Saudi Arabia has deported 12,292 foreign nationals for violating residency, labor, and border security laws, according to a statement from the Interior Ministry cited by Gulf News on Sunday. The deportations are part of intensified nationwide operations aimed at curbing illegal stay and border-related offenses.

The ministry further reported that 16,912 individuals have been referred to their respective diplomatic missions to obtain travel documents, while 4,174 others are completing ticketing and reservation procedures before deportation. Authorities warned that aiding illegal border crossers—through transport, shelter, or any form of assistance—is a serious crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison, fines of up to one million Saudi riyals, and confiscation of vehicles or property used in the offense.

Between June 25 and July 1, joint security operations detained 15,591 people, including 7,759 for residency violations, 4,488 for border security breaches, and 3,344 for labor law offenses.

Six commercial vessels changed their planned routes in the Strait of Hormuz due to patrols by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy, according to maritime intelligence firm Windward. The ships were originally scheduled to pass through the Omani corridor but diverted to alternative routes following the IRGC’s presence in the area.

Windward reported that two of the ships moved toward Iran, while the remaining four returned deeper into the Gulf region. The IRGC naval units have been issuing radio warnings to vessels navigating outside the routes Iran designates as ‘safe.’ These warnings are part of the IRGC’s ongoing patrol operations in the strategic waterway.

The report highlights increased monitoring and control by Iranian forces over maritime movements in the Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping passage. The situation underscores heightened caution among commercial operators transiting the area.

The Lebanese army has neutralized four large unexploded Israeli bombs and munitions left behind after recent airstrikes in southern Lebanon. According to an official military statement, bomb disposal experts carried out the operation in the Nabatieh region’s Mifdoun area and in the Bint Jbeil district’s Baraashit, Kafr Dunin, and Shaqra towns. The bombs were safely defused as part of ongoing efforts to clear remnants of the attacks.

The army urged residents in affected areas to remain on high alert and to immediately report any suspicious objects or explosive materials to the nearest military camp or authority. The statement emphasized public safety amid continuing risks from unexploded ordnance in the aftermath of Israeli strikes.

The clearance operation reflects Lebanon’s continued efforts to secure civilian areas following cross-border hostilities, though the source did not specify the timing or scale of the preceding attacks.

Tehran’s Applied Science and Technology University professor Mostafa Khoshcheshm told Al Jazeera that Iran will not be deceived by any potential memorandum of understanding or negotiations with the United States and Israel. He stated that the large turnout at the funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader sent a clear message that Iranians remain aware of ongoing hostility from those nations.

Khoshcheshm emphasized that regardless of whether a nuclear agreement is reached in the coming weeks or months, Iranians expect continued hostile actions against their country. He described these as hybrid warfare tactics, including economic pressure, sanctions, cyberattacks, soft warfare, assassinations, sabotage, and possibly military strikes by the United States and Israel.

He added that the mass participation in the funeral demonstrated the Iranian people’s support for their government and their commitment to the goals and policies declared by the Supreme Leader.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi stated that normalization of relations with Israel will not be possible until Israel ends its occupation of Palestinian territories. Speaking on Sunday, Sisi emphasized that lasting peace and genuine stability cannot be achieved without ending occupation, halting aggression, restoring rights to their rightful owners, and ensuring security for all.

Sisi, whose country became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, reiterated that a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and Palestine is the only solution to the Middle East crisis. He said that fair peace would allow the region’s people to live in stability and prosperity.

The Egyptian leader also urged the international community to uphold the Gaza ceasefire that took effect in October 2025, claiming that more than a thousand Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the truce began.

A cargo ship was attacked off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). The agency reported receiving a distress signal from the vessel located about 30 nautical miles southwest of the port city of Hodeidah. The incident occurred on July 5, 2026, and authorities have begun investigating the circumstances surrounding the attack.

UKMTO has advised ships operating in the area to navigate with caution and to report any suspicious activity. The organization issued safety guidance to vessels transiting the region as part of precautionary measures following the incident.

No country or group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far, and details about the extent of the damage or casualties remain unknown.

Israel’s Transport Minister Miri Regev has confirmed that the country deployed Iron Dome missile defense batteries in the United Arab Emirates during its ongoing war with Iran. Speaking to Army Radio, Regev said the deployment took place at the beginning of the conflict, as the UAE recognized ballistic missiles as one of the major threats.

Regev’s statement marks the first public confirmation by an Israeli official following an April report by U.S. outlet Axios about the deployment. In May, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also confirmed that a battery had been stationed in the Gulf nation. The UAE’s Ministry of Defense reported that Iran launched around 550 missiles and 2,200 drone attacks on the country during the war.

The confirmation underscores growing military coordination between Israel and the UAE amid heightened regional tensions linked to the Iran conflict.

Maher Abdul Latif Yunis, a Palestinian who spent 40 years in Israeli prison, has died at the age of 68. He passed away early in the morning, according to reports. Yunis was arrested by Israeli authorities in 1983 for participating in armed resistance against Israeli occupation and for his involvement with the Fatah movement. His funeral is scheduled to take place in his hometown, Ara, after the noon prayer.

Initially sentenced to death, Yunis’s punishment was later commuted to life imprisonment, and in 2012 it was reduced to a 40-year term. He was released on January 19, 2023, after completing his sentence. Yunis was considered one of the most prominent figures in the Palestinian prisoner movement. During his imprisonment, he lost his father in 2008, who himself had previously spent eight years in Israeli detention.

Born on January 6, 1958, in Ara village, Yunis completed his primary and secondary education there before studying at an industrial school in Hadera.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi held separate meetings in Tehran with delegations from Hamas and Hezbollah, where warnings were issued about teaching Israel a lesson. The meetings took place on Saturday in the Iranian capital, coinciding with the delegations’ visit to attend the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the discussions in an official statement.

The Hamas delegation, led by Leadership Council head Mohammad Darwish, expressed condolences over Khamenei’s death and briefed Aragchi on the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. Darwish praised Iran’s longstanding support for Palestine and congratulated Tehran on its military and diplomatic achievements amid ongoing conflict. In a separate meeting, Hezbollah’s senior political official and former Lebanese MP Mohammad Fneish conveyed condolences on behalf of Secretary-General Naim Qassem and commended Iran’s role during recent hostilities with the United States and Israel.

Aragchi thanked both delegations, reaffirmed Iran’s support for an independent Palestinian state, and praised Hezbollah’s resistance. He also paid tribute to late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and said Iran would continue efforts to maintain the ceasefire in Lebanon.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev stated that Iran possesses a 'backup weapon' that could also be used in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. He described Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz as a tool as powerful as nuclear weapons. Medvedev warned that renewed large-scale conflict in the region could disrupt shipping through these vital maritime routes but expressed hope that the situation would not escalate that far.

The Bab al-Mandeb Strait, located between Yemen, Djibouti, and Eritrea, connects the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, making it a key global trade route. Medvedev’s remarks come after Yemen’s Houthi rebels previously threatened to close the Bab al-Mandeb passage. He also sharply criticized recent U.S. attacks on Iran, calling them unprovoked and a violation of international law, noting that Iran posed no threat while negotiations were ongoing.

Medvedev urged all parties seeking to inflame conflict in the Middle East to consider the potential consequences of disrupting these strategic waterways.

Millions of people attended the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Between 5:30 p.m. Saturday and 7:00 a.m. Sunday, more than seven million passengers used the Tehran Metro, marking a record number of travelers within just 13 hours and 30 minutes. The funeral prayer took place at Imam Khomeini Mosalla in Tehran on Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m., led by Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani.

The funeral prayer was conducted in three stages. The first stage was dedicated to the late leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The second stage included prayers for Boshra Hosseini Khamenei, Mesbah al-Huda Bakeri, and Zahra Haddad Adel. The third stage was held for Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani, Khamenei’s granddaughter.

The report highlights the massive turnout and logistical scale of the event, with Tehran’s metro system handling unprecedented passenger volumes during the funeral period.

An official Israeli investigation has revealed that the country’s security establishment failed to prevent the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack not because of a lack of intelligence, but due to long-standing misjudgments about Hamas’s capabilities. The preliminary military report found that Israeli officials wrongly believed Hamas had been effectively contained, leading to complacency and a failure to act on repeated warnings.

Retired Major General Roni Numa, who led the inquiry into Hamas’s “Jericho Wall” intelligence documents, said Israeli intelligence had been tracking Hamas’s plans to breach Gaza’s border defenses since 2016, with updates in 2019 and 2022. Despite these alerts reaching senior officers, they were dismissed as isolated data rather than signs of a broader strategy. The report also criticized excessive reliance on automated translation technology instead of Arabic language experts, weakening analytical understanding of Hamas’s intentions.

The investigation concluded that the failure was rooted in analysis, not intelligence collection. It described the October 7 events as a systemic breakdown in Israel’s assessment, planning, and decision-making processes.

Israeli intelligence agencies have dismissed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office’s claim that Iran’s nuclear program was completely destroyed. According to a report published by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Netanyahu’s office sought intelligence endorsement for the claim following last year’s 12-day war with Iran, but officials refused due to insufficient evidence. The report said satellite and drone imagery, along with classified data, showed Iran’s nuclear facilities suffered serious damage but were not fully destroyed.

The report added that senior intelligence officers and scientists from Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission rejected a draft statement labeling Iran’s program as permanently disabled. They described the draft as “seriously distorted” and refused to sign it, arguing that such a claim would undermine their credibility. A compromise document was later produced, acknowledging major damage to Iran’s Fordow enrichment site and delays in its nuclear progress, but avoiding any assertion of total destruction.

The article also noted that Netanyahu’s office pressured intelligence officials to support Washington’s position after the Pentagon questioned the effectiveness of U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

The funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and four members of his family, who were killed in a joint attack by the United States and Israel, has been completed. Millions of people attended the ceremony, along with Khamenei’s sons Masoud, Mesam, and Mostafa. The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ahmad Vahidi, was also present at the event.

According to the Associated Press, Khamenei’s son and current Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei did not attend due to security risks following Israeli threats of assassination. The funeral drew massive crowds, reflecting the scale of public mourning across Iran. The report cited Al Jazeera as a source for additional details.

The ceremony took place under heightened security conditions, underscoring the tense atmosphere in Iran after the attack that killed the country’s top leader and members of his family.

Ukraine launched an attack on a major oil terminal in St. Petersburg, which President Volodymyr Zelensky described as part of Russia’s war-financing infrastructure. Ukrainian forces also claimed to have targeted a key naval base in Kronstadt. St. Petersburg Governor Aleksandr Beglov confirmed the terminal was hit but reported no casualties. The BBC verified the strike, while Kyiv said the facility’s annual capacity was 12.5 million tons.

Ukraine asserted that about 43 percent of Russia’s refining capacity has been disabled by recent long-range drone attacks, though this could not be independently verified. Moscow acknowledged energy shortages, and President Vladimir Putin signed a law to boost domestic fuel supply. Russia’s defense ministry said it intercepted over 500 drones and missiles overnight, calling Ukraine’s strikes an attempt to divert attention from battlefield setbacks.

Both sides are intensifying operations ahead of next week’s NATO summit in Turkey. Russia has warned of retaliation, while Putin sent a message to U.S. President Donald Trump urging constructive relations.