Iran’s consulate in Hyderabad responded to Trump’s image labelling the Strait of Hormuz as “New U.S. Territory” with a map depicting almost the entire United States as “New Territory of Islamic Republic of Iran.”

NEW TERRITORY OF ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN https://t.co/ztkafmWLtZ pic.twitter.com/OdOQnNS3h3

— Iran In Hyderabad (@IraninHyderabad) August 18, 2026

US President Donald Trump’s order to scale back joint military drills appeared to pressure Seoul to become involved in the Iran war, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said, according to Reuters.

Cho said neither South Korean nor US officials knew about the order beforehand. The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, which began on Monday, will now end six days early on August 21.

Amnesty International official Erika Guevara Rosas has condemned the latest US sanctions against International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, calling them part of an escalating effort to intimidate the court and obstruct accountability.

“Sanctioning judges and prosecutors for carrying out their judicial duties is a reprehensible assault on the international justice system,” Rosas said on X. She urged countries to reject the measures and protect the ICC from political interference.

The US Justice Department has unveiled new and updated charges against 17 people linked to Iran’s Mabna Institute, accusing them of hacking and stealing data from American universities, companies and government agencies.

US authorities alleged the institute conducted cyber campaigns for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian clients. The targets allegedly included hundreds of universities worldwide, dozens of US companies and at least five US state and federal agencies.

France will expel two Iranian diplomats in the coming days in response to the alleged detention and physical intimidation of two French embassy employees by Iranian security personnel in Tehran in July.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X: “I had announced that this intolerable act would have consequences. And so it has. Two Iranian diplomats in France will be expelled in the very near future.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran’s foreign policy under President Masoud Pezeshkian has prioritised neighbouring countries, describing efforts to reduce regional tensions through what he called “provincial diplomacy,” in an interview with Iranian state television. He credited direct dialogue with Azerbaijan’s president as proof that “through dialogue and interaction, it is possible to achieve results that cannot be achieved through tension, quarrels and interference,” and praised neighbouring countries for providing goods, medicine, and safe passage for stranded Iranians during recent unrest. Araghchi said Iran had rejected early ceasefire calls during what he called the “12-day war,” saying “we do not want a ceasefire; we want an end to the war,” and warned against the conflict becoming “a pattern that is repeated in our country.”

Brent crude to rise 0.3% to $91.30 a barrel as the US and Iran remained locked in a standoff over control of the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate added 0.4% to reach $85.31.

UAE’s Director of the Strategic Communications Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Afra Al Hameli said in an official statement on X that all trade, commercial exchanges, and financial transactions with Iran have been halted until further notice after Iran after the UAE said that two ballistic missiles were fired toward the country from Iran.
Both missiles fell into the sea, with one of them dropping within the UAE’s territorial waters and the other outside, the country’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

Welcome to our coverage of the developments in West Asia.