Rubio says US won't accept tolls or fees in Strait of Hormuz
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that no country is allowed to impose tolls or fees on the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran seeks to extract revenue from the vital waterway.
"It's an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. That's existing international law," he said as he arrived in the United Arab Emirates.
"I don't think we have anybody to convince around here in that regard. I think all the countries in this region would agree with us."
Pakistan PM says there should not be double standards over Iran having ballistic missiles
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said there should be no double standards regarding
ballistic missiles, saying that Iran had the same right to have them as other countries.
Sharif also told reporters that there was no mention of ballistic missiles in the memorandum of understanding agreed between Iran and the United States because the issue was never on the table in those discussions.
Rubio lands in UAE on first leg of Gulf tour
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Abu Dhabi, the first stop on a tour of the Gulf states hit hard by Iran's retaliatory campaign, an AFP journalist said.
Rubio is to meet Emirati leaders on Wednesday, before heading to Kuwait following by Bahrain for a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, as he seeks to reassure US allies after the signing of an initial US-Iran deal last week.
UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba shakes hands with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio upon his arrival at Al Bateen Executive Airport to discuss the interim deal between the US and Iran with Arab Gulf allies, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, June 23, 2026. © Eric Lee, Reuters
Evacuation plan through Hormuz for stranded ships in Gulf underway, UN agency says
An evacuation plan to enable hundreds of ships with 11,000 seafarers stranded in the Gulf to sail through the Strait of Hormuz is underway after Iran and the US reached a ceasefire deal, the United Nations' shipping agency said on Tuesday.
"We have now started contacting the ships to start the evacuation," a spokesperson with the UN's International Maritime Organization said, without providing a time frame.
Tankers and cargo vessels are seen in the Gulf of Oman, along shipping routes linking the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea, June 16, 2026. © AP Photo
Hormuz ship traffic highest since war began
Traffic on Monday through the Strait of Hormuz reached the highest level since the start of the Middle East war, according to maritime tracking data.
Analytics platform Kpler recorded at least 37 crossings on Monday, one week after a memorandum of understanding was reached between the United States and Iran.
AXSMarine, another shipping data provider which tracks transits by commercial vessels including container ships, counted 42 crossings on Monday – also a record.
Vance, Rubio discuss proposed US-Lebanon-Iran ceasefire mechanism with Aoun
US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a call that the US was following up on understandings reached in Switzerland, including plans to consolidate a ceasefire in Lebanon.
The statement, issued as Lebanon and Israel began a new round of talks in Washington, added that arrangements for a mechanism to firm up the ceasefire and monitor its implementation were still being discussed.
Israel's 'deliberate targeting' of children part of ongoing Gaza 'genocide', says UN probe
Israel is deliberately targeting Palestinian children in what has become a key factor in an ongoing "genocide" in Gaza, United Nations investigators charged, in a report slammed by Israel.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said it had found evidence that "Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli security forces".
Israel army says fired at four Hezbollah militants in Lebanon 'security zone'
The Israeli military said its forces opened fire on four alleged Hezbollah militants who entered the so-called "security zone" it has established in southern Lebanon, the second such incident within hours.
The army said the militants entered the zone on a bulldozer and a motorcycle and that the soldiers initially fired warning shots as they approached troops deployed there.
Iranian president lands in Pakistan as US-Iran teams work to finalise a war-ending deal
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Pakistan to meet with officials mediating talks on a permanent end to its war with the US, as discrepancies emerged on what had been agreed upon so far and violence broke out again in Lebanon.
President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian waves as he is received by Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari upon his arrival at Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, June 23, 2026. © External Publicity Wing (EPW)/Handout via Reuters
Iran announces three-day holiday in Tehran for late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral
Irani announced three days of public holidays in the capital Tehran for late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral ceremonies, state television reported.
"The farewell ceremony and prayers for the martyred leader's body will be held on Saturday and Sunday, July 4th and 5th, in Tehran's Grand Mosalla, and the funeral will be held on Monday, July 6th, and Tehran province will be off for these three days," IRGC commander Hassan Hassanzadeh, in charge of the funeral ceremonies, was quoted as saying.
Earlier, state media said Tehran would be on holiday on July 4 and 5, while the whole country will follow suit on July 6.
Iran agrees to 'highest level' nuclear inspections, says Trump
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Iran has "fully and completely agreed" to allow nuclear inspectors to return to the country, and that US Navy forces would no longer blockade the Strait of Hormuz.
Washington has been negotiating with Tehran on critical issues such as the fate of the Islamic republic's nuclear programme in the wake of a deal the two foes signed aimed at ending the Middle East war.
Trump said the negotiations – technical talks between Iran and the United States taking place in recent days in Switzerland – were "going well".
"Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!). This will insure 'Nuclear Honesty,'" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Netanyahu once again calls for Israel to 'break free' of US military aid
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has once again called for his country to increase its military autonomy and reduce its reliance on US support, according to a statement released on Tuesday by his office.
"I deeply appreciate the support we have received from our American friends, but we need to break free from dependency and build our own independent armaments network," the premier told reserve officers on a training course in the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu was speaking on June 18, a day after the US and Iran agreed an initial deal to end the Middle East war, which has been fiercely opposed in Israel.
"Today I say: We need our own independent armaments network. We must manufacture our own armaments," Netanyahu said.
In January, Netanyau told The Economist that he hoped to do so within a decade, while in May he told US broadcaster CBS that he wanted US support to reach "zero".
Since its founding in 1948, Israel has received more than $300 billion, adjusted for inflation, in US economic and military assistance, according to the Washington DC-based Council on Foreign Relations, far more than any other country has received since 1946.
Under an agreement signed in 2016 and in force since 2019, Israel receives financial assistance for the purchase of around $3.8 billion of weapons a year, accounting for around 15 percent of the defence budget. That deal runs until 2028.
Hezbollah denounces 'flagrant' truce violation after Israeli fire in Lebanon
Hezbollah has denounced what it called a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire in Lebanon after two people were killed in the southern town of Nabatieh by Israeli gunfire.
"The Islamic Resistance warns that what the enemy has committed constitutes a flagrant violation of the ceasefire, which the Resistance has adhered to up to this point," the group said in a statement.
Israel smuggled Starlink systems into Iran, former Israeli PM says
A former Israeli prime minister has acknowledged that Israel had smuggled Starlink internet receivers into Iran to help anti-government protesters, though he said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government failed to follow through on the plans.
Naftali Bennett, who served as prime minister in 2021 to 2022, told an audience at the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem that he had initiated a "process of acquiring and smuggling into Iran tens of thousands of Starlink receptors that would allow continuity of the internet and social networks".
Starlink, owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX, provides satellite internet connections. Iran has previously accused Israel and the US of smuggling in the devices to undermine its security.
Starlink is not licensed to operate in Iran but Musk has previously said the service is active there.
Bennett said the devices were intended to enable protesters to coordinate and ultimately topple the Iranian government. .
"Unfortunately, the current incompetent Israeli government stopped doing that," he said. "And when the protest happened, that infrastructure was not there."
Netanyahu’s office has not yet commented on Bennett’s allegations.
Israeli gunfire kills two people in south Lebanon, civil defence says
Israeli gunfire killed two people in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, Lebanon's Civil Defence and state media said, in the first reported fatalities resulting from Israeli fire in Lebanon in three days.
Israeli soldiers opened fire at a group of people near a bulldozer clearing a road in the al-Deir neighbourhood of Nabatieh al-Fawqa in southern Lebanon, Lebanon's state news agency NNA reported.
The Israeli military said it was checking the report.
A ceasefire between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israeli forces in southern Lebanon has largely held since Sunday, the longest lull yet in the war that spilled over from the conflict between the US and Iran.
Pezeshkian heads to Pakistan for first visit since launch of lran war
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visits Pakistan for talks Tuesday with officials who have been mediating negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
Pezeshkian's visit, his first to Pakistan since the US and Israel launched the Iran war on February 28, comes as technical teams are working on details of the US-Iran deal.
Pakistan was a key mediator during indirect US-Iran talks ahead of the signing of the 14-point Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last week.
Security was tight in the area of Islamabad where the Iranian president was to meet with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Pezeshkian and Sharif are set to hold a joint news conference after their discussions.
A billboard in Islamabad features visiting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (center) with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on June 23, 2026. (Photo: Anjum Naveed, AP)
- Iran says Strait of Hormuz will be administered by Tehran
- Iran says technical talks with US end, working groups to be formed
- Iran says no visit scheduled for UN nuclear inspectors
- Israeli gunfire kills two people in south Lebanon, civil defence says
Iran says no visit scheduled for UN nuclear inspectors
Iran has said there are no visits scheduled for inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to see nuclear sites earlier bombed by the United States.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said there was no protocol for such inspections, adding that Iran would continue its current obligations as a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and under its safeguards agreement with the IAEA.
His remarks appear to undercut those made by US Vice President JD Vance, who said negotiations in Switzerland won an agreement for the IAEA to visit the Iranian sites.
The IAEA has been in and out of Iran since Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in 2025, but has not been granted access to the bombed enrichment sites targeted by America in that war.
Lebanon war damage estimated at $1.3 billion, but who will foot the bill?
Massive destruction in southern Lebanon in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war is estimated at around $1.38 billion, according to a UN agency and a Lebanese research centre.
"In total, 11,095 buildings were completely destroyed, impacting 17,891 housing units, while 2,242 buildings sustained partial damage ... and 9,311 buildings incurred minor damage," the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Lebanon's government-linked National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) said.
Reporting from Beirut, FRANCE 24’s Renée Davis notes that while the latest US-Iran deal includes a proposed $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran, Lebanon’s reconstruction was not mentioned in the 14-point Islamabad memorandum of understanding.
Iran says technical talks with US end, working groups to be formed
Technical talks between Iran and the US in Switzerland have concluded, with negotiating groups to be set up on nuclear issues and sanctions, according to Iran's state media.
The negotiators "decided that four working groups would be established: Sanctions Termination, Nuclear Affairs, Reconstruction and Economic Development, and Monitoring and Implementation", said IRNA state news agency, quoting Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi.
Yesterday's key developments:
• The United States temporarily eased sanctions on Iranian oil on Monday after Vice President JD Vance said Tehran had agreed to allow UN nuclear inspectors back into the country.
• US President Donald Trump said Monday that he could refuse to help NATO countries as payback for the lack of support from member nations for the US military operation in Iran.
• Israel's prime minister, defence minister and military chief said the military would continue to act to "neutralise" threats against Israeli soldiers and citizens, demolish militant infrastructure and maintain the security zone in southern Lebanon.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AP and AFP)
