Military operations in the Middle East continue, escalating tensions in the region and raising concerns among the international community. Military strikes and retaliation by both sides—the US and Israel on one side, and Iran on the other—continue to affect not only the countries of the region, but also the global economic situation.

Armenian News-NEWS.am presents below a brief overview of the main events that took place in the Middle East on Tuesday night.

• The fate of the Strait of Hormuz after the war will be decided only by Iran and Oman, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with Al Jazeera. The strait is in the territorial waters of Iran and Oman. These are not international waters. These are Iranian territorial waters and Omani waters. At the moment, Iran believes that the strait is open. This strait is closed only to the ships of those that are at war with Iran. This is normal in times of war. Iran cannot allow its enemies to use its territorial waters for trade, Araghchi added.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was building new alliances with key countries in the region against the shared Iranian threat. He added that sooner or later, the current Iranian regime will fall.

• The latest Israeli airstrikes hit several civilian targets in Iran. These included the steel industry in the city of Mobarak in Isfahan, the Shahid Haqqan port in Bandar Abbas, a steel plant in the Farkhunda plain, a steel plant in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, a meteorological station in Bushehr city, and a residential complex in Malard city.

• The US has nothing to do with what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz. The US will be leaving very soon, US President Donald Trump said. He expressed a view that the US will leave the area in two or three weeks, even if Iran does not make a deal. Regime change was not one of his goals. He had one goal: Iran will not have nuclear weapons. And that goal has been achieved, Trump added. “When we feel that they are, for a long period of time, put into the Stone Ages and they won’t be able to come up with a nuclear weapon, then we’ll leave,” the US president added. Talking about a deal or not is irrelevant, he noted.