The US and Israel on Feb 28 launched what they described as a “pre-emptive” joint strike against Iranian targets, with Trump announcing start of “major combat operations”
Pakistan hosted the first round of face-to-face talks between the US and Iran in 47 years in April; the talks ended without a breakthrough, but also without a breakdown
US, Iran hold high-level talks in Switzerland after signingpreliminary agreement to end the war; hold talks in Doha, with mediators citing “positive progress”
Israeli forces have bombed homes in the town of Qounine, in Lebanon’s southern Bint Jbeil district, Al Jazeera reports citing the official National News Agency.
Its correspondent says the Israeli army has attacked civilian homes in the town, claiming it is an Israeli tactic to stop people from returning.
More than 1.6 million were displaced after Israel began its aerial assault and ground invasion of southern Lebanon on March 2. Hundreds of thousands have attempted to return to the area.
Lebanon’s health ministry says the death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the country has risen to 4,319, with more than 12,203 people wounded, Al Jazeera reports.
The figures, reported by the country’s official National News Agency, cover the period from 2 March to 6 July.
Oil prices have fallen on Monday after Opec+ agreed to further increase its output targets from August, while exports from key producers via the Strait of Hormuz are recovering, potentially adding to global supplies, according to Reuters.
Brent crude futures have plunged 47 cents, or 0.65 per cent, to $71.65 a barrel as of 1227 GMT after settling 0.45pc higher on Friday.
US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $68.19 a barrel, down 50 cents, or 0.73pc.
There was no settlement for WTI on Friday as US markets were closed ahead of the Independence Day holiday on Saturday.
Indonesia and Singapore say the Strait of Malacca will remain “safe, open and accessible to all” as Iran moves to impose fees on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reports.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto says after talks with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in Jakarta that both countries have an interest in keeping Malacca a free passageway.
“We will continue to coordinate with Malaysia and Thailand,” Prabowo states, adding the strait should remain open.
Wong says Singapore and Indonesia are committed to freedom of navigation under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
No Iranians have died during massive funeral processions for late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the capital, semi-official news agency Fars reports, citing Tehran’s emergency chief.
“So far, 2 cases of acute injuries have been recorded, one of which was related to a patient with a history of underlying heart disease, and the second case was a pregnant mother whose transfer operation is currently being carried out by rescue helicopter,” the report adds.
Lebanon’s president says Israel’s occupation of the south is preventing the Lebanese army’s deployment to the area, as the two sides prepare to implement a deal involving the deployment and gradual Israeli withdrawal, AFP reports.
According to a statement from his office, President Joseph Aoun emphasises the need to pressure Israel to withdraw its forces “because the persistence of the occupation undermines the legitimacy of the [Lebanese] state and prevents the army from deploying and the laying of the foundations for achieving a just and lasting peace”.
Israeli prosecutors have filed an indictment against a 33-year-old Tajikistani national, accusing him of spying for Iran, Al Jazeera reports citing local media.
The man, who was in Israel without a visa, is accused of passing information through the Telegram platform about sites where missiles landed during the 2025 war with Iran, the Haaretz newspaper reports.
He is also accused of sending images of military and strategic infrastructure, including the Port of Haifa and an Elbit Systems facility, with what Israel describes as the intention of “harming national security”.
Four people have been killed in an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports, citing Lebanon’s National News Agency.
NNA reported that the victims included the principal of Youssef Shamoun Public School, her mother, a foreign domestic worker and a Syrian worker.
It said they had been checking on the family home in the area and were returning when the vehicle was hit by a guided missile near Dar al-Muallimeen in Nabatieh al-Fawqa.
Rescue teams from the Lebanese Red Cross, civil defence and local emergency groups transferred the bodies to hospitals in Nabatieh.
The Israeli military has claimed that its troops took “full operational control” of the village of Haddatha in southern Lebanon, describing it as part of the “security zone,” Al Jazeera reports.
According to Israeli news outlet Arutz Sheva, the army said Haddatha is a major centre of Hezbollah activity, and it destroyed more than 90 “infrastructure sites and firing positions” there.
More than 20 Hezbollah fighters were killed during the assault, it said.
Israel continues to violate the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon in light of Beirut’s complete silence and inaction, says a Lebanese lawmaker, urging the government to take a firm stance against recurrent Israeli acts of aggression, Press TV reports.
QatarEnergy has halved its scheduled deliveries of liquefied natural gas to Bangladesh for this year, Petrobangla’s acting chairman said, as Iran war fallout continues to curb shipments of the super-chilled fuel through the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports.
“All these problems stem from the war,” Abdul Mannan told Reuters, adding that Bangladesh’s state-owned energy company was exploring alternative LNG sourcing including more spot-market purchases and government-to-government deals with other suppliers.
Lebanese Christians have rejected Israeli claims that residents of Christian border villages in southern Lebanon have asked to join Israel or obtain Israeli citizenship, Al Jazeera reports.
Maroun el-Khouli, head of Lebanon’s General Confederation of Labour Unions, said Netanyahu’s remarks are “false” and are aimed at stirring up tensions between Christians and Shia Muslims in Lebanon.
He described the comments as part of a psychological and media campaign targeting Lebanon’s social fabric, saying Israel is trying to weaken the country’s internal unity after failing to achieve its military objectives.
President Masoud Pezeshkian says Iran will continue on the path of the country’s “dignity, progress and prosperity” through “solidarity, national cohesion and sincere service to people”.
In a social media post on X, he said the martyred supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “taught us all that the greatest asset of Iran is its people and their unity”.
“Today, too, by acting upon the divine command … and through solidarity, national cohesion, and sincere service to the people, we will continue on the path of Iran’s dignity, progress, and prosperity,” he adds.
A fleet of 10 Japan-linked vessels is exiting the Strait of Hormuz today while a supertanker carrying Saudi crude for South Korea left over the weekend, shipping data on LSEG showed, after the ships were stranded in the Gulf for months because of the Iran war, Reutersreports.
The Japan-linked ships include six very large crude carriers loaded with 12 million barrels of Middle Eastern crude, two chemical tankers, a vehicle carrier and a container ship, the data showed.
The tankers are carrying crudes from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar that were loaded in late February to early March.
Most of the vessels are managed by Japanese shipper Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) which had said it would prioritise the safety of its seafarers, cargo and vessels when traversing the strait. Mitsui OSK declined to comment.
The world has absorbed with surprising ease the loss of over a billion barrels of oil supply since the Iran war began, but, with long-term peace elusive and buffer reserves now drained, it still faces the looming risk of future price spikes, Reuters notes.
The ensuing four-month conflict did, indeed, create the biggest energy disruption in history, according to the International Energy Agency. At its worst, the headline supply loss was 14 million barrels per day.
But worries that Asia and Europe would run out of gasoline, diesel or jet fuel never materialised. And after peaking around $126 per barrel in April, still some $20 below the 2008 record benchmark Brent oil prices are now lower than they were when the conflict began.
“This suggests traders viewed the disruption as serious but manageable, reflecting confidence in today’s more resilient energy and economic systems,” said John Baffes, senior economist at the World Bank.
Tugboats guide the crude oil tanker Odessa, carrying UAE crude after passing through the Strait of Hormuz with its Automatic Identification System transponder turned off, navigates the waters at Daesan port, where it is expected to discharge crude oil, in Seosan, South Korea, on May 8, 2026. — Reuters/File
Israel’s defence minister has claimed that his country assassinated late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for allegedly leading a “plan to destroy” Israel and again threatened to “eliminate” any Iranian leader who tries to promote such actions, Al Jazeera reports, citing Israel’s Channel 13.
Israel Katz made the comments in response to the ongoing funeral procession in Tehran, the Israeli broadcaster reported.
Katz added that Israel remains prepared to defend itself at any time and against any threat.
Iran’s parliament speaker Bagher Ghalibaf says peace in Lebanon cannot hold unless Iran plays what he describes as its stabilising role in the region, Al Jazeera reports.
Iran’s top negotiator made the remarks during a meeting in Tehran with Muhammad Fneish, a senior Hezbollah official who travelled to Iran to attend Khamenei’s funeral ceremonies.
He said Tehran had made Lebanon a central issue in negotiations that led to the signing of the Iran-US MoU, according to Iranian media.
Iranian officials and mourners at Ayatollah Khamenei’s weeklong funeral procession call for revenge over his assassination, blaming the US and Israel, Al Jazeera reports.
Iranian Army Chief Major General Amir Hatami vows to pursue justice, saying those responsible “must know that the nation of Iran and all of us will never cease in our pursuit of and demand for justice,” according to Press TV.
“We will not let go of them, and this is a definitive decision that we will follow through until we achieve results,” he said.
The funeral procession carrying the coffin of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei began making its way through the streets of Tehran, AFP reports.
“We ask the public to go peacefully to Azadi Square,” where the procession is expected to pass, said General Hassan Hassanzadeh, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Authorities fear deadly crowd crushes like those that occurred in 1989 during the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Khamenei’s predecessor.
India’s appetite for electric, hybrid and compressed natural gas vehicles accelerated after the Iran war triggered fuel price hikes, the president of the country’s auto dealers’ body said, with such models reaching a record share of passenger vehicle sales in June, Reuters reports.
Alternative-fuel vehicles accounted for 40.35 per cent of PV retail sales in June, up from about 38pc a month earlier, as consumers increasingly sought cheaper running costs after petrol and diesel prices were raised several times in May.
