“US Israel Iran War”

Europe is studying proposals that may allow the charging of navigational fees in the strait of Hormuz so long as the tolls are not compulsory and have the support of the UN agency that regulates maritime transport.

Britain’s deputy prime minister, David Lammy, said the imposition of compulsory tolls would be disastrous. But some of his cabinet colleagues said they recognised that systems of payments for specific navigational services were permissible in many natural waterways, including the strait of Malacca and the Channel.

Mojtaba Khamenei has vowed to exact revenge on the United States and Israel for the killing of his father and predecessor as Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on February 28, at the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran.

“Revenge is the demand of the nation and must certainly be carried out,” according to a written statement attributed to Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, which was broadcast on state television.

What can you say about a country that was decimated? That it loved martyrdom?

Iran has certainly been defeated on the battlefield, but by not yet losing the war, it has gained stature in geopolitical influence with its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, and some sympathy in the typically anti-West Global South — for standing up to the combined kinetic fury unleased by President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, and continuing the fight, unbowed. The Iranian center of raw power currently lies with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), more than the mullahs who provide doctrinal support.

Residents in southern Iran have described two nights of fear this week after explosions shook coastal communities as the US launched fresh strikes on targets including the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik.

US Central Command confirmed the attacks, saying they were carried out to “further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the strait of Hormuz”.

For residents in Posht-e Shahr, Bandar Abbas, back-to-back explosions marked another night of terror as they scrambled to check on friends and family. Noor, a teacher who lives near the fishing pier, said this week’s strikes were stronger than most in recent months.

It’s a Guardian story so naturally all Iranians are fighting the good fight against the evil Trump.

Donald Trump has declared that the ceasefire with Iran is over as he arrived at the Nato summit in Ankara, launching an angry broadside in which he complained about the military alliance and repeated his demand for Greenland.

The US president, sitting alongside the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, called Iran’s leadership scum and “sick people”, and added that he was “very upset” with the alliance and even threatened to cut off all trade with Spain in a row over defence spending.

.@POTUS on the status of the ceasefire with Iran: "To me, I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum… They're led by sick people… I'll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate—they're good people… but they have to come back to me. As far… pic.twitter.com/6eYfwMxSdn

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 8, 2026

The US has launched a series of “powerful” strikes on Iran in response to attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

US Central Command (Centcom) said on Tuesday it had begun the assault, “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent individuals in an international waterway”.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister called the US attacks a violation of the US-Iran memorandum signed last month, and warned that Tehran would “take decisive measures”.

TEHRAN ― A huge funeral procession for Iran’s slain supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was held in Tehran on Monday morning, with a teeming crowd clogging the streets to bid farewell to the ayatollah who ruled the country for 37 years before being killed in an airstrike at age 86.

At an early stage on the procession route, people chanted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

And some of the mourners demanded retribution.

(more…)

The Islamic Republic of Iran has long mastered the art of deception, particularly when it comes to its nuclear program. Many times, it has been caught advancing its nuclear ambitions behind closed doors — from covert enrichment facilities to undeclared sites — only, when exposed, to delay, deflect and deny.

Now, the regime is not even hiding it.

TEHRAN ― Tens of thousands of mourners streamed on foot to the Grand Mosalla religious complex in Tehran on Saturday as Iran mourned its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in an airstrike on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war.

The huge outpouring to view the caskets of the slain leader and some of his family members, positioned at the front of a prayer hall, is part of five days of somber funeral rites that will stretch across five cities and into Iraq, before Khamenei is buried in Mashhad, his hometown.

The public display of lamentation and bereavement was an opportunity for collective closure after some of the most perilous months in the Islamic republic’s history, but also a forceful show of defiance from a system badly battered but very much still standing.

The WAPO is mourning far more for Khamenei than they ever will for Trump.

Iran’s entire regime made a red carpet entrance to the first of three funeral ceremonies for late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — except the dead ayatollah’s own son and successor.

Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen or heard from since the Feb. 28 strike that killed his father, wife and child — with reports indicating that the younger Khamenei was seriously injured or even disfigured.

Senior U.S. officials feared that Israel intended to assassinate Iran’s top negotiators as the Trump administration pursued a high-stakes deal to end the war there and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, current and former officials familiar with the matter said.

Washington’s objection to killing Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the country’s parliamentary speaker, was so acute that this spring it took the extraordinary step of asking intermediaries to warn Iran about Israel’s assassination aims, the officials said.

“You kill those folks and you’re killing the pragmatists,” said a U.S. official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. outlook on Israel’s targeted killing campaign.

“sources”

While diplomatic backchannels between Tehran and Washington remain active to contain regional escalation and finalize temporary understandings, a full-scale political battle has erupted inside Iran. Reuters reported in June 2026 that Iran and the United States were still exchanging messages regarding an interim memorandum of understanding, including mechanisms for releasing frozen Iranian funds.

The Trump Administration is making a big mistake by engaging in negotiations with Hamas — as well as Iran.

Instead of weakening the Iran-backed terrorist group and its sponsors, these negotiations legitimize them as political actors and, for Hamas, only strengthen their standing among Palestinians; and for Iran’s rulers, among countries that might have been hoping to move toward the West.