War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has discussed recent US-Iran negotiations and the situation in Israeli-occupied Gaza during a call with senior Hamas official Basem Naim, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement, Hamas said Naim congratulated Iran on its interim agreement with the US and expressed “deep appreciation for Iran’s steadfastness” during US-Israeli “aggression”.

Araghchi reiterated Iran’s support for the Palestinian people and said its negotiating team has been raising the issues of Israel’s continued “aggression against Gaza” and ceasefire “violations” with US officials and mediators.

Iran’s Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati has highlighted new details emerging from recent negotiations with the US, including on the reported release of $12bn in Iranian assets and the waiving of sanctions on Iranian oil.

In a video message shared by Ali Ahmadnia, head of the Iranian government’s information office, Hemmati says that Iran has no obligation to use the funds to buy US agricultural products, as claimed by US officials, but that it is not opposed to doing so if the US products are competitive.

Regarding Iranian oil exports, Hemmati has emphasised flexibility in how Iran can transport the oil and receive payments, saying funds can be accepted in any currency Iran chooses, not only dollars.

The deal between Iran and the United States to end the Middle East war is “America’s declaration of defeat”, Iran’s Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, AFP reports

“The Islamabad understanding was not the result of pressure and coercion, but rather the result of the resistance and authority of the brave Iranian nation,” Ghalibaf said at a conference in Azerbaijan broadcast on Iranian television.

“That is why, the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding became a declaration of America’s defeat,” he said, adding that security in the Middle East must be ensured by the countries of the region.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker has said regional countries alone should determine the Middle Easts political and security order, rejecting external involvement and calling for expanded intra-regional cooperation, according to Reuters.

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf made his remarks at a meeting of the Parliamentary Union of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, as Iran and the US seek to conclude a lasting peace agreement.

His comments were broadcast on state television.

Oman says it is working with the United Nation’s International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to put in place a temporary transit corridor for vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on X, Oman’s Maritime Security Centre has said the corridor is in line with Oman’s commitment to international law and ensuring toll-free navigation of the strait.

It says vessels using the corridor would need to coordinate with the IMO.

Contrary to the Israeli ambassador’s description of the talks in Washington as a “train wreck”, the Israeli military radio says that eight hours of talks were very constructive and that there is progress in discussions of a partial Israeli withdrawal from certain areas, Al Jazeera reports.

There is an American proposal of using pilot areas where Israel would withdraw from.The Lebanese army would take over those areas and ensure that there was no Hezbollah presence.

Since the US-Iran MoU signing, Israel has escalated its invasion in Lebanon. They are well beyond the initial areas that were occupied by the Israeli army, but according to Israeli reports, it was done precisely because those would be the areas that Israel would be perhaps willing to withdraw from.

Iran’s top diplomat has spoken with a senior official from Hamas regarding talks between Iran and the United States, according to state television, AFP reports.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has discussed the “latest developments” in the region with Basem Naeem, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, Iranian television says.

Hamas has welcomed the agreement and has expressed hope that it would also help end the violence in the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by over two years of war with Israel.

During the call, Araghchi “reaffirmed the Islamic Republic’s continued support for Palestinians and their just cause until their legitimate national rights are fully realised”, according to a transcript reported by Iranian television.

Airlines should continue to avoid the airspace over Iran, Iraq and Lebanon and remain cautious across the region despite the framework deal between Washington and Tehran, because violations remain possible, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has warned, Reuters reports.

EASA has said it is extending its conflict-zone advisory for the region until July 1.

The agency has also flagged the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, creating the potential for military activity impacting the airspace of Lebanon.

EASA has said all operators must exercise caution and take potential risks into account when operating within the airspace of Bahrain, Kuwait, Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

US President Donald Trump said he ordered an investigation into major oil companies over high gasoline prices as the US leader faces criticism over the impact of the Mideast war, AFP reports.

“The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Those prices are dropping like a rock! In other words, customers are being ‘gouged’,” he added.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi has said the agency’s inspectors will eventually inspect Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites, Al Jazeera reports.

“Whether this happens the day after tomorrow or in one week or in 10 days, it’s important, but not essential,” Grossi told journalists in Tokyo. “This is going to happen.”

Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte is set to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House, seeking to ease tensions over the Iran war and US threats to draw down troops in Europe ahead of a pivotal Nato leaders summit in July in Ankara, Reuters reports.

Trump, a longtime Nato critic who has called the alliance a “paper tiger,” has been angered by its reluctance to support the US in the Middle East conflict or help reopen the Strait of Hormuz after a US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28 disrupted the major oil shipping route.

“I expect he is trying to get on the same page with Trump to make sure that the Nato summit is a success or not a wipeout,” said Stephen Wertheim, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank.

“The Nato summit carries a potential for significant risk because Trump is upset and erratic, and even if Rutte comes and thinks he has an understanding with Trump, who knows what two weeks later will bring,” Wertheim said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio begins a Middle East tour in earnest on Wednesday, seeking to reassure Gulf allies who view concessions in President Donald Trump’s Iran deal that include a proposed $300 billion fund as too generous to a regional foe, Reuters reports.

Arriving in Abu Dhabi late on Tuesday for a three-day Gulf trip, Rubio is undertaking his first high-level diplomatic mission on the agreement reached last week to end the four-month-old US-Israeli war with Iran.

Asked on arrival if he planned to address allies’ disquiet with the accord, Rubio told reporters: “That most certainly will come up in these discussions.”

He said they would also discuss issues not covered by the memorandum of understanding.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary general, says a new assessment has found that more than 11,000 residential buildings were “completely destroyed” in southern Lebanon during the recent fighting, Al Jazeera reports.

Another 2,200 have been partially damaged, he told reporters in New York.

“For many families, this means there is simply no home to return to,” he said. “Continued uncertainty, widespread destruction, and the threat posed by unexploded ordnances continue to prevent safe and sustainable returns.”

Still, many continue to return to southern Lebanon, with 19,000 people leaving shelters overnight, reducing the number of those remaining in shelters to some 90,000, he added.

Qatar’s Prime MSheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said the Gulf state would resume normal liquefied natural gas production within a few weeks, the Financial Times reported, according to Reuters.

Establishing a hotline between the US and Iran is essential to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, he told the FT in an interview.

QatarEnergy suspended LNG production after the US and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28, following a drone attack on its huge Ras Laffan plant.

United States President Donald Trump has slammed Congress for a “poorly timed and meaningless” legislation directing him to halt military action against Iran.

“So, I have Iran on the ‘ropes,’ ready to go down for the fall, willing to give us practically anything, and for the first time in decades, respecting the hell out of the United States and its President, ME, and the US Senate decides to have a poorly timed and meaningless War Powers Act Vote, telling the Number One Sponser of Terror in the World that the United States doesn’t like what I am doing to them, and I must stop, and by so doing has provided aid and comfort the Enemy,” he said on his Truth Social platform.

“Four Republican Losers voted with the Dumocrats, and Iran asked my people, ‘what does that all mean?’ These Senators have just made my job more difficult, but I will get it done, one way or the other, because I always get it done!” he said.

Gold extends losses, touching its lowest level in almost two weeks as the dollar climbed amid rising bets on US interest rate hikes, while investors assess conflicting signals on the US-Iran peace talks, according to Reuters.

Spot gold falls 1 per cent to $4,067.51 per ounce by 0236 GMT, having earlier hit its lowest level since June 11. US gold futures for August delivery declines 1.6pc to $4,083.90.

South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has said that four more South Korean-operated ships have safely left the Strait of Hormuz, bringing the number of vessels that have left the region to six, AlJazeera reports.

“Four vessels operated by our shipping companies that were waiting inside the Strait of Hormuz have passed through the strait and are sailing normally,” the ministry said, according to the Yonhap news agency.

The ships had 26 Korean crew members on board, and one of the ships is headed back to South Korea, the ministry added.

With their departure, the number of South Korea-linked ships remaining inside the strait has fallen to 18, Yonhap reported.

Oil prices fall, extending this week’s losses and trading near four-month lows hit in the previous session, on signs that more oil tankers stranded in the Gulf since the start of the Iran war are set to move out of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Reuters.

Brent crude futures down 37 cents, or 0.5 per cent, at $76.71 a barrel as of 0043 GMT, and US West Texas Intermediate slipped 36 cents, or 0.5pc, to $72.85 a barrel. Both benchmarks have declined nearly 1pc on Tuesday, touching their lowest levels since early March.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that Pakistan remains “committed to working closely with Iran for the peace, progress and prosperity” of the two nations as well as the broader region.

After Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Pakistan, the prime minister in a social media post on X said: “We held warm and most cordial discussions wherein we reaffirmed our shared commitment to regional peace and the importance of pursuing dialogue and diplomacy to resolve all outstanding issues.”

Sharing the details of the meeting with his Iranian counterpart, PM Shehbaz said, “We also agreed to further strengthen the enduring Pakistan-Iran relationship and expand cooperation across all areas of mutual interest.”

He thanked the Iranian leadership for “reposing its abiding trust in Pakistan as a sincere friend, neighbour and mediator”.

The Republican-majority US Senate has backed legislation to halt US military action against Iran, but ‌it was not immediately clear how it would affect the war as President Donald Trump’s administration negotiates a peace agreement with Tehran, Reuters reports.

The Senate voted 50-48 in favor of the concurrent resolution, which passed the House of Representatives early this ⁠month, reflecting growing concern even among some of Trump’s Republicans about the unpopular conflict.

The vote was nearly along party lines, with four Republicans joining all but one Democrat in favor. Two Republicans did not vote.

The resolution directs Trump to remove US armed forces from hostilities with or against Iran, but is likely to remain merely ‌a ⁠symbolic vote.

Under the 1973 War Powers Act, the measure does not get sent to the White House for Trump’s signature. However, the White House has insisted the legislation is not constitutional and ⁠thus not binding.

Read more here.

A “parliamentary commission for the protection of civilian property and the prevention of systematic destruction”, made up of three MPs, has announced the creation of a UN team tasked with organising meetings and field visits to document the “systematic destruction in south Lebanon since 2023″, Al Jazeera reports citing Lebanese media.

L’Orient-Le Jour reports that the team formed after a request from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is expected to work for four months, according to MP Ashraf Baydoun, who has spoken during a news conference in parliament.