Regional powers seek off-ramp from Iran war, and other Middle East developments

JERUSALEM (AP) — Regional powers sought an off-ramp from the war with Iran as another tanker attack was reported in the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran dismissed Washington’s latest sanctions.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, a Jerusalem court acquitted a man accused of beating a Catholic nun but ordered him to undergo years of psychiatric hospitalization over the attack that drew global condemnation.

Israel’s strikes in Gaza drew a sharp rebuke from the top diplomat overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the territory.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

Court orders psychiatric hospitalization for man indicted in nun attack

A Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court judge acquitted a man accused of attacking a Catholic nun based on his insanity defense and ordered him committed to psychiatric hospitalization for up to six years.

The violent assault in April on a nun walking in her habit in Jerusalem’s Old City sent shockwaves across Israel – and its many Christian communities, which have reported an increase in harassment.

Religious Freedom Data Center, an Israeli volunteer organization that tracks incidents like verbal abuse and spitting in the direction of visibly Christian people in Jerusalem, said they’re happening almost daily and virtually all are committed by Jewish religious nationalists.

Jerusalem’s Old City contains some of the holiest sites of Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Tanker was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization said Thursday that it had received a report of an oil tanker hit in the strategic waterway that’s been at the center of the evolving diplomacy in the Iran war.

The monitoring agency, run by the British military, said local authorities reported that the vessel was hit by an unknown projectile Tuesday in the waters between Oman and Iran, causing it to catch on fire.

The crew was reported safe and there have been no reports of environmental damage, the UKMTO said.

The attack underscores the ongoing dangers for vessels attempting to transit the key waterway while it’s firmly under Iranian control, even as Oman and Iran are reportedly in the final stages of talks on a plan to manage shipping traffic through the strait.

Iran periodically fires at vessels attempting to transit the strait to enforce its control of the waterway, though there was no immediate claim for Tuesday’s attack. The U.S. has also fired on vessels while imposing a blockade of Iranian ports.

Faltering diplomatic efforts to end Iran war continue

Pakistan said Thursday it was continuing diplomatic efforts to help resolve the crisis between the United States and Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said at a news briefing that Field Marshal Asim Munir’s recent visit to Tehran was aimed at reviving the June memorandum of understanding to reopen the strait.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has also continued diplomatic outreach during Munir’s visit, speaking with his Turkish, Egyptian, and other regional counterparts, Andrabi said.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani is expected in Tehran on Thursday for talks with Iranian officials on “ways to de-escalate tensions & create the conditions conducive to dialogue,” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said on X.

The discussions, confirmed by Tehran, will also address “freedom of navigation” in the Strait of Hormuz and the need to return to the prewar status quo, according to Majed Al Ansari, an agency spokesperson.

But U.S. President Donald Trump told Al Jazeera by phone Wednesday that he has “no time schedule” to wrap up the conflict that will reach the six-month mark on Friday. Trump told the Qatar-based broadcaster that he believes the United States is “winning very big.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry calls US sanctions “pure parody”

Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, wrote late Wednesday in a social media post that the U.S. had made a coalition with Bahrain, calling it a country with “virtually no meaningful economic exchange with Iran.”

In another social media post on Wednesday, Iran’s top negotiator and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf thanked China for rejecting the U.S. “economic D-Day” policies against Iran.

“We welcome China’s principled statement rejecting illegal sanctions against Iran,” Qalibaf said.

Earlier this week, Tehran had warned that it would respond harshly to expanded U.S. sanctions, including measures against countries it sees as cooperating with Washington. Iran has repeatedly targeted Bahrain and other Gulf countries with missiles and drones since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28.

Israel’s Gaza strikes get rebuke from peace board chief

Nickolay Mladenov, head of Trump’s Board of Peace, told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that the gap between what has been agreed by both sides and what is happening on the ground is the biggest risk to the peace process in Gaza.

“Israeli strikes have continued since the road map was accepted, and Palestinian civilians are still being killed,” Mladenov said.

An Israeli strike on a tent for displaced people Wednesday in southern Gaza killed one person and wounded at least four, the territory’s Health Ministry said. The Israeli military said that it struck a “military operative,” without elaborating.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have reported a surge in deadly Israeli strikes despite a fragile ceasefire in the nearly three-year Israel-Hamas war. Israel has said that it targets Hamas and other militants.

Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador Noa Furman told the Security Council on Wednesday that Israel is committed to Trump’s peace plan, but that Hamas’ “disarmament must come first” before Gaza’s reconstruction can begin.

The war in Gaza was triggered by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel; some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 others abducted. Israel’s retaliatory offensive killed more than 73,400 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry, part of the Hamas-controlled government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants, and says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.