The agreement is a ‘great breakthrough’, the president says in response to media questions

• Trump claims agreement for ‘complete disarmament’ of Hamas in Gaza but support uncertain

• Saudi Arabia prepares sea and possible land offensive against Houthis

Al Jazeera reporter Hani Mahmoud has reported the mood in Gaza this morning following news of Hamas’s potential disarmament.

Palestinians have heard repeated statements about their fate in the three years since the current war began between Israel and Hamas, so last night’s announcement by Donald Trump wasn’t met with any particular joy or celebration. “There is scepticism and cautiousness among Palestinians,” Mahoud writes from Gaza City in the north of the Strip.

US president says his Board of Peace reached ‘historic’ deal for disarmament of Hamas while militant group says if Israel does not implement deal, ‘neither will we’

• US launches fresh strikes on Iran after days-long pause, amid fears the war is widening

A liquefied natural gas tanker controlled by QatarEnergy exited the strait of Hormuz overnight – the first such vessel ⁠visible on ship-tracking data to ⁠leave the waterway ​since 11 July, data from analytics firms showed on Thursday.

The Al Areesh tanker, which loaded a cargo at Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal around 4-6 July, sailed ⁠out of the strait overnight on 29 July, according to Kpler and LSEG data.

Israeli prime minister meets US president after Trump’s closed-door meeting with Ukrainian president

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Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, set for 9:30am ET on Tuesday, will be closed to the media, the New York Times is reporting.

The meeting is expected to be much more cordial than the one last year where Trump openly berated Zelenskyy and said, “you don’t have the cards”. The administration and rightwing influencers have shown a shift on Ukraine as of late, and Trump and Zelenskyy had a friendly meeting at a Nato summit earlier this month.

An ⁠earthquake ​with ⁠a ⁠preliminary magnitude ​of ‌6.8 ‌struck ‌the country’s Kumamoto prefecture

Kyushu Electric Power said ​48,000 homes had lost power as a result of the latest ​quake, while railway company JR Kyushu said that it had ​suspended services, including its high-speed bullet trains.

Kumamoto airport also shut its runway, as airlines diverted and cancelled flights.

Trump said he thinks his defense secretary ‘has done a great job’

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Donald Trump said ⁠today that ⁠he had paused US strikes on Iran to give diplomacy another chance, but he ​was ‌ready ‌for “strong military ‌action” if diplomacy fails.

Washington was in “very deep ⁠talks with Iran”, the president told Axios, but, he added: “If they don’t work out, we will be go back to very strong military action.”

I am going to talk to Bibi about the fact that if I weren’t president, Iran would have had nuclear weapons by now and Israel would have been destroyed.

Without me, there would be no Israel.

Firefighters in France and Spain face another day battling wildfires, as another heatwave set to hit this week

• Pedro Sánchez says Spain is suffering effects of climate crisis as firefighters battle wildfires in France

Provisional data on wildfires in Spain shows that more than 170,000 hectares of forest land have been affected since the beginning of the year – a nearly sixfold increase on the almost 29,000 recorded in the same period in 2025.

35 major fires have been recorded so far, up from just 11 last year.

Fires displace people on massive scale and trigger one of the largest peacetime civilian evacuation operations ever carried out in France

• More than 250,000 people flee wildfires in France and Spain

As my colleagues note in this story, scientists say climate breakdown is triggering more frequent and more extreme weather events, evaporating soils and waterways, fuelling wildfires and leading to thousands of excess deaths. Europe is heating at about twice the global average rate.

Spain’s environment ministry has said that 32 major forest fires have been recorded so far this year, compared with seven over the same period in 2025.

• Action, news and reaction on opening weekend

• McColgan pulls out | Sean McCann reaches final

• 10 things to look out for at Glasgow 2026 | Mail Will

The Australian netball team is in play, taking on Tonga, and leading 23-12 after the first quarter, the holders have been quick to hit form.

The Australian Cameron McEvoy, the reigning Olympic champion at 50m, finishes second in his heat, though second overall in terms of time, behind his heat-winner, Joshua Liendo. The top 16 go through to the semis.

This liveblog is now closed. Read the full story here.

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Represenatives Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal, will visit the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis today to conduct a congressional oversight visit.

The Democratic lawmakers are visiting the site of sustained protests earlier this year against the immigration crackdown that swept the state of Minnesota, and resulted in the fatal shootings of two US citizens by federal immigration agents.

New PM says no prisoners will be released under the policy until there is an urgent review of scheme

Kemi Badenoch is speaking in central London at the moment and is expected to say that Andy Burnham is “still thinking like the mayor of Manchester”.

“Going by what he’s announced so far, Andy Burnham’s ambitions for Britain are too small,” she was expected to say.

My message to British businesses is quite simple: to British businesses, to British innovators, to British investors: I will back you as your Chancellor, and I’ll back you in financial services, in technology, in retail, in industry, in all parts of the economy.

I’m just as concerned about the cost of business as I am about the cost of living.

Secretary general António Guterres tells security council the Middle East is being pushed to the ‘edge of the unimaginable’ amid latest threats from Donald Trump

• Trump says he is close to decision on largest-yet attack on Iran

Earlier in the US day, before Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had stopped three oil tankers from passing through the strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump issued this threat on his Truth Social platform:

From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran.

Brad Sherman, US representative from California, said Congress should approve agreement only if ‘gold-standard safeguards’ are included

• US signs landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia

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A reminder that my colleagues are covering the latest out of the Middle East at our dedicated live blog.

Donald Trump took to Truth Social a short while and noted that the US will destroy one bridge or power plant, including those near Tehran, “any time” that Iran “shoots a ship” in the strait of Hormuz.

New PM says the main perpetrator in the killing of PC Andrew Harper will now ‘not be subject to early release’ and he will also review ‘whole policy’

Wes Streeting said the US president was “right” to demand Europe pays more for its own defence.

Donald Trump has been increasingly critical of Europe for relying too much on the US for its security, and has demanded Nato allies reach 5% of GDP on defence spending by 2035.

President Trump has called on Europe to carry a greater share of the burden for our own defence, and he is right to do so. The UK has always been a leading light on defence spending, but the world is changing and in these dangerous uncertain times it is clear that we have needed to go further.

That’s why we’ve committed £298bn over the next four years, including an additional £15bn on top of last year’s spending review settlement. At the recent Nato summit, all members reaffirmed our commitment to 3.5 by 35 [3.5% of GDP by 2035].

This live blog is now closed.

The Jordanian army said it intercepted four Iranian missiles on Wednesday with two additional missile falling in an open area, AFP reports.

The two missiles that the army did not intercept fell in “two remote, uninhabited areas, without causing any human casualties or material damage” the army said in a statement.

In a letter to shippers, the Houthis have threatened to attack any ships that load or discharge Saudi oil

• Houthis threaten to attack shipping tankers if they use Saudi Arabian ports on Red Sea

Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, is due to meet Donald Trump for the first time today as he wraps up a four-day visit to Washington.

The meeting coincides with ongoing US-mediated talks between Lebanon and Israel. The two sides announced a “framework agreement” on 26 June which stipulates the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon as well as the disarmament of Hezbollah.

The new prime minister said he wants his government to look at ‘all possible ways’ to help families with high costs

• Burnham to cut VAT on electricity bills in first cost-of-living move

António Costa, the president of the European council, said in a post on X that he held a “good” phone call with Andy Burnham last night, in which he said they agreed to “further strengthen” EU-UK relations and continue to cooperate to support Ukraine.

He said there was also discussion about “common geopolitical challenges facing Europe”, which could be a reference to many things, including energy prices soaring due to the US-Israel war on Iran, Europe’s trading and security relationship with Washington, the future of Nato, the continent facing a wave of hybrid warfare, driven by Russia, or the surge of national populism and backlash against immigration.

President says 100% tariff would be imposed on generic drugs made overseas after 1 August 2028 ‘for a one year period of time, and 200% thereafter’

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US gas prices have continued to rise since the conflict with Iran resumed this month. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), a gallon of fuel is now just over $4 – almost a dollar more than a year ago.

It comes as Brent Crude, the international oil benchmark, is now up by almost 2% to $90.92 a barrel.

Rayner is back as housing secretary, while Mahmood and McFadden remain in their existing posts

• Burnham vows his arrival in power will be ‘circuit breaker’ moment for UK

• Six highlights from Andy Burnham’s first Downing Street speech

Andy Burnham may see banners urging the government not to allow the proposed Rosebank oil field development in the North Sea as he drives to Buckingham Palace and the No 10 today.

Here is a banner on Whitehall.

⚽ Latest World Cup news as tournament comes to close
⚽ Player guide | Golden Boot | Follow on TikTok | Mail us

Back to the action on the field, or rather slightly adjacent to it. A lacklustre “closing ceremony” in which Tom Cruise was drowned out by the crowd got proceedings under way in New Jersey. A half-time show no one asked for filled the gap in the middle that didn’t need to be plugged. And finally, having kept his physical distance all tournament, US president Donald Trump tried to steal the show just as the curtain was falling.

“I think I heard a match commentator say that the last team that beat Spain was Scotland. Does that mean Scotland have won the World Cup?!” asks Peter Oh.

Centcom announces third confirmed troop death from separate incident in Iraq following new round of airstrikes to ‘swiftly punish’ Iran

• Two US troops killed and one missing in Jordan after Iranian attacks

Jordanian authorities ⁠have not issued any decision ⁠to ​evacuate the airport or ⁠seaport in the city of Aqaba, and have not detected ⁠any potential threats ​in ‌the past ‌hours, the state ‌news agency cited the government spokesperson as saying.

This denial comes in response to the US embassy in Jordan earlier saying the airport and seaport in Aqaba had been evacuated by Jordanian authorities because of a “specific and credible threat” (see this post for more details).