Three fragile truces strained at once today: the Iran ceasefire, the Ukraine war's diplomatic track, and Brussels' own sanctions machinery.

Middle East: ceasefire in doubt

  • Iran buried Ali Khamenei in Mashhad more than four months after his death, as the US and Iran exchanged fresh strikes and Tehran claimed hits on US targets in the Gulf; his successor Mojtaba Khamenei stayed out of public view (more).
  • Iran fired on US-hosting Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan after a new US strike, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has stopped, and Israel warned of an alleged Iranian plot against Donald Trump (more).
  • Analysis: the June 15 ceasefire framework was already cracking on four fronts — Lebanon, Hormuz shipping, Gulf-state exposure and Washington's own framing of Iran as having 'failed' the deal (more).

Ukraine war: diplomacy and Crimea's fuel squeeze

  • Ukraine asked the UN Security Council to draft an unconditional ceasefire resolution; the Baltic states said Russia's conduct is incompatible with permanent-member status, though Moscow's veto makes a binding text unlikely (more).
  • Ukrainian drone and naval strikes on 19 tankers and other vessels cut off civilian gasoline sales in Sevastopol and caused blackouts across Crimea, while a separate strike hit Russia's Omsk refinery over 2,500 km from the border (more).

European Union

  • EU ambassadors face a 15 July deadline to freeze the Russian oil price cap at $44.10 a barrel, or an automatic formula tied to elevated post-Hormuz prices will push it to $58; the fix is bundled into the 21st sanctions package, with Bulgaria softening its earlier veto threat over Patriarch Kirill's listing (more).
  • The EU will open the sixth and final negotiating cluster with Ukraine and Moldova on 14 July, though four earlier clusters stay frozen and Hungary is now pushing back on the pace despite lifting its veto in June (more).

Czechia and Germany

  • A smart recording device found in the Czech cabinet room sat unidentified in a drawer for weeks instead of being reported to police or intelligence (more), and Sport Minister Boris Šťastný has now admitted it was his, exposing a months-long security-screening failure at the Government Office (more).
  • Germany's Bundestag passed a statutory health-insurance savings package over doctors' and opposition objections; a Constitutional Court challenge from the Greens failed to halt the vote but continues, and the law still needs Bundesrat approval (more).

USA and UK

  • Senator Lindsey Graham said the White House has signed off on his Russia sanctions bill threatening 500 percent tariffs on buyers of Russian energy, while Turkey said Washington is moving to lift CAATSA sanctions tied to its S-400 purchase (more).
  • Ann Widdecombe, the Conservative-turned-Brexit Party MEP whose career traced the arc of the modern British right, has died at 78 (more).