President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.<\/p>\n
Delegations from the U.S. and Iran entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.<\/p>\n
The U.S. and Iran have nonetheless continued to exchange strikes, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz the primary flashpoint.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump continued to threaten greater economic pressure on Iran, saying that there are more sanctions the U.S. could use to tighten their economic chokehold on the nation.<\/p>\n
“Well, we have things that we could sanction. We have very draconian sanctions, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said when asked U.S. officials saying they will be announcing measures to put more economic pressure on Iran. <\/p>\n
The president then pivoted to say that the Strait of Hormuz is “open” and tout that ships are getting through.<\/p>\n
“Right now, the Strait is open. A lot of boats are coming through. People aren’t reporting that. And that may slow down a little bit at some point. But right now, a lot of boats are coming through. The naval blockade has been extremely effective,” Trump said.<\/p>\n
“No boats have gotten into Iran, but they are getting in for other places. But we’ll see. We’re going to see what happens. It’ll either be extremely good and oil prices are going to drop like a rock, or we’ll continue to do exactly what we’re doing,” Trump later added. <\/p>\n
The president also noted that the MOU that the U.S. and Iran signed “didn’t turn out to be what they said.”<\/p>\n
“You know, when they tell us one thing and they do another,” Trump said.<\/p>\n
The United Arab Emirates announced an indefinite trade embargo on Iran on Wednesday, accusing Iranian forces of firing two ballistic missiles at its territory. <\/p>\n
Iran denied launching missiles and described the reported attack as a “false flag operation” by Israel and the U.S.<\/p>\n
According to the World Trade Organization, trade between the two countries was worth roughly $28 billion in 2024 — the last year where there is a full data set. <\/p>\n
Iran imported roughly $21 billion in goods from the UAE, and the UAE imported about $7 billion from Iran. Iran’s top import from the UAE was electronics, and its top export was oil, per the WTO. <\/p>\n
But more important than the bilateral commercial trade relationship is the suspension of financial transactions. Shadow companies in the UAE help Iran export oil, and exchange houses help Iran move money around without accessing the formal global banking system.<\/p>\n
It is unclear if the U.S. played a role in the UAE’s decision or if this is part of the current financial squeeze strategy by U.S., but the announcement came after a call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahya.<\/p>\n
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Chris Boccia<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump said formal negotiations with Iran could reopen “maybe at some point” but that the “situation is so good” right now. <\/p>\n
Trump claimed the U.S. controls the Strait of Hormuz except for when Iranians “shoot a drone every once in a while,” something he brushed off as a “nuisance value.”<\/p>\n
“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and they won’t,” Trump said, when asked whether he’d restart talks with Iran.<\/p>\n
The president then said “a lot of boats” came through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday night, touting U.S. control over the waterway but notably saying that persistent attacks on vessels are an annoyance, or “nuisance value.”<\/p>\n
He went on to further tout oil prices, once again claiming that they will further lower “when this is over.”<\/p>\n
Iran’s armed forces Chief of Staff Gen. Ali Abdollahi warned on Wednesday that any countries in the Persian Gulf that offer assistance to the U.S. military will be considered collaborators by Tehran.<\/p>\n
“It is unlikely that such a large number of military aircraft, especially refueling planes, would be present at regional bases without the knowledge of the host countries,” Abdollahi said in a statement.<\/p>\n
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone on Tuesday with the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, after Abu Dhabi accused Iran of launching a new missile attack on the Gulf country — one that Tehran denied responsibility for.<\/p>\n
A statement from the State Department’s Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said that the two officials “discussed a number of regional security issues, including Lebanon, as well as continued U.S.-UAE coordination to hold Iran and its terrorist proxies accountable for ongoing attacks.”<\/p>\n
“Secretary Rubio underscored the importance of freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz,” Pigott said.<\/p>\n
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston<\/p>\n
The spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry is denying claims that Iran launched missiles at the United Arab Emirates. <\/p>\n
“The Foreign Ministry spokesman completely rejected the UAE’s claim that Iran launched a missile at the country, expressing regret over the accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and considered this behavior to be contrary to the principle of good neighborliness and disruptive to ongoing efforts to strengthen trust between regional countries and prevent the escalation of insecurity in the region,” the spokesman said in a readout posted on Iranian state media FARS. <\/p>\n
Earlier, UAE officials said air defenses detected two ballistic missiles approaching from Iran that were “targeting maritime navigation,” which fell into the sea.<\/p>\n
Air defenses detected two Iranian missiles fired toward the United Arab Emirates Tuesday, both of which fell into the water off the coast of the UAE, in its territorial waters, according to a statement from the UAE Ministry of Defense.<\/p>\n
This appears to be the first time Iran has fired missiles directly at the UAE in several months.<\/p>\n
Iranian projectiles targeted UAE ships in the Strait of Hormuz last week.<\/p>\n
Residents in Dubai have been told to seek shelter after UAE air defense systems detected a missile threat targeting the county. <\/p>\n
“Please remain in a safe location and follow warnings and updates issued through official channels,” the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority of the UAE said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Special Envoy Jared Kushner said Iran is “not showing any interest” in making a deal that makes sense for the U.S., but noted that dialogue between the two countries is more “robust” than ever.<\/p>\n
Kushner’s comments came after President Donald Trump said that there are no conversations ongoing or scheduled with Iran \u2014 contradicting Kushner and even himself after acknowledging earlier that there were backchannel discussions between the U.S. and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n
Pressed for specifics on the reported conversations, Kushner said Monday that he would not get into specifics but declared that “the conversations between the US government and- and different areas of the Iranian government, at all areas, is probably more robust than it’s maybe ever been,” Kushner said. <\/p>\n
Trump’s son-in-law noted that, at the moment, Iran was “not showing any interest in- in doing something that makes sense for us” in terms of making a deal. <\/p>\n
“They have to be willing to make a real deal. I think if they’re going to try to play a trick or do something to hide certain cards and get certain concessions. For now, President Trump wants to make a fair deal,” he added.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that there are “no talks or conversations” occurring now or scheduled in the future with Iran and asserted that the U.S. Naval blockade of the country remains in “full force and effect.” <\/p>\n
Writing on social media Tuesday, Trump also claimed that the Strait of Hormuz was “open and operating” and that “all water mines have been removed or detonated.” <\/p>\n
Trump’s post comes just a day after Fox News reported that the president said in an off-camera interview that the U.S. was backchanneling with the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. <\/p>\n
Tehran had previously denied that such talks were occurring following an Axios report that Iraqi Kurdish officials were helping to mediate discussions between the U.S. and IRGC.<\/p>\n