War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

The Israeli army has been bulldozing and burning houses in the municipality of Markaba, in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh district, during military operations, the country’s National News Agency reports.

The Israeli army has said that four of its soldiers, including two officers, were injured in a “close-quarter encounter” with a Hezbollah fighter in southern Lebanon’s Beit Yahun municipality, Al Jazeera reports.

The statement said that the fighter threw a grenade at the Israeli forces on Thursday evening, and was killed shortly afterwards in a shootout.

“One officer was moderately wounded in the attack, while another officer and two other soldiers were lightly wounded,” the statement added.

An attack on a container vessel sailing through the Strait of Hormuz has prompted some shipowners to review exit plans, but traffic continued to flow in both directions through the vital thoroughfare, Bloomberg reports.

Two fully laden tankers are heading out of the Persian Gulf, while four empty, inbound, very large crude carriers are among the vessels sailing along the Omani coast, ship-tracking data show.

A ship belonging to Evergreen Marine was hit by an unknown object off Oman but has now safely departed the Strait of Hormuz, the Taiwanese company said, Reuters reports.

In a statement to the Taiwan stock exchange, the company said the starboard side of the bridge of the Ever Lovely, owned by its Singapore subsidiary, was hit a day earlier by an unknown object 3.6 nautical miles off Oman’s Khawr Naiwah.

After an initial inspection by the crew, damage was found around the bridge windows. But the crew, vessel and cargo are all safe, it said.

An explosion caused by an unexploded remnant of war in the town of al-Mansouri in southern Lebanon’s Tyre district has killed one person and critically injured another, NNA reports.

Crude prices sank 2 per cent on Friday and were headed for steep ‌weekly losses amid easing supply concerns as more stranded oil tankers exited the Strait of Hormuz, even though a cargo vessel was hit near Oman on Thursday, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures fell $1.47, or 1.95pc, to $73.79 a barrel as of 0421 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate fell $1.44, or ​2pc, to $70.48 a barrel.

Two people were killed and another person was wounded in an Israeli raid on the town of Mefdoun, in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh district, the National News Agency reports, citing the country’s health ministry.

The ministry said it was a revised toll from earlier.

QatarEnergy has issued a tender to sell crude for July-to-August loading, likely its first since the US-Iran conflict began, trade sources said, Reuters reports.

The producer is offering its al-Shaheen, Marine Qatar and Marine Land crude. Buyers can load or lift via ship-to-ship transfer between Fujairah and Sohar, according to a tender document seen by Reuters.

The tender will close on June 29.

The offer adds to rising supplies from Middle Eastern producers. Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO issued a tender on Thursday offering to sell Basra Heavy and Basra Medium oil in July.

A “very strong” verification system is needed in Iran following the Middle East conflict to ensure that the country does not develop nuclear weapons, the UN atomic watchdog chief said, AFP reports.

“I think the objective of this (recent US-Iran) agreement is to ensure that there is no development of nuclear weapons in Iran. The government of Iran has declared quite clearly that this is not their intention,” Rafael Grossi told reporters in Japan.

“But of course intentions are not enough. We have to have a very strong verification system in place… as soon as is practicable,” Grossi said.

Saudi Aramco resumed oil loading at its Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf after a near four-month halt, shipping data from LSEG showed, in a sign that Middle Eastern producers are pushing forward with plans to boost exports despite a ship attack in the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports.

Two Very Large Crude Carriers controlled by Saudi’s shipping arm Bahri were seen loading crude at Ras Tanura, the world’s biggest oil port, while another waited nearby, the data showed. Each VLCC is capable of loading 2 million barrels of oil.

India has removed restrictions on supplies of commercial liquified petroleum gas imposed during the Middle East war when energy supplies were hit by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, reports AFP.

The government ended the restrictions late Thursday on “non-domestic packed LPG and restored supplies to the levels prevailing prior to the West Asia crisis”, the petroleum ministry said in a statement.

“The supply of bulk LPG, which had been suspended at the onset of the crisis, has been relaxed by 50 percent of the pre-crisis consumption levels,” the statement added.

“The restoration follows the recent improvement in the LPG supply situation.” The decision follows improved energy cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran and the US signed a deal that included opening the strategic waterway.

US President Donald Trump has said Thursday that Washington plans to use some frozen Iranian funds to purchase American agricultural products for Iran, describing the move as the opening of a “new market” for US farmers, reports Anadolu Agency.

Speaking while at the White House, Trump said Iran is facing food shortages and that the US would use “some of Iran’s money” to buy American wheat, soybeans and corn for the country.

“We have a new market coming up, and that’s called the lovely country of Iran,” he said.

“It’s a beautiful place. Would anybody like to go there? The Islamic Republic of Iran. They’re having a hard time with food, and we’re going to be taking some of their money and we’ll spend it, and we’re going to be buying wheat, soybeans and corn, a lot of it, and that process is going to be starting soon. It’s going to be pretty big,” he added.

Pakistan could once again tap Iranian crude oil supplies following a temporary easing of US sanctions on Tehran, reopening the possibility of sourcing discounted crude and refining it locally to produce higher-value petroleum products.

While industry experts say local refineries are technically capable of processing Iranian crude, commercial and operational challenges remain, particularly due to the high furnace oil yield and the absence of significant domestic demand for the fuel.

Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL) had previously imported Iranian crude under a long-term contract with the National Iranian Oil Company, but purchases halted after US sanctions were imposed. Since then, no Iranian oil has been imported into the country.

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US-mediated talks between Israel and Lebanon that were slated to end on Thursday will go on for another day, the State Department has said, according to AFP.

It said this fifth round of discussions that began this week and will resume on Friday morning.

“Israel and Lebanon talks remain ongoing as we continue to facilitate,” the department said in a statement.

Eight more South Korean vessels have exited the Strait of Hormuz, South Korea’s Oceans Ministry says, reports Reuters.

A total of five South Korean-operated ships remained in the area, with 47 crew members on board as of 9am Seoul time on Friday, the ministry said.

The ministry declined to disclose details on the vessels, citing requests from shippers and crew members.

The Israeli army claims it has killed several suspected Hezbollah fighters in two separate incidents around the so-called “security zone” its forces have established in southern Lebanon, AFP reports.

In the first case, the military claims soldiers “identified five Hezbollah terrorists who posed a threat to them” in Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, while in the second, they “identified an armed Hezbollah terrorist” around the strategic Ali al-Taher Ridge.

“Following the identifications, the Israeli Air Force and the ground forces fired toward the terrorists and eliminated them to remove the threat,” it adds.

The Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), which controls the Strait of Hormuz, warns that vessels using routes outside its framework will not receive safe passage.

“Any passage through routes outside the framework designated by PGSA will not be covered by safe passage guarantees and will not be entitled to insurance coverage or related liabilities,” the authority says on X. “The consequences arising from passage through unauthorised routes shall be the responsibility of the owner, operator, and vessel commander.”

Oil prices have edged up about 2 per cent after a cargo vessel was hit by an unknown projectile near Oman, sparking worries about how long it could take for oil flows in the Middle East to return to levels seen before the US-Israeli war on Iran, Reuters reports.

Earlier in the session, crude futures fell to their lowest levels since February 27, the day before the war began, as crude shipments through the strait rose to their highest since the start of the war.

Brent futures have risen $1.12, or 1.5pc, to $74.86 a barrel at 1740 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude have risen $1.22, or 1.7pc, to $71.56.

International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez says that the group’s evacuation plan for vessels stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, which launched earlier this week, has been suspended, Al Jazeera reports.

Earlier, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported that a vessel was hit near Oman’s coastal waterways in the Strait of Hormuz.

“I have been informed of an attack today in the Gulf of Oman on a vessel which passed through the Strait of Hormuz. This vessel did not transit under [the] IMO’s evacuation framework,” he says in a statement.

“Following the launch of the IMO’s evacuation plan, through which several vessels have already been successfully evacuated, I have decided to temporarily pause its implementation in order to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for the ships on our evacuation list and all those in the region.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, has rebuked a claim made yesterday by Nato chief Mark Rutte that Italy had aided US attacks against Iran, Al Jazeera reports.

Meloni says that Italy never participated in the Iran conflict, but only provided “technical and logistical” support to the US Army.

Yesterday, Rutte told Fox News that 500 US planes had taken off from US bases in Italy to “support” the US’s ‘Operation Epic Fury’, Washington’s name for its joint war with Israel on Iran.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says energy and commodity prices have fallen since the US and Iran agreed to halt hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but warned that Gulf trade flows will take time to return to normal, Al Jazeera.

IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack says the Fund will decide in its July 8 World Economic Outlook update whether to keep the three growth scenarios it issued in April, which were based on possible outcomes of the US and Israel’s joint war on Iran.

In May, as the Strait of Hormuz remained closed and oil prices stayed above $100 a barrel, Kozack said the global economy was moving away from the more stable “reference forecast” towards an “adverse scenario” of 2.5 per cent growth.

Italy and France have agreed to launch a coalition to support Lebanon after the United Nations’ Unifil peacekeeping initiative in the area expires at the end of the year, Reuters reports citing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Speaking in the French resort of Antibes after holding talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, Meloni adds they have also discussed a possible international conference on the issue.