Iran-US war latest: American forces down Iranian drones as tensions rise in Strait of Hormuz

US Central Command stated on social media that “The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic”.

The military is enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran’s restrictions on the vital shipping route for global oil and natural gas exports, a move that has driven up energy prices.

It marks the latest in back-and-forth attacks straining a tenuous ceasefire and efforts to extend that truce.

A top Iranian official has said a potential peace deal between the US and Iran is weighted on the Trump administration agreeing to release $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets.

In an interview with CNN Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei warned the US would “enter into a dark corridor” should it resume fighting.

“The negotiations are at a deadlock and Trump must break this deadlock,” he said.

“The ball is in Trump’s court.”

It comes as Iran reportedly demanded the release of $12 billion in frozen funds after an agreement is signed with the US. This money would be followed by another $12 billion, according to CNN.

But the US has concerns that unfreezing the funds could remove a key leverage point over the regime.

Two Romanian men have been convicted in a London court over the stabbing of a journalist from a Persian-language television station, an attack prosecutors say was carried out at the behest of authorities in Tehran.

A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at London-based Iran International, was stabbed in the leg in March 2024 outside his home in the Wimbledon area of London.

He recovered from the attack and returned to work.

Police said former professional soccer player Badea and another man attacked Zeraati before fleeing in a getaway car driven by Stana and then flying out of the country from Heathrow Airport.

Badea and Stana were arrested in Romania in December 2024 and extradited to the UK.

The third suspect, David Andrei, is the subject of criminal proceedings in Romania.

“This was a targeted and violent attack and it was the prosecution’s case during the trial that it was carried out on behalf of the Iranian regime,” said Chief Superintendent Kris Wright of Counter Terrorism Policing London.

The jury’s verdict does not conclude that the attack was conducted on behalf of Iran, though prosecutors said the judge may determine that when the defendants are sentenced on July 3.

Iran’s senior diplomat in the UK has denied Tehran was behind the attack.

Iran has launched ⁠multiple drones towards the ⁠Strait ​of ⁠Hormuz, ⁠CNN ​has reported.

US forces have taken out at least three of them out, according to a United States official.

US forces overnight conducted an interdiction of the sanctioned stateless vessel M/T DAVINA in the Indian Ocean, the Indo-Pacific Command said on Friday.

“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” it wrote in an X post.

Washington has imposed a blockade on Iran’s trade by sea while Iran has fired on ships to prevent them sailing through the Strait of Hormuz waterway at the entrance to the Middle ​East Gulf. U.S. forces have intercepted multiple commercial and oil tankers in the Indian Ocean in recent months.

Donald Trump has said Iran has about a fifth of its missiles left, according to an interview with NBC News.

“They ‌have some missiles, they have ‌some drones. I ‌would say percentage wise, maybe ⁠21-22 per cent of their missiles. It’s a lot of missiles, but it’s not what ‌it was ​when ‌we first ⁠attacked,” Trump was ⁠quoted as saying.

As a barrage of Iranian missiles rained down on the Fujairah oil terminal, the explosion was deafening and the destruction dramatic: a brutal fire, thick black smoke stretching into the sky – and untold damage to one of the region’s crucial pieces of fossil fuel infrastructure.

Read more here by Josephine Moulds and Nick Ferris:

A British couple jailed on spying charges in Iran have lost an appeal against their convictions, their family have said.

Craig and Lindsay Foreman were handed 10-year prison sentences in February after being convicted of espionage, which they both deny.

The couple’s family have claimed they were not permitted to attend their appeal hearing.

They were jailed following their arrest in January 2025 while travelling through Iran during a round-the-world trip by motorcycle.

The couple are on a hunger strike, according to the family, adding that all communication between them has been cut off by Iranian authorities.