A fire broke out aboard a vessel after it was struck by an unidentified projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Monday evening, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said.

“The fire has since been extinguished and the vessel is under way. Crew is safe,” UKMTO said in a statement.

It said there has been no reported environmental impact or damage assessment.

Iran’s rial fell to a fresh record low against the US dollar, with the free-market rate crossing 2.5 million rials per dollar.

The dollar was quoted at 2.542 million rials, up 3.84 percent from the previous day, according to Pashizi, a website tracking Iran’s free foreign exchange market. It reached an intraday high of 2.548 million rials.

The Lebanese army said that it had received 47 Humvee military vehicles and five trucks as part of US assistance programs for the armed forces.
A military statement said that the vehicles were delivered at Beirut port.

“This grant comes within the framework of US authorities’ support for the military institution, with the aim of strengthening its operational capabilities and raising the readiness of its units,” the statement said.

Saudi Arabia has resumed oil tanker loadings from its Red Sea port of Yanbu after restarting operations on the East-West Pipeline, according to trade sources and shipping data, improving the outlook for oil exports from the Middle East.

The resumption of Yanbu loadings, halted earlier this month after a drone attack on the pipeline, weighed on global oil prices on Monday as it added to signs of increased flows from the Middle East, from which the US war with Iran has throttled oil shipments.

The move follows reports that Washington will grant a one-month Treasury waiver allowing Iraqi Airways to fly the Iran–Najaf route, with a permanent exemption possibly next.

The US administration said it is offering to loan energy companies 40 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in an effort to control soaring fuel prices that have jumped on the widening war with Iran and Russia's war with Ukraine.

The United States agreed in March to loan 172 million barrels of oil from the SPR as part of a wider deal with about 30 countries in the International Energy Agency to release 400 million barrels.

Russia urged Iran to remain 'a responsible party' to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) following statements from Tehran that it seeks to withdraw from the nuclear treaty.

Speaking to reporters during a press briefing, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow has heard statements on the possibility of Tehran’s withdrawal from the NPT from Ali Nikzad, the Iranian parliament’s deputy speaker, and that these remarks require further clarification.

“We would not want Iran to withdraw from the NPT. We consider the NPT to be the cornerstone of the non-proliferation regime. And we do hope that Iran will remain an important and responsible party to this treaty,” Peskov said.

Iran's leaders may radiate bullishness in their war with the United States, but life is becoming ever tougher for ordinary citizens unable to afford basic necessities or rent as a US blockade cuts the state's financial lifeline - oil exports.

From an engineer forced out of Tehran by high rent to a woman forced to stop smoking because of the price of cigarettes and carers struggling to buy medicines, all areas of daily life are affected.

"I'm forced to sell my items with a very small and negligible profit, yet I can't close my business because then I'd be unemployed," said Behnam Riazi, a restaurant owner interviewed on camera in Tehran.

Riazi cannot raise his prices because his customers cannot pay more - and most anyway buy only necessities now.

The International Energy Agency's member states may discuss whether more strategic oil reserves could be released on the market in the future, IEA head Fatih Birol said.

"We are following the markets very closely, especially the product markets, diesel and others. If there is a need, of course, we will discuss with our member governments to take the necessary steps," he told reporters in Dublin ahead of a meeting of EU energy ministers.

Birol declined to comment on proposals hinted at by French President Emmanuel Macron and others to release more strategic reserves in a bid to lower oil prices.

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard spokesperson accused the US President Donald Trump of being a "big liar", claiming he was concealing the truth from Americans about Iran's nuclear programme and the effectiveness of Iran's blockade of energy supplies from the Gulf.

Among his reasons for waging war on Iran, Trump has cited the need to ensure that it will never be able to build a nuclear weapon.

Hossein Mohebbi claimed the US knows that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons.. "Their issue with Iran is not its nuclear programme but rather its vastness, which they want to destroy," he said.

Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that if his country's security was not guaranteed, no infrastructure in the region would be safe from attack, state media reported.

"In a region where we cannot sell oil, no one else will sell oil either; or if our security is not guaranteed, no infrastructure will remain safe," said Ghalibaf, who is also Iran's parliament speaker, according to a video released by state TV.

Saudi Arabia has resumed oil loadings from its Red Sea port of Yanbu after restarting operations on the East-West Pipeline, according to trade sources and shipping data, improving the outlook for oil exports from the Middle East.

Drone attacks forced the kingdom to shut the pipeline on September 11, halting crude exports from Yanbu. Pipeline operations resumed last Tuesday.

State oil giant Saudi Aramco notified customers on Monday evening of its October loading schedule from Yanbu, an Asian refining source said. The refiner loaded a cargo from Yanbu late last week.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he expected a formal answer on Tuesday from the United States to Tehran's proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz, state media reported.

Qatari intermediaries "presented ideas, and we discussed them; they are set to raise the matter with the American side once more, after which the final US response will be conveyed to us", Araghchi said late on Monday.

Iran's top diplomat, who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, said "the Qataris hope this will be done by tomorrow".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that a suspected plot near a British airbase used by American forces was “a very serious situation” involving “the hands of a foreign actor”.

Rubio hinted at details he could not disclose about the weekend incident near RAF Fairford in south-west England, suggesting more information about the suspected foreign involvement could emerge in the coming days.

“There’s some things I cannot say on the air for a lot of different reasons,” he said.

US bond yields climbed to their highest levels in roughly two decades, pushing US stocks further below their record high as uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz unsettled markets.

The rise followed fresh swings in oil prices as investors weighed when tankers might regain free passage through the waterway, a key route for Middle Eastern oil exports.

US President Donald Trump said over the weekend that he had rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the strait and resume nuclear talks.

US President Donald Trump has said that he expects additional negotiations with Tehran this week, asserting that Iranian officials "overplayed" their hand during earlier talks.

Later, he denied the Axios story, which said he offered Iran sanctions relief and frozen funds.

"This is untrue. I offered them nothing!" he said on his Truth Social platform.

"Axios’ story, like most others, is a hoax, used only for purposes of satisfying their Trump Derangement Syndrome," he said.

The United Arab Emirates has called for de-escalation in a region facing “transformations and divisions” and stressed that supply chains must be able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz in accordance with international law.

UAE Minister of State Khalifa Shaheen Al-Marar made the remarks at the UN in New York.

“The region is witnessing transformations and divisions, and tensions must be reduced,” Al Marar said.