• Iran’s joint military command issued a warning to vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to follow designated paths or encounter a “forceful response”.
• Qatar reports “positive progress” as officials from the US and Iran conclude indirect technical talks in Doha.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi criticizes a US military-led meeting of 12 nations in Bahrain, saying that “peace in our region can only be sustained” without “outside interference”.
• Iran’s ambassador to the UN has told the Security Council that US military bases in the Gulf region bring “nothing but insecurity”.

Former US Iran negotiator says Washington must accelerate talks with Tehran

A former US-Iran negotiator has said that the US needs to move more quickly to maintain momentum in talks with Tehran once the funeral for former Supreme Leader Khamenei has concluded.

Alan Eyre, also a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute think tank, said the two sides need to be speaking more frequently and for longer than they have been.

“This is a pretty desultory process so far. I understand they have to take time off for the funeral of Ayatollah Khamenei, but after that is over, I hope that the US side really picks up the pace,” Eyre said.

“Because they haven’t really left the starting point in terms of working out the mechanics of keeping the strait open, how it is controlled. There is the Lebanon issue to be dealt with, and way further down the road, there is the nuclear issue, which is the proximate cause of all this,” he added.

IRGC’s caretaker commander makes first public appearance since war

Ahmad Vahidi, caretaker commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has made his first public appearance since the US-Israel war on Iran began.

Iran is preparing for the funeral of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed early in the war in an air strike.

His coffin arrived at the ceremony site near the Imam Khomeini Hussainiya mosque in southern Tehran on Thursday evening, where several Iranian officials have paid their respects.

Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, the new leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. His predecessor, Mohammad Pakpour, was killed in early US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Vahidi took over the exceptionally risky job after the killing of Pakpour.

What is known about Vahidi:

• A product of the IRGC from its earliest days in the late 1970s, Vahidi rose through the ranks during the 1980s, holding key positions in intelligence and the military.
• Iranian state media reports that he led the elite Quds Force from 1988 to 1997.
• Vahidi would relinquish the role to Iran’s legendary commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in an air strike ordered by US President Donald Trump in 2020.
• In December 2025, Khamenei named Vahidi the deputy chief of the IRGC, with the aim of preparing the country for possible Israeli or US attacks.
• Vahidi has also held senior political roles, serving as defense minister under former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and then interior minister under the late President Ebrahim Raisi.
• He has been described by analysts as an uncompromising, staunch believer in Iran’s clerical system.
• Mohammad Ali Shabani, the editor-in-chief of the Middle East news outlet Amwaj, said that Pakpour and Salami, Vahidi’s predecessors, were “schoolteachers compared to this guy”.

Tehran should ‘reconsider nuclear doctrine’ following Israeli threats: Lawmaker

An Iranian lawmaker says Tehran should reconsider its nuclear doctrine following Israel’s latest threat to assassinate Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

In a post on X, Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission, said the threat made by Israeli defense minister Israel Katz provided “a valid and compelling reason for reconsidering the nuclear doctrine as well as Article Eight of the Islamabad Accord”.

Under Article Eight of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, Tehran agreed never to procure or develop a nuclear weapon.

Katz’s threat has sparked outrage in Iran, with Tehran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir-Saeid Iravani, lodging a protest against Israel with the Security Council on Thursday.

Iran’s former supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was assassinated in US-Israeli strikes on the opening day of the war on February 28, leading to his son, Mojtaba, assuming the role.

Ali Khamenei’s funeral will begin on Saturday, and Mojtaba is not expected to attend due to security concerns.

US should prioritize Hormuz Strait reopening, de-escalation in Iran talks

Alan Eyre, a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, has said that in negotiations with Iran, the US should prioritize reopening the Strait of Hormuz, ending the war, and stabilizing the situation in Lebanon.

Eyre, who served as a US-Iran negotiator during former US President Barack Obama’s administration, also said he doubted the issue of Iran’s nuclear program could be resolved.

He added that there was no “immediate threat” of Iran developing a nuclear weapon, noting US military action against Iranian nuclear sites.

However, he warned that the threat could not be deterred indefinitely.

“We cannot destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities because, ultimately, that resides in the minds of thousands and thousands of nuclear scientists,” Eyre said.

“President Trump wants to end this war and get the Strait of Hormuz open because he realizes the longer the strait remains closed or even constricted, the more economic pain he is going to feel domestically,” Eyre said.

Iran places highly symbolic red flag of Imam Reza Shrine over Khamenei coffin

A red flag from the Imam Reza Shrine in Iran’s Mashhad city has been placed over the coffin of assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The gesture comes as mourning and farewell ceremonies have begun in Iran in advance of Khamenei’s burial at the shrine on July 9, following his killing in a US-Israeli strike at the start of the war in February.

Nader Hashemi, associate professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown University, said that the red flag symbolizes the sacrifice of Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, a revered figure in Shia Islam who was killed in the 7th century in the Battle of Karbala.

“His death and martyrdom in the battle of Karbala is a significant moral reference point for Shia Muslims, and so the Islamic Republic is trying to make a comparison with the death of the supreme leader in an American and Israeli assassination,” Hashemi said.

Amid funeral preparations, Khamenei’s killing ‘confirms’ Islamic Republic’s founding narrative

The killing of Ali Khamenei, Iran’s second supreme leader, in US-Israeli strikes early in the war confirms the origin stories of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nader Hashemi, an academic and Middle East expert, says.

“The killing of the supreme leader perfectly fits the Islamic Republic’s narratives,” Hashemi said, describing Tehran’s official view of itself in conflict with the US and Israel in defense of Iran’s interests.

“He died a martyr, fighting the US, and standing for his values, which reinforces what the republic was initially founded to do,” he said.

Hashemi said Khamenei’s funeral, which begins this weekend, could boost Iran’s soft power regionally, as it is seen as a state whose leaders themselves paid the ultimate price to stand against the US and Israel.

Such sacrifice comes at a sensitive moment regionally, after Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“This is a golden opportunity to build on that sympathy,” Hashemi said.

Pakistani interior minister arrives in Iran for Khamenei’s funeral

Pakistan’s interior minister has arrived in Iran in advance of the funeral of slain former Supreme Leader Khamenei.

Upon arriving, Seyyed Mohsin Naqvi described Iran as Pakistan’s “second home”.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said officials from more than 100 countries would attend Khamenei’s funeral, which starts on Saturday.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is also due to attend the ceremonies.

Tens of millions of Shia Muslims live in Pakistan, accounting for up to 20 percent of the population.

Many viewed Khamenei as their spiritual leader, and his assassination triggered protests across Pakistan, during which at least 23 people were killed

US-Iran war may push Gulf countries to ‘diversify’ security alliances

Countries in the Gulf region are likely to accelerate the push to diversify their security partnerships after the US-Israel war on Iran, analysts say, as the region grapples with the lasting impact of the conflict.

As Tehran and Washington hold talks towards a lasting agreement, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations – which came under Iranian attacks during the war – are expanding their relationships amid uncertainty about the future.

Israel planned to assassinate Iranian negotiators

The New York Times and The Washington Post report that US officials believed Israel was planning to assassinate Iranian negotiators earlier this year, during talks aimed at ending the fighting between Washington and Tehran.

Officials, speaking to both news outlets on condition of anonymity, said Israel had set its sights on assassinating Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the country’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also the speaker of Iran’s parliament.

“You kill those folks, and you’re killing the pragmatists,” one US official told The Washington Post.

Officials who spoke to The New York Times said the US asked countries in the Middle East to warn Iran of the risk.

Israel has a track record of targeting negotiating counterparts in an apparent effort to derail talks to end regional conflicts.

In October, the Israeli military carried out an attack in Doha, targeting a Hamas compound while officials from the group were studying a ceasefire proposal with Israel.