Flights between Tehran and Dubai are set to resume on Monday, Iranian state media reported, just weeks after Iran launched drone and missile strikes on targets in the UAE.
Iranian state television and other state media quoted Ramin Kashefazar, head of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport, as saying that “the necessary arrangements have been made to reopen the Tehran-Dubai route at Imam Khomeini Airport.”
Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has criticised American and Israeli leaders for what he described as boasting about crimes committed against Iran, while calling for legal action in both domestic and international courts over deaths caused by the recent conflict.
He also recalled what he described as war crimes committed against Iran, including the deaths of schoolgirls in Minab, urging authorities to pursue accountability through legal channels.
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Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and his Lebanese counterpart, Nabih Berri, discussed the latest developments in the Middle East during a phone call.
According to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, Ghalibaf reaffirmed Tehran’s commitment to ending Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon. He said the first provision of the memorandum with the United States focuses on ending hostilities in Lebanon and preserving the country’s territorial integrity, adding that Iran is “seriously pursuing” the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory.
Berri welcomed Iran’s diplomatic efforts in Switzerland, saying they were in the interests of the Lebanese people. However, he accused Washington of attempting to sidestep the issue of Lebanon’s sovereignty and described US dealings with Israel as a “conspiracy and sedition”.
Israeli forces carried out fresh strikes in southern Lebanon on Sunday, according to Lebanese state media, just two days after Beirut and Tel Aviv signed a US-backed framework agreement aimed at ending decades of hostilities. The renewed attacks came as Hezbollah warned the deal could push Lebanon towards “internal conflict”.
The latest strikes followed an Israeli attack on Saturday that killed one person in southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah members operating near its self-declared “security zone”, which extends around 10 kilometres inside Lebanese territory.
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Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar has reiterated that Hezbollah must be disarmed for “peace and security” to be achieved in Lebanon, where Israeli attacks have killed more than 4,000 people since early March.
In a social media post marking his meeting in Jerusalem with South Sudanese Foreign Minister James Pitia Morgan, Sa’ar pointed to “Israel’s desire for peace with Lebanon as reflected in the framework agreement signed this weekend.”
He said disarming Hezbollah remained essential to securing lasting stability and peace in Lebanon.
Italy has condemned Iran’s latest attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait, warning that further escalation could jeopardise recent diplomatic progress in the region.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on X: “I express my strongest condemnation for the new Iranian attacks that struck Bahrain and Kuwait in recent hours, to which the Italian government extends its full solidarity.”
“It is essential to avoid any escalation that could jeopardise the understandings painstakingly reached.”
Tajani also reaffirmed Italy’s commitment to protecting freedom of navigation, saying: “Italy reiterates its commitment to freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and to achieving a Middle East of peace and stability as quickly as possible.”
Two days after Israel, Lebanon and the United States signed a US-brokered agreement aimed at paving the way for a broader peace deal, fighting continues in southern Lebanon, with fresh Israeli strikes reported on Sunday.
The renewed violence threatens to complicate efforts to secure a lasting peace agreement between the United States and Iran and comes despite a recent memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran that includes a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said it was “regrettable” that Israel had continued its attacks on Lebanon.
Jordan has condemned the “brutal Iranian attacks” on Bahrain and Kuwait, describing them as “a threat to their security and stability, and the safety of their territories.”
In a statement, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said the strikes were “a dangerous escalation, and a blatant breach of international law and the United Nations Charter.”
The ministry also expressed “Jordan’s absolute solidarity with the sisterly Kingdom of Bahrain and the sisterly State of Kuwait.”
Several large merchant vessels have passed through the southern Strait of Hormuz en route to ports in the Gulf, signalling a growing willingness among shipping operators to use a corridor closer to the Omani coastline.
According to ship-tracking data from Marine Traffic, the vessels entering the Gulf on Sunday included two oil tankers, two liquefied gas carriers, and a container ship, as cited by CNN.
All of the ships had their transponders switched on, with their routes running within a few miles of Oman’s coast.
However, some commercial vessels continue to take an alternative route closer to Iranian waters.
The United Arab Emirates has joined regional criticism of Iranian drone and missile strikes on Bahrain and Kuwait.
In a statement, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the attacks as “a blatant violation of sovereignty” of Gulf states and a threat to “security and stability”.
Meanwhile, Iran’s top diplomat warned that any attempt to bypass agreed shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz with the United States would “increase tensions” in the Middle East, as both sides continue exchanging strikes and accusations over violations of a fragile ceasefire.
The slain soldier was identified as Captain David Hazutt, 21, a platoon commander in the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion, from Ashkelon, according to a military statement.
The military also said another soldier was lightly wounded in the same incident.
Iranian authorities are reportedly expecting crowds of up to 20 million people at mourning ceremonies and the burial of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Mehr news agency, which cited unnamed officials.
The ceremonies are scheduled to begin on July 4 in Tehran and the pilgrimage city of Qom, with the burial planned for July 9 in Khamenei’s birth city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran, the report said.
According to Mehr, authorities are coordinating with police and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to ensure the events proceed smoothly.
A separate ceremony is also reported to be planned at a Shia shrine in Karbala, Iraq, although this has not yet been confirmed.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned that it will respond more forcefully to any US attacks as tit-for-tat exchanges continue in the Gulf.
“As we predicted, the enemy is an enemy that breaks its commitments, is deceitful, and cannot be trusted. At any moment, at any stage of the negotiations, it may take certain actions,” IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebi told state-run SNN TV.
“Whatever action the enemy takes in this regard, we have responded to it, and we will respond to it. We repeat: If the enemy breaks its commitments and violates the ceasefire, we will respond more strongly than before, and we stress we will respond even more forcefully. We regard such moves by the enemy as natural because we know the enemy’s nature,” Mohebi said.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has called for the creation of a regional security framework involving Gulf nations in the aftermath of Iran’s retaliatory strikes on US military bases in the Middle East.
“We should reach a new framework that includes all countries in the region and without the presence or interference of any country from outside the region,” Araghchi said during a news conference in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Jordan on Sunday condemned Iranian attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait with missiles and drones, calling them a violation of the two countries’ sovereignty and a threat to their security and stability.
Jordan’s foreign ministry said Amman stood in full solidarity with Bahrain and Kuwait and supported any steps they take to protect their sovereignty, security and the safety of their people.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Sunday that any attempt to challenge Iran’s control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz would escalate tensions, even as efforts continue to secure peace in the Middle East.
“Any attempt to adopt new or separate arrangements compared to what is underway by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will only lead to more complicated situations and delays in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and will increase the tensions, as we witnessed in the past two nights,” Araghchi said during a news conference in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps on Sunday denied President Masoud Pezeshkian’s claim that his government gave 20 million barrels of oil to the IRGC air force during the war, with a spokesman saying he had no knowledge of such a transfer.
An IRGC spokesman pushed back on Pezeshkian’s remarks, expressing doubt that the transfer had actually occurred. The president had previously said the oil was provided to the IRGC air force to support the war effort.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said all provisions of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the United States must be implemented, including those related to Lebanon.
“Regrettably, the Zionist entity continues its air strikes on Lebanon,” Araghchi said during a visit to Baghdad, adding that Israel had also accepted the MoU.
He said Washington “should live up to its responsibility and force” Israel to end its attacks on Lebanon in order to bring the war to an end.
Araghchi also urged the United States to press Israel to withdraw from the areas it continues to occupy in Lebanon. “This was the first clause of the MoU,” he noted
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said on Sunday that Iraq does not support expanding the scale of the war in the Gulf and is against attacks on Iran.
“It is regrettable the Islamic Republic of Iran, as a neighbouring country, has become the target of war and aggression,” Hussein said at a joint news conference with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Sunday called for problems between Tehran and Washington to be resolved solely through negotiations, urging implementation of understandings to open the Strait of Hormuz and lift the maritime blockade on Iran.
“Unfortunately, the developments ultimately ended up at this stage of war,” Hussein said at a joint news conference in Baghdad. “We believe problems should be resolved solely through negotiations.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz remains under total Iranian control for the next 30 days, warning that any intervention or unilateral action would delay its reopening.
“The Strait of Hormuz remains under the total oversight and management of Iran through the 30 coming days, and after all obstacles are removed the total capacity of the waterway will be restored,” Araghchi said at a joint news conference in Baghdad with his Iraqi counterpart.
“This responsibility rests on the Islamic Republic of Iran. There is no other party or state in this respect. This is totally clear under the memorandum of understanding and any intervention or any unilateral action will result in exacerbating the situation and also delay the reopening of the strait,” he added.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday called on the United States to pressure Israel to halt its attacks on Lebanon, saying all parts of the Tehran-Washington memorandum of understanding must be honored, including clauses on Lebanon.
“Regrettably, the Zionist entity continues with its air strikes on Lebanon,” Araghchi said at a joint news conference in Baghdad with his Iraqi counterpart. He stressed that Washington “should live up to its responsibility and force” Israel to end its attacks and withdraw from occupied areas in Lebanon.
“This was the first clause of the MoU,” Araghchi said, adding that the agreement had also been accepted by Israel.
CMA CGM’s Galapagos container ship exited the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday morning, the French shipping giant said, marking the first commercial vessel to transit since hostilities resumed.
“This crossing marks an important milestone in a regional context that remains complex and requires constant vigilance,” CMA CGM said in a statement.
The transit comes as the United States and Iran have resumed attacks and traded accusations of violating the interim ceasefire agreement signed to end their four-month war.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi thanked Iraq for its “support” during the war, saying the Iraqi people and government “have always supported the Iranian people who were victims to the Israeli American aggression.”
“The Iraqi people have always supported their Iranian brothers,” Araghchi told reporters at a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein held a joint press conference in Baghdad on Sunday, with Hussein warning that “the war is still ongoing in the region in another form” and that “there are military skirmishes on the edges of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Araghchi arrived in the Iraqi capital earlier with an accompanying delegation and visited a memorial for slain commanders Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The visit also tackled “regional and bilateral issues,” including coordination for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s funeral ceremonies at Iraqi shrines.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Sunday that Israel and Lebanon recognized that they were not at war with each other, but with Hezbollah.
“Get rid of the cancer & everyone lives-in PEACE!” he wrote on X.
Huckabee said he had returned to Jerusalem after a week in Washington for a fifth round of Israel-Lebanon peace talks.
Iran’s army was fully prepared to restore the region’s military conditions to the situation before the agreement if the United States violated MoU terms, the army spokesman said on Sunday.
Amir Akraminia said Iran had developed more advanced equipment during the 40-day war, including drones used in the final days of the conflict, and upgraded missiles used by both the army and the Revolutionary Guards.
Akraminia added that Iran had plans both for domestic production and for purchases of advanced equipment from friendly countries, saying the army would soon receive more advanced systems.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein in Baghdad on Sunday, as regional tensions escalate following US strikes on Iran and Iranian attacks on US positions in Bahrain and Kuwait.
Araghchi arrived in the Iraqi capital with an accompanying delegation and visited a memorial for slain commanders Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, both killed in a 2020 US drone strike in Baghdad.
The Kuwaiti army said it intercepted two ballistic missiles detected in Kuwaiti airspace on Sunday morning, adding there was no material damage or casualties caused by the incident.
The military said the missiles “were intercepted and dealt with in accordance with approved operational procedures.”
Earlier, the Foreign Ministry condemned “in the strongest terms the recurrence of Iran’s heinous aggression against the state of Kuwait, the latest of which was at dawn today, in a flagrant violation of its sovereignty.”
Iran’s inflation rate accelerated sharply in June, reaching 88.6 per cent year-on-year, according to the country’s Statistics Centre, which linked the surge to the economic impact of the recent war.
The official agency said food prices more than doubled during the Persian month of Khordad (May 22 to June 21) compared with the same period last year. Bread and grain prices rose nearly 139 per cent, while red meat and poultry prices increased 178 per cent.
Iran has faced persistent inflationary pressures for years amid international sanctions and economic instability.
Bahrain’s air defences intercepted Iranian missiles and drones on Sunday, the Gulf kingdom’s military said, after the US carried out new strikes against Iran.
The Bahraini military said it had “intercepted and destroyed a number of projectiles used in these treacherous Iranian attacks,” adding that it was on “maximum alert.”
Iran announced earlier that it had launched strikes against the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain and another base in Kuwait, in retaliation for US strikes on its territory.
Kuwait’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed its “strongest denunciation of the repeated heinous Iranian aggressions” against the country, saying the attacks were a “flagrant violation of its sovereignty” and a direct challenge to international efforts at de-escalation.
The ministry warned that such attacks undermine regional and global efforts at de-escalation and “represents a direct challenge to the international will supporting this path.”
Kuwait “reserves its full right to take all necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty, preserve its security and stability, and protect its people and the residents on its territory,” the ministry said.
Iran claimed attacks on Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Base, saying it was targeting US forces, after CENTCOM bombarded Iran’s coastal region, citing assaults on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Bahrain’s army said it intercepted several Iranian attacks, while the Interior Ministry confirmed a residential building was damaged but no deaths were reported.
The statements came after Bahrain said sirens had sounded and its Foreign Ministry condemned what it called a renewed Iranian attack.
Former Israeli army chief and opposition Yashar Party leader Gadi Eisenkot has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of dragging the country to its “lowest point in history” and expressed support for an inquiry into decisions on Gaza and Lebanon.
“A prime minister who has blindly dragged the country to its lowest point in history, who works day and night to fuel division and incitement, who invests all his energy in encouraging draft dodging, is unworthy of this nation and certainly not fit to preach morals about unity,” Eisenkot wrote on X.
He said Netanyahu had “continued to lie about Gaza and Lebanon” at his press conference earlier.
Heavy military forces have been deployed across Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, which has been sealed off amid growing reports of a possible military coup and raids targeting the residences of senior officials.
The lockdown comes as the region plunges deeper into crisis. US aircraft struck Iran for the second straight day, and Tehran retaliated with drone and missile attacks on American positions in Bahrain and Kuwait. The Green Zone, which houses both the Iraqi government and the US Embassy, is now shut.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a statement saying it “strongly condemns” the latest US strikes against on the country’s southern coast.
The ministry said Washington’s “brutal attacks” violate the ceasefire outlined as part of the MoU between Tehran and Washington.
They also “show that the US regime does not place the slightest value and credibility on its commitments, and breaking promises is part of the nature of this regime”, it said.
The ministry added that Tehran “emphasizes its determination to defend Iran’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity against US military aggression”.
Bahrain has expressed its “strongest condemnation” of Iran’s latest ballistic missile and drone strikes against the country, describing the attacks as a violation of its sovereignty and a “dangerous escalation” that undermines regional stability.
In a statement shared by the Bahrain News Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting “to put an end to this ongoing aggression and holding its perpetrators accountable.”
Bahrain affirmed its “full legitimate right to defend its sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity in accordance with international law,” and held the Iranian regime “fully responsible for any escalation resulting from its continued aggression.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the framework agreement with Lebanon sends a clear message to Iran — “this is none of your business” — and that the deal breaks both the “Iranian axis of terror” and the “Iranian diplomatic axis.”
“Lebanon, Israel, and the US are essentially saying to Iran: This is none of your business. You have no status here. You have no involvement and no role,” Netanyahu said.
He added that Israel and Lebanon have agreed on two adjacent areas near the Yellow Line for a pilot programme to disarm Hezbollah and transfer territory to Lebanese army control.
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