Iran said on Sunday (July 26) it has halted retaliatory attacks against U.S. allies in West Asia after Washington stopped its strikes on the country for the past two nights.
The Iranian declaration came after Washington paused a war nearing its fifth month and reports emerged that concerns over dwindling munitions were restraining plans for further escalation.
“These attacks continued until two nights ago, but over the past two nights the Americans have stopped their attacks,” said army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia.
“Since... our strategy has essentially been retaliatory, we have also halted our retaliatory operations.”
-AFP
Lebanon’s Army on Sunday (July 26) condemned ongoing Israeli military activities in the country’s south that it said were preventing its full deployment under a framework deal reached with Israel last month.
“Israeli occupation forces continue their attacks and violations of current understandings and of international laws through the systematic destruction and bulldozing of homes, bombardment and sweeps with automatic weapons in several southern areas,” an Army statement said, adding that “the continuation of these attacks obstructs the army’s full deployment according to current agreements and prevents the return of residents to their villages and towns”.
-AFP
Iran said on Sunday (July 26, 2026) it has halted retaliatory attacks in the region after the United States stopped its strikes on the country for the past two nights.
“These attacks continued until two nights ago, but over the past two nights the Americans have stopped their attacks,” said army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia. “Since... our strategy has essentially been retaliatory, we have also halted our retaliatory operations.”
- AFP
Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday (July 26, 2026) said they downed a Saudi drone over the northwest of Yemen, a day after the Yemeni group claimed it attacked oil facilities in the Gulf kingdom.
The Houthi’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group “successfully shot down a Turkish-made... armed reconnaissance drone belonging to the Saudi enemy while it was conducting hostile operations”.
- AFP
Iran’s army warned on Sunday (July 26, 2026) that the war in the West Asia would widen if the United States chose to press ahead with attacks on the Islamic republic, ahead of the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington.
“I believe that if the Americans once again fall for the Zionists’ deception, or move in line with them, and insist on continuing the war, particularly through air strikes, geographically this will expand further,” army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia told state television.- AFP
Iran said on Sunday (July 26) it had made progress in talks with Oman on management of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway crucial for oil and gas trade that both countries border.
The latest talks come after the United States resumed attacks on Iran in an effort to end Tehran’s control of the strait, following a June memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war that had briefly eased tensions.- AFP
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they struck Saudi Aramco sites in Jizan and Yanbu on Saturday (July 25), a day after Riyadh bombed Houthi targets.
A surface-to-air battery operated by Greek personnel in Saudi Arabia downed two ballistic missiles and a drone over Yanbu, the Greek air force media office said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had stopped four ships attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz in 24 hours.
Tehran’s effective blockade of the waterway remains the central flashpoint with Washington.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran could not be blamed for the escalation and offered to broker talks between the Houthis and Riyadh, saying “there is no military solution”.- AFP
Iran accused Ukraine on Saturday (July 26) of attacking one of its merchant vessels in the Caspian Sea, killing a sailor and wounding another, and warned it would not leave the incident unanswered.
The accusation came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv had carried out long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea against vessels involved in transporting military cargo involving Iran, underscoring the increasingly international dimensions of Russia’s war in Ukraine.- AFP
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said on Saturday (July 26, 2026) that they fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia in response to Saudi airstrikes on the strategic Red Sea city of Hodeida, in an escalation over vital shipping routes in the West Asia while the United States and Iran vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Brig Gen Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesperson, said in a prerecorded statement that the attack targeted facilities in the Red Sea cities of Yanbu and Jizan that belong to Aramco, the world’s largest oil company.- AP
The U.S. military has paused its airstrikes on Iran after nearly two weeks of intensifying bombing, while diplomatic efforts have pushed forward to try to avert a return to all-out war.
A regional official involved in the mediation efforts said that concerted diplomacy was under way and that a pause in U.S. strikes and Iranian counterstrikes on neighbouring countries hosting American forces was a “positive signal that helps their efforts to de-escalate.”
The official said that both the U.S. and Iran want to return to the interim ceasefire deal and that a compromise, which is being negotiated now, centres around having Iran run vessel transit through the Strait of Hormuz with fewer restrictions on ships. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
AP
Pickaxe Mountain is part of the Karkas Range, or Reshteh Kuh-e Karkas. It extends for more than 100 km in a northwest-southeast ‘diagonal’ between the cities of Kashan and Ardestan and is named for its highest summit, Mount Karkas, which rises to about 3.9 km above sea level in the midst of an arid plateau. The Range is part of the Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic belt, and its mountains hold evidence of millions of years of volcanic activity and tectonic deformation. Specifically, the Urumieh-Dokhtar belt developed as the Neo-Tethyan Ocean subducted beneath the Iranian continental margin before Arabia finally collided with Eurasia, in the last 66 million years.
Explore Pickaxe Mountain, Iran’s geological fortress, revealing its volcanic complexities and strategic significance amidst rising geopolitical tensions.
The U.S. naval blockade against Iran remains in full effect, the U.S. miliatry said early Sunday (July 26, 2026).
“As of July 25, CENTCOM has redirected 12 commercial vessels trying to run the blockade, disabled 2 that didn’t comply, and boarded 2 to ensure total compliance,” it added.
Published - July 26, 2026 08:16 am IST