U.S.-Iran Live Updates: Trump Says Iran “Not Ready to Make the Right Deal” as U.S. Turns to Economic Warfare
By Tucker Reals, Khaled Wassef
What to know about the Iran war today:
- President Trump said Friday that Iran “would love to make a deal” but that “they are not ready to make the right deal.”
- Iranian officials said Friday the country had finalized a preferential trade agreement with Oman as part of a wider push to strengthen trade ties with regional partners, after Mr. Trump threatened to inflict an “economic D-Day” on the Islamic Republic.
- Vice President JD Vance said Thursday “the most effective tool that we have is the economic pressure that we can apply” on Iran, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington expects both alliesand rivals to join the ramped-up campaign against Iran.
- Iran’s parliament speaker told Iranian and Iraqi businesspeople in Baghdad on Thursday they are “now the soldiers and commanders of this battlefield.” He called for neighboring nations to strengthen economic cooperation in the face of “unjust sanctions” wielded as the new U.S. weapon of choice in the nearly six-month war.
South Korea to send first container ship through Arctic route
South Korea was set Saturday to send its first trial container through the Arctic, as the Middle East war rattles global shipping, while environmental groups warned the route could accelerate polar ice melt.
Sailing from Busan New Port, the the “PanStar Acro” container ship will sail to Europe via the Arctic, testing whether a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable.
The ship will leave for Felixstowe in Britain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Gdansk in Poland before returning, with the voyage expected to take about 45 days, according to the ministry.
The voyage follows that of the Chinese container ship “Dubai Tower”, which left the eastern port city of Ningbo for Europe this month, heading north through the Bering Strait before turning west along Russia’s Arctic coast.
The usual maritime route between Asia and Europe runs through the Suez Canal, but travelling through the Arctic can cut the journey by around 7,000 kilometres (4,300 miles) and about 10 days, according to the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
U.S. assisted in getting more than 15 million barrels of oil through Strait of Hormuz in one day, energy chief says
Energy Secretary Chris Wright says that the U.S. military assisted in the passage of “over 15 million barrels of oil and products” through the contested Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
In a social media post Friday evening, Wright wrote that in total, about 20 million barrels of oil left the region on Tuesday, when combined with what was exported out through pipelines.
Wright said that over the past seven days, an average of 8 million barrels of oil per day has left the strait.
Sources with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, told CBS News senior national security correspondent Charlie D’Agata Thursday that the U.S. was utilizing its military and the naval blockade of Iranian ports to try and ensure the safe passage of ships through the strait.
The sources said that the U.S. has also been intercepting Iranian drones and missiles trying to target those ships.
On July 29, CENTCOM said that the U.S. military had assisted in getting about 500 million barrels of oil through the strait since May.
“Make no mistake, thanks to the U.S. Navy, oil is flowing through the Strait of Hormuz,” Wright wrote Friday.
Trump says Iran is “not ready to make the right deal”
President Trump said Iran “would love to make a deal. But they are not ready to make the right deal, in my opinion.”
Mr. Trump, speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One en route to South Carolina, also said U.S. military options in the region aren’t limited.
“It just means that we’re seeing what happens,” he said. “They have no money, they have no navy, they have no air force. They are not paying their soldiers, they are not paying their police. They have 350% inflation. So we are just going to see what happens.”
The president said the U.S. has “total control of that entire region having to do with the Strait of Hormuz. And that means well into it, the land areas.”
Iran set to impose even harsher punishment for any contact with foreign media
Iran’s parliament passed a resolution early this week that would increase punishments for Iranians who interact in any way with foreign media outlets, organizations or individuals.
If the legislation is approved by higher authorities as expected, any contact with U.S. media entities, foreign embassies or institutions — whether it takes place inside or outside Iran — could land an Iranian in prison for up to two years unless they first obtain explicit written permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to state media.
There are already very strict laws in Iran against sending information to exiled, foreign-backed Iranian media outlets, such as Iran International, or the U.S. and U.K. government-funded VOA Farsi and BBC Farsi. But the new legislation would go further, imposing extensive punishment on Iranians for any written or verbal contact with foreigners — especially foreign media.
The legislation would also ban educational and research activities linked to foreign entities, with a possible 10-year prison sentence for any person found to be involved in activities deemed “incompatible with Iranian culture.”
Iran, Oman foreign ministers speak by phone amid Hormuz stalemate
Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi and Abbas Araghchi, the respective foreign ministers for Oman and Iran, spoke over the phone on Friday as the region and its biggest issue — navigation through the Strait of Hormuz — remain at a standstill.
The two leaders discussed “ways to create favorable conditions for resuming dialogue and negotiations, and developments regarding navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” according to the state-owned Oman News Agency.
The talks held earlier this month on who would control passage through the strait and under what conditions have gone silent in recent days. President Trump was even critical of Oman earlier this week, apparently because he was unhappy with a deal Oman planned to agree to over management of the waterway, two regional officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Mr. Trump openly threatened to bomb Oman in comments on Monday.
The phone call Friday was apparently light on specifics and more targeted at continuing the negotiations.
“They emphasized the importance of continuing discussions to reach practical understandings that support the resumption of free and smooth navigation, as well as the region’s security and stability,” according to Omani officials.
World Bank projects Lebanon economy to contract by 6.4% due to war
The World Bank on Friday projected Lebanon’s economy would contract by 6.4% this year, as the latest Israel-Hezbollah war derailed the country’s efforts at recovery.
Lebanon has been dealing with an unprecedented financial crisis since 2019 and was still reeling from the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war when the Iran-backed group drew it into the Middle East conflict by attacking Israel in March.
Israel responded with a heavy air campaign and ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.
Due to the war, “real GDP is projected to contract by 6.4 percent in 2026, reflecting the collapse in tourism, weaker consumption, disrupted supply chains, heightened insecurity, and prolonged displacement,” the World Bank said in a report.
Inflation is also expected to rise to 17.5% this year, according to the report.
Why Dubai may be vital to the Trump administration’s economic war on Iran
President Trump threatened this week to wield an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare against Iran, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent vowed to “collapse” the Islamic Republic regime with the “toughest sanctions in history.”
But the effectiveness of a bolstered economic campaign against Iran may rest largely on one close U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, the United Arab Emirates.
The Emirati city of Dubai, the Middle East’s leading financial center, has long had a reputation as a hub for opaque economic activity. For Iran in particular, the city has offered ways to skirt international sanctions and gain access to vital funds from its sale of oil to countries like China.
“About 80% of Iran’s foreign currency exchange is done in Dubai. So Dubai has served as a major source for Iran’s foreign currency,” Miad Maleki, a former U.S. Treasury official, told CBS News on Friday.
Iranian foreign minister notes history of failed U.S. sanctions campaigns
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is the latest prominent leader in the country to scoff at threats of U.S. sanctions, outlining a history of threats that failed to live up to their promise.
Araghchi highlighted pressure campaigns in 2012 and 2018 that failed, even highlighting a quote from Joe Biden, as well as the U.S. hopes for an “unconditional surrender” five months ago. He then mocked the latest “economic D-Day” threat as “Bound to fail.”
“We have seen this movie before. Same bull. Different bullies,” Araghchi wrote on X.
Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that “the most effective tool that we have is the economic pressure that we can apply” on Iran.
Israeli military announces strike in occupied “Security Zone in southern Lebanon”
The Israel Defense Forces said a strike on Friday hit a building in the portion of southern Lebanon that Israel has occupied in recent months to kill “several suspects” who “posed a threat to IDF soldiers.”
The IDF said forces identified the suspects entering the “Security Zone,” an area stretching about six miles into Lebanon, from which Israel has expelled all residents, in the Baraashit area, where they “entered a structure, and posed a threat to IDF soldiers.”
“Following the identification, the IDF carried out a strike on the structure,” the military said, adding that it would “not allow the Hezbollah terrorist organization to harm the civilians of Israel and its soldiers, and will continue to operate in order to remove immediate threats.”
The statement said the IDF “continues to remain committed to the agreement between Israel and Lebanon,” referring to a shaky cease-fire brokered by the U.S. that has eased, but not stopped fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants based in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry says Israel’s military operations have killed more than 4,340 people since they began in early March. Israel launched its offensive against Hezbollah after the group fired rockets at Israel from Lebanon in support of its benefactor Iran, soon after the U.S. and Israel launched their joint war against Iran.
Iran claims its weapons production has continued, and even increased during war
Iran’s Deputy Defense Minister, Brig. Gen. Shahrukh Shahram, was quoted on Friday by state TV as saying the country’s production of advanced weapons continued without interruption, claiming that Israel and the United States had miscalculated Iran’s military industrial capabilities.
Shahram said Iran’s foes had mistakenly believed that striking several Defense Ministry facilities would disrupt the country’s military supply chain, failing to understand that the domestic defense industry is supported by a broader network of domestic industries and technology companies.
Shahram claimed Iran had relocated key military assets and facilities ahead of the conflict and that weapons production had even increased in response to the war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28.
Without providing any detail, Shahram said Iran’s defense industry had moved beyond reverse engineering foreign weapons to developing domestic systems.
He said Iranian military scientists killed during the war by Israel and the U.S. were being replaced by a new generation of young engineers and researchers, and he vowed that Iran would retaliate for the deaths of its personnel.
In testimony to Congress in May, the head of the U.S. military’s Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper said the U.S. had damaged or destroyed more than 85% of Iran’s ballistic missile, drone and naval industrial base through more than 1,450 strikes on weapons-manufacturing facilities. He told senators it would take Iran “a generation” to rebuild its navy and years for its drone and missile production to recover.
