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At the center of today’s key developments in the war with Iran are Tehran-backed attacks on US ally Saudi Arabia.
As a reminder, the Saudi Defense Ministry said Monday that it intercepted several drones launched from Iraq that targeted petroleum facilities in the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province and the Riyadh region.
Here are the latest developments on that front and other critical issues we’re monitoring:
• While the drones launched at Saudi Arabia were not the first to come from Iraq, multiple countries have condemned the attacks, including Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Lebanon.
• Oman launched a regional diplomatic push Monday aimed at finding a political solution to the military conflict between the US and Iran. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi held calls with counterparts from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt to discuss de-escalation efforts, according to Oman’s Foreign Ministry.
• Iran is not currently engaging in peace talks with the US. Tehran “will never allow the United States to determine the timing of war and peace,” Esmaeil Baghaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said in a televised press conference. While the US has said it is pausing strikes on Iran to allow talks to develop, Baghaei said there are “no negotiations with the United States at present.”
• The US would like to have more sophisticated munitions as the war in Iran draws down stockpiles, President Donald Trump said, but he insisted that the military has what it needs to wage the conflict. The president acknowledged that Russia may be helping Iran by passing along intelligence on US bases, but he brushed it off, saying it “hasn’t had much impact because we’re knocking the hell out of them.”
• Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is en route to the US, where he said Iran would be a key issue “on the agenda” during his meeting with Trump on Tuesday. The US president separately shut down questions about Netanyahu’s objection to F-35 jet sales to Turkey, saying that “nobody” dictates the sales but him.
• Almost all of the 78 vessels that crossed the Strait of Hormuz since Saturday used the route designated by Iran, and none recorded using the southern route near Oman’s coast promoted by the US, according to shipping intelligence group Marisks.
CNN’s Aida Karimi, Sana Noor Haq, Abbas Al Lawati, Dana Karni, Tim Lister, Eleni Giokos, Kevin Liptak, Aileen Graef, Eyad Kourdi, Aqeel Najim and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
