Saudi Arabia says it destroyed drones launched from Iraq towards oil facilities in Riyadh and the Eastern Province. A separate Houthi claim against the kingdom’s East–West oil route exposes the fragility of the regional pause.
The United States and Iran held fire for a second consecutive day after 13 nights of US strikes. Oman-led talks over the Strait of Hormuz are advancing, but there is no formal ceasefire and major disputes remain unresolved.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard declared the Strait of Hormuz closed “until further notice” on Saturday after firing on the Cyprus-flagged container ship GFS Galaxy, leaving one crew member missing. Within hours, US forces began a third round of strikes on Iran this week — burying the ceasefire agreed in June and putting a fifth of the world's oil back at risk.
Iran on Friday opened seven days of funeral ceremonies for Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on 28 February. The programme crosses five cities in Iran and Iraq and ends at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad. His son and successor Mojtaba will not attend, citing security threats, and US-Iran talks in Doha are paused until the mourning ends.
New U.S. strikes in southern Iran were reported while negotiations continued, keeping attention on the Strait of Hormuz and the global fuel-price exposure that matters to Luxembourg.
On Sunday 10 May 2026 a transport ship was struck by an unknown projectile some 23 nautical miles north-east of Doha, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency reported. A small fire on board was quickly contained, with no injuries or environmental damage. Qatar's defence ministry confirmed the incident.
On 9 May 2026 the UK Ministry of Defence confirmed Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon is pre-positioning in the Middle East for a UK and France-led multinational Strait of Hormuz mission spanning more than 40 nations, set to begin once a sustained Iran-US ceasefire holds. France has moved the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Red Sea.
CENTCOM says US forces destroyed at least six Iranian small boats threatening shipping; the White House signalled it would reject Iran's latest peace proposal because Tehran had "not paid a big enough price".
A barrage of missiles and drones hit the Fujairah Petroleum Industries Zone and a UAE-flagged tanker on 4 May, the first major attack on Emirati territory since the 8 April US-Iran truce.
Riyadh's foreign ministry urged restraint from both Washington and Tehran on 4 May, marking a more dovish stance than its Gulf neighbours and underscoring the kingdom's reluctance to be drawn into a wider war.
On 3 May 2026, the White House announced an operation to escort merchant vessels stranded by Iranian pressure through the Strait of Hormuz. Two ships have already been moved; the UAE reports intercepting Iranian missiles and drones.