War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Oil prices have risen as the prospect of a lasting truce between the US and Iran was clouded after peace talks in Switzerland were called off and as Israel stepped up attacks on Lebanon, Reuters reports.

By 11:45am PKT, Brent crude futures gained 51 cents, or 0.64pc, to $80.36 a barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.28, or 1.7pc, to $77.88 a barrel, with the front-month July contract expiring on Monday. Both contracts were headed for a weekly loss of about 8pc.

The more actively traded WTI August contract was up 59 cents at $76.44 a barrel.

“Prices may have bottomed out and we may see a renewed climb accompanied by plenty of volatility as cracks have already emerged in the memorandum of understanding,” said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights.

“This is not the geopolitical backdrop that would give the market any confidence in resuming Hormuz transit.”

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has said that “all of Lebanon must burn” after Israel’s military announced the deaths of four soldiers there, AFP reports.

“With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not up for bargaining. All of Lebanon must burn,” Ben Gvir said in a statement.

“I told the prime minister, even in our private meetings: for every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep,” he said.

“Enough with the ping-pong. In the Middle East, you don’t win with measured responses and restraint — you have to go crazy. To obliterate. To crush the terror,” the minister added.

Israel’s military has said that four of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, its first losses since a US-Iran deal was signed to end the Middle East war, AFP notes.

Lieutenant Colonel Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon “fell in combat” along with three other soldiers whose names will be released later, the military said in a statement.

The announcement came after the military said it had carried out strikes across south Lebanon against Hezbollah following what it claimed were “repeated violations of the ceasefire” by the group.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reports that an Israeli drone attack targeting a motorcycle has killed one person on the Deir ez-Zahrani-Nabatieh highway, Al Jazeera says.

According to a statement from Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health cited by the NNA, Israeli attacks since midnight have now killed a total of 18 people and wounded 33 others.

PM Shehbaz Sharif is speaking in the National Assembly about Pakistan’s mediation efforts in the US-Iran war.

He noted that God had bestowed immense respect upon Pakistan.

“From Japan to Saudi Arabia, from Kuala Lumpur to Casablanca, and from Mexico to India, if any country’s name is echoing around the world with respect and dignity, it is Pakistan’s,” he remarked.

France will not approve the lifting of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions on Iran unless it is satisfied that talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme meet its expectations, Reuters reports, citing the country’s foreign minister.

Jean-Noel Barrot, whose country is a veto-wielding member of the UNSC, said there would be no stability in the region unless US talks with Iran resolved questions around Iran’s ballistic missile programme and support for proxies.

“We need a radical change of posture by Iran,” he said.

Israel must stop its hostilities in Lebanon and the United States must put pressure on Israel, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, AFP reports.

Barrot, speaking to French broadcaster franceinfo, said that France was still working to hold an international conference to mobilise support for the Lebanese army.

Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) is offering crude for July delivery via a tender, Reuters reports, citing a document, after lifting force majeure and announcing plans to ramp up output.

The producer is offering Kuwait Export Crude with each cargo at 2 million barrels, according to the document.

They will be sold at a differential to the average Oman and Dubai price quotes on a delivered ex-ship basis, it said.

The tender will close on Tuesday with bids remaining valid until Wednesday.

Democratic Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari – the first Iranian-American Democrat elected to Congress – has slammed the US-Israel war on Iran as “catastrophic”.

In a post on X, Ansari said thousands of innocent people “died for nothing”.

“Donald Trump is an incompetent, pathological liar who didn’t achieve any of his alleged objectives for the Iran war,” Ansari wrote. “I’m glad the war is ending. It’s been catastrophic.”

United States President Donald Trump wants to turn his attention to North Korea now that he has an accord with Iran, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said after meeting his US counterpart in France.

“President Trump said that the time had come to pay attention to the North Korea issue,” Lee told reporters in Seoul as he shared details of his meeting with Trump at the G7 summit.

The Israeli military said it carried out strikes overnight and continued attacking Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure in several areas in southern Lebanon, adding that the attacks were in response to repeated violations of the ceasefire by the group, Reuters reports.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reports that Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling have killed at least 16 people and left several others wounded or missing across the Nabatieh district in southern Lebanon.

The agency described the overnight bombardment as one of the most intense Israeli assaults on the area, with multiple homes targeted after midnight.

Iran’s World Cup team will lodge a complaint with FIFA claiming they are being subjected to travel restrictions during the tournament in North America, the Iranian football federation spokesman said, AFP reports.

“Despite having submitted its preparation schedule for the tournament well in advance, Iran’s national football team has once again encountered restrictions imposed by the organisers, affecting the implementation of its technical staff’s plans,” the spokesman said.

Talks that had been planned for Friday between the United States and Iran at the Burgenstock mountaintop resort in Switzerland will not take place, according to a Swiss foreign ministry statement, Reuters reports.

The announcement came after a White House spokesperson said overnight that US Vice President JD Vance had pulled out of a planned trip to meet Iranian negotiators in Switzerland on Friday to begin talks on implementing an agreement struck between Tehran and Washington to end the war.

United Arab Emirates state-owned producer Abu Dhabi National Oil Co has told its customers to resume loading its crude oil from its ports at Das and Zirku islands, in the Gulf, Bloomberg News reported, citing a notice sent to customers, according to Reuters.

Israel’s ambassador to the US says the country “remains committed” to the ceasefire with Lebanon, which it has routinely violated since it was brokered last month.

“If Hezbollah does not violate the agreement, it will be kept,” Yechiel Leiter said in a post on X.

“Under all circumstances, Israel retains its right to respond to attacks against it and to thwart threats to its territory, citizens and soldiers.”

Hezbollah said its fighters destroyed three Israeli tanks and that clashes were ongoing, hours after Lebanese state media reported that Israeli strikes in the south killed three people, AFP reports.

The fighting came a day after the United States and Iran signed an agreement to end the Middle East war on all fronts, including in Lebanon.

Hezbollah said that its fighters targeted “three Merkava tanks with guided missiles, which led to their destruction and setting them on fire”.

Oil prices fell on the prospect of more supply returning to the market after oil tankers began to move through the Strait of Hormuz following the signing of the US-Iran interim peace deal, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures fell 54 cents, or 0.68 per cent, to $78.31 a barrel as of 0146 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 46 cents, or 0.60pc, to $76.14 a barrel.

United States Vice President JD Vance has postponed a trip to Switzerland for talks that were originally slated for to discuss next steps on the US-Iran agreement on ending the war in the Middle East, according to the White House, AFP reports.

“The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable. As of now the Vice President is not departing tonight,” a White House spokesperson said.

“We look forward to beginning technical talks as soon as possible.”

The US government has announced sanctions against several Lebanese officials it claims are aligned with Hezbollah and members of the sanctioned Alaa Hassan Hamieh business network for obstructing Lebanon’s peace process and delaying the disarmament of Hezbollah, Al Jazeera reports.

The US Treasury Department said its Office of Foreign Assets Control was also designating individuals in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Oman who it claimed were raising funds and operating front companies to generate revenue for Hezbollah.

US President Donald Trump says that Washington expects “a complete ceasefire on all fronts,” including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel, Reuters reports.

“We encourage everyone in the Middle East Region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations to beautifully unfold,” Trump writes on Truth Social, one day after he signed a memorandum of understanding to end a nearly four-month conflict with Iran.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has issued a statement on the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), noting that US President Donald Trump “out of desperation, used all kinds of leverage to bring this about”.

“I, as a matter of principle, held a different view; however, out of the commitment that the esteemed president — as the head of the Supreme National Security Council — gave to me on his own behalf and on behalf of the other members regarding the safeguarding of the rights of the Iranian nation and the Resistance Front, and his explicit acceptance of that responsibility, I granted my permission,” Khamenei writes on X.

“He also explicitly stated that if the American side seeks to make excessive demands, they will not submit to them. From this moment on, we — that is, you, the proud nation, and this humble servant — will await the realisation of the aforementioned conditions,” he adds.

Khamenei notes that in-person talks with the US do not mean “acceptance of the enemy’s position”.