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

Turkish officials suspect that an Israeli intelligence report that said Iran planned to assassinate US President Donald Trump during the Ankara Nato summit last month was a ruse to undermine negotiations with Tehran, Middle East Eye has learnt.

It was around 2pm on 8 July when journalists heard that Turkish security forces were unusually deploying additional units to Ankara Airport, where Trump’s Air Force One was parked.

Ankara was under lockdown for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) summit on 7-8 July. Roads were blocked, pavements were closed, public servants had been granted a week of administrative leave, and the city was largely deserted.

The Turkish government had even transformed an airbase of the Turkish Air Force, Etimesgut Air Base, officially known as Ankara Airport, for the event, allowing heads of state to reach the summit venue within 10 minutes.

Against the backdrop of these extensive security precautions, US officials told their Turkish counterparts that they had received an intelligence report from Israel suggesting Iran could target Trump.

Read more: Turkey suspects Israel fabricated Trump Air Force One assassination plot to derail US-Iran deal

The Syrian foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it "categorically rejects and condemns" Colombia's recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and said that the area "is an inseparable part of [Syrian] territory".

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said that Colombia's position “contradicts international law and relevant international legitimacy resolutions”.

The Saudi foreign ministry said the Gulf kingdom's firm position is that the Golan “is occupied Syrian Arab land”, and that any measures aimed at changing its status “do not create a right or confer legitimacy”. 

A rocket attack hit a training camp for the Iranian Kurdish opposition northeast of the Iraqi city of Erbil on Tuesday, reported Reuters citing security sources.

The sources blamed Iran for the assault, adding that no casualties were reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran has proved itself “a tough and invincible power” by resisting the US and Israel, as collapsing shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz pushes oil prices higher.

“I have heard this many times from foreign ministers and officials from other countries: ‘You Iranians created a miracle; you surprised the whole world,’” Araghchi told a televised news conference covered by the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Tuesday.

“No one thought that Iran could resist America like this,” he said, noting that Washington entered the war with Israeli, western and other international support.

“The US president wrote two words [on social media] at the beginning of the war: ‘Unconditional surrender’,” Araghchi said.

“That was what they wanted from us and, 20 days later, the same enemy was begging for negotiations.”

Read more: Iran says US went from demanding surrender to seeking talks as oil price rises

The US and Iran are close to "some sort of an arrangement", Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg.

"Things are shaping up again in favour of a peace arrangement or a deal," Asif said. "The signals in the last two three days are that we are close to some sort of an arrangement," he added.

Simultaneously, Iranian state media reported that Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had left for Tehran, and was scheduled to meet with Iranian officials and discuss bilateral ties.

The visit comes a month after his Iranian counterpart travelled to Islamabad for talks.

The US military fired on a Panama-flagged ship that attempted to break the American blockade of Iranian ports on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported citing an official source.

The official said a US military helicopter fired at a ship after its crew ignored warnings from American personnel, as Trump said yesterday he was considering waiting for economic pressures to weaken Iran's position.

Reuters confirmed that there have been no reports of any casualties so far.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO), the international reference point for maritime security incidents, has received a report of an attack on a cargo ship in Bab al-Mandab off the coast of Mocha from an "unknown projectile" which resulted "in casualties".

Yemeni official sources from the coast guard and military say at least three crew members have been killed. They say the attack came from the Houthis, which control much of Yemen's Red Sea coast.

Until now, Yemen's Houthis had only targeted tankers carrying Saudi oil in the Bab al-Mandab, not container ships.

Talks between Oman and Iran on the future of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz are now at an advanced stage, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson said in a briefing on Tuesday.

A Damascus court sentenced Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher and former security official Atef Najib to death on Tuesday on charges of murder, torture and incitement to murder.

The court convicted Bashar of premeditated murder of multiple people, including children, as well as torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity.

Najib was tried in person, while Bashar and Maher were tried in absentia. 

Former security official Najib, a cousin of Assad, was arrested in January last year and was convicted of crimes including murder, "the intentional killing of children under 15", and "torture leading to death".

The ruling against Assad, who fled with his family to Moscow as armed opposition forces closed in on Damascus in December 2024, is the first issued under the transitional authorities.

Read more: Court sentences Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia in landmark trial

Colombia's far-right president Abelardo de la Espriella recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights on Monday.

“The Government of Colombia recognises Israeli sovereignty over this territory, as well as that State’s right to protect itself against external threats,” read an online statement.

It added that “Colombia recognises that maintaining Israel’s control and sovereignty over the Golan Heights is an essential component of its national defence”.

President de la Espriella, who was inaugurated last week, has vouched to reverse the policies of his predecessor, Gustavo Petro.

Colombia is the second country to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, the only other being the US.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar thanked his “good friend” de la Espriella for the “historic” recognition.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Tuesday it received a report of an incident involving a container ship and military forces in the Gulf of Oman, off the coast of Pakistan.

UKMTO ADVISORY 109-26
 

UKMTO WARNING 109-26

Click here to view the full product ⤵️ https://t.co/352rLshzGu#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/5g4OTPteMc

— UKMTO Operations Centre (@UK_MTO) August 11, 2026

The price of Brent North Sea crude, the main international oil contract, climbed above $90 on Tuesday as hopes that the US and Iran reach a deal to end the war fade.

Brent reached $90.02 a barrel, a gain of more than 2.5 percent from Monday, while the main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, jumped 2.7 percent to $84.32 a barrel.

Crude has surged more than 10 percent over the past week, with the US and Iran appearing no closer to a deal on the Strait of Hormuz despite optimistic comments from Washington earlier this month.

In the latest blow, Donald Trump said on Monday he would seek conflict compensation from Iran as part of any peace negotiations, responding to Tehran's own demand for US war reparations as a condition of any deal.

Lebanon's health ministry said on Tuesday that an Israeli drone strike in the city of Nabatieh wounded two civilians.

The ministry added that a second strike targeted a rescue team from the Al-Risala Association, damaging an ambulance that was transporting a wounded person.

مسيّرة استهدفت فرق اسعاف اثناء نقلها اصابة جراء غارة على سيارة في حي الجامعات https://t.co/qrx4Opskbk

— National News Agency (@NNALeb) August 11, 2026

Iran will bring back 95 million cubic metres of gas to its production cycle by the end of September, oil minister Mohsen Paknejad said on Tuesday, according to the oil ministry's news outlet, as Tehran conducts repairs on energy infrastructure targeted by Israel and the US.

In July, a senior government official said Iran expects to restore around 100 million cubic metres per day of natural gas production capacity "within the coming months", after air strikes removed about 230 million cubic metres from output since the war started on 28 February.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates: 

• A drone fell near a key oil tank and pipeline network at the Zawiya Oil Refining Company's oil blending plant, Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) said. This is the third such attack in two days, with no casualties or damage reported in the latest incident. NOC indicated that it would declare a possible refinery shutdown if the attacks continue.

• Yemen’s government-aligned military indicated that Houthi forces launched ballistic missiles at the Red Sea port city of Mocha. The attack is one of several launched by the Houthis in recent days, amid renewed hostilities between them and the government's troops.

• US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would seek compensation from Iran for the deaths of US soldiers as part of any peace negotiations in a tit-for-tat demand after Tehran requested war reparations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. 

• Trump has also refused to provide information on what could come next for Washington's talks with Tehran, but suggested an escalation remains a possibility. When asked if a "massive escalation" is an option, he said: "Well, we have that certain ability if we want to do that... Yeah, you’ll find out."

• The head of the military intelligence department for Libya's eastern-based forces led by Khalifa Haftar was killed in a targeted assassination on Monday, Anadolu Agency reported citing a Libyan security official. An explosive device planted under Fawzi al-Mansouri's vehicle exploded in al-Sayyida Aisha residential neighborhood in eastern Benghazi.