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Iran says it has lifted its self-imposed limit on missile ranges, and other Mideast news

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Iran says it has lifted its self-imposed limit on missile ranges, and other Mideast news
News

News

Iran says it has lifted its self-imposed limit on missile ranges, and other Mideast news

2026-11-08 00:41 Last Updated At:00:50

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it has lifted a self-imposed limit of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) on the range of its ballistic missiles, suggesting the country may seek to develop missiles capable of reaching more distant targets as fears of renewed all-out war rise.

Meanwhile, airstrikes near Yemen’s capital killed at least 27 people, according to a spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi-run Health Ministry. Heavy rains lashed the Gaza Strip, flooding tents and intensifying the misery of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

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Displaced Palestinians walk through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians walk through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A displaced Palestinians walks through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A displaced Palestinians walks through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian amputee Magdi Al-Omari, 28, walks through a rain-soaked tent camp after heavy rain in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian amputee Magdi Al-Omari, 28, walks through a rain-soaked tent camp after heavy rain in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians walk through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians walk through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Saturday. Read our full coverage here.

The comments by the spokesman of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard came days after the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khomeini, warned that “any kind and level of threat” from the U.S. or Israel would face a response without geographic limits.

Asked at a Tehran news conference about the limit on missile ranges, Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said, “That restriction has been lifted for us.”

He did not say whether Iran had missiles capable of exceeding the limit, saying only Iran would “demonstrate these capabilities in practice” rather than make statements.

Iran is not known to have missiles that can go beyond the 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile) limit — a range that puts parts of Greece and the Balkans, the entire Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and most of Egypt within reach. However, U.S. officials have said technology from Iran’s space program can be repurposed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The Iranian military, meanwhile, said a tanker east of the Strait of Hormuz had hit a mine and caught fire. It did not identify the tanker's flag or destination. It said the vessel had turned off its navigational beacon and was sailing in a “prohibited area.”

Airstrikes in a village near Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, killed at least 27 people and wounded 36 others, mostly women and children, on Saturday, said Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi-run Health Ministry.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the claims. The Houthi spokesman accused Saudi Arabia, whose Information Ministry did not immediately reply to an AP request for comment.

Since the summer, fighting has escalated between the Iranian-backed Houthis — who control Sanaa, the north and the west of the country — and their Saudi-backed opponents based in the south and east.

In the Gaza Strip, displaced families spent a sleepless night as heavy rain flooded their fragile tents, soaking mattresses and belongings, and turning camp pathways into pools of muddy water.

The rain marks the start of another difficult winter for the more than 1.6 million Palestinians living in tents or other makeshift shelters in the territory, where nearly the entire population has lost its homes during Israel’s campaign triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks.

Majed Al-Omari, who lost a limb during the war, struggled to make his way between tents on crutches after the rains tore down the wooden frame and plastic sheeting of his shelter.

“We will have to sleep in the street tonight, or find somewhere else to stay,” he said.

The U.N. humanitarian office has said 294,250 families need shelter assistance for the rainy season, but available supplies are enough to provide only partial assistance to 18% of those in need. It said a lack of funds, slow procurement procedures and delayed approvals by the Israeli authorities mean additional supplies may not reach Palestinians until more than halfway through winter.

The results of the U.S. midterm elections suggest that long-standing U.S. support for Israel is on rocky ground on both sides of the aisle. Democrats, who gained control of Congress, are fiercely divided, and many Republicans are increasingly critical of Israel’s government, particularly its wartime conduct in Gaza.

On Tuesday, as Americans went to the polls, President Donald Trump suggested cutting off aid to Israel. Then, a staunch critic of Israel, Abdul El-Sayed, became the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.

The Democratic senator-elect from Michigan addressed U.S. Vice President JD Vance as “JD, habibi” — a common Arabic term of affection — in his victory speech. And Vance partly blamed the Republicans’ massive electoral losses across the country on U.S.-Israel relations, including the war in Iran the two countries launched jointly on Feb. 28.

“Something fundamental has shifted,” said Michael Oren, a historian and former Israeli ambassador to the U.S.

U.S. Central Command said Saturday that “strict enforcement” of the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz continues.

It also announced a new task force focusing on hampering Iran’s options to transport what it called “advanced weapons and other materials” through its land borders and the Caspian Sea.

Iran established a chokehold on the strait, a vital strategic waterway in global trade, at the beginning of the war, and has claimed attacks on tankers. The U.S. says its blockade had redirected 144 commercial vessels through the end of October.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

Displaced Palestinians walk through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians walk through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A displaced Palestinians walks through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A displaced Palestinians walks through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian amputee Magdi Al-Omari, 28, walks through a rain-soaked tent camp after heavy rain in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian amputee Magdi Al-Omari, 28, walks through a rain-soaked tent camp after heavy rain in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians walk through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians walk through a rain-soaked tent camp following heavy rainfall in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Pope Leo XIV arrives to celebrate vespers with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, and seminarians at the Metropolitan Cathedral, in Montevideo, Uruguay, on the first day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV arrives to celebrate vespers with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, and seminarians at the Metropolitan Cathedral, in Montevideo, Uruguay, on the first day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV attends a welcome ceremony with Uruguay's President Yamandú Orsi, left, at Plaza Independencia in Montevideo, on the first day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV attends a welcome ceremony with Uruguay's President Yamandú Orsi, left, at Plaza Independencia in Montevideo, on the first day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A nun listens to vespers celebrated by Pope Leo XIV from outside the Montevideo Cathedral in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

A nun listens to vespers celebrated by Pope Leo XIV from outside the Montevideo Cathedral in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

Pope Leo XIV makes his way to the Cathedral in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026 . AP Photo/Santiago Mazzarovich)

Pope Leo XIV makes his way to the Cathedral in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026 . AP Photo/Santiago Mazzarovich)

Pope Leo XIV waves after arriving in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Pope Leo XIV waves after arriving in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Uruguay's President Yamandu Orsi talks to Pope Leo XIV in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Uruguay's President Yamandu Orsi talks to Pope Leo XIV in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Uruguay's President Yamandu Orsi applauds Pope Leo XIV at Plaza Independencia in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

Uruguay's President Yamandu Orsi applauds Pope Leo XIV at Plaza Independencia in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

A faithful wears a scarf featuring Pope Leo XIV in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

A faithful wears a scarf featuring Pope Leo XIV in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

Pope Leo XIV is transported to the Cathedral in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Pope Leo XIV is transported to the Cathedral in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Pope Leo XIV is flanked by Uruguay's President Yamandú Ors as he arrives at Plaza Independencia, in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, during his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV is flanked by Uruguay's President Yamandú Ors as he arrives at Plaza Independencia, in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, during his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV is flanked by Uruguay's President Yamandú Ors as he arrives at Plaza Independencia, in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, during his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV is flanked by Uruguay's President Yamandú Ors as he arrives at Plaza Independencia, in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, during his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Faithful wait to see Pope Leo XIV after he arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Mazzarovich)

Faithful wait to see Pope Leo XIV after he arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Mazzarovich)

People cheer as a statue of Pope Leo XIV is installed in 'El Niño' park in Callao, Peru, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, ahead of his planned trip to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru from November 6 to17. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

People cheer as a statue of Pope Leo XIV is installed in 'El Niño' park in Callao, Peru, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, ahead of his planned trip to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru from November 6 to17. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Pope Leo XIV departs from Rome's Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino, near Rome, for Montevideo, Uruguay, at the start of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Leo XIV departs from Rome's Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino, near Rome, for Montevideo, Uruguay, at the start of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by two children with flowers as he arrives at General Cesáreo L. Berisso Montevideo-Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo, on the first day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by two children with flowers as he arrives at General Cesáreo L. Berisso Montevideo-Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo, on the first day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV arrives at Carrasco International Airport near Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Mazzarovich)

Pope Leo XIV arrives at Carrasco International Airport near Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Mazzarovich)

Faithful wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

Faithful wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Uruguay's President Yamandú Orsi, right as he arrives at General Cesáreo L. Berisso Montevideo-Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo, on the first day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Uruguay's President Yamandú Orsi, right as he arrives at General Cesáreo L. Berisso Montevideo-Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo, on the first day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A faithful wears a scarf featuring Pope Leo XIV in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

A faithful wears a scarf featuring Pope Leo XIV in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

Pope Leo XIV arrives at Montevideo-Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo on the first day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV arrives at Montevideo-Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo on the first day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Faithful celebrate the arrival of Pope Leo XIV in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Mazzarovich)

Faithful celebrate the arrival of Pope Leo XIV in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Mazzarovich)

Pope Leo XIV waves after arriving in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Pope Leo XIV waves after arriving in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

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