War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

The Foreign Office (FO) has said that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

In a post on X, it said Dar reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to play its constructive role for achieving the goal of lasting peace and stability in the region and beyond.

“FM Araghchi expressed appreciation for Pakistan’s continued support in advancing the peace process. He also thanked Pakistan for facilitating the safe and smooth repatriation of Iranian crew members and fishermen to their homeland,” it said, adding that they agreed to remain in close contact.

The UN secretary general’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, has said that the UN hopes to see a “sustained” opening of the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reports.

“I think it’s important that everybody live up to what they’ve committed to in every agreement that is signed,” Dujarric told reporters in New York.

“And I think it is important that all parties involved keep their eyes on the greater good,” he added, including regional and global stability as well as the well-being of seafarers.

“Thousands and thousands of men and women … have been stuck on ships, who we all rely on to get the goods that we consume every day.”

Saudi Aramco has resumed crude loadings at its Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf after a near four-month halt, shipping data showed, as the world’s biggest oil exporter joined a rush to move cargoes amid industry hopes of a return to normal, Reuters reports.

The Saudi oil loadings come even though a ship belonging to Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine was hit by an unknown object in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday.

Middle Eastern producers had been ramping up oil and gas output and exports in the lead-up to the interim deal between the United States and Iran to halt the war and reopen the strait where a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies used to pass.

The National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a nonprofit lobbying group in the US, says it is “dismayed and concerned” by the attack on the vessel in Hormuz and the US military’s response of strikes on Iran, AlJazeera reports.

“The US and Iran have started a diplomatic process and should use diplomatic channels to raise disputes, not bombs,” NIAC wrote on social media.

“We urge all parties to utilise the executive mechanism envisioned in the memorandum to monitor implementation of the MoU. Any fraying of the accord risks unraveling the whole deal, returning the US and Iran to war.”

Lebanon, Israel and the US have signed a trilateral framework agreement aimed at paving the way for a peace deal between the two long-time Middle East adversaries, AFP reports.

The agreement — which includes a pilot effort in which Lebanese soldiers take control of two areas occupied by Israel, as well as a process aimed at disarming Hezbollah — is the result of five rounds of talks in the US capital.

The deal “begins to put in place a framework for lasting peace and security,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the signing ceremony, noting: “It’s the beginning of the beginning. There’s a lot of work ahead.”

Lebanon’s ambassador to Washington, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, said the accord “is a first step on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, securing a permanent and final cessation of hostilities (and) enabling our people to go back to their land.”

And Israel’s US envoy, Yechiel Leiter, said that under the deal, “Iran is out, Hezbollah is out, and the road to peace between Israel and Lebanon is in.”

Vice President JD Vance warned Iran it will face “violence” if it carries out any further attacks after the US military said it had responded to an Iranian strike against a cargo ship.

“Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored it. If they have disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone.

“But violence will be met with violence,” Vance posted on X, referring to the memorandum of understanding meant to stop nearly four months of conflict.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it targeted US military positions in the region, in response to a fresh US strike against Iran, Reuters reports.

The Guards did not provide details on the US positions it targeted in the region.

The statement by IRGC came after semi-official ISNA news agency carried an earlier statement it said was from the IRGC saying the force’s response to a fresh US attack against Iran will be “swift and decisive,” before later deleting the statement.

The United States has struck Iran in response to a drone attack on a cargo ship off Oman yesterday, Central Command (Centcom) says in a statement.

“US aircraft struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites after Iran hit M/V Ever Lovely on June 25 with a one-way attack drone,” the statement reads. “The Singapore-flagged cargo ship was exiting the Strait of Hormuz along the Omani coast at the time of Iran’s attack.”

Centcom says Tehran’s “unwarranted aggression” against the vessel by Iranian forces, who “clearly violated the ceasefire”.

“Furthermore, Iran’s dangerous behaviour undermined freedom of navigation as commerce increasingly flows through the vital international trade corridor,” Centcom adds.

A Lebanese military source tells Al Jazeera that the situation in the Ali al-Taher heights of southern Lebanon has not changed in a week.

No advance has been seen by Israeli forces in the area in the Nabatieh district, the source adds.

The Israeli military earlier claimed that it was in control of the area.

Commercial supplies of jet fuel may worsen this summer despite the improving situation in the Strait of Hormuz, AFP reports quoting EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen.

Since June 15, traffic has been steadily increasing through the strait, which normally sees around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas exports.

Jorgensen says that even with the pickup in maritime traffic through the strait, it will take time for energy markets to recover.

“It will still take some months to get back to normal for oil and some years to get back to normal on gas because of the destruction of infrastructure in the region,” he states.

Jorgensen says that in “the short term, there will most likely be a more serious situation with regard to the commercial stocks when we reach the end of the summer”.

He adds that EU nations may need to release jet fuel supplies to avoid shortages and that the officials will monitor the situation.

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah has rejected the agreement between Israel and Lebanon signed in Washington, DC, Al Jazeera reports.

“The course being pursued by the Lebanese authorities amounts to unilateral, gratuitous concessions that will only undermine the country and serve the interests of the Israeli enemy,” he says in a statement carried by Lebanese outlet Al-Mayadeen, adding that the agreement “risks creating dangerous internal divisions”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Lebanese civilians displaced from the so-called “security zone” that Israeli forces established in south Lebanon will not be allowed to return home after a new deal was announced with Lebanon and the US, AFP reports.

“We are maintaining the original security zone at all times, outside the range of anti-tank fire. We are not allowing Hezbollah to enter it, nor are we allowing the civilian population to enter,” Netanyahu says in a pre-recorded video shared with Israeli media, shortly after a trilateral framework agreement was announced in Washington.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli forces will remain in south Lebanon until Hezbollah disarms, shortly after the announcement in Washington of a framework agreement with the United States and Lebanon, AFP reports.

“The most important thing is, first of all, that Israel remains in the security zone in southern Lebanon. This is a major achievement, and we will maintain it as long as Hezbollah has not disarmed,” Netanyahu has said in a pre-recorded video shared with Israeli media.

Netanyahu adds that Israel’s military will also allow the Lebanese army to control territory in “two pilot areas”: one south of Lebanon’s Litani River and another north of it.

US President Donald Trump says that Iran still retains some military capability, citing an attack on a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz a day prior.

“They have some capability, not much. They’re not winning or anything,” he tells an event hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition. “They shot a drone yesterday at a big ship going to the Hormuz strait.”

Trump notes that Iran launched four drones, but the US took down three of them.

He has also reiterated his claim that Iran’s military has been largely destroyed, with no navy, air force and radar, adding that their drone capacity is down by 82 per cent, their missile capacity has been cut by 80pc and that 90 pc of their “rocket launchers” have been destroyed.

US President Donald Trump claims fuel prices will drop to $2.50 a gallon.

“Very soon, we’re going to be at $2.50 [for] gasoline,” he tells an event hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

Iran’s foreign minister has discussed regional developments with his British counterpart, according to Al Jazeera.

In their phone call, Abbas Araghchi has updated Yvette Cooper on the progress of negotiations with the US, and both sides have stressed their commitment to regional stability, Iran’s Mehr news agency reports.

US Secretary Marco Rubio says that although a framework agreement has been signed between Israel and Lebanon, there is still much to be done, Al Jazeera reports.

“It’s the beginning of the beginning,” Rubio said at the signing ceremony. “There’s a lot of work ahead. Today is the first step. The first step is sometimes the hardest one.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon after talks in Washington, Reuters reports.

The United Nations is working with countries to resume the evacuation of hundreds of ships and thousands of stranded seafarers from the Strait of Hormuz after the effort was halted earlier this week, Reuters reports citing a top US agency official.

The UN’s International Maritime Organisation said on Thursday it had “temporarily paused” its evacuation initiative after a container ship operated by Taiwan’s Evergreen was attacked.

Some 115 vessels and around 2,500 seafarers were able to sail through the strait before evacuations were paused, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez tells a virtual news conference.

Dominguez adds he is working “vigilantly” with several parties and was having conversations with countries, particularly Oman, the United States and Iran, “in order to find these guarantees that were provided at the beginning, that vessels will not be targeted”.

“As soon as I get further confirmations of that, we’re ready to re-initiate the process of evacuation,” he states, though he adds he cannot provide a timeframe for a resumption.

Israel and Lebanon are expected to sign a framework agreement in Washington, Reuters reports citing senior Israeli officials, who have not immediately provided further details.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health says the overall toll from Israeli attacks since March 2 has risen to 4,243 dead and 12,186 wounded, Al Jazeera reports.

US President Donald Trump has accused Iran of launching at least four attack drones at a cargo ship off the coast of Oman yesterday.

“One of the drones solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive cargo carrying ship. Damage was done, but the ship was able to proceed on its way,” he writes on Truth Social. “We knocked down three other Drones.

“Obviously, this is a foolish violation of our ceasefire agreement.”

World oil prices have extended sharp losses on optimism for traffic flows in the Strait of Hormuz, despite the suspension of a UN evacuation programme.

The price of Brent North Sea crude, the international benchmark, plunged more than 5 per cent to around $71.50 a barrel, and the main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, shed 4.5pc to under $69.