War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

New “geopolitical facts” cannot be imposed on the Arab Gulf states as a result of a “treacherous aggression against them”, says the UAE’s presidential adviser Anwar Gargash, Al Jazeera reprots.

“For imposing a fait accompli from the womb of aggression does not establish stability; rather, it sows new seeds of discord and conflict for the future. And this is precisely what applies to the Strait of Hormuz,” he said in a post on X.

Middle Eastern fuel oil exports are set to rebound to a four-month high in June as Iraq and Saudi Arabia diverted supply to other ports while shipments through the Strait of Hormuz are set to pick up, according to trade sources and shipping data, according to Reuters.

Supply from the region could rise further as more cargoes gradually exit the strait after the US and Iran reached an interim deal to end their conflict, sending high-sulphur fuel oil prices tumbling at key trading hubs like Singapore.

Middle East exports are set to hit about 2.4 million metric tons (508,000 barrels per day) this month, up over 20 per cent from May, data from Kpler and LSEG showed. However, this remains well below a monthly average of 5.5 million to 6.0 million tons before the war.

“Fuel oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz are expected to increase over the next 60 days, but the recovery is unlikely to be substantial,” said Palash Jain, Middle East oil consultant at FGE NexantECA.

The Israeli military said that a soldier was killed the previous day in southern Lebanon, where clashes with Hezbollah militants have been reported despite a ceasefire, AFP reports.

Master Sergeant Basil Sweid, 32, a driver, “fell during operational activity”, the military said.

A spokesman told AFP that he was killed when his vehicle overturned.

US President Donald Trump said it may never be known who was at fault for a ​deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran on February ‌28, the first day of the Iran war, that killed scores of children, Reuters reports.

Reuters reported in March that an initial internal US military investigation showed US forces were likely responsible ​for the fatal strike in Minab in southern Iran.

The Pentagon ​has since elevated the probe but it has not acknowledged any ⁠preliminary findings.

US soldiers and their families are accusing the US military and Pentagon of downplaying injuries they sustained during the US-Israel war on Iran, according to CBS News.

In one case, it was alleged that a service member who experienced a concussion, hearing and vision loss, and lung damage was classified as “not seriously injured”.

Tehran accused Nato on Thursday of “complicity” in the US-Israeli war against Iran, after the bloc’s chief noted its support for the United States in the conflict, AFP reports.

Responding to US President Donald Trump’s criticism of allies for not supporting the war, Nato boss Mark Rutte told Fox News that hundreds of American planes launched from bases in Italy.

“Country after country, ally after ally after ally, have made their bases available for Epic Fury,” Rutte told US TV channel Fox News, referring to the US military operation in Iran.

“Five hundred US planes took off from US bases in Italy to support Epic Fury,” he said, referring the US name for the operation against Iran.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei condemned the Nato chief’s admission of “active complicity” in the “unlawful war”.

“This is a clear and damning admission of Nato’s active complicity in an unlawful war of aggression against a sovereign UN Member State,” Baqaei wrote on X.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country’s armed forces responded to the US-Israeli attacks in a way that neither of the attacking countries “could have imagined,” Al Jazeera reports.

Pezeshkian said Iran is now “recognised throughout the world as a powerful and dignified nation”.

“Our enemies believed … they could bring the Islamic Republic to an end within three days and install their proxies.

“However, our armed forces… created an epic the enemy could never have imagined,” Pezeshkian said.

US President Donald Trump faced pointed criticism over the Iran war in a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans, shortly before his administration asked Congress for tens of billions of dollars to pay for the conflict, Reuters reports.

Several Republicans in the closed-door meeting said Trump engaged in a shouting match with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who said the administration needed to explain a framework deal Trump signed last week that provides financial incentives for Iran but does not accomplish any of the goals he laid out at the war’s beginning.

“The American people need to know more than we are being told,” Cassidy told reporters. “It does not appear, although I don’t know for sure, that the course of this is going the way that we were told.”

Brent crude fell more than one per cent, slipping below its closing level on the eve of the Middle East war, as investors grow optimistic about US-Iran peace talks and tankers continue through the Strait of Hormuz, AFP reports.

The contract for August hit a low of $72.44 a barrel, compared with the February 27 close of $72.48. Brent soared as high as $119 in the weeks after the United States and Israel began their strikes on Iran on February 28.

US President Donald Trump met with munitions makers at the White House as his administration pushes to expand weapons production after military operations in Iran and other conflicts drew down US stockpiles, Reuters reports.

The United States has supplied large quantities of weapons to allies while also using munitions in its own military operations, raising concerns about inventories of key air-defence and precision-guided weapons, and increasing pressure on contractors to boost output.

Two people briefed on the meeting said it ran longer than expected because everyone was given time to speak. The sources said Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg at times pushed back on industry claims about production progress, citing delays on key programmes.

South Korea has said that five more South Korean-run vessels have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the latest sign that restrictions on passage are easing, Al Jazeera reports.

The ministry said 13 South Korean ships remain in the strait.

US President Donald Trump said a deal with Iran that included fees in the Strait of Hormuz would be “unacceptable”, Reuters reports.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps has said said safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is only possible through routes designated by Iran, and that a new route announced without coordination with Iran is unacceptable and a safety risk, Reuters reports.

IRGC said it will take action against vessels that fail to comply with the requirements.

Saudi FM Prince Faisal bin Farhan has held a phone call with Iran FM Abbas Araghchi, the Saudi foreign ministry says.

During the call, the two ministers reviewed the latest developments in the negotiations between Iran and the US, as well as the “progress made to implement the agreed understandings”.

“They also discussed regional developments and emphasised the importance of continuing efforts to advance dialogue and diplomatic solutions that serve the shared interests of all countries and peoples of the region,” the Saudi ministry says.

US President Donald Trump has said, in comments to the media after a lunch with Republican senators, that “Iran is agreeing to everything I want, and they have to.”

“Otherwise, we just go back and do what we have to do,” he added.

Some 20 million barrels of crude oil have exited the Strait of Hormuz in the last 24 hours, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright says at the Reuters Global Energy Forum in New York, according to Al Jazeera.

Wright blames Iranian mines in the vital waterway for delays in a return to normal oil shipping levels.

UN peacekeepers reported no missile trajectories or airstrikes from midnight to 4pm local time (1300 GMT) today, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, has revealed, according to Al Jazeera.

Haq said that last night, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) “observed two missile trajectories launched from south of the Blue Line that landed north of the Litani River”.

Despite the relative calm, Unifil “observed ongoing Israeli airspace violations, mostly by drones”.

According to Haq, Israeli ground activity was also observed, which included “armoured vehicle movements, engineering work, and logistical activity”.

He says Unifil also “observed four Israeli patrol boats within Lebanese territorial waters southwest of Naqoura”.

Monitor TankerTrackers.com reports that 40 million barrels of crude oil have been exported by Iran since June 15.

It adds that exactly half of that amount shipped out on June 19.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reports that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has had a telephone conversation with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

“The two sides … while reviewing the latest regional developments, emphasised the importance of continuing consultations, maintaining diplomatic channels, and strengthening joint cooperation in order to support regional stability, advance the negotiation process, and achieve positive and lasting results,” the news agency reports.

The Israeli military claims it carried out an airstrike targeting suspected Hezbollah fighters who crossed into the so-called “security zone” it has created in southern Lebanon, the second such incident it reported within hours today, AFP reports.

“A short while ago, a vehicle carrying suspects was identified crossing the security zone in the Ali al-Taher Ridge area, posing a threat to IDF soldiers,” the military claims.

“Following the identification, the Israeli Air Force struck the suspects in order to remove the threat,” it adds, vowing that the military “would not allow Hezbollah” to harm its troops.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has rejected remarks by US Secretary of State Rubio linking regional instability to Iran-backed groups, arguing that American policies are the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East, Al Jazeera reports.

“No one will be fooled,” he writes on X, together with a clip of Rubio condemning Iraq-based armed groups, as well as Hezbollah and Hamas.

“We can’t have a peaceful region so long as American militarism and interventionism persist, and their occupying proxy [Israel] continues, with absolute impunity, to inflict endless wars across the region and perpetrate genocide, terror violence and every atrocities,” Baghaei adds.

US President Donald Trump claims Iran is making very big concessions, Reuters reports.

“We’re winning by a lot. Iran is making very big concessions. We’ll see what happens,” Trump tells reporters.