Iran Khamenei Funeral
In this photo released by Iran's Supreme Leader's office, mourners carry the coffin of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei above the crowd for the final prayer before his burial at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, Thursday, July 9, 2026.
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The United States has launched new airstrikes against Iran, and Tehran responded by targeting Gulf countries. The exchange of fire threatened an interim deal intended to help end the war in the Middle East. Back-and-forth attacks have repeatedly threatened the ceasefire, but Thursday’s appeared bigger all around. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening salvos of the war, was laid to rest early Friday after days of public mourning. The strikes came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said recent Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz signaled the end of a fragile ceasefire and threatened to escalate the conflict if they didn’t stop.
Iran says it again considers the Strait of Hormuz closed after a vessel using an ‘unauthorized route’ was struck by a warning shot in the critical waterway — potentially further menacing the already tenuous ceasefire agreement with the U.S. In a statement read on state television, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had fired on a ship and that it considered the  strait closed. The White House and U.S. military authorities offered no immediate comment on the closure, or if American retaliation could be coming against Iran after the warning shot. Iran and Oman’s foreign ministers have met to discuss the safety of the strait located between them. Oman and Iran agreed to continue talks about the crucial waterway for global oil and gas trade.
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