Ceasefire titters as attacks between US and Iran in Gulf continue for second night

Oil tanker traffic through the Strait ⁠of Hormuz was at a near standstill on Thursday, according to Reuters.

Two tankers sailed through the strait in the early hours of this morning, according to the news agency. 

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced the killing of three of its members in Khuzestan Province, southwestern Iran, during US attacks last night, according to IRNA news agency.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy said in a statement on Thursday that the "overwhelming response" to the US army's attacks shows that "the fate of the battle is not determined by the abundance of weapons, but by the power of faith."

It said that its fighters "succeeded in establishing administration over the Strait of Hormuz and imposing security in it during the past two weeks, and they worked to gradually reopen it," noting that navigation capacity rose to about 50% of the traffic rates prior the US-Israeli war.

The Iranian navy stated that it is currently working to increase the carrying capacity for the passage of ships that adheres to security controls to cross specific Iranian routes and obtain permits from the Naval Force of the Revolutionary Guard.

The statement stressed that "foreigners have no share in this land and in the Strait of Hormuz," adding that "the adventures of the American army" and its interference in determining navigation routes will be met with an "overwhelming response" from Iranian forces.

Braving sweltering heat and calling for revenge, Iranians loyal to the Islamic republic massed on Thursday for the burial of slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei in his hometown of Mashhad.

Thousands of people filled the streets of the eastern city of Mashhad, home to one of the holiest sites in the Shia strain of Islam that is prevalent in Iran.

With new hostilities breaking out with the United States even after an accord last month to end the war, at least one fighter jet escorted the plane carrying the late Iranian leader's coffin to Mashhad.

The burial will be the final act in a marathon six days of funeral ceremonies which have allowed people to pay tribute in Tehran, the clerical hub of Qom and also Iraq.

Men wore black shirts while women were clad in black chadors, many waving the red flags that symbolise the search for vengeance in Shia Islam, AFP correspondents said.

"People here all seek revenge," said Mohammad Afsharian, 41, a shop owner.

"I don't know what's the story with diplomacy and what's the policy to continue diplomacy but all the people are carrying red flags in a sign of seeking revenge," he said.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy said on Thursday that US attacks on Iran and intervention in redirecting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz were disrupting the strategic waterway's gradual reopening and jeopardizing the interests of countries benefiting from it.

The Guards added that transit capacity under Iran's supervision had recovered to about 50% of pre-war levels over the past two weeks, and that transit capacity was only being expanded for vessels granted permits to use routes designated by Iran.

They warned that any further US intervention would draw a "crushing response". 

At least eight Palestinians were killed and 17 wounded in Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours across the beseiged Gaza Strip.

Since the so-called "ceasefire" last October, at least 1,092 Palestinians have been killed and 3,507 wounded by Israeli forces.

Iran’s Mehr news agency reports more explosions have been heard in Bandar Abbas, an Iranian port city on the Strait of Hormuz.

After sirens sounded, the Jordanian government announced that the kingdom's airspace was breached by at least 8 missiles launched from Iran.

It was further stated that "the kingdom intercepted the Iranian missiles and confirms the readiness of its forces to deal with any threat it faces."

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree on Thursday setting legislative elections for 28 November, which if they take place, would mark the first such vote in two decades.

"The presidential decree calls on the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to participate in free and direct legislative elections to elect members of the Palestinian Legislative Council on the date specified," the official Wafa news agency reported, citing the decree.

Missile alert sirens sound in Jordan as Iran retaliates across the wider region for US airstrikes.

Maersk said on Thursday it would resume sailing through the Suez Canal.

Several explosions are heard in Iran’s Bushehr ‌province, where an Iranian nuclear power plant is located, the semi-official Mehr news reports.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that 5,900 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank were displaced from their homes due to attacks by Israeli settlers between January 2023 and April 2026.

The agency also says it documented 5,336 Israeli settler attacks during that period that resulted in damage to people or property.

Accompanying the announcement, the UN publishes a map showing the geographic distribution of the incidents. According to the map, most of the displacement occurred in the Jordan Valley, particularly in the area between Ramallah and Jericho, and in the South Hebron Hills. Those displaced are primarily Palestinians and Bedouins living in small communities consisting of several dozen families, rather than in villages or towns.

According to the UN, 45 communities were completely displaced and 72 were partially displaced.

The figures do not include the tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced after the Israeli army attacked and occupied the refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarem in counterterror operations since the beginning of 2025.

In March, the UN said that a total of 36,000 Palestinians were displaced due to either settler violence or Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank since 2024.

Overnight US strikes on Iran hit the Aq Taqeh Khan railway bridge in northern Iran's Golestan province, Fars news agency said on Thursday, a trade link to Tehran's strategic partners China and Russia.

Fars said the route that goes on to pass through Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan has been an important land link to China which gained further relevance during this year's blockade of Iran's Gulf ports by the US.

It added that the route had also been used by Russia for cargo shipments to Iran since late 2025. The agency said repairs to the bridge were expected to be completed quickly. 

At least one person was injured on Tuesday, Kuwait's defence ministry said, following the latest Iranian attack on the country.

"The injured individual is receiving the necessary medical care and is in stable condition," defence ministry spokesman Colonel Staff Saud Abdulaziz Al-Atwan said, adding that four missiles and 10 drones had been "successfully intercepted and neutralised" at dawn.

Iran's foreign ministry denounced US strikes against the country on Thursday, which it said targeted civilian infrastructure including railway bridges, as a "gross war crime".

The ministry in a statement said it "condemns in the strongest terms the aggressive attacks by the US terrorist army on several points in the southern coastal provinces and two bridges in the eastern provinces on the railway route to the holy city of Mashhad" and called the US administration "evil and psychopathic".

Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador to protest "baseless" allegations by UK officials against the Islamic Republic.

Alireza Yousefi, the ministry’s deputy for Western Europe, delivered a written protest to Ambassador Hugo Shorter condemning London’s "inappropriate approach" towards the Iranian people, according to Tasnim news agency.

This comes after Britain called in Iran's top diplomat in London following the conviction of two Romanian men over the stabbing of an Iran International journalist.

Yousefi rejected British claims that Iran sought to carry out operations in the United Kingdom, describing the allegations as "unfounded".

He accused Britain of "destructive conduct inconsistent with international law", including complicity with the United States and Israel in regional destabilisation.

A plane carrying the coffin of late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei landed in the eastern holy city of Mashhad on Thursday, ahead of his burial, state media reported.

Official news agency IRNA shared footage of the Mahan Air flight taxiing at the airport after landing in Khamenei's home city.

He was transferred from Iraq, where ceremonies took place in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.

Iranian state television reported that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s burial ceremony in Iran’s city of Mashhad has been pushed back.

Larger than expected crowds that gathered in Iraq’s Najaf and Karbala delayed the funeral procession on Wednesday.

The ceremony in Mashhad is now scheduled at 14:30 local time (11:00 GMT).

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani tells Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in a phone call that Iran and the United States should commit to diplomacy.

Al-Thani adds that Washington and Tehran should implement the signed memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war, according to the Qatari foreign ministry.

Iran launched drones towards a site in Qatar earlier today and a Qatari tanker was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week. Al-Thani condemned the attack in the call, the foreign ministry says.

Amnesty International on Thursday accused Israel of wiping out families in its strikes on Lebanon during its war with Hezbollah, calling for these attacks to be investigated as war crimes.

Amnesty analysed three strikes on civilian homes between March 6 and 13, in which 24 civilians were killed, 12 of them children.

The London-based rights group accused Israel of "wiping out families" in those strikes and called for them to be treated as "war crimes".

The group said it reached out to Israeli authorities, who said that some of the attacks "were carried out against Hezbollah military objectives", while others were "referred for examination".

The authorities told Amnesty they were "committed to mitigating harm to civilians during operational activity".

"Despite follow up, the Israeli military did not provide specific information regarding the three attacks... including what the targets may have been," Amnesty added.

Its findings in the investigation were based on interviews with 15 people, including survivors, relatives, paramedics, journalists who visited attack sites and local officials.

"Based on the evidence gathered, in each of these air strikes, Amnesty International has reasonable basis to conclude that Israeli forces violated international humanitarian law, including by failing to distinguish between civilians and military objectives, by carrying out attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects, or by failing to take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians," the report read.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz dismisses US President Donald Trump’s assertion yesterday that Israel will pull out of Lebanon.

"We didn't ask for anyone’s approval to enter Lebanon, and we don't need approval to stay in Lebanon," Katz said in response.

New evidence has emerged suggesting senior US military officials ignored warnings that intelligence used to identify targets in Iran was years out of date before a strike that killed scores of children at a primary school, as calls grow for Washington to release the findings of its investigation.

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US attacks across five provinces have killed 14 people and injured 78 since they began on Wednesday, Iran’s Health Ministry has said in a statement

The US military claimed it hit over 90 Iranian targets during a second straight night of strikes, with attacks aimed at "further degrading Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners in the Strait of Hormuz."

A statement from US Central Command said the latest strikes targeted "air defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage sites, naval capabilities, and military logistics infrastructure along Iran’s coastline," while noting the 80 targets struck the previous day.

"US forces remain vigilant, lethal, and prepared to execute operations directed by the commander in chief," CENTCOM said.

Iran's army announced that it had targeted with drones US patriot systems in Kuwait, a Satellite antenna in Qatar, and the a US Army fuel storage site in Bahrain, according to state media.