Latest war news. Iran: seven days of mourning for Ali Khamenei have begun

The IDF has stated that, in response to the attacks on its soldiers, the army has struck around 10 Hezbollah facilities and a lorry used to transport weapons in southern Lebanon.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has described Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral as ‘more than just a farewell’, calling it a ‘renewal of commitment to the ideals of the Islamic Revolution and the continuation of the Supreme Leader’s path’, whose ‘martyrdom, together with that of other Iranian military commanders, will strengthen national resolve’. This was reported by the Iranian news agency IRNA. The IRGC emphasised that the Iranian Armed Forces remain on the highest level of military and operational alert under the country’s new leadership.

War in Iran and the Middle East, 3 July.

Indirect talks between Iran and the US have been suspended for the funeral of the former Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint Israeli-American attacks on the first day of the war. The funeral will take place in Tehran, Qom and Mashhad in Iran and Najaf and Karbala in Iraq from 4 to 9 July. This is according to CNN.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have promised “a response more devastating than ever” to attacks by the “enemy”, on the eve of the funeral ceremony for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. “The enemy’s miscalculation will be punished with a response more devastating than ever before,” reads a statement from the Pasdaran, as reported by Iran International. The Revolutionary Guards, together with the Iranian Army, “remain fully prepared under the leadership of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei”, the statement said.

“Almost 100 countries, including official delegations, dignitaries and ‘grassroots groups’, will attend Khamenei’s funeral.” This was reported by Iran International, citing the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei. “Official delegations from Eastern Europe are present, but European countries that have sided in support of the war against the Islamic Republic have not been invited.” The Grand Mosque complex will remain open day and night until Monday, according to AFP. A procession carrying the body of Ali Khamenei will pass through the streets of Tehran before reaching the holy city of Qom on Tuesday. Among the dignitaries expected, France Presse reports, are former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Pakistani Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif. China will be represented by a senior parliamentary official, He Wei. Iranian media are reporting on the delegations currently paying their respects to Khamenei. These are said to include “Indonesian and Afghan religious scholars and intellectuals”, as well as “the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region”, “members of the Popular Mobilisation Forces” and representatives of the “Resistance Front”. Other images show “the Armenian Prime Minister arriving in Iran”. According to the Iranian news agency ISNA, “intellectuals from Malaysia, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Tunisia, Senegal, India, several Latin American countries, Argentina and Mexico are paying their respects to the martyred leader of the revolution”.

US President Donald Trump reiterated in an interview with CNBC that Iran will purchase agricultural products from the United States as part of a possible peace agreement to end the war. This statement was denied by Tehran in recent days.

“They need food. They need maize, wheat and soya, and we will ensure that it is exclusively our American farmers who supply them,” said Trump.

The head of the Revolutionary Guards, the powerful General Ahmad Vahidi, has appeared in public for the first time in months, as Tehran prepares for the funeral of the late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which is set to last several days. Photos published online by Iranian state media show the general attending a meeting on Khamenei’s funeral arrangements, before sitting beside his coffin during a more intimate ceremony held in Khamenei’s honour on Thursday evening near the Supreme Leader’s former residence in central Tehran. According to experts, Vahidi has become a leading figure in shaping Iran’s hardline stance in negotiations for a possible definitive end to the war. He is believed to be part of a small circle in direct contact with Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who remains out of the public eye after being wounded in the Israeli attacks on 28 February that killed his father, whose funeral is to be held. Vahidi had not appeared in public since 8 February, weeks before the start of the war in Iran. During the conflict, Israel killed senior Iranian military and government officials and also threatened the life of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

Last spring, the United States warned Iran of Israel’s plans to assassinate the Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, and the Speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who were engaged in negotiations with Washington to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. This was reported today by the Washington Post and the New York Times, citing senior officials with knowledge of the matter.

Fearing that an attack could jeopardise the negotiations, the United States asked “other countries in the region to warn Iran of the possibility that Israel might target the two officials”, the NYT reported. “By killing those people, you’re killing the pragmatists,” said an official quoted by the Washington Post.

“I think Iran has agreed to everything we needed.” Donald Trump reiterated this in an interview with CNBC, emphasising that Tehran still has “a few missiles, but we can wipe them out”.

“I imposed a blockade on Iran that was, in fact, a wall of steel,” US President Donald Trump told CNBC. “No ship,” Trump continued, “has managed to reach Iran. They have 300 per cent inflation; they’re earning nothing. They need food. They need maize, wheat and soya, and we will ensure that it is exclusively our American farmers who supply them.” “I don’t want to be a president,” he said, referring to the global energy crisis caused by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, “who is remembered for having caused ‘a great global depression’.” “That,” Trump continued, “was Herbert Hoover, and it was a terrible thing.” Now, if I wanted to play the tough guy and close the Strait for the next few years, where 21 per cent of the oil will never be extracted, and we’ll no longer be able to get any oil. I’ve seen guests on your programme saying that oil would reach $350 a barrel, and there’d be a depression, because at $350 a barrel, a depression is automatic.” “I said,” Trump continued, “that we had to do something. We did something nobody knew about. Every night, we sent ships off the southern coast, which is the furthest point from where (the Iranians, ed.) have their small weapons. The ships sailed along the coast without lights for a month and a half; many ships set out. They’re big ships, some of them really huge. And in a way, they showed courage in going out to sea. We escorted them out, and nobody noticed. The lights were off, everything was off, everything was silent.”

The Iranian broadcaster Press TV has shown footage of the arrival of the coffin of the “martyred leader” of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, at the Grand Mosque in Tehran. Ali Khamenei’s funeral will officially begin on Saturday 4 July 2026 in Iran, with a stop in Iraq, and will conclude on 9 July 2026 with his burial in Mashhad.

An Israeli reservist was seriously injured in “a close-quarters firefight” that took place yesterday in southern Lebanon. The army announced this today.

With less than a week to go before the summit in Turkey, US President Donald Trump has described a “one-way” relationship with NATO as “ridiculous”, commenting on a chart showing the defence spending of the United States (999 billion dollars), the United Kingdom (90.5 billion), France ($66.5 billion), Italia ($48.8 billion) and Poland ($44.3 billion).

“It is ridiculous that the United States should continue down this one-way street when the relationship is not reciprocal. They weren’t there for us!!!”, Trump wrote on his Truth account, referring to the lack of support in the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.