What to know about the Iran war today:
o Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday at a G7 meeting in Paris there was "no need for major combat operations" in Iran because the economic pressure campaign was working well.

o President Trump said Monday the U.S. was keeping the Iran war at "status quo" but warned that American forces were "locked and loaded."

o In a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday, Mr. Trump said he does not currently see "any reason" to escalate the war. However, he defended starting the conflict as "historically" a good decision, despite its economic impact.

1:59 PM
Iranian foreign minister mocks France over being "unable to manage fridges"
Hours after the Iranian foreign ministry officially rejected any responsibility for grocery store refrigerators being hacked across the country, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added insult to injury.

"Unable to manage fridges let alone addressing grievances of its people, French government is shifting blame for its failures onto others," Araghchi wrote on X.

Araghchi also added Iran did not use its power to support "massacres in Gaza or bombings of schools and hospitals."

On Monday, the Paris Prosecutor's Office said investigators had evidence Iran was behind the Oct. 11 hack, which significantly turned up the temperature in refrigerators and spoiled tons of food as well as causing about 20 fires. About 700 supermarkets across the country were targeted, the prosecutors office said.

The Iranian foreign ministry, in its official statement Tuesday, said it "strongly rejects the baseless accusations made by the French government against Iran concerning alleged involvement in sabotage activities in France."

1:18 PM
Iran, Russia discuss how to circumvent U.S. task force targeting Caspian Sea trade
Iranian and Russian officials spoke on Tuesday about how to circumvent the newest U.S. blockade plan, labeled Task Force Iron Gate, which is intended to block overland trade into Iran as well as prevent trade across the Caspian Sea.

As the war in Iran drags on, the landlocked Caspian Sea has become a key trade route between Iran and Russia. The Caspian Sea sits along the northern border of Iran, just 80 miles from Tehran, and the southeast border of Russia, making it a direct route for shipping.

"We discussed issues concerning the Caspian Sea, how to counter unilateral U.S. actions, and the so-called Iron Gate plan," Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, said on X. "Tehran and Moscow emphasize the need for coordination and cooperation in the face of common threats. The interests of the Caspian littoral states will also be served by maintaining stability and security in the Caspian Sea."

It's unclear what the Iron Gate task force's capabilities will be. It will be made up of about 20 civilian and military personnel located in Florida, according to U.S. Central Command. In announcing its formation this weekend, it was compared to the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports.

"The establishment of Task Force Iron Gate reinforces the success of our ironclad blockade against Iran at sea," Central Command leader Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement. "Strengthening CENTCOM's collaboration with U.S. interagency partners will further constrain Iran's ability to finance terrorism, rebuild weapons factories, and replenish their military."

12:48 PM
Tanker hit by projectile in Strait of Hormuz, U.K. navy monitoring agency says
A tanker has reported it was hit by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday evening, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre said.

The incident took place off the northeast coast of Oman on the southern route favored by the United States. Iran has said ships should not take that route and instead transit along the Iranian coast. Although there was no word on who fired the projectile, Iran has targeted ships along the Omani coast for months.

The master of the tanker ship said no one was injured in the strike and there was no environmental impact.

The ship was struck at about 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, which is 5:30 p.m. in Oman. A full damage assessment would be conducted once the sun rose the next morning, according to the report.

The strike came at the same time as a speech by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said earlier on social media, "We control the Strait of Hormuz."

12:01 PM
Italy gently chides other EU nations for not bolstering Red Sea security
European Union nations have not made any commitments on bolstering security in the Red Sea, Italy's defense minister said Tuesday.

"I have yet to see anything concrete," Guido Crosetto told the Reuters news agency.

Crosetto in September called on the EU to boost security as part of its Aspides mission, the aim of which is to protect commercial shipping from coming under fire by Iran or its Yemeni allies, the Houthi rebels, in the Red Sea and surrounding waters.

The Houthis intensified attacks in the Red Sea, targeting Saudi-linked vessels over the summer, in response to Saudi Arabia's backing of Yemeni government forces in the country's decade-long civil war.

Crosetto told Reuters that despite the lack of progress, the EU's senior diplomat Kaja Kallas "fully understood" the importance of the request. In September she wrote to the 27 EU member states to ask them to boost their contributions to the initiative.

"About one-third of European operations depend on Italy's contribution," said Crosetto. "Other ?countries, far larger than us, contribute much, much less."

"If it is right to invest in missions, then it is right that everyone contributes," he added.

11:39 AM
Iran rejects "baseless accusations" by France that it was behind refrigerator hacks
Iran has rejected what it described as "baseless accusations" that it was behind a cyberattack targeting commercial refrigeration units in hundreds of grocery stores across France last month.

The Iranian foreign ministry, in a statement on Tuesday, said it "strongly rejects the baseless accusations made by the French government against Iran concerning alleged involvement in sabotage activities in France."

Tehran claimed the allegations were "being made with the aim of diverting public opinion away from France's destructive policies in West Asia and the region surrounding Iran" and "an attempt to conceal its own weaknesses in governance, its inability to meet the demands of its people, and its shortcomings in addressing the country's energy crisis."

On Monday, the Paris Prosecutor's Office said investigators had evidence that Iran was behind the Oct. 11 hack, which spoiled tons of food and caused about 20 fires. It accused a cyber unit of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of carrying out the costly attack.

The hack struck major supermarket chains, hitting "700 retail locations across France," according to the prosecutor's office.

10:58 AM
Rubio says he sees "no need" for major combat operations against Iran
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that he saw no need to resume major combat operations against Iran because economic sanctions and other restrictions were working so effectively.

"The economic campaign [against Iran] is so devastating that right now there is no need for major combat operations," Rubio said after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris. "That's what I told our allies here today."

President Trump "has concluded that for the time being there is no need for major combat operations because we are achieving the same objective by economic means," Rubio said.

But if Iran crosses "red lines," the "U.S. military stands ready," Rubio added, warning of a "terrible price" for Tehran.

European members of the G7 had pressed Rubio at the meeting in Paris to avoid any new escalation against Iran.

Mr. Trump said Monday the U.S. was keeping the Iran war at "status quo," but warned that American forces were "locked and loaded."

10:29 AM
Houthis say they did target Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline, but not where Saudis claim
Iran's Houthi allies have denied targeting Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline in the Medina region, saying they instead targeted the vital piece of infrastructure near the Saudi capital Riyadh.

The Saudi energy ministry said Monday that a "limited fire" had broken out on a section of the pipeline after it was targeted, saying there were no deaths or injuries.

In a post on X Tuesday, Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the group had struck "several pumping stations" along the pipeline in the Riyadh area, but added: "The Saudi enemy's latest false accusation – that we targeted the East-West pipeline in Medina – is a blatant and enormous lie."

The Saudis have accused the Houthis of targeting Mecca and Medina, the two holiest cities in Islam, multiple times since the fighting between the two sides reignited in summer, which the Houthis have stringently denied.

An attack on the pipeline in September, which Saudi Arabia blamed on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, put the pipeline out of action for several weeks.

9:28 AM
Hegseth insists Iran war has been a "victory," and "we control the Strait of Hormuz"
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, facing an impeachment effort by the soon to be-Democratically controlled U.S. Congress, repeated his frequent claim on Tuesday that the U.S. had won the war with Iran. Even as Tehran claimed four more ships were stopped by attacks, Hegseth declared the Strait of Hormuz under U.S. control.

"In Operation Epic Fury, by every measure, we achieved a historic MILITARY VICTORY," Hegseth said in remarks during a briefing that the Pentagon shared on social media.

"Their navy sunk. Their air force grounded. Their defense industrial base — gone. More than 80 percent of their nuclear industrial base — gone. Their military in ruin. The ironclad blockade, UNBROKEN," declared Hegseth, adding: "We control the Strait of Hormuz."

All of the embattled defense chief's assertions have been disputed by Iran, where officials claimed only a month ago that the Islamic Republic's weapons production capacity had increased by 250% since the war began, with help from Russia and China.

The commander of the U.S. military's Central Command said he had flown over the Strait of Hormuz in October and seen no Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels, and he declared U.S.-protected shipping lanes through the vital waterway "free and clear." But Iran has continued to claim daily attacks on commercial vessels that use those shipping lanes, both with missiles and sea mines.

On Iran's nuclear program, much of it was seriously damaged a year before the U.S. and Israel launched the current war, when they carried out a series of previous strikes in June 2025. U.N. experts believe Iran still has about 972 pounds of 60% enriched uranium, a short step away from the 90% enrichment levels needed for high-yield military warheads, but that it is likely buried under one of the facilities damaged in 2025.

Iran has not, after more than eight months of war, agreed to any renewed monitoring of its nuclear program, or to the removal of its highly-enriched uranium, as part of any potential peace deal.

8:42 AM
Iranian security chief claims U.S. "wrecked" by the war and says it's "time to surrender"
A top Iranian security official claimed late Monday that the U.S. has been "wrecked" by its war against Iran and declared it time for the Trump administration to "surrender" and accept Tehran's terms to end the conflict.

Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, said on X that the U.S. must accept the seven conditions Iran has repeatedly laid out as its core terms for any peace deal.

"The war on Iran has already wrecked the U.S. government. But Washington flails like a desperate gambler. FOLD YOUR HAND. STOP manufacturing FAKE NEWS about imaginary talks. Stop denying the West Asian NEW ORDER," he wrote. "Time to SURRENDER to the seven conditions Iran has repeatedly set out."

President Trump told reporters in Washington on Monday that he believed the war with Iran "militarily, is effectively over," suggesting that, for now, he is not prepared to resume airstrikes.

Iran's longstanding demands, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed this week as "unacceptable," include an end to the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and vessels, an end to fighting on all fronts, including Israel's war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and gas sales and release of Iranian state funds held abroad, war reparations and other measures.

7:27 AM
EU promises "swift and united response" as France blames Iran for fridge hacks
The European Union said Tuesday that it was ready to mount a fast and "united response" after France blamed Iran for a cyberattack that targeted hundreds of grocery stores in the country last month.

"We acknowledge that France has attributed this to Iran. Pending discussions with member states, we, as the European Union, stand ready to come with a swift and united response," EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said.

The Paris prosecutor's office said Monday that French officials believed a cyber unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had carried out the Oct. 11 hacks that caused temperatures in refrigeration units at some 700 grocery stores to surge, wasting tons of food and causing about 20 fires.

6:56 AM
Explosions heard over Saudi capital as authorities say Houthi missile intercepted
Multiple explosions were heard over Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh early Tuesday, as the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said it shot down a missile targeting the city, which has suffered weeks of disruptive attacks.

Journalists working for the French news agency AFP heard several blasts as residents received a cell phone alert urging them to shelter from an "aerial threat." The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile.

"Air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh," the coalition posted on X.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has faced near-daily Houthi strikes since early October, including attacks that killed 20 people and closed Riyadh's airport for two weeks.

6:24 AM
Iran claims 2 more ships hit by explosions in Strait of Hormuz, including one under U.S. escort
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed Tuesday that two more oil tankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz were "halted by powerful explosions and left burning."

The IRGC said in a statement that one of the vessels struck a naval mine, while the other was under the protection of U.S. fighter jets when it "suffered an incident and was brought to a halt at its location amid a massive fire."

Both Iran and the U.S. have been attacking ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz for weeks, accusing the vessels of breaching their respective restrictions on access to the waterway.

The IRGC said the tankers affected Tuesday had been traveling through what Tehran considers unauthorized shipping lanes close to Oman's coast in the southern part of the vital waterway, which the U.S. insists are safe and open.

Iran has warned repeatedly that the southern route is "unsafe" and that all vessels working with the U.S. "will meet the same fate."

5:38 AM
Brent crude oil drops briefly below $90 a barrel as downward trend continues
The price of oil continued its more than week-long downward trend Tuesday, as markets appeared optimistic that a return to a full-scale U.S. war with Iran was not imminent.

The price of Brent crude, the international standard, hovered around $90 per barrel Tuesday morning after briefly dropping below the price point for the first time since the end of August.

U.S. benchmark crude oil was down 2.2% to $84.94 per barrel.

The fall in global oil prices has come as President Trump makes repeated comments signalling hope for a diplomatic resolution to the war with Iran.

He has not ruled out the possibility of more U.S. strikes, but told CBS' 60 Minutes in an interview aired Sunday that he did not see "any reason" to escalate the war at present.

Mr. Trump then said on Monday, after meeting the prime minister of Qatar, who has been a key mediator between the two sides, that the war "militarily, is effectively over," and that he believed there was "positive momentum" toward a deal to end the eight-month conflict.

He called a resumption of U.S. strikes "highly unlikely," but said the U.S. remained "locked and loaded" should circumstances on the ground change.

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Posted by Temmy
Today at 9:56pm