Iran says Qatar is holding three of its pilots who were reportedly captured when their jets were downed early in the war, but Qatar denies the allegations. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates has again accused Iran of attacking a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. It's the third attack on a tanker owned by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil and gas company in a week. In southern Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes killed 11 people, including a Hezbollah commander and children. And the Iran-backed Houthis again attacked a Red Sea port in Yemen.

While talks to end the Iran war have stalled, the Trump administration appears to be reaching out to a broader swath of countries that might be able to help pressure Tehran or ease its hardline position where traditional mediators haven't succeeded so far. While discussions between Iran and Oman, as well as Iran and Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar, continue, the administration has been quietly expanding its outreach to include perhaps unlikely interlocutors in Europe. Within days of talks this week with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the foreign ministers of Austria and Greece both held calls with Iran's foreign minister. The State Department said Rubio made no direct asks on Iran in either call.

Clashes between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and government forces in Yemen raged overnight. The fighting into Thursday raised fears the civil war could reignite and open another front in the Middle East. The Houthis have repeatedly attacked government-held areas across the country in recent days. The Yemeni military says dozens of government troops have been killed. Elsewhere, there have been growing concerns of environmental damage from the Iran war as Iran and Oman battle oil slicks from damaged tankers.

Israel's military says it struck a Hamas commander in northern Gaza targeted drone strike. The attack Wednesday marks the first targeted strike Israel has announced since Aug. 3. Targeted strikes have come under closer scrutiny since President Donald Trump announced a deal aimed at advancing peace efforts in Gaza that would include halting them. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Trump's plan earlier this week days after meeting with Board of Peace officials who urged Israel to stop the strikes. The Israeli military did not provide details about the man targeted or say whether he was killed.

CAIRO (AP) — A drone strike ignited a fire at an electrical substation in western Libya on Wednesday, knocking the facility out of service in …

Authorities in Yemen say at least six people were killed when Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired missiles on a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The Transportation Ministry of Yemen’s internationally recognized government said Tuesday the dead included four crew members and two members of the government-allied National Resistance Forces. The deadly vessel strike came amid renewed attacks on government-controlled areas in Yemen, raising concerns that the violence could reignite civil war and further threaten regional shipping routes. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed by Iran, there has been renewed focus on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait at Yemen’s southern tip.

CAIRO (AP) — Firefighters in western Libya battled on Tuesday to extinguish a massive fire caused by a drone strike on an oil facility the day…