Overnight, the Middle East war exposed the fragile balance between military escalation and diplomacy. Iranian news agencies reported two missiles striking Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz, with damage still unclear. Meanwhile, Qatar said mediation between Washington and Tehran remained active, rejecting reports that peace efforts had failed. US President Donald Trump has acknowledged fresh limited strikes on Iranian air defenses, even as mediators pursue a possible agreement linking maritime access, sanctions relief and nuclear inspections. As regional governments press for restraint, the stakes extend far beyond the battlefield: shipping security, energy prices and civilian safety remain at risk. Follow live updates here: 10:09 PM, 7 November 2026US steps up pressure on Iraq to shut Iran border routesThe US has formally asked Iraq to close all but two of its border crossings with Iran, Iraq's foreign minister has told Al Jazeera.Washington is threatening to impose sanctions on Iraq if it fails to comply, an Iraqi official said.The demand comes hours after the US launched 'Task Force Iron Gate', aimed at isolating Iran by land by disrupting its cross-border supply routes.09:11 PM, 7 November 2026Houthis say 27 killed in Saudi strikes in Sanaa provinceHouthi media said on Saturday that Saudi strikes killed 27 people, most of them women and children, in Yemen's Sanaa province, as deaths mount in the country's revived civil war.The United Nations says more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced since fighting resumed in the impoverished country.The death toll from the Saudi-led coalition's strikes on Al Shariya village has risen to 27, most of them women and children, with 36 people wounded, the Houthis' health ministry said in a statement to their Saba news agency.Saba said earlier on Saturday that operations to recover victims from the rubble were ongoing and that "aircraft targeted paramedics with two strikes".Get updated faster and for FREE: Download the Gulf News app now - simply click here.08:12 PM, 7 November 2026Syria denies claims troops sent to YemenA Syrian diplomatic source denied to state media on Saturday that Damascus had deployed troops to Yemen to join the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthis.The source told SANA that reports Syria had sent troops "at this time are entirely unfounded" and that Damascus was focused on domestic matters. Multiple Yemeni sources told AFP on Saturday that Syrian troops were already in both Yemen and Saudi Arabia.Get updated faster and for FREE: Download the Gulf News app now - simply click here.08:09 PM, 7 November 2026Houthis claim they targeted Aramco and Riyadh airportYemen's Iran-backed Houthis said on Saturday they had launched multiple missile and drone attacks against Saudi troops and infrastructure both in the kingdom and Yemen.The group, which is fighting a Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognised government, launched six operations that targeted Aramco oil facilities as well as Riyadh airport and Saudi troops and military facilities on both sides of the border, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree posted on X.07:47 PM, 7 November 2026Iran says 'violating' tanker hit mines east of HormuzThe navy of Iran's Army said Saturday that a "violating" oil tanker caught fire earlier in the day after hitting naval mines east of the Strait of Hormuz.In a statement on the army's website, the navy said the oil tanker had turned off its navigation systems and was transiting the "forbidden and unsafe" region east of the strait, ignoring warnings, when it hit the mines and caught fire.It warned that the same fate awaits any "violating" vessels that ignore warnings and enter the "forbidden" areas of the waterway, Xinhua News Agency reported.07:34 PM, 7 November 2026Thousands of Syrian troops to deploy to Yemen, Saudi ArabiaThousands of Syrian troops are set to deploy to Saudi Arabia and Yemen, with some already on the ground, multiple Yemeni officials told AFP, as Riyadh rallies international help to repel the Houthis and bolster the government in Aden.Hundreds have already been deployed to both sides of the border, according to three separate Yemeni military sources and a defence official.But more are coming.Syria will send around 3,000 troops to join the Saudi-led coalition's fight, a source from the Presidential Leadership Council, Yemen's top governing body, told AFP."The Syrian side and the Saudi side agreed to send around 3,000 troops to fight against the Houthis," said the source, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.The arrangement was greenlit during Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's visit to Riyadh this week, where the two countries signed cooperation agreements, including a defence deal.Those already stationed on the Yemeni side of the border at the moment are leading drone operations against the Houthis in the area, one of the military officials told AFP.06:46 PM, 7 November 2026US sanctions eight Canada-based firms over Iran linksThe US Department of the Treasury said on Saturday that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had imposed sanctions on eight Canada-based money services businesses accused of facilitating activities linked to the Iranian regime. The action was taken under Operation Economic Outcast.In a separate move, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an order effectively cutting cryptocurrency exchange MEXC Global off from the US financial system. The platform is accused of facilitating at least $16 billion in illicit transactions, including those linked to sanctions evasion involving Iran, North Korea and Russia.Get updated faster and for FREE: Download the Gulf News app now - simply click here.06:28 PM, 7 November 2026US sets up task force to block Iran's weapons routesThe US military has set up a new task force to prevent Iran from using land routes and the Caspian Sea to transport advanced weapons and restricted materials.US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Admiral Brad Cooper on Saturday ordered the formation of Task Force Iron Gate, a team of around 20 civilian and military personnel based in Tampa, Florida.The team will work with other US government agencies to restrict the movement of advanced weapons, dual-use technology, sanctioned materials and illegal revenue across Iran's land borders and the Caspian Sea.Cooper said the initiative would strengthen Washington's efforts to limit Iran's military supplies and funding."Strengthening CENTCOM's collaboration with US interagency partners will further constrain Iran's ability to finance terrorism, rebuild weapons factories, and replenish their military," he said.06:08 PM, 7 November 2026Iran says it has moved missile production undergroundIran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Saturday that its aerospace division has established underground missile and drone production facilities and is continuously increasing the range of its missiles."We managed to rapidly relocated the production of missiles and drones from the surface to underground (facilities)," IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said at a press conference in Tehran."We are constantly enhancing the range of our missiles, and we will not stop in this regard," Mohebbi said, adding all tangible and intangible assets of a "hostile country" are within Iran's reach, Xinhua News Agency reported.He warned that if the enemy renews strikes, Iran will unveil its military surprises, saying, "We are prepared without any geographical limitation to defend the country's existence, identity, and territorial integrity."05:55 PM, 7 November 2026Son of Iran's ousted shah takes controversial prizeThe son of the ousted shah of Iran on Saturday received a "Freedom Prize" in Frankfurt awarded to the Iranian people in a ceremony that critics said was illegitimate.Some 18,000 demonstrators, many chanting support and waving pre-revolutionary Iranian flags, greeted Reza Pahlavi as he turned up in the German city to be handed the honour, according to a police estimate.The prize was awarded by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, an activist group close to Germany's liberal FDP party.Iran "is a country not waiting to be taught democracy, this is a country being prevented from practising it", Pahlavi said at St Paul's Church, famous for hosting Germany's first-ever elected parliament in 1848-1849."A people ready to die for the right to vote is willing to exercise the right to vote," he added to applause.04:01 PM, 7 November 2026Iran's Revolutionary Guard lifts its missile-range limitIran's Revolutionary Guard says it has lifted a self-proclaimed limit of 2,000 kilometers on the range of its ballistic missiles, suggesting the country may seek to develop missiles capable of reaching more distant targets amid fears of renewed all-out war.The comments by the spokesman of Revolutionary Guard came days after the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, warned that "any kind and level of threat" from the US or Israel would face a response without geographic limits.Asked at a Tehran press conference about the limit on missile ranges, Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said, "That restriction has been lifted for us."He did not say whether Iran had missiles capable of exceeding the limit, saying only Iran would "demonstrate these capabilities in practice" rather than make statements.Iran is not known to have missiles that can go beyond the 2,000-kilometre limit - a range that puts parts of Greece and the Balkans, the entire Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and most of Egypt within reach. However, US officials have said technology from Iran's space program can be repurposed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.The Iranian military, meanwhile, said a tanker east of the Strait of Hormuz had hit a naval mine and caught fire. It did not identify the nationality or destination of the tanker, which it said had turned off its navigational beacon and was sailing in a "prohibited area."03:54 PM, 7 November 2026Death toll rises to 22 in Saudi strike on anaa provinceTwo media outlets affiliated with Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said on Saturday that the death toll in Saudi strikes on Yemen's Sanaa province rose to 22."The number of victims of the Saudi enemy warplane massacre in the Al-Shariya area... has risen to 22 citizens, most of them children and women, while the number of wounded has risen to 30," the Houthis' Saba news agency said, with the group's Al-Masirah TV reporting the same toll.02:23 PM, 7 November 2026Houthi media says 11 killed in Saudi strikes on Yemen's Sanaa provinceHouthi media said on Saturday that Saudi strikes killed 11 people, including women and children, in Yemen's Sanaa province, following the return of the country's dormant civil war."Martyrdom of 11 citizens, among them women and children, in Saudi enemy airstrikes" on homes in the Al-Shariyah area of Sanaa province, the Iran-backed Houthis' Saba news agency said, adding that operations to recover victims from the rubble were ongoing and that "aircraft targeted paramedics with two strikes".02:23 PM, 7 November 2026Iran executes man convicted of attack on police stationIran executed a man on Saturday convicted of being involved in a deadly assault on a police station, the judiciary said."The death sentence of Mohammad Aref Shahbakhsh -- an operative linked to the terrorist group Jaish al-Zolm (al-Adl) -- was carried out this morning following the completion of all legal procedures," the judiciary's Mizan Online website reported.Jaish al-Adl is an outlawed militant group in Sistan-Baluchistan province, one of Iran's poorest, which has long seen clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and members of the ethnic Baloch minority.12:48 PM, 7 November 2026US Mission to UAE calls for vigilance US Mission to UAE issued a warning for Americans. It tweeted: "Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise heightened vigilance due to the increased threat of armed attacks by Iranian-supported Houthis and Iranian efforts to target US government officials in the region. Be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions."12:01 PM, 7 November 2026"Nobody hurt or killed in 5 months": Trump says US is not at war with IranUS President Donald Trump has described the ongoing confrontation with Iran as "not a war", claiming that Washington has made significant progress in dealing with Tehran and is currently extracting more oil than before the hostilities."We made a lot of progress with Iran. We’re taking out more oil now than we were before the war. It’s not a war. It can’t be a war when for five months nobody was hurt, killed, or anything else. It’s not a war," Donald Trump said.These assertions come amid persistent ambiguity regarding the trajectory of the US military campaign targeting Iran, alongside ongoing deliberations concerning fresh air strikes. His contention that current tensions do not constitute a war persists despite White House deliberations regarding active military options, while broader friction with Tehran remains a primary regional concern.10:00 AM, 7 November 2026US election confirms erosion of support for Israel, with even Trump questioning military aidIn the space of about 24 hours, US President Donald Trump suggested cutting off aid to Israel, a staunch critic of Israel won a key Senate race and the vice president partly blamed his own party's landslide defeat on US-Israel relations.The rupture caused by Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza and the jointly launched war with Iran has shredded bipartisan US support for Israel that goes back decades. Democrats are fiercely divided over Israel, and Republicans are increasingly critical of its actions.In Israel, critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuse him of having mismanaged relations with the country’s closest ally. But the divide runs much deeper, and is likely to persist even if a new government is formed after last week’s elections.On the left, Americans increasingly see Israel as an international pariah because of the war in Gaza and violent settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. On the right, some see Israel as having undermined Trump’s “America First” pledge, accusing it of dragging the US into a costly and unnecessary war with Iran.“Something fundamental has shifted,” said Michael Oren, a historian and former Israeli ambassador to the US. “My working assumption is that the call to cut off military aid is just the beginning.”09:05 AM, 7 November 2026Missile intercepted near RiyadhColonel Turki Al-Malki, the Official Spokesman for the Coalition Forces tweeted an update, writing: "Intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile launched by the Houthi terrorist militia toward the Riyadh area."06:50 AM, 7 November 2026US military carries out new targeted strikes on Iran as Tehran's leaders weigh mediator's proposalsUS President Donald Trump said the US military on Friday carried out new limited strikes on Iran, targeting an Iranian air defence system.Iranian state media reported the sound of two explosions in the Suza area of Qeshm Island, which is in the crucial waterway for oil shipments.Trump in an exchange with reporters described the military action as “minor."“They knocked out — they built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five," Trump told reporters shortly after arriving in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday evening.Trump did not offer further details about the target.Get updated faster and for FREE: Download the Gulf News app now - simply click here.06:43 AM, 7 November 2026Iranian forces 'stronger' than at beginning of war: army spokesmanIran's military is "stronger" and more motivated than it was when the United States and Israel started the war in February, Iranian state media reported on Saturday, citing an army spokesman."Today, the Islamic Republic's armed forces... having gained experience from direct confrontation with the United States and the Israeli regime, are on higher alert and are stronger than they were at the beginning of the war. They now possess greater motivation, commitment, and self-confidence," Mohammad Akraminia said, according to the state news agency IRNA.06:41 AM, 7 November 2026US offers $20 million reward for info on 'Iran's nuclear programme': CENTCOMThe United States is offering a $20 million reward "and possible relocation" for information about Iran's nuclear programme, the military said on Friday, despite President Donald Trump's repeated claims that it has been obliterated.A State Department program, Rewards for Justice, "is offering a reward of up to $20 million and possible relocation for information about Iran's nuclear programme, including its facilities, equipment, and associated personnel, such as those in the scientific community," US Central Command said in a statement posted on X.06:38 AM, 7 November 2026Yemen's Houthis granting ships safe passage via email: reportYemen's Iran-backed Houthis are effectively policing maritime transit of the Red Sea through a system under which vessels can request safe passage via email, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.The Houthis — who control swaths of Yemen — declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia earlier this year, after which some ships began contacting them before transiting the Red Sea, the Journal reported.If the Houthis reply, they typically do so within 24 hours, the newspaper said, citing crew member accounts and emails it reviewed.06:30 AM, 7 November 2026US‑Israel war on Iran: Recent developments
