Jana Choukeir

Several ​merchant vessels in the northern Gulf ‌and Gulf of Oman were hit by disabling fire during military activity in the region overnight, the ​United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said ​on Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned ​of economic consequences for any country that provided "any type of lifeline to Iran" as the United States looks to resolve a war it began alongside Israel nearly six months ‌ago.

A tanker was ‌boarded by six armed people who took control ​of the vessel ​and diverted it towards Somalia, ⁠the United Kingdom ​Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said ​on Thursday.

Four more tankers changed course in the Red Sea on Wednesday after Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen threatened the southern route out, highlighting a new risk to global ‌oil supplies from the intensifying war between the U.S. and Iran.

On a beachfront in the coastal city of Tyre, war has finally abated just enough for children to play in the waves and families to gather under parasols as life slowly returns to southern Lebanon.

The body of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lay in state in a vast hall in Tehran on Friday as clerics, officials, foreign ​dignitaries and other mourners paid their respects to Iran's late Supreme Leader, slain by U.S. and Israeli bombs.

A bomb blast at a cafe in central Damascus on Thursday killed nine people and wounded 20 others, Syria's interior ministry ​said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

A tanker reported being struck by a projectile in the Strait ​of Hormuz as the warring sides accused each other of violating an interim peace deal.

The group's leader described the U.S.-brokered deal as a surrender to Israel.

Iran said it struck ​targets linked ‌to U.S. forces in response ​to U.S. ​airstrikes on its ⁠southern coast, ​which it said ​violated the U.N. Charter and the ​war-ending memorandum ​between the two countries, ‌according ⁠to a statement by its foreign ​ministry.