US President Donald Trump on Wednesday pledged to stage tit-for-tat bomb attacks on Iranian civil infrastructure every time Tehran fired at ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Here are the latest developments on Wednesday:
World oil prices jumped with the benchmark international contract Brent North Sea crude surpassing $95 for the first time in nearly six weeks.
Crude futures went on to give up some of the gains but were still up around three percent.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis have been recorded sending radio warnings to ships, the International Chamber of Shipping told AFP, after the rebels announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia.
"We can confirm that the Houthis were recorded transmitting a warning message to ships in the region," the ICS said.
US President Donald Trump threatened to knock out one Iranian bridge or power plant in return for each attack on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, warning he was "not finished" with a war that has already cost Washington $37.5 billion.
"Any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT," Trump wrote on social media.
The US military struck Iran's Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Tasnim news agency said the extent of the damage was being investigated.
Tyre, an ancient Phoenician city in southern Lebanon bombarded by Israel over recent months, was added to the UNESCO list of world heritage sites in danger.
Bulgaria's parliament voted to allow the United States to base refuelling planes in the country.
Bulgaria will authorise the deployment of up to eight KC-135 tanker aircraft and up to 250 military personnel, tasked with supporting operations in the Middle East.
They will be stationed at Bezmer Air Base in the southeast, from July 24 to October 1.
The Jordanian army said it intercepted four Iranian missiles, while two others fell in an open area.
"Air defence systems today detected six missiles coming from Iranian territory," the army said in a statement, adding that it "intercepted and downed four missiles, while the other two fell in two remote, uninhabited areas, without causing any human casualties or material damage".
Iran again denied the existence of any secret nuclear complex at Kolang mountain on Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump threatened to strike the site in the centre of the country.
"Washington's obsessive focus on Kolang Kouh where no nuclear activity is taking place is nothing more than a fabricated pretext for aggression, destruction, and sabotage," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on X.
Lebanon is working towards a "complete Israeli withdrawal" from areas it occupies, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on a visit to a village where Lebanon's army recently deployed.
Under a US-sponsored agreement signed last month, Lebanon's army is meant to disarm Hezbollah and the Israeli military is to withdraw from "pilot zones" where Lebanese forces will subsequently deploy.
Dubai will offer more than $800 worth of discounts and deals to residents who bring friends and family to visit, the emirate's media office said, as months of war have battered its tourism sector.
The programme will run until the end of October.
Summers are usually a low season for tourists in the United Arab Emirates, a mostly desert country where temperatures can reach 50C.
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