DUBAI, Aug 18, 2026 (Net) – US President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to bomb Oman, as a 60-day deadline to end the war with Iran expired.
Here are the latest developments in the Middle East conflict:
‘Positive’ US-Iran talks
Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner said that the United States and Iran were having “very positive and active conversations,” while noting that “there’s really not a lot of trust be-tween America and Iran after all these years”.
Kushner told Fox News that “President Trump is going to be very patient…he doesn’t want to rush to a deal.”
“He’ll make the right deal when the right deal is ready,” he added.
Earlier on Monday, Trump said Iranian officials “want to make a deal, but they’re not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary,” before repeating his key demand that “Iran can-not have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump threatens Oman –
Trump threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of a US deal with Tehran on the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway for Gulf exports, and called for Iran to surrender.
“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump told Fox News on Monday, referring to ongoing talks between Oman and Iran on control of the strait, while Washington is also pursuing its own talks.
Tehran and Muscat have been talking for weeks on future maritime navigation arrangements through the shipping route, and the foreign ministry in Tehran said earlier Monday that the two sides were working on a joint declaration.
Iraq to investigate Kurdistan PM attack –
Iraq’s federal government said on Monday it would launch an investigation into an attack on the office of the autonomous Kurdistan region’s prime minister, which the regional authorities blamed on Iran.
Tehran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the attack and called on Iran’s “Kurdish friends” to be “vigilant against false flags”.
Earlier, Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said that an investigation by the region’s counter-terrorism unit found that his “personal office and the home of the head of the Security and Intelligence Agency were targeted by Iranian drone attacks”.
There were no reported casualties in the attack.
Iran says 60-day deadline ‘irrelevant’ –
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that a 60-day deadline for negotiations included in June’s memorandum of understanding was “irrelevant” because the US had violated the deal early on.
“We did not begin any negotiations because, a few weeks after the signing, widespread violations of the agreement began, thereby rendering the 60-day provision irrelevant”.
Houthis target Saudi ship –
Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Monday they had targeted a Saudi military vessel and four accompa-nying boats in the Red Sea, as part of their maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia.
Yahya Saree, military spokesperson for the Iran-backed Houthis, said they had “succeeded in targeting a military landing ship belonging to the Saudi enemy, accompanied by four military patrol boats, in the Red Sea off the coast of Mokha, using several ballistic missiles”.
The Houthis have been at war with Saudi Arabia since it intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015, but a ceasefire had been in place since 2022. It broke down last month as Yemen was sucked into the wider Middle East war.
Risk of ‘full-scale conflict’ in Yemen: UN –
The UN rights chief voiced alarm Monday at the rising civilian toll of escalating hostilities in Yemen.
“I call on all parties to de-escalate tensions and spare the Yemeni people from further misery. The Yemeni people have already suffered way too much from the devastating legacy of years of conflict, displacement and humanitarian crisis”, Volker Turk said.
