DUBAI: Iran said it will announce a new restricted zone in the Gulf in the coming days, along with maps of a new shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, as a weekend exchange of strikes on shipping sent oil prices higher on Monday (Sep 7). The new restricted zone will begin from where the US blockade of Iran begins and extend into areas of the Gulf, Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on Sunday in an interview with state TV.

Few details were provided on the plan, but Rezaei said any ship entering the new zone would be added to a sanctions list. In addition, maps detailing passage routes for the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit largely closed to tanker traffic, would also be approved soon, Rezaei said.

"The maps of a new international corridor which lies in Iranian and Omani waters and in which Iran will have management have been agreed and should be signed in the coming days," he said. "We will only commit to the Strait of Hormuz being open when they (the Americans) stop the sabotage, threats and attacks on Iran," Rezaei added.

Six months after US-Israeli strikes on Iran sparked the war, the conflict appears to be at a stalemate. A preliminary ceasefire accord reached in June has unravelled, and little progress has been made in diplomatic efforts to get the peace process back on track.

After a pause in military action for much of August, tit-for-tat strikes have resumed. US forces struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, US Central Command said, including one off Kharg Island, Iran's key oil export hub, following attacks by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on US warships in the region.

Tehran has shown it retains the capability to attack US interests in neighbouring countries and to shut down oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil supplies flowed prior to the conflict. An average of 10 commodity ships transited the Strait per day in the past 10 days, the lowest since May, according to shipping data on Monday.

That helped oil prices extend last week's big gains, with Brent crude up 0.8 per cent above US$97 a barrel. SANCTIONS, OIL BLOCKADE SQUEEZE ECONOMY Iran has said it will step up efforts to tackle problems created by US sanctions that are crippling its economy.

However, the US campaign to throttle Iran's economy by blockading its oil exports and stopping sanctions evasion is growing increasingly difficult to withstand, three senior Iranian sources have said. Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Sunday that the US should understand that the rules of the game have changed "before it is too late".

"From now on, any attack against Iran’s interests and security will receive a faster, heavier and more painful response,” he said in a speech published on his Telegram channel. Qalibaf said that alongside the military front, Iran’s main battle was now over production and people’s livelihoods.

He cited sharp currency fluctuations, inflation, unemployment and market management as major challenges, adding Iranians could tolerate hardship but not mismanagement or inaction and expected the government to act quickly. Iran's Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said Tehran planned to respond to US economic pressure with reforms and rejected the notion that sanctions would cause it to change course, according to state media on Sunday.

"They speak of economic pressure and isolation, of breaking off financial ties and they think that by pressuring the economy of a country, they can change the decisions of its people," Madanizadeh said. "I have to clarify one point: The responsibility of reforming Iran’s economy is with its government and people, not with the US Treasury.

" KHARG ISLAND HIT 550 TIMES IN PRIOR MONTHS, IRAN SAYS Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and exported 90 per cent of its crude via its Kharg Island export hub before the war. Flows have been disrupted since a US blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April.

US Central Command said on X that as of Sunday, it had redirected 92 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two to ensure strict compliance with its blockade. On Aug 31, US President Donald Trump issued a one-line social media post accompanied by an AI-generated video depicting Kharg Island being "blown to smithereens".

Iranian authorities have vowed a strong response if Kharg is attacked. In an interview aired on state TV on Sunday, Iran's Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said the island had been hit around 550 times in previous months but continued to operate. Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed up fuel prices, weighing on Trump's popularity as his Republican Party heads into elections in November when control of Congress is at stake.

However, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said oil was getting through the waterway. "Our transits through the Strait are averaging over 9 million barrels a day now, and with the access pipelines that go around the strait, we're probably two-thirds or more of pre-conflict flows.

So Iranians are still causing trouble, but the United States Navy is winning that battle," he told CNN.

Iran plans new 'exclusion zone' near Strait of Hormuz The new head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council says the country plans to announce an "exclusion zone" outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway.

Mohsen Rezaei's comments to Iran's state broadcaster came with few details, a day after the US struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to what it said was Iran launching ballistic missiles at US warships. The new zone should be announced in the coming days and weeks and "will begin from the line of the US naval blockade, extend toward the Strait of Hormuz, and from this side continue into the Persian Gulf," Rezaei said.

"Any ship that enters this area with the intention of passing through the Strait of Hormuz and is identified will be placed on our sanctions list." It is not clear where Iran defines the location of the weeks-long US blockade, which is aimed at Iranian ports and keeping Iran from shipping out its oil.

The US military has said more than 20 warships are supporting the blockade, which as of Sunday had redirected 92 commercial ships and disabled three. The US has been introducing new measures to increase the economic pain on Iran after negotiations collapsed and no end to the intermittent fighting appears in sight.

Meanwhile, Iran continues to attack some ships trying to transit the strait, which has become an important source of leverage in the war that began February 28 with US and Israeli strikes. Iran earlier on Sunday said it struck an unmanned US vessel trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, a claim that the US military dismissed as a "total lie".

The strait is crucial to global oil and natural gas shipments and was seen as an international waterway before the war began. On Sunday, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that on average, nine million barrels of oil a day are getting through the strait, which should help to relieve pressure on energy prices.

His estimate appeared to exceed average flows over the past 28 days through the strait, according to TankerTrackers.com and other sources. Wright told CNN that with oil also flowing through pipelines in the region, "we're probably two-thirds or more of pre-conflict flows".

But those flows depend on the presence of the US navy to help escort tankers and provide some protection against possible Iranian attack. Wright said he expected that other countries would eventually support the US navy's efforts. Meanwhile, Rezaei in his interview with state TV insisted that "every day we are selling one million, one and a half million (barrels), as if Iran's oil production and trade are continuing as usual".

Iran-US war latest: Tehran vows to extend ‘exclusion zone’ near Strait of Hormuz after US strikes on tankers Centcom denies Iran's claims of successful attack on a US military vessel as a ‘total lie’ Iran has said Tehran plans to establish an “exclusion zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz targeting vessels it believes are attempting to transit the strategic waterway.

The new head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said the zone would be declared in the coming days and would stretch for some distance on either side of the Strait "begin[ning] from the line of the US naval blockade". It comes as the US and Iran have traded strikes on ships, the latest round of attacks since the conflict flared a week ago after a period of relative calm.

US Central Command said it struck three Iranian oil tankers, including one off the coast of Kharg Island, near the nation’s oil export hub, after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles at two US Navy ships. The IRGC responded by threatening intensified strikes against US military vessels in the region, and later said it targeted three tankers that Tehran claimed were on unauthorised routes in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as three US-linked vessels in other areas.

Iran's claims to have successfully struck an uncrewed US military vessel were a "total lie", however, according to a Centcom spokesperson. Iran official says Tehran to set up 'exclusion zone' outside strait The new head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said Tehran plans to announce an "exclusion zone" outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway.

Mohsen Rezaei's comments to Iran's state broadcaster came with few details, a day after the US struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to Tehran launching ballistic missiles at US warships. Experts called the launches a dangerous escalation after Iran's previous attacks at sea targeted commercial shipping.

The new zone should be announced in the coming days and weeks and "will begin from the line of the US naval blockade, extend toward the Strait of Hormuz, and from this side continue into the Persian Gulf," Rezaei said. Iran mocks US over Strait of Hormuz disruption with Simpsons meme Iran has accused the US of causing disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and then attempting to blame Tehran for the fallout.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Washington was trying to “put Iran’s name” on the consequences of a crisis it had created. Baghaei also shared a Simpsons meme depicting Homer and Bart standing beside a spreading fire, with Bart saying: “Relax.

It’s a controlled burn.” “America started the war but expects the whole world to pay the bill, while portraying Iran as the one that caused this chaos”, he wrote on X. Israeli strikes kill 7 in Lebanon Israeli strikes killed at least seven people in southern Lebanon and leveled an empty hospital, Lebanon's health ministry said.

Strikes on the village of Arabsalim killed two, the ministry said. Two others were killed in Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa, near a strategic hill that Israel said its forces gained control over on Thursday. And three people were killed in the village of Nabatiyeh al-Tahta after an Israeli drone struck a parking lot.

At least 20 others were wounded in strikes, the ministry said, among them three children and five women. Israel's military said its latest strikes came in response to a drone attack launched earlier on Sunday by Hezbollah on troops in southern Lebanon.

It said Hezbollah had used the empty hospital as a command centre. Since a ceasefire went into effect between Israel and Hezbollah more than two months ago, low-level skirmishes and Israeli strikes continue in the south. US denies that Iran struck an uncrewed US military ship in the Strait of Hormuz The US military denied that Iran struck an uncrewed American military vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, calling the claim a "total lie.

" State-run media in Tehran said the US vessel was trying to enter an area that Iran says is restricted in the Strait of Hormuz, but Captain Tim Hawkins, spokesperson for the US Central Command, called it "a total lie." The claim came a day after the US said it struck Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for Iran launching ballistic missiles at Navy warships.

Attacks resumed last week after roughly a month of quiet. In full: Trump approval rating drops to record low in new poll Trump approval rating drops to record low in new poll Iran says it hit a US ship in a week of renewed hostilities Iran said Sunday that it struck an unmanned US military boat in the Strait of Hormuz, marking the latest exchange of fire between the countries after a month of relative calm.

State-run media in Tehran said the US vessel was trying to enter an area that Iran says is restricted in the Strait of Hormuz. It came a day after the US said it struck Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for Iran launching ballistic missiles at Navy warships.

Attacks resumed last week after roughly a month of quiet. Israeli government warns holiday travellers Israel issued a warning ahead of the Jewish High Holiday season, a busy travel time that begins this Friday. It cautioned citizens not to travel to Muslim nations, including Jordan and Egypt, and to take precautions when overseas, including avoiding displaying Jewish symbols like skullcaps or speaking Hebrew in public spaces.

Israel frequently issues such warnings ahead of holidays or during wartime. Watch - 'Small potatoes': Trump says Iran conflict isn't a 'big thing' for US Recap: UK chancellor warns of tough Budget because of economic impact of Iran war The chancellor has warned that the Budget in the autumn could be tough, as Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East affects the British economy.

John Healey issued the warning amid the leap in Government borrowing earlier this week, reflecting concerns among lenders about the inflationary impact of the US’s war with Iran. Mr Healey also told the Financial Times he would ensure the UK emerges from his first Budget on October 28 with a solid “buffer against uncertainty”.

Economists have predicted that the fiscal buffer Rachel Reeves built up in her last budget, through a combination of tax rises and departmental spending cuts, will be squeezed by the inflationary pressures of ongoing global turmoil. This could limit prime minister Andy Burnham’s ambitions to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, and spending plans across his wider agenda for Government.

The Chancellor told the FT: “What’s happening in the Middle East is hitting inflation, it’s hitting growth, it’s hitting borrowing costs.” He added: “It’s part of a more dangerous world that is more uncertain and it’s one of the challenges we have to meet in this country, but have to meet with other [countries].

” In full - Iran fuel tanker explosion leaves 11 dead and seven injured At least 11 people have been killed and seven injured after a fuel tanker exploded in western Iran, state media said. State news agency IRNA reported late on Saturday that the vehicle suffered a brake fault and struck several cars before catching fire near a traffic police station outside Sanandaj, a Kurdish city roughly 400 kilometres (248 miles) west of Tehran.

The injured were taken to hospital.

CAIRO — The new head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council on Sunday (Sept 6) said Tehran plans to announce an "exclusion zone" outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway. Mohsen Rezaei's comments to Iran's state broadcaster came with few details, a day after the US struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to Tehran launching ballistic missiles at US warships.

Experts called the launches a dangerous escalation after Iran's previous attacks at sea targeted commercial shipping. The new zone should be announced in the coming days and weeks and "will begin from the line of the US naval blockade, extend toward the Strait of Hormuz, and from this side continue into the Persian Gulf", Rezaei said.

"Any ship that enters this area with the intention of passing through the Strait of Hormuz and is identified will be placed on our sanctions list." It is not clear where Iran defines the location of the weekslong US blockade, which is aimed at Iranian ports and keeping Tehran from shipping out its oil.

The US military has said over 20 warships are supporting the blockade, which as of Sunday had redirected 92 commercial ships and disabled three. The US has been introducing new measures to increase the economic pain on Iran after negotiations collapsed and no end to the intermittent fighting appears in sight.

Meanwhile, Iran continues to attack some ships trying to transit the strait, which has become an important source of leverage for Tehran in the war that began Feb 28 with US and Israeli strikes. Iran earlier Sunday said it struck an unmanned US vessel trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, a claim that the US military dismissed as a "total lie".

Fighting resumed a week ago The United States and Iran resumed attacks last week, following a month of relative calm, with the Strait of Hormuz and areas along Iran's southern coast again being targeted. At least five people were killed earlier in the week during a US bombardment that returned attention to the area where a school was hit in the war's opening strikes.

The Trump administration appears to have adopted a dual-prong approach to the conflict, responding militarily to attacks on the strait while going after foreign financial institutions that handle Iran's money. But Tehran's hard-line new senior leaders including Rezaei have signalled a willingness to dig in after weathering decades of sanctions.

Iran has found ways over the years to circumvent sanctions, and now the US blockade of its ports, and get its oil to buyers to help ease growing economic pressures. On the matter of the collapsed negotiations with the US, Rezaei on Sunday expressed wariness not only of the US but also of the mediators.

The memorandum of understanding that the US and Iran signed in mid-June began to fall apart within days as each side accused the other of violations. "We had trusted our friends in Pakistan, Qatar or Oman, thinking that since they had stepped in as mediators, one of a mediator's responsibilities is that if one side violates the agreement, they should stop them," Rezaei said.

"We are now pursuing diplomacy with guarantees." US says 9 million barrels of oil a day pass through the strait The Strait of Hormuz is crucial to global oil and natural gas shipments and was seen as an international waterway before the war began. On Sunday, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that on average, nine million barrels of oil a day are getting through the strait, which should help to relieve pressure on energy prices.

His estimate appeared to exceed average flows over the past 28 days through the strait, according to TankerTrackers.com and other sources. Wright told CNN that with oil also flowing through pipelines in the region, "we're probably two-thirds or more of preconflict flows".

But those flows depend on the presence of the US Navy to help escort tankers and provide some protection against possible Iranian attack. Wright said he expected that other countries would eventually support the Navy's efforts. Meanwhile, Iran's Rezaei in his interview with state TV claimed that "every day we are selling one million, one and a half million (barrels), as if Iran's oil production and trade are continuing as usual".