War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

At least 400,000 displaced Lebanese have returned home, with the total still in shelters dropping from 37,000 to 13,000, Al Jazeera reports citing Lebanon’s Minister of Social Affairs.

Hanine El Sayyed says the government is working on a “comprehensive reconstruction plan” but has not offered additional details.

Iranian and Omani experts will start talks on redefining transit paths through the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days, Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi tells state TV, adding Iran will try to obstruct vessels outside of defined paths, Reuters reports.

Iran says a delegation of experts will travel to Doha this week for discussions on the implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States earlier this month, AFP reports.

“An expert delegation from the Islamic Republic of Iran will travel to Doha later this week” to discuss the implementation of clauses of the memorandum, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei says.

“We have not yet entered the stage of negotiating a final agreement,” he adds, noting that “over the coming days, we will not have any negotiation meetings with the US side at any level”.

As part of Pakistan’s efforts to help broker an end to the war in the Middle East, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will pay official visits to Iran and Turkiye from July 3 to 6, sources in the PM Office tell Dawn.

Sources say that during his visit, the prime minister will meet the leadership of both Iran and Turkiye and call on Tehran and Washington to exercise restraint, particularly following the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as part of the peace process.

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The United Arab Emirates will allow its nationals to travel to Lebanon starting today, Reuters reports citing the state news agency WAM.

UAE citizens planning to visit Lebanon must register through an official service, an emergency and support platform by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before their departure, the agency adds.

On April 30, UAE banned its citizens from travelling to Iran, Lebanon and Iraq, and urged Emiratis in those countries to leave immediately and return home, citing regional developments.

Oil prices have gained more than 1 per cent after attacks by the US and Iran underscore the fragility of their interim peace deal, Reuters reports.

As of 1735 GMT, Brent crude futures were up $1.18, or 1.64pc, at $73.17 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.69, or 2.44pc, to $70.92.

Preparations for talks between Iran and the US have not yet started in Doha, Iranian news agency ISNA is reporting citing the Iranian Embassy in Qatar, according to Al Jazeera.

Earlier, Trump said a meeting with Iran would be held in Qatar on Tuesday.

“We have not received any official information on this matter so far,” the embassy has said in a statement to RIA Novosti news agency.

“Although consultations with Qatar, including regarding the follow-up of the implementation of the other party’s commitments, are ongoing as usual, the news from some media outlets that technical talks by working groups are being held in Doha cannot be confirmed,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi says.

No talks between Iran and the United States are scheduled in the coming days, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has said in a statement, adding that an Iranian technical delegation will visit Qatar this week, but has no relation to US officials visiting the country, Reuters reports.

Tehran has not started negotiations for a final deal, as these require the implementation of certain points of the MoU, which is Iran’s priority currently, Baghaei adds.

The United Nations has hailed the trilateral agreement signed by Israel and Lebanon and sponsored by the US, calling it “a milestone in efforts to end decades of conflict and advance lasting stability”, according to Anadolu.

The removal of mines from the Strait of Hormuz is to be carried out solely by Iran, according to the Islamabad MoU between Tehran and Washington, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi says in a post on X, in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments on the subject, Reuters reports.

“Emmanuel Macron says France and Oman are working together to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East and will cooperate with their partners on clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz,” Gharibabadi adds. “The situation is sensitive and complex, we strongly advise France not to complicate it further with its provocations.”

At least 4,257 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Lebanon since March 2, the health ministry says, adding that more than 12,000 have also been wounded, Al Jazeera reports.

The Qatar News Agency (QNA) reports that Qatari Defence Minister Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan Al Thani had a telephone call with acting Iranian Defence Minister Majid Ibn Reza.

“During the call, the latest security developments in the region were reviewed, and aspects of joint coordination were discussed in light of the current circumstances,” QNA adds.

A security deal between Israel and Lebanon risks entrenching a stalemate rather than resolving Tel Aviv’s underlying conflict with Hezbollah by tying its pullout from southern Lebanon to the group’s disarmament, a condition regional analysts and politicians say is unattainable.

At its core is a bargain few see as workable: Hezbollah has flatly rejected disarmament, and no Lebanese government has the power to enforce it.

With Hezbollah unlikely to disarm, analysts say Israel has political cover to keep an open-ended military presence in southern Lebanon, which it invaded after Hezbollah fired at Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Tehran over the war in Iran.

The deal leaves the Lebanese state trapped between obligations it cannot meet and sovereignty it cannot fully reclaim, the analysts say.

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Qatar has advised the temporary suspension of sailing and some other maritime activities in the country until further notice, according to Reuters.

The Qatari transport ministry says the precautionary measure includes leisure and fishing boats, jet skis and all other maritime vessels. Vessels subject to provisions of international maritime conventions are exempted, it adds.

It has not provided a reasoning behind the measure, but it comes one day after Qatar said one of its nationals was killed after sustaining injuries from shrapnel due to “military operations in the region” after his vessel went missing.

France and Oman are working together to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East and will cooperate with their partners on clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports quoting French President Emmanuel Macron.

“We have decided to collaborate, in conjunction with our partners, on clearing mines from the Strait in order to secure maritime routes and guarantee free and unconditional passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” Macron writes on X after meeting with Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al at the Elysee Palace.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff will brief the full US House of Representatives and Senate by phone on the deal with Iran, a White House official says, according to Reuters.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has told the US Central Command (Centcom) chief that he is committed to extending the state’s control through its military up to the border with Israel, where Hezbollah maintains a strong presence, AFP reports.

He reaffirmed to Admiral Brad Cooper “the Lebanese state’s determination to extend its authority, through its armed forces, to the southern border”, the presidency says in a statement, adding that the pair discussed preparations for implementing a framework agreement between Lebanon, Israel and the US.

Lebanese army chief General Rodolph Haykal has received US Central Command (Centcom) commander Admiral Brad Cooper and a military delegation at his office in Yarze town, south of Beirut, Al Jazeera reports citing Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

The pair have discussed the latest developments in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, as well as ways to strengthen future cooperation between the two armies.

Haykal has expressed gratitude for US support, saying, “The necessity of continued cooperation between the two armies in a way that preserves Lebanon’s security and stability”.

The meeting comes as Lebanon moves to implement the trilateral framework agreement signed in Washington last Friday, which sets out a sequenced process for Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon tied to the disarmament of Hezbollah.

Maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has slowed over the weekend after a commercial vessel was struck while transiting the waterway, and an exchange of strikes between the US and Iran strained their preliminary deal to end the conflict, Al Jazeera reports.

In total, 29 commodity vessels crossed on Saturday and 12 transited on Sunday, according to data from the maritime tracking firm Kpler.

The figures mark a sharp decline from last week, when a memorandum of understanding signed by Tehran and Washington boosted traffic through the strait to its highest level since the start of the war, reaching 70 crossings on Wednesday, according to Kpler.

Two Lebanese Sunni groups have rejected a deal signed in Washington that would link the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon to the disarmament of Hezbollah, calling it a “malicious attempt” to subordinate security to Israeli-American conditions, Al Jazeera reports.

The Al-Umma Movement and the Sunni Authority for Supporting the Resistance have issued a joint statement after a meeting in Beirut, which says linking the withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied territory to the disarmament is “a flagrant violation of all red lines”.

The groups also condemned provisions in the agreement they say grant Israel “a direct role in monitoring the implementation of security commitments and evaluating the performance of the Lebanese army”.

Iraq’s government has given pro-Iran armed groups in the country until September 30 to disarm, its spokesman has said during a press conference, AFP reports.

The announcement comes ahead of a visit to the United States by new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, with Washington exerting pressure on Baghdad to ensure the factions turn in their weapons.

Some of the groups targeted US facilities in Iraq during the Middle East war, which was sparked by Israeli-American strikes against Iran in late February.

According to Al Jazeera, former US Secretary of State John Kerry has said, “Iran has a new sense of power by virtue of having withstood the military assault that has taken place to date”.

Kerry, a Democrat who held the role between 2013 and 2017, was also the lead negotiator in a now-moribund nuclear deal that the US and other world powers signed with Iran in 2015.

Speaking to MS Now, Kerry warns US negotiators about their approach in talks with Iran.

“Iran knows and understands and uses asymmetrical warfare as effectively as anyone on the planet, and that’s what we’ve seen play out here,” he explains.