US-Israel Iran War Live Updates

According to Palestinian news agency Wafa, a series of raids were conducted by Israeli forces in various regions of the occupied West Bank, resulting in a woman being apprehended and a man being physically assaulted in the city of Nablus.

Footage captured in the southern Beirut suburb of Chyah and the town of Al Duwair in the south has revealed the aftermath of an Israeli military operation.
Eyewitness accounts, corroborated by Al Jazeera, confirm that numerous buildings were left in shambles, with some sustaining significant damage, including collapsed walls and shattered windows.
According to the National News Agency, the assault on Al Duwair specifically focused on a two-storey residence at the eastern entrance to the town, leaving it in ruins. Emergency responders were able to contain a blaze that erupted in the area.

According to Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Donald Trump’s Iran strategy was shaped by a tight-knit inner circle, largely comprised of individuals who had demonstrated unwavering loyalty. This, Kupchan suggests, created a culture where dissenting voices were stifled, with team members hesitant to challenge Trump’s decisions or offer alternative perspectives.

Kupchan believes that Trump initiated the war on Iran under the assumption that it would be a swift and decisive operation, with the Iranian government collapsing rapidly as citizens took to the streets in protest. However, this prediction proved to be grossly inaccurate.

The former White House national security advisor expressed skepticism regarding Trump’s access to a diverse range of opinions and information when making key decisions. Kupchan attributes this to Trump’s populist approach, which emphasizes his own instincts over expert advice. This mindset, Kupchan argues, was a defining aspect of Trump’s campaign and has ultimately led to significant repercussions.

In a fresh appeal from a European leader, French Foreign Minister Jean Noel Barrot has emphasized the need for the US-Iran ceasefire to encompass Lebanon. According to Reuters, Barrot’s remarks come as a response to Israel’s recent large-scale strikes on Lebanon, which France views as warranting inclusion in the ceasefire agreement. The devastating Israeli attacks on Lebanon, which resulted in a minimum of 254 fatalities, have been widely reported. Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance has clarified that the US did not commit to halting Israel’s actions in Lebanon, despite Pakistan’s assertion that Lebanon was indeed part of the ceasefire.

In a shocking escalation, Israeli military operations have ravaged several densely populated commercial and residential districts in Beirut, claiming a significant number of lives and leaving many more injured, mere hours after a ceasefire was declared in the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.
Within a brief timeframe, numerous sites were targeted, including residential areas scattered throughout the city, leaving a trail of destruction and chaos in its wake.
Local hospitals are facing an unprecedented surge in casualties, prompting urgent calls for medical personnel as the death toll continues to mount. Entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble, forcing families to seek refuge elsewhere, their futures uncertain. Rescue teams laboured through the night, extracting additional victims from the wreckage.
Hezbollah has issued a statement, urging that Lebanon be included in the ceasefire, warning that the airstrikes threaten to undermine the fragile agreement.

Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, has seemingly removed a social media update from his X profile, where he had initially announced an Iranian delegation’s impending visit to Pakistan for a meeting with US negotiators to discuss ceasefire arrangements.
The post, which was published earlier this morning, is now inaccessible on the platform, leaving unanswered questions about the reason behind its removal.
According to the deleted post, the Iranian delegation was scheduled to arrive in Islamabad tonight.

Israeli forces launched a series of airstrikes yesterday evening, targeting the eastern Lebanese towns of Al-Sheikh and Meifadoun, as well as the southern areas of Kunin and the Ali Al-Tahir Heights. According to unconfirmed reports, there were no immediate accounts of fatalities. This latest escalation follows a previous wave of Israeli attacks that resulted in the deaths of at least 254 people and the injury of 1,165 others across Lebanon, just one day prior.

A tentative calm settled over the Gulf region on Tuesday evening, following the agreement between Iran and the United States on a two-week ceasefire. This fragile truce comes after a month of escalating violence and heightened tensions, which had been fueled by inflammatory rhetoric on both sides.

As negotiations are set to commence in Islamabad, Pakistan, over the weekend, analysts warn that Gulf nations remain vigilant about the possibility of the US compromising on terms that would grant Iran a degree of influence over the Strait of Hormuz. According to Hesham Alghannam, a scholar at the Malcolm H Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, based in Saudi Arabia, there is a growing unease that President Trump might accept some level of Iranian control over the strait in exchange for a short-term truce, prioritizing a quick political gain over the region’s realities.

A scenario in which Iran, despite its weakened state, maintains its grip on the strait, would be a dire prospect for the energy-rich Gulf countries, leaving them exposed to the constant threat of disruptions and economic coercion, Alghannam cautioned.

A Hezbollah drone strike reportedly struck an Israeli military presence within a residential dwelling in Taybeh, a village situated in southern Lebanon. The militant group had previously announced that it had also successfully engaged an Israeli Namer APC – a heavily armoured personnel carrier – in the same area.

Amidst the backdrop of a fragile ceasefire agreement, Iran is taking a stance that the ongoing Israeli air strikes in Lebanon are a clear infringement of the truce.
Over the past 24 hours, multiple sources, including authoritative ones, have confirmed that the Lebanese ceasefire is a crucial component of the broader deal.
However, with Israeli aerial assaults persisting, Iran is now considering this development a breach of the agreement.
Furthermore, reports of incursions into Iranian territory, such as the alleged attack on Lavan’s oil refinery and the downing of a drone in central Iran, are also being seen as ceasefire violations.
Iran’s position is that the ceasefire must be more than a mere formal arrangement, and they are determined to ensure its authenticity.
This stance may be a contributing factor to the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.