This live blog follows the latest developments across the Middle East crisis, including regional diplomacy, maritime security, ceasefire negotiations, and economic fallout.

Catch up on Friday's top developments here

  • US sanctions on Iran 'not the solution': China  
  • European Commission president terms Israel's E1 settlement project decision as 'unacceptable'
  • Araghchi says Trump’s ‘economic operation’ bound to fail 
  • Turkiye issues genocide warrant for Israel's Netanyahu
  • Oil, stocks reel after Trump’s ‘Economic D-Day’ plan

US’ new economic sanctions on Iran constitute outright ‘internationally wrongful act’: Iranian foreign ministry

Published: Aug 22, 2026 | 01:29 GMT | by Web Desk


Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has said that US declaration of new economic sanctions on Iran constituted an outright “internationally wrongful act,” calling it an “assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent Member State of the United Nations.”


In a post on X, the spokesperson said that US “declaration of new economic sanctions on Iran is far more than continued unlawful ‘economic warfare’ against a single country.” 


“No State may lawfully compel foreign banks, enterprises, or airports — each subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of its own sovereign — to renounce lawful commerce with a third State,” Baghaei said.


He said that such “secondary sanctions find no foundation in international law” and violate the principle of sovereign equality enshrined in Article 2(1) of the UN Charter.


“Economic coercion designed to force a sovereign State to alter its lawful policy choices constitutes an outright internationally wrongful act,” he said. 


The spokesperson said that combining the economic sanctions with the naval blockade the US has on the Strait of Hormuz amount to military aggression, the demands reduce the sovereignty of all other states to something provisional, conditional, and revocable at the whim of another power. 


“Compliance purchases no immunity or respect; it merely concedes that one’s banks, enterprises, and airports operate only under a foreign license,” he said.


“The end result would be the complete erosion of sovereignty as the foundational basis of the UN-based inter-State system, and a recipe for an abysmal return to full-scale classic colonialism,” he added.


Doctors Without Borders demand immediate, unconditional release of ‘arbitrarily detained’ workers

Published: Aug 22, 2026 | 01:19 GMT | by Web Desk


Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all healthcare workers arbitrarily detained by Israeli forces after Obstetrics and Gynaecology specialist Dr Dima Mohammed Amin was arrested from her home in the West Bank. 


According to the statement issued by the organization on X, Dr Dima joined Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, Dr Iyad Al-Rantisi, Dr Mohammed Obeid and scores of others in arbitrary Israeli detention.


“They have not been charged with any offence; they were simply treating patients. That is not a crime,” the organization said while calling out “Israel's systematic campaign of hunting down and detaining Palestinian medics.”



Friday’s important developments at a glance

Published: Aug 22, 2026 | 00:00 GMT | by Web Desk


US President Donald Trump said that Iran "would love to make a deal" to end the conflict between the two countries but was "not ready to make the right deal," adding that the US had "total control of that entire region having to do with the Strait of Hormuz.”


Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Trump’s “most crushing economic operation” was bound to fail, stating the world had "seen this movie before.” 


“14 years ago: ‘Most crippling sanctions in history.’ Failed; 8 years ago: ‘Maximum pressure.’ Failed; 5 months ago: ‘Unconditional surrender.’ Failed,” Araghchi said.


Meanwhile, China pushed back on US increased economic sanctions on Iran, stating that it was "not the solution" to the conflict between the two countries, calling on "parties to act responsibly and stick to the political and diplomatic approach." 


Separately, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said it was time to end the months-long Middle East war with the US because Tehran appeared to be in a stronger position than Washington.


"It is better that we bring the war to an end now as we are in a position of power and dignity," Pezeshkian said.


For earlier developments, read our Aug 21 live blog here.