US attacks Iran as ceasefire hopes dim

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday said the country was ready to return to the ceasefire deal reached with the United States in June if Washington did the same, although the tone was dimmed by the two exchanging strikes for the first time in a month.

The United States military said it was striking targets in Iran over attempted attacks on shipping as hostilities flared.

Iranian media reports explosions east of Bandar Abbas.

In a warning after the attack, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said if the US “will is that we do not export oil” from the Gulf, “no one will be able to export oil”.

Earlier, as leaders from 17 countries met at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the US-Iran ceasefire but said “the truce proved unstable and too fragile”.

Meanwhile, US military attacks on targets affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) in Iran are still ongoing, an official told Al Jazeera.

What June memorandum said

The June memorandum of understanding called for an immediate ceasefire and started a 60-day period for negotiations aimed at reaching a wider peace deal.

Iran agreed to clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines and allow ships to pass during the period, and the US agreed to end its naval blockade, lift sanctions, issue waivers for Iranian oil exports and begin work on a reconstruction package for Iran, among other things.

The agreement broke down quickly, and while there had been a lull in fighting, the two sides exchanged fire at the weekend.

Iran working with Oman on managing shipping traffic

Iran has been working with Oman, which sits on the south side of the Strait of Hormuz, on a framework for managing shipping traffic, though it remains unclear whether the plan would be acceptable to the US, AP reports.

Other Gulf nations have stressed the need to reopen the strait unconditionally.

On Tuesday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, met with Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, according to the Saudi Press Agency, which said the two discussed “ongoing efforts to maintain regional security and stability,” but did not mention the Strait of Hormuz specifically.

Israeli raid to detain Hamas militant in Gaza kills 4

An Israeli operation to detain a Hamas militant killed at least four people, including two children, in Gaza City on Tuesday, hospital officials said. Residents reported gunfire and explosions in the west of the city around 10:30am as drones and helicopters flew overhead.

The military said it had struck several targets in Gaza “in order to remove threats to security forces,” adding that no troops had been injured.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said the army had apprehended a senior Hamas operative, without identifying who was detained.

Separately, a child was killed in central Gaza when Israeli troops fired on a group of people in Deir al-Balah, according to officials at the Al-Aqsa Hospital. Four other people, including a child, were wounded, they said.

Israel’s army didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the shooting.

Islamic State spokesperson killed in Yemen

Yemen’s state security said that Islamic State spokesperson Abu Huzayfah al-Ansari was killed in Yemen in a joint operation by Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and the Yemeni counterterrorism forces.

He was killed at dawn Tuesday while he was hiding in a house in Seiyun city in the Yemeni province of Hadramout, according to a security statement published by state-run SABA news agency.

He was hiding among eight civilians, including two women and five children who were unharmed in the operation and were taken to a safe place. One person was arrested after resisting the security forces.

Two ships attacked in and around Strait of Hormuz

The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said it received reports of an attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, and a second report of an incident involving a nearby tanker.

The UKMTO said a tanker was hit by three projectiles on Monday on its way out of the Persian Gulf through the strait east of Oman.

In the second incident on the same day, the center received a report “involving a tanker and military forces” off the coast of Oman, east of the Strait of Hormuz.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.