Iran war updates: US deploys aircraft carrier strike group to Middle East

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We will be closing this live page shortly. But before we do, here’s a recap of the day’s major developments:

• US President Donald Trump says Iran will be “hit very hard” if Tehran was involved in the Flydubai incident.
• A US official tells Al Jazeera that three aircraft carriers, including USS Roosevelt and two landing groups are preparing to deploy around Iran.
• Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) says several tankers were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, including three that are owned or chartered by the UAE.
• Russian ⁠President Vladimir Putin says he ⁠hopes the Strait ⁠of Hormuz will open to international shipping and sanctions ‌on Iran will eventually be lifted.
• Iran’s acting Defence Minister Majid ibn Reza has accused the Trump administration of trying to cover up the issues it faces as a result of the war.
• The US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, slammed China and Russia’s veto of the establishment of an expert panel intended to monitor and implement snapback sanctions against Iran.
• The US Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting a crypto-based shadow banking network with ties to Russia that is used by Iran.
• Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador over “false accusations against Iran” relating to a suspected plot at RAF Fairford in England.
• The United Kingdom’s counterterrorism police announced the arrest of ⁠⁠a dual ⁠⁠British-Iranian national on suspicion ‌‌of preparing “terrorist acts”.
• The ⁠Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said ⁠the armed ⁠group had targeted a power distribution station ‌in Medina.

Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has approved plans to expand them in the occupied West Bank.

The expansion is taking place alongside unprecedented levels of anti-Palestinian pogroms carried out by Israelis from illegal settlements.

Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), says Iran is witnessing a new era of resistance against US hegemony, Iran’s Fars news agency reports.

After the war on Iran, Qaani said, the US is faced with a “humiliating situation” across the region, from “Lebanon to Iraq”.

“The United States has been expelled from Iraq with all its capabilities”, he said, alluding to the end of the 23-year US military presence in Iraq.

On Wednesday, the Defense Department confirmed that the final American troops deployed to Iraq as part of an anti-ISIL (ISIS) mission had left the country, culminating a years-long withdrawal process.

Qaani also spoke on the situation in Lebanon, saying that Hezbollah “stood firm” despite US and Israeli claims that it had been eliminated.

The US Justice Department statement has said Energy Department Employee Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, “came to the attention of the FBI after they received information that he had purchased precursor chemicals, components, and other materials commonly used in the construction of homemade explosive devices”.

“The investigation revealed Ellaboudy had also purchased parts used for the construction of drones and remotely operated aerial systems,” the statement read, adding that the suspect began communicating with an FBI confidential human source (CHS).

The statement says this FBI CHS “purported to be working for a Houthi ‘Colonel’ to acquire communications equipment that would be sent to Yemen for use in a mobile communications center”.

Based upon his background in electrical engineering, the statement says, “Ellaboudy provided expert advice and assistance”, by helping the CHS test and modify solar power generators and communication equipment.

The Justice Department statement says Ellaboudy faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted.

UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, says he is “deeply concerned” about the situation in Taiz as fighting has escalated and military operations by the Houthis pose “grave risks to the civilian population.”

In a statement, Grundberg said his office had received “deeply troubling reports of casualties, damage to infrastructure, and road closures, hindering residents’ ability to leave the area.”

“Taiz is the third-largest city in Yemen, and the governorate is currently hosting the majority of Yemenis recently displaced by fighting in other regions. Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected. Every effort must be made to prevent further harm and ensure that aid reaches those in need safely and without hindrance,” he said.

“I renew my call to Ansar Allah to halt its military offensive, and I am in close contact with the Yemeni government and Ansar Allah regarding the steps necessary to contain the situation urgently and ensure the freedom of movement of civilians,” the envoy added.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has claimed that “Iran loaded ZERO crude oil onto tankers in September”, in a post on X.

“The Trump Administration is cutting off the Iranian regime’s most critical source of revenue,” Bessent said.

Israeli settlers have besieged at least three homes in the West Bank, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Settlers surrounded two Palestinian homes in the Khallet al-Hummus area, in southern Hebron. One homeowner said he and his family were prevented from returning to the house and that settlers had begun removing his window and door protectors.

In Umm Safa village, in northern Ramallah, settlers also closed off the gates leading to a Palestinian home, effectively trapping a family inside.

The Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) says several tankers were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, including three that are owned or chartered by the UAE, Iran’s IRIB broadcaster reports.

According to a statement by the PGSA: “Investigations show that the tankers AL RUWAIS, SINBAD and MERSIN PROSPERITY have attempted to transit the Strait of Hormuz several times in the past two months”.

“It is noteworthy that the names of these three tankers are also included in the latest update of the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) non-compliance list,” it added.

The Yemeni foreign minister and the charge d’affaires of the US embassy in Yemen have met to discuss the latest developments in the fighting between the Saudi-backed government forces and the Houthis, according to Yemen’s foreign ministry.

The two also discussed maritime navigation security in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, following the dramatic advances made by the Houthis in western Yemen, the Foreign Ministry said in a post on X.

The Yemeni Foreign Ministry wrote that it “warned of the danger of the militias using Iranian-made missiles that threaten the safety of civilian aviation and international air routes”, calling for “action to enforce the arms embargo imposed on the militias and halt the flow of Iranian weapons and expertise to them”.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government has held a cabinet meeting to act on its approval of a general mobilisation, according to the Yemeni Foreign Ministry.

On Wednesday, Yemen’s parliament approved the declaration of a general mobilisation announced in a speech on Friday by Rashad al-Alimi, the head of the ruling Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council.

The Foreign Ministry said the cabinet adopted a set of executive measures to bolster its state institutions to implement government directives related to general mobilisation.

In his speech, al-Alimi made a national call to arms, asking citizens to “contribute in every way possible” and offered amnesty to defecting Houthi fighters.

Al-Alimi thanked Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the approval of a $59m budget, while his government forces engage in intense fighting with the Houthis.

The Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jabir, said the budget grant had been requested by Yemen’s government.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has approved plans to expand Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

But they’ve come alongside unprecedented levels of settler violence and attacks.

UN experts have said the rate of “settler terrorism” has increased over the last three years and reached a peak this year.

Al Jazeera’s Inside Story speaks to experts on the rising levels of settler violence.

Watch the discussion below:

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) conducted “a subsurface, non-nuclear chemical high-explosive experiment” at a national security site in Nevada. Washington said the test “increases the United States’ ability to detect low-yield nuclear explosions”.

“It takes nuclear expertise to detect nuclear activities, and experiments like these ensure America remains unmatched in detection,” Brandon Williams, NNSA administrator, said as the US continues its campaign against Iran on grounds that Tehran can “never obtain a nuclear weapon”.

The NNSA said the experiment reinforces the Trump administration’s “leadership in global nuclear security” and “unmatched capabilities to detect foreign nuclear testing”.

“With this experiment, we are sending a clear message: under this administration, America will never be outmatched,” Williams was quoted as saying.

The Palestinian Foreign Affairs Ministry has condemned a settler attack, under the protection of US soldiers, in the town of Yasuf, east of Salfit, which killed 51-year-old Mashhour Shaker Muhammad Yassin after he sustained injuries in the attack.

In a statement posted on X, the ministry said the attack had also injured another citizen and that soldiers had detained an ambulance and seized its key, constituting a “flagrant violation of the principles of international law, norms, and humanitarian principles.”

“The Ministry affirms that the martyrdom of citizen Mashhour Yassin falls within the framework of the dangerous and ongoing escalation in organised settler crimes,” the statement read.

“The Ministry calls on the international community and all its institutions to assume their legal and moral responsibilities and provide protection for the Palestinian people, and to take practical and immediate measures to end the terrorism practised by settler gangs in the occupied West Bank and to activate accountability and prosecution mechanisms against the perpetrators of crimes and those behind them,” the statement said.

US news outlet Bloomberg has reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi suggested in recent talks that Tehran was willing to restore nuclear inspectors’ access to bombed facilities in exchange for sanctions relief, a claim Tehran denies.

According to the report, which cited unnamed diplomats with knowledge of the talks, the foreign minister had raised the idea during meetings at the UN with European and Middle East diplomats

However, in response to the Bloomberg article, Iranian news outlet Fars reported, citing a source with knowledge, that the claim that Araghchi’s proposal to the US to allow nuclear inspectors at its sites was false.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has asked Iraq to take ⁠steps to lift flight ⁠restrictions caused by US sanctions and ‌return flights to normal conditions.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said the movement of millions of Iranian and Iraqi citizens required an independent and responsible approach to disagreements between the two governments.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the Treasury is dismantling the infrastructure that allows Iran and “other adversaries to evade sanctions, move illicit funds, and undermine the integrity of the global financial system,” following Washington’s latest sanctions on Tehran.

“Today’s action targeting A7 continues Treasury’s unprecedented efforts to isolate Iran and its financial enablers and sends a clear message that if you facilitate illicit finance for America’s adversaries, you will lose access to the US financial system,” Bessent wrote on X.

Fresh sanctions imposed today targeted Iran’s rail and automotive conglomerates and international suppliers to those sectors.