War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says Israeli forces opened fire on civilians in southern Lebanon today and that the incident is a violation of a ceasefire agreement between the two sides, Reuters reports.

Hezbollah has condemned the shooting, which killed two people and injured others.

The group has not said whether it would take retaliatory action.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reached Islamabad, on the same day as Iranian President Pezeshkian landed in the capital, IRNA reports.

He was received by his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has landed in Islamabad for a one-day visit following an invitation by PM Shehbaz Sharif, PTV reports.

Iraq has further increased output from its southern oilfields to around 2.1 million barrels per day as more tankers line up to load crude from the country’s export terminals on the Gulf, two Iraqi oil officials told Reuters.

One person was killed by Israeli gunfire in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s Civil Defence and a security source has said, in the latest deadly incident to occur despite a US-brokered ceasefire last week between Israel and Hezbollah, according to Reuters.

Israeli soldiers opened fire at a group of people near a bulldozer clearing a road in the al-Deir neighbourhood of Nabatieh al-Fawqa in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reports.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says conflict in the Middle East has unleashed the “mother of all energy shocks”.

“For many developing countries, this is not just an energy crisis. It’s a debt, food & development shock,” he said in a post on X.

“Any peace agreement would bring much needed relief, but the impacts are likely to be long-lasting,” he added.

Denmark has reopened its embassy in Tehran more than three months after closing it due to the conflict in the Middle East, the foreign ministry has announced, AFP reports.

“In light of the improvement in the security situation in Iran, the embassy in Tehran is reopening its doors,” the Danish diplomatic service has said in a statement.

“The Danish ambassador to Iran has been working on the embassy premises since June 19,” the statement adds.

Denmark ordered the temporary closure of its embassy in Iran on March 10 because of the security situation in the country.

Resumed shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz would ease energy and fertiliser supply bottlenecks, India’s security chief said during a BRICS security meeting in New Delhi, AFP reports.

The current state of the crucial waterway for oil and gas transport is uncertain — it reopened last week, after Iran and the United States reached an agreement, but Tehran announced on Saturday it had closed it again in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said its reopening would be a “highly welcome development,” as security chiefs of the BRICS bloc of nations met.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says that Pakistan did its best during the Burgenstock talks between the US and Iran. After many hours of talks, a joint statement was prepared around 3 am, the premier said while addressing the National Assembly.

Pakistan signed as a mediator in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), due to which “today, we have a ceasefire between US and Iran and we will continue technical talks for the next 60 days,” PM Shehbaz said.

“We hope that the MoU will turn into a long-lasting agreement in the next 60 days.”

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says Israel is not part of the talks between Iran and the US, AlJazeera reports.

“They are meaningless to us — we will continue to act fully in Lebanon,” he told Israeli Army Radio.

“There will be no Israeli withdrawal from the security zone in Lebanon, including the Beaufort Ridge, as long as Hezbollah exists in Lebanon,” Smotrich added.

Lebanon’s Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar says forces are increasing deployments and strengthening security measures across the country, particularly in Beirut, as authorities seek to maintain stability, Al Jazeera reports.

Following a meeting with President Joseph Aoun, al-Hajjar has said the security services will continue efforts to bolster deployments in different regions of Lebanon.

According to a statement from the presidency, the two men also discussed the broader political situation with al-Hajjar expressing support for steps being taken by Aoun to achieve “security and stability” in Lebanon.

The meeting also addressed Saudi Arabia’s decision to resume imports of Lebanese goods, which the presidency welcomed as a sign of confidence in the government and country’s security institutions.

At least 35 commodity carriers transited the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, a record level since the start of the Middle East war in late February, according to data from the maritime tracking firm Kpler, AFP reports.

The 35 passages represent nearly a third of normal peacetime traffic (around 120 per day) through the strait, which normally sees around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas exports.

The total count for Monday crossings is expected to rise further as ships are detected later by maritime trackers.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva has reported good progress in negotiations between the United States and Iran during peace deal talks in Switzerland, Reuters reports.

“Our colleagues continue to discuss in very good talks yesterday at technical level,” says Ali Bahreini, adding that two working groups will be established within the coming days to discuss the removal of sanctions against Iran and issues related to Iranian nuclear activities.

Iranian President Dr Masoud Pezeshkian has departed for Islamabad on a one-day official visit, the government of Iran announced on X.

The visit follows the “extensive efforts” by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Field Marshal Asim Munir, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, and the Pakistani government in facilitating the Iran–US Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding

“He is scheduled to hold talks with senior Pakistani officials on key bilateral, regional, and international issues,” the government said.

“Discussions will focus on recent diplomatic developments, implementation of the Islamabad Memorandum, and expanding cooperation in political, economic, trade, cultural, and regional fields,” it added.

“The visit reflects Iran’s commitment to strengthening ties with neighbouring countries.”

Iran’s FM spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran has “conclusive evidence” that some regional countries participated in the US-Israeli war on Iran and could thus face legal repercussions, Al Jazeera reports.

“We regret to see that,” he said. “We will take whatever action is needed in this respect.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson says the recent talks in Switzerland involving US, Iranian, Qatari and Pakistani officials lasted about an hour and a half before breaking for a recess, Al Jazeera reports.

After the break, the Iranian delegation chose not to resume the quadrilateral session and instead continued exchanging messages with the US through mediators, Baqaei has said.

Baqaei didn’t specify the reason for the decision. However, reports suggested the Iranian delegation protested President Trump’s threatening social post during the talks.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has emphasised in a post on X that an agreement between two sides “stands on the shoulders of respect”.

According to the translation of his post in Persian, he said, “If power is not proven in war, it will not be proven through exaggeration after agreement either. Agreement stands on the shoulders of respect and fidelity to reality.”

He added, “Any self-congratulatory narrative constructed to compensate for past failures will, above all, destroy that very process of agreement. Then, defeat and failure extend beyond the battlefield and seep into the negotiating table as well.”

Iran will spend its released frozen assets as it sees fit after President Trump suggested the money will be used solely to purchase US agricultural goods, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has said, reports Al Jazeera.

“We have all come to know the true reason behind this war was to exterminate Iran’s civilisation, and this goal has shifted into bringing US farmers massive revenues with frozen assets,” Baqaei has told reporters.

“All in all, we are not faced with any restriction on how to channel these funds. Our assets will be employed with absolute liberty.”

Iran has neither held a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi in Switzerland nor plans for the UN nuclear watchdog to inspect Iran’s damaged nuclear facilities, a foreign ministry spokesperson said, according to AFP.

Esmaeil Baghaei said there was no protocol for such inspections, adding that Iran would continue its current obligations as a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and under its safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett has accused Benjamin Netanyahu of misleading the public after the latter claimed its military retains “freedom of action” in Lebanon, AlJazeera reports.

In a post on social media platform X, Bennett said he had spoken with Israeli soldiers and commanders who had recently served in southern Lebanon and claimed they were facing new operational restrictions.

According to Bennett, Israeli troops have observed Hezbollah fighters “repairing infrastructure, arming up, and returning to activity, and our soldiers are forbidden from opening fire on them”.

He also said that Israeli Air Force planes “have completely stopped operating” in Lebanon. “When Netanyahu and Israel Katz announced yesterday that the [Israeli military] has freedom of action in Lebanon, they didn’t tell the truth,” Bennett wrote. “The truth is that our boys’ hands are tied in Lebanon.”

Oil prices fell more than 1 per cent, extending losses from the previous session, on signs of some progress in restoring crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz following US-Iran peace talks, Reuters reprots.

Brent crude futures fell $1.09, or 1.4pc, to $76.81 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate declined to $72.99 a barrel, down 87 cents, or 1.2pc, as of 0607 GMT.

“The gradual increase in oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz continues to weigh on the market,” said ING analysts in a note.

Israel is taking into account the possibility of a future US demand for a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from areas in southern Lebanon, Anadolu reports citing Israel’s public broadcaster KAN.

KAN said a new round of talks between Israel and Lebanon is set to begin Tuesday to discuss initial arrangements for a possible Israeli troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon as part of a pilot program for the Lebanese army.

The talks are expected to take place under US mediation and with the participation of the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors alongside three Israeli brigadier generals, the broadcaster said.

Mahmoud Qamati, deputy head of Hezbollah’s political council, has warned that the Lebanese group will respond to any violation of the ceasefire by Israel, according to Iran’s Press TV.

Qamati said Hezbollah’s retaliation will come “in kind”, adding that there will not be a “return to the pre-war situation” when Israeli forces launched near-daily attacks on Lebanon even as the group’s fighters held their fire.

“Hezbollah remains fully alert with its finger on the trigger, ready to confront any violation by the Israeli regime,” he was quoted as saying.