Lebanon’s Health Ministry says at least 4,298 people have been killed and 12,196 injured in Israeli attacks since March.
The last time Iran held a funeral for the Supreme Leader
Israel bulldozed at least 500 olive trees owned by Palestinians near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, just months before the olive harvest.
At least 120,000 olive trees have been damaged, uprooted or poisoned in the occupied West Bank since 2020.
Our colleagues at AJ+ have more:
Israel bulldozed at least 500 Palestinian olive trees near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, just months before the olive harvest. pic.twitter.com/8g9usglINz
— AJ+ (@ajplus) July 2, 2026
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, told Al Jazeera that the red flag symbolises the sacrifice of Hussein ibn Ali, grandson of Prophet Muhammed, 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.
امشب؛ پرچم مقدس حرم حضرت اباعبدالله الحسین علیهالسلام بر روی پیکر مطهر مقتدای آزادگان، رهبر عزیز و شهید ایران pic.twitter.com/fASKTvvHoX
— KHAMENEI.IR | فارسی (@Khamenei_fa) July 3, 2026
On the 1,000th day since the attacks by Hamas on southern Israel, protests by Israelis have been held to demand their government hold an investigation into security failings on October 7, 2023.
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Alan Eyre, a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, has told Al Jazeera that in negotiations with Iran, the US should prioritise reopening the Strait of Hormuz, ending the war, and stabilising the situation in Lebanon.
Eyre, who previously served as a US-Iran negotiator during US President Barak Obama’s administration, also said he doubted the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme 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 realises the longer the strait remains closed or even constricted the more economic pain he is going to feel domestically,” Eyre said.
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 Defence 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.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Ali Hashem reports that 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.
IRGC caretaker commander Ahmad Vahidi’s first public appearance since the war, seen tonight at the coffin ahead of Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral procession beginning July 4. pic.twitter.com/vKbFbfEsGg
— Ali Hashem علي هاشم (@Alihashem) July 2, 2026
A former US-Iran negotiator has told Al Jazeera 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.
Demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv to demand an independent inquiry into how the government failed to prevent the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected calls for such an inquiry, instead offering to set up a political commission.
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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 Thursday, July 2, here.
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