Tehran says a ‘communication channel’ will be established with Washington to report and discuss breaches of the MoU.
Trump says denuclearisation of Iran is going well
Kpler, a data and analytics firm, says traffic in the Strait of Hormuz held “steady” on Tuesday, July 1, “with 34 verified crossings recorded and traffic evenly split by direction”.
The report followed data from another maritime tracker, WindWard AI, which recorded 42 transits in the waterway on Monday.
Both figures mark a drop from last week, particularly on June 24, when 70 transits were recorded, marking the highest since the US-Israel war on Iran began. Traffic fell after the US and Iran exchanged tit-for-tat attacks over the weekend over a dispute on the waterway’s management.
Before the conflict, roughly 130 to 140 ships passed through the strait daily.
Strait of Hormuz traffic holds steady amid fragmented routing
The Strait of Hormuz remained open and active on 30 June, with 34 verified crossings recorded, according to #MarineTraffic data. Traffic was evenly split by direction, with 17 crossings each way, and included a broad… pic.twitter.com/kiYdXWDyj4
— MarineTraffic (@MarineTraffic) July 1, 2026
Iran’s football team has landed back in Tehran after their World Cup exit to hundreds of fans warmly welcoming them home.
“They played really well in the enemy’s country,” one supporter said.
Watch below:
We have more on the technical talks that just wrapped up in Doha.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state media the Iranian delegation held two rounds of meetings with mediators Qatar and Pakistan.
The first was a session of the Monitoring and Implementation Working Group, one of four bodies established under the US-Iran MoU. According to the IRIB broadcaster, Iran’s delegation used the meeting to raise the “US’s violation of its obligations under Article 1 of the MoU”, which calls for an end to war across all fronts. They also discussed “news reports about US actions to strengthen equipment and forces in the region, and threatening and interventionist statements by US officials”.
The meeting decided to establish an immediate communication channel within a day, and to formally document the MoU’s shortcomings so the issues could be reviewed and resolved.
The second meeting, with Qatari officials and the country’s central bank, addressed the release of some $6bn in frozen Iranian funds. According to Gharibabadi, the talks covered issues related to the cost of part of the initial $6bn, with an agreement that Iran would use the funds to buy goods according to its “declared needs”.
Somaliland’s Council of Ministers has unanimously approved the Somaliland–Israel Strategic Cooperation Declaration, announced by President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi during a visit to Israel in June.
The agreement lays the foundation for expanded cooperation in areas including security, investment, technology, and economic development, according to the presidency.
Israel is the first country to formally recognise Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia in 1991.
Experts say the recognition, granted last year, was meant to secure a strategic footing on the Gulf of Aden – at the Red Sea’s southern gateway – to counter Iran and its regional allies, including the Houthis.
The core of the Joint Declaration issued by the two governments, the Republic of #Somaliland and the State of #Israel, was presented and read in full before the Cabinet of Ministers. The Cabinet subsequently approved it unanimously by a show of hands.
This declaration, which was… pic.twitter.com/kxoGYe9AVd
— SAAB TV (@tvsaab) July 1, 2026
We can now bring you more from Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s comments on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s access to the bombed nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
He said reports that Iran has granted access are “false” and that “IAEA inspectors do not have the right to inspect nuclear sites bombed by the US”.
According to the IRIB broadcaster, he said: “Currently, inspectors only have access to two locations: Bushehr power plant and Tehran reactor.”
Ghalibaf added that Parliament had passed a law prohibiting such access.
“Parliament itself passed the law, and the Supreme National Security Council has also adopted a corresponding resolution,” he said.
Ghalibaf’s comments came after IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said the agency’s inspectors will “have to have access and inspect” Iran’s nuclear sites under the Iran-US MoU. “We hope to be there soon,” Grossi said.
As he visited troops in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the military “will not leave” the area as long as the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah remains a “threat” to his nation.
A day earlier, Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel’s military will not withdraw “a millimetre” until Hezbollah is disarmed.
But the Israeli stance is squarely at odds with the first clause of the US-Iran MoU, which provides for an immediate, permanent halt to fighting on “all fronts”, including in Lebanon, where Israeli forces occupy approximately one-fifth of the country.
The provision has since been undercut by a separate US-brokered framework agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government, which doesn’t require Israeli forces to leave southern Lebanon or halt attacks – a deal Hezbollah has denounced.
The result has been an entrenchment of Israel’s military presence in Lebanon, even as strikes have eased to avoid reigniting direct conflict with Iran.
That leaves an open question: Is Israel’s position bluster for a domestic audience, or a hard line that could unravel the fragile MoU?
We spoke to analysts to find out. Read what they had to say here.
Gordon Gray, a former US diplomat, says the fact that the US and Iran held talks in Qatar, even if indirectly, “is a step in the right direction”.
“There were indications that one side or the other wasn’t going to join, and I think it demonstrates that both sides do want the ceasefire to hold and that both sides do want to come to an agreement,” Gray told Al Jazeera.
The former deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs says there are “several difficult issues” ahead for Washington and Tehran.
“For the United States, I think the paramount immediate interest is getting the Strait of Hormuz reopened. I think for the Iranian side, their most pressing need is sanctions relief, because their economy is in such terrible shape due to the war, due to sanctions, and due to their gross economic mismanagement.”
US President Donald Trump hails the progress of indirect talks with Iran, saying there had been “very good meetings” in Doha, despite US strikes on Iran in recent days.
Watch his comments below:
Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran, as well as Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.
Stay with us for the latest news and analysis from across the Middle East and beyond.
You can find our updates from Wednesday, July 1, here.
Conflict will accelerate shift to renewables and search for alternatives to Strait of Hormuz, energy analysts say.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gharibabadi says part of $6bn in frozen assets would be used to buy goods Tehran needs.
Israeli opposition criticise the means employed by Netanyahu, but cannot risk opposing his ends.
Board of Peace talks on Gaza’s post-war future face funding crises and warnings of a colonial occupation.
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