Qatar’s foreign ministry has said that negotiations between Oman and Iran are now in an advanced stage, in a statement on Monday.

Both nations have been working on a deal to organise control over the Strait of Hormuz after US-Israeli strikes prompted Tehran to shut down the vital waterway through which one fifth of the world’s energy passes.

A deck cargo ship was attacked on Tuesday by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, killing three of its crew members, two sources from the Yemeni coast guard and two military officials in the government said.

Maritime security sources told Reuters a cargo ship was believed to have been targeted in the Red Sea, but the fate of the crew was unclear.

Demand for the US Patriot air defence system has increased this year as Ukraine’s war against the Russian invasion and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has depleted supplies of interceptor missiles.

Ukraine is seeking further Patriot interceptors to defend itself against Russian ballistic missile attacks, while the Iran war has drained stores in the US and the Gulf.

Meanwhile, some European countries are hanging onto missiles that they may require for their own defence.

Here, The Independent takes a look at what Patriot missiles are, and why they are important to Ukraine.

Lebanon’s health ministry said on Tuesday that an Israeli drone strike in the city of Nabatieh wounded two civilians.

The ministry added that a second strike targeted a rescue team from the Al-Risala Association, damaging an ambulance.

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to just six vessels on Monday, down from a 10-day average of about 11, as hopes for an immediate US-Iran peace deal faded.

Kpler data showed four vessels entered and two exited the strait. Before the war, around 130-140 ships typically passed through each day.

Traffic through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait remained stable, with 25 vessels passing on Monday compared with a 10-day average of nearly 24.

US president Donald Trump was secretly transported away from last month’s Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey, using a secondary military plane while an elaborate deception made it seem he was aboard Air Force One, according to a report published by The Washington Post on Monday.

The newspaper reported that the covert movement was triggered by an assassination threat from Iran targeting Mr Trump. Reporters and several White House personnel were left believing they were travelling on the same aircraft as the president as his return journey to Washington commenced following the annual gathering of Nato leaders.

The newspaper based its account on reviewed documentation, a US official aware of the operation and another individual familiar with the president’s travel arrangements.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has appointed six senior commanders to key military and security posts, reshaping the wartime leadership after several top commanders were killed.

The appointments came a day after former IRGC chief Mohsen Rezaee was named secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

• Ali Abdollahi: Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, overseeing coordination across the military.
• Kioumars Heydari: Deputy Chief of Staff.
• Ahmad Vahidi: New IRGC commander, tasked with boosting deterrence and readiness for “powerful offensive operations”.
• Mostafa Izadi: Vahidi’s deputy, responsible for operational readiness.
• Ali Ozmaei: New IRGC Navy commander, a key role amid tensions around the Strait of Hormuz.
• Hossein Taeb: New Basij commander, focusing on mobilisation and domestic intelligence. Basij is Iran’s paramilitary volunteer militia within the IRGC.

British couple Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who have been jailed in Iran on widely criticised espionage charges, have ended hunger strikes lasting 93 and 84 days respectively.

The East Sussex couple, who deny the charges, were arrested in January last year while travelling by motorcycle from Europe to Australia and sentenced to 10 years in prison in February.

Craig Foreman’s sentence was later reportedly extended after he spoke to the media.

They began the hunger strike in May after prison authorities stopped them from contacting their families.

They agreed to end it after guards promised they could resume direct contact, though their family said Monday that contact had not yet been restored.

Oil prices rose as US-Iran negotiations over reopening the Strait of Hormuz stalled. Brent climbed to $88 a barrel and US crude to $82.45, both their highest levels since 31 July, after a roughly 5 per cent jump on Monday.

The latest escalation came after Donald Trump rejected Iran’s terms for reopening the strait and instead demanded compensation from Tehran, raising fears that the crucial shipping route will remain disrupted.

He later wrote on Truth Social: “Iran should be responsible for the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza!”