Breaking News November 12, 2026: Tankers Hit in Hormuz as Iran Says "The Ball Is in the American Court"

(Japan Standard Time: 2026/11/12, 06:34) The war between the United States, Israel and Iran has entered its ninth month since it began on February 28. President Donald Trump says Iran is "effectively over" militarily, yet tankers keep hitting mines or being struck in the Strait of Hormuz, and November is on track to be the worst month for attacks on shipping since the war started. Tehran insists the strait stays shut until Washington accepts its seven conditions, while fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen is intensifying. This report is built mainly on Al Jazeera, cross-checked with American, European, Middle Eastern and Iranian outlets.

🔵 How to read the credibility labels: 🟢 = confirmed by multiple sources / 🟡 = single source or an official claim by a party to the conflict / 🔵 = editorial analysis. Labels appear at the start of each paragraph. Dates follow local reporting; where a time is known, Japan time is added.

The big picture

Strait of Hormuz: mines and strikes keep coming

🟢 Iran's army said on Wednesday, November 11, that an oil tanker struck a naval mine and caught fire in an "unsafe, prohibited area" of the eastern strait. The British maritime security agency that monitors the area also received a report of a tanker incident, but the crew's condition, the extent of damage and any environmental impact were unknown (Gulf News, The New Arab, Al Jazeera).

🟡 A day earlier, Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed that three tankers using an "unauthorised route" caught fire after hitting mines. The British agency confirmed incidents involving two tankers, one of them hit by an unknown projectile off the Omani village of Lima. The two accounts do not match on the number of ships (Al Jazeera).

🟢 Also on November 10, the Liberia-flagged supertanker Fujairah Energy was hit by a projectile in the Gulf, injuring four crew members. Maritime monitoring firms counted at least 37 attacks on ships in and around the strait in November alone, the highest monthly total since the war began (Al Jazeera, Gulf News).

🟡 The American military had recently said all mines had been cleared from the strait, which these claims directly contradict. Since the war started, Iran has required ships to use routes it approves, while the United States blockades Iranian ports and escorts tankers through. Both sides continue to claim control of the waterway.

🟡 In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera published on November 11, parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the strait will "never return" to its pre-war status. He said Iran and Oman had agreed to jointly oversee the waterway, and argued that the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea does not apply there: "The regulations within the Strait of Hormuz are governed by the laws of the two littoral states."

Peace talks: "The ball is in the American court"

🟡 Ghalibaf said Iran had sent its response to Washington through a Qatari mediator and was waiting for an official reply. A deal is possible, he said, if the United States avoids excessive demands, adding: "What stands in the way of an agreement is our lack of trust in the United States" (Al Jazeera).

🟢 Iran has not published its full list of seven conditions. Statements by Ghalibaf, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and security chief Mohsen Rezaei indicate they include lifting the naval blockade and sanctions, releasing frozen funds, ending fighting on all fronts including Lebanon, and an explicit declaration that the war is over. Tehran says the demands stem from the Islamabad memorandum signed in June and must be met before formal talks begin (Al Jazeera, The New Arab).

🟢 Rezaei, however, told Lebanon's Al Mayadeen that claims of "continuing negotiations or holding a meeting in Qatar" are "a pure lie," calling the initial American response "insufficient and deceptive." In his view, Washington talks up diplomacy to ease economic pressure and push oil prices down (Al Jazeera, Reuters via Just Security).

🟡 Araghchi told the state news agency that the conflict "will not be resolved through military means, nor by intensifying sanctions," and said the strait could reopen within two days if the demands are met. There are also reports that American officials asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to mediate direct talks during a visit to Moscow (Al Jazeera).

🔵 "We are not negotiating" and "we are waiting for a reply" sound contradictory, but they fit together if Tehran's position is that formal talks start only once its conditions are met. Washington, for its part, says it is "open to diplomacy" while keeping the blockade in place. Each side is waiting for the other to move first.

Washington: official statements and Trump's posts

🟢 Trump met Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, at the White House on Monday, November 9. He later posted on Truth Social that a resumption of American strikes was "quite unlikely," saying Gulf powers wanted to keep the status quo, and wrote: "Iran militarily is effectively over" (The Nation, Al Jazeera).

🟡 Trump also told Reuters that "we're ready to go anytime we want" and that he was "locked and loaded." The status quo he describes includes the ongoing naval blockade and Task Force Iron Gate, announced by the American military on November 7 to choke off trade across Iran's land borders and the Caspian Sea.

🟢 Speaking in Paris after a Group of Seven meeting on November 10, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: "The economic campaign is so devastating that right now there is no need for major combat operations." He added that force remains possible if Iran crosses "certain red lines," and rejected Tehran's demand for war reparations (The New York Times, Gulf News).

🟢 On November 10, the House voted 211 in favor versus 204 against to send an impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth back to committee, effectively ending the effort. Eleven Democrats missed the vote. Trump called the outcome an "exoneration" (Al Jazeera, Axios, Gulf News).

🟢 According to The New York Times, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who leads the economic pressure campaign, moved with his family from his home to a military base after Iranian threats against his life. A Treasury spokesperson said he would "not be deterred by the Iranian regime's threats." The Justice Department has charged three Iran-linked operatives over alleged plots in America and Europe; Iran denies involvement (British broadcaster reports, Iran International).

Tehran: what Iranian officials are saying

🟡 President Masoud Pezeshkian accused Washington on November 11 of pursuing "diplomacy through threats" in a post on social media, saying the United States started the war in the name of stopping nuclear weapons and then used a new missile in Lamerd for the first time. He arrived the same day in Antalya, Turkey, for the United Nations climate conference, saying he would raise "the actions taken by America and Israel to destroy the environment" (state media via Gulf News).

🟢 Rezaei told Lebanese television that Iran will not allow any enriched nuclear material to leave the country. He warned that if America attacks again, Iran will target American bases in Europe and on distant islands, and urged host countries not to cooperate (Reuters, Iran International).

🟢 On November 11, Iran's Foreign Ministry designated Argentina's navy and air force as "terrorist organisations," calling it a reciprocal step after Argentina designated the Revolutionary Guard earlier this year (Reuters, The New Arab).

Yemen: Houthis versus the Saudi-led coalition

🟡 A spokesman for forces aligned with Yemen's internationally recognised government said on November 10 that about 190 Houthi commanders and fighters were killed or wounded in attacks across Lahij, Taiz, Marib, al-Jawf, Hajjah and al-Bayda. He listed 744 artillery attacks, along with 62 rockets, 39 drone attacks and 29 air strikes. The government is pressing a counteroffensive called Operation Dawn of Yemen, backed by Saudi-led air power, to retake ground lost in September (Al Jazeera).

🟡 Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree claimed heavy losses among government fighters in Lahij and al-Jawf, and accused Saudi-backed forces of 109 air and missile strikes on Sanaa and other areas that he said killed and wounded "a large number of women and children." Al Jazeera said it could not verify either side's battlefield claims.

🟢 The Saudi-led coalition said on November 10 that it intercepted two missiles fired toward Riyadh, plus another aimed at the south of the kingdom. The Houthis said they targeted Riyadh as well as an Aramco oil facility at Abqaiq in the Eastern Province. Last month, Washington ordered non-essential embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia after Houthi attacks (Al Jazeera, The New Arab).

🟢 The World Health Organization says at least 1,771 people have been killed in Yemen since August, with 7,959 wounded and more than 300,000 displaced. Ghalibaf said "no one should interfere" in Yemen, while offering Iranian help if Yemen's government or Saudi Arabia asks for it (Al Jazeera).

🟢 The Gulf Cooperation Council has approved a military command headquarters and force deployment in Kuwait after months of Iranian missile and drone attacks. Reuters has documented at least 135 attacks by Iran and allied groups on infrastructure across seven Arab countries since the war began (The New Arab, Iran International).

Europe and Britain: Paris meeting, pressure on bases

🟢 Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Paris backed diplomatic efforts with Iran, said Tehran must never develop or acquire nuclear weapons, urged full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and called for an end to attacks on civilian shipping and "free and safe passage through the strait." The British Foreign Office published the joint statement (Report, Al Jazeera).

🟢 The ministers also agreed on "the need to avoid a security void" in southern Lebanon once the United Nations peacekeeping mission ends its mandate on December 31, though French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot acknowledged no breakthrough on a replacement. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has backed a continued United Nations mandate there (The New Arab).

🟡 In Britain, the American indictment says Iranian agents "orchestrated a terrorist plot" at the Royal Air Force base at Fairford in September, when disguised vans were driven toward the base. According to Iran International, the British prime minister told Parliament the operation was highly likely coordinated in Iran and directed by the Revolutionary Guard. Araghchi replied: "You're barking up the wrong tree."

🟡 The Wall Street Journal reported that at least ten American refuelling tankers left the Mildenhall air base after an Iranian threat, with security levels raised. Britain says its bases remain secure. The European Union added the Revolutionary Guard to its terrorist list in February, and Britain designated it a state threat in July.

Inside Iran: near 89 percent inflation, a "zero oil" budget

🟢 The Statistical Center of Iran says prices in the Iranian month ending October 22 were 88.7 percent higher than a year earlier. Food coupons continue, but their value is being eroded by rising prices (Al Jazeera, Iran International).

🟢 Mohammad Ghasemi of the Plan and Budget Organization said "the government must prepare for circumstances in which oil revenue reaches zero." Next year's budget is being drafted around two scenarios: continued blockade, or substantial easing. According to the American Treasury, Iran has loaded no oil onto vessels since August 25, and about 43 million barrels are stranded inside the blockade zone (Al Jazeera).

🟡 Opposition outlet Iran International reports that the dollar traded at about 2.63 million rials in November, up from about 1.6 million in early April, a loss of nearly 40 percent in seven months. Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said the country faces a gas shortfall of about 430 million cubic meters, and power cuts and water shortages are disrupting daily life.

🟡 A volunteer firearms training center for women opened in Tehran's Azadi Square on November 10, while the Revolutionary Guard showed footage of a new underground "missile city." Some citizens have criticized military spending amid poverty and energy shortages (The New Arab, Iran International).

Oil prices: rebounding from below 90 dollars

🟢 Brent briefly fell below 90 dollars a barrel on November 10 for the first time since August, as traders bet the standoff was easing. It rebounded on November 11 as new tanker incidents in Hormuz revived supply fears. Both benchmarks remain well below the 100-dollar mark (OilPrice.com, World Oil Monitor, 5paisa, Gulf News).

🔵 Prices were cross-checked across several live quote sites; some overseas aggregators were still showing outdated levels and were not used. Markets move fast, so please recheck prices at the time of publication.

Analysis: a "no war, no peace" limbo

🔵 Washington has shifted from airstrikes to economic strangulation; Tehran insists on its conditions first and keeps the strait closed. Neither side wants a return to large-scale fighting, but neither has a reason to blink first. What Ghalibaf calls "no war and no peace" appears to be settling in.

🔵 That status quo is costly. Prices in Iran have nearly doubled in a year, and officials are planning for zero oil income. Attacks on shipping are running at a record pace, and the Yemen war is edging toward Gulf oil infrastructure. Oil prices may look calm, but the balance is fragile: one major incident could send them sharply higher.

🔵 Three things to watch: whether Washington sends a formal reply to Tehran via Qatar, whether attacks on ships in Hormuz start to decline, and how the new Congress that takes office in January scrutinizes the administration's Iran policy. We will update as events develop.

Sources

- Al Jazeera: Ghalibaf interview (November 11)
- Al Jazeera: Iran denies talks, says Hormuz stays shut (November 11)
- Al Jazeera: Yemeni forces and Houthis exchange attacks (November 11)
- Al Jazeera: Can Tehran survive a zero oil budget? (November 11)
- Al Jazeera: Iran war live (November 11)
- Just Security: Early Edition (November 11)
- The New Arab: Rubio downplays war, Iran insists on conditions
- Gulf News: Tanker hits mine, Pezeshkian criticises Washington
- The Nation: Trump says more attacks highly unlikely
- Iran International: Threats against bases in Europe
- Iran International: Economic attrition under blockade
- Report: Group of Seven statement on Iran and Hormuz
- OilPrice.com: Oil price charts
- World Oil Monitor: Oil price charts