CENTCOM chief says Iran arms routes to proxies cut off

An Indian-flagged cargo ship sank off the coast of Oman after an attack sparked a blaze aboard the vessel following a suspected drone attack, Indian authorities announced on Thursday, as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was visiting New Delhi.

The ship was attacked when it was en route from Somalia to Sharjah on Wednesday, India said, without identifying who attacked the ship.

MSV HAJI ALI sank off near the Strait of Hormuz after the suspected drone attack, while all crew members were safely rescued, London-based maritime security firm Windward said Thursday.

Windward said the 57-meter vessel had its Automatic Identification System turned off when the incident occurred.

Saudi Arabia has discussed a potential non-aggression pact between Middle East states and Iran as part of talks on managing regional tensions after the US-Israeli war ends, the Financial Times reported, citing diplomats.

Riyadh was considering a model similar to the 1970s Helsinki process that eased Cold War tensions in Europe, the report said citing two western diplomats.

An Arab diplomat cited by FT said that a non-aggression pact modelled along the lines of the Helsinki process would be welcomed by most Arab and Muslim states, as well as by Iran.

“It all depends who is in it — in the current climate you are not going to be able to get Iran and Israel . . . without Israel it could be counter-productive because after Iran, they are seen as the biggest source of conflict,” the report quoted the Arab diplomat as saying. “Iran is not going anywhere and this is why the Saudis are pushing it.”

The report said many European capitals and EU institutions support the Saudi idea and see it as the best way to avoid future conflict and provide Tehran guarantees that it would not be attacked again.

The FT also cited two diplomats as saying there were doubts about whether the UAE would join any such arrangement.

The idea of expanding the defense pact was first mooted before the war, the report added citing a Pakistani official.

US President Donald Trump "only understands the language of missiles and military power, not diplomacy," Iranian MP Qasem Ravanbakhsh said.

Ravanbakhsh added that Iran’s foreign ministry must follow the 10 conditions set by the Supreme National Security Council and approved by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in negotiations with the United States.

He said any retreat from those conditions "would embolden the enemy and intensify its demands."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump raised Iran in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping but did not ask Beijing for help.

“We’re not asking for China’s help. We don’t need their help,” Rubio said in an interview with NBC News.

Rubio said China agreed with the United States that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon.

He said Chinese officials also told the US team they were not in favor of militarizing the Strait of Hormuz or imposing a tolling system there.

“It’s good that we have alliance, or at least agreement on that point,” Rubio said.

A senior adviser to the United Arab Emirates president said on Thursday the UAE remained committed to a political and negotiated path in dealing with regional tensions involving Iran.

"We did not seek this war, and we worked sincerely to avoid it," Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said in a post on X as the world followed US President Donald Trump's visit to China.

Gargash said relations between Arab states and Iran in the Persian Gulf could not be built on confrontation and conflict, while stressing that the UAE would defend its sovereignty "with strength, efficiency and steadfastness."

He said the UAE's priority remained political solutions, which he described as the path to peace, stability and prosperity.