U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday (July 27, 2026) Washington was in “very deep talks with Iran” and warned that he is ready for “strong military action” if diplomacy failed.
“Not much time. Either it goes fast or not at all,” Trump told Axios when asked how long he was willing to give for talks.
- Reuters
Iranian security forces killed four members of an outlawed Kurdish group in the west of the country near Iraq, state television said Monday (July 27, 2026).
“Following an armed clash between the brave border guards and these aggressor elements, four members of the PJAK group were killed,” police said in a statement carried by state TV.
Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Iran, Turkiye, and the United States.
“Significant amounts of weapons and ammunition, including several pistols, magazines, bullets, and hand grenades, were discovered,” in their vehicle near the city of Baneh in the western province of Kurdistan, the statement added.
- AFP
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said that they targeted a number of sensitive crude oil supply and transport sites linking eastern Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea city of Yanbu.
The group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the action was in response to what he described as Saudi drone incursions into Yemeni airspace.
- Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed to Washington on Monday (July 27, 2026), where he said he would meet U.S. President Donald Trump for their first face-to-face talks since the start of their conflict with Iran.
It will be Mr. Netanyahu’s eighth meeting with Mr. Trump since the U.S. President returned to office, and their first since February, right before Israel and the United States launched a joint aerial campaign against Iran.
“In these complex times, you need to act with both great determination and great wisdom. We will discuss all the issues on the agenda, primarily Iran. Of course, our goal is to protect our security and also to expand the circle of peace around us,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a video statement upon departure.
- Reuters
Saudi Arabia’s air defences intercepted and destroyed drones launched from Iraq that attempted to target oil facilities in the kingdom’s Eastern Province and Riyadh, the Saudi Defence Ministry said on Monday (July 27, 2026).
The Ministry said the drones were launched by Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq.
- Reuters
Iran’s Foreign Ministry today said it was not currently involved in negotiations with the United States, despite a halt in recent fighting between the two sides.
“At present, we are not engaged in any negotiations with the United States,” said the Ministry’s spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, at a weekly press briefing, denying reports that Iran had requested talks.
-AFP
Jordan’s armed forces said they intercepted and downed two drones on today morning, adding that there were no casualties or material damage.
The statement did not identify who launched the drones.
-Reuters
Iran’s Foreign Ministry today said the United States was not involved in recent talks with Oman over the administration of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
“These talks have no connection with the United States. They are a bilateral matter between Iran and Oman, and they are continuing,” said the Ministry’s spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a weekly press briefing, adding that the waterway “remains closed”.
-AFP
The Israeli military said it intercepted two drones today near the Jordanian border and was investigating where they had been launched from.
Earlier this month, the military said Israeli and Jordanian forces had intercepted an Iranian missile fired toward the Jordanian city of Aqaba.
“A short while ago, the IDF intercepted two UAVs identified in the area of the Jordan border,” the military said today.
-AFP
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy stopped six vessels attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz through routes not approved by Iranian authorities, state television reported on today.
“Last night, six vessels that attempted to transit through a route other than the designated one were stopped by the IRGC Navy with warning shots and turned back,” a state television correspondent reported from the Gulf.
Earlier state TV said one vessel was involved in an “incident”, without elaborating.
On Saturday, the Guards said they had stopped four vessels attempting to transit through the southern part of the strait after firing warning shots.
-AFP
Iran and the United States held their fire today, handing Gulf shipping and the oil industry a respite from missile strikes as Donald Trump’s UN envoy said the president was “giving talks some space”.
Tehran said it had halted retaliatory attacks against Washington’s allies in West Asia, and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told Fox News Sunday that, while forces remained “locked and loaded”, Mr. Trump would give negotiations “a little bit of room”.
Fighting over the strategic Strait of Hormuz derailed diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran, triggering a U.S. air campaign and Iranian reprisals that expanded the conflict to shipping lanes, Gulf allies and military bases across the region.
-AFP
Ship traffic through Bab el-Mandeb fell on Sunday after Yemeni Houthis attacked Saudi oil installations along the Red Sea coast, while transit through the Strait of Hormuz stayed low over the weekend, shipping data from Kpler showed on Monday.
Eleven commodity vessels passed through the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Sunday, the lowest level in months, the data showed.
Red Sea traffic has been disrupted off the coast of Yemen since last week by the Tehran-aligned Houthis, who want to blockade Saudi exports, expanding the U.S.-Iran conflict that has already choked oil supply through the Strait of Hormuz.
- Reuters
Oil prices tumbled 5% on Monday after the U.S. and Iran paused strikes over the weekend after two weeks of attacks, raising hopes of a diplomatic solution that would de-escalate the conflict and allow shipping to resume in the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures fell $4.89, or 5.05%, to $91.89 by 0009 GMT after briefly slipping under the key support level of $90 earlier in the session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $84.64 a barrel, down $4.67, or 5.23%.
Both contracts are trading at their lowest levels in nearly a week after rising for the past three weeks.
- Reuters
The dollar slumped against its major peers at the start of Asian trading on Monday after the U.S. paused its bombing campaign in Iran during the weekend, prompting a drop in oil prices and boosting global investor confidence.
Against the yen, the U.S. dollar was down 0.2% at 163.585 yen, its biggest decline since July 10. The euro was up 0.2% at $1.1397, while the British pound rose by a similar magnitude to $1.3353.
Oil prices sank in early Asian trade, with Brent crude tumbling 4.7% to $92.19 after the U.S. military temporarily halted its two-week long strikes. Iran will halt its own attacks as long as the U.S. does the same, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday, following a China-led push to resume stalled diplomatic efforts in Pakistan to end the war.
- Reuters
Published - July 27, 2026 06:59 am IST