Iran news today live: US forces shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles targeting Kuwait and Bahrain

Iran’s World Cup soccer players have received visas to enter the United ⁠States, a US official said days before their first match, but Iranian media said on Saturday that some administrative staff had not gotten their visas.

The White House official told Reuters on Friday, 10 days before Iran plays in Los Angeles, that the players had received their visas, after Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, said on Thursday that they had not received them.

A spokesman for Iran’s ⁠World Cup federation could not immediately be reached for comment.

US forces intercepted the sanctioned stateless oil tanker Davina overnight on Thursday in the Indian Ocean, the military’s Indo-Pacific Command announced on Friday.

It comes as part of Washington’s blockade on Iran’s sea trade, after Tehran fired on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and follows multiple US interdictions of commercial and oil tankers in the region recently.

“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” the Indo-Pacific Command wrote in an X post.

Negotiations between the US and Iran over an end to the war on the country have been languishing in a stalemate for weeks as both sides remain intransigent about key issues including nuclear development and the situation in Lebanon.

The US is insistent that Tehran surrender its right to ever develop highly enriched uranium and appears to have been manoeuvring to install a government more sympathetic to Western interests.

Meanwhile, Iran has said that it will never agree to a deal that does not ensure the sovereignty of Lebanon and its borders from Israel – with Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon continuing – and has insisted on its ability to hold on to some nuclear development capabilities.

This has likely not been helped by Iran’s particular “bazaar style” negotiation strategy, which aims to wear down its opponents.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has hit back at Lebanon’s president’s claims his country is being used as a “bargaining chip” in Tehran’s negotiations with Washington.

In a post on X, Mr Araghchi wrote the countries would have had a deal “long ago” had Lebanon been a bargaining chip for Iran.

“Save Lebanon from your real foe, Mr. President,” he added.

Several Lebanese soldiers, including an officer, ⁠were killed in an Israeli ⁠strike ​targeting ⁠their military vehicle on ⁠the ​Khardali-Nabatieh road ⁠in ‌south Lebanon, the Lebanese army ‌said on ‌Saturday.

The Lebanese army ⁠has historically avoided involvement in confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel and ‌has ​not engaged Israel ‌in ⁠the current ⁠conflict.

It comes as fighting continues between Hezbollah and Israel in the south of the country.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know after the US said it downed six ballistic missiles aimed at Gulf states:

• The US military says it has downed six Iranian ballistic missiles launched towards its Gulf allies, while a seventh missile failed to reach its target

• Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had targeted US bases and assets in Kuwait and Bahrain

• US forces later struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island along the strait “to defend against further attacks”

• No injuries have currently been reported

Several oil industry executives have reportedly privately warned the White House that the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz is straining global oil inventories and could lead to gas price spikes in the coming weeks.

For more than three months, Americans have been forced to confront high gas prices as a result of President Donald Trump’s war with Iran. The conflict has disrupted global oil production because Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 34 percent of the world’s oil passes.

But executives from unidentified oil companies have warned senior administration officials in recent weeks that they’re concerned prices could rise further as a result of diminishing oil supplies, four executives told Politico.

Read more from Ariana Baio here:

Lebanon’s president has accused Iran of using his country as a “bargaining chip” with their negotiation with the US.

Speaking at the presidential palace in Beirut Joseph Aoun told CNN in an interview that Lebanese people are “fed up” with the war between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.

It comes as Israel and Lebanon agreed to pause fighting, but Hezbollah objected to the agreement.

Aoun told CNN that Iran is “not trying to help us … the people of Lebanon are paying the price … for the sake of your own interest,” adding, “our interests … do not coincide with your interests.”

He added the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation.”