https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/Eight months after US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, the United States and Israel struck Iran on February 28, 2026, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran retaliated across the Gulf and its Revolutionary Guards declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, and oil prices rose to four-year highs. A Pakistan-brokered ceasefire and a June interim deal both broke down, and by late October 2026 Trump had ruled out strikes before the November 3 midterm elections while Qatar and other mediators sought a new agreement.enhttps://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e38us-iran-war-2026-6b33d6c6e5Sat, 31 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000In a statement posted on his Telegram channel, Mojtaba Khamenei warned that if Iran's enemies launched new military attacks, Iran's armed forces and people would decide when and on what terms the fighting ended, CBS News reported, citing AFP. Khaleej Times also reported that he warned the US against resuming attacks.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e35us-iran-war-2026-de7b772224Wed, 28 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Two diplomats told the Associated Press that US officials had told several Middle East countries to prepare for possible renewed US military action against Iran after the November 3 elections, and for Iranian retaliation. The White House declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal reported the US urged Gulf states to prepare for "a short but intense military campaign", Ynet reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e36us-iran-war-2026-81bf0931ccWed, 28 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000The Wall Street Journal reported that Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, a senior Iranian security official, to try to restart negotiations, citing a person who said it was sent at Trump's direction, according to Raw Story and ANSA. A week earlier Trump had told reporters the US was not negotiating with Iran, Ynet reported. On October 30 CBS News reported that Trump described the letter as outreach to help get medical supplies into Iran.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e37us-iran-war-2026-cc110b7b24Wed, 28 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Araghchi said Iran was working with mediators on ideas from its September proposal, the Associated Press reported. Roya News, citing the Journal, reported that Rezaei said formal negotiations could not begin until Washington addressed Iran's core preconditions, and that Tehran has insisted the US recognise its right to enrich uranium.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e34us-iran-war-2026-cf64955372Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Qatari mediators presented Iran with a draft deal setting a seven-day timeline of daily confidence-building steps by both sides, an official briefed on the talks told Reuters. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on October 28 that Qatar had brought "unacceptable ideas and not an offer", and that Tehran's nuclear position had not changed.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e33us-iran-war-2026-944c4c25efFri, 09 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Updated Defense Casualty Analysis System data put US service members who died in connection with operations against Iran at 21, including two newly added non-hostile deaths, with 865 wounded since February 28, Task and Purpose and Shafaq News reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e31us-iran-war-2026-a7de8f8b27Thu, 08 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000In a social media post, Trump said the US would not attack Iran before the November 3 midterm elections and that his team was having productive discussions with Iran, the Associated Press reported. AP said Iran had lost its near chokehold on the strait, with Central Command guiding tankers through the strait at night, while a US Navy blockade was shutting down Iran's own oil exports.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e32us-iran-war-2026-fafb87b079Thu, 08 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Iran had said the previous week that it received a US counterproposal, and Araghchi said Tehran expected to send a formal reply in the coming days, the Associated Press reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e30us-iran-war-2026-8ca9d92b06Sat, 26 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Trump rejected the Iranian proposal in remarks to reporters outside the White House, and posted a map labelling the strait "Trump Strait", the Associated Press reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e29us-iran-war-2026-56b0b3a424Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Araghchi said Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks seven days later if the US lifted its blockade of Iranian ports, waived sanctions on Iranian oil sales and observed a ceasefire including Lebanon, the Associated Press reported. At the UN, Pezeshkian said Iran would fight "until our last breath" but remained open to diplomacy.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e28us-iran-war-2026-06984b0e15Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000The US said indirect talks with Iran were held through Qatari mediators, while Oman separately discussed the management of shipping traffic with Iran, the Associated Press reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e27us-iran-war-2026-1c116e6257Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Trump said the war would end after the midterm elections and that oil prices would then fall. Brent crude passed $100 a barrel for the first time since July, and AAA put the average price of regular gasoline at $4.22 a gallon, the Associated Press reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e25us-iran-war-2026-95269fefe5Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Central Command said it had completed a barrage against Iranian air defence sites, radar systems and maritime assets, citing Iranian attempts to hit commercial ships and US forces. A Hormozgan deputy governor said a strike on a house hosting a wedding killed five people, including a child. Central Command said the reports came from Iranian state media, the Associated Press reported. AP later said the US had not struck Iran since early September.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e26us-iran-war-2026-ee56808baeTue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000The Revolutionary Guards said they targeted a US base on Jordan's Gulf of Aqaba coast. Jordan said it shot down 10 ballistic missiles, and Kuwait and Bahrain said they intercepted drones, the Associated Press reported. Iran's armed forces vowed "crushing and devastating blows" against the US.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e24us-iran-war-2026-4ce07004e5Sun, 30 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000US strikes targeted Iranian rocket launchers that Central Command said would launch sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz, ending a month without military action, the Associated Press reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e22us-iran-war-2026-3628e06291Sat, 18 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000In a written statement carried by state television as hostilities resumed, Mojtaba Khamenei said continued US attacks showed the president's signature was "utterly worthless and devoid of credibility", Reuters and AFP reported. He said Iran and its allies had "unforgettable lessons to offer."https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e23us-iran-war-2026-93c6777c84Sat, 18 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000Two US service members were killed while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks in Jordan, US Central Command said, bringing the Associated Press count of US military deaths in the war to 16. Iranian authorities said US strikes over the previous three weeks had killed at least 50 people.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e21us-iran-war-2026-518f99cfdcWed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000The US launched several days of airstrikes in response to Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran fired back at Arab countries hosting US troops, and the US reimposed its blockade of Iranian ports, the Associated Press reported on July 16. The Daily Aus reported Trump notified Congress that hostilities had resumed and said the US would impose a 20 percent toll on ships, which the International Maritime Organization opposed.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e20us-iran-war-2026-ac53deb641Wed, 17 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian digitally signed a 14-point memorandum extending the April ceasefire by 60 days, including in Lebanon, AFP reported, and AP said Trump signed during a dinner at Versailles. Reported terms included reopening the Strait of Hormuz with no charge, lifting the US blockade, unfreezing Iranian assets and a $300 billion reconstruction fund, and Iran pledged not to build nuclear weapons. The National named Pakistan and Qatar as mediators.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e19us-iran-war-2026-58ab53e5d2Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000The US launched new airstrikes that ended before sunrise on June 11, after Trump warned Iran would "pay the price" for stalled negotiations, and Iran struck at Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, the Associated Press reported. India's shipping minister said three Indian mariners were killed after a US attack on a tanker that Central Command said had violated the blockade. A Qatari delegation negotiating in coordination with the US left Tehran after talks, AP reported, citing an official.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e17us-iran-war-2026-c1f7cc7d8fThu, 30 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000Brent crude briefly reached $126.41 a barrel, a four-year high, as talks stalled and the Strait of Hormuz remained effectively shut, CNN reported. AAA put the US average gasoline price at $4.30 a gallon. Euronews reported that the US and Iran were both maintaining their blockades of the strait.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e18us-iran-war-2026-5dc6b6d1bcThu, 30 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000In a written statement read on state television, Mojtaba Khamenei said Iranians would protect the country's nuclear and missile capabilities as national assets, the Associated Press reported. He said foreigners had no place in the Gulf "except at the bottom of its waters."https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e16us-iran-war-2026-5e61ac97d0Sat, 18 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000Iran's Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs put the war dead at 3,468, AFP reported. AFP said Iran's Legal Medicine Organization had counted 3,375 dead by April 12, and Asharq Al-Awsat reported that 383 of them were children, while the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency counted at least 3,636 dead by April 7, including 1,701 civilians. AFP said it could not independently verify tolls in Iran.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e15us-iran-war-2026-e40963a4ccMon, 13 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000US Central Command announced a blockade of maritime traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports, which the US military said would begin at 6 p.m. UAE time on April 13, AFP reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e14us-iran-war-2026-87330e9f16Sun, 12 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000Vice President JD Vance led the US delegation and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf the Iranian side at Pakistan-hosted talks that ended without agreement, AFP reported. Vance called the US offer Iran's "final and best offer." Ghalibaf said the US side was "unable to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation." AFP said Iran sought frozen assets and an end to Israel's war against Hezbollah.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e12us-iran-war-2026-6fb635fc20Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000Trump wrote on Truth Social that a whole civilisation would die unless Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. Washington time, Al Jazeera reported. Dawn reported he threatened to "entirely decimate" Iran in one night. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asked him to extend the deadline by two weeks.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e13us-iran-war-2026-8eefc94681Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000Less than 90 minutes before his deadline, Trump announced a two-week ceasefire after talks with Sharif and Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir, saying Washington had received a "workable" 10-point proposal from Iran, Al Jazeera reported. Araghchi said Iran would abide by it if attacks on its territory stopped. Pakistan announced the ceasefire early on April 8 and said it included Lebanon, Dawn reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e11us-iran-war-2026-6592d4418bWed, 11 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000Iranian officials said Mojtaba Khamenei was injured in the February 28 strike that killed his father. Tehran's ambassador to Cyprus told The Guardian he "was injured in that bombardment", and the president's son said he was "safe and sound", Al-Monitor reported. On May 25 Iran's Health Ministry spokesman said the wounds were only "superficial", AFP reported. He has issued only written statements since his appointment.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e10us-iran-war-2026-22dad4475bMon, 09 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000Iran's Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 clerics, met on March 8 and announced shortly after midnight Tehran time that it had appointed Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader's son, Reuters reported. AFP also dated his appointment to March 8. The armed forces' leadership pledged allegiance to him, and before the announcement Trump told ABC News that Washington should have a say in the choice.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/us-iran-war-2026/#e9us-iran-war-2026-9a3d45e343Tue, 03 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000Brent crude rose 7.8 percent to $83.79 a barrel after touching $85.12, its highest since July 2024, Khaleej Times reported. The paper cited the US Energy Information Administration as saying the strait carries about 20 to 21 million barrels a day of crude and refined products, roughly one fifth of global consumption.