UK backs ceasefire, seeks freedom of navigation in Hormuz

Several vessels in the Persian Gulf have received messages claiming to be from Iran’s navy saying the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, Reuters reported, citing shipping sources.

The message said ship owners need to receive permission from Iran to transit and warned that vessels failing to comply would be “targeted and destroyed,” according to the report.

Iran’s armed forces sought to reassure regional countries while warning the United States and Israel against further action, saying any “new mistake” would trigger a response “more devastating and deadly than before.”

In a statement, the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces and the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said they were closely monitoring all US and Israeli military movements in the region.

“Any new mistake by the United States and the Zionist regime will be met with a response more devastating and deadly than before,” the statement said.

The statement also stressed that Iran does not view regional states as adversaries.

“We are not and will not be a threat to the countries of the region,” it said, adding that Muslim governments and nations should cooperate to expel US forces from the region.

The United Nations Secretary-General’s Middle East envoy Jean Arnault has arrived in Iran, according to a statement, as diplomatic efforts gather pace following the two-week ceasefire announced overnight.

Arnault, a veteran UN mediator appointed by Secretary-General António Guterres, is tasked with supporting international efforts to turn the fragile pause in fighting into broader negotiations aimed at ending the war.

The ceasefire, agreed by the United States and Iran with mediation from regional actors, is intended to create a narrow window for diplomacy and possible talks in the coming days.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday he hoped the Iranian people would take advantage of what he described as a new opportunity, while stressing it was not a US objective to drive internal change.

“I would love to see the Iranian people take advantage of this opportunity,” he said at a Pentagon briefing.

He said Iranians had been “oppressed” and subjected to “horrible things,” adding that internal change “was not our objective in this effort.”

Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline, a key export route carrying crude from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, was hit in a drone attack, the Financial Times reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The report said a pumping station on the 1,200-km pipeline was struck at about 1 p.m. local time on Wednesday. One of the people said the damage was still being assessed.

The pipeline has become an economic lifeline for the kingdom as Saudi Aramco rerouted exports to the Red Sea to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

The reported attack came hours after Iran and the United States agreed a ceasefire on Tuesday evening US time.