Trump threatens Iran amid regional push for new talks

A US military delegation met with Lebanon's army in Beirut to discuss the implementation of Israel's withdrawal from a "pilot zone" in occupied territory, a Lebanese military official told AFP on Saturday.

Under a framework agreement reached on 26 June, Israel will gradually withdraw from areas of southern Lebanon where it has deployed troops to fight Hezbollah, the Iran-backed movement.

As part of the agreement, the long-disempowered Lebanese military will take full control of two small areas dubbed pilot zones.

"The American military delegation arrived and began meetings with the Lebanese army command to discuss the mechanisms for implementing the first pilot zone from which the Israelis will withdraw, allowing the Lebanese army to deploy," the official said, requesting anonymity.

"This is the main objective the American military delegation is bringing to Lebanon... it is the translation and implementation of the framework agreement."

Iran warned on Saturday that it would no longer be bound by a deal with the US aimed at ending the Middle East war if Washington's violations of the agreement continued, state TV reported.

Referring to the deal struck with the help of Pakistani mediation, Tehran's UN ambassador said "that if the United States continues to violate its obligations under the Islamabad Understanding, Iran will no longer consider itself bound by its commitments under that understanding", according to a statement carried by state broadcaster IRIB.

US airstrikes on Iran killed 17 people on Wednesday and Thursday, the Iranian Health Ministry revealed.

A further 115 were wounded. 

The Gaza Health Ministry revealed that Israel's ongoing war has killed at least 73,221 Palestinians since 7 October 2023.

A further 173,643 Palestinians have been injured.

Hospitals in the Gaza Strip received seven bodies and 28 injuries over the past 48 hours.

An Israeli drone attack targeting a vehicle killed one Palestinian and wounded others west of Nuseirat camp in Gaza.

Several others were wounded.

An Israeli drone struck a target in the town of al-Mansouri in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon on Saturday afternoon, according to the country's state-run news agency.

A US military delegation has met with Lebanon's army in Beirut to discuss the implementation of Israel's withdrawal from one of the "pilot zones" in occupied territory, a Lebanese military official told AFP on Saturday.

Under a framework agreement reached on 26 June, Israel will gradually withdraw from areas of southern Lebanon where it has sent troops as part of its military campaign against Hezbollah.

As part of the agreement, the long-disempowered Lebanese military will take full control of two small areas dubbed pilot zones.

"The American military delegation arrived and began meetings with the Lebanese army command to discuss the mechanisms for implementing the first pilot zone from which the Israelis will withdraw, allowing the Lebanese army to deploy," the official said, requesting anonymity.

"This is the main objective the American military delegation is bringing to Lebanon... it is the translation and implementation of the framework agreement."

Hundreds of residents of an eastern Iraqi city protested on Saturday against power cuts during extreme summer heat, an AFP correspondent said.

Temperatures in the city of Kut have peaked at 44C, with residents organising protests to urge authorities to boost electricity supply.

Decades of war have left Iraq's infrastructure in a pitiful state, with power failures worsening blistering summers.

On Friday night, hundreds of protesters took to the streets with dozens hurling stones at security forces, who responded by firing tear gas and detaining more than 30 people, according to an AFP correspondent.

Two local health officials told AFP on condition of anonymity that more than 50 police officers were injured.

It is unclear how many protesters were wounded, with one source estimating the number at around 30.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Berlin and Paris are working on a joint initiative to support Lebanon's stability and strengthen its state institutions following months of conflict.

The proposal is expected to focus on reinforcing the Lebanese Armed Forces, supporting the implementation of the Israel-Lebanon framework agreement, and extending the authority of the Lebanese state across its territory.

Wadephul said the initiative is being developed in close coordination with France, which has long played a leading diplomatic role in Lebanon and remains a key contributor to peacekeeping efforts in the war-torn south through UNIFIL.

The two countries are also expected to coordinate international support for southern Lebanon's reconstruction and security sector.

Israel's military has completed updated operational plans for a potential future strike on Iran, according to The New Arab, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighs his options following last month's confrontation between the two countries.

The report says Israeli officials are considering three broad scenarios, ranging from maintaining the current deterrence to launching another military operation if they conclude Tehran is rebuilding its military or nuclear capabilities.

The plans were reportedly refined using lessons learned from the latest conflict and are intended to be ready if diplomatic efforts between the US and Iran fail. Israeli security officials believe Iran will eventually seek to restore its strategic capabilities despite the damage inflicted during the recent war.

The report suggests Netanyahu has yet to decide on a course of action, with future developments in US-Iran negotiations expected to play a key role in Israel's calculations.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Saturday that avenging his slain predecessor and father was "the demand of the nation" and "must certainly" take place, according to a written message released on his Telegram account.

Khamenei issued the message on the occasion of funeral ceremonies for his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, held months after he was killed in the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on February 28.

"We pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced killers," Khamenei said in the message.

Lebanon's state-run news agency says a new round of Israeli drone strikes hit several areas of the south on Saturday morning.

Drones targeted the village of Kfar Tebnit near Nabatieh, and Majdal Zoun in Tyre district, according to the National News Agency. Two strikes were also reported in the village of Mansouri in Tyre district.

غارة من مسيّرة إسرائيلية على دفعتين استهدفت بلدة كفرتبنيت في قضاء النبطية pic.twitter.com/Ox7aTBfon2

— Sawt Beirut International (@SawtBeirut) July 11, 2026

Two members of Iran's security forces were killed in an attack in the northeast city of Mashhad, where the funeral of late supreme leader Ali Khamenei was held, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

The two people killed were "members of the Basij forces", a paramilitary force affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the Iranian military, Tasnim said.

Tasnim did not specify the date of the incident or the identity of the attackers, but said that "the perpetrator or perpetrators of this act will be punished".

According to the agency, the two men were killed while "patrolling in the city of Mashhad, about fifteen kilometres (nine miles) from the shrine" of Imam Reza, the holiest site for Shia Muslims in Iran, where Ali Khamenei was buried early Friday.

A source close to Iran's negotiating team has ruled out resuming peace negotiations until the US retracts its positions, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

The source rejected claims by US President Donald Trump that Tehran had requested a new round of talks.

The number of Palestinians killed in Israel's genocidal assault in Gaza has risen to 73,221, the local health ministry said in its daily bulletin on Saturday.

Another 173,643 have been wounded since 7 October 2023, it said.

Israeli forces have now killed 1,098 people and injured another 3,535 since the ceasefire was supposed to come into effect on 10 October.

EU foreign ministers will discuss options for restricting trade with Israeli settlements on Monday.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, has reported sent a list of legal options ahead of the meeting, including an outright ban on trade, tariffs to price settlement goods out of the market, and an import licensing system, according to European news site Euractiv.

The meeting comes a few a days after Irish lawmakers passed a bill to ban trade in goods with Israeli settlements.

Human Rights Watch has urged governments to push back against the Board of Peace's bid to ban UNRWA from Gaza.

The Trump-backed organisation earlier this month declared that "UNRWA has no place in the new Gaza", echoing long-standing Israeli and US goals of dismantling the UN agency on whom millions of Palestinians depend.

"Governments should disregard the statement from the US President Donald Trump-chaired Board of Peace," HRW's UN director Louis Charbonneau wrote on Friday.

He said that the Board does not have the power to decide UNRWA's future and said Israel should comply with its international obligations and end its ongoing attacks on the agency.

Relief agencies have warned that UNRWA is irreplaceable and undermining its operations would have potentially catastrophic consequences for Palestinians.

Seventeen people were killed and another 115 were wounded in Iran during two days of US strikes on 8 and 9 July, according to Iran's health ministry.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in the Omani capital Muscat for talks, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi on Saturday criticised the US for reneging on key parts of the interim agreement and claimed that Tehran had not violated the deal.

"Iran has so far kept its word, unlike the so-called US Treasury Secretary who is violating Para 9 of the MoU," Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.

"That violation follows other violations and missteps by the United States," he said, adding there must be "mutual compliance" for the deal to move forward.

Iran has so far kept its word, unlike the so-called U.S. Treasury Secretary who is violating Para 9 of the MoU.

That violation follows other violations and missteps by the United States.

Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance.

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) July 11, 2026

An explosion heard in the eastern part of Tehran province was caused by the controlled disposal of ammunition remaining from the war, Iranian state media, citing a local official, said on Saturday.

The official said the operation posed no threat to citizens and that no incident had occurred.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian state media reported that an explosion was heard in the eastern part of Tehran province, with residents of Pakdasht and Qiyamdasht reporting the blast while its source and exact location were not immediately known.

US President Donald Trump said Friday the United States would "completely decimate" Iran if it attempted or succeeded in assassinating the sitting president.

"1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

"Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran," he said.