He also demanded that all US forces pull back from around Iran, that Washington should compensate Tehran for “the two wars of aggression”, and that it should lift its sanctions.

Iran is currently not holding negotiations with the US and is only communicating through intermediaries, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said.

He added that talks can’t resume until Washington makes amends for what he described as violations of an Memorandum of Understanding between them.

Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that Araghchi said mediators were still trying to find ways to restart talks.

In a memo on Wednesday, Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg gave companies three weeks to lay out how they would “drive significantly faster, more aggressive delivery schedules and/or increased production for critical capabilities.”

“Years-long development cycles are not acceptable,” Feinberg added in the memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post. “We must dramatically accelerate our program schedules and expand our production capacity now.”

The head of Iran’s supreme national security council, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, has said that the Strait of Hormuz will remain shut until the US meets six conditions.

In comments carried by Iran’s IRNA news agency on Saturday, Zolghadr laid out his terms.

Included in full, in his words, these were:

• Never threaten Iran with any language or insult the sanctities of this nation
• End the war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq forever
• Lift the naval blockade and withdraw its military forces (naval and air) from around Iran
• Pay the damages of the two wars of aggression and imposition on Iran without any reduction or reduction
• Lift the cruel and illegal sanctions against the Iranian nation
• Unconditionally release the frozen and stolen assets of the Iranian people

Caine has privately told other top administration officials that the country needs to find a way to exit the war, according to CNN, which cited three sources familiar with the matter.

Despite Trump claiming throughout the war that a peace deal, which would include his demand that Iran never obtain a nuclear weapon, was within reach, fighting has continued for more than five months.

Iran’s politburo-like body known as the Supreme National Security Council said the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the United States “corrects its behavior,” issuing new demands that could shake up talks on a deal to manage the waterway and traffic on it.

Iran’s state broadcaster published the statement by the council’s secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who is also a commander in the powerful Revolutionary Guard.

The U.S. must never threaten Iran again, the statement said, and must permanently end the war with Iran and its armed allies in the region.

The U.S. must lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports and withdraw its military from the area. It also must “completely compensate” Iran for war damage, lift sanctions and “unconditionally” release frozen assets.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S., which has wanted an acceptable deal first on the strait before ending the blockade.

Firefighters extinguished a ​fire that broke out early on Sunday at a facility at Aramco’s Jazan refinery in southwestern Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Energy Ministry said, adding that there ⁠were no injuries.

Aramco’s industrial security teams had brought the fire under control and the relevant authorities were completing procedures to deal with the incident, the ministry said on X. It did ⁠not say what caused the ​fire.

Jazan is on the Red Sea near the border with Yemen.

The Jazan refinery processes 400,000 barrels ⁠of crude oil per day and produces refined products including ​gasoline ⁠and ultra-light sulfur diesel.

Aramco shut ‌down the refinery on 27 July following an attack by Yemen’s Houthi militants that damaged the plant’s Integrated Gasification ‌Combined Cycle (IGCC) complex and tank farm ‌area, according to a note from consultancy IIR seen by Reuters.

The Houthis said at the time they had struck Aramco sites in Jazan and Yanbu.

Iraq is in talks with Iran on an arrangement to allow Iraqi oil exports, but the mechanism has not yet been activated, the country’s oil minister Basim Mohammed said on Saturday.

He gave ​no ⁠details on ‌the proposed route, expected volumes, or a timeline ‌for the ‌arrangement.

Iraq currently produces about 2.7 million ⁠barrels per day and exports roughly half of that amount, the minister said during a press conference, adding ‌that export capacity ​this month is ‌capped at ⁠1.5 million to ⁠1.75 million bpd.

The economic fallout from the regional conflict has driven up food and fuel prices, while more than four months of conflict with Iran has driven renewed escalation in Yemen, compounding one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

More than half the population were already facing hunger, but slow progress from world leaders to re-open the Strait has caused months of disruption to global food and energy supplies, disrupting humanitarian aid operations.

A defence pact signed between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is technically the same as Nato’s Article 5 mutual defence agreement, Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday, adding the accord was not targeting Iran.

Fidan also said Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan wanted to see the alliance expand, and that Egypt was a potential candidate to join, among others.

The regional powers signed the “Mecca Joint Defence Agreement” on Friday, wedding Sunni Muslim US allies alarmed at a regional conflagration that has brought Iranian missile fire onto Gulf oil exporters.

In a joint statement, they said the accord intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression and stipulates that an armed ⁠attack against any of the three would be regarded as an attack on all.