Citing three American officials, Axios said Vice President JD Vance presided over the undisclosed meeting, which ran for hours. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, special envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA chief John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine also took part.One official said issues were settled or discussed at length
US Senator Chris Van Hollen says President Donald Trump is preparing to expand the country’s military presence in the Middle East, accusing the administration of concealing service member casualties and pursuing an “illegal war of choice” in Iran, Anadolu reports.
“The president, who continues to hide service member casualties, is now sending up to another 10,000 troops to his illegal war of choice in Iran,” Van Hollen writes on X. “When Trump says he’s planning on renewing his war next month, believe him. Congress must cut off funding.”
The remarks come after reports said the Pentagon is preparing to deploy a third aircraft carrier strike group and additional Marine Corps ships to the Middle East, as Trump considers resuming strikes on Iran after the midterm elections in early November.
The International Energy Agency says member countries have so far released 325 million barrels of oil and oil-derivative products from strategic reserves, out of 400 million barrels promised in March, AFP reports.
The update comes a day after G7 countries, in coordination with the IEA, agreed to immediately release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil to ease global energy supply concerns caused by fallout from the US-Iran war.
The G7 has not said whether the 100 million barrels included the outstanding 75 million barrels from the March IEA commitment, or came on top of that.
Iranian authorities have arrested at least 31 people in Sirjan in the southern province of Kerman for allegedly working to foment unrest in the country on behalf of the US and Israel, Al Jazeera reports citing officials.
Iran’s state broadcaster reports that four networks have been broken up by officials who alleged that those detained were also involved in “setting fire to the governor’s office, destroying banks and government offices” during anti-government protests in January, alongside other accusations.
Iran said Saturday it had executed a man convicted of a raft of charges including firing a military-grade weapon at police officers during anti-government protests earlier this year, AFP reports.
Siavash Jamshidi was accused of targeting security personnel during mass demonstrations that peaked in January in which thousands of people were killed.
Since that time, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions of convicts linked to the unrest.
A senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the country’s armed forces have made major advances in various technological fields and have “surprises” in store for their enemies, Press Tv reports.
IRGC’s second-in-command Major General Mostafa Izadi said on Friday that the Iranian armed forces have made major strides in the ground, air, air defence and naval fields.
“The armed forces are using various technologies, some of which have been employed on the battlefield and others will be utilised in the future,” he added.
The Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office announced an agreement under which Iranian airlines, excluding Mahan Air, will operate 40 flights per day from and to Najaf International Airport, IRNA reports.
According to Iraq’s official news agency, the agreement was reached following the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office’s follow-ups with the relevant parties.
The flights are aimed at facilitating the movement of passengers and pilgrims and supporting humanitarian, medical, tourism, and educational aspects, the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office said.