The British military said an “unknown projectile” struck a tanker as it entered the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, injuring two crew members. The vessel continued toward port under its own power.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military remains on alert as much of the country shuts down for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism.
Fighting across Yemen killed or injured 680 people last week, the World Health Organization said.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Monday. Full coverage is available here.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO) said a tanker was struck by an “unknown projectile” as it headed into the Strait of Hormuz. Two crew members sustained minor injuries.
The UKMTO said Monday the vessel is reportedly continuing to its next port of call under its own power. No reports indicated any environmental impact at this time.
Tehran has asserted control over much of the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28. In peacetime, about 20 million barrels — roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply — passed through Hormuz each day.
Some tankers are again traversing the strait, but traffic is well below what it once was.
The World Health Organization says 680 people were killed or injured across Yemen over the course of a week as fighting between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government forces continues.
WHO said on Monday in a post on X that 164 people were killed and 516 injured between Sept. 13 and Sept. 18. This brings the total number of casualties since Aug. 6 to 3,672, including 674 deaths and 2,998 injuries.
Lahj province in southwestern Yemen is currently an active front line where 58 deaths and 226 injuries were reported within six days, according to the U.N. agency.
Fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and government forces has so far displaced 129,438 people across seven provinces, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says.
The IOM said in an update Monday that people escaping the conflict inside the country were forced from their homes in only a few weeks, with many already fleeing more than once.
Othman Belbeisi, the IOM Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said 11,352 people were displaced in only three days from Sep. 18.
Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni received his Pakistani counterpart Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran on Monday, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said.
Naqvi’s visit comes as Pakistan seeks to facilitate dialogue between the United States and Iran, with the help of other regional countries.
Israel's military remained on alert even as the country woke up to the silence and empty streets of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, considered the holiest day for the Jewish faith.
Streetlights blinked yellow Monday as the faithful walked to the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City.
“For the next 25 hours, Israel is offline,” the foreign ministry said on X after sundown Sunday. But the military said it bolstered its frontline forces following the killing of an Israeli settler Sunday in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian suspect was detained after a search.
France says it will summon Iran's ambassador to protest over the closure of a French language center affiliated with the French Embassy in Tehran.
The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Sunday that Paris would “take appropriate measures in response” but didn't specify. It's also unclear when the Iranian ambassador would be summoned.
The ministry called the “unjustifiable and unacceptable” closure of the language center a new attack on France's cultural presence in Iran and linked it to an assault on two French Embassy staff members in July.
Organizers of the Red Sea International Film Festival say they've rescheduled this year's event for late 2027.
The announcement comes as Saudi Arabia faces heightened regional tensions, including missile and drone attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The foundation did not link the postponement to the security situation. Instead, it cited the timing and logistical requirements of staging an international event of its scale in an Instagram post Monday.
The festival is one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent international cultural events and draws filmmakers, actors and other industry figures from around the world to Jeddah.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
A woman walks with her dogs as they cross an empty street during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, in Jerusalem, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian men cross a closed gate after the Israeli army imposed a closure of the entrance to the West Bank village of Haris, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Shiite clerics carrying rifles march during the state-organized "Janfada," or "Sacrifice for Iran," military-style parade at Revolution Square in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
NEW YORK (AP) — CNN, MS NOW and Politico said Monday they’ve notified President Donald Trump’s administration they’re filing a lawsuit over being denied White House access, saying their First Amendment rights have been violated.
The administration’s announcement of the bans Friday and the White House's subsequent actions over the weekend represented a clear escalation of Trump’s long-running efforts — in the courts and through administrative action — to restrict news coverage by journalists he finds objectionable. They were the latest test of First Amendment protections in the United States.
The three outlets made the announcement in a joint statement posted on X, two days after their reporters were blocked from the White House and prevented from doing their jobs. The reporters' entry badges were disabled on Saturday, a day after Trump had suddenly announced he was barring the outlets because of reporting he found to be “fake news.” On Monday morning, CNN was removed from its pool duties, which are shared by the major networks.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Monday over the lawsuit, which was expected to be filed later in the morning. The Associated Press saw a copy of it ahead of the filing.
In his second term, Trump and his Republican administration have upped the ante and punished certain media outlets. Trump has also lashed out at individual reporters in person or over social media, sometimes in strikingly personal terms — insulting them in briefings or in his recent speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
“This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” the outlets said in a joint statement posted early Monday on X.
“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists' credentials because it objected to our reporting," they said. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public's right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
In the joint complaint, which was released by the news organizations before being filed later Monday, the outlets say: “This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles.”
They say they're being banned from doing their jobs at the White House “for one simple reason: (Trump) dislikes the content of the coverage of him and his administration.”
“President Trump has said in no uncertain terms that he would prefer only to be covered by news organizations and reporters who praise his administration," says the complaint, filed in the name of the three outlets and three correspondents who were denied access Saturday.
It went on: “But the Constitution does not allow a president or any other government official to deprive the press of their First Amendment rights and liberty and property interests with no notice or process based solely on his dislike of the content of their reporting.”
In legal terms, that’s known as “viewpoint discrimination” — the government singling out specific media outlets for the content of what they say or publish. That legal principle is at issue in many of the court cases around Trump’s treatment of the media and would likely be at play this time around.
On Saturday, White House reporters from the two cable networks — Betsy Klein of CNN and Akayla Gardner of MS NOW — went live to report they’d been turned away, their press badges deactivated, when arriving for their jobs at the White House. Soon after, Politico said its White House reporter Cheyenne Haslett was also denied entry and had her badge confiscated.
All three organizations that were banned covered the White House's actions extensively during the weekend.
The WHCA’s president, Jacqui Heinrich, called on the Trump administration to immediately restore the three outlets’ access.
“The implications extend beyond these organizations: a standard used to exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any outlet in the future,” Heinrich said. “The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably.”
CNN Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein, right, departs after having her credential revoked following President Donald Trump's ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico, at the White House, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The James Brady Press Briefing Room is seen at the White House, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
This combination of photos shows MS NOW White House reporter Akayla Gardne, from left, CNN Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein and Politico White House reporter Cheyenne Haslett near the White House complex after all were denied entry to the White House and had credentials confiscated following President Donald Trump's ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photos/Jose Luis Magana)
