Iran’s president says the world has accepted that the country has won the war with the United States, while France and Saudi Arabia are expected to discuss plans to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed since the U.S. and Israel launched the war nearly six months ago. Meanwhile, remarks by the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria appear to contradict the official U.S. position on the Golan Heights. And Israel has struck a Syrian village with a drone. Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Saturday. Full coverage can be found here. ‘The entire world approved our victory’ Iranian state media reported Friday that President Masoud Pezeshkian said that the war with the U.S. should end since the world has accepted that Iran has won. Iran sees its new control over the strait and resistance to U.S. demands as a win. “The entire world approved our victory and the U.S. is hated,” Pezeshkian said, according to the IRNA news agency. The Trump administration is touting a crushing financial campaign against Iran, promising an “economic D-Day” against the country. U.S. President Donald Trump said that his administration would impose an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare and isolation on Iran, aiming to force its leadership to cave to demands to end its nuclear program and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil and natural gas tankers. Syria says an Israeli drone strikes inside a village An Israeli drone strike on a vehicle wounded one person on Saturday in the southwestern Syrian village of Beit Jin, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. The Israeli military said that it targeted a “terrorist who advanced terror attacks in final stages of preparation,” without elaborating. It wasn’t immediately clear if it was the same strike. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes around Syria after the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in late 2024, mainly destroying Syrian army assets to keep them out of the hands of his successors. Israel seized control of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria in December 2024. Israeli officials initially described that as temporary to protect borders, but top Israeli officials later said they plan to occupy the buffer zone indefinitely. Messages differ on the Golan Heights In an interview on Friday, U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack said that Israel “still” occupies the Golan Heights in violation of U.N. resolutions. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Saturday in a statement called Barrack’s remarks “full of inaccuracies and positions that contradict Trump’s own position regarding the Golan Heights.” Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war and annexed it in 1981. The U.N. considers the territory occupied Syrian land and the annexation null and void, with U.N. resolutions calling for Israel’s withdrawal to the line from June 4, 1967. In March 2019, Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, reversing decades of U.S. policy. It didn’t change the territory’s status under international law or win broader international recognition. This month, Colombia became the second country to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory, joining the United States. French president and Saudi crown prince will meet French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are expected to discuss the effects of the Strait of Hormuz closure and plans to develop routes around the waterway during the Saudi leader’s two-day visit to Paris beginning Sunday, according to officials in the presidency who weren’t authorized to be publicly named. Proposals under consideration include increasing trade through Omani ports outside the Persian Gulf, expanding or doubling pipelines in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and developing new rail links, the officials said. France and Saudi Arabia have formed a task force on energy and logistics connections between the Middle East and Europe that is scheduled to meet at the ministerial level Monday. The officials said the work was well advanced and would focus on identifying the most strategic projects, securing financing and establishing roles for French companies. The visit will be the crown prince’s first trip abroad since he traveled to Washington in November 2025, according to the officials. AP correspondent Angela Charlton in Paris. The Associated Press
