Katie Williams
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

Iran has launched fresh strikes on US targets today, following a second night of strikes between the two countries last night.

The fragile ceasefire between the two countries was ruptured earlier this week when the US accused Iran of targeting commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US military says it struck around 90 Iranian targets on Wednesday night, and more than 80 the night before.

Iranian state media has accused the US of striking near its Bushehr nuclear power plant this afternoon. The US military is not commenting.

The BBC has verified images from southern Iran showing damage to a control tower at a major port, and images of a damaged railway bridge in the north.

Elsewhere, Jordan - where the US operates a military base - said it intercepted eight missiles earlier today in a statement shared with state media by the armed forces.

And Tehran says it targeted three Gulf nations with drones overnight - Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.

Meanwhile, the final day of public mourning for Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has taken place while strikes have been exchanged. Huge crowds have gathered for his burial this evening.

We are now bringing our live coverage to a close - you can read more in our news story.

Image source, Getty Images

It's sometimes difficult to make sense of this on-again, off-again conflict.

The BBC's correspondents have been keeping a close eye on developments, following a series of strike exchanges between the US and Iran.

Chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet writes that "neither side wants to return to all-out war, but they're also ready to keep punching to make their point".

She points out that hawkish hardliners are applying pressure on both sides, but it's likely that "behind the scenes, mediators are working hard to cool tensions and keep them talking".

Security correspondent Frank Gardner asks: Who blinks first over the Strait of Hormuz?

He describes a "grim predictability" about what's happening, with the latest flare-up in fighting making it "harder than ever to reach a lasting deal".

And from the US, White House reporter Bernd Debusmann Jr says many Democrats in the US are "calling on the White House to seek congressional authorisation for renewed hostilities".

He reminds us that the Republican-controlled US Senate approved a measure last month demanding that Trump halt the war or seek congressional approval; "a largely symbolic gesture that was nonetheless seen as a rare rebuke of Trump".

James Beardsworth
BBC Outside Source

Thousands of sailors are still trapped in the Strait of Hormuz - yesterday, the International Maritime Organization put the figure at 6,000, while urging ships not to try to pass the waterway.

One ship captain, who was stranded in the waterway for 23 days in March, tells the BBC World Service's Outside Source programme how they coped when rockets were flying overhead.

"We started taking it normal, my crew [was] playing cricket onboard," Captain Anil Ji says.

But it was a difficult time for the men's families. Captain Virendra Vishwakarma, who was anchored nearby, says: "Every day they worried, asking when I am coming back."

Both men are now back in India - and say they won't return to the strait any time soon.

"I think it will take time for me to go to Hormuz," says Capt Ji. "Hormuz is not going to be safe for another few years.

"They have laid out so many sea mines and they will be floating, I don't know where. It will be unsafe for a few years."

Image source, BBC Outside Source

A US defence official says dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran caused no significant damage or injuries, according to remarks cited by AFP.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official says the strikes "were intercepted or failed to cause major damage", and there were "no US injuries".

Image source, Reuters

Locals in Iran have reacted to the latest set of US strikes in the south of the country.

One woman tells BBC Arabic that the strikes have targeted "places of great importance" to the country's people, including a rail line to Mashhad - where the country's former supreme leader is being buried today - and the area of Bandar Abbas.

She adds: "This is a direct, direct attack on the livelihoods of the Iranian people."

Another woman, who is a journalist, says she did not feel afraid or threatened by the recent strikes. She adds that those around her have been calm and "didn't pay much attention" to the matter.

She tells BBC Arabic: "We all know very well that Iran is a strong country, and that there are those who support and stand by it in difficult times."

Earlier, we brought you reports from Iran that the perimeter of a nuclear power plant was hit by US strikes in Bushehr.

We asked the US Central Command for a response - they tell us: "We have nothing for you on this."

Earlier, BBC Verify looked at social media footage that some people were wrongly claiming showed the US strikes.

Image source, Iranian Leader Press Office/Anadolu via Getty Images

The burial of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will symbolise the end of his rule from 1989 to 2026.

During his 30 years of power, Khamenei developed networks of loyalists in every area of the Iranian establishment - including parliament, the judiciary, the police, the media, and the clerical elite.

Khamenei also encouraged a cult of personality to ensure public devotion, backed up by political repression and the arbitrary arrest of political opponents.

Young Iranians have never experienced life without him in charge.

Today he will be buried in the place where he previously said he had a "poor but pious" childhood and defined his religious beliefs as a Shia Muslim.

He was killed within the first few hours of the US-Iran war, which began on 28 February.

Image source, Creative Commons

The funeral procession for Iran's former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will conclude with a prayer from 101-year-old Ayatollah Hossein Noori Hamedani, Iranian state TV report.

Hamedani, who was born in 1925, is known to be one of Iran's most hard-line clerics.

Thousands are already on the streets of Mashad awaiting Khamenei's burial, which will be the culmination of six-day funeral procession.

It has seen the late supreme leader's body transported through various sites within Iran, and even through two of Shia Islam's holiest shrines in neighbouring Iraq.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Crowds have gathered in the north-eastern Iranian city of Mashhad for the burial of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The country's second largest city, after Tehran, is also its holiest - and Khamenei's birthplace.

It is home to Imam Reza’s holy shrine, who was the eighth Shia imam and the only one believed to have been buried in Iran.

The former supreme leader will be buried at the shrine as part of his funeral.

The shrine has been described by Unesco as one of the most significant religious places for Muslims and Iranians across the world.

Matt Spivey
Live editor

Image source, Getty Images

As the US and Iran continue to exchange strikes, huge crowds have gathered in Iran's holiest city for the burial of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

His coffin has been displayed around Iran and Iraq for six days and will be buried in Mashhad. A plane carrying his body arrived in the city earlier today.

Khamenei was killed in February during the first few hours of the Iran war.

In our next few posts, we'll bring you up to speed on what you need to know about the burial.

Image source, Reuters

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz says the country's military is "alert and prepared for the resumption of the campaign" in Iran.

He adds this could include attacking the country for a "third time" if necessary, local media reports him as saying during a speech at a pilot's graduation ceremony.

Israel has been involved since the start of the war in Iran, launching joint strikes with the US on 28 February.

Michael Race
Business and economics reporter

Stock markets in the US have steadied in early trading on Thursday following the renewed attacks by the American military forces on Iran.

Oil prices have also settled, with a barrel of Brent crude - the global benchmark for prices - at about $77 as traders weigh up the impact of these further strikes on global supply.

Part of the reason for the rebound is due to gains in microchip stocks, which have offset concerns from investors about the conflict in the Middle East.

As the IMF suggested yesterday, there are two key forces "pushing in opposite directions" impacting countries differently across the world at the moment.

The first one is the energy supply shock caused by the US-Israel war against Iran, which is pushing up prices and the cost of living.

The second is the "technology shock", which it says is being driven by the acceleration and deployment of artificial intelligence tools.

It appears these two forces are the main drivers behind trading at the moment.

Jacob Phillips
Live reporter

The US and Iran have exchanged tit-for-tat fire as tensions are rising again in the Middle East.

Tuesday saw the worst exchange of strikes between the US and Iran since a deal - known as the memorandum of understanding (MoU) - was signed on 17 June.

Iran's health ministry says 14 people have been killed in attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Strikes continued overnight on Wednesday and more attacks have been reported today:

US strikes Iran for second night in a row

• The US military says it struck around 90 targets during its second consecutive night of strikes on Iran
• Verified footage shows damage to a control tower at a major port in the south-eastern Iranian city of Chabahar and damage to a railway bridge in the northern city of Aqqala
• Iranian media claims a nuclear power plant has been targeted in a further US attack this afternoon

Iran targets US military sites

• Iran's army says it targeted US military sites in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain with drones
• Bahrain says it intercepted several Iranian projectiles this morning, while Kuwait reports one person was injured by falling debris after missiles and drones were intercepted

• The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also claim to hit a US-linked air base in Jordan with 10 missiles, Iranian state media reports. Jordan says it shot down eight missiles launched from Iran

Image source, Reuters

The threat level to maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz has been raised to severe by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

The agency says "deliberate hostile action" is likely under current conditions in the vital waterway - through which roughly 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas usually passes.

It adds that commercial traffic through the waterway is continuing at reduced levels through two separate routes, a southern corridor close to Oman and a northern route beside the Iranian coast.

Our colleagues at BBC Verify reported earlier that Iran has been blamed for five strikes on ships using the route through the Strait via Omani waters, recommended by the American military.

Iran has been trying to assert control over the strait and demanded that ships take its government-approved route close to its Gulf coast.

Video shows smoke rising from fishing pier, not nuclear power plantpublished at 16:11 BST 9 July

16:11 BST 9 July

Image source, Mehr News Agency

By Benedict Garman, Ghoncheh Habibiazad and Richard Irvine-Brown

Alongside reports the nuclear power plant in Bushehr has been struck, a video has been shared on social media wrongly claiming to show the aftermath of the reported attack.

The video actually shows a smoke plume rising on the fishing harbour at Banood, about 150 miles (250km) to the south-east of the nuclear plant. It was originally shared with the correct location by Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency.

BBC Verify was able to determine the video showed Banood harbour, rather than the nuclear plant, by matching the shape of the coast and the road layout to satellite imagery.

The governor of Asaluyeh, the nearest city to Banood, says two projectiles hit the fishing pier at 09:10 local time (04:40 BST). He adds that 10 fishing boats were set on fire.

Photos from the pier, verified through comparison of recent public images taken there, show people inspecting damage to boats in the harbour and large plume of smoke matching the Mehr footage.

Image source, Telegram

Image source, Reuters

In a statement, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has "strongly condemned" US strikes across Iran.

He calls them a violation of the deal - a 14-point memorandum of understanding - signed between the two countries last month.

Aragchi reportedly told Pakistan's Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has been a key figure in mediatory talks, that Iran is ready to defend itself in the case of further US attacks.

Image source, EPA

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says he has spoken to his counterparts in Oman and Turkey on the phone, with all parties calling for diplomacy following the recent exchange of strikes between the US and Iran.

He says they emphasised the importance of working together to "pursue regional issues and prevent the escalation of tensions".

We've also received a statement from Iran's foreign ministry, we'll bring you more on that in our next post.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter

The stock market has now opened in the US, with both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq edging higher thanks to gains in chip stocks.

The S&P 500 rose 8.9 points - about 0.12% - to open at 7,491.6, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 47.7 points, or 0.18%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, fell 98.9 points, or 0.19%, to 52,249.44.

Overall, gains in chip stocks offset fears of renewed hostilities following the tit-for-tat strikes between US and Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf.

While Trump yesterday said that the US-Iran ceasefire was "over", he also told reporters that he does not expect a restart of a full-blown conflict and that negotiations might continue.

Three soldiers from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been killed in a strike on Khuzestan province in south-west Iran, according to the state-run news agency IRNA.

It comes after the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported this morning that three people had been killed in an attack on the outskirts of Ahvaz, a city in the province. Others were injured in the attack, according to the province's deputy governor.

It has not been confirmed whether the IRGC soldiers named in the latest reports are the same casualties.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter

Renewed US military strikes on Iran have largely been met by silence from members of the Republican Party, with public comments few and far between.

On the other side of the political spectrum, however, Democrats have reacted with fury, with many calling on the White House to seek congressional authorisation for renewed hostilities.

Last month, the Republican-controlled US Senate approved a measure demanding that Trump halt the war or seek congressional approval - a largely symbolic gesture that was nonetheless seen as a rare rebuke of Trump by lawmakers who have largely fallen behind the president since his return to the White House.

“Congress voted against more war against Iran," Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine was quoted as saying on Wednesday. "The US should not be launching new strikes without congressional approval and restarting a war that has raised gas prices, killed Americans and hurt the economy."

Another Democrat, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, was quoted as describing the new strikes as "ballooning foreign policy malpractice".

"The negotiations are a 'waste of time' because Trump's negotiators change by the day," he said, quoting Trump. "So do his goals and demands. It's all gross incompetence that is costing American taxpayers and consumers billions."