The U.S. is demanding that Iran issue a public statement declaring the Strait of Hormuz is open, and that ships crossing the vital corridor won’t be attacked, senior U.S. officials said Friday (July 10, 2026), adding that internal power struggles in Tehran have made it difficult to reach and maintain a deal.

Also read | Iran has asked to continue talks, and the U.S. agreed, Trump says

The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe to reporters the state of play with Iran, said the resumption of strikes this week came after what they described as a rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners trying to sabotage the ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.

It comes as U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated on social media Friday (July 10, 2026) that he views the interim ceasefire deal as “OVER!” But he said the U.S. would continue talks aimed at putting a permanent end to the war.

The officials said Friday (July 10) that Mr. Trump is giving U.S. negotiators limited time to reach a deal with Iran, but, in a sign of the challenges ahead, they underscored that the President had a wide range of options if talks fall apart. They also said a power struggle was playing out in real time in Iran after U.S. and Israeli strikes at the start of the war killed its longtime leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The U.S. is working on pressing Iran to make a public statement that the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for world energy markets, is open and free to ships to transit, the officials said.

But moments before the U.S. officials spoke, Tehran’s diplomat at the United Nations told reporters that any activity in the Strait of Hormuz, including its opening or demining operations, “rests exclusively with Iran.”

“Any attempt, by external actors, to interfere with or establish a power arrangement would violate the [interim deal], and undermine its implementation, delay the restoration of normal commercial navigation, jeopardise maritime safety, and increase regional tensions,” Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said outside the UN Security Council.

Iran has said the strait must now be under its sole control and that vessels should begin to pay fees to Tehran — even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway. About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began.

Iran’s grip on the strait during the conflict led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.

Unclaimed strikes came after US ended its attacks

No one claimed responsibility Friday for airstrikes that hit Iran after the US said it finished its attacks, leaving questions about who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic.

US Central Command spokesperson Capt Tim Hawkins said there were “no operational updates” after Trump’s pronouncement about the ceasefire.

Gulf Arab states, which Iran has targeted repeatedly since the war began February 28, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday about the strikes. Israel, which took part in the Iran war, also has not claimed any recent attacks on Iran.

The strikes Thursday, just as Iran prepared to bury the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hit areas across southern Iran. The country’s theocracy hasn’t directly blamed anyone, though one lawmaker warned the United Arab Emirates about allegedly providing support to the US campaign against Iran.

Iran responded to the strikes Thursday by launching a wider volley of attacks across the Mideast, targeting Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar. One person was reportedly hurt in Kuwait as air defence systems targeted the incoming fire across the region.

Mediators and allies regroup after strikes

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi plans to discuss the strait with his Omani counterpart at a meeting Saturday (July 11, 2026) in Oman, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his country’s state broadcaster TRT that he believed “a solution can be reached” this weekend between Iran and Oman, which lie on opposite sides of the narrow waterway.

The leader of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, traveled to Kuwait immediately after the Iranian attack for a meeting with the small, oil-rich nation’s ruling emir. Gulf Arab countries also held calls with Qatar’s Foreign Minister. He has been deeply involved, along with Pakistan, in mediating Iran-U.S. talks.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he spoke separately on Friday (July 10) with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and with Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and stressed to both the need for restraint and diplomacy.

Israel’s government said Mr. Netanyahu spoke with Mr. Trump on Thursday (July 9, 2026) night, with Mr. Trump updating Mr. Netanyahu “on American moves in the Gulf.”

Israel Katz, Israel’s Defence Minister, also renewed threats that his nation stood ready to confront Iran if needed.

“If we will have to return, we will return with even greater force,” Mr. Katz told a military ceremony.

Iran keeps up its threats

On Friday (July 10, 2026), Iranian state media quoted Esmail Kousari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee and a former commander in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as warning the UAE would “pay the price for its cooperation with the United States.” He accused the Emirates of having a “behind-the-scenes” role in the recent U.S. attacks.

Meanwhile, Iran insists it must be the sole controller of the Strait of Hormuz. But the U.S. continues to urge mariners to travel on a southern route through Oman’s territorial waters to avoid Iran.

Published – July 11, 2026 07:41 am IST

Vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Nabatieh, Lebanon on June 13, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israel and Lebanon agreed on Wednesday (June 3, 2026) to implement a ceasefire but said it would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a joint statement after U.S.-led talks in Washington.

U.S.-Israel war on Iran: Follow LIVE updates on June 4, 2026

The two sides, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, also agreed to create “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese armed forces “will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors”.

The development came despite continued cross-border attacks earlier in the day, with Hezbollah saying it targeted Israeli troops and Israeli strikes killing at least nine people in southern Lebanon.

The joint statement said the ceasefire was “contingent on a complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah as well as evacuation of the group’s operatives from southern Lebanon.

The meetings in Washington were the fourth round of direct talks by Lebanese and Israeli diplomats since fighting erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah renewed attacks against Israel in support of Iran.

Both sides will meet for more talks the week of June 22, the statement said, “with a view toward reaching a comprehensive agreement”.

Lebanon state media says Israel strike kills paramedic

An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed a paramedic, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported late on Wednesday (June 3, 2026) citing Lebanon’s health ministry.

“The Israeli enemy, in what marks the fourth attack in less than 24 hours on paramedics and healthcare facilities, directly targeted an ambulance team affiliated with the Islamic Health Committee in the town of Zibdine in the Nabatieh district, resulting in the death of one paramedic and the injury of another,” the NNA reported. The Islamic Health Committee is linked to Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s health ministry said earlier on Wednesday that two paramedics were killed in a separate Israeli strike, with at least 130 emergency and health workers now killed since the Israel-Hezbollah war began in March.

Hostilities continue

Earlier in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump said he wanted to separate talks on the conflict in Lebanon and those on the war with Iran.

Tehran, however, insists the conflicts are linked and its Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that any attack on Beirut would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of war.

The Israeli military said it intercepted a “hostile aircraft” and two projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon on Wednesday (June 3, 2026).

Hezbollah, for its part, said that “in response to the Israeli enemy army’s violation of the ceasefire”, its fighters targeted soldiers in northern Israel with a rocket barrage.

A truce to halt the fighting in Lebanon was meant to take hold on April 17, but has never been observed, with both sides justifying their ongoing attacks by the other’s alleged violations.

Senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati had told AFP on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) that the group would “not accept a partial ceasefire”.

Paramedics

Among the Israeli strikes on Wednesday (June 3, 2026) was one targeting a car on the main highway out of the capital, the NNA said.

The NNA also reported strikes on more than 20 locations in the south, some after Israel’s military warned residents of several villages to evacuate.

The health ministry said an Israeli attack on Al-Hawsh near the city of Tyre killed four Syrians and two Palestinians.

But an Israeli military spokesperson told AFP‘s Jerusalem bureau that “we are not aware of any such attack having occurred in the area”.

The Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli strike elsewhere in the south targeted an ambulance, killing two paramedics from the Risala Scouts Association, which is affiliated with Hezbollah’s ally the Amal movement.

The ministry circulated images of a badly damaged ambulance, with medical masks spilling out of the vehicle and scattered on the road.

At least 130 emergency and health workers have been killed since the fighting began.

Lebanon’s army said a soldier was also killed in an Israeli strike, while an officer and a soldier were wounded in a separate attack on a military vehicle.

The force denounced what it called Israel’s “deliberate targeting of army personnel, vehicles and positions”.

Petition

On Tuesday (June 2, 2026), Israel’s military alleged that Hezbollah members were operating in Tyre’s Christian quarter and said it would warn people to leave should the group remain there.

An AFP correspondent said the situation in Tyre was relatively calm on Wednesday (June 3, 2026) morning, adding that some people who had been sleeping in cars or tents at the edge of the Christian quarter left for other parts of the city.

A petition calling for Tyre to be declared an “open city” free of any armed presence and urging Lebanon’s military to deploy there has garnered more than 180 signatures, including local lawyers and intellectuals.

Hezbollah has a strong presence in Tyre, and some signatories have since been attacked on social media for their stance.

More than 200 people have signed a similar petition concerning Nabatieh, another large south Lebanon city that has come under Israeli attack.

Israel has recently escalated its attacks and is staging its deepest ground offensive into Lebanon in two decades.

Published – June 04, 2026 08:59 am IST

Oil prices eased on Thursday (June 4, 2026) as Israel and Lebanon’s ceasefire agreement boosted hopes for a broader ‌deal to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, while the U.S. House approved ⁠a resolution seeking to curb President Donald Trump’s war powers.

Brent futures were down 67 cents, or 0.69%, ‌at $97.14 a barrel by 0015 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate CLc1 crude ‌fell 62 cents, or 0.65%, to $95.4.

Both ‌benchmarks ⁠rose about 2% on Wednesday (June 3, 2026), extending ⁠the previous session’s gains, after renewed hostilities in West Asia, including Iranian attacks on Kuwait and U.S. military strikes near the Strait of Hormuz.

– Reuters