges that Columbia subjected Palestinian students, faculty and staff to unequal treatment following the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 and the ensuing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza perpetrated by Israel.

According to the complaint, Columbia "actively participated in and amplified" what the plaintiffs describe as racially, ethnically and politically motivated targeting of Palestinians.

Read more: Palestinian students and staff sue Columbia University over discrimination

The Israeli military “under no circumstances” will withdraw from land it occupies in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, Israel’s i24 news reported; the defence minister said.

The report said Israel Katz made the statement during a visit today to army positions on the front line in southern Lebanon.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi said that the country will be free of any foreign military presence on its soil and that weapons will be solely under state control by 1 October.

During a meeting with US Central Command Commander Charles Brad Cooper, Zaidi “affirmed the commitment to the agreed-upon timelines”, under which the international coalition’s military mission in Iraq and the withdrawal of its forces will be completed by 30 September, according to a statement published by his office.

1 October will therefore “mark a new day in the history of the Iraqi state”, as the country will be “free of any foreign military presence” and responsible for ensuring its own security and stability, the statement continued.

Zaidi added that weapons will henceforth be held only by state institutions, which will strengthen “the state’s authority and sovereignty, and guarantee security and stability”.

Israel and Lebanon have agreed on Britain, Italy, Switzerland, and Indonesia as potential contributors to a proposed mechanism that could see foreign troops deployed to Lebanon to verify Hezbollah's disarmament, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The shortlist emerged from US-mediated talks in Rome last week, the latest round of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon on implementing a June agreement that ties Israel's phased withdrawal from Lebanon to the disarmament of Hezbollah.

The countries could help define the mechanism's scope, provide personnel to oversee its implementation or contribute troops to observe or take part in inspections verifying disarmament, three sources said.

Since Andy Burnham became prime minister, there has been a serious shift in approach to British foreign policy.

But so far none of it has been made public, beyond a change in the rhetoric of government ministers.

This is set to change after parliament's summer recess.

The government is poised to announce a raft of new policies in September, multiple Whitehall and civil society sources told Middle East Eye.

Read more: Exclusive: UK to announce raft of new policies on Israel including settlement goods ban

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Wednesday condemned Israel's "systematic destruction" in the country's south as a violation of international law, as Israel's defence minister said its military was "destroying all the houses" there.

Salam said Israeli "attacks, incursions, demolitions and the systematic destruction of homes", infrastructure, government buildings and places of worship "represent a serious violation of the principles and rules of international law and international humanitarian law".

He also added that villages and towns "are entirely 'military facilities' does not stand up to any logic and cannot be used as an excuse for destroying them, displacing their inhabitants and preventing them from returning".

The EU and 26 countries condemned Iran's executions of protesters in a joint statement, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday.

The countries called on Iran to listen to its people, take meaningful steps towards ensuring respect for human rights, immediately end the use of the death penalty and release those detained.

An Israeli air strike targeting a three-wheeled vehicle in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya killed one Palestinian and wounded several others, Anadolu reported, citing a medical source.

The wounded were taken to a hospital in Gaza City.