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 Wednesday’s top developments here:

  • Ghalibaf welcomes China rejection of US sanctions against Iran
  • Pakistan continues mediation efforts to ease West Asia tensions
  • Iran Guards say agreed with Oman to share revenues from Hormuz
  • Iran says US sanctions will achieve nothing
  • Lebanon says Israel burns forests, farmland in south

Tanker hit by 'unknown projectile' in Strait of Hormuz: UKMTO

Published: Aug 27, 2026 | 01:36 GMT | by AFP


An "unknown projectile" struck a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz this week, causing a fire that has since been put out, a British maritime agency said early on Thursday.

"Local authorities have reported a tanker has been hit by an unknown projectile causing fire to the vessel which has since been extinguished," the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said.


The incident occurred near the Omani coastal city of Khasab and was reported to the UKMTO on Tuesday, the agency said.


There were no casualties among the crew and no adverse environmental impact, it said.


Authorities are investigating the cause, it added.


The online notice did not specify the vessel's nationality or direction of travel.



Wednesday at a glance

Published: Aug 27, 2026 | 00:00 GMT | by Web Desk


Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will arrive in Tehran tomorrow and meet with a “number of Iranian officials to discuss ways to de-escalate tensions and create the conditions conducive to dialogue.”  


Pakistan also continued efforts to promote implementation of the Islamabad MoU between Iran and the United States in close cooperation with its partners from the Gulf region and beyond, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said.


While speaking on US new sanctions campaign against, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that Washington would “not achieve anything with economic pressure at this stage, just as it was unable to achieve anything in the war.” 


Separately, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf welcomed China’s principled statement rejecting US sanctions against Iran. 


Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had agreed with Oman to share any revenues earned from the Strait of Hormuz, a day after their top diplomats met in Tehran. However, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi warned that no military vessel will be allowed to pass through the strait, adding that Iran had closed the strait because US failed to fulfil its commitments under the Islamabad MoU.


Iftikhar, while addressing the United Nations Security Council, also said that Israel must “immediately halt all unlawful measures aimed at altering the legal, geographic and demographic composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” 


Similarly, Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, has said that even though annexation of the Palestinian land had long been underway, “Israel has now crossed the Rubicon when it comes to full-fledged, full-blown annexation.”


For earlier developments, read our Aug 26 live blog here.