Live Updates: Trump vows Iran war will end "right after the election" or sooner, as 9,000 troops head to Mideast

A leading Iranian actress has been sentenced to one year in prison in Iran for her support of protesters killed during a bloody crackdown on anti-government rallies in January, a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization said Friday.

Elnaz Shakerdoust, who acted in dozens of films over a two-decade career, said in February she would never perform in the country again after the authorities killed thousands in a crackdown on nationwide protests.

The actress' sentence, which also includes a two-year ban on political, artistic and online activities, was upheld on appeal, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency NGO and the independent outlet Emtedad, which spoke with the actress' lawyer.

Shakerdoust's current whereabouts remain unknown.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a call with Jordanian King Abdullah II on Friday to discuss the conflicts in the Middle East, according to State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott.

The readout on the call is light on specifics, but said the two spoke about "a range of bilateral and regional issues, including implementing the Trilateral Framework in Lebanon, disarming Hizballah, and promoting stability in Syria." 

"Secretary Rubio thanked King Abdullah for Jordan's steadfast role in advancing regional security," the statement added.

Jordan has long been an ally of the United States in the Middle East. Iran has repeatedly targeted Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, which houses American troops and airplanes. In July, three U.S. soldiers were killed in a strike on the base.

In September, a strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base damaged several U.S. war planes.

Iran has continued to threaten strikes against any country that hosts the U.S. military in the Middle East.

The U.K. navy's Maritime Trade Operations center said a tanker reported being struck by an unknown projectile Friday afternoon as it transited through the Strait of Hormuz to leave the Persian Gulf. 

In a statement, UKMTO, said the impact caused "a small fire and blackout onboard," but the fire was extinguished and the vessel continued on its way, with "no reported casualties or environmental impact."

At least four vessels have been hit by unknown projectiles this week in and around the strait, according to UKTMO, but analysts say the Gulf's energy producers are making more use of alternative routes as Iran continues threatening maritime traffic.

Maritime data firm Kpler said earlier this week those alternate export routes had helped restore energy exports from the Persian Gulf to near prewar levels.

The routes include shipping lanes through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, as well as a pipeline through the United Arab Emirates that effectively bypasses the strait, and a U.S.-protected route through the waterway.

About 21.8 million barrels per day of crude and fuel products made from crude are being shipped weekly, on average, compared to the prewar baseline of 23.3 million barrels per day, Kpler said.

"We are getting closer to the norm, we are not at pre-conflict levels, but we are getting close to there," said Matt Smith, Kpler's director of commodity research.

President Trump said European leaders have agreed to release a "massive amount" of their diesel oil stockpiles to alleviate high prices, following an emergency meeting of the Group of Seven leaders. 

A G7 video conference convened Friday morning to discuss fuel supply and prices, after a call overnight between French President Emmanuel Macron and Mr. Trump. After that meeting, Mr. Trump said Europe would release diesel oil from its stockpiles, beginning "immediately."

"Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. "The process will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

A joint statement from G7 leaders released by the Élysée Palace in Paris confirmed a "coordinated release" of 100 million barrels that is to begin immediately and will take place over a four-month period. This will include a "front-loaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days by G7 members and partners," the statement said.

The G7 consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S., including the European Union as a non-enumerated member. 

A White House official said Mr. Trump spoke with Macron last night and with the G7 leaders this morning to negotiate the release of European diesel stockpiles. 

Read more here.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, mocked President Trump in a post on X on Friday, calling him "the worst president in American history."

"After one failure after another, the worst president in American history just keeps talking," Rezaei wrote, "and now his words have even outrun his own fantasies." 

"You can win every day in your own imagination," he said. "But reality is shaped by Iran — by its people, its soldiers, and its missiles."

The president said Thursday he was "ensuring that Iran will be very quickly ended," insisting that Iran's ruling theocracy "is ready to fold up," and he believes the U.S. will win the seven-month war "right after the election," if not before the U.S. midterms in early November.

Ongoing hostilities in Yemen have now displaced over 145,000, the United Nations Population Fund said Friday, with displaced women and girls facing the gravest risks.

Around 35,000 women "of childbearing age" and more than 3,200 pregnant women are among the displaced, according to the UNPFA. 

"UNFPA partners have reported several instances of pregnant women giving birth on the roadside while fleeing hostilities, without skilled assistance and amid life-threatening delays in reaching comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care," the agency said in a statement.

Nine health facilities in the governorates affected by the conflict in the west of Yemen have reportedly been destroyed or can no longer operate, the UNFPA said, while eight more have suspended services. 

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis accused the rebels on Thursday of attacking an electricity distribution station in the Saudi city of Medina, home to the second-most holy site in Islam. 

Intense fighting between both sides near the Red Sea saw 80 combatants killed over the past day alone, sources on both sides told the French news agency AFP on Friday.

Intense fighting between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi-backed forces over territory near a waterway that is crucial to global energy flows saw 80 combatants killed over the past day alone, sources on both sides told the French news agency AFP on Friday.

Fighting near the Red Sea coast in Taiz province has raged since the Houthis launched a lightning offensive weeks ago against Yemen's internationally-recognized, Saudi-backed government.

The Houthis have seized control of Yemen's entire Red Sea coast, including territory along the the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern gateway to the sea and thus a crucial chokepoint not only for Saudi energy exports, but for global shipping as a whole.

According to Houthi military sources, at least 55 anti-government fighters have been killed over the past 24 hours in fighting against government troops in the Taiz area. Government sources meanwhile told AFP that 26 troops on that side had been killed.

Fighting around Taiz is raging on several fronts, including in highlands overlooking the coastal areas seized in recent weeks by the Houthis. The rebels have yet to wrest control of Taiz city, however, which is Yemen's third-largest after Sanaa and Aden.

The U.N.'s special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grunberg, said Thursday he was alarmed by developments in Taiz, adding that the Houthis' operations pose "grave risks to the civilian population."

CBS/AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Friday that authorities were investigating whether the FlyDubai co-pilot accused of trying to crash a flight to Israel with 174 people on board could have been "dispatched" by some third party. 

The Israeli leader vowed that if that is found to be the case, whoever sent him would "pay a very heavy price."

The co-pilot of the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv allegedly stabbed the aircraft's captain and tried to crash the plane before being restrained by a group of passengers.

"As time passes, the picture is becoming clearer; the attacker underwent Islamist radicalization. He came to crash the plane with its passengers," Netanyahu said Friday. "We are investigating whether he was dispatched, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price."

President Trump suggested on Thursday that Iran could be linked to the incident, without offering any evidence or basis for the conclusion. 

Asked by reporters if he had been briefed about any possible links between Iran and the co-pilot, Mr. Trump said: "I would say the answer, based on what I'm hearing, is yes," adding: "But we're working on it right now." 

When asked if the co-pilot could have been working for or with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mr. Trump said he "could've been, yeah." 

In response to a question about potential U.S. retaliation if Tehran was connected to the attack, Mr. Trump said "they'll be hit, very hard, don't worry." 

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Friday that rebuilding regions destroyed in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war is beyond the state's capacity, calling for funding as he visited the heavily damaged south.

"I am aware of the magnitude of the crisis," Salam said in Nabatieh, a major southern city hit hard by Israeli airstrikes. "But the scale of the needs exceeds the capacities of the Lebanese state and its ability to bear these burdens alone."

"We still need significant funding" for reconstruction, the prime minister said.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah drew the country into the broader Iran war in March by attacking Israel, which responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion. The fighting followed a previous Israel-Hezbollah conflict that erupted in 2023, which led to an all-out war the following year. Lebanese authorities have put the overall death toll from both rounds of fighting at more than 8,900.

Hundreds of thousands of people remain displaced, mainly from the south, where Israeli forces have occupied a self-declared "security zone" stretching about six miles into Lebanon from the shared border with Israel.

Last month, Salam said the estimated total cost of the two wars could exceed $27 billion.

CBS/AFP

Iran's parliament has completed a committee-level consideration of a proposed bill that would establish what lawmakers frame as the future Iranian management of the Strait of Hormuz, including the imposition of fees on commercial vessels using the vital waterway.

Hassan Ghashghavi, spokesman for the parliament's National Security Commission, told the semi-official Tasnim news agency the proposed "Strategic Action Plan for Ensuring Security and Sustainable Development of the Strait of Hormuz" would preserve Iranian control over all traffic through the strait in line with Iran's national interests and security.

Under the bill, Iran would charge vessels for services including navigation, environmental protection, bunkering and fuel. Ships linked to Israel, countries deemed hostile by Iran, countries that have carried out military action against Iran, or vessels carrying military cargo would be prohibited from passing through the strait under the legislation, Ghashghavi said.

Ships from countries not considered hostile would have to obtain authorization from Iran's General Staff of the Armed Forces before transiting the waterway, he added.

The bil will now be debated and voted on by Iran's full parliament and, if approved, would then require review by Iran's powerful Guardian Council and other authorities before becoming law in the country.

The Trump administration rejects Iran's rhetoric suggesting it will control the strait going forward, as well as Tehran's current demands for all commercial vessels to seek permission for transits. 

Iran has repeatedly targeted tankers and other ships it accuses of using the strait without its permission, however, seriously limiting the flow of oil and gas out of the Persian gulf since the war began.

The U.S. has sent two additional Patriot missile batteries to Saudi Arabia and Qatar to help protect oil and gas facilities, Axios reported Thursday, citing two U.S. officials and another unnamed regional source.

President Trump has in recent days threatened to resume U.S. strikes on Iran, telling TIME magazine it was possible that he could give the orders after the November U.S. midterm elections, saying: "With Iran, I don't think you could ever have peace." 

In August, Mr. Trump threatened possible U.S. strikes on Iranian energy and civilian infrastructure, but Saudi Arabia and Qatar urged him not to give the order, according to Axios, out of concern Iran would retaliate by hitting their oil and gas facilities.

Speaking Thursday, Mr. Trump said he was "ensuring that Iran will be very quickly ended," insisting the Islamic Republic was "ready to fold up" and that he believed the U.S. would win the war "right after the election," if not before the U.S. midterms.

Flights between Iran and Iraq will resume soon, Iraqi Ambassador to Tehran Yasser Abdul Zahra Al-Hajjaj has said, as the two countries work to resolve disruptions to air travel in the wake of the U.S. imposing sanctions that bar virtually all nations and entities from collaborating with Iranian carriers.

Following a meeting with Iranian Transport Minister Farzaneh Sadegh, Al-Hajjaj said the neighboring nations were examining mechanisms and initiatives to address the issue amid what he described as U.S. pressure on air transportation.

He highlighted the large number of Muslim pilgrims, students and businesspeople who typically travel between Iran and Iraq, as well as the countries' extensive economic and social ties.

"Flights between the two countries will resume soon," Al-Hajjaj said, according to Iran's semi-official Tasnim News agency.

In August the U.S. announced a raft of new sanctions against Iran, including on the country's aviation industry, which has led to multiple countries canceling flights to and from Iran. 

European Union nations have discussed a proposed release of additional diesel reserves amid U.S. pressure to ease fuel prices, a source with knowledge of the discussion told the Reuters news agency on Friday.

In a Friday call, various EU governments debated a French proposal for a joint release of 50 million barrels of diesel, the source told Reuters, and for International Energy Agency member countries to release 50 million barrels of crude oil.

The countries also discussed the idea that any agreement on diesel reserve releases should include a commitment from the U.S. to not unilaterally ban diesel exports, the source said. G7 leaders may discuss the proposal further on Friday on a call, Reuters reported.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said Thursday that the Houthis struck an electricity distribution station in Medina, Saudi Arabia, a city that is home to the second holiest site in Islam. The alleged attack drew strong condemnation from the Muslim world.

Fighting has intensified significantly in Yemen in recent weeks, with government forces reporting multiple airstrikes on Houthi targets overnight and AFP journalists hearing explosions in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led coalition said the Houthi drone struck Medina's Taibah electricity distribution station, which provides power to the Prophet's Mosque, Islam's second holiest site. The Houthis denied any involvement.

Saudi-led coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said a drone struck the Taibah electricity distribution station early Tuesday morning.

"The investigation and evidence gathered by the competent authorities have confirmed the involvement of the Terrorist Houthi Militia in planning and executing this cowardly terrorist act, based on after-action review and the wreckage of the drone used," he said in a statement.

The coalition said one transformer was taken out of service without affecting the wider electricity network.

CBS/AFP 

Speaking in Denton, Texas, Thursday night at the Peterbilt Motors facility, President Trump said Iran "is ready to fold up."

He said he believed the U.S. would win the war "right after the election," referring to the U.S. midterm elections in early November. 

"Maybe before the election," he added.

"I'm ensuring that Iran will be very quickly ended," the president said, promising that U.S. energy prices, which have soared due to the war, would be "rapidly, rapidly coming" down.

Mr. Trump said the U.S. was "trying to be nice" to Iran's current leader, but "we don't know who the hell to deal with, to be honest with you. Nobody wants to be president."

The USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and the USS Makin Island Amphibious Group are headed to the Middle East, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News on Thursday. 

That could mean a total of three U.S. carrier strike groups and two amphibious ready groups being deployed to the region at the same time, at least unless and until one of the groups is rotated out of the region. 

A U.S. official told the Associated Press that some 7,000 sailors and 2,000 U.S. Marines were on their way as part of the deployment. That would bring the total number of U.S. forces in the region to approximately 20,000, along with hundreds of vessels and aircraft.

The forces could arrive by the end of October, the official told the AP.

The USS George H.W. Bush and the USS George Washington are already in the area, along with the USS Boxer amphibious readiness group.

President Trump suggested Thursday that Iran could be linked to the alleged attempted hijacking of an Israel-bound FlyDubai plane. 

When asked by reporters if he had been briefed about any links between Iran and the co-pilot who allegedly attacked the flight's captain and attempted to crash the plane before being subdued by passengers, Mr. Trump said, "we're working on it right now." 

"I would say the answer, based on what I'm hearing, is yes," Mr. Trump said. "But we're working on it right now." 

Mr. Trump did not provide further details. 

When asked if the co-pilot could have been working for or with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mr. Trump said he "could've been, yeah." 

In response to a question about potential U.S. retaliation if Tehran was connected to the attack, Mr. Trump said, "they'll be hit, very hard, don't worry."