US Strikes Iran in Response to Attack on Cargo Ship in Strait of Hormuz

 Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 26, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 26, 2026. (Reuters)
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US Strikes Iran in Response to Attack on Cargo Ship in Strait of Hormuz

 Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 26, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 26, 2026. (Reuters)

The US military attacked Iran on Friday in response to an Iranian drone strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, with each country accusing the other of violating terms of a ceasefire agreed on last week. 

US Central Command said aircraft struck missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites, later publishing a grainy black-and-white video of an explosion labeled "unclassified." A US official reported the operation had concluded. 

Iran said a projectile struck the area around a pier in Sirik in southern Iran, and that Iranian naval forces responded by striking US military targets in the region. Tehran did not provide details about what may have been hit. 

Elsewhere, however, there were signs of progress in ending the four-month-old conflict, as Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement to end the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.  

Both sides framed the deal as an initial step that calls for Hezbollah to disarm and Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanon, but it was not clear how it would be enforced. Hezbollah said it would not cooperate. 

'VIOLENCE WILL ‌BE MET WITH ‌VIOLENCE,' VANCE SAYS 

Tehran has said it would control the Strait of Hormuz and warned Gulf states not to ‌side ⁠with Washington after ⁠Thursday's attack on a cargo ship traveling near Oman's coast. President Donald Trump blamed the attack on Iran and said it violated last week's interim agreement. 

"The unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire," US Central Command said in its statement announcing strikes, which it called "a powerful response to yesterday’s attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz." 

The US military said it would continue to provide "safe passage coordination and support" to commercial vessels transiting the strait. 

Vice President JD Vance, once seen as a skeptic on US intervention in Iran but now a Trump administration point person on the conflict, said the Americans have honored the ceasefire deal, also known as a memorandum of understanding. 

"Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored it. If they have disagreements about how the MOU is ⁠being applied, they can pick up the phone. But violence will be met with violence," Vance said on X. 

Iranian ‌state media, citing an unnamed military source, reported the strike at the port of Sirik after ‌an explosion was heard there. The source said several warning shots had been fired from Sirik toward vessels that violated Strait of Hormuz regulations about five hours earlier, adding ‌two warning missiles had also been launched from the nearby Karpan area toward the strategic waterway. 

On Saturday, Iran's Mehr news agency cited the head ‌of ports at eastern Hormozgan as saying that there was no damage to the port of Sirik after the attack by the US. The official said the port was operating normally with no damage reported to facilities and equipment. 

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that in response its navy "struck the locations where the terrorist US military is stationed in the region" and warned that any further US attacks would be met with a broader response, according to the statement carried on state media. 

The ceasefire agreement gives Iran control over ‌ship traffic in the strait, the Guards said. 

"However, the United States, by provoking various fronts, sought to violate this commitment, and the necessary response was given and will continue to be given. If the aggression ⁠is repeated, our response will be broader ⁠than this," the Revolutionary Guards said. 

OIL PRICES FALL BEFORE LATEST STRIKES 

The US did not immediately respond to Iran's report of striking American targets. 

Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, said in response to the latest strikes that Trump has failed to show a commitment to the principles of negotiation or ceasefire. 

"This reckless violation of the ceasefire will, as always, lead to retreat and regret on their part," Azizi posted on X. 

Before the renewed outbreak of violence, oil prices fell about 3% on Friday, on course for steep weekly losses, in response to oil tankers exiting the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for one-fifth of global oil and LNG supplies before the US and Israel launched the war on February 28. 

Fertilizer shipments through the strait have picked up, helping to assuage concerns about a spike in global food prices. 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio — wrapping up a tour of the Gulf — issued a joint statement with the Gulf Cooperation Council calling for "free, unconditional, and unrestricted navigation" in the strait without tolls or "attempts to assert control." 



Police Made 1,314 Arrests in France’s Protests, Says Govt

A pedestrian walks past a broken window, a day after a demonstration in favor of purchasing power, the protection of public services, and fiscal and social justice, in Paris on October 25, 2026 as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together former members of the Yellow Vest movement, labor unions, high school and university students. (AFP)
A pedestrian walks past a broken window, a day after a demonstration in favor of purchasing power, the protection of public services, and fiscal and social justice, in Paris on October 25, 2026 as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together former members of the Yellow Vest movement, labor unions, high school and university students. (AFP)
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Police Made 1,314 Arrests in France’s Protests, Says Govt

A pedestrian walks past a broken window, a day after a demonstration in favor of purchasing power, the protection of public services, and fiscal and social justice, in Paris on October 25, 2026 as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together former members of the Yellow Vest movement, labor unions, high school and university students. (AFP)
A pedestrian walks past a broken window, a day after a demonstration in favor of purchasing power, the protection of public services, and fiscal and social justice, in Paris on October 25, 2026 as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together former members of the Yellow Vest movement, labor unions, high school and university students. (AFP)

Police arrested 1,314 people in weekend protests across France, the interior ministry said Sunday, adding that 53 officers were hurt in clashes.

The arrests occurred as violence broke out on the margins of mass demonstrations in major cities on Saturday over the high cost of living.

It was the second consecutive weekend of unrest in France, which is heading to presidential elections in April and May to choose a successor to Emmanuel Macron, who is reaching his two-term limit.

The interior ministry said police responded to 75 fires during Saturday's protests, adding that 24 shops were looted.

"Several investigations have been opened," it said in a statement, without giving details. It said that the rest of Saturday night, after the clashes had died down, was "calm".

The ministry statement on Sunday did not say how many protesters were hurt.

Late Saturday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez spoke of two serious injuries among protesters: one in Toulouse and one in Clermont-Ferrand.

- Protesters hurt -

The Toulouse prefecture, which reports to the interior ministry, told AFP that a 20-year-old man was seriously hurt with a wound to his hand.

A street medic who tended demonstrators told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the man had "several fingers" blown off his right hand.

The prefecture covering Clermont-Ferrand said a man there also had a hand hurt, but did not suffer the loss of any fingers.

A French regional daily, La Nouvelle Republique, reported that a man in Poitiers was hurt in his left eye, showing a photo of a man holding his face.

The newspaper's photographer told AFP he was a 19-year-old who was wounded during a charge by riot police firing stun grenades and tear gas.

There have been several instances in recent weeks, during student protests in France, of people being maimed by police stun grenades or tear gas grenades.

It was not known if the injuries reported from Saturday were from those police weapons. Officials said investigations had been opened in at least some of the cases.


Far-right Leader Le Pen Kicks Off Tilt at French Presidency amid Nationwide Protests

26 September 2026, France, Paris: Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen arrive at Place de la Concorde ahead of Pope Leo XIV's Mass in Paris. Photo: Pierre Teyssot / Agf/AGF via ZUMA Press/dpa
26 September 2026, France, Paris: Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen arrive at Place de la Concorde ahead of Pope Leo XIV's Mass in Paris. Photo: Pierre Teyssot / Agf/AGF via ZUMA Press/dpa
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Far-right Leader Le Pen Kicks Off Tilt at French Presidency amid Nationwide Protests

26 September 2026, France, Paris: Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen arrive at Place de la Concorde ahead of Pope Leo XIV's Mass in Paris. Photo: Pierre Teyssot / Agf/AGF via ZUMA Press/dpa
26 September 2026, France, Paris: Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen arrive at Place de la Concorde ahead of Pope Leo XIV's Mass in Paris. Photo: Pierre Teyssot / Agf/AGF via ZUMA Press/dpa

Marine Le Pen, France's far-right candidate to succeed President Emmanuel Macron in elections in six months, was to give her first campaign speech on Sunday, a day after protests sweeping the country again flared into violence.

Le Pen -- the frontrunner according to surveys -- is seen benefiting from the convulsions France has been going through for weeks, punctuated by mass rallies and violent clashes on Saturday and a week earlier, said AFP.

More than 400,000 people marched in major French cities on Saturday to protest the rising cost of living, with groups of masked youths breaking away to provoke police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon. Police made more than 1,000 arrests.

Officers faced "an extremely elevated level of violence" from black-clad "ultra-left" extremists who had trailed in the demonstrations, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said late Saturday.

A week earlier, on October 17, similar nationwide marches took place, also against rising inflation sent surging by the war in the Middle East. They, too, degenerated into street violence, with public buildings vandalized and hundreds of shops looted.

The mass rallies were fed by four weeks of student protests across France, over classroom conditions and access to university places, which at times also descended into clashes.

Unions and Yellow Vest protesters have vowed to keep up their street marches in the weeks ahead, pointing to a febrile period as the elections draw near.

- Anger at Macron -

Le Pen, who will address 10,000 members of her National Rally (RN) party in the city of Orleans, has accused Macron's centrist government of being soft on violent protesters and lacking authority.

Police were on Sunday filtering traffic going into Orleans, after thousands of counter-protesters opposed to Le Pen and her anti-immigration, nationalist RN marched in the city on Saturday chanting anti-fascist slogans.

Police put their numbers at 13,000, while organizers estimated the turnout at twice that.

If Le Pen wins the two-stage presidential elections in April and May, she has vowed to cut the cost of living through capped household energy bills, reduced taxes and trimming France's contribution to the European Union.

She is also critical of NATO, and of France's support of Ukraine as it battles Russia's invasion.

The RN, which portrays itself as a party of law and order, has also sided strongly with the police in the current unrest.

The head of Le Pen's party, Jordan Bardella, whom she intends to make prime minister if she becomes president, has visited police stations to underline that credential.

French voters, angry over Macron's perceived detachment over his two terms and his recent orders to curb the protests, are turning to more extremist politics, polling shows.

An Ipsos survey published Saturday suggested Le Pen would score 32 to 34 percent of the vote in the first round of the election, with a far-left rival, Jean-Luc Melenchon, getting 17 percent. Centrist candidates from mainstream parties trailed them.

Asked about the protest violence, a majority of the 1,500 people questioned in the survey -- 58 percent -- said they felt anger.

It found 81 percent believed the government was "responsible for this situation", while 79 percent thought radical political groups were, 62 percent blamed the left, and 52 percent blamed the police.

- No money -

Whoever wins the presidency will find limited room to throw money around to placate various clamoring interest groups.

France's public debt and budget deficit have climbed well beyond the ceilings EU member countries are meant to stick to.

Macron's government is trying to get a cost-cutting budget adopted, but faces headwinds from both the sustained protests demanding more spending and the political jockeying by parties eyeing power.

As Macron sees out the final months of his presidency, he has to tread a line between cracking down on street violence and opening dialogue with unions, students and other groups to attempt to restore order.

Although the French president has not invoked a state of emergency, he has ordered bans on non-union demonstrations deemed "illegitimate", and officials under him have imposed bans on protests in city centers and localized curfews in certain zones.

Many protesters on Saturday raged against the measures, describing them as an assault on the French right to protest.

The Yellow Vest movement, which challenged Macron eight years ago with street disruptions, has called for another day of protests next Saturday.

And the powerful CGT union, prominent in the demonstrations, is urging a campaign of strikes starting from November 5.


Iran Parliament Speaker Calls for Cutting Gas Consumption by 10 Percent as Winter Nears

 Traffic moves past an installation depicting butterflies forming the Iranian national flag in Tehran on October 21, 2026. (AFP)
Traffic moves past an installation depicting butterflies forming the Iranian national flag in Tehran on October 21, 2026. (AFP)
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Iran Parliament Speaker Calls for Cutting Gas Consumption by 10 Percent as Winter Nears

 Traffic moves past an installation depicting butterflies forming the Iranian national flag in Tehran on October 21, 2026. (AFP)
Traffic moves past an installation depicting butterflies forming the Iranian national flag in Tehran on October 21, 2026. (AFP)

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday called for a campaign to cut gas consumption by at least 10 percent, with officials anticipating shortages as winter approaches.

While a major producer, Iran has long suffered shortages of natural gas, essential for powering heating systems, which have been exacerbated by war with the United States and Israel that began in February.

During the most intense phase of the fighting, which lasted nearly 40 days, the two countries struck key Iranian infrastructure including natural gas refineries, according to Tehran.

Winter in Iran often sees temperatures drop below freezing, especially in the country's north.

"To get through the approaching winter, a nationwide effort is essential ... to reduce gas consumption by at least 10 percent," said Ghalibaf in a video carried by Iranian media.

"Anyone who saves gas, regardless of the amount, will immediately receive the corresponding proceeds in their bank account, allowing everyone to see the tangible impact of those savings on their household budget."

Earlier in October, First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref said the government anticipated a daily "gas shortfall of 100 million to 250 million cubic meters during the cold season because of the damage caused by the war," according to the official IRNA news agency.

He added that he hoped to restore the supply of around 100 million cubic meters by the start of winter.

An April ceasefire brought an end to the initial phase of intense bombardment, but the two sides have continued to vie for control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas used to travel.

Iran has claimed control over the strait since the outbreak of the war and has regularly targeted vessels that attempt crossings without its authorization.

In response, Washington has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports and in August announced what it called an "economic asphyxiation" campaign on Iran aimed at strangling its already battered economy.