Egyptian and Qatari Foreign Ministers called on the United States and Iran to resume negotiations, as U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington had agreed to continue talks with Tehran but repeated that the ceasefire between the two countries was over.
During a phone call, Egypt’s Badr Abdelatty and Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani “urged all parties to give priority to the language of diplomacy and dialogue and to return to the negotiating table”, Egypt’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
AFP
Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said that first six employees of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant have begun returning to the plant, Russia’s RIA said citing its CEO Alexei Likhachev.
Rosatom, which is building two new units at Bushehr, evacuated hundreds of staff after the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28.
Reuters
Qatari negotiators are in Iran to meet Iranian officials in an effort to de-escalate tensions and create conditions for broader negotiations to continue, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters, adding that the talks were being conducted in coordination with the United States. The talks aim to address the implementation of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and the issues that triggered the recent escalation between Washington and Tehran, including disputes over navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the source said.
Reuters
China announced on Friday (July 10, 2026) a temporary export ban on helium, effective immediately,as resumption of military conflict in West Asia threatens to trigger new shortages of the gas critical for chip manufacturing.
Earlier this year, the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran led to helium shortages, disrupting companies globally, including in China, where the AI industry increasingly relies on domestic chips for training and running AI models.
Helium is essential for heat management in semiconductor production. The helium ban is the latest example of Beijing seeking to prevent domestic shortages of critical materials by curbing exports.
China imposes an immediate temporary export ban on helium, as announced by the Commerce Ministry on July 10, 2026.
Thailand’s Labour Court on Friday (July 10, 2026) accepted a petition from three Thai sailors seeking damages after a deadly attack on their cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz in March, during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, their lawyer said.
The petition, seen by Reuters, seeks damages of at least 1 million baht ($30,000) for each sailor from companies and agencies linked to the vessel owner, Precious Shipping, and its captain.
Their lawyer Kunpat Singhathong told reporters the sailors accused their employers of taking them into dangerous areas, putting their lives at risk and leaving them unable to continue working.
“All three have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and are unlikely to work as sailors again,” he said, but did not make public medical reports of the diagnosis. So far, Mr. Kunpat said the sailors had received two months’ wages and compensation for lost belongings.
Reuters
A recent escalation of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran could upend the International Energy Agency’s forecast of a significant oil market surplus next year, it said on Friday (July 10, 2026), as global supply jumped in June when the Strait of Hormuz reopened but still lagged pre-war levels.
Global oil markets received some respite last month as a peace agreement between the U.S. and Iran facilitated the opening of the Strait, the effective closure of which had taken out as much as 14 million barrels per day of crude flows during the peak of the largest oil supply crisis in history.
“An escalation in hostilities on 7-8 July, however, clouds the outlook and could upend the forecast that sees the market flipping to a surplus next year,” it said.
Reuters
More liquefied natural gas tankers have resumed transiting the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, ship-tracking data showed, and 22 Japan-linked vessels have left the Gulf since Tuesday, Tokyo said, despite renewed fighting in West Asia.
The Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil and LNG shipments, has been closely watched by shipping companies and governments following Iranian attacks this week on commercial vessels and U.S. retaliatory strikes on Iran that have reduced traffic through the waterway.
But at least five ballast LNG tankers have entered the strait in recent days, according to data from Kpler and LSEG.
The vessels include GasLog Shanghai, controlled by Greek shipping company GasLog, and QatarEnergy-linked carriers Al Samriya, Al Dafna, Al Gattara and Al Rayyan.
-Reuters
Iran on Friday (July 10, 2026) laid to rest its former supreme leader Ali Khamenei over four months after his killing in an airstrike, as two days of U.S. and Iranian attacks raised fears of a return to all-out war.
Khamenei’s flag-covered coffin was carried aloft into the shrine of Imam Reza in his home city of Mashhad in eastern Iran as a sea of people waited outside and listened to prayers, with no sign of a public appearance by his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei.
Iran's former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was laid to rest in Mashhad amid escalating tensions and ongoing U.S.-Iran conflicts.
The gloves are off and the ceasefire is in trouble as the United States and Iran traded strikes, once again, on July 8, over the safe passage of commercial ships across the Strait of Hormuz.
However, looking beyond this flareup, the recent visuals coming out of Iran are extraordinary.
Iran is resurgent and is unlikely to let go of the opportunity that the war with the U.S. and Israel has provided it
Tensions rise as the U.S.-Iran agreement faces challenges amid military strikes and geopolitical conflicts in the region.
Israel shared intelligence with the United States this week about a new and “specific” plan by Iran to assassinate President Donald Trump, U.S. media reported Thursday (July 9, 2026).
The reports come as renewed U.S. and Iranian attacks raise fears of a return to all-out war and after Mr. Trump’s puzzling use of an old plane to depart from Türkiye after the NATO summit.
Washington has monitored “a steady drumbeat” of intelligence about possible plans to assassinate Mr. Trump, “but the warning from Israel was new and concerned a specific plot,” CNN reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
The Wall Street Journal, also citing unidentified sources, said the intelligence described a “fresh” plot.
- AFP
A U.S. official said on Thursday (July 9, 2026) that Washington is still committed to finding a resolution with Iran and that technical talks were continuing.
- Reuters
Published - July 10, 2026 07:58 am IST