Dispatches from a World at War: Iran
Iran Denies Trump’s Claim of Talks
Drop SIte News

(August 3, 2026) –President Donald Trump says U.S.-Iran talks will resume Monday; Tehran says no negotiations underway. Iran strikes Kuwait. NYT: U.S. dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on family in Qeshm. Iran says it is near agreement for Hormuz control.

Saudi Crown Prince notes Saudi concern about strikes on call with Trump. Iran says several U.S. allies will not participate in future U.S. strikes. Two more executed in Iran. Ansarallah will not charge for Bab Al-Mandab transit, officials say.

Two Saudi oil tankers transit Bab Al-Mandab despite Ansarallah blockade. Israel kills 34 Palestinians, wounds 134 since Gaza deal announcement. UN: 67% of Gaza faces food insecurity, 10% nears famine.

Report: Israeli forces, settlers carried out 2,256 attacks in West Bank in July. Israel says it will not withdraw from Gaza despite agreement. Israeli court freezes Itamar Ben Gvir’s plan for crocodiles in prison moat over animal rights concerns. Israeli phosphorus attacks hit southern Lebanon despite ceasefire. Lebanon-Israel talks progressing while blast wounds five Lebanese soldiers.

Major primary contests set for Michigan, Missouri, Washington state, Kansas, Virginia. Rep. Haley Stevens features pastor with anti-LGBTQ, Islamophobic history in Michigan Senate ad. Justice Department scraps parts of Trump’s IRS deal to save Todd Blanche’s Attorney General confirmation. Sen. Bernie Moreno calls former son-in-law Rep. Max Miller “unfit for office.” Education Secretary Linda McMahon asks universities to commit to reforms by end of 2026. Author of DNC autopsy says party buried chapter questioning Joe Biden’s 2024 run. Senate appropriators unveil stopgap bill to avert shutdown.

Drone strikes Russian Black Sea resort, killing six. Suicide bombing kills 17 outside police station in northwest Pakistan. Cuban electricity grid collapses again. Trump’s shadow envoy in Venezuela is out. Taiwan defense chief states that U.S. military ties are “far closer” than publicly understood.

Sudanese army drone strike on a community court in Darfur and kills at least 35. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims Cuba is operating a vast espionage and influence network inside the United States. Turkey and Iraq sign one-year deal to keep Iraqi crude flowing to the Mediterranean, bypassing the Gulf. U.S. Treasury steps in to help Japan’s yen.

Trump Says U.S.-Iran Talks Will Resume Monday;
Tehran Says No Negotiations Underway
President Donald Trump announced that renewed diplomatic negotiations with Iran would begin on Monday afternoon, claiming he had shelved plans for what he had previously described as “biggest attack since World War II.”

o   Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One, President Trump stated that the impending military operation was aborted at the last minute following direct appeals from key Middle Eastern allies, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE.

o   He also told reporters that the talks would address the Strait of Hormuz and the “denuclearization of Iran.”

o   Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that Tehran is “not holding any negotiations with the United States at present,” stressing that ongoing talks are exclusively with Oman and focused on reaching “an understanding on the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz,” Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported.

o   At a weekly press briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said that Iran “has never been the first party to violate any understanding,” adding that “the ball has been in the U.S. court for quite some time” after Washington announced on July 7 that it would no longer honor its commitments under the June 17 memorandum of understanding.

·       Iran Strikes Kuwait: Iran launched strikes toward Kuwait overnight Friday, Kuwait’s Defense Ministry reported, claiming that it disabled the wave of attacks.

o   The ministry accused Iran of targeting several vital sites, including a government facility in northern Kuwait and civilian vehicles belonging to a company on Bubiyan Island.

·       U.S. Begins to Withdraw from Erbil: The U.S. began withdrawing its remaining forces and heavy equipment from the military compound near Erbil airport on Saturday, including all Patriot air-defense batteries, as Washington approaches a September 30 deadline for a full troop pullout from Iraq, Al-Monitor reports.

o   Sources said U.S. interceptors had stopped at least 95% of strikes targeting Erbil airport, leaving Kurdish officials concerned that the region is now more exposed. Remaining U.S. special forces may continue operating from smaller, low-profile locations in the country, an analyst said.

·       NYT: U.S. Dropped a 2,000-pound Bomb on Family in Qeshm: Video, satellite imagery, and weapons analysis indicate the U.S. dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on a family home in a densely populated residential neighborhood on Iran’s Qeshm Island overnight Thursday, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

o   The strike killed a husband, wife, and their 2-year-old son. Two other children, now orphaned, were pulled alive from the rubble.

·       Iranian FM Says Iran Will Respond “Decisively” to Attacks: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Saturday that Iran is prepared to respond “decisively” to any U.S. aggression, according to the Iranian state-affiliated outlet Tasnim News.

o   Araghchi held calls on Saturday with Pakistan Field Marshal Asim Munir, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to discuss the “destabilizing consequences” of U.S. actions in the region.

·       Iran Announces It Is Near Agreement for Hormuz Control: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that talks with Oman over a mechanism to govern the strait are “nearing completion and in their final stages,” according to state news agency IRNA.

o   Iran has previously demanded control over both of the northern and southern routes that transit the Strait, and has rejected a proposal from Oman and the U.S. that would give it control of only one.

o   Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday that negotiations with Oman are focused on establishing a single, intermediate two-way shipping corridor to temporarily replace the existing northern and southern routes until a permanent Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) is agreed upon.

·       MBS Notes Saudi Concern about Strikes on Call with Trump: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman reportedly urged Trump to de-escalate and hold off on infrastructure strikes against Iran, asking for “clarity” on Trump’s war plans.

o   The Wall Street Journal, however, reported on Sunday that the UAE lobbied President Trump to take “more decisive action” against Iran, arguing that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would not compromise unless Washington escalated, took control of the Strait of Hormuz and potentially considered ground operations, the report says.

·       Iran Says Several Countries Tell Its FM They Will Not Participate in Future U.S. Strikes: A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday that “in the past 24 hours,” representatives from the U.K., Bulgaria, and Ukraine had contacted the FM and said that they would not play any role in potential U.S. attacks on Iran.

o   The FM noted in the same statement that any country that did participate in these strikes would “face Iran’s legitimate defense,” and noted that this included countries who “provided bases or military and logistical facilities” to the U.S.

·       Two More Executed in Iran: Iran executed two men on Monday convicted on charges of spying for Israel during both the June 2025 war and the ongoing conflict, according to the state affiliated news agency Mizan. The two men were identified as Omid Behzad and Pouria Safvat.

o   Last week, Iran publicly hanged two men convicted of killing police officers during mass anti-government protests in January. At least 60 others convicted on charges related to the protests are at risk of execution, according to Amnesty International.

o   “The Iranian authorities are unleashing a horrifying wave of executions and death sentences to punish and suppress dissent and project an image of strength and absolute control in the wake of the January popular uprising and amid ongoing attacks by U.S. and Israeli forces,” Heba Morayef, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said in a statement.