Iran war live: Uneasy calm in the Middle East after deadly attacks

The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency says the security threat in the Strait of Hormuz remains at its highest level.

The warning follows the latest military escalation between the United States and Iran, which has increased risks for ships crossing the vital waterway.

Hormuz carries a large share of the world’s oil and gas supplies making any disruption a major threat to global energy markets and shipping.

JMIC Advisory Note: 013-26

Click here to view the full advisory note⤵️https://t.co/mCeqf5ZFVr#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/z3fKAMwjgJ

— UKMTO Operations Centre (@UK_MTO) July 10, 2026

Israel’s military says it killed a Hamas commander it alleged took part in the October 7, 2023, attacks.

It identified the Palestinian as Yahya Saeed Muhammad Hamdan, head of the Qassam Brigades Nukhba forces unit that attacked Reim. He was killed in southern Gaza on Thursday, the army said.

“The terrorist posed an immediate threat to our forces operating in the area and was neutralized in a precision air strike,” it said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

There is still ambiguity over the cause of the explosions last night in Iran.

Over the past few days, there were the largest attacks since the ceasefire was agreed to in April. The Americans hit more than 90 locations across Iran, including the capital Tehran, the city of Mashhad, and the Strait of Hormuz.

Then, on Thursday, there were attacks on the city of Bushehr, including the outer perimeter of the nuclear power plant. The Iranians said it was the Americans and the US acknowledged that.

But then at night there were new attacks on Konarak, a military site, that was hit twice. Then, in Bushehr, another military site was struck, according to Iranian officials.

The Iranian explanation was that “enemy forces” hit Bushehr and Konarak, while the Americans said it was not them launching attacks. Since then, there has been complete silence.

Emotional scenes have taken place in Gaza as a woman received the body of her son who was shot dead by Israeli soldiers after approaching the “Yellow Line” occupation zone.

Mohammed Abu Khammash was killed by soldiers east of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza nine days ago. His relatives were then forced to wait that long before being allowed to retrieve his body that lay exposed in the open.

The remains arrived in a black bag, badly decomposed.

The US and Israel’s war on Iran has strained consumer prices and household budgets in European countries such as Greece.

On Friday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced that petrol and diesel costs for consumers would fall during the summer following a government deal with oil refineries aimed at taming the impact of the Iran war on fuel prices.

Responding to a question about the cost of living by an opposition politician, Mitsotakis told parliament Greece’s two major oil refineries agreed to price reductions until the end of next month.

“Fuel prices will drop by 10 cents per litre and diesel fuel will drop by 5 cents per litre,” he said, adding the relief would last until the end of August.

After falling to its lowest point in May, global oil demand is beginning to recover, helped by seasonal consumption and the gradual return of supplies from the Middle East.

Demand is still expected to shrink by about one million barrels a day across 2026, the International Energy Agency said. However, the pace of decline should ease during the second half of the year, before consumption begins rising again in the final quarter.

The energy agency expects demand to grow by two million barrels a day in 2027. Worldwide oil stocks rose by 21 million barrels in June, the first increase in four months. Much of that oil remained on ships rather than in land-based storage.

Israeli forces have arrested two people near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank as the crackdown on Palestinians continues.

Security sources told the Wafa news agency that Sami Daoud al-Zeer, in 60s and mayor of Jannata, and Adel Daoud al-Asakrah, 49, from the al-Asakrah area, were detained after their homes were raided by soldiers.

Israeli troops also entered Beit Falouh, Rafida, Abu Njeim, al-Ubeidiya, al-Shawawra, and Dar Salah to the east, as well as the Dheisheh camp to the south of Bethlehem.

The IRGC’s top commander has pledged vengeance against the US and Israel for the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying it won’t “be erased from the historical memory”.

Brigadier-General Ahmad Vahidi called for the “full realisation of justice and a fitting response to the criminals, especially the child-killing American army”.

“The criminal leaders of America and all enemies of the Islamic Revolution and the Resistance Front must know that by the cowardly assassination of this divine leader they will never … bring the flag of resistance to the ground,” Vahidi said in a statement carried by Sepah news agency.

“Avenging the martyrs and the punishment of the perpetrators … will remain a definitive, legitimate, and an unforgettable demand.”

Vahidi’s comments come after Khamenei was buried in his hometown of Mashhad on Thursday, four months after he and four family members died in US-Israeli air strikes.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met army commander Rodolphe Haykal to discuss “the security situation in the country in general and in the south in particular, in light of the ongoing Israeli attacks on a number of southern villages and towns”, his office said.

“The discussion also addressed the ongoing preparations to implement what is contained in the framework formula in the designated experimental areas, where the Lebanese Army is expected to deploy concurrently with the Israeli withdrawal,” a post on X said.

The US brokered the direct Israel-Lebanon talks, which began in April, and it is also a signatory to what is officially a trilateral agreement.

But the deal does not force Israel to withdraw from the large area of southern Lebanon it continues to occupy, and Israel also appears to be signalling it will continue attacks if it deems necessary.

Three former crew members of a Thai cargo ship struck in the Strait of Hormuz in March filed a lawsuit on Friday against the vessel’s operator over labour rights violations and unfair dismissal.

The ship, the Mayuree Naree, was hit by a projectile north of Oman on March 11, killing three people. The remaining 20 crew members were rescued and returned to Thailand about a week later.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants endangered their lives by sailing through the strait despite the security risks, according to their lawyer Kunpat Singhathong.

The safety of stranded seafarers in the Gulf has been a source of concern among Asian nations – including India, the Philippines, and Thailand – whose citizens make up a significant portion of ship crews.

“This is not simply a matter of shipping statistics,” said Arsenio Dominguez, the secretary-general of the UN’s International Maritime Organization. “Behind the figures are seafarers, and in some cases their families, who continue to bear the human cost of this conflict.”

Israeli strikes and gunfire across Gaza have killed at least six people, Gaza’s civil defence agency and health officials say.

An Israeli drone strike on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed two people and wounded several others. Israeli attacks elsewhere killed four more Palestinians.

Watch below:

Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon intensified between Thursday night and Friday morning with continued air raids, gunfire, and demolitions despite a US-brokered “ceasefire”.

• An Israeli drone dropped a stun grenade near the town of al-Mansouri in the southern Tyre district.
• Overnight, Israeli troops opened machine-gun fire positions in Biyyada towards Buyout al-Sayyad in Tyre.
• The National News Agency reported Israeli tanks and military vehicles advanced towards Birket al-Hammam in Khiam as military activity persisted around the town.
• Israeli soldiers set fire to several homes in Qantara in Marjayoun district.
• Israeli forces opened fire from Beit Yahoun towards residential neighbourhoods in Braachit in Bint Jbeil district, damaging several homes.
• Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the casualty toll from Israeli attacks since March 2 reached 4,321 people killed and 12,204 wounded.

After this week’s NATO summit in Ankara, President Trump indicated he may be ready to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkiye but added he hasn’t yet fully made up his mind.

Turkiye and Israel have acrimonious relations. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he urged Trump not to sell the sophisticated fighter jets to Turkiye, saying it would put Israel in danger.

Netanyahu’s office also said Trump updated him on US moves in the Gulf during ongoing tensions with Iran.

Americans have become markedly less favourable towards Israelis since the war on Gaza, while attitudes towards Palestinians have remained largely unchanged, according to a new survey.

Only 52 percent of Americans now hold a favourable view of the Israeli people, down from 67 percent in 2022. The survey also found majorities hold unfavourable views of the Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas, with negative views of Israel’s government rising sharply in recent years.

The generational divide is even starker. Among Americans under 30, 58 percent view Palestinians favourably compared with just 32 percent who express a positive view of Israelis.

The gap is widest among young Democrats, 72 percent of whom view Palestinians favourably while only 26 percent say the same about Israelis.

Young Republicans now view Palestinians and Israelis at similar levels, marking a sharp shift from just a few years ago when they were significantly more supportive of Israelis.

Israeli settlers and forces have raided several neighbourhoods in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

Security sources told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that Israeli military vehicles stormed the city and soldiers entered the Old City, the Eastern Complex, and the Western area.

Israeli troops also raided the al-Nassariya and al-Badhan areas north of Nablus.

There are an estimated 500,000 Israelis among roughly three million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Palestinians have for years reported vandalism, damage to farmland, and attacks linked with Israeli settlement expansion.

More liquefied natural gas tankers have resumed transiting the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, according to ship-tracking data.

Despite renewed fighting between the US and Iran, at least five ballast LNG tankers entered the strait in recent days, according to data from Kpler and LSEG.

The vessels include GasLog Shanghai, controlled by Greek shipping company GasLog, and QatarEnergy-linked carriers Al Samriya, Al Dafna, Al Gattara, and Al Rayyan.

Meanwhile, 22 Japan-linked vessels exited, including six large crude oil tankers that transited the strait between July 7 and 9, Japan’s Transport Minister Yasushi Kaneko told a news conference.