DUBAI: Western-backed maritime forces in the Middle East on Saturday warned shippers traveling through the strategic Strait of Hormuz to stay as far away from Iranian territorial waters as possible to avoid being seized, a stark advisory amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US
A similar warning went out to shippers earlier this year ahead of Iran seizing two tankers traveling near the strait, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes.
While Iran and the US now near an apparent deal that would see billions of Iranian assets held in South Korea unfrozen in exchange for the release of five Iranian-Americans detained in Tehran, the warning shows that the tensions remain high at sea. Already, the US is exploring plans to put armed troops on commercial ships in the strait to deter Iran amid a buildup of troops, ships and aircraft in the region.
US Navy Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a spokesman for the Mideast-based 5th Fleet, acknowledged the warning had been given, but declined to discuss specifics about it.
A US-backed maritime group called the International Maritime Security Construct “is notifying regional mariners of appropriate precautions to minimize the risk of seizure based on current regional tensions, which we seek to de-escalate,” Hawkins said. “Vessels are being advised to transit as far away from Iranian territorial waters as possible.”
Separately, a European Union-led maritime organization watching shipping in the strait has “warned of a possibility of an attack on a merchant vessel of unknown flag in the Strait of Hormuz in the next 12 to 72 hours,” said private intelligence firm Ambrey.
“Previously, after a similar warning was issued, a merchant vessel was seized by Iranian authorities under a false pretext,” the firm warned.
The EU-led mission, called the European Maritime Awareness in the Strait of Hormuz, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran through its state media did not acknowledge any new plans to interdict vessels in the strait. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Strait of Hormuz is in the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, which at its narrowest point is just 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide. The width of the shipping lane in either direction is only 3 kilometers (2 miles). Anything affecting it ripples through global energy markets, potentially raising the price of crude oil. That then trickles down to consumers through what they pay for gasoline and other oil products.
There has been a wave of attacks on ships attributed to Iran since 2019, following the Trump administration unilaterally withdrawing America from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and re-imposing crushing sanctions on Tehran.
Those assaults resumed in late April, when Iran seized a ship carrying oil for Chevron Corp. and another tanker called the Niovi in May.
The taking of the two tankers in under a week comes as the Marshall Island-flagged Suez Rajan sits off Houston, likely waiting to offload sanctioned Iranian oil apparently seized by the US
Those seizures led the US military to launch a major deployment in the region, including thousands of Marines and sailors on both the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan and the USS Carter Hall, a landing ship. Images released by the Navy showed the Bataan and Carter Hall in the Red Sea on Tuesday.
Shippers warned to stay away from Iranian waters over seizure threat as US-Iran tensions high
https://arab.news/nmnz9
Shippers warned to stay away from Iranian waters over seizure threat as US-Iran tensions high
- US exploring plans to put armed troops on commercial ships to deter Iranian military buildup
Turkiye FM meets Russia delegation in Istanbul
ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s foreign minister was on Thursday meeting with the Russian delegation that is in Istanbul for their first direct peace talks with Ukraine in three years, a ministry source said.
“The meeting between Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and the Russian side, headed by Vladimir Medinsky has started,” the source said of talks taking place at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace.
The talks had been announced earlier in the evening by a foreign ministry spokesman.
Russia and Ukraine had been expected to meet on Thursday in Istanbul for their first direct peace talks in more than three years at the Dolmabahce Palace on the banks of the Bosphorus.
But as the day wore on without any concrete indications of timings, it remained unclear whether the delegations would meet later in the evening or leave it until Friday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in southern Turkish city of Antalya for a NATO summit Thursday, was due in Istanbul on Friday.
He told reporters he would meet Ukraine’s top diplomat, Andriy Sybiga there, while a lower-level US official would meet with the Russian delegation.
The minister was not thought to be part of the Ukrainian delegation to the talks.
Rubio also expressed hope that Turkiye would work to bring the two delegations together.
Earlier on Thursday, Fidan and Rubio held talks on the sidelines of the NATO meeting, with the pair agreeing that “efforts would continue to be made to ensure direct negotiations between the parties,” a source at the Turkish foreign ministry said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in Ankara earlier on Thursday, has sent a pared-down team to the Istanbul talks after Russia showed up with a relatively low-level delegation.
The Ukrainian delegation is headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, while the Russian side is being led by Medinsky, a hawkish adviser to Russia’s Vladimir Putin who has questioned Ukraine’s right to exist and led failed talks in 2022 at the start of the war.
ICC says Libya recognizes authority of war crimes, repression probe
UNITED NATIONS: Libya has accepted the authority of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged war crimes in the country despite not being party to the Rome Statute, the court’s founding treaty, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said Thursday.
“I strongly welcome the courage, the leadership and the decision by the Libyan authorities” to recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction over possible war crimes and repression committed since 2011 until the end of 2027, Khan added.
Hamas ‘willing to cooperate’ with Trump if US puts pressure on Israel to end war
- Senior Hamas figure Basem Naim says his group has told Washington directly it is willing to give up governance of Gaza
- The organization released an American Israeli hostage this week during Trump’s visit to the region
LONDON: President Donald Trump can help bring peace to Gaza, a senior Hamas official said as he confirmed that the Palestinian group has told the US it is willing to hand over governance of the territory.
In an interview with Sky News on Thursday, Basem Naim said his organization has shared a ceasefire plan directly with officials in Washington and offered to hand over administration of Gaza “immediately if we reach an end of this war.”
The proposal called for “a prisoner exchange, total withdrawal of Israeli forces, allowing all the aid to get into Gaza, and rebuilding of the Gaza Strip without forceful immigration,” he added.
Naim said he believes Trump “has the capability and the will to reach this peaceful situation.”
He continued: “President Trump can do it if he exercises enough pressure on the Israelis to end this war immediately. We are ready to cooperate with him to achieve this goal of a more peaceful region.”
Hamas released American Israeli hostage Edan Alexander on Monday as Trump was beginning a tour of the Middle East, which included visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. The group said the same day that it was in direct negotiations with Washington.
“We urge the Trump administration to continue its efforts to end this brutal war waged by the war criminal (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu against children, women and defenseless civilians in the Gaza Strip,” the group said.
Alexander was serving as an Israeli soldier when he was captured during the Hamas-led October 2023 attacks, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage.
Israeli authorities responded with a brutal military offensive that has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and reduced Gaza to rubble. A blockade on humanitarian aid since early March has prompted warnings that the territory could soon be gripped by famine.
Naim’s comments suggest Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by the US, believes Trump can play a key role in helping to secure an end to Israel’s ongoing offensive, which claimed the lives of scores more people on Thursday.
He said Hamas has accepted an Egyptian peace proposal under which a politically independent body would be formed to run Gaza.
“Before that, as long as we are still occupied people, we have all the right to continue defending our people and resisting the occupation,” Naim said.
Earlier reports that the US and Hamas were engaged in direct talks reportedly angered Israeli authorities. And despite the comments from Hamas officials this week, US officials maintain that the group is still not doing enough to end the war.
“Hamas has not demonstrated they are serious about peace,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson told Sky News, adding that Trump has demanded that the group lays down its weapons.
“Hamas continues to wrongfully hold hostages, including American bodies, in the dungeons of Gaza who could easily be freed, and have shown no changes in behavior to indicate they will cease to attack civilians,” he added.
The ranks of Hamas has been heavily depleted during the war against Israel, with thousands of its members killed, including a number of senior leaders. However, it continues to maintain a strong presence in Gaza and remains key to any ceasefire agreement.
Israel has ramped up its military operations in recent weeks as it moves to gain control of large sections of Gaza and take over aid distribution throughout the territory.
Trump outlines potential fighter jet plans in Gulf tour
- President says US studying a twin-engined F-55 and upgraded ‘F-22 Super’
DOHA: The US is examining the development of a twin-engined warplane known as the F-55 and an upgrade to its Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor called the F-22 Super, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday.
Trump was speaking at a meeting of business leaders, including the heads of Boeing and GE Aerospace in Doha, a day after announcing a string of business deals, including an order from Qatar for 160 Boeing commercial jets.
Trump referred to the F-55 both as an upgrade to the Lockheed F-35 and a new development in comments that appeared to echo talk by the US arms giant of a “best value” alternative, after losing out to Boeing to replace the F-22 superfighter.
He also highlighted the role of the new air dominance platform called the F-47, recently awarded to Boeing, and said the US was simultaneously looking at upgrading the stealth fighter that it is designed to replace, the F-22.
“We’re going to do an F-55 and — I think, if we get the right price, we have to get the right price — that’ll be two engines and a super upgrade on the F-35, and then we’re going to do the F-22,” Trump said.
“I think the most beautiful fighter jet in the world is the F-22, but we’re going to do an F-22 Super, and it’ll be a very modern version of the F-22 fighter jet,” he said.
“We’re going to be going with it pretty quickly,” he added.
Trump last month awarded Boeing the contract for the F-47 — a replacement for the Lockheed F-22 stealth fighter featuring a crewed aircraft flanked by a cohort of drones and seen as America’s most advanced or sixth-generation fighter.
Lockheed Martin, which lost out to Boeing in that Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD, competition and was dropped from a separate contest for a new US Navy stealth jet, has said it is now looking at plans for a “fifth-generation-plus” fighter.
CEO James Taiclet told analysts last month that Lockheed was looking at ways of applying technology developed for its losing bid for the F-47 contract to the F-35, delivering 80 percent of the capability for half the cost.
“We’re basically going to take the chassis and turn it into a Ferrari,” he told analysts.
Lockheed did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Trump had revealed the name of this project.
Lockheed is separately in the midst of a delayed technology and software upgrade for the existing generation of F-35 strike fighter to boost cockpit displays and processing power.
Analysts said it was not immediately clear how Trump’s list of potential developments fitted into known programs and spending plans, or the timing of existing programs.
Agency Partners aerospace analyst Nick Cunningham said the F-55 may alternatively refer to the F/A-XX program, intended to replace the US Navy’s aging Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet fleet with the service’s sixth-generation stealth fighter.
The Navy and Congress are battling with the administration to keep the plans moving forward, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Lineker says Israel at fault for origins of Gaza conflict, days before tweet furor
- Gary Lineker: ‘Palestinians are caged in this outdoor prison in Gaza, and now it’s an outdoor prison that they’re bombing’
- Lineker: ‘People say it’s a complex issue, but I don’t think it is. It’s inevitable that the Israeli occupation was going to cause massive problems’
LONDON: English sports broadcaster Gary Lineker, at the center of a backlash over a social media post, said that Israel is to blame for the origins of the Gaza conflict, because it turned the territory into an “outdoor prison.”
Speaking on Friday in an interview at the Football Business Awards days before he was accused of antisemitism over a post on X, Lineker said that his issues are with the Israeli government rather than Jewish people.
The BBC’s outgoing “Match of the Day” presenter criticized the actions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza as “completely out of proportion” to the Oct. 7 attacks.
Lineker’s post days later featured a pro-Palestinian message containing a rat emoji.
He later deleted the post and apologized but it sparked a furor among Jewish groups and BBC staff members, who have called for him to be sacked.
Lineker, 64, is preparing to host the final episodes of “Match of the Day” before returning to front the BBC’s FA Cup and FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage.
“Obviously, Oct. 7 was awful, but it’s very important to know your history and to study the massacres that happened prior to this, many of them against the Palestinian people,” he told The Telegraph in the Friday interview.
“Yes, Israelis have a right to defend themselves. But it appears that Palestinians don’t — and that is where it’s wrong. Palestinians are caged in this outdoor prison in Gaza, and now it’s an outdoor prison that they’re bombing.”
Lineker also questioned whether Israel could still legitimately argue that it was acting in self-defense. “I understand that they needed to avenge, but I don’t think they’ve helped their own hostage situation at all,” he said.
“People say it’s a complex issue, but I don’t think it is. It’s inevitable that the Israeli occupation was going to cause massive problems, and I just feel for the Palestinians.”
He said that “most” Jews now recognized that Israel’s actions have become too extreme. “The real heroes are the Jews who have spoken out against it,” he added.
Lineker, who was paid £1.4 million ($1.8 million) by the BBC last year, said that he was unfazed by the prospect of his comments provoking a negative reaction.
“I don’t really care about the backlash. I care about doing the right thing, or what I think is the right thing,” he said. “Some people can disagree, that’s fine. But I have to look at myself in the mirror. I think if you’re silent on these issues, you’re almost complicit.”
However, a number of BBC staffers said that Lineker should not be allowed to share his views publicly given his high-profile role at the BBC. They warned that it risked damaging trust in the corporation.
“The vast majority of BBC staff keep their views to themselves precisely because they work for the BBC,” said one.
“Why one individual is beyond that I simply don’t understand. The bosses need to take control. The value of all our collective work is at stake.”
Director-General of the BBC Tim Davie said that “the BBC’s reputation is held by everyone and when someone makes a mistake, it costs us.
“We absolutely need people to be the exemplars of BBC values and follow our social media policies, simple as that.”
