President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday Iran and other Gulf states could protect the region's security and foreign forces were not needed, state TV reported, repeating a longstanding rejection of a U.S. maritime security mission in the region.

Britain on Monday joined the United States in a maritime security mission in the Gulf to protect merchant vessels travelling through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran seized a British-flagged vessel.

President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that Iran was ready for the worst in an uphill struggle to salvage its nuclear deal with world powers abandoned by the United States, but that he was sure Tehran would eventually prevail.

Bahrain hosted a conference on Gulf maritime security on Wednesday, after multiple attacks on shipping in the strategic Strait of Hormuz sent tensions soaring between Iran and the US.

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, targeting the country's top spokesman and potentially hurting chances of diplomatic talks amid rising tensions between the two countries.

The United States believes that Hamza bin Laden, a son of slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and himself a notable figure in the militant group, is dead, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Senate on Monday failed to override President Donald Trump's vetoes of legislation passed by Congress that would have blocked the sales of certain weapons to Saudi Arabia.

An American website said that the USS Boxer pulled into Bahrain's Khalifa bin Salman Port on Thursday for a visit, days after the amphibious assault ship made headlines for downing at least one Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday he was willing to go to Iran for talks amid tensions between Tehran and Washington, but also called on Japan, Britain and other nations to join a maritime force to guard oil tankers sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.

No Iranian drone has been brought down, the ISNA news agency quoted Iran's Defense Minister Amir Hatami on Wednesday as saying, after the U.S. military said it taken action against two Iranian drones in the past week.

Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV on Wednesday quoted the military adviser to Iran's supreme leader as saying that any change in the status of the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran says it protects, would open the door to a dangerous confrontation.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa met US President's Senior Advisor Jared Kushner in Washington.

Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday urged Saudi Arabia to free Raif Badawi, a blogger jailed and publicly whipped for insulting Islam, in a rare criticism of the US ally as he vowed to champion religious freedom worldwide.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Thursday they had detained a "foreign tanker" and its 12 crew for allegedly smuggling fuel, the latest incident in a tense standoff in the Gulf.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday announced that he had met his Bahrain counterpart publicly during a visit to Washington, the first meeting between the two countries that do not have diplomatic relations.

The Pentagon said on Thursday that the USS Boxer took defensive action against a drone after it came within a "threatening range" in the Strait of Hormuz.

US special envoy to Iran Brian Hawke said that 65 countries will discuss Bahrain's Gulf maritime security, without setting a date to the meeting or revealing identities of participating countries.

Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa arrived in Washington, where he met officials, particularly his US counterpart Mike Pompeo, US National Security Advisor John Bolton and prominent supporters to wage war against Iran.

The increased use of drones by Iran and its allies for surveillance and attacks across the Middle East is raising alarms in Washington.

The U.S. House of Representatives backed resolutions on Wednesday to block the sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, sending them to the White House, where President Donald Trump has promised a veto.