Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has praised his country’s fighters for allegedly preventing "enemy forces" from "roaming freely" in the Strait of Hormuz.

Khamenei said in a message carried by the state broadcaster on Monday that Iran’s enemies now "do not come" closer to the strait than the Arabian Sea, which is part of the Indian Ocean.

Three officials tell The Associated Press that mediators were still working with Iran and the United States on a deal to end the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz, with the indirect talks expected to resume on Monday.

The details were revealed as the war enters its eighth month after causing widespread economic suffering. Multiple efforts to allow safe shipping on one of the world's most crucial waterways have failed.

Benjamin Netanyahu traveled secretly to the United Arab Emirates over the weekend to ask its leader to deny reports he'd warned the Israeli prime minister about a looming Hamas threat ahead of the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.

The meeting between Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan took place on Sunday, two people who were briefed on the Israeli leader's trip confirmed on Monday.

Israel's upcoming elections are being followed closely by its regional neighbors, who are aware that any outcome will have ramifications far beyond the country's borders.

In his Likud party's campaign launch this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his refrain that he "has changed the face of the Middle East" and vowed to continue doing so.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the government had notified the Dutch embassy in Israel that its diplomats in Ramallah had to leave within one week.

Saar said the decision was in response to a Dutch ban that went into effect on Sept. 22 on the “import, purchase and sale of goods” originating from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the Netherlands, like most of the international community, considers illegal.

Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Sunday for the annexation of areas of south Lebanon and the Gaza Strip currently under Israeli military control and for Israeli forces to "go to war" against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

"I would like us to annex at least as far as the Yellow Line in Gaza (which demarcates the areas under Hamas and Israeli control) and as far as the Litani River in Lebanon... because if a war ends along the same lines where it began, what will deter the enemy from going to war again," Smotrich said in a podcast for Israeli news site Ynet.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that he had sent envoys around the world to pressure countries to economically isolate Iran, hailing new restrictions targeting the country's airlines and banks.

"At my direction, teams were dispatched across the globe to engage with countries and demand action against the Iranian regime," he said on X. "These efforts are delivering results."

Iran stood firm Sunday on its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, despite U.S. President Donald Trump's rejection of the proposal that had created some optimism for breaking the Mideast war stalemate.

The waterway is key to the world's energy supply and is now central to the conflict between Washington and Tehran, which was triggered nearly seven months ago with deadly strikes on Iran.

Parents across Riyadh received emails from schools on Sunday announcing a last-minute plan to shift to remote learning for a week, according to messages seen by AFP.

"We have just been informed by Saudi authorities that schools must remain closed all week," read two separate messages seen by AFP.

The Iraqi government said Saturday it was holding talks with the United States to secure an exemption from then ban on Iranian airlines, which has disrupted travel for patients, students and pilgrims.

All Iraqi airports enforced the ban this week, resulting in major disruption at the airport of the holy city of Najaf, the main destination for Iranian flights to Iraq.