After US strikes, Iran hits back on Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan

Israel's attacks across Lebanon have killed at least 3,696 people since it launched its invasion on 2 March, according to the latest figures from the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

At least 11,413 people have also been wounded over that same period, the ministry said.

Three hospitals have shut down due to Israeli attacks, with 17 others damaged.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that he made the decision to negotiate and will continue with it until the end because Lebanon is a founding member of the United Nations and has its own entity and sovereignty, and based on his conviction that wars achieve no result except losses that everyone shares.

He stressed that "the goal of the negotiations in Washington is to restore the state to its role, so that the Lebanese do not remain subordinate to any party, whether through a guardianship authority or through someone negotiating on our behalf. We are the decision-makers, and Lebanon is a sovereign state with its own entity and capabilities. Its people, who have always contributed to the renaissance of many countries, are able today to contribute to the reconstruction and renaissance of their country."

In front of a delegation from the municipalities of Keserwan Al-Ftouh district, Aoun said, “What Lebanon has suffered over fifty years of mismanagement, corruption, and successive wars cannot end overnight, and today we are working to strengthen the state’s role in various issues.”

"It is forbidden to return to the era of guardianships, whatever they may be, and we welcome the assistance of any country, but there is a big difference between assistance and interference in Lebanese internal affairs for the benefit of any country at the expense of the Lebanese interest, which is something we do not accept," he added.

An official with knowledge of the matter tells Reuters that Qatari negotiators travelled to Tehran today after consultations with the US to finalise a potential US-Iran agreement.

There is no immediate comment from Washington or Tehran.

Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people and injured 15 others on Wednesday, state media reported Israeli strikes across the south.

In the town of Tirdaba, nine people were killed, and seven were wounded, while in the town of Deir Qanoun, three people were killed and three others were wounded.

In the touristic housing area of Tyre, one person was killed, and five others were wounded.

Lebanon's National News Agency media reports two dead in an Israeli drone strike in the coastal city of Sidon.

NNA reports that an "enemy drone" targeted a car, which "led to the death of two people who were inside it, and a large fire broke out in it and spread to a number of cars parked in the area."

Israeli airstrikes were also reported in various villages and towns across the south of the country. 

A member of the "Development and Liberation" bloc, MP Qasim Hashem, told The New Arab that Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri asserted to the US ambassador his adherence to Lebanese constants, foremost among them that the ceasefire be comprehensive and without restrictions or conditions.

Hashem added that Berri stressed that Hezbollah's withdrawal from the south of the Litani River must coincide with Israel's withdrawal from all the areas it occupied in southern Lebanon.

The UN human rights office will deploy a team of investigators to Lebanon next week to assess potential violations of international law by all parties to the current war, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Wednesday.

Israel has killed over 3,600 people and wounded over 11,000 in Lebanon.

US President Donald Trump, in a social media post on Wednesday, said Iran has taken too long to negotiate a deal and would now "have to pay the price," without giving any other details.

Israel is carrying out the state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Bedouin and herder communities in the occupied West Bank, a new report by Amnesty International has said.

The report, released on Wednesday details how the displacement of Bedouins and herders in Area C - which is under full Israeli military and civil control and covers 60% of the West Bank - is a direct result of Israeli state policy and support for violent Jewish settlers.

At least 117 Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities comprising a total of 5,910 people were partially or fully displaced from their land between January 2023 and April 2026, according to the report. Most of this displacement was attributed to settler attacks.

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A tanker's engine room caught fire off the coast of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, a UK maritime agency said, reporting two missing and one casualty.

Earlier, British maritime security company Vanguard Tech said the Palau-flagged tanker Settebello had "transmitted a distress call stating that its engine room had been struck by a missile while operating off Sohar in the Gulf of Oman" and that there was a fire onboard.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency later reported an incident 20 nautical miles northeast of Sohar in Oman.

"Local authorities have reported a tanker has experienced a fire in their engine room and are on the scene assisting with the evacuation of the crew," it said.

"The vessel is reporting 1 casualty and 2 crew members missing. No environmental impact reported," it added.

Hamas's recent effort to include Gaza in any regional ceasefire agreement has sparked debate about whether regional shifts could end Israel's ongoing genocide.

Yet, Palestinians enduring over two and a half years of Israel's genocide, the dominant sentiment remains cautious rather than hopeful.

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According to local press, Turkey's president, Erdogan, said that Israeli attacks on Syria and Lebanon "have reached a point where they also threaten Turkey." 

Diplomatic efforts with the United States cannot advance under repeated ceasefire violations, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei says, following overnight strikes.

"Following overnight events, we need to re-assess [the diplomatic path with Washington]… any diplomatic process requires a minimum stable environment," he said.

Baghaei accused Washington of undermining diplomacy through contradictory messages, shifting positions and repeated ceasefire violations, and says Israel is also damaging the process through repeated ceasefire breaches in Lebanon.

The media centre of the Greater Tehran Police announced that its intelligence department arrested a person on charges of "communicating with foreign parties" and "sending sensitive information about the country".

They added that investigations showed that the suspect collected information and data related to sensitive sites and economic conditions inside the country, and sent it to a person who managed his business in the United Arab Emirates.

Thousands of Iranians in the southern port town of Sirik have lost access to drinking water after US strikes hit two reservoirs in the area, Iranian state media said Wednesday.

The United States carried out strikes on the southern cities of Jask and Sirik and on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, after what Washington said was Iran's downing of a US Army Apache helicopter over Gulf waters.

The strikes damaged two reservoirs supplying the Bemani and Kouhestak areas of Sirik town.

"Unfortunately, following this attack, 20,000 residents of the region have lost access to safe drinking water, and with temperatures ranging between 45 and 50 degrees Celsius, conditions have become extremely difficult and critical for local inhabitants," Iran's state television quoted local water company officials as saying.

"The destruction of these reservoirs has created a major problem for the region's water supply network," it added, noting that the area had insufficient groundwater to replace the damaged reservoirs.

Efforts were underway to find alternatives for villages affected in the area, according to Abdolhamid Hamzehpour, a senior water company official in the southern province of Hormozgan.

Tehran condemned the strikes as having been carried out "under false pretext" and responded with missile and drone attacks on what it said were US bases in Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait.

The semi-official Iranian Fars Agency, citing an "informed military source,” reported that initial assessments based on satellite images and information received from field sources affiliated with the Iranian Foreign Intelligence Service indicate that “tangible success” has been achieved in the Iranian military operations carried out at dawn in response to the American attacks. 

The source stated that the initial results show that "70% of the targets" were hit, and that long-range ballistic missiles and drones belonging to the armed forces were able to penetrate the air defense systems stationed at US bases, and hit pre-specified targets at the Azraq base in Jordan and the Ali Al-Salem base in Kuwait, in addition to the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

China said Wednesday it was "deeply concerned" over the latest round of violence in the US-Israeli war on Iran and urged against escalation after Washington carried out strikes on Iran over the downing of a US helicopter.

"Various relevant parties should maintain calm and exercise restraint, stop intensifying the conflict and escalating the situation, take concrete measures to ease and cool down tensions," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news briefing.

The Israeli military has issued its latest forced displacement orders for southern Lebanon, directed at at least three villages, warning of an immediate attack and telling the residents to head north of the Zahrani river. 

The United Nations Development Program said that the direct damage caused by the Israeli attacks on buildings in the Beirut and Mount Lebanon governorates is estimated at more than $365 million, noting that more than 7,600 housing units were damaged, including more than 3,000 apartments that were completely destroyed.

At the same time, the resulting volume of rubble amounted to about 650,000 cubic meters.

A report issued by the program today explained that the assessment relied on geographical artificial intelligence techniques, satellite image analysis, in addition to field verification operations, to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data, indicating that the results of the assessment showed a clear concentration of damage in several areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre says it has received a report of "an incident 88 NM southwest of Balhaf, Yemen."

UKMTO notes that a cargo vessel "reported being approached by one craft with 6 armed persons on board."

"There was exchange of fire between the small craft and the cargo vessel's armed security team, resulting in the small craft turning away," it added.
 

Iran's foreign ministry warned Wednesday that its neighbours in the Gulf had a "legal and moral responsibility" to prevent American and Israeli strikes, as Tehran and Washington traded attacks.

In a statement, Iran's foreign ministry "reiterated the legal and moral responsibility of all countries in the region (especially those located along the southern shores of the Persian Gulf) to prevent the US military and Israel from using their territory or facilities to plan, organise, execute, or support hostile actions against Iran".

During the past few days, the fragile US-Israel-Iran ceasefire was put to the test with Israel and Iran striking each other for the first time since the 7/8 April ceasefire went into effect. 

This flare-up raised concerns about the Middle East sliding back into all-out war, writes Giorgio Cafiero.

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The Jordanian military announced that at least five ballistic missiles launched by Iran overnight toward the Al-Azraq base were intercepted.

According to the statement, there were no casualties or damage, but interception debris fell.

The Jordanian military further stated that it will not allow "any violation of Jordanian airspace."

Iran’s IRNA news agency reports that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held separate telephone calls overnight with counterparts in Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.

The ministers reviewed the latest regional developments following the US attacks on areas in southern Iran, in which Araghchi condemned the US military aggression and the violation of Iran’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

He also emphasised the inherent right of Iran’s legitimate self-defence and the launch of retaliatory responses by Iran’s armed forces against aggressors, according to the news agency.