• Updated

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.