War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims Israel wants new and more ambitious talks with Lebanon, after Israeli forces carried out their deadliest strikes on the country since a US-brokered truce in June, Al Jazeera reports.

Doron Spielman told the AFP news agency that the strikes should “jumpstart” the talks, “not do the opposite”.

Spielman said Israel was still upholding the US-brokered framework agreement with Lebanon.

“We believe in the agreement. We very much hope that the Lebanese Armed Forces are going to be able to step into the foray, and together we’re going to remove Hezbollah from the picture,” he told AFP.

The agreement calls for the Lebanese army to “restore effective sovereign authority over all Lebanese territory, pending the verified disarmament” of Hezbollah, after which Israeli forces would “progressively redeploy out of the Lebanese territory”.

Hezbollah has rejected the deal, with the group’s chief Naim Qassem saying it “grants Israel everything it wants, and the Lebanese authorities relinquish their sovereignty, leaving nothing for Lebanon”.

Civil defence teams have extinguished a fire that broke out near the town of al-Rafid in Syria’s Quneitra region following Israeli incursions into the area, according to local authorities, Al Jazeera reports.

The Quneitra Media Directorate said in a post on Telegram that “the fire was caused by flares fired” by Israeli forces.

“No injuries were reported,” it added.

The Anadolu news agency meanwhile reported that Israeli forces had raided al-Rafid and searched several homes there. The raid is part of a string of Israeli incursions into southern Syria since 2024, when Israel moved troops into a UN-monitored buffer zone and seized Syrian territory there.

The Arab League has condemned Israel’s ongoing attacks on Lebanon, calling the attacks that killed 11 on Saturday as “a dangerous escalation that threatens to derail any efforts aimed at resolving the ongoing conflict”, Al Jazeera reports.

Israel’s policies and practices, he added, “blatantly expose the occupation’s intentions to prolong the confrontations, obstruct negotiations, and impose a new reality on the ground that is completely unacceptable and rejected”.

The spokesman also warned that the conflict could spread unless the international community, and Washington in particular, stops Israel’s “war machine” and compels it to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says in comments to Shahrara News that talks with Oman are a “completely separate” matter from the issue of reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

“Our negotiations with Oman are ongoing. That is a completely separate matter. It is a technical issue concerning the designation of maritime routes in the Strait of Hormuz for the passage of ships,” he said, according to Al Jazeera.

“The routes that existed previously are no longer functional, so a new route needs to be defined. For now, we are designing a temporary route, which can then, at a later stage, be turned into a final route.”

He added, “We may reach an outcome soon, but I want to emphasise that these negotiations and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz are two separate issues. This is a technical negotiation concerning the designation of a maritime route.”

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has shared a Homer Simpson meme as he reacts to a statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

He posted a statement by Rubio on Iranian spending, according to which the US official said: “Imagine an Iranian regime who, instead of spending billions of dollars supporting terrorist groups and building up all of these weapons, had invested that money into Iran, for the people of Iran.”

In the same post, he also shared a statement by Trump, who said: “It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things … We have to take care of one thing: military protection.”

He posted these along with a GIF showing Homer Simpson disappearing into bushes, which implies a silent, awkward retreat from an embarrassing situation.

“The process of fully restoring security in the Strait of Hormuz … depends on the cessation of unlawful actions, interference, threats, and the naval blockade imposed by the United States, as well as compensation for the violations of commitments that have occurred over the past two months,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has said in an interview, according to state-owned Press TV.

He added that the current insecure situation in the Strait of Hormuz is a “direct” outcome of illegal and aggressive measures by the United States and the Israeli regime.

Yemen’s Mocha port has suspended commercial and maritime operations after being hit by more than 25 missiles in Houthi attacks over recent days, the port’s director says according to Reuters.

The attacks killed seven people and caused an estimated $16 million in losses, the director told a news conference.

The Israeli military claims that its strike on the Lebanese village of Ansar, where authorities reported seven people killed including children, targeted a Hezbollah commander, AFP reports.

It claimed it “struck a central headquarters of the Radwan Force”, referring to an elite Hezbollah unit, adding that “the strike eliminated terrorist Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, a battalion commander in the Radwan Force”.

The military further acknowledged what it called a “claim” that “Hassan’s family was also present with him inside the military headquarters,” adding that they “were not the target of the strike”.

Qatar denies holding Iranian pilots in custody, saying they had violated the country’s airspace earlier this year and failed to respond to attempts to contact them, Reuters reports.

A Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson says on X that search and rescue teams found the remains of one of the pilots and that it had contacted Iran to coordinate a handover. He adds that Tehran has yet to respond to an invitation to review details of its operations.

The Israeli military says three soldiers, including one officer, were wounded by an explosive drone in southern Lebanon overnight, Al Jazeera reports.

In a post on X, the army says the soldiers have been evacuated from Lebanon to receive medical treatment and their families have been notified.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tells Al Jazeera that reopening the Strait of Hormuz is a priority and its prolonged closure is in no one’s interest.

Speaking in an exclusive interview that will air tomorrow, Erdogan said that he had discussed the need to end Israel’s war on Lebanon and Washington’s key role in achieving this goal with US President Donald Trump.

The Turkish president has also commented on the recently announced joint defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, saying the future accession of other countries, such as Egypt, is a possibility.

Israel wants new and more ambitious US-brokered talks with Lebanon after carrying out strikes, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, adding the countries’ common enemy is Hezbollah, AFP reports.

The Israeli strikes against Hezbollah “should jumpstart the talks and make them much more serious, not do the opposite”, Netanyahu spokesman Doron Spielman tells AFP.

Iran’s economic problems have worsened since the start of the war with the US and Israel, due to declining oil revenues and the destruction of factories, President Masoud Pezeshkian says, according to Anadolu.

In remarks carried by Iranian media, Pezeshkian attributes rising prices to higher costs and falling state revenues resulting from a decline in oil sales. He adds that imported goods previously reached Iran through more direct routes but now enter the country through alternative channels, driving up their final cost.

“Our revenues have declined. We used to sell oil, but now we cannot sell it,” he says, adding that damage to the country’s industrial facilities during the war with the US and Israel has further aggravated the economic situation.

“They targeted and destroyed a large number of factories,” he outlined. “The damage has also affected tax revenues. We can no longer collect taxes from factories.

Not only that, but we also have to provide them with funds so they can continue operating,” the president states.

“Our problems have multiplied many times over, while our revenues have also declined,” he adds.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has accused Hezbollah of “deliberately” placing civilians in harm’s way, after Israeli forces attacked Lebanon’s Nabatieh and Ansar areas, killing 11 people, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement posted on X, it claims Hezbollah had attacked Israeli troops, seriously injuring three soldiers. The military struck what it described as the group’s headquarters in response.

“Only later did the [Israeli military] learn that Hezbollah deliberately put civilians in that military compound,” the PM’s office says. “Hezbollah is willing to do anything, including using its own civilians as human shields, to falsely accuse Israel of deliberately targeting civilians, which the [military] clearly did not.”

Lebanon says Israeli strikes on the south have killed 11 people, including three children, in the deadliest raids since deals in June eased hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, AFP reports.

Israel’s military said the strikes in the early morning were in retaliation for an attack by the Iran-backed militant group on its troops in south Lebanon.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) says Israel “escalated its attacks on the south”, reporting an airstrike on a home in the village of Ansar and a “series of airstrikes targeting the Ali al-Taher ridge”, a strategic hill overlooking the Nabatieh area. It also reports another strike on the southern town of Deir Zahrani.

Lebanon’s health ministry says seven people were killed “including three children and two women,” in Ansar, whereas Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said “an entire family” had been killed.

The ministry adds that four other people were killed and 17 others wounded, including a child and 11 women, in Deir al-Zahrani.

Hezbollah has condemned Israel’s latest attacks across southern Lebanon, accusing it of an “act of aggressive escalation” and targeting civilians, Al Jazeera reports.

A Hezbollah statement claims Israel is expanding the areas it is targeting, having struck a house on the outskirts of Ansar village and a building in Deir al-Zahrani village.

Hezbollah alleges that the escalation reflects Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desire “to escalate the war in order to bolster his domestic political standing, serve his electoral goals and appease the far-right”.

The group has also criticised Lebanese authorities, demanding they seek ways to halt Israeli attacks rather than pursue negotiations.

Oil pollution is affecting about 12 kilometres of coastline near Oman’s Ras Madraka, while Masirah Island remains unaffected after efforts to tackle a spill from a leaking tanker made progress, Reuters reports citing state news agency ONA.

The Environment Authority says response operations are under way and the offshore slick is moving towards open waters.

The death toll from an Israeli attack on the southern Lebanese town of Deir ez-Zahrani has risen to four, Al Jazeera reports citing Lebanese Civil Defence.

One more body was recovered from the rubble after the attack, and a separate search party discovered another casualty, Lebanese Civil Defence says.

Hezbollah said that Israeli attacks on Lebanon would be met with an “appropriate” response after deadly strikes on the country’s south on Saturday, urging authorities to halt “humiliating” negotiations with Israel, AFP reports.

Israel “must clearly understand that its attacks, violations and attempts to impose a fait accompli cannot continue, and will be met with an appropriate response”, the group said in a statement, adding that Lebanese authorities “must not insist on continuing along the humiliating path of direct negotiations and providing the enemy with free concessions”.