War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon after talks in Washington, Reuters reports.

The United Nations is working with countries to resume the evacuation of hundreds of ships and thousands of stranded seafarers from the Strait of Hormuz after the effort was halted earlier this week, Reuters reports citing a top US agency official.

The UN’s International Maritime Organisation said on Thursday it had “temporarily paused” its evacuation initiative after a container ship operated by Taiwan’s Evergreen was attacked.

Some 115 vessels and around 2,500 seafarers were able to sail through the strait before evacuations were paused, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez tells a virtual news conference.

Dominguez adds he is working “vigilantly” with several parties and was having conversations with countries, particularly Oman, the United States and Iran, “in order to find these guarantees that were provided at the beginning, that vessels will not be targeted”.

“As soon as I get further confirmations of that, we’re ready to re-initiate the process of evacuation,” he states, though he adds he cannot provide a timeframe for a resumption.

Israel and Lebanon are expected to sign a framework agreement in Washington, Reuters reports citing senior Israeli officials, who have not immediately provided further details.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health says the overall toll from Israeli attacks since March 2 has risen to 4,243 dead and 12,186 wounded, Al Jazeera reports.

US President Donald Trump has accused Iran of launching at least four attack drones at a cargo ship off the coast of Oman yesterday.

“One of the drones solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive cargo carrying ship. Damage was done, but the ship was able to proceed on its way,” he writes on Truth Social. “We knocked down three other Drones.

“Obviously, this is a foolish violation of our ceasefire agreement.”

World oil prices have extended sharp losses on optimism for traffic flows in the Strait of Hormuz, despite the suspension of a UN evacuation programme.

The price of Brent North Sea crude, the international benchmark, plunged more than 5 per cent to around $71.50 a barrel, and the main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, shed 4.5pc to under $69.

The UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority has issued a statement saying that earlier messages warning residents about a possible missile threat had been due to a technical malfunction, Al Jazeera reports.

It says the issue was resolved by specialised teams and that officials apologised for the disruption.

The UAE has been the Gulf country hardest hit by Iranian missiles during Tehran’s war with the US, with significant disruption to daily life amid missile alarms and loud explosions from interceptions.

Traffic levels in the Strait of Hormuz have fallen back from Wednesday’s high, but vessels continue to use a non-Iranian-approved passage despite a ship being struck by a projectile, tracking platforms show according to AFP.

At least 42 commodity vessels — including tankers carrying oil, gas, and dry bulk such as fertilisers — crossed yesterday, Kpler’s tracking platform showed, down from a high of 57 on Wednesday.

Ten of those vessels entered the Gulf, while 32 exited. Half of the 42 vessels used a southern passageway hugging the coast of Oman.

Another 29 commodity vessels had already crossed the strait by this afternoon, 10 coming into the Gulf and 19 leaving, according to Kpler.

Seventeen of those vessels used the Omani route, despite a Singapore-flagged container ship reporting that it had been struck while using the passageway on Thursday, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi says he spoke with the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Jasem Albudaiwi, conveying his “appreciation for the support expressed in the joint ministerial statement” for the Lebanese-Israeli negotiations mediated by the US, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement posted on X, Raggi says the ministry “highly appreciated” the references to Lebanon in the GCC-US statement.

“Particularly its welcome of the ongoing US-mediated negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, its emphasis on preserving the negotiation process and keeping it separate from any other track, and its affirmation that Lebanon cannot achieve full sovereignty as long as non-state armed groups retain military capabilities,” the statement reads.

“The ministry also welcomes its call for the complete disarmament of all such groups and for the Lebanese state alone to have the exclusive authority to use force,” it adds.

A total of about 115 vessels and 2,500 seafarers have been evacuated from the Strait of Hormuz since Tuesday, the head of the UN maritime body says, according to AFP.

International Maritime Organisation (IMO) secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez gave the update after the body on Thursday suspended its efforts to evacuate some 600 ships and 11,000 sailors, following an attack on a vessel in the Gulf of Oman.

Dominguez told an online press conference that “115 [vessels] have evacuated in the last three and a half days, representing around 2,500 seafarers that have now safely left the Strait of Hormuz.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar says 22 Iranian crew members of a tanker seized by the US have arrived in Pakistan.

“Arrangements are now being finalised in close collaboration with the Iranian Missions in Pakistan to facilitate their earliest and safe return to their homeland,” he writes on X. “We remained in close contact with the US and Iranian authorities throughout this process.”

Dar adds that this is the fourth group of Iranian crew members whose repatriation has been facilitated by Pakistan in the last two months.

“So far, we have assisted in the repatriation of over 70 Iranian brethren (including today’s group of 22) through Pakistani territory,” he adds, thanking Tehran for the “trust they have reposed in Pakistan”.

Crude prices have plunged by about 3 per cent, on course for steep weekly losses, as more oil tankers exit the Strait of Hormuz, easing supply concerns, even though a cargo vessel was hit near Oman on Thursday, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures fell by $2.42, or 3.2pc, to $72.84 a barrel by 1323 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate lost $1.97, or 2.7pc, to $69.95.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for ending the ceasefire in Lebanon after four Israeli troops were wounded in the country’s south, Anadolu reports.

“There are soldiers who have been injured. We can strike and bomb hundreds of targets,” Ben-Gvir says, referring to a Thursday incident in which four Israeli soldiers were wounded in southern Lebanon, according to a report by Yedioth Ahronoth.

During a security cabinet meeting on Thursday, the extremist minister described the incident as “an opportunity for the agreement to collapse.”

Although his position did not appear to gain support during the meeting, other ministers reportedly voiced frustration over operational restrictions imposed on Israeli forces under the ceasefire arrangements in Lebanon.

The Israeli army claims to have killed seven Hezbollah members who allegedly transferred weapons near soldiers in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement on Telegram, the army claims it struck the alleged fighters near the so-called “security zone” in the al-Manzala area that was used as a “combat and observation post”.

The “security zone” is an area of southern Lebanon that Israeli forces are occupying north of the Israeli border.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Minister, has discussed regional developments in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, according to the official WAM news agency.

“During the call, the overall situation in the region and the latest regional developments were discussed, following the agreement on the memorandum of understanding between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran and its signing by the two countries,” WAM reports.

The UAE’s top diplomat has stressed the importance of full commitment to the terms of the US-Iran agreement during the call, adding it will “ensure an immediate and comprehensive cessation of hostilities in the region, respect for the sovereignty of states and the principles of good neighborliness, strict adherence to international law, and the protection of maritime routes and freedom of international navigation, including ensuring the smooth flow of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, expressing his hope that the ongoing negotiations would lead to positive results that would lead to achieving sustainable security and stability in the region”.

The United Arab Emirates has issued a statement telling residents the situation was safe, moments after issuing an alert warning of a possible missile threat, Reuters reports.

It is not immediately clear what prompted the initial alert, which was like those issued at the height of the Iran war when Iranian missiles and drones targeted the UAE.

Fertiliser shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have begun picking up following an interim deal to end the Iran war, Reuters reports citing data, though analysts say it will take time before they return to pre-conflict levels and provide relief to the market.

Before the US and Israel launched the war on February 28, about a third of globally traded urea the world’s most widely used fertiliser and nearly half of seaborne sulphur, a key input, typically flowed through the strait. The near closure of the critical waterway for most of the conflict, however, sharply reduced those shipments.

Since the deal between Washington and Tehran was announced on June 15, around 640,000 metric tons of sulphur, critical for making fertilisers like diammonium phosphate (DAP), have left the strait for destinations including Indonesia, Morocco, Tanzania and China, according to the latest analysis of flows by price reporting agency Argus. That compares to a total of just 80,000 tons over the course of the three-and-a-half month war.

Some 427,000 tons of urea, meanwhile, have also transited the strait in the wake of the interim deal, versus 275,000 tons during the war, the latest data from consultants CRU shows.

Shipments of other key fertilisers like phosphates and the fertiliser input ammonia have also edged up post-deal.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has rejected a recent joint statement by the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), affirming that IRan’s national security is not up for negotiation.

“There is no doubt that Iran, more than any other party, is concerned with the collective security of the region,” he writes on X.

“If the Gulf Cooperation Council believes that the solution to these concerns is to seek refuge with the greatest violator of regional security, then it defeats its own purpose. It is a bitter irony and a discouraging sign that no lessons have been learned from the painful experiences of recent times.”

Baghaei adds that Iran’s “southern neighbours” should be asked why they themselves “violated the principle of good neighbourliness and the fundamental rules of international law by assisting in the act of aggression against a fellow Muslim neighbour, and why they allowed their territory to be used against Iran or missiles to be launched from it”.

He questions why the GCC is ignoring the purchase and stockpiling of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of advanced weaponry, repeated acts of aggression by Israel against countries in the region and its nuclear arsenal, which is “entirely outside any form of international oversight”.

“It should be clear to everyone that Iran’s military capabilities are the guarantor of the Iranian nation’s inherent right to legitimate self-defence against aggression and criminal acts, while at the same time serving as a source of peace and stability in the region,” Baghaei writes.

“The country’s national security and dignity are not subject to negotiation or conditionality. Just as the inherent right of legitimate self-defence can never be a subject of negotiations, the means of exercising that right cannot be a matter for compromise with any party,” he adds.

Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom plans to send staff back to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant in the coming weeks if the situation there remains stable, its Chief Executive Officer Alexei Likhachev says, according to Reuters.

Rosatom, which is building two new units at Bushehr, evacuated hundreds of staff after the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warns that any Iranian attack on Israel will be Tehran’s “biggest mistake”, according to Reuters.

Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani said on Thursday that if Israel did not withdraw voluntarily from south Lebanon, it would eventually be forced to leave in defeat.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that the agency has already begun technical work with Iranian authorities and hopes to be in Iran “soon,” adding that differing public statements by the US and Iran reflect “political positioning”, Anadolu reports.

“There is a bit of a war of statements here,” Rafael Grossi says, adding that the US-Iran agreement also covers sanctions, territorial integrity, the use of force, economic incentives and freedom of navigation.

Grossi says the IAEA has started technical discussions with Iranian authorities to determine inspection arrangements, including the frequency of inspections, sites to be visited and procedures.

Iran’s official Press TV reports that a communication line has been established to “prevent incidents in [the] Strait of Hormuz that might lead to a military confrontation”.

“The line has been established according to the final statement of the talks in Switzerland, issued by the two mediators,” the broadcaster writes on X. “Iran emphasises that, in accordance with the agreement, any passage through the strait must be conducted via the routes announced by Iran.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned that passage through the world’s energy chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz, “is only possible via routes announced by Iran,” Al Jazeera reports citing state broadcaster IRIB.

“The only law that governs this region is still the law of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Revolutionary Guards Navy,” a reporter from the state broadcaster says.