Live: Araghchi says Iran-Oman Hormuz talks 'may reach outcome soon'

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said no decision has yet been made to resume negotiations with the United States, the ​Iranian Student News Agency reported.

Araghchi added that mediator Qatar and Pakistan were in contact with Iran and exchanging messages, but that this did not amount to negotiations.

Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday that the top US priority in the Iran war was keeping oil and gasoline prices low for Americans, with preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon ranking second.

The remarks contrasted with President Donald Trump's repeated framing of the fight: that entering the war had the sole objective of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, even if that meant short-term economic sacrifices for Americans.

Vance's comments also underscored the growing reality that the war now centres on control of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has forced to the top of the negotiating agenda.

"I know that oil is down today and it's way down from the highs in the early days of the conflict," Vance said on Fox News. "That's goal number one - keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country."

"And then obviously goal number two is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon," he added.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has depleted or destroyed more than $1.3bn worth of the US's MQ-9 Reaper drones, roughly translating to 25 percent of the country's pre-war fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a report by The Washington Post published on Friday.

The report underscores how Iran's air defences have continued to be operational despite claims by President Donald Trump and his aides that they have been obliterated. 

The Washington Post story reveals a slightly higher number of MQ-9 Reaper drones destroyed compared to a Bloomberg report published in May, which put the figure at 20 percent of the pre-war inventory. 

The MQ-9 Reaper drone is valued between $30m and $50m, depending on its sensor, radar, and ordnance configuration. The unmanned aerial vehicle serves as a high-altitude platform for surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeted precision strikes, as documented by the US Air Force. 

Read more: US has lost roughly 25 percent of its Reaper drones in Iran war: Report

President Donald Trump on Friday said he would "soon" declare the Strait of Hormuz waterway part of US territory after defeating Iran.

"After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated - pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States," he said with a chuckle during a political rally at a police academy in New York state.

"It's true," he added.

US President Donald Trump told Fox News on Friday that the United States will hit Iran hard economically, as Washington and Tehran struggle to reach a deal to end a nearly six-month war.

His comments came a day after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US would impose measures on Tehran that have "never been seen" as soon as next week.

Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Friday that they had targeted an oil facility belonging to Saudi Arabia's state petroleum company Aramco with a drone, the group's Saba press agency reported.

A military source quoted by the agency said the group had attacked a site in Najran, in southwest Saudi Arabia, "by means of a drone, and the operation achieved its objective".

Why are Emirati influencers warning of an Islamic plot to take over Britain and the west?

It is one of the most curious developments of recent times: the rise of young men and women from the United Arab Emirates talking to British journalists and think tanks about the purported threat of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Now, however, these influencers are being strongly criticised - and even mocked and taunted - over a series of videos.

It started this week with a viral clip posted by Rauda Altenaiji, a young Emirati woman who describes herself on her X profile as a "thinker of deep truths".

The video was an edit of herself and a young Emirati man, Ahmed Sharif Al Ameri, speaking in an interview in Britain with Jonathan Sacerdoti, who recently argued that "the West should be suspicious of Islam" in an Oxford Union debate alongside far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

Read more: Pro-Israel Emirati influencers mocked for claims of Islamic plot to take over West

President Donald Trump dismissed concerns Friday over living conditions and the mental health of service members on a US aircraft carrier deployed against Iran and said the ship would soon rotate out.

Asked by reporters whether family members were worried about the situation on the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, Trump said: "No, they're not."

Trump also rejected that the ship - now in its ninth month at sea - had been deployed for too long. "No, no, no, not nearly enough," he said.

Trump confirmed reports that the Abraham Lincoln was due to be rotated with a replacement aircraft carrier as the United States remains locked in a stalemate with Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz and the country's nuclear programme.

"That ship is moving right now or very shortly, and it's being replaced with another very similar ship," Trump said.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem accused the Lebanese authorities of "targeting the resistance instead of targeting the enemy" and failing to "abide by agreements", Al Jazeera reported.

“The southern town of Mansouri is supposed to be liberated … not occupied … yet residents can’t return … what have the Lebanese authorities done?” Qassem told the network.

He also accused the Lebanese government of “surrender", saying that Hezbollah won’t accept the "violation" of the country's sovereignty.

Mansouri came under Israeli forced displacement orders and attacks last week on 5 August despite a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel in April.

The US is set to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier with the USS George Washington in the Middle East after reports of deteriorating conditions on the aircraft carrier enforcing a blockade of Iran.

The Lincoln has been deployed in the Middle East for more than 250 days without a port call. At least one sailor jumped overboard the vessel, and another had to be restrained from doing so, according to media reports. 

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the Lincoln will be rotated out of the theatre of operations and replaced with the USS George Washington. US lawmakers have raised concerns about the physical and mental health of sailors on board.

The rotation comes after US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that the blockade of Iran can be conducted “indefinitely”, as fighting continues to rage for control over the Strait of Hormuz with no return to a ceasefire in sight.

Read more: Morale on US aircraft carrier enforcing Iran blockade plummets, as sailor jumps overboard: Report

France on Friday strongly condemned Israeli settlers’ seizure of several Palestinian homes in Qusra, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.

In a statement on X, the French foreign ministry also condemned Israeli settler violence against Palestinian civilians "in the strongest possible terms" and called on Israeli authorities to arrest and prosecute those responsible.

"With settler violence on the rise in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, France calls on the Israeli authorities to take all necessary measures to protect the Palestinian civilian population, as they are required to do under international law," the ministry said.

"We reiterate our condemnation of the Israeli settlement policy, which threatens the two-state solution and heightens tensions on the ground."

#Israel/ #Palestine | Situation in the West Bank pic.twitter.com/DVjssdJ4vw

— France Diplomacy 🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@francediplo_EN) August 14, 2026

The World Health Organization said on Friday that more than 10,000 attacks on healthcare had been recorded since 2018, but nobody had ever been brought to justice.

These attacks, reported across 29 countries and territories, have resulted in approximately 5,700 deaths and 8,500 injuries, the WHO said.

Altaf Musani, director of the WHO's humanitarian and disaster management unit, who presented the figures at a media briefing in Geneva, said accountability could take place not just at the national level.

Health facilities and health systems more broadly are protected under international humanitarian and human rights law, including certain Geneva Conventions, he said.

However, "of the more than 10,000 verified incidents that I spoke of, not a single one has entered the accountability system".

This year alone, the UN health agency has recorded 914 attacks, resulting in 911 deaths and 1,486 injuries, Musani said.

Ukraine, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories account for the majority of incidents in 2026.

Israel is preparing to replace the army in the West Bank with civilian police forces, in a move seen as further advancing the annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday that he had instructed the military to draft a plan to transfer enforcement powers for civilian matters in the occupied West Bank from the army to the police.

Under the plan, the police would “establish an appropriate force to handle and address civilian matters”, while the military would focus solely on “Palestinian terrorism” and protecting borders and communities, according to Katz’s office.

Katz said it was appropriate for the police to oversee civilian affairs in the West Bank, arguing that the force performs that role “in every other place in the State of Israel”.

The announcement was not coordinated with either the military or the police. However, Israel Hayom reported on Friday that the army welcomed the move and had been pushing for it for weeks.

Read more: Israel to shift civilian enforcement in West Bank from army to police

Donald Trump's envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner will visit Israel next week to discuss the US president's Gaza plan recently rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials said on Friday.

Kushner and Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza of Trump's so-called Board of Peace implementing the deal, will visit both Israel and key mediator Egypt.

The trip comes after Netanyahu publicly rejected the 15-point plan announced by Mladenov, a Bulgarian diplomat, in which Hamas agreed to hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing committee in Gaza.

A Board of Peace official said Kushner and Mladenov hoped for "constructive conversations" on advancing Trump's overall peace plan that began last October with the declaration of a ceasefire. Israel has continued to carry out near daily strikes on Gaza since the ceasefire began. 

"The United States and Israel agree on the end state, which is a demilitarised Hamas," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"We will hear the concerns that have been raised and talk about next steps. What is critical is that we both agree on the desired outcome and are finding ways to accelerate progress."

The latest part of the Gaza plan, to which Hamas agreed in late July, would start a phased Israeli withdrawal from much of the Gaza Strip, according to an initial version released by the Board of Peace.

Mladenov later backtracked and said Israel would not need to withdraw troops until a complete Hamas disarmament.

Netanyahu had vowed no pullout and has voiced scepticism that Hamas would disarm, saying it should destroy weapons in a verifiable way.

Reporting by AFP 

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz inaugurated an illegal new settlement in Jenin on Thursday, shortly after Israeli soldiers demolished Palestinian shops and properties on the same day pic.twitter.com/lQAqpOpMEb

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) August 14, 2026