US launches strikes, Iran closes Hormuz and hits back at three Arab countries

The World Bank on Thursday lowered its global growth forecast to its lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, warning of the expanding economic impacts of the US-Israeli war on Iran on countries around the globe.

"Global growth is forecast to slow to 2.5 per cent in 2026, down from 2.9 per cent in 2025. Forecasts for two-thirds of economies have been downgraded relative to January of this year," the multilateral lender said in a statement accompanying the release of its Global Economic Prospects report.

An Israeli air strike has hit a residential building located near a hospital in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, killing one person and injuring 17 others, according to the country's National News Agency (NNA).

Among those injured are 10 hospital staff, including nurses, who were hurt by flying glass and debris, reported NNA.

The strike also damaged emergency and patient rooms inside the medical facility, NNA added.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent vowed Thursday to use Iranian funds to pay for damages that the country causes on Gulf allies, warning of sharp economic consequences from Tehran's attacks.

"Any damage it inflicts on our allies in the Gulf will be paid for with funds extracted from Iranian Accounts," Bessent wrote on X.

He also added that "any tolls paid to the Persian Gulf Strait Authority will be offset by funds extracted from their accounts."

An Israeli soldier was moderately wounded by an explosive drone strike in southern Lebanon, according to the Israeli press.

In a similar vein, Hezbollah announced that it had targeted a combat vehicle and a Merkava tank belonging to the Israeli occupation army at Khallet al-Raj in the town of Deir Siryan, southern Lebanon, with two attack drones.

The party said in another statement that it also targeted, with an assault march, a Merkava tank on the Saf al-Hawa road in the city of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, confirming that direct hits were achieved on the targeted targets.

US President Donald Trump vowed fresh strikes on Iran on Thursday, adding that US forces would soon seize the country's key oil infrastructure.

The US military will hit Iran "VERY HARD TONIGHT," Trump said on the right-wing social media platform, Truth Social.

"At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela," he added.

The Indian Ministry of Ports and Shipping said that 13 Indian-flagged ships are stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that "there are more than 18,000 Indian sailors in the Gulf region."

US forces struck and disabled a third commercial oil tanker attempting to bypass their blockade of Iranian ports this week, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Thursday, adding that it was the ninth such attack since the blockade began.

American forces "acted against Guinea-Bissau flagged M/T Jalveer as it attempted to transport oil from Iran through the Gulf of Oman," CENTCOM said. "A US aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles into the ship's engine room after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from US forces."

According to Israeli media, a military officer was seriously wounded, and a soldier was lightly wounded by an explosive device blast during the Israeli military's raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli authorities on Thursday denied entry to French reporter Alice Froussard, who has been covering Palestine for French public service broadcasters Radio France and Radio France Internationale.

The Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism said that Alice Froussard, "who sought to return and work in Israel on a permanent basis," was "deported this morning and put on a flight back to France" on the ministry's recommendation. The minister accused the reporter of supporting Hamas, without providing any evidence.

It comes two days after Paris announced that Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was banned from the country for his support of the annexation of the occupied West Bank.

The BBC will broadcast the opening ceremony of the FIFA 2026 World Cup in the United States on Saturday, 13 June, despite growing controversy over the US government’s treatment of fans, players and FIFA officials, as well as ongoing concerns about migrant rights abuses.

The decision signals a marked shift from how the British public broadcaster handled the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, raising questions about potential double standards.

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Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called on the United States and Iran to halt the resumption of attacks and return to the negotiating table mediated by Pakistan, to prevent further escalation and reach an agreement to end the war.

The Kremlin called on the United States and Iran on Thursday to restart peace talks and said the new strikes in their war would be bad for the world economy.

"We call on all parties in this conflict to exercise restraint and return to the negotiating table," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked by AFP about fresh attacks.

He added that the escalation risks more "negative consequences for the situation in the region and the global economy."

Saudi Arabia condemned on Thursday overnight Iranian attacks on Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, and called for renewed negotiations under Pakistani and Qatari mediation to end the US-Israeli war on Iran.

In a statement, the Saudi foreign ministry called for "de-escalation and restraint, urging all parties to prioritise wisdom by returning to diplomatic efforts and resuming the constructive negotiations sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, along with the efforts of the State of Qatar".

Water supply to villages in southern Iran has been restored after US strikes hit reservoirs, state television reported on Thursday, in what Iranian officials described as a "war crime."

An exchange of fire that took place overnight into Wednesday morning saw US strikes hit two water reservoirs in the town of Sirik, cutting off nearly 20,000 people from access to drinking water.

"The water distribution network of the affected areas has been restored," said Abdolhamid Hamzehpour, general manager of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, according to state television on Thursday.

He said the repair process took "less than 12 hours" and "the intermittent supply problems for subscribers in the city of Kouhestak and the villages of the Bemani district were fully resolved".

Efforts to reach a preliminary deal between Iran and the US have intensified, three Iranian sources and a European official told Reuters on Thursday, despite strikes launched by both sides, as they discuss a mechanism for releasing frozen Iranian funds.

The sources said Iran and the United States were still exchanging messages over details of a memorandum of understanding amid the ongoing confrontation between Tehran and Washington.

The Iranian sources said a political understanding had been reached, but some issues remained to be discussed in detail, including a mechanism for the release of tens of billions of dollars of Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks.

"Iran wants $6 billion to $12 billion of its frozen funds to be released to Tehran, while Washington wants to release funds in stages for humanitarian goods and rejects returning funds to Iran outright," said one of the Iranian sources.

For its own survival, the clerical establishment's priority is not a comprehensive settlement but a framework that can restore minimum breathing space for the establishment by unlocking its frozen assets and ending the war, the Iranian sources said. 

China on Thursday "strongly" urged an immediate halt to military operations in the Middle East, as the United States launched fresh attacks on Iran.

"China strongly urges the relevant parties to immediately cease military operations, return to dialogue and negotiation, respond to the mediation efforts of relevant countries, and achieve a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire as soon as possible," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular press conference in response to a question about the current situation of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

US attacks overnight on Iran wounded at least three people in the Tehran province, Iranian media reports.

"Three people were injured in incidents related to the brutal US attacks in Tehran province," says head of the province’s emergency services Mohammad Esmail Tavakoli, according to Fars news agency.

The country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said other sites near the capital were hit, including in Karaj, Nazarabad, and Pishva.

Reuters quoted an informed official as saying that Qatari negotiators left Tehran on Thursday after talks with Iranian officials that continued into the early hours, aimed at agreeing to end the US-Israeli war.

Indian shipping minister says 3 Indians killed in US attack on oil tanker that the US accused of violating its blockade on Iran.

Earlier, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency 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.

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 on board.

Bahrain's Interior Ministry said on Thursday that an 11-year-old girl suffered minor injuries.

At the same time, vehicles caught fire and homes were damaged in Hamad Town and the capital, Manama, after debris fell from Iranian drones that were intercepted and destroyed.

The ministry published pictures showing firefighters trying to put out a blaze in several homes. 

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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Lebanese media reports Israeli strikes in the eastern Beqaa Valley.

The strike reportedly takes place on the outskirts of Taraiyya, near Baalbeck.

Moreover, Israeli strikes and heavy fire continued in the south, particular targetting villages and towns close to the border.

The Ansar Allah group (also known as the Houthis) warned earlier this morning, Thursday, of repercussions due to continued US attacks on Iran, considering that this may push the region towards a broader war and threaten international peace and security.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the unrecognised Houthi government said, in a statement published by the group's Saba agency, that "the continued US aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran will push the region to slide toward a broader war that will have serious repercussions on the region and the world."

The statement said that the US attacks will not achieve their goals, and will not succeed in "breaking the will of the Iranian people or undermining their steadfastness," adding that their continuation will lead to "more involvement and deepening of the strategic impasse for the United States."

The Houthi Foreign Ministry affirmed what it described as "Iran's legitimate right to defend itself, its sovereignty, and the integrity of its territory," including responding to any attacks targeting it. It declared the group's solidarity with Tehran and its standing by its side in the face of what it described as "American aggression and blockade."

Kuwait reopened its airspace to commercial traffic on Thursday after the latest volley of Iranian attacks caused a brief shutdown, its civil aviation body said.

"Air traffic in Kuwaiti airspace has returned to normal," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement.