UKMTO: Drone Strikes Vessel Near Near Bab el-Mandeb Strait
The United Kingdom's Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) center said it had received a report of an incident 9 nautical miles northwest of Al Mokha on the Red Sea coast, near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
According to the report, a drone struck the vessel, causing a fire on board. UKMTO added that the crew of the oil tanker had been safely evacuated.
The report said the vessel later sank in the area off the coast of Yemen.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
UN 'Alarmed' By Rise In Executions And Death Sentences In Iran
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk expressed alarm over Iran's surge in executions and death sentences since March, urging the authorities to immediately halt all executions and move toward the abolition of the death penalty.
Since March 19, at least 56 people have been executed on national security-related charges, including 27 individuals in cases linked to protests earlier this year, Turk said in a media statement on August 5. He added that more than 100 others are at risk of execution on similar charges.
Iran's persistent lack of fair trials and due process, including torture-induced confessions, public and rushed executions, and death sentences issued after brief closed-door hearings, is deeply troubling, the UN human rights chief said.
"The death penalty is incompatible with the right to life and irreconcilable with human dignity. Such punishment has no place in our world," Turk concluded.
Trump: Strait Of Hormuz Deal Could Come 'Tomorrow Or The Next Day'
US President Donald Trump said a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be reached "tomorrow or the next day," adding that progress has been made in the negotiations.
Trump's comments came after Axios reported, citing sources, that the United States, Iran, and Oman are close to reaching an interim agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world's seaborne oil trade usually passes, with an announcement reportedly planned for August 5.
"They called me and they said, 'Please, let's talk.' They want to talk," Trump said, referring to the Iranian side.
"They want to make a deal. They do not want to be hit," Trump told reporters before departing from Los Angeles aboard Air Force One for Las Vegas.
He also described the latest round of negotiations positively, saying, "They had a very good day. The negotiations were good."
US Treasury Secretary Bessent Says Deal On Opening Strait Of Hormuz May Come As Early As August 4
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says a deal with Iran on opening the Strait of Hormuz, a key global energy shipping lane, is near.
"We are in talks with the Iranians, and I think there is a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow to open the Strait and move towards a more normalized position in this conflict," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in live interview on CNBC on August 4. He gave no further details.
Talks to end the conflict between the United States and Iran in recent weeks have focused on the free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
More than 20 percent of the world's oil and gas supplies moved through the strait prewar, but Iran has at times effectively shut down the waterway, including with attacks on ships it said had not received proper approval from Tehran. Iran has also threatened to impose fees or tolls on ships in the strait.
The United States and other countries have insisted the strait is an international waterway and is not under the control of any nation.
Washington reimposed a naval blockade on Iran in the strait following the collapse of a US-Iran truce signed in June.
Saudi Aramco Profits Jump 44 Percent As Oil Prices Rise
Saudi oil giant Aramco announced on August 4 that its net profit rose 44 percent in the second quarter of the year, as energy prices increased amid the conflict in the Middle East.
According to the company's financial results, Aramco's net profit reached 122.6 billion Saudi riyals ($32.7 billion) between April and June, up from 85 billion riyals during the same period last year.
Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said the company had been able to maintain operations despite an unprecedented disruption to oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz by relying on its East-West pipeline, storage capacity, and export terminals.
The announcement came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized major oil companies for profiting from higher energy prices caused by the Middle East conflict, saying they were making "too much money" and urging them to lower prices.
Iranian President Rejects Resignation Rumors
Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian said in a video published by several Iranian news agencies that he has no intention of resigning, dismissing weeks of speculation about his political future.
In the video, Pezeshkian said that if he ever decided to step down, he would announce it officially.
"For now, I will stand firm," he said.
He also rejected speculation of a rift between himself and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, saying: "They want to create the impression that there is a disagreement. The leader says one thing, and they claim I say something else."
The video, titled Report to the People, is expected to be released in full in the coming days.
Since the reported killing of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes on February 28 and the announcement of his son as his successor, unconfirmed reports have circulated that Pezeshkian was preparing to resign.
More recently, Mohammad Baqer Kharazi, secretary-general of the Hezbollah Iran party and the brother-in-law of Masud Khamenei, another of Ali Khamenei's sons, claimed Mojtaba Khamenei had "officially and publicly warned" that if Pezeshkian submitted another resignation, it would be accepted.
Kharazi did not say when or to whom the supreme leader had allegedly made the warning.
Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public since being announced as his father's successor. Apart from several written statements attributed to him, no verified video or audio recordings of him have been released.
UKMTO Says Cargo Vessel Struck In Strait Of Hormuz
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre said a cargo vessel has been struck by an "unknown projectile" in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman.
Issuing a warning about the incident, which was reported at 10 p.m. UTC on August 3, the monitor said "UKMTO has received a report of an incident 20NM northeast of Al Khasab, Oman. A cargo vessel has broadcasted on VHF 16 that they have been hit by an unknown projectile."
It added that authorities are investigating the attack.
Meanwhile, Kpler data shows that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains remarkably slow, with only six vessels, including three tankers and three bulk carriers, passing through the strait on August 3, down from seven the previous day.
We are now closing the live blog for the day. We'll be back tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. Central European time to cover the latest events across the Middle East.
Iran Claims It Was ‘Prepared To Strike’ Ukraine, But Reconsidered
Iran was ready to hit Ukraine after Kyiv targeted an Iranian cargo vessel in the Caspian Sea last month but called off the attack, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said.
“We were prepared to strike three locations in Ukraine, but after they said the attack had been a mistake, we suspended our response in order to examine their claim,” Mohsen Rezaei told state TV on August 3.
“In any case, they will have to pay the price for their attack,” Rezaei added.
Tehran said the vessel was carrying civilian cargo and the Ukrainian strike killed an Iranian sailor. But Ukraine said the ship was transporting components for drones and missiles from Iran to Russia.
There was no immediate response from Kyiv to Rezaei's remarks.
However, several days after the July 25 incident, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he called his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi to say Kyiv sought to avoid escalation."
"Our goal is to counter Russian aggression, which is the root cause of all incidents, and it is Russia who bears full responsibility for all provocations and casualties," Sybiha said in a post to X.
Iran and Russia have forged a close military relationship in recent years. Tehran has provided Moscow with domestically produced combat drones that Russia has used in its war against Ukraine. Kyiv has said that has made Tehran complicit in Russia’s war.
Trump Says Iran Has ‘Last Chance’ To Strike Deal
US President Donald Trump said Iran has one “last chance” to strike a deal to end the five-month war otherwise the country faced “decapitation.”
“I think we're going to maybe get something, but I want to give them every last chance before decapitation,” he told reporters during an event in the Oval Office on August 3, reiterating a threat to launch a major attack on Iran.
Over the weekend, Trump said he decided to “hold off” on what he promised would be an unprecedented attack on Iran, saying “the perimeters” of a deal have been agreed with Tehran.
Earlier on August 3, Iran said it was not negotiating with the United States. In response, Trump called Iran's leadership “unbelievably duplicitous,” in a social media post.
Asked about the status of the negotiations, Trump told reporters that “they are going on right now,” adding that the two sides were speaking at the request of Iran as well as US allies in the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.
“This is a last chance for them to sign a good document,” he said, referring to Iran.
An interim peace deal reached by Washington and Tehran collapsed in mid-July, just weeks after it was signed.