Calling for revenge and rejecting any compromise with the West, Iranians loyal to the Islamic Republic braved sweltering heat to mass for the burial of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in his hometown of Mashhad.
An Israeli strike killed Khamenei in late February on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, bringing an end to his more than three and a half decades in power.
Beating their chests and weeping, mourners lined the route as they waited for Khamenei’s coffin to arrive at the eastern city’s shrine of Imam Reza, the holiest site for Shia Muslims in Iran and the burial place he had chosen in his will.
AFP
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned against any further U.S. military “adventurism”, after condemning U.S. attacks on Iran as a violation of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding in a phone call with Pakistan’s army chief, Iran’s foreign ministry saidIran warns against further U.S. military ‘adventurism’
Reuters
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi held separate phone calls with his Omani and Turkish counterparts on Thursday and discussed latest developments in the region, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian foreign ministry said.
The parties stressed the need to use diplomatic channels to prevent escalation, a ministry statement said.
Reuters
Iran fired 10 ballistic missiles at Jordan’s Azraq military base, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by state media.
Jordan said earlier that it had intercepted eight missiles launched from Iran, with no casualties or damage reported, according to the state news agency.
The Revolutionary Guards said U.S. bases in the region would be targeted if “U.S. aggression” was repeated.
Reuters
An Iranian official accused the United States of conducting an airstrike near the Bushehr nuclear power plant, something not immediately acknowledged by American officials.
The state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ehsan Jahanian, a local official in Bushehr, as accusing the U.S. of striking near Iran’s sole nuclear power plant.
He said the strike came around noon, hours after the U.S. military’s Central Command said it had ended its strikes on Iran.
AP
Missile alert sirens sounded in Jordan as Iran retaliated across the wider West Asia over U.S. airstrikes targeting it.
The sirens could be heard in Amman, Jordan’s capital, and Jordanian media said sirens also sounded in other areas of the kingdom.
There was no immediate information provided by the authorities.
AP
A U.S. delegation was expected to arrive in Lebanon soon to oversee the implementation of Israel’s withdrawal from “pilot zones” in the south, the Lebanese presidency reported on Thursday (July 9, 2026), citing the American ambassador.
Lebanon is demanding that Israel withdraw from these zones before taking part in a new round of negotiations scheduled for July 15 and 16 in Rome, a diplomatic source familiar with the talks told AFP on Wednesday (July 8, 2026).
The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, told President Joseph Aoun that “an American military delegation will arrive in Beirut in the coming days to... determine the mechanism for implementation on the ground,” according to the Lebanese presidency.
- AFP
Several explosions were heard in Iran’s Bushehr province on Thursday morning (July 9, 2026), semi-official Mehr News reported.
Bushehr is where Iran’s nuclear power plant is located.
- Reuters
Overnight U.S. strikes on Iran hit the Aq Taqeh Khan railway bridge in northern Iran’s Golestan province, Fars news agency said on Thursday (July 9, 2026), a trade link to Tehran’s strategic partners China and Russia.
Fars said the route that goes on to pass through Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan has been an important land link to China which gained further relevance during this year’s blockade of Iran’s Gulf ports by the U.S.
It added that the route had also been used by Russia for cargo shipments to Iran since late 2025. The agency said repairs to the bridge were expected to be completed quickly.
- Reuters
At least one person was injured on Tuesday (July 7, 2026), Kuwait’s defence ministry said, following the latest Iranian attack on the country.
“The injured individual is receiving the necessary medical care and is in stable condition,” defence ministry spokesman Colonel Staff Saud Abdulaziz Al-Atwan said, adding that four missiles and 10 drones had been “successfully intercepted and neutralised” at dawn.
- AFP
At least one fighter jet escorted the plane carrying late Iranian leader Ali Khamenei to his final burial in the eastern holy city of Mashhad on Thursday (July 9, 2026), footage from the Supreme Leader’s website showed.
Khamenei’s coffin, alongside those of family members killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes in February that began the war in West Asia, was transported from Iraq, where massive crowds attended funeral ceremonies in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.
- AFP
Explore the strategic significance of Bandar Abbas amidst escalating U.S.-Iran tensions and its crucial role in global trade.
Missile sirens sounded for a third time on Thursday (July 9, 2026) in Bahrain as Iran retaliated over U.S. airstrikes targeting the Islamic Republic.
Bahrain urged the public to seek shelter.
- AFP
Iran’s Foreign Ministry denounced U.S. strikes against the country on Thursday (July 9, 2026), which it said targeted civilian infrastructure, including railway bridges, as a “gross war crime”.
The Ministry in a statement, said it “condemns in the strongest terms the aggressive attacks by the U.S. terrorist army on several points in the southern coastal provinces and two bridges in the eastern provinces on the railway route to the holy city of Mashhad” and called the U.S. administration “evil and psychopathic”.
- AFP
A plane carrying the coffin of late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei landed in the eastern holy city of Mashhad on Thursday (July 8, 2026), ahead of his burial, state media reported.
Official news agency IRNA shared footage of the Mahan Air flight taxiing at the airport after landing in Khamenei’s home city. He was transferred from Iraq, where ceremonies took place in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.
- AFP
An AFP correspondent in the Bahraini capital Manama heard explosions on Thursday (July 9, 2026) as air-raid sirens were activated for a second time, hours after Iranian attacks in the night.
“The siren has been sounded. Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,” the Interior Ministry said in a post on X.
- AFP
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a phone call on Thursday (July 9, 2026) that Iran and the United States should commit to diplomacy.
Mr. Al-Thani added that Washington and Tehran should implement the signed memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war, the Qatari Foreign Minister said.
Iran launched drones towards a site in Qatar earlier on Thursday (July 9, 2026) and a Qatari tanker was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the week. Al-Thani condemned the attack in the call, the Foreign Ministry said.
- Reuters
Amnesty International today accused Israel of wiping out families in its strikes on Lebanon during its war with Hezbollah, calling for these attacks to be investigated as war crimes.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the West Asia war on March 2 by launching rockets at Israel in support of its backer Iran.
Israel responded with major airstrikes and a ground invasion, killing more than 4,300 people according to Lebanese authorities, including more than 250 children.
Amnesty analysed three strikes on civilian homes between March 6 and 13, in which 24 civilians were killed, 12 of them children.
- AFP
Iran’s Health Ministry says two days of U.S. airstrikes have killed at least 14 people and wounded 78 others.
Hossein Kermanpour, a Health Ministry spokesperson, offered the toll on X.
It was the first overall casualty figure issued by the Iranian government from the strikes.
- AP
With several hours remaining before the funeral procession of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei commences in Mashhad, crowds have started gathering in large numbers.
Iran’s military said it had targeted sites in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain with one-way attack drones today, state media reported, in retaliation for U.S. strikes earlier in the day.
The army said “in continuation of the attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s army on U.S. bases in the region” it had targeted a Patriot missile interceptor system in Kuwait, an early warning system in Qatar and fuel tanks in Bahrain with “a large number of various types of army kamikaze drones”.
- AFP
The plane carrying the body of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei has taken off from Najaf Airport moments ago, with Mashhad as its final destination.
The train service between Tehran and Mashhad has been suspended after U.S. strikes, state TV reported, hours before late supreme leader Ali Khamenei was due to be buried in the eastern Iranian holy city.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Railways blamed “a criminal attack by the U.S.-Israeli enemy” on the route and said it had dispatched teams to repair the damage, the state broadcaster reported, adding that road transport was being arranged for stranded passengers.
- AFP
U.S. strikes on Iran killed three people and wounded several others in the country’s west, official news agency IRNA reported today, quoting a local official.
Valiollah Hayati, the deputy governor of Khuzestan for security and law enforcement, told reporters that three people were killed and several wounded in the American attack on the outskirts of city of Ahvaz, the IRNA report said.
- AFP
The United States and Iran traded strikes today for the second day running as Washington and Tehran battled over the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The vital oil shipping corridor is a flashpoint in the West Asia war, with Tehran insisting on control of the strait despite it being open to free passage before the U.S.-Israeli attacks in February.
After the foes traded attacks yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was “over”, but left the door open to more talks and added that any strikes would end quickly.
- AFP
US forces said the latest attacks against Iran were aimed at “their ability to threaten the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz”, citing recent strikes against commercial ships in the waterway.
U.S. military officials said that approximately 90 Iranian military targets were hit in their latest strikes, targeting air defence systems, missile and drone storage sites, and other assets.
The United States “completed an additional round of strikes against Iran, July 8, to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners in the Strait of Hormuz,” according to a statement posted to X by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
-AFP
Iran Guards say they hit U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, and threaten to expand strikes.
-AFP
Iran chief negotiator says Hormuz Strait to open only under ‘Iranian arrangements’
-AFP
Explosions were heard in Bahrain’s capital on Thursday, an AFP correspondent in Manama said, moments after authorities sounded air raid sirens to warn of an attack.
The blasts followed a vow from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that they would “give a devastating response” to fresh American strikes on the Islamic republic’s territory.
-AFP
The United States launched new strikes on Iran on Wednesday (July 8, 2026) after President Donald Trump vowed to hit “hard” following Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr. Trump, while ordering retaliation against Tehran, said he expected the latest military flare-up to end quickly and left the door open to more talks.
Published - July 09, 2026 07:05 am IST