Day 122 of the WarMonday, June 29, 2026
Day 122 — U.S. and Iran Agree to Halt Reciprocal Attacks, Resume Talks and Reopen Hormuz to Safe Shipping; Pezeshkian Says $6B of $12B Frozen Qatar Assets Will Return; a U.S. MQ-9 Destroys an Iranian Talaiyeh Cruise Missile Launcher; CENTCOM's Cooper Tours Israel and Lebanon; Oman Rejects Hormuz Tolls as Oil Rises and Traffic Stays Low; Hardliners Call the Deal a 'Deadly Trap'
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Strait of Hormuz
Caught on the Ground — U.S. MQ-9 Destroys an Iranian Cruise Missile Launcher
- A citizen-journalist image shows the wreckage of a twin launcher for one of the Iranian Navy's newest cruise missiles, Talaiyeh, destroyed by a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone — the crew, the report notes, had no time even to launch them.source
- CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper, on a Middle East trip, meets senior civilian and military leaders in Israel and Lebanon — in Lebanon holding talks with President Joseph Aoun and the Lebanese Armed Forces command as Washington keeps managing the widening front.source
The Regime Reads the Deal — 'A Deadly Trap' and a Cult of Vengeance
- A controversial regime state-TV expert, Khoshe-chesm, claims Trump is solely after reopening the Strait of Hormuz and that the entire agreement is a 'deadly trap' — a sign hardliners in Tehran are already framing the truce as a Western snare.source
- Abdolhossein Khosropanah of the High Council of the Cultural Revolution says a lasting, generational 'vengeance' policy must be created for Ali Khamenei — casting the dead leader's death as a grievance to institutionalize even as talks resume.source
Hormuz Stays Choked — Oman Rejects Tolls as Traffic Runs Low
Gulf & Naval- Oman's Foreign Minister tells Radio Monte Carlo the Sultanate does not support imposing tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, citing international law and freedom of navigation, and a first joint Iran-Oman committee on the strait convenes.source
- Oil prices rise again on Monday, July 8 toward pre-war levels after days of U.S.-Iran attacks, while PortWatch data show Hormuz traffic still well below last year and Hapag-Lloyd warns the heightened risk has become a 'new reality' for global shipping.source
A Second Truce — U.S. and Iran Agree to Halt Reciprocal Attacks
- A U.S. official confirms to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that Washington and Tehran have agreed to halt reciprocal attacks, meet again for negotiations, and allow shipping to flow safely through the Strait of Hormuz — a fragile pause after days of exchanged fire.source
- President Pezeshkian says that under the planning carried out, $6 billion of Iran's $12 billion in frozen assets held in Qatar will be released and returned to the country — part of an interim agreement linked to the broader negotiations.source