Iran’s top ​joint military ‌command ⁠said on Saturday (June 20, 2026) that the Strait of ‌Hormuz would be ‌closed to ‌vessel ⁠traffic, ⁠citing alleged violations of a ceasefire agreement ​by ‌the U.S. and Israel, Iran’s Mehr state news ‌agency reported.

West Asia war LIVE updates – June 20, 2026

“It is hereby announced that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to vessel traffic,” Khatam al-Anbiya Central ​Headquarters said in a statement. It cited a U.S. “breach of contract” and “the Zionist regime’s continuous and relentless violation of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon”.

It ​said that the closure ⁠was the “first step” in ‌response to what it described as breaches of commitments and ‌warned that further measures ​would be taken if “aggression” ⁠continued.

The strait, an important conduit for oil and gas shipments, was blockaded by Iran for much of the war, sending shockwaves through global energy markets.

Iran had agreed to reopen it under the preliminary agreement with the US, and shipping traffic was starting to pick back up in recent days.

Follow-up talks on the U.S.-Iran deal had been planned in Switzerland on Friday (June 19), but were indefinitely postponed as Israel launched a wave of deadly strikes in Lebanon after four of its soldiers were killed in combat.

On Friday afternoon 9June 29, 2026), a U.S. official announced a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah brokered by U.S. and Qatari mediators, with Israel’s ambassador to Washington saying it would respect the truce if Hezbollah did.

But on Saturday (June 20, 2026), an Israeli military official said it was conducting fresh attacks against the Iran-backed movement, which it accused of having “launched more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon” overnight.

Hezbollah said Israel had carried out “under the cover of the ceasefire… an infiltration attempt towards the Ali Taher hills”, a strategic feature overlooking the city of Nabatieh, adding its fighters “confronted them with appropriate weapons”.

With AFP, Reuters inputs

Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed nine people, including two children, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Thursday (April 30, 2026), shortly after the President decried what he described as ongoing Israeli violations of a nearly two-week ceasefire.

Israel has pressed its attacks on Lebanon as the fragile ceasefire, announced after a round of direct talks between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors in Washington, neared its two-week mark.

Hamas’ chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya said on Sunday (December 14, 2025) that a targeted assassination by Israel on Saturday (December 13, 2025) of one of the group’s senior commanders threatens the “viability of the truce” in the enclave.

In a televised address, Hayya, who is also the exiled Gaza Hamas chief, confirmed the killing of the group’s senior commander Raed Saed in an Israeli strike a day earlier.

It was the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas figure since a U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire deal came into effect in October.

“The continued Israeli violations to the ceasefire agreement… and latest assassinations that targeted Saed and others threaten the viability of the agreement,” he said in an address. “We call on mediators, and especially the main guarantor, the U.S. administration and President Donald Trump to work on obliging Israel to respect the ceasefire and commit to it.”

Hamas sources have described Saed as the second-in-command of the group’s armed wing, after Izz eldeen Al-Hadad. Israel says Saed was one of the key architects of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

Hayya also spoke about the proposed U.N.-authorised International Stabilization Force (ISF).

“The role of the international forces should be limited to maintaining the ceasefire and separating the two sides along Gaza borders… without any role inside the strip or intervention in its domestic affairs,” he said.

Deployment of the force is a key part of the next phase of Trump’s Gaza peace plan. Under the first phase, a fragile ceasefire in the two-year-old war began on October 10 with Hamas releasing hostages and Israel has freeing detained Palestinians.

The U.S. Central Command will host a conference in Doha on December 16 with partner nations to plan the International Stabilization Force for Gaza, U.S. official stold Reuters.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, on Thursday (November 6, 2025), said he instructed the army to turn the area at the border with Egypt into a closed military zone to combat weapons smuggling via drones.

“I instructed the IDF [military] to turn the area adjacent to the Israel–Egypt border into a closed military zone and to amend the rules of engagement accordingly in order to combat the drone threat that endangers the country’s security,” Mr. Katz said in a statement.

“Weapon smuggling via drones is part of the war in Gaza and is intended to arm our enemies, and all possible measures must be taken to stop it,” he added.

Israel and Egypt share a border that spans approximately 200 kilometres. On Sunday (November 2), the Israeli military said it identified a drone that “crossed from the west into Israeli territory in an attempt to smuggle weapons”. It said troops intercepted the drone, which was carrying eight guns.

On Tuesday (November 4), it said it thwarted another smuggling attempt after intercepting a drone carrying 10 pistols which had “crossed from the eastern border” into Israeli territory. Israel is bordered by Jordan to the east.

“Today we declare war on those involved in the smuggling — and anyone who breaches the forbidden area will be targeted,” Mr. Katz said on Thursday (November 6).

In a post on X, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir praised Mr. Katz for taking the decision and for “recognising that the trafficking that takes place there serves terrorist objectives”.