US-Israel Iran War Live Updates

Iran’s Bank Coordination Council has confirmed that all bank branches will be back to normal operations starting from tomorrow, according to a statement released by the IRNA news agency.

According to the Lebanon-based National News Agency (NNA), a targeted Israeli air raid on the Hanawya town in southern Lebanon resulted in one fatality and one individual sustaining injuries. Furthermore, the NNA disclosed that Israeli military forces had conducted a demolition operation in the residential sector of Aita al-Shaab, while Israeli artillery units launched a barrage of shells into three separate areas within the Tyre district.

Mohamad Elmasry, a scholar at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, observed that despite the US’s bombastic claims, there’s a growing acknowledgment that Iran holds considerable sway in upcoming talks with the United States.
“The US failed to achieve its objectives in Iran within a six-week period of intense airstrikes, and the regime, its proxy network, and its arsenal of missiles and drones remain intact,” Elmasry noted.
Reports indicate that roughly half of Iran’s missile launchers are poised to engage in combat for several more months, if necessary, he said.
“Conversely, Iran has now secured a strategic advantage it lacked six weeks ago – control over the Strait of Hormuz,” Elmasry pointed out.
“This has proven to be a calamitous situation for Trump and the US, marked by a profound political and economic debacle,” he stated.
While acknowledging Iran’s leverage, Elmasry expressed skepticism that Tehran would secure all 10 of its demands in negotiations, predicting that the US would likely agree to only four of the economic-related points.

Amid escalating tensions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans to initiate direct talks with Lebanon at the earliest opportunity, as the country observed a day of mourning following a devastating Israeli assault that claimed hundreds of lives and left over 1,000 people injured in a single day. Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has condemned the strikes on Lebanon as a blatant breach of the US-Iran ceasefire, warning that such actions could jeopardize ongoing negotiations and prompting Tehran to reaffirm its commitment to supporting Lebanon. US President Donald Trump has reaffirmed his country’s military presence in the region, stating that American forces will remain in place until a comprehensive and binding agreement is fully implemented, and cautioning that further conflict is likely if this condition is not met.

In a flurry of diplomatic outreach, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has received a string of congratulatory phone calls from international leaders, who are expressing their support for the country’s efforts to broker a lasting peace agreement. These high-level conversations, which included Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron, King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam of Lebanon, Chancellor Christian Stocker of Austria, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, serve as a testament to Pakistan’s pivotal role in facilitating US-Iran negotiations. The talks are set to commence in Islamabad on Saturday, with the two-week ceasefire providing a window of opportunity for the parties to hammer out a more comprehensive peace plan.

Hezbollah militants have unleashed a barrage of rockets at the Israeli settlements of Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and Misgav Am, according to a statement issued by the group on its Telegram channel at the beginning of the week. In the statement, Hezbollah warned that these attacks would persist until the Israeli-American aggression against Lebanon and its people is brought to an end.

A dire situation is unfolding at Beirut’s hospitals, where medical staff are facing a daunting challenge as a result of the Israeli military’s relentless assault on the city and its surroundings. The sheer scale of the devastation has left healthcare facilities struggling to cope with the influx of casualties.

As the Israeli air campaign intensified on Wednesday, hundreds of people poured into the American University of Beirut hospital, seeking urgent medical attention after the military bombed over 100 targets across Lebanon within a 10-minute timeframe, despite a widely anticipated ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran that was expected to encompass Lebanon.

According to Dr Salah Zeineldine, AUB’s chief medical officer, the hospital received approximately 76 injured individuals within the span of an hour, with six patients succumbing to their injuries. The hospital has since become a focal point for victims of the Israeli attacks, with Zeineldine describing it as an “epicentre” of chaos.

The death toll from Israel’s aerial assault on Lebanon on Wednesday has now surpassed 303, with a staggering 1,150 people injured, as per a preliminary report released by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health on Thursday.

Zeineldine highlighted the disproportionate impact of the attacks on children, with many critically injured patients at the AUB hospital being minors. The oldest child among them was 12 years old, while two patients were rushed to the ICU – a few-months-old baby and another just a few weeks old.

A sudden alert has been triggered in Kiryat Shmona, a northern Israeli town situated in the Hula Valley near the Lebanese border, following a barrage of rockets launched from Lebanon, according to the Israeli Home Front Command.
Hezbollah has publicly acknowledged carrying out a missile attack on the settlement in Kiryat Shmona, citing Israel’s alleged breach of a ceasefire agreement brokered by Pakistan.

In a recent phone call, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi reaffirmed their resolve to work in tandem to mitigate the situation and guarantee uninterrupted energy supplies. According to the Japanese foreign ministry, the two diplomats expressed their determination to collaborate closely on this matter.

Following a phone call on Friday morning, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, along with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, voiced their alarm over the egregious breaches of the Lebanon ceasefire. This development holds particular weight, given Pakistan’s role as mediator in the US-Iran ceasefire, which it claims encompasses Lebanon – a claim disputed by the US and Israel. The latter’s most intense bombing campaign of the conflict against Lebanon was launched on Wednesday, mere hours after the ceasefire was declared, resulting in the loss of over 200 lives. France has maintained that the ceasefire should indeed extend to Lebanon.