War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Tehran’s Governor Mohammad Sadegh Motamediyan says the entire province will be closed from Saturday to Tuesday due to the funeral, Al Jazeera reports.

Earlier, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told local media that the government had declared Tuesday a holiday in Tehran to facilitate the departure of mourners of the “martyred leader” from the city.

Iran’s intelligence ministry has vowed to avenge the martyrdom of late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other victims of the US-Israeli war, IRNA reports.

In a statement, the ministry said justice against the perpetrators was the only way to ease the grief of the Iranian people and supporters of freedom worldwide.

It denounced the “American-Zionist enemy” for committing “the greatest criminal act and terrorist conspiracy in contemporary history”.

The ministry added that “the wounded hearts of the brave people of Iran and the freedom-seekers of the world will not be healed except through taking vengeance on the criminals responsible for this crime, and, according to the divine promise, this revenge and punishment will be fulfilled.”

French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will return to its home port after a nearly two-month deployment near the Strait of Hormuz as an interim peace deal between the US and Iran eases tensions in the key waterway, Bloomberg reports.

“The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will return to its home port in Toulon, while our mine countermeasure assets and their escorts will remain deployed and ready to operate with our partners,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reports that Israeli forces carried out artillery shelling targeting southern Lebanon’s Mount Basil, situated near the towns of Ramia and Beit Lif in the Bint Jbeil District.

Lebanon’s forces have dismantled four unexploded bombs they say were planted by Israeli forces in the south of the country, National News Agency (NNA) reports.

“Specialised army units dismantled four unexploded aerial bombs left behind from the Israeli aggression in the towns of Abba and Harouf (Nabatieh), Burj Shemali (Tyre), and Debbine (Marjayoun),” the Lebanese Army Command-Directorate of Orientation said.

Iranian state media IRIB says metro stations leading to Tehran’s Mosalla are “overcrowded” as people are on their way to attend the funeral of former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has posted on X about attending the condolence ceremony in Tehran yesterday for late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“On behalf of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, I extend our deepest sympathies to our Iranian brothers and sisters during this time of grief,” he wrote.

“May Allah grant the departed eternal peace and continue to strengthen the enduring bonds of friendship and cooperation between our two nations,” the KP governor said.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has issued a strong warning against any military activity by ’“extra-regional powers” in the Strait of Hormuz, emphasising that Tehran will hold those responsible for creating tensions “fully accountable” for their actions, Press TV reports.

In a post on X, Gharibabadi said, “The Strait of Hormuz is not a theatre for the military display of extra-regional powers.”

“Iran, as the responsible power and guarantor of the Strait’s security, warns against any military movement in this waterway with the utmost seriousness,” he added.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who visited Iran to attend the funeral of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Pakistan stands with Iran in this time of grief.

In a post on X, he said, “Paid my respects and conveyed deepest condolences on behalf of the government and people of Pakistan, to the government and brotherly people of Iran at the funeral ceremony of the late Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Shaheed Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei.”

He said that the supreme leader’s “wisdom, leadership and profound influence on Iran and the wider region will be remembered for generations”.

“To demonstrate our solidarity with the Iranian people, I was accompanied by a high-powered delegation including Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, senior parliamentarians, including PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, as well as senior ministers and government officials,” he said.

Schools in Tehran have been opened for people to stay while on pilgrimage to attend Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s funeral, Al Jazeera reports.

According to a report by Iran’s ISNA news agency, the country’s minister of education said that more than 5,000 schools and about 40 to 50 thousand classrooms nationwide are open to welcome pilgrims of Khamenei.

More than 10 million people, including representatives from more than 100 countries, are expected in Tehran for the funeral.

The coffin of assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as those of his slain family members, has been unveiled inside a glass case before weeping mourners in Tehran, AlJazeera reports, citing video footage broadcasted on Iranian state media.

The broadcast images show thousands of grieving people gathered at the site to pay their final respects to the late leader.

US President Donald Trump has said that Iran wants to ‘settle’ with the United States, adding that Washington gave Tehran time off for the funeral of the assassinated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, during a speech to kick off the 250th anniversary celebrations of the US, Al Jazeera reports.

“We beat Venezuela in one day, and we knocked the hell out of Iran. They are dying to settle; they want to settle so badly,” Trump says.

“We gave them a week off for a funeral because we are nice,” he adds.

Crowds have been seen massing outside metro stations in Tehran, waiting for the rapid transport system to open to reach the Grand Mosalla religious complex to attend the funeral of the assassinated Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, AlJazeera reports, citing ISNA news agency.

In a social media post on X by the Iranian media, videos show dozens and in some cases hundreds of mourners dressed in black gathered in front of closed station gates waiting for them to open.

Iran has officially begun six days of public funeral ceremonies for late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, state television reports, with processions due to continue in Iraq before his burial, according to AFP.

Thousands of mourners carrying red banners, a symbol associated with calls for revenge, gathered in the courtyard of Tehran’s Grand Mosalla ahead of the arrival of Khamenei’s coffin, chanting “death to America” and “revenge, revenge”.

Iranian parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has hit back at US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks on Iran’s food situation, AlJazeera reports.

In an interview with CNBC, Trump repeated his claim that Iran will buy agricultural products from the US as part of any future peace deal, which Iran has denied.

“They need food. They need corn and wheat and soya beans, and we’re going to have exclusively our American farmers provide,” Trump told the US broadcaster.

In a social media post on X, Ghalibaf responded, dismissing the US president’s assertions.

“Imagine having 40-something million of your own citizens on food stamps and calling another nation hungry,” he said.

“This is not a proclamation. This is a projection. Keep your SNAP advice,” he said.

“Our assets, our choices. Mind your malnutrition rates,” he added.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is cancelling his scheduled trip to New York for a UN policing conference, AlJazeera reports, citing Israeli media.

The decision follows reports of planned demonstrations by locals and calls from human rights groups to investigate and arrest the far-right minister.

Ben-Gvir was initially set to lead a ministerial delegation to the global summit next week, but officials ultimately decided against sending any representatives, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports.

The report also notes that this marks the minister’s second cancelled US trip within a month, following a previously aborted private family holiday that faced visa complications.

Thousands of mourners have entered Tehran’s Grand Mosalla for the funeral ceremonies of Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, AFP reports citing its journalists, ahead of its official start.

The main courtyard of the vast complex was filled with people as authorities imposed extensive traffic restrictions across the capital. Another AFP journalist saw mourners walking several kilometres to reach the venue.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the United States must recognise that “realities have changed” following the Israeli-US war against Iran, during a meeting with Uzbekistan’s parliamentary speaker, reports Al Jazeera.

He said “conditions have improved compared to the past” and that post-war developments had forced Washington to accept “existing realities”.

“In such an environment, trade relations can be expanded further, and we hope that the groundwork for lifting sanctions will also be prepared,” he added.

Ghalibaf further said that with the joint management of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz by Iran and Oman, and a reduction in “American mischief” in the region, better prospects would emerge for transit cooperation.

Israel has rejected earlier reports by The New York Times and The Washington Post, describing them as “fake news” and saying the claims were “a complete fabrication of reality”, reports Al Jazeera.

Citing anonymous officials, both newspapers reported that US officials believed Israel had planned to assassinate Iranian negotiators earlier this year during talks aimed at ending the hostilities between Washington and Tehran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump spoke and agreed to meet “soon” in the United States, the premier’s office said, reports AFP.

“The Prime Minister said in their conversation that the US is a guarantor of global freedom, and Israel greatly appreciates the close ties between nations,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump agreed to meet soon in the US,” it added.