War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

In a written statement, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has said that repeated breaches of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding have “once again laid bare a fundamental truth: the signature of the US president is utterly worthless and devoid of credibility”.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei is the latest Iranian official to address the status of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU), saying the US has violated every aspect of the agreement over the last week, Al Jazeera reports.

In comments cited by Iran’s Fars news agency, Baqaei accuses the US of pushing ships to use a “parallel route” in the Strait of Hormuz, away from the route designated by Iranian officials, which he says violates the MoU’s terms.

Baqaei adds that Iran has not sought war and has only defended itself in the “imposed” war.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has held a meeting with Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch and other senior Foreign Office (FO) officials, where recent diplomatic developments came under discussion.

“The meeting covered follow-up actions, ongoing diplomatic priorities, and preparations for upcoming engagements,” the FO says in a statement.

“DPM/FM emphasised the importance of close coordination, effective implementation of diplomatic initiatives, and sustained efforts towards advancing Pakistan’s foreign policy objectives and national interests.”

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has spoken by phone with his Emirati counterpart, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Al Jazeera reports citing Russian news agency RIA Novosti, which cited the foreign ministry.

The ministry says the two officials exchanged views on the situation in the Gulf, and both stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire between the US and Iran and a return to negotiations.

Three US airstrikes have targeted areas near Sirik in Iran’s Hormozgan province today, Al Jazeera reports citing Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency.

Mehr adds that the latest strike was at 4:40pm local time (6:10pm PKT).

Hezbollah has held a mass funeral for dozens of people, most of them fighters killed in the most recent fighting with Israel, in southern Lebanon’s Majdal Selm, according to AFP.

In the heavily damaged village, Hezbollah has buried 44 people, 39 of them fighters and four civilians said to have been killed in Israeli operations, and one man who died of natural causes.

An AFP correspondent reports seeing trucks carrying the coffins to the burial site, as weeping women held portraits of the dead and of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli strike on Tehran in February.

Many Lebanese have been unable to bury their loved ones in their hometowns as the fighting is still raging.

“You are invited to participate in the blessed funeral of Majdal Selm’s martyrs,” reads an announcement to Hezbollah’s supporters, with the names of the dead.

Jordan has condemned renewed Iranian attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait, in which a Kuwaiti power and water desalination plant was struck, state news agency Petra News reports.

“The attacks are a blatant violation of the sovereignty of countries, a threat to their security, stability and territorial integrity, a dangerous escalation, and a flagrant breach of international law and the United Nations Charter,” it adds quoting the kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs.

The ministry reiterates Jordan’s full solidarity with Bahrain and Kuwait, and supports “all measures they take to protect their sovereignty, security, and the safety of their citizens and residents”.

Melhem Khalaf, a Greek Orthodox member of the Lebanese parliament, says the repeated entry of Israeli settlers into territories in the country’s south occupied by the Israeli army is “not a mere border incident, but a direct assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and a dangerous attempt to impose a new reality by force”, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement reported by the country’s National News Agency, Khalaf says the fact that civilians are involved “does not change the nature of these actions” backed by the Israeli forces.

Khalaf condemns the “aggressive actions” and calls on both the UN and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) to take immediate action to stop the settlers, officially document the incidents, and report them to the UN Security Council.

The United Arab Emirates has condemned in the strongest terms renewed attacks by Iran targeting Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan with missiles and drones.

In a statement, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that these hostile attacks “constitute a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the brotherly nations and a threat to their security and stability”.

“The ministry reiterated the UAE’s full solidarity with the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and its support for all measures aimed at safeguarding their security and stability,” the statement adds.

US Central Command (Centcom) has denied claims by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that two oil tankers exploded after hitting mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

“Like most IRGC claims, this is false,” Centcom says in a post on X.

Qatar has condemned in the strongest terms renewed attacks launched by Iran on the territories of Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, calling them a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the targeted states and the integrity of their territories, and a blatant breach of international law, the United Nations Charter, and the principles of good neighbourliness”.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that targeting power stations and water desalination plants in the State of Kuwait crosses all red lines, and constitutes a brazen violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2817, and what it contains in terms of emphasis on respecting the sovereignty of these states and the integrity of their territories, and rejecting the targeting of civilians and vital facilities,” Qatar’s foreign ministry says in a statement.

The ministry adds that the continuation of these attacks represents a dangerous escalation which complicates efforts to contain regional tensions and undermine political and diplomatic endeavours aiming to ensure regional security and stability.

“The ministry stresses the necessity of an immediate and complete cessation of all military actions and attacks that threaten the security and stability of the region, refraining from everything that would expand the scope of escalation, and a serious return to the path of dialogue and negotiations, and commitment to the understandings achieved through diplomatic efforts,” the statement concludes.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu belongs “in the Hague” and is “a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court”.

Netanyahu is expected to visit New York City for the UN General Assembly in September.

The mayor tells a US media outlet that he is unclear on whether he has the legal authority to order the New York Police Department, which he oversees, to arrest a foreign leader like Netanyahu. He says he is in “an active conversation” with the city’s Law Department over the matter.

The head of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, has issued a statement condemning Iran’s “treacherous” attacks on Gulf states in the strongest terms and labelling them “war crimes”.

“Iran’s actions constitute a highly dangerous escalation, a grave violation of international law and the United Nations (UN) Charter, as well as war crimes requiring international accountability and prosecution, given the deliberate targeting of infrastructure and civilian facilities in flagrant violation of all international norms and conventions, and a persistent determination to destabilise regional security and stability,” the statement reads. 

Passenger trains have resumed service from southern Iran’s Bandar Abbas railway station, two days after the US military had hit and damaged railway lines, Al Jazeera reports citing the country’s IRIB news agency.

Hormozgan’s chief of communications and information technology says the US’s overnight attacks disrupted telecommunications in Bandar Abbas and Hajiabad, in the northern part of the province, Al Jazeera reports.

After the US attacks, 116 telecommunication towers were taken out of service, and fixed-line, mobile, and internet services are currently experiencing disruptions in some areas of the northern province, reports Iran’s Tasnim news agency.

Valiollah Hayati, the deputy governor of Khuzestan for security affairs, says the US has attacked at least 95 locations in the province in southwestern Iran in the last 10 days, Al Jazeera reports.

The US hit 12 counties of Khuzestan province “which demonstrates the boundless criminality of the enemy”, Hayati told Iran’s Tasnim news agency.

At least eight civilians were reported to be killed.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi has said Tehran has “suspended” its commitments under the Islamabad MoU signed with the US after Washington “violated” the agreement, Fars news agency reports.

“We have suspended our commitments under the Islamabad Memorandum,” Fars quoted Gharibabadi as saying.

He said the US had “violated and suspended all its commitments under the framework” of the MoU.

“We have also suspended our commitments; we are not implementing them and are focused on defending the country,” the minister added.

Bahrain’s interior ministry says sirens have sounded within the kingdom, urging citizens to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place.

Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam has called on the international community to condemn renewed US aggression against his country, stating that Washington interpreted the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tehran “contrary to its terms”.

“After several months of mediation by Pakistan, an MoU of 14 points were reached and decided for the talks to be continued in six months,” he writes on X. “However, the US interpreted MoU contrary to its terms and gained control over parts of [the] Strait [of] Hormuz to obtain what it couldn’t in the battlefield.”

Moghadam says Iran will not accept “this arbitrary interpretation which blatantly violated the MoU”, slamming renewed US military action as “contrary to the terms of [the] MoU and international principles”.

“The international community is expected to strongly condemn this aggressive and reckless act,” he concludes.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has underscored the need for de-escalation in the Middle East and the importance of upholding the commitments in the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding in a phone call with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the Foreign Office (FO) says.

In a post on X, it says that the pair discussed the latest developments in the region, with Jarrah expressing Kuwait’s serious concerns about continued attacks on its territory, hopeful that “restraint would be exercised by all sides and that the Islamabad MoU would be fully implemented”.

“Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah also appreciated Pakistan’s constructive and mediatory role in promoting dialogue and regional stability,” the FO adds.

“The Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister underscored the urgent need for de-escalation, stressed the importance of respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states, and emphasised that maintaining regional peace and security must remain the foremost priority.”

According to the post, Dar also underlined the importance of upholding ceasefire commitments under the MoU and avoiding any action that could further escalate tensions.

A Lebanese soldier has been killed, while an officer and another soldier have been wounded after a suspicious object exploded in an army vehicle in the southern Lebanese town of Mansouri, Reuters reports citing the Lebanese army.

The army says it is continuing to investigate the incident and has not provided further details.