War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Hezbollah has introduced a new battlefield tactic against Israeli forces: deploying fibre-optic-guided drones that bypass electronic defences, marking a shift in the evolving conflict along the Lebanon border, Al Jazeera reports.

The small devices, connected to operators by ultra-thin cables, cannot be jammed like conventional drones. Their use mirrors tactics seen in Ukraine, where similar systems have proved difficult to counter.

Experts said the drones can fly low and approach targets undetected, posing a serious threat despite their size.

“If you know what you’re doing, it’s absolutely deadly,” Robert Tollast of the Royal United Services Institute tells The Associated Press.

Hezbollah has reportedly used the drones against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and near the border, where traditional rockets and larger drones have been intercepted.

An Israeli air raid has killed a Lebanese soldier and several members of his family after targeting their home in Kfar Rumman, in the Nabatieh district, Al Jazeera reports citing Lebanon’s National News Agency.

The Lebanese Army has confirmed the deaths, describing the attacks as the result of a direct strike on a residential property.

Kenya will waive its fuel quality rules, the government announced Thursday, in an emergency measure to keep supplies running amid shortages caused by the Middle East war, AFP reports.

The east African country is heavily reliant on fuel imports from the Gulf and has been one of the most affected by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

A request from the energy ministry and petrol suppliers “to temporarily waive the sulphur parameter to the maximum limit of 50mg/kg … for a period of six months” was approved by the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry, it says in a statement.

The measure is “intended to ensure continued fuel availability and sustain economic stability during the current period of global supply disruption”, it adds.

When asked about the cost of replacing munitions, repairing bases and injuries to US personnel, Pentagon Chief Financial Officer Jay Hurst has said it is “the hardest thing to estimate right now”.

“We don’t know what our future posture is going to be, or the future construction of those bases,” Hurst tells the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Senator Richard Blumenthal has expressed his dissatisfaction with the response and demanded a more accurate estimate.

“I think $25 billion is less than half, maybe less than a quarter of the total cost of the war … I think you owe it to the American people to give us the straight talk about wat the costs have been,” he says.

A US naval blockade of Iranian ports has shrunk Tehran’s oil exports, stranding a growing stockpile of crude on tankers as Iranian storage sites run out of space, shipping data showed and analysts said, according to Reuters.

With some vessels switching off tracking systems and US forces turning back Iranian tankers, how much crude Iran is delivering to customers, particularly its main customer China, is impossible to measure.

Just a handful of carriers carrying Iranian crude have left the Gulf of Oman between April 13-25, oil analytics firm Vortexa says. That’s down over 80 per cent from a comparable period in March, when Iran exported 23.4 million barrels, LSEG data shows.

“At this stage, we estimate that around 4 million barrels of Iranian crude has successfully moved out of the Gulf of Oman. We are not currently able to confirm whether any of those vessels have since been interdicted,” it says in an email to Reuters.

Read more here.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has clashed with Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand over the conduct of the war in Iran.

During a Senate hearing, the senator has grilled the war secretary over the lack of popular support for the war and the fact that it was not authorised by Congress.

“They have so many grave concerns over how this war is being prosecuted,” says Gillibrand, referring to the American public. “Why do you continue to prosecute a war the American people aren’t behind?”

Hegseth has replied by asking, “What is the cost of a nuclear-armed Iran?”

Israel’s defence ministry says the country has brought in 6,500 tonnes worth of military equipment, including air and ground munitions, in the last 24 hours, Al Jazeera reports.

In a Telegram post, the ministry says the equipment was brought in on two ships and several cargo planes before being driven to military bases throughout the country.

In a statement cited by the ministry, Defence Minister Israel Katz has said the deliveries are part of an effort to ensure Israel’s military has “all the means required” to “return to operating at full force against our enemies at any time and in any place required”.

When pressed about whether or not the US has achieved its military objectives in Iran, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth insists that Washington is meeting its goals.

“Looking at the objectives we set out to achieve from the beginning … our military objectives have been stunningly effective,” Hegseth tells the Senate Armed Services Committee.

He claims that Iran’s defence industrial base is “incapable, at scale, at any level” of reconstituting its military capabilities.

“We have put the president in a very strong position to ensure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth adds.

While delivering his opening statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth was interrupted by a protester in the public gallery, according to Reuters.

The protester could also be heard yelling, “What you’re doing is despicable”, and “You should be arrested.”

The Iran war is “supercharging” the world’s shift to renewable energy, as countries scramble to reduce their exposure to volatile oil and gas markets, Reuters reports quoting the UN climate secretary.

Early signs indicate that the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began two months ago, is speeding up some countries’ low-carbon transition. Demand for rooftop solar systems across Europe has surged, while countries including Pakistan have reported a jump in electric vehicle sales.

“Those who’ve fought to keep the world hooked on fossil fuels are inadvertently supercharging the global renewables boom,” says Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN’s climate secretariat UNFCCC.

“Renewables offer safer, cheaper, cleaner energy that can’t be held captive by narrow shipping straits, or global conflicts,” Stiell tells a meeting of government officials at the International Energy Agency in Paris.

However, the war has also prompted some nations to increase the use of highly polluting coal or furnace oil-based power generation as they struggle to replace gas from the Middle East.

Read more here.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accused Iran of wanting “to harm British Jews”, in the wake of the latest attack targeting the country’s Jewish community, AFP reports.

“We need stronger powers to tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran, because we know for a fact that they want to harm British Jews,” he is quoted as saying in a statement delivered from Downing Street.

Israel’s defence minister says his country may soon have to “act again” against Iran, to ensure the Islamic republic “does not once again become a threat to Israel”, AFP reports.

“US President Donald Trump, in coordination with [Israeli] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is leading the efforts to achieve the campaign’s objectives, to ensure that Iran does not once again become a threat to Israel, the United States and the free world in the future,” Israel Katz said during a military ceremony, according to a statement from his office.

“We support this effort and are providing the necessary support, but it is possible that we may soon have to act again to ensure these objectives are met,” he adds.

Iranian missiles and drones, and one instance of friendly fire, have destroyed US military equipment worth $2.3bn and $2.8bn, Al Jazeera’s Alia Chugtai reports citing an assessment by the Washington, DC-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The CSIS estimate is the first detailed tabulation by a major international research group of US military losses in the war that began on February 28.

This estimate does not include losses incurred at US bases in the region or naval assets.

Read the full report here.

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told reporters that the Trump administration is talking to oil companies and considering measures to increase production in the United States “really soon”, according to Reuters.

A new Israeli air attack on a home in the southern town of Jebchit has killed four family members, including a child, Al Jazeera reports citing Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

In addition, NNA says a separate Israeli attack hit a home in the town of Toul, killing one person and injuring two.

The reported casualties add to nine people who were killed in earlier Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon today, despite a declared ceasefire.

Brigadier General Seyyed Majid Moosavi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Aerospace Command, has issued a warning to the US military from Iran, vowing a response to “the enemy’s operations”.

“We saw the fate of your bases in the region; we will also see [the fate of] your warships,” he has said in comments carried by state-run news agency IRNA.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has sounded the alarm over the worsening global economic impacts of the Strait of Hormuz remaining effectively closed due to the Iran war, AFP reports.

The closure of the vital waterway is “strangling the global economy,” the secretary-general warns in remarks to the press.

Even if restrictions were lifted today, “supply chains will take months to recover, prolonging lower economic output and higher prices,” he says.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has expressed deep concern over the “curtailment of navigational rights and freedoms” within the Strait of Hormuz.

Addressing a press conference, the UN chief warns that the delivery of oil, gas, fertiliser and other critical commodities is being impeded, “disrupting energy, transport, manufacturing, and food markets”.

“As with every conflict, the whole of humanity is paying the price — even if a few are reaping huge profits,” Guterres adds. “The pain will be felt for a long time to come.”

The European Central Bank has kept its key interest rate on hold, warning that risks to growth and inflation have “intensified” due to the war, Al Jazeera reports.

For the 21 countries that use the euro, the central bank left its benchmark deposit rate at 2 per cent, where it has been since June 2025.

In a post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump has lashed out at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, writing that he should “spend more time … fixing his broken country … and less time on interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran nuclear threat, thereby making the world, including Germany, a safer place”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has had a phone call with Swiss counterpart Ignazio Cassis, where they exchanged their views on multiple issues, Iran’s Mehr news agency reports.

Mutual ties, the latest developments in the region and the world and US-Israeli aggression against Iran were among the topics discussed.