What you need to know
- US has not hit Iran for a second day after a nearly-two week streak of nightly strikes
- Iran has also not announced any new attacks
- The Middle East war which spread to the Red Sea this week, has also reached the Caspian Sea with Tehran accusing Ukraine of a deadly attack on its vessel.
Here are the lastest developments concerning the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Sunday, July 26.
Another silent night as US reports no attacks against Iran
No US strikes were reported on Iran on Saturday and Sunday after the US military mounted a 13-night volley of escalating bombardments.
There were also no reports of attacks by Iran on its Gulf neighbors.
The silence is resuscitating hopes of the two sides returning to the negotiation table with the war between them reaching the five-month mark on July 28.
The US military did not announce any new strikes on Sunday but said that a "naval blockade against Iran remains in full effect."
It is not immediately known why the US is holding fire against Iran.
US President Donald Trump, on Thursday told US news-outlet Axios that he was mulling "a massive attack" on Iran which he described as being "bigger than ever before".
But he also says that talks with Iran are pressing ahead.
"We're talking to them right now. I think they're getting more and more serious," Trump told journalists on Friday, adding that Tehran faces a choice between a deal and strikes at a "much higher level".
The US President "has always been clear that his preference is diplomacy, but he has shown Iran what will happen if they fail to come to the table in a serious way," Reuters quoted , a senior official in Trump's administration.
Stockpile pressure?
The lull in attacks also comes as US media reports concerns over depleting munitions in the expanding conflict.
CNN cited a US official as saying that Vice President JD Vance and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine both raised concerns about the US defense stockpile with Trump during a White House meeting on Friday.
The official told CNN that Washington’s operations against Tehran were "on a hold.
While the US and Iran are holding back, retaliatory strikes between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia have opened a new front in the Middle East war.
Welcome to our coverage
The US has seemingly hit a pause button as the Iran war comes closer to completing its fifth month.
Iran woke up to another day without US airstrikes after 13 consecutive nights of an intensified bombing.
Meanwhile, the war has spread to new waters — the Red Sea and the Caspian Sea.
But first, here is a recap of how the Middle East war has fared over the weekend:
- Yemen's Houthi rebels fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia in retaliation to Saudi strikes on the Yemeni port city of Hodeida, which the Iran-backed rebel group holds.
- Saudi Arabia's strikes were the kingdom's response to the Houthis attacking its tankers in the Red Sea amid a maritime blockade.
- Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alleged that Russia was giving Iran satellite data to help direct attacks in the Middle East.
Stay with us for more updates.