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President Donald Trump said Friday Iran wants an agreement with the United States but is not yet prepared to accept terms he considers necessary.
President Donald Trump reposted a message by US lawyer David Schoen on Truth Social saying Trump had given Iran “every possible chance” to change its behavior.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned on Thursday that military strength alone could not ensure the Islamic Republic’s survival if people faced hunger and the economy failed to grow.
Ship crossings through the Strait of Hormuz fell to seven on Thursday, down from 14 the previous day, Reuters reported, citing initial Kpler data.
Vice President JD Vance said Iran could survive US economic pressure for “a couple of weeks or a couple of months or possibly longer.”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with CNBC that the United States would impose the “toughest sanctions in history” on Iran and said Washington was “going to collapse this regime.”
This liveblog is no longer being updated; for our new liveblog, visit here.
President Donald Trump said Friday Iran wants an agreement with the United States but is not yet prepared to accept terms he considers necessary.
“They would love to make a deal, but they are not ready to make the right deal, in my opinion,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews.
“We’re seeing what happens. They have no money. They have no navy. They have no air force. They’re not paying their soldiers. They’re not paying their police. They have 350% inflation,” Trump said.
Iran has issued its first foreign investment permit in South Khorasan province to a Spanish investor for a mining and mineral-processing project, state news agency IRNA reported.
Morteza Zakerian, the provincial director general of economic affairs and finance, said investors from the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Oman had also entered South Khorasan for the first time in the recent period.
He said foreign investors from 12 countries are now active in the province, including China, Afghanistan, South Africa and Germany.
President Donald Trump reposted a message by US lawyer David Schoen on Truth Social saying Trump had given Iran “every possible chance” to change its behavior.
Schoen wrote that Trump had given Tehran opportunities to end what he described as its support for global terrorism and join “productive nations.”
He added that Trump had also made clear the consequences Iran would face if it continued on its current path.
The Islamic Republic has handed death sentences to Pouria Hosseini-Mofrad, Rasoul Rezaei and Reza Omidvari, all detained during Iran's nationwide protests in January, according to human rights groups.
Hosseini-Mofrad and Rezaei are held in Mashhad’s Vakilabad prison, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
Omidvari is held in Yazd prison. The Iran Human Rights Society said authorities had pressured Omidvari’s family not to publicize his detention, death sentence or case.
An oil tanker under US sanctions for allegedly transporting Iranian petroleum products was seized off Yemen and diverted toward Somalia, Reuters reported Friday, marking the latest attack in a resurgence of Somali piracy.
The Eritrea-flagged *Sibu 1* was boarded Thursday by six armed individuals, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. The US Treasury sanctioned the tanker last December for allegedly being part of a shadow fleet helping Iranian petroleum products evade sanctions.
The vessel was at least the 13th attacked this year off Somalia or in the Gulf of Aden, compared with five such attacks in all of 2025, according to International Maritime Bureau data and UKMTO reports cited by Reuters.
IRGC commander-in-chief Ahmad Vahidi said Iran must rapidly expand its offensive and defensive capabilities, state media reported Friday.
In a message marking Defense Industry Day, Vahidi said the accelerated buildup was “the only smart and effective strategy” for countering the enemy’s current and future plots.
Vahidi added that Iran aimed to become an “unmatched and influential power” in the emerging global order.
Instagram has removed a page dedicated to news and images of the burial site of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family killed in the US-led war, the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency reported.
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji said Iran’s ambassador-designate Mohammad Reza Rauf Sheibani must leave the country because his continued presence would violate a sovereign Lebanese decision, according to An-Nahar.
Rajji said that once a diplomat is declared persona non grata, any previously issued visa, entry permit or residency authorization no longer provides a legal basis for remaining in the country.
He added that any discussion of renewing Sheibani’s visa was legally invalid and that the decision requiring his departure was final and enforceable.
Sheibani’s visa is due to expire on August 24.