An American official said Thursday that the US-brokered framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon soon will shift to technical discussions in Rome. The deal had been stagnant for several weeks. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to the Associated Press to discuss sensitive diplomatic details.
Meanwhile, the US launched new airstrikes against Iran early Thursday, hours after President Trump said recent Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz signaled the end of the cease-fire and threatened to escalate the conflict if they didn’t stop.
Iran responded by targeting US-allied Kuwait and Qatar and accused the US of striking near its sole nuclear power plant.
Follow along live.
The final funeral procession for Iran’s late supreme leader — 8:14 p.m.
By the Associated Press
People pressed forward to touch the vehicle carrying Ali Khamenei’s body.
Many carried Iranian flags, images of Khamanei or banners evoking Shiite Islam’s long history of martyrs.
Some signs called for the death of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been laid to rest months after being killed in Iran war — 8:13 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Khamenei ruled Iran for nearly 37 years before dying in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes that started the war Feb. 28. He was laid to rest in his hometown of Mashhad early Friday after days of public mourning.
Khamenei is only the second ruler of the nation to be buried in the city. In 1747, Nader Shah was buried there after he was assassinated following nearly 11 years in power.
The funeral processions began Saturday, with authorities shutting down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran and other cities, as throngs commemorated the man who led Iran with an iron fist for decades while confronting the West.
A bitterly divided Iran grapples with Khamenei’s legacy as he is laid to rest — 6:19 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The funeral for Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was designed to showcase unity in a country that is bitterly split over his decades-long rule. Supporters thronged the streets for a leader they view as a martyr who defied the West and Israel.
But Khamenei’s long rule left large sectors of Iranian society disillusioned as he oversaw increasingly bloody crackdowns, economic stagnation and the empowerment of the Revolutionary Guard. Anger and despair run deep after a January crackdown killed thousands.
The war launched by the United States and Israel brought more suffering while leaving the government intact, deepening the feeling of hopelessness among its opponents.
Eight men indicted in alleged planned drone and sniper attack on White House UFC fight — 5:40 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Eight men were indicted on murder and terrorism conspiracy charges Thursday for their alleged roles in a thwarted drone and sniper attack on the UFC cage-fighting show staged at the White House in June.
The indictment, returned in Ohio, charges all eight in two separate conspiracies, one to provide material support to terrorists and a second to commit murder on federal government territory and to murder a federal government official.
According to the indictment, the plot began in May, when the group began amassing money, firearms, ammunition, body armor, explosives, drones, medical equipment, communications equipment and other items.
On June 10, law enforcement officials learned about a possible threat to President Trump’s UFC cage-fighting show, four days before the mixed martial arts extravaganza.
The Justice Department announced federal charges against seven people last month from across the country, including from Ohio, Missouri, Washington, Nebraska and California. Officials said the group members harbored fringe conspiracy theories and hoped the attack would destabilize the government.
Stocks recover losses, and oil prices ease as calm returns to financial markets worldwide — 5:19 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Stocks rose, and oil prices eased Thursday as financial markets calmed in the wait to see what will come next after President Donald Trump raised doubts about the temporary truce in the war with Iran.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% and more than recovered its loss from the day before, even though the United States launched new airstrikes against Iran, which responded by targeting U.S. allies in the Middle East. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 139 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.3%.
In the oil market, prices gave back much of their jumps from the day before. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 2.2% to $76.30. That’s down from $78.02 the day before though still above its $71.80 price from the end of last week.
Trump speaks with Netanyahu, and raises ‘security concerns’ about Turkey — 5:04 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The Israeli prime minister’s office posted on the social platform X that the pair spoke on Thursday and that Netanyahu “raised the severity of the statements made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his people against the existence of the State of Israel.”
After this week’s NATO summit in Turkey, Trump indicated he may be ready to have the U.S. sell F-35 fighter jets to Erdogan’s country -- but he also says he’s not yet fully made up his mind.
Turkey and Israel have acrimonious relations. Netanyahu has urged Trump not to sell the jets to Turkey, saying it would put Israel in danger.
The statement from Netanyahu’s office also said Trump had updated the prime minister on American moves in the Persian Gulf.
Deal between Israel and Lebanon is moving forward, US official says — 3:30 p.m.
By the Associated Press
After weeks of stagnation, an American official said Thursday that the U.S.-brokered framework agreement soon will shift to technical discussions in Rome.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic details, said “pilot zones” that both sides had agreed to will launch in the coming days while additional zones are mapped out and planned.
The zones will be where the Israeli military is to turn over control to the Lebanese army after clearing the areas of any Hezbollah presence. U.S. Central Command is coordinating with Israel and Lebanon on the zones, the official said.
The dates of the meetings and the location of the zones were not yet clear. A State Department spokesperson said they were not previewing those details yet.
Trump’s loyal defender at the Vatican — 3:11 p.m.
By the New York Times
To the world, it has seemed clear for months that President Trump has been fighting with Pope Leo XIV about the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, which the pope has said is not a just war.
But to the president’s man at the Vatican, that narrative is simply “false” and “entirely unfair.”
In fact, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, would go so far as to say that the pope -- the first born in the United States -- has not even declared the war unjust.
“The Vatican has not said, nor will they say, declare definitively whether or not this is a just or unjust war,” he said during a 90-minute interview from his office in Rome in late June.
To Burch, declaring the Iran war unjust is not a judgment the pope can make because he has access to only “a set of limited facts.”
An ambassador’s job is always part ceremony, part policy. But Burch is in an unusual spot. Leo is no typical head of state who deals simply in temporal politics. He is the world’s most prominent religious leader, attending to the moral lives of 1.4 billion Catholics, including Burch.
A longtime conservative Catholic activist, Burch also navigates the relationship between the two most prominent American men in the world – a popular pope and a bellicose president who have sharply diverging visions of global leadership.
Iran’s foreign minister speaks to regional leaders about the escalating tensions with the US — 3:03 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Abbas Araghchi said on his Telegram channel on Thursday that he spoke with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Oman. He also spoke with Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has been one of the main mediators in the war.
Araghchi repeated Iran’s assertion that the U.S. has violated the interim peace deal reached last month. The U.S. says Iran violated the deal by firing on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
The diplomatic outreach suggested efforts may be underway to reduce tensions.
South Florida’s Palm Beach airport renamed President Donald J. Trump International — 1:21 p.m.
By the Associated Press
A South Florida airport officially changed its name to the President Donald J. Trump International Airport.
Signs for the Palm Beach International Airport have been removed, while new signage goes up.
“Because an entire airport transformation doesn’t happen overnight, you’ll notice a combination of both our classic look and our new brand elements coexisting while traveling through the terminal over the next several weeks,” airport officials said in a Facebook post.
Tarps go up as part of Trump’s restoration project to the front of the White House — 1:10 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Crews have draped tarps over the towering stone columns on the north side of the White House, where work is underway to scrape away decades of paint.
The new tarps on the building’s façade are partially see-through. They feature images of columns designed to cover the actual ornate stone columns beneath.
Scaffolding went up several days ago for work on the columns. It is the latest in dozens of projects Trump has led to remake the White House to his own tastes – including a massive ballroom and helipad on the South Lawn.
The White House hasn’t provided details on what is being done to the columns or how much it will cost. But Trump said on Monday: “We’ve taken about 150 years of paint off of the columns” and added that, “If you don’t strip the paint off, it gets worse and worse and worse.”
Ships are still going through the Strait of Hormuz but the situation remains volatile — 10:29 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Bridget Diakun, senior risk and compliance analyst for maritime data company Lloyd’s List Intelligence, said in a news briefing that ships were still passing through the strait as of Wednesday, but Lloyd’s is still reviewing the numbers since some passages are “dark,” when ships stop broadcasting signals that show their location.
“The situation does remain really volatile,” she said.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence said preliminary data shows there were at least 576 transits in June, up from 233 in May, but down from 3,131 in June 2025.
In June, there were 264 outbound vessels and 137 inbound ships.
Outbound ships included bulkers, crude oil tankers and product tankers. Inbound ships included crude oil tankers, product tankers, bulk carriers and gas carriers.
In June, there was an even split between “dark” transits and online transits that broadcast their locations.
Germany reaches a deal with the US to buy long-range Tomahawk missiles, Merz says — 9:52 a.m.
By the Associated Press
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the agreement on the long-range cruise missiles, which are used to strike targets deep inside enemy territory, was reached this week on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey’s capital, Ankara.
“This will close an important strategic gap in our defense, and at the same time, we will work to develop our own European systems and station them in Europe,” Merz told parliament after returning from the two-day summit.
The deal struck with the Trump administration amounts to broader export of American know-how to some of its major allies in Europe, whose security posture has been upended by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Former Olympian pleads not guilty in Reflecting Pool damage case after Trump alleged vandalism — 9:44 a.m.
By the Associated Press
The former Olympic canoe racer pleaded not guilty Thursday to deliberately damaging the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a politically charged case that his defense attorneys and other Trump administration critics have derided as an abuse of prosecutorial power.
David Hearn, who competed in three Summer Olympics, entered the plea during his initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court. Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, was indicted last Thursday on a single felony count of property destruction.
Trump ordered a multimillion-dollar renovation of the Reflecting Pool ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary this month, but the project has been plagued with problems. Workers have used chemicals to curtail an algae bloom. Trump has said the pool likely would need to be drained again for liner repairs after chunks of blue coating were seen floating at the surface.
Trump has claimed without substantiation that vandals dumped fertilizer into the pool and slashed the coating with a box cutter.
Ukraine says its Patriot production will take months — 9:19 a.m.
By the Associated Press
During Wednesday’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey, Trump said the US will meet a longstanding request from Ukraine and give it a license to make the Patriot air defense systems. He also praised Zelensky for doing “an amazing job” — a sharp change in tone from past criticisms of the Ukrainian leader.
But setting up domestic production of the mobile, surface-to-air systems will take many months, said Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister.
A production license would typically come with technical process documentation, training for specialists, supplier contacts and foreign consultants to help launch manufacturing, Beskrestnov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
The main obstacle would be time, rather than Ukraine’s technical or organizational capacity, he added.
Eswatini receives 11 people deported from the US as part of migration crackdown — 8:47 a.m.
By the Associated Press
The southern African kingdom of Eswatini has accepted a fourth group of people deported from the United States under a bilateral agreement to host third-country nationals, with 11 people arriving this week, the government said Thursday.
Acting government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli said the group, predominantly from African countries, would remain in the kingdom temporarily while their rights were protected.
“The government reaffirms that, during their temporary stay in the Kingdom, the fundamental rights of the third-country nationals will be respected and protected in accordance with the laws of the Kingdom of Eswatini and the Kingdom’s international obligations,” Mdluli said in a statement.
Under a series of often-secret agreements that are part of a broad US crackdown on immigration, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, advocates say.
Global markets are mixed and oil prices rise as Iran and US launch new attacks — 8:23 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent before the opening bell Thursday, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1 percent. Nasdaq futures were up 0.5 percent.
Oil prices inched up again Thursday, with Brent crude, the international standard, rising 64 cents to to $78.66 per barrel. It briefly topped $80 on Wednesday. Before the Iran war began, Brent oil was trading at around $72 a barrel. Earlier optimism over an interim peace deal recently brought it back to prewar levels.
Benchmark US crude rose 54 cents to $74.06 a barrel.
New attacks raise questions about what comes next in the Iran war — 8:17 a.m.
By the Associated Press
President Trump says he believes the ceasefire with Iran is over. He says he’s not sure he wants a deal anymore and says the US should “finish the job.” But he also insists continued attacks don’t mean a return to war or long-term action.
The confusion and uncertainty in Trump’s mixed messaging and his approval of back-to-back military strikes leave major questions about what comes next in the conflict, just weeks after difficult diplomacy to reach even an initial deal between the longtime adversaries.
The whipsawing rhetoric could be a strategy to increase the pressure on Tehran to stop attacking ships transporting oil and natural gas in the Strait of Hormuz and bend to US demands on its nuclear program — something Trump has tried before.
Whether it’s a negotiation tactic or a signal of an escalation in fighting, mediators are scrambling to save the interim deal and the actions risk further inflaming tensions.