Illustration of the Ebola virus, a deadly pathogen that causes severe hemorrhagic fever. )RUSLANAS BARANAUSKAS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Americans will no longer be able to fly directly home from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) under a new process outlined by U.S. officials amid the ongoing Ebola outbreak
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security are working together on a “Do Not Board” process for Americans in the DRC, the CDC said in a social media post Wednesday.
“The Do Not Board list prevents a person from obtaining a boarding pass for any flight into, out of, or within the United States,” the CDC website reads.
Previously, only non-citizens had been barred from traveling back to the U.S. from the Ebola outbreak regions, and American travelers were being screened at select airports for any signs of the virus.
Now, under the new measure, Americans departing from the DRC will only be able to return to the U.S. 21 days after leaving that country.
The moves comes as the DRC has seen over 2,000 cases and 750 deaths from Ebola, making it the third largest outbreak on record.
Earlier this week, the CDC announced a second American infected with Ebola in the DR had been transferred to Germany for care. The CDC said the unnamed patient works for a humanitarian aid organization.
The first American infected with Ebola was a doctor who contracted the disease while treating patients in the DRC. Dr. Peter Stafford was evacuated to Germany at the time to receive specialty care.
Stafford was discharged from the hospital in June, and the family has since returned to the United States.
This handout photograph taken and released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on July 16, 2026, shows Ukrainian firefighters working to extinguish a fire at the site of a Russian air attack in Kyiv. (Handout/State Emergency Service of Ukrai)
(LONDON) — At least 200 Ukrainian drones were launched toward Moscow overnight into Thursday morning, the city’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said, as Kyiv continued its nightly long-range strike campaign deep into Russia.
From Wednesday evening until 9 a.m. local time on Thursday, “More than 200 drones were flying towards the Moscow region. Most of them were neutralized by air defense systems at a distance,” Sobyanin wrote in a post to Telegram. Ten drones “were destroyed as they approached Moscow,” the mayor said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces downed at least 375 Ukrainian drones overnight. The ministry said in a post to Telegram that drones were intercepted over 18 Russian regions — including Moscow — as well as Crimea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
Ukraine has been significantly expanding its drone campaign — referred to in Kyiv as “long-range sanctions” — in recent months, targeting major Russian cities, Russian oil infrastructure, military and logistics targets.
Ukraine has been significantly expanding its drone campaign — referred to in Kyiv as “long-range sanctions” — in recent months, targeting major Russian cities, Russian oil infrastructure, military and logistics targets.
The Russian Defense Ministry publishes only the number of Ukrainian drones and other projectiles it claims to have intercepted. Sobyanin releases real time statements when Ukrainian drones are reported shot down while heading toward the capital.
ABC News cannot independently verify the figures from either the ministry or the mayor. But the increasing scale and rate of such reports could be seen as indicative of Ukraine’s growing ability and willingness to target sites within Russia.
So far this year, Sobyanin has reported the downing of 1,420 Ukrainian drones on approach to Moscow, according to his Telegram posts, collated and analyzed by ABC News. Across all of 2025, Sobyanin only reported the downing of 734 Ukrainian drones near the city.
More than four years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made clear Kyiv’s intentions to return the war back to Russian soil. Key targets have included Moscow and the so-called “second capital” St. Petersburg.
“Our responses to Russia’s prolonging of the war and strikes on our cities and communities are completely fair,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram in May. “The Moscow region has Russia’s densest concentration of air defenses. But we are getting through,” he added.
Ukraine’s Wednesday night attacks also reportedly targeted the Engels-2 airbase in Saratov — a key hub for Russian long-range aviation, including strategic bombers. Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said in a post to Telegram, “Engels is on fire.”
Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, meanwhile, announced that temporary flight restrictions were introduced at Saratov airport during the overnight attacks. Restrictions were also put in place at airports in Nizhny Novgorod, Penza, Samara, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Cherepovets and Gelendzhik.
Flights operating from all four of Moscow’s international airports were also put under temporary flight restrictions overnight, Rosaviatsiya said.
Russia continued its own long-range strike campaign against Ukraine. Ukraine’s air force said in a post to Telegram that Russia launched 18 missiles and 146 drones into the country overnight into Thursday morning, of which 12 missiles and 129 drones were intercepted, suppressed or failed to reach their targets.
Six missiles and 16 drones impacted across 15 locations, the air force said.
Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram that at least two people were killed by a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, with five other people injured. Other targeted regions included Kharkiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Mykolaiv and Donetsk, Zelenskyy said.
“Moscow is relying on terror through ballistic missiles and continues its attacks,” Zelenskyy wrote.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House on February 27, 2025 in Washington, DC (Photo by Carl Court – Pool/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — As Britain prepares for yet another prime ministerial change, a former holder of the office — Theresa May, who led the country from 2016 to 2019 — urged the country’s next leader to focus on shared U.S.-U.K. interests, rather than falling prey to potential personal or political clashes with President Donald Trump.
The U.K. Parliament is expected to anoint the Labour Party’s Andy Burnham as prime minister later this month. Burnham will become the seventh leader to take the reins of the country in 10 years, a reflection of the political and economic turbulence that has beset the country since the Brexit vote in 2016.
Burnham will replace current Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who last month said he would vacate his post following a collapse in support among Labour members of parliament, exacerbated by disastrous local election results in May. Starmer delivered Labour a historic majority in parliament in the 2024 general election, but saw his authority and approval rapidly deteriorate.
Like his predecessors, Burnham will need to juggle domestic discord while navigating a raft of foreign policy demands — among them the cultivation of the so-called “special relationship” between the U.K. and the U.S., which during President Donald Trump’s two terms in the White House has been subject to strategic, ideological and economic headwinds.
Trump has already described Burnham — who until recently was serving as the mayor of Greater Manchester — as “extremely liberal.” During Starmer’s time in office, the president has been scathing toward the prime minister’s policies in areas including energy, immigration, crime and foreign policy. May, whose time in office overlapped with Trump’s first term, told ABC News last week that institutional transatlantic relationships and shared interests can help Starmer’s successors ease possible interpersonal tensions.
“Keir Starmer, actually, on the foreign policy field, by and large, played a good hand,” May told ABC News on the sidelines of the Chatham House think tank’s conference in London. The outgoing prime minister has been broadly praised for his deft handling of the transatlantic relationship, which included hosting a state visit for Trump to the U.K. in 2025.
Of the special relationship, May said, “We talk about it perhaps slightly more than the U.S. does. But that relationship is built on a whole set of different levels of relationships. So, it’s not just about the prime minister and the president. It’s also about our security relationships, our defense relationships … It’s not just about the two people at the top.”
The same is true of the U.K.’s own political issues, May said, as the nation prepares for the coronation of its next prime minister. “It’s not about individuals. Politics today generally across the globe has become more about individuals and personalities and I think that’s problematic,” she said.
“What matters to people is not the personality at the top. What matters to the people is what they’re doing, what their policies are,” May said.
The recent joint U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has again prompted Trump to strike out at America’s European allies, who refused to join the campaign in support of Washington though expressed willingness to aid security and minesweeping missions in the Strait of Hormuz once the conflict is over.
The U.K. was among the American allies who refusal to assist the U.S. against Iran “greatly disappointed me,” Trump said in March. Starmer’s response in particular, the president said, was “very disappointing.”
Asked whether the Iran war would prove to be a long-lasting blot on U.K.-U.S. relations, May said she was hesitant to comment as the conflict “is not finished.”
Still, she — like many other current and former European leaders — noted that European nations have previously shown their “commitment to the United States,” not least in rallying to the U.S. side after the 9/11 attacks; the only time in NATO history that an ally invoked the Article 5 collective defense clause.
When asked about Trump’s repeated suggestions that the U.S. should be less involved in European security, May replied, “There have been other times when there’s been more of that sense of isolationism,” specifically noting the later American entry into the Second World War in support of the U.K. and its allies.
“But I think, again, the interests that we have together are what combines us,” May said.
Expedition 75 Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina (top), NASA astronaut Anil Menon (C) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov wave farewell prior to boarding the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft for launch on July 14, 2026, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A NASA astronaut blasted off from a launch site in Kazakhstan Tuesday along with two Russian cosmonauts as part of a mission to the International Space Station.
Anil Menon launched aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome site around 10:47 a.m. ET along with cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina.
This marks Menon’s first space flight, and the second flight for the Russian cosmonauts, according to NASA.
The space craft is scheduled to dock with the station around 1:56 p.m. ET, according to NASA.
Once aboard the station, they will join up with the members of Expedition 74 crew, three NASA astronauts, one European Space Agency astronauts and three cosmonauts, who have been on the station conducting scientific experiments.
Menon, Dubrov and Kikina’s mission will last about eight months and they are scheduled to return to Earth in April 2027.
Menon will “conduct scientific research and technology demonstrations aimed at advancing human space exploration and benefiting life on Earth,” according to NASA.
That includes research into production of semiconductor crystals in space, and testing augmented reality and artificial intelligence tools for medical support in space, NASA said.
“He will be a test subject helping researchers understand how blood flow is affected in space to protect future astronauts. He also will test bioprinting vascular constructs in microgravity to improve understanding of the aging process to advance therapeutic developments,” the agency added.
President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for bilateral talks at Bestepe Presidential Compound during the NATO Summit on July 8, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy left last week’s NATO summit armed with a valuable commitment from President Donald Trump — that Kyiv would get approval to produce vital interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense system, which since 2023 has helped defend Ukraine’s skies against Russian aircraft, drones and ballistic missiles.
Zelenskyy and his top officials have long warned that Ukraine needs more air defense systems and far more ammunition to blunt Russia’s daily long-range strikes. In recent weeks and with interceptor missile stocks reportedly running low, those warnings have become more dire.
Trump’s approval for Kyiv to get a production license to produce Patriot interceptors on home soil is “really good news for Ukraine,” Chrystia Freeland, previously Canada’s deputy prime minister and now an economic adviser to Zelenskyy, told ABC News on the sidelines of the Chatham House think tank’s conference in London last week.
“It would be even better if they were getting Patriots right now, because they’re being hammered,” Freeland added. “It’s great to get the licenses. But between getting the licenses and actually being able to make the Patriot [missiles] to defend themselves, it’s going to take time. And during that time, lots of people are going to die.”
As civilian casualties in Ukraine rise, securing more air defense systems and ammunition are a priority for Kyiv, Zelenskyy has said repeatedly. Russian strikes killed at least 265 civilians in Ukraine and injured 1,816 in June, senior United Nations official Rosemary DiCarlo told the body’s Security Council earlier this month.
The combined casualty total for June is the highest recorded since the first months of Russia’s full-scale invasion, DiCarlo said. Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, a top U.N. official told the Security Council on Thursday.
In a post to X on Monday, Zelenskyy said that he and Trump “have reached an important deal on licenses to produce Patriot systems. Our teams are now working to implement this truly historic political agreement. We worked toward this for a very long time.”
Trump said during his warm meeting with Zelenskyy in the Turkish capital Ankara that the two leaders had developed a “good relationship.” The friendly exchange was a far cry from the infamous bilateral meeting at the White House last year which devolved into a heated public argument, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance openly admonishing Zelenskyy.
Freeland said that while Trump’s backing was welcome in Kyiv, Ukrainian leaders were focused on the bigger strategic picture. “They’re playing 100% to necessity. Ukrainians aren’t fighting to put on a show for Trump. They’re fighting because otherwise they will die,” she said.
“Trump does like a winner. He is not averse to flip flops. And I do think the stronger Ukrainians are the more likely they are to get his support,” Freeland added.
The Ankara declaration — NATO allies traditionally issue a joint communique to mark the end of each summit — said that Ukraine “contributes to transatlantic security” and is in line to receive some $80 billion in allied funding across 2026, with 2027 funding to be “at least equivalent.”
“Allies stand united in our unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its freedom, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” the statement read.
The outcome was a positive one for Ukraine, Freeland said. “I would emphasize that the Ukrainians are making their own luck. I think the better they do, the more enthusiasm there is for supporting them. I think the Ukrainians recognize,” she said.
European allies, in particular, Freeland said, had shown they “are prepared to hang in there.” She added, “I think neither the Russians nor the Americans thought that Europe could do it.”
Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor is now in its fifth year, the latest round of conflict having followed a lower-intensity conflict which began in 2014 with Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its fomentation of separatist rebellion in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
A campaign that was designed to deliver a rapid Russian victory has now lasted longer than World War One, with Kyiv claiming to have inflicted nearly 1.5 million casualties on the invading forces while Russia’s ongoing offensives in the east of the country remain at a glacial pace.
Ukrainian long-range strikes into Russia, meanwhile, have increased exponentially in scale and intensity, putting particular pressure on the country’s lucrative oil production, refining and export sectors. Ukrainian drones are also increasingly targeting the supply routes into Crimea, seeking to effectively blockade the occupied peninsula from afar.
Ukraine’s foreign partners have been lauding the country’s reported successes. Even Trump, who famously suggested last year that Ukraine did not “have the cards” to play, said last month that Zelenskyy was “doing pretty well” in the showdown with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Both the Trump administration and former President Joe Biden’s administration had put pressure on Kyiv to refrain from attacking certain targets, with Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil facilities reportedly a particularly sensitive subject under both administrations.
But Ukraine’s ongoing success on that front, Freeland said, showed it had been “a mistake to ask the Ukrainians to tie one hand behind their back.”
“One of the things that has changed is Ukrainians are now using their own weapons and they’re making their own weapons, and that means they don’t need to ask anyone’s permission for where they strike. And I do think that’s made a big difference,” she added.
Though the wartime narrative appears to be swinging somewhat in Ukraine’s favor, the country’s cities remain under near-constant fire and Kyiv’s forces do not appear able to liberate significant territory still occupied by Russian troops. In his latest casualty update in February, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had lost at least 55,000 soldiers killed since 2022.
Ukraine also still appears to be frozen out of NATO membership in the short term, despite Zelenskyy’s repeated and recent appeals for the alliance to set out a clear roadmap for Ukraine’s accession, which allies have repeatedly said they support in principle.
“I have actually heard, behind closed doors and also in public, more and more European leaders saying Russia shouldn’t have a veto on who is in NATO, and Ukraine now has the strongest army in Europe, we should have them on our team,” Freeland said.
Moscow and Kyiv still appear far apart on the key issues in any future settlement. Though Putin has claimed a willingness to negotiate, he is still refusing to engage directly with Zelenskyy and is still demanding a raft of major Ukrainian concessions in exchange for peace.
“I think it’s impossible to foresee what will happen next,” Freeland said when asked about the war’s outlook. “Where are we right now? We know that the Ukrainians are doing well … We know that Russia is suffering more than it has since the beginning of the war.”
“I think that the view that Ukraine was about to collapse was always overdone. And I think that was a line that Russia pushed in order to get Western allies, particularly the United States, to push Ukraine to surrender. And they were effective, for a while,” she added.
“What I think is important for us to recognize and what is absolutely true, is Ukraine’s success right now is showing us that if we give them the tools, they will finish the job,” Freeland said.
People shield from the sun under umbrellas next to the Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace as the UK is hit by another heatwave. (Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — More than 2,700 people are estimated to have died in England and Wales in recent months as a result of heat-related causes, a new report has found.
The excess deaths occurred as a result of heat waves in May and June, according to researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Imperial College London and the Met Office.
Globally, heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths, according the World Health Organization (WHO).
The heat wave that occurred between May 21 and 29 was likely responsible for around 550 deaths, while the heat wave that occurred from June 18 to 28 was likely responsible for about 2,200 deaths, the analysis found.
Both heat waves broke long-standing temperature records, according to the report.
In the U.K., the temperature threshold for an official heat wave is lower than in much of the U.S.
A heat wave is defined as a period of at least three consecutive days with daily maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding the heat wave temperature threshold, according to the Met Office. The threshold varies by county and ranges from 77 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
Across much of the U.S., the temperature threshold is at least three consecutive days with daily maximum temperatures at 90 degrees or greater.
The most heat-related deaths occurred southeast of England, with 549 in total. London saw 453 deaths and the West Midlands reported 368 deaths, researchers said. They suggested that people in areas less frequently exposed to extreme heat may be more vulnerable.
“It is vital that action on adapting Britain’s homes, workplaces, and critical infrastructure to extreme heat outpaces these health risks, especially if we are to protect those most vulnerable to its impacts, such as older people, babies, and children,” Malcolm Mistry, assistant professor in climate and geo-spatial modeling at the LSHTM, said in a statement.
About 42% of heat-related deaths that occurred in the U.K. during those months were exacerbated by human-caused climate change, researchers said.
“Climate change is further boosting the temperature of essentially every heat wave we observe today,” Flavio Lehner, a climate scientist at Cornell University, said in a statement to ABC News. “In other words, had the same weather pattern occurred 50 or 100 years ago, it would have also resulted in a heatwave, but one that was a bit cooler.”
It’s not only daytime high temperatures that are a concern. Heat waves are becoming even more dangerous as overnight low temperatures are still too high for people to recover from the heat stress they experience during the day, according to the WHO.
Western Europe, the region most impacted by the historic heat wave in late June, experienced its hottest June on record last month, according to Copernicus, Europe’s climate change service.
Many June and some all-time records for daily maximum temperature were broken in several countries, according to Copernicus.
France’s nationwide average temperature hit 30 degrees Celsius, or about 86 degrees Fahrenheit, on June 24 — the highest-ever temperature recorded, according to weather officials at Meteo-France, the national weather service. High temperatures in Paris recorded in the triple digits in the days after.
High temperatures also impacted cities like Madrid and Rome, according to Copernicus.
There were more than 5,000 excess deaths in Germany and another 4,700 deaths in France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands between June 20 and 28, Reuters reported.
Rising atmospheric and ocean temperatures “reflect a climate system continuing to accumulate heat” that result in increasingly intense heat waves and a persistently warm ocean, Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said in a statement.
“June 2026 underscored how profoundly the climate is changing,” Burgess said. “Western Europe recorded its warmest June on record, and continued record warmth in the global ocean.”
Matthew Glasser and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
An Air Canada plane takes off behind an Air Canada logo at Pearson International Airport on August 14, 2025 in Toronto, Canada. (Cole Burston/Getty Images)
(MONTREAL) — An Air Canada plane exited the taxiway and slid into the grass beside the tarmac in Montreal on Thursday at approximately 4 p.m.
The plane, traveling from Los Angeles International Airport to Montréal Trudeau International Airport, landed normally on the runway before sustaining a “taxiway excursion” and stopping in the grass, according to an Air Canada statement.
No injuries were reported, the airline said.
The flight’s 156 passengers and six crew members deplaned and were transported to the terminal on buses, according to Air Canada.
The airport’s Emergency Coordination Centre was activated and the runway temporarily closed to facilitate the safe evacuation of passengers, the Montreal airport said in a statement.
Barbara Edelston Peterson, a passenger on the flight, said those aboard the flight are “lucky to be alive.”
“Suddenly, all the smoke, dirt and grass was flying outside,” Edelston Peterson said in an interview with ABC News. “It was amazingly scary.”
Edelston Peterson said she was even more frightened by the plane’s wing nearly hitting a steel box on the grass beside the runway.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it is launching an investigation at the scene to determine the cause of the accident.
Air Canada also said it would undertake a detailed investigation of the incident. It said it towed the aircraft, a Boeing 737 MAX, to the hangar for a full inspection.
Image of the wildfire that broke out in the Los Gallardos area (Almeria) on 10 July 2026, in Los Gallardos, Almeria, Andalusia, Spain. (Photo By Francisco J. Olmo/Europa Press via Getty Images)
(LOS GALLARDOS, Spain) — At least 12 people have died and 23 others are unaccounted for as firefighters in Southern Spain battle a rapidly spreading wildfire, officials said.
Emergency services in Andalusia said the death toll rose overnight amid the devastating blaze.
Andalusian President Juanma Moreno earlier said in a post on X that eight people have also been injured, including four who are in serious condition.
In an interview Friday morning on Spanish radio, Moreno said four of those killed were British nationals who became trapped in a car while trying to escape the flames and added that all of the other victims identified so far are foreign nationals.
The wildfire, burning in the municipality of Los Gallardos in Spain’s southeastern Almeria province, continued to spread rapidly Friday, with Moreno warning that weather conditions remained unfavorable for firefighters.
“The consequences are devastating,” Moreno said in his post on X.
Emergency crews on Friday continued search-and-rescue operations as they worked to locate the people still reported missing.
The blaze is likely to rank among the deadliest wildfires in Spain’s recent history, though authorities cautioned that the full scale of the disaster is still emerging as rescue efforts continue and officials work to identify victims.
Earlier today, a regional government official said in an interview that the fire was likely caused by an electric poll which had fallen.
The regional minister for emergencies in Andalusia, Antonio Sanz Cabello, said on Friday that last night was “a truly tragic night” with “terrible consequences.”
He said fighting the fire has been made more complicated by the remote terrain and the lack of access for heavy machinery. Sixteen aircraft are being used to fight the wildfire.
He urged people to take maximum care and said teams are still fighting the wildfire in Los Gallardos “with all their strength.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Cessna 150 in flight. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
(TOLEDO, Argentina) — A 22-year-old pilot in Argentina was forced to land the plane she was training in after her instructor allegedly jumped midair to his death, investigators said.
The unidentified student was taking lessons at the Flying Parrot Cordoba school and had taken off from Toledo on Saturday with her instructor, Leandro Bertazzo, a school official told ABC News.
During the lesson, Bertazzo allegedly jumped out of the plane after telling the student that she knew what to do, the student had told police, according to the school.
The student, who had a license but not enough flight hours, was able to land the Cessna 150 alone, according to investigators.
The student told the police that she could not believe that it happened and thought it was a joke, according to investigators.
The 42-year-old flight instructor’s body was recovered later that day, investigators said. The school said he was with them since 2022.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office No. 2 of Córdoba said it would continue the investigation.
Dr. Majed al-Ansari, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Quatar and Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaks onstage during Global Citizen NOW: Impact Sessions on September 24, 2025, in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images for Global Citizen)
(LONDON) — Renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran in the Middle East puts into question key elements of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreed by regional nations last month, a senior Qatari government official told ABC News on Thursday.
Majed al-Ansari, an adviser to Qatar’s prime minister and the spokesperson for the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on the sidelines of the Chatham House think tank’s 2026 conference in London that Doha is hoping that intense rounds of reciprocal strikes between the U.S. and Iran do “not kill off the memorandum of understanding altogether.”
“But it does put into question a lot of other things that we have already agreed upon,” he said.
The past 48 hours, Ansari said, have been “quite tense.” He added that since the resumption of strikes, “We’ve seen again navigation through the Strait of Hormuz basically grind to a halt.”
“We are urging all sides to exercise restraint and give some more time for the talks,” Ansari said.
U.S. Central Command said it launched more than 170 strikes on Iranian targets over the past two days in response to alleged Iranian attacks on commercial shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week — allegations that Tehran denied. One of the ships attacked was a Qatari liquid natural gas tanker, the Al-Rekayyat, Qatar said.
In response to the U.S. strikes, the Iranian military claimed to have launched attacks on U.S. military facilities in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.
The U.S. and Iran have traded several volleys of attacks since the MOU was signed on June 17.
Ansari denied the Iranian claim that it launched fresh attacks on Qatar on Thursday. “There haven’t been any attacks in Qatar. The Iranian claims, they’re claims. But our military was very much ready, immediately as the attacks began on the region,” he said. “We had some pass overs, but nothing targeting us.”
President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that the MOU was “over” following the reported Iranian attacks, dismissing leaders in Tehran as “scum” and threatening intensified military action.
Asked about those comments, Ansari said Doha and “all parties remain engaged in the talks.”
“Yes, we’re not at the place that we were hoping to be at this time in the chronology of where we wanted the talks to go. But talks have not broken down,” he said. “But, of course, any escalation on the ground derails the diplomatic work.”
Qatar — alongside Pakistan — played a key role in forging the 14-point MOU agreed in June, under which the U.S. and Iran agreed to the reopening Strait of Hormuz and the end of the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The agreement also stipulated that fighting would stop for 60 days while the U.S. and Iran negotiated the terms of a final deal, which would cover issues including Iran’s nuclear material.
Ansari said talks on that final deal are ongoing despite the escalating strikes and heated rhetoric from both Washington and Tehran.
“The easy answer is everybody’s talking to everybody,” he said when asked what was happening behind the scenes, noting that work is ongoing on all three separate tracks — one regarding the Strait of Hormuz, one regarding Iran’s nuclear program and the third regarding the sanctions on Iran and frozen Iranian assets.
“Our focus is on that diplomatic resolution right now,” Ansari added. “The focus has to be on the diplomatic track working, the talks succeeding and on the end of war to pave the way for sustainable peace in our region, and not for it just to be lulls between attacks.”
“No country, however strong that country is when it comes to its military, is able to withstand an unending military conflict in a small region like ours,” Ansari said.
Nonetheless, he said Qatar’s armed forces are prepared for renewed conflict. “We have taken all the contingencies in respect of what might happen in the region,” Ansari said.
Qatar, he added, has “not taken part in any attacks against Iran or any other of our neighboring countries.” When asked if Doha would be willing to do so, Ansari replied, “We reserve the right to retaliate.”
