Middle East crisis live: tanker reports attack as Iran closes strait of Hormuz; French soldier killed in Lebanon

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has vowed to prosecute those who targeted French UN peacekeepers, killing one and wounding three.

In a statement shared by the presidency, Aoun expressed his condolences to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a phone call, condemning the incident and vowing that Beirut “will not hesitate to pursue those involved and bring them to justice”.

A senior Hezbollah official has said his group is not concerned by Lebanon’s planned direct talks with Israel, labelling them a failure.

In a press conference in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Mahmud Qamati said Hezbollah was “not concerned with the negotiations being conducted by the state” as they were “a failure, weak, defeated… and submissive negotiations”.

He added:

The resistance is the one that imposes. We are the land… and we are the ones who draw up the decisions, not those who have an official status.

He added that while his group did not mind Beirut “coordinating with us… not in this way that leads to surrender”.

Unifil has now put out the following statement on the attack in Lebanon:

This morning, a Unifil patrol clearing explosive ordnance along a road in the village of Ghanduriyah to re-establish links with isolated Unifil positions came under small-arms fire from non-state-actors.

Unifil calls on the Government of Lebanon to swiftly initiate an investigation to identify and hold the perpetrators accountable for the crimes committed against Unifil peacekeepers.

We now have the full statement from Macron, who has blamed Hezbollah for the death of the French soldier.

France’s president said:

Sergeant Major Florian Montorio of the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment in Montauban was killed this morning in southern Lebanon during an attack against Unifil (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon).

Three of his comrades were wounded and evacuated.

He added:

All indications suggest that Hezbollah is responsible for this attack. France demands that the Lebanese authorities immediately arrest those responsible and take responsibility alongside Unifil.

Emmanuel Macron has just announced that a French soldier, working as a UN peacekeeper, was killed in Lebanon this morning.

We’ll bring you more on this shortly…

The US Central Command (Centcom) said American forces were enforcing a naval blockade of Iranian ports, claiming 23 ships have complied with their orders to turn around.

The statement followed Iran’s earlier announcement that it has reimposed “strict control” of the strait of Hormuz over the continuing US blockade.

Centcom said since commencement of the blockade on Monday, “23 ships have complied with direction from US forces to turn around”.

It continued: “American forces are enforcing a maritime blockade against ships entering or exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas.”

It added that Apache helicopters were “flying in and around the strait providing a visible presence in support of freedom of navigation”.

The Lebanese prime minister, Nawaf Salam, said French UN peacemakers came under attack in Lebanon, as he called for an urgent investigation into the incident.

He did not say who launched the attack against the French contingent of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), which has been patrolling areas south of the country.

In a statement on X, Salam said:

I strongly condemn today’s attack on members of the French battalion serving with Unifil. I have given strict instructions for an immediate investigation to be carried out to establish the circumstances of this attack and to hold the perpetrators to account. It goes without saying that such irresponsible behaviour causes great harm to Lebanon and its relations with friendly nations around the world that support it.

There has been no immediate comment from Unifil.

Following initial talks between the US and Iran last weekend in Pakistan, the Iranian deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said a second date cannot be set until both sides “have agreed on the framework”.

Speaking to reporters at a diplomatic forum in Antalya, Turkey, he said: “We do not wish to engage in any negotiations or meetings doomed to failure and which could serve as a pretext for further escalation.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has confirmed carrying out strikes in southern Lebanon yesterday in response to what it said were ceasefire violations by Hezbollah.

It is the first confirmed Israeli military action since the ceasefire in Lebanon took effect at midnight on Friday.

The IDF said its troops operating south of the so-called “yellow line” in southern Lebanon, which demarcates an area occupied by the Israeli military, “identified terrorists who violated the ceasefire agreements and approached the forces from north of the yellow line in a manner that posed an immediate threat”.

The IDF said its air force and ground troops “struck the terrorists in several areas in southern Lebanon” to “remove the threat”.

As reports come in of Iranian gun boats firing at a tanker near the strait of Hormuz, Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has issued a long statement on Telegram, praising his country’s military capabilities.

“In the same way that its [Iran’s] drones strike the US and the Zionist murderers like lightning, its valiant navy is also ready to inflict new bitter defeats on its enemies,” he said.