War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

US Vice President JD Vance said some members of the Israeli government had tried to influence US public opinion to oppose a deal by the US to end the war with Iran, in a podcast episode with host Joe Rogan posted, according to Reuters.

The comments echoed earlier criticism of Israeli government policy by Vance, whom many view as a potential future presidential candidate, in a widening public rift between the two countries.

Vance defended a deal reached last month to end the war with Iran, which critics in the US and Israel have slammed for failing to curb Iran’s missile programme and providing no clear path to dismantling its nuclear facilities, while constraining Israel in its fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there have been people within the Israeli government who are trying to, like, actually shift us away from that policy because they want to continue the military campaign,” Vance said.

Conflict in the Middle East could stoke upward pressure on the Swiss franc, and the Swiss National Bank should be ready to intervene in foreign exchange markets if necessary, the SNB said in the minutes of its latest rate-setting meeting, Reuters reports.

The SNB kept its benchmark interest rate on hold at 0 per cent in June, saying the medium-term price outlook had barely changed despite a recent uptick in inflation stoked by higher fuel costs stemming from the Iran war.

The final exams of graduating high school students in the Iranian provinces of Hormozgan, Bushehr, Khuzestan, and Sistan and Baluchestan have been postponed because of ongoing American attacks and threats of escalation, Al Jazeera reports.

The country’s Education Ministry said final exams in other provinces will continue as normal.

US President Donald Trump has called the release of a US citizen held in Iran a “gesture of goodwill”, even as conflict rages for a fifth night across the Middle East, Reuters reports.

Trump says in a post on Truth Social that an American who was “wrongfully detained” under the Biden administration in 2024 has been allowed to leave Iran.

“She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition. The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran,” Trump has written.

Iranian Army says Security imported from the US will not last for countries in the region, IRIB reports.

Bahrain’s army says Iran is “continuing its systematic hostile approach through its sinister attacks targeting civilians” in the Gulf country, Al Jazeera reports.

“The General Command clarifies that, with strong will and high combat readiness, the air defence systems detected, intercepted and destroyed a number of treacherous Iranian air strikes today,” it said in a statement.

The army urged “everyone to exercise caution and avoid approaching any unfamiliar or suspicious objects resulting from the remnants of the brutal Iranian aggression”.

An Iranian military spokesman says it doesn’t want to confront its Middle East neighbours despite a separate army official earlier vowing to “crush” regional infrastructure if the US hits civilian sites, Al Jazeera reports.

“Iran has no intention of confronting its neighbouring countries or the Islamic nations of the region. It has consistently emphasized expanding cooperation and fostering fraternal relations with regional states,” said army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia.

“The armed forces regard the protection of the Iranian nation’s security, interests, and dignity as their foremost mission, and they will spare no effort in fulfilling that responsibility,” he added in a statement.

Iranian army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia has warned attacks “will spread to new areas” if the United States continues its strikes, Al Jazeera reports.

“If US aggression continues, the war will be expanded to new arenas,” he said in a post on Telegram.

“A significant portion of the armed forces’ capabilities have not yet been demonstrated. Should any hostile actions against the country continue, Iran’s response will be commensurate with the circumstances and exceed the enemy’s expectations, opening new arenas of confrontation.”

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi has said that the goal of the country’s armed forces is to “gradually extend their authority over all Lebanese territory, including the south”, according to the National News Agency (NNA),

Speaking at a conference held by the French Senate in Paris, he said achieving this objective remains contingent upon a complete Israeli withdrawal from all Lebanese territory.

“No state can complete the building of its institutions and sovereignty while part of its territory remains under occupation. Occupation undermines state institutions, fuels tensions, delays the return to political and security stability, and prevents the state from exercising its full authority over its territory,” Raggi said.

A new public opinion survey by YouGov and The Economist suggests that 57 per cent of Americans believe the decision to launch the war on Iran was wrong, while only 27pc say it was the right decision, Al Jazeera reports.

Some 46pc of Americans also believe the war will last another year or more, the poll suggested.

India has ordered shipowners, ship managers and recruitment companies not to deploy the country’s seafarers on vessels undertaking trips through the Strait of Hormuz amid renewed fighting in the region.

“No deployment of Indian seafarers on vessels undertaking voyages involving passage through the Strait of Hormuz until further orders,” the Directorate General of Shipping says in an order.

Recent attacks on vessels have increased the risks faced by seafarers and commercial ships operating in the conflict-affected area “significantly”, the shipping regulator says.

The Iranian army said it launched drone attacks on Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa Air Base, targeting communication and radar systems, including Super Hawk radars and Patriot installations used by US forces, Al Jazeera reports.

The IRGC says it launched a “devastating attack” on the same base and “completely destroyed the air reconnaissance and control radars” as well as “the fuel tank pumping station of the aggressor enemy’s fighter jets”.

Tehran warns that it would target regional infrastructure if the United States carried out threats to attack Iran’s infrastructure, as the war in the Middle East resumed, according to AFP.

The spokesman for Iran’s military headquarters says that if the US followed through on its threats, “all infrastructure in the region” would be “crushed under the steel blows” of Iran’s armed forces.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz tells his US counterpart Pete Hegseth that Israel is determined to keep its forces in “security zones” it has carved out inside Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, Katz’s office said the two men spoke overnight and the minister “emphasised Israel’s determination to remain in the security zones in Syria, Gaza, and Lebanon in order to protect Israel’s borders and the communities near the border from the threats posed by … forces”.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards they had struck a US air base in Jordan with ballistic missiles in response to what they described as an American attack near a children’s cancer hospital in Iran, AFP reports.

The IRGC said US forces had “used air bases located in Jordan to target various parts of Iran, including the vicinity of a children’s cancer hospital”, and that its aerospace force responded by “launching two waves of missile strikes” on the bases in Jordan, according to their website.

Gold fell on Thursday as an escalating Middle East conflict fuelled concerns that the US Federal Reserve could hike interest rates this year, overshadowing recent optimism over easing inflation, Reuters reports.

Spot gold was down 0.8 per cent at $4,029.29 per ounce by 0518 GMT. US gold futures for August delivery lost 0.4pc to $4,034.40.

“June’s inflation figures did not reflect the impact of the latest escalation in the US-Iran conflict, as the interim peace union reached last month has effectively unravelled,” said Jigar Trivedi, a senior research analyst at IndusInd Securities.

The US State Department said it has approved the sale of an estimated $1.96 billion in weapons to bolster Saudi Arabia’s air defenses, as the war ramps up in the Middle East, AFP reports.

“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a Major non-NATO Ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf Region,” the State Department said in a release.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi condemned a “drone attack” that violated the airspace of Erbil in the northern Kurdistan region, his office said Thursday, after several drones were shot down, AFP reports.

“We have directed the relevant security agencies… in coordination with the Region’s security forces, to take all necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of such attacks and to thwart anyone attempting to harm the security of our noble Iraqi society, wherever they may be,” he said, without identifying the source of the drones.

Oil prices turned lower as traders took profits and evaluated the risks from a new wave of US strikes on Iranian military installations, which fuelled fears of renewed full-scale conflict and supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports.

The United States struck Iran’s coastal defences and missile sites on Wednesday after reimposing a naval blockade of its ports, while Iran threatened to shut off more regional energy exports, saying it was engaged in an “existential war” with America.

Iran’s army said it carried out drone attacks against US bases and facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain, state TV reported, after the United States carried out strikes on the Islamic republic, AFP reports.

Iran’s military said it targeted “radar systems, a Patriot air defense system, and fuel storage facilities at Ali Al Salem Air Base” in Kuwait and US military facilities at the Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, IRIB reported.

The Iranian army said that it targeted US military facilities in Jordan with drones, state media reported, after the United States carried out another wave of strikes on Iran, AFP reports.

“The Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced that… in response to the enemy aggression, it targeted the communication systems and fuel storage facilities of the US military in Jordan using suicide (kamikaze) drones,” state television IRIB said.

Fewer vessels travelled through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the first day after the US reimposed its naval blockade on Iranian ports with both countries escalating strikes across the Gulf, reports Reuters, citing shipping data.

Seven vessels crossed the strait on Wednesday, mostly on the Iranian route, down from 13 the previous day, Kpler data showed.

Four empty vessels entered the Gulf, including three small oil tankers and a dry bulk carrier for grains, the data showed. The three vessels that exited the strait on Wednesday carried liquefied petroleum gas, coal and fuel oil.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it carried out a combined missile and drone attack on Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement carried by the IRIB broadcaster, the IRGC said it targeted a C-RAM early-warning radar and a gathering point for US soldiers during the eighth wave of its “Nasr 2” operation.

It also accused the US of using Kuwaiti territory to launch attacks against Iran and called on Kuwaitis to demand the removal of US forces from the country.