{"id":218218,"date":"2026-07-25T17:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T17:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-and-iran-trade-escalating-strikes-as-supreme-leader-is-buried-after-days-long-funeral-us-israel-war-on-iran-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T17:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T17:10:16","slug":"us-and-iran-trade-escalating-strikes-as-supreme-leader-is-buried-after-days-long-funeral-us-israel-war-on-iran-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-and-iran-trade-escalating-strikes-as-supreme-leader-is-buried-after-days-long-funeral-us-israel-war-on-iran-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"US and Iran trade escalating strikes as supreme leader is buried after days-long funeral | US-Israel war on Iran &#8211; The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Renewed attacks the largest since an interim memorandum was signed this June, with Trump saying fragile truce is \u2018over\u2019<br \/>The US and Iran traded retaliatory strikes on Thursday as US president <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Donald Trump<\/a> threatened to escalate the conflict unless Iran stopped attacking ships in the strait of Hormuz.<br \/>Iran responded to the latest round of attacks by targeting US-allied Kuwait and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/qatar\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Qatar<\/a> and accused the US of striking near its sole nuclear power plant.<br \/>The second consecutive day of tit-for-tat strikes came hours before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/iran\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Iran<\/a> buried former supreme leader Ali Khamenei in his home city of Mashhad. Khamenei was killed in US and Israeli airstrikes this February at the outbreak of the war.<br \/>The \u201cbody of the martyred leader of the Islamic Revolution was buried in the memorial hall of the shrine of Imam Reza\u201d, state broadcaster IRIB reported on Friday.<br \/>Khamenei\u2019s funeral procession reached the country\u2019s holiest shrine with a \u200chuge crowd packing the courtyard, some bearing banners denouncing the \u200cUS president and reading, \u201cWe Will Kill Trump.\u201d<br \/>The ayatollah\u2019s son and successor was not seen at the ceremony. Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded in the same series of strikes that killed his father and has since communicated only through written statements.<br \/>The renewed attacks on Thursday were the largest since Tehran and Washington signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 17 June aimed at extending the ceasefire and giving space for negotiations for a permanent truce.<br \/>Washington was still committed to finding a resolution with Iran and \u201ctechnical talks continue\u201d, a US official told Reuters, even as president Trump declared the truce was \u201cover\u201d.<br \/>Responding to the escalation, Israel\u2019s defence minister, Israel Katz, said his country was prepared to resume its military campaign against Iran if needed, threatening to do so \u201cwith even greater force\u201d.<br \/>In Iran, officials said strikes targeted the perimeter of Iran\u2019s only civilian nuclear plant in Bushehr province, an area where the UN\u2019s nuclear watchdog has previously warned that attacks could \u201cpose a very real danger to nuclear safety \u201d.<br \/>\u201cSeveral areas in Bushehr province were targeted today, including the perimeter of the nuclear power plant, a military base in the town of Choghadak and a fishing pier in the south of the province,\u201d said Ehsan Jahanian, the deputy governor of Bushehr, adding there were no reports of casualties so far.<br \/>After the strikes, the US president posted videos of explosions in Iran and threatened the country once again.<br \/>\u201cThis is in retribution for yesterday\u2019s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social. Hours before, he had promised strikes would not lead to long-term fighting but would be \u201cvery fast\u201d.<br \/>His comments and the exchange of fire prompted worries that the ceasefire could break down and raised concerns about the long-term prospects of negotiations. Significant gaps remain between the two countries over issues such as Iran\u2019s control over the strait, as well as inspections of nuclear facilities.<br \/>The US military said it hit about 90 targets in Iran, showing footage of strikes on missile launchers and a runway. It said the attacks were meant to degrade Iran\u2019s capacity to \u201cthreaten freedom of navigation\u201d in the strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for about 20% of the world\u2019s oil and gas.<br \/>The attacks caused oil prices to rise, before they recovered later in the day after calm was restored.<br \/>Iran accused the US of war crimes after it said two bridges in the eastern provinces leading to Mashhad were targeted. The bridges constitute key infrastructure for Iran\u2019s cross-border trade with China, which has sharply increased since the start of the war.<br \/>Trump has repeatedly threatened to hit bridges, power plants and other civilian infrastructure in Iran. Targeting civilian infrastructure if it is not a military objective could amount to a war crime.<br \/>Iranian state media also reported explosions in several cities, including Bushehr, which houses Iran\u2019s nuclear power plant complex. At least three people were killed in Iran\u2019s south-western Khuzestan province, while a firefighter was killed in an airport in the south-eastern city of Iranshahr. Nine members of Iran\u2019s military also died in strikes on Wednesday.<br \/>The MoU calls for the reopening of the strait to commercial shipping for 60 days. Iran says it wants to charge fees to ships transiting through the strait, conflicting with the US, which says it is an international waterway and should not have tolls.<br \/>Iran continues to view its control over the strait as an important source of leverage in its negotiations with the US, while Trump appears to view strikes on Iran as a way of increasing pressure on Tehran.<br \/>Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a senior Iranian negotiator and parliament speaker, said US pressure would not lead anywhere.<br \/>\u201cAmerica still hasn\u2019t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free,\u201d he said in a post on X. \u201cLet me put it plainly: if you strike, you\u2019ll get hit.\u201d<br \/>Mediators attempted to de-escalate tensions between the US and Iran in an effort to salvage negotiations. The Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a key intermediary between the countries, spoke to Iran\u2019s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, on Thursday, condemning Tehran\u2019s strikes on ships in the strait.<br \/>Negotiations towards reaching a final deal were intended to start after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jul\/06\/ali-khamenei-funeral-procession-iran-supreme-leader\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">the conclusion on Thursday of Khamenei\u2019s seven-day funeral<\/a>.<br \/><em>Additional reporting by Patrick Wintour<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMinAFBVV95cUxNTzE4amdncnhwbEk1SDBiZkgyRXlYZmRqTThTeTBKZWg1ckUzUWdrRV9LZGxDblVpSFd6QXI4eG5pMmo2U05UaHA0RnFZZXJLZ1ZhR0lWT19nNGpNMEZrSVZMSmtOdjN2THhTS3haTk5MbGplYVBTSmxDZlJ2UDJhRnZuVWNtam50VDZIc0JLTUg2N2xfUGdSYjAzVXE?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Renewed attacks the largest since an interim memorandum was signed this June, with Trump saying fragile truce is \u2018over\u2019The US and Iran traded retaliatory strikes on Thursday as US president Donald Trump threatened to escalate the conflict unless Iran stopped attacking ships in the strait of Hormuz.Iran responded to the latest round of attacks by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":218219,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}