Iran claims strike on US ship in Strait of Hormuz as fighting escalates

Story by Samy Magdy and Julia Frankel

Iran said Sunday it struck an unmanned U.S. vessel trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, the latest salvo in a new flare-up of fighting between the two countries.

The U.S. did not immediately confirm the purported attack, which came a day after the U.S. military said forces struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to a missile attack on Navy warships.

The war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. But since a ceasefire agreement was announced in June, on-and-off fighting has persisted with both sides trying to inflict military and economic pain as negotiations have collapsed.

Strikes come about a week after fighting resumed

The U.S. and Iran resumed attacks last week, following a month of relative calm, with the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian communities along it again being targeted. At least five people were killed earlier in the week during a U.S. bombardment of southern Iran.

Iran retaliates against US allies after its oil tankers destroyed

By Elwely Elwelly, Yomna Ehab and Muhammad Al Gebaly

DUBAI/CAIRO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The Middle East war intensified on Tuesday with Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen launching strikes on several Saudi cities, further embroiling a U.S. ally in the conflict, while U.S. forces hit multiple Iranian oil tankers and Iran targeted a U.S. base in Jordan.

The Houthis attacked four cities in the south of Saudi Arabia, wounding 73 people and setting oil installations ablaze in what appeared to be a major expansion of the six-month-old war.

As global oil markets were pricing in the Saudi attacks, the U.S. military's Central Command said it destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers on Tuesday and posted video of the strikes, which it called a response to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the previous two days. No Americans were harmed, the U.S. said.

Gasps as foreign leader brags on live TV about 'how he manipulated Trump': ‘The gall’

Alexander Willis

Onlookers were left in shock Tuesday after the leader of a U.S. ally openly boasted on live television about a successful "influence" campaign waged on American leaders to push the U.S. into launching its deeply unpopular war against Iran.

Underwater in the polls ahead of the nation's October elections, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to Israel's popular Channel 14 Sunday night with a pitch to voters.

“I’ve been against Iran for almost 40 years… it took a long time to bring the United States to its senses,” Netanyahu said in Hebrew, according to Zeteo’s Prem Thakker.

“[I’ve had] close to 1,000 hours on American television with the ability to influence the United States — with the intimate knowledge of all its leaders, both those who support us and those who don’t support us — the ability to navigate this field, through it.”

A White House insider told Bloomberg in March that President Donald Trump’s decision to launch a war against Iran was “partly motivated by pressure from outside allies” — chief among them being Netanyahu.