عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

US Military Aids Israel-Managed Tanker Attacked off Oman

Sailors prepare an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter, attached to the “Golden Falcons” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 12, to launch on the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), in response to a call for assistance from the Mercer Street, in the Arabian Sea July 30, 2021. Picture taken July 30, 2021. (UN Navy handout via Reuters)
Sailors prepare an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter, attached to the “Golden Falcons” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 12, to launch on the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), in response to a call for assistance from the Mercer Street, in the Arabian Sea July 30, 2021. Picture taken July 30, 2021. (UN Navy handout via Reuters)
TT
TT

US Military Aids Israel-Managed Tanker Attacked off Oman

Sailors prepare an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter, attached to the “Golden Falcons” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 12, to launch on the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), in response to a call for assistance from the Mercer Street, in the Arabian Sea July 30, 2021. Picture taken July 30, 2021. (UN Navy handout via Reuters)
Sailors prepare an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter, attached to the “Golden Falcons” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 12, to launch on the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), in response to a call for assistance from the Mercer Street, in the Arabian Sea July 30, 2021. Picture taken July 30, 2021. (UN Navy handout via Reuters)

The US Navy is assisting an Israeli-managed petroleum products tanker attacked off Oman with two crew members killed, the US military said on Saturday, adding the ship was most likely hit by a drone strike.

Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned vessel that was attacked on Thursday, is being escorted by the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, US Central Command said in a statement.

“US Navy explosives experts are aboard to ensure there is no additional danger to the crew, and are prepared to support an investigation into the attack,” said Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia.

“Initial indications clearly point to a UAV-style (drone) attack,” it added.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid blamed Iran on Friday for the attack, which killed a Briton and a Romanian, and said it deserved a harsh response. There was no immediate official reaction from Iran to the accusation that it was responsible.

Lapid spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the incident on Saturday evening, he said on Twitter.

“We are working together against Iranian terrorism, which poses a threat to all of us, by formulating a real and effective international response,” Lapid said.

Lapid added on Twitter: Iran “repeatedly errs in understanding our commitment to protecting ourselves and our interests.”

US and European sources familiar with intelligence reporting said on Friday that Iran was their leading suspect for the incident.

Al Alam TV, the Iranian government’s Arabic-language television network, cited unnamed sources as saying the attack on the ship came in response to a suspected, unspecified Israeli attack on Dabaa airport in Syria.

The vessel is managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime. The company said on Friday the vessel was sailing under the control of its crew and own power to a safe location with a US naval escort.

Iran and Israel have traded accusations of attacking each other’s vessels in recent months.

Tensions have risen in the Gulf region since the United States reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018 after then-President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which provides maritime security information, said the vessel was about 152 nautical miles (280 km) northeast of the Omani port of Duqm when it was attacked.

According to Refinitiv ship tracking, the medium-size tanker was headed for Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

US Vice President Vance Heads to Armenia, Azerbaijan to Push Peace, Trade

US Vice President JD Vance speaks during the Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department in Washington, DC, US, February 4, 2026. (Reuters)
US Vice President JD Vance speaks during the Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department in Washington, DC, US, February 4, 2026. (Reuters)
TT
TT

US Vice President Vance Heads to Armenia, Azerbaijan to Push Peace, Trade

US Vice President JD Vance speaks during the Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department in Washington, DC, US, February 4, 2026. (Reuters)
US Vice President JD Vance speaks during the Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department in Washington, DC, US, February 4, 2026. (Reuters)

US Vice President JD Vance will visit Armenia and Azerbaijan this week to push a Washington-brokered peace agreement that could transform energy and trade routes in the strategic South Caucasus region.

His two-day trip to Armenia, which begins later on Monday, comes just six months after the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders signed an agreement at the White House seen as the first step towards peace after nearly 40 years of war.

Vance, the first US vice president to visit Armenia, is seeking to advance the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), a proposed 43-kilometre (27-mile) corridor that would run across southern Armenia and give Azerbaijan a direct route to its exclave ‌of Nakhchivan ‌and in turn to Türkiye, Baku's close ally.

"Vance's visit should ‌serve ⁠to reaffirm the ‌US's commitment to seeing the Trump Route through," said Joshua Kucera, a senior South Caucasus analyst at Crisis Group.

"In a region like the Caucasus, even a small amount of attention from the US can make a significant impact."

The Armenian government said on Monday that Vance would hold talks with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and that both men would then make statements, without elaborating.

Vance will then visit Azerbaijan on Wednesday and Thursday, the White House has said.

Under the agreement signed last year, ⁠a private US firm, the TRIPP Development Company, has been granted exclusive rights to develop the proposed corridor, with Yerevan ‌retaining full sovereignty over its borders, customs, taxation and security.

The ‍route would better connect Asia to Europe ‍while - crucially for Washington - bypassing Russia and Iran at a time when Western countries are ‍keen on diversifying energy and trade routes away from Russia due to its war in Ukraine.

Russia has traditionally viewed the South Caucasus as part of its sphere of influence but has seen its clout there diminish as it is distracted by the war in Ukraine.

Securing US access to supplies of critical minerals is also likely to be a key focus of Vance's visit.

TRIPP could prove a key transit corridor for the vast mineral wealth of ⁠Central Asia - including uranium, copper, gold and rare earths - to Western markets.

CLOSED BORDERS, BITTER RIVALS

In Soviet times the South Caucasus was criss-crossed by railways and oil pipelines until a series of wars beginning in the 1980s disrupted energy routes and shuttered the border between Armenia and Türkiye, Azerbaijan's key regional ally.

Armenia and Azerbaijan were locked in bitter conflict for nearly four decades, primarily over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan that broke away from Baku's control as the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought two wars over Karabakh before Baku finally took it back in 2023. Karabakh's entire ethnic Armenian population of around 100,000 people fled to Armenia. The two neighbors have made progress in recent months on normalizing relations, including restarting ‌some energy shipments.

But major hurdles remain to full and lasting peace, including a demand by Azerbaijan that Armenia change its constitution to remove what Baku says contains implicit claims on Azerbaijani territory.

World

Adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader to Visit Oman on Tuesday

FILED - 06 February 2009, Bavaria, Munich: Ali Larijani, then chairman of the Iranian parliament, speaks at the 45th Munich Security Conference in Munich. Photo: Andreas Gebert/dpa
FILED - 06 February 2009, Bavaria, Munich: Ali Larijani, then chairman of the Iranian parliament, speaks at the 45th Munich Security Conference in Munich. Photo: Andreas Gebert/dpa
TT
TT

Adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader to Visit Oman on Tuesday

FILED - 06 February 2009, Bavaria, Munich: Ali Larijani, then chairman of the Iranian parliament, speaks at the 45th Munich Security Conference in Munich. Photo: Andreas Gebert/dpa
FILED - 06 February 2009, Bavaria, Munich: Ali Larijani, then chairman of the Iranian parliament, speaks at the 45th Munich Security Conference in Munich. Photo: Andreas Gebert/dpa

Ali Larijani, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, will visit Oman accompanied by a delegation on Tuesday, the ‌semi-official Tasnim news ‌agency reported ‌on ⁠Monday.

American and ‌Iranian diplomats held indirect talks in Oman last week, aimed at reviving diplomacy amid a US ⁠naval buildup near Iran and ‌Tehran's vows ‍of a ‍harsh response if ‍attacked.

"During this trip, (Larijani) will meet with high-ranking officials of the Sultanate of Oman and discuss the latest regional ⁠and international developments and bilateral cooperation at various levels," Tasnim said.

The date and venue of the next round of talks are yet to be announced.

World

Russia’s Lavrov Sees No ‘Bright Future’ for Economic Ties with US

06 February 2026, Russia, Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives a press conference following a meeting with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councilor of the Swiss Confederation, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House. (Sofya Sandurskaya/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa)
06 February 2026, Russia, Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives a press conference following a meeting with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councilor of the Swiss Confederation, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House. (Sofya Sandurskaya/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa)
TT
TT

Russia’s Lavrov Sees No ‘Bright Future’ for Economic Ties with US

06 February 2026, Russia, Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives a press conference following a meeting with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councilor of the Swiss Confederation, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House. (Sofya Sandurskaya/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa)
06 February 2026, Russia, Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives a press conference following a meeting with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councilor of the Swiss Confederation, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House. (Sofya Sandurskaya/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa)

Russia remains open for cooperation with the United States but is not hopeful about economic ties despite Washington's ongoing efforts to end the Ukraine war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published on Monday.

Speaking to Russia-based media outlet TV BRICS, ‌Lavrov cited what ‌he called the ‌United ⁠States' declared ‌aim of "economic dominance".

"We also don't see any bright future in the economic sphere," Lavrov said.

Russian officials, including envoy Kirill Dmitriev, have previously spoken of the prospects for a major restoration ⁠of economic relations with the United States as ‌part of any eventual Ukraine ‍peace settlement.

But although ‍President Donald Trump has also ‍spoken of reviving economic cooperation with Moscow and has hosted his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on US soil since returning to the White House, he has imposed further onerous sanctions on Russia's vital ⁠energy sector.

Lavrov also cited Trump's hostility to the BRICS bloc, which includes Russia, China, India, Brazil and other major developing economies.

"The Americans themselves create artificial obstacles along this path (towards BRICS integration)," he said.

"We are simply forced to seek additional, protected ways to develop our financial, economic, logistical and ‌other projects with the BRICS countries."