Seven oil tankers caught fire or were damaged in the Strait of Hormuz overnight after being hit by Iran or striking naval mines, Tehran said Thursday, a markedly high number as tensions wind upward over concerns about a return to all-out war.
With days before Israel’s close elections in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could lose power, and ahead of next month’s U.S. midterm elections in which war-linked high prices have sparked voter anger, there are concerns that U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran could resume.
Iranian state television reported the claims about the latest attacks on ships, citing the Revolutionary Guard Corps navy, which again threatened to strike U.S. military bases in the region if the U.S. keeps helping to guide commercial ships through the strait.
The report did not mention casualties. A British military monitor, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, did not report the attacks, but monitors in recent days have noted reluctance by some shippers to report incidents. Iran still asserts control over the waterway, a central point of leverage in any talks with the U.S. over the war.
Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, on Wednesday said a wary Tehran remains open to diplomacy but is ready to defend itself.
Iran has warned that it has learned important military lessons from the war that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28. In recent days, Tehran has indicated it could expand targets to include infrastructure such as undersea cables and data centers.
The United States for its part is sending more military assets to the region, including a third aircraft carrier and thousands of troops, to join the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades.
Mediators, meanwhile, have been trying to bring Washington and Tehran back to formal talks.
Iran is still promoting its latest proposal that would end the war and fully open the strait within a week if the U.S. meets several conditions. Those conditions, which include ending the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, echo ones in the deal that fell apart within days of Washington and Tehran signing it in June.
U.S. President Donald Trump rejected that latest seven-day proposal, but both sides have acknowledged that indirect discussions have continued. Since that rejection, attacks on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz have increased.
A return to all-out war would again endanger civilians throughout the region and complicate global deliveries of oil, natural gas and related products like fertilizer from the region and likely bring another spike in prices.
A man and a woman ride in a car with a dog past a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
An actor portraying U.S. President Donald Trump sits behind bars in a billboard installation resembling a prison cell in Tajrish Square in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar will move out of her Washington, D.C., home that federal agents searched last week, she said Wednesday, noting that attention brought on by the raid has made her feel unsafe there.
Federal authorities are investigating potential fraud in her family's immigration paperwork and have issued grand jury subpoenas to some of her relatives, a person briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Omar, who was born in Somalia and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, said Wednesday in her first interview since the search that she is “confident in the fact that I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The progressive Minnesota Democrat has been a frequent critic and target of President Donald Trump, who has on multiple occasions pushed for the prosecution of his perceived political enemies.
In the interview with MS NOW, Omar said she was rattled by the search weeks out from the Nov. 3 midterms, which will decide control of the House and Senate. She is running for reelection in a deep blue district centered in Minneapolis and is expected to retain her seat.
Omar recalled waking around 6 a.m. to Homeland Security investigators banging on her door with a warrant. They searched for four or five hours and seized 17 items, including phones, notebooks, a Somali language children’s book and a vintage camera that her husband had received as a gift, she said.
The Justice Department has shared few details about the case other than saying it was a criminal investigation.
Omar came with her family to the U.S. at age 12, after they obtained asylum. She became a U.S. citizen five years later, in 2000.
“It would be a huge undertaking to, I suppose, indict a 12-year-old for so cleverly conspiring to defraud immigration services to come to the United States. I'm sure there are a lot of smart 12-year-olds, but that seems like a leap,” she said in the interview.
The search drew sharp condemnation from congressional Democrats, who also questioned the timing. The Justice Department has historically avoided overt investigative actions involving candidates in the immediate run-up to an election.
Omar said the agents were “intrusive but polite,” logging the items they took and putting back everything else in its place.
Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer contributed from Washington.
Community members rally in support of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)
Homeland Security officers leave the Washington residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., after a search, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security officers carry boxes from the Washington residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, during a search. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., listens during a Congressional spotlight hearing on Capitol Hill, Sept. 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
