Iran says coastal attack will lead to Persian Gulf closure, mine-laying

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump agreed in a call on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened to resume global shipping, Downing Street said.

A spokesperson for the British government said the two leaders discussed the situation in the Middle East and agreed that reopening the strait was essential for stability in the global energy market.

The spokesperson said Starmer and Trump would speak again soon.

The funeral of Mohammad Ghanbari, a bodyguard for Ali Shamkhani, will be held on Monday in Juybar, according to an Instagram story posted by Mahdieh Shademani, the daughter of a killed commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.

The timing suggested Ghanbari’s body was recovered nearly a month after the strikes in which he was killed.

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme Defense Council, was killed in US and Israeli strikes on February 28.

A loud steam release at the Montazer Ghaem power plant in Fardis, near Tehran, was caused by a technical fault and not an attack, a local official said on Sunday.

The governor of Fardis said the noise came from high-pressure steam released due to a defect in one of the plant’s boilers.

He added that there was no problem in the area and no cause for concern, and said any incidents requiring public awareness would be announced through official channels.

Montazer Ghaem is one of the five major plants around Tehran along with Damavand, Rajaei, Roudshour (Rudshur), and Mofatteh, which play a central role in supplying electricity.

Security deployments, Basij patrols and checkpoints were reported in several parts of Iran from late Sunday into early Monday, according to eyewitness accounts sent to Iran International.

In Tehran, security forces were reported stationed in Park-e Shahed, with a possible checkpoint expected in the Sardar Jangal area. Witnesses also said white Samand cars with green license plates were moving through the city after removing their plates and marking the vehicles as “Basij Patrol,” creating a heavy security atmosphere.

In Arak, in Iran’s central Markazi province, nighttime checkpoints were reported at the entrances to the industrial town.

In Rudsar, a city in Gilan province on the Caspian coast, checkpoints were said to be in place at all entrances to the city. In Sari, the capital of Mazandaran province in northern Iran, witnesses reported that IRGC forces and equipment were moved from Imam Square to the Red Crescent building on Imam Reza Boulevard.

China’s state-owned refiners have begun exploring purchases of Iranian crude after Washington allowed the sale of some oil already loaded onto tankers, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Representatives of the National Iranian Oil Company and intermediary traders have also been quietly sounding out potential buyers among Chinese and other Asian refiners, according to the report, which also said that the discussions were not public.

China is Iran’s most important oil buyer, but purchases have typically come from smaller private refiners with less exposure to international markets, while large state-owned companies have largely stayed away for fear of US sanctions.

The latest US Treasury waiver, covering seaborne Iranian oil for one month, followed similar steps aimed at easing access to Russian oil as the White House sought to limit supply pressure and cool global prices.