Middle East war: Trump wants to declare the strait to be US territory – Tehran reacts

News blog about the war in the Middle East

Trump wants Strait of Hormuz – Tehran reacts

Trump wants to seize the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has not yet decided on further negotiations. All developments in the news blog.

The Iran has called for the release of three fighter pilots held in Oman. The three pilots were captured by Qatari soldiers after their fighter plane crashed in March, General Mohammed Baghersadeh said on Saturday, according to the Iranian Fars news agency.

The Iranian one air force attacked a US military base in Oman in March. According to Tehran, the body of a pilot killed in the operation was handed over to Iran at the end of July. The three other fighter pilots were officially missing. In a letter to the Red Cross, Baghersadeh called for the pilots’ release and complained that they had not been allowed to contact their families or the Iranian authorities.

Qatar has since rejected the accusation of detaining Iranian pilots. The Qatari Foreign Ministry explains on X that they violated Qatari airspace at the beginning of the year and did not respond to attempts to contact them. Search and rescue teams later found the remains of one of the pilots. Iran has been contacted to coordinate the handover. The spokesman said Tehran had not yet responded to a request to review details of its operations.

According to the Ministry of Health in Beirut, at least nine people were killed and eleven others injured in two Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon. Two houses on the outskirts of the cities of Ansar and Deir al-Sahrani were hit. According to official figures, nine people were killed and two injured in the attack in Ansar. Two deaths and nine injuries were reported in Deir al-Sahrani.

The Israeli army confirmed both military operations. The target was bases of the “Hezbollah terrorist organization”. According to the Israeli military, the attack came in response to a previous shelling by soldiers at the Ali al-Taher pass. This is in one of Israel unilaterally declared “safety zone” in southern Lebanon. A dpa photographer on site in Ansar reported that local residents had also spoken of a Hezbollah base. Recordings were forbidden in some areas of the destroyed house, as well as of a destroyed car and a wooded valley opposite.

Israel and the Iranian-controlled Hezbollah regularly accuse each other of violating a ceasefire. Israel says it has unilaterally established a “safety zone” in southern Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah attacks on the north of the country. According to geographical calculations by the Lebanese media, the area controlled by Israel covers around 620 square kilometers. This corresponds to around six percent of the country’s area.