The U.S. military said it intercepted two Iranian attack drones headed toward Bahrain, as Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed it struck a U.S. early warning radar system in the kingdom. Iran also said a tanker struck a naval mine while attempting to sail through the Strait of Hormuz.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Friday. Read our full coverage here.
Rubio says further military action unnecessary against weakened Iran
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that further U.S. military action against Iran is unnecessary because the economic pain the U.S. is inflicting on a weakened Islamic Republic is so great.
Rubio's comment in a speech to the Federalist Society reinforced a statement by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier in the week that the war “militarily is effectively over.”
“And right now, frankly, the economic pain that we are inflicting on that regime is so great that there’s no need for military action because we’ve weakened them so much,” Rubio said. “But I think victory is ensuring that they never have a nuclear weapon.”
Rubio also acknowledged the economic pain Americans have experienced as a result of the war, which has driven up fuel costs and affected nearly every sector of the global economy.
It would have been easy for Trump to ignore the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, avoid an unpopular war and “leave it for the next person to worry about,” he said, adding that the president decided he was “not going to leave it unaddressed.”
“But it’s hard,” Rubio said. “It’s not easy and it’s difficult. And oftentimes it inflicts, you know, pain, economic pain and otherwise. So we recognize that.”
US says it intercepted Iranian drones after Iran claims strike in Bahrain
The U.S. military said Friday it shot down two Iranian attack drones headed toward Bahrain, denying Iran’s claim that it had struck a U.S. radar system in the kingdom. CENTCOM, the U.S. command center covering the region, said there were no injuries or damage.
Iran's official IRNA news agency cited a Revolutionary Guard statement that said the attack on the radar system followed a U.S. strike on a telecommunications pole in the southern Iranian port of Sirik. It was Iran's first report of targeting a facility in Bahrain since September.
Bahrain's Ministry of Information did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Iran says a tanker struck a mine in the Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Friday that a liquefied petroleum gas tanker struck a mine, causing an explosion, while trying to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
The Guard said the vessel ignored repeated warnings while transiting the eastern part of the strait. The claim could not be independently verified.
In a related development, the United Nations said October had the highest number of incidents against commercial ships in the contested waters since February, when the Iran war began.
The UN's International Maritime Organization said 25 seafarers died and many others were injured or remain missing following some 134 incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East maritime area as of Nov. 11.
Iran: Nuclear monitoring cannot proceed while under threat
Iran told the United Nations' nuclear watchdog that discussions on nuclear monitoring cannot proceed while the country is facing military threats.
According to a confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran insists inspections cannot resume amid threats from the U.S. to target its nuclear facilities. Iran hasn’t given inspectors access to sites affected by Israeli and U.S. strikes during the June 2025 war.
Iran warns US and Israel that renewed war would be met with ‘decisive response’
Iran’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Gholamhossein Darzi, told the U.N. Security Council Friday that its response to any renewed fighting would be “directed against the source of aggression, wherever it may be.”
Putting a damper on the prospect of new talks, he said U.S. threats and attacks during “good faith” negotiations over the last two years “have created profound distrust and serious doubt about the prospects of renewed negotiations without credible guarantees against the repetition of such unlawful actions.”
Darzi clashed with Bahrain, which called the meeting on behalf of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, as well as the United States.
Israeli fire kills 3 in Gaza including a 12-year-old, health officials say
Israeli tank shelling on Friday in central Gaza killed three people including a woman, a father and his 12-year-old son, according to health officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital.
The tank shelling in the eastern part of Deir al-Balah city also wounded 20 others, most of them children, the hospital said.
Israel’s military said it had opened fire to drive away suspects whom it claimed had approached troops near the Yellow Line, which delineates the part of the Gaza Strip that the Israeli military controls.
Near-daily Israeli fire and airstrikes have continued more than one year after a ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and Hamas.
Infant's hypothermia death raises worries about winter in Gaza
A 9-month-old infant in Gaza died from hypothermia, becoming the first reported cold-related death of the winter season, health officials said Friday.
Kanan Ahmed Arqiq was living with his family in a tent that provided little protection from the cold and was flooded by rains earlier this week, family members said. Outside the hospital, Ahmed Arqiq, the infant’s father, held up the baby's tiny body and a certificate attributing his death to severe cold.
The majority of Gaza’s roughly 2 million people now live in tents and makeshift shelters because of the war. The United Nations and other agencies have accused Israel of blocking the entry of needed aid, but the Israeli military denies the claims.
Turkey and Qatar reach a mutual defense agreement
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani signed a mutual defense agreement Friday in Istanbul, according to Erdogan’s office.
In a statement posted on X, the office said the two sides, which already share deep military ties, would continue working together to prevent war from resuming in the Gulf region and to encourage diplomacy.
The deal follows a joint defense agreement signed between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in August.
Iranians mourn 350 unidentified soldiers from Iran-Iraq war
More than 38 years after the Iran-Iraq war ended, the remains of hundreds of unidentified soldiers were carried through Iranian cities Friday in one of the largest such funerals in recent years.
In Tehran, thousands joined a procession for the remains of 110 soldiers. Funerals for another 240 were held in other cities. The remains were recently recovered from former battlefields.
Trucks carrying flag-draped coffins passed near Tehran University as mourners dressed in black wept.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
