Responsible Statecraft

The US launched a 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, while the IRGC claimed two tankers caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz and attacked US air defense systems in Bahrain. Israeli intelligence assessed that Iran moved thousands of centrifuges to an underground facility at Pickaxe Mountain. In southern Lebanon, Israel began a pilot withdrawal under a US-brokered safe-zone plan, and Hamas elected Khalil al-Hayya as its new political bureau chief, signaling continued alignment with Iran.

Hezbollah launched multiple explosive-drone attacks on Israeli positions along the Lebanon border on Friday, with the IDF confirming several impacts inside Israeli territory and a serious security incident involving casualties. Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people, including paramedics, according to Lebanese health authorities. Meanwhile, a draft US-Iran ceasefire framework circulated by Saudi media would pause hostilities and open the Strait of Hormuz but explicitly excludes the nuclear file, as Iran rejects uranium export demands and asserts expanded maritime claims.