Iran warns of a harsh response as US announces new sanctions and other Middle East news

Iran warned that new U.S. sanctions on Tehran announced Monday would not bring peace to the region. Meanwhile, Israeli and Syrian officials met less than a week after Israeli strikes in Syria. And Israel said it killed a Hamas commander in Gaza.

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

Iran threatens response ahead of US sanctions announcement

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson warned that Tehran would respond harshly to expanded U.S. sanctions, including measures against countries it sees as cooperating with Washington.

“Any escalation of this situation will undoubtedly bring about consequences,” Esmail Baghaei said. “Our hands are not tied.”

The new head of Iran’s top security body warned Sunday that Tehran will see any country’s support for the sanctions as an “act of war.”

The expanded sanctions come after weeks of impasse. The United States has not dislodged Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil passed before the war started nearly six months ago.

Iran’s demands for reopening the strait include lifting the U.S. naval blockade, withdrawing U.S. forces from the region and reparations for damages sustained in the war. It has held separate talks with Oman, on the other side of the strait, on jointly managing the waterway regardless of whether a new deal is brokered with the U.S.

Sanctions have historically raised prices of basic goods in Iran, but after decades of withstanding them, Iran’s economy has adapted through finding new trading partners and building domestic industries.

The country’s currency hit a record low on Monday.

China warns new sanctions will ‘escalate the situation’

China said Monday that sanctions and additional pressure “will not help resolve the issue,” as the U.S. has threatened to impose secondary sanctions on countries that trade with Iran.

“They will only exacerbate tensions and escalate the situation, which is in no one’s interest,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a daily briefing in Beijing.

He added that China was calling on all parties to avoid measures “that could further intensify differences and conflicts and disrupt global economic development and financial stability.”

China is considered the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, and was importing more than 80% of Iranian oil before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

Netanyahu claims Iranian assassination attempt on his son

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 14 television that Iran had attempted to assassinate one of his sons. He said that without security around his son, the attempt would have succeeded.

“Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to murder one of my sons,” he said in a phone interview with the television station.

Netanyahu did not say which son, where the attempt happened, what the attempt was and how it was thwarted. His office also gave no further details when asked by The Associated Press.

Israeli and Syrian officials meet following an Israeli airstrike

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani met over the weekend with a high-level Israeli delegation in Jordan to try to defuse tensions after Israel last week struck an air base in northern Syria, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

The U.S.-mediated discussions on Sunday focused on restarting negotiations for a future security agreement, SANA said.

Israel struck the Abu Duhur air base in Idlib province, saying it aimed to stop Turkey — which has supported the new Syrian government’s efforts to rebuild its armed forces after 14 years of civil war — from establishing a presence there.

Syrian officials during the talks asserted the right to develop an army and freely forge alliances with any country, SANA said.

They also called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from a buffer zone in southern Syria they have occupied since December 2024, and reiterated Syria’s stance that the Golan Heights — which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed — is Syrian territory.

Israeli officials didn’t immediately comment on the meeting.

Israeli strikes kill 4 in Gaza, including 2 children

Israeli strikes killed at least four people Monday in the war-torn Gaza Strip, including two children, hospital officials said.

In the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, a strike hit a building after residents said they received an evacuation warning. A 4-year-old child was killed after his family was unable to flee, according to Awda Hospital. His mother and sister were wounded.

Four other structures, including mosques, were hit after residents said they received evacuation warnings, sending scores of already displaced Palestinians fleeing again. Smoke rose over a landscape of rubble and destroyed buildings as elderly people pushed wheelchairs or used canes, women carried babies and others sprinted for safety.

Commenting on some of the strikes, the Israeli military said it struck Hamas weapons storage facilities in mosques after issuing warnings, but provided no evidence.

Separately, Israel said it killed a militant affiliated with Hamas’ special forces unit in an overnight airstrike. Israel says it targets Palestinian militants who participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war.

Israel has announced targeted strikes on six of the seven days since U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week hoping to push the ceasefire deal forward.

At least 1,288 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect last October, according to Gaza’s health ministry, part of the Hamas-run government. Its numbers are generally considered reliable by the international community.

A Palestinian American says he can’t freely leave West Bank home

Loui Ridi had traveled from Ohio a week ago to join his relatives at his home in the village of Qusra in the occupied West Bank, which was besieged this month by Israeli settlers. He says he is unable to move freely.

The Israeli military declared the area a closed zone to restore order in Qusra. Ridi said settlers returned throughout the week to the hill above his house.

Since Israeli settlers surrounded the house more than two weeks ago, preventing occupants from leaving, Israeli soldiers have encouraged them to leave but Israel’s police have not announced arrests.

The siege and Israel’s response have sparked condemnation from Israeli rights groups and foreign officials, including U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who called the violence terrorism.

Palestinians consider the West Bank, home to some 3 million Palestinians and 560,000 Israeli settlers, the heart of any future state and have condemned Israel’s expansion there. This year has seen a dramatic spike in violence carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

Trump administration removes Syria from blacklist

The Trump administration on Monday formally removed Syria from the U.S. State Department’s blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism, making permanent a series of sanctions removals that had been initially announced more than a month ago.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had announced the move in early July, but there was a 45-day period for congressional review before it was formalized. That review period has now expired and sanctions related to the designation have been almost completely removed, the State and Treasury departments said.

“Treasury is following through on President Trump’s promise to give the Syrian people a chance at greatness,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.