WASHINGTON — Iran launched multiple waves of missiles toward Israel on Sunday, the Israeli military said, after Israeli warplanes struck targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office described the targeted locations as Hezbollah “command centres”.
The Israeli military said on Sunday, July 7, 2026, it had detected the incoming missiles from Iran and activated air defence systems to intercept them.
This development has threatened to unravel a recently renewed ceasefire and further destabilise an already volatile region.
The United States military said it was monitoring the situation but had not been directly involved in intercepting the latest round of Iranian missiles.
President Donald Trump, who was at his private golf club in New Jersey, was briefed on the strikes.
Speaking to Fox News, he urged Iran to stand down.
“You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough. Get back to the table and make a deal,” he said.
Trump separately told Axios that he planned to speak with Netanyahu and discouraged a retaliatory Israeli response.
“Each of them had their fun,” he said. “If Bibi strikes them back it’s just gonna keep going like the last 47 years, or the last 3,000 years.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry defended the missile launches, saying its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had “exercised their inherent right of self defence” in striking “several military targets in the northern occupied Palestinian territories.”
It warned that any further “adventurism” by Israel against Lebanon or Iran “will be met with a crushing and comprehensive response.”
These are the first strikes Iran has launched toward Israel since a preliminary ceasefire was reached on 8 April.
Fragile Ceasefire Under Strain
Israel’s Sunday strikes on Beirut came after it said Hezbollah had fired rockets toward northern Israel.
Hezbollah did not immediately claim responsibility for the earlier attack, and there was no immediate word of casualties from the Beirut strikes.
Israel had already struck the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs twice since a ceasefire agreement between the two countries took effect on 17 April, while strikes over southern Lebanon have continued daily.
Just days earlier, last-minute diplomacy brokered through Washington had narrowly averted a fresh Israeli strike on Beirut, on the condition that Hezbollah cease targeting Israeli border towns.
The Iranian-backed group has rejected the broader American-brokered framework, endorsing instead Iran’s position that any deal to end the war in Lebanon must form part of wider negotiations with the United States.
Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, has indicated he wishes to press ahead with Israel’s offensive until he is satisfied that Hezbollah no longer poses a meaningful threat.
Wider Regional Fallout
The conflict has sent energy prices higher and rattled the global economy, with Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, which is a critical corridor for international oil and gas shipments, posing particular concern.
The U.S. military said on Saturday that it had shot down several Iranian missiles and drones launched toward the strait and Gulf Arab allies, and had struck some of Iran’s coastal surveillance radar sites in response.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait, which hosts American forces, as well as the United States Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
The U.S. military said there were no reports of harm to its personnel.
Diplomatic Efforts Continue
Pakistan has been attempting to broker a resumption of talks between Tehran and Washington, with support from Qatar, Turkey and Egypt.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi travelled to Tehran on Sunday carrying a message from Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, according to Iranian state media.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held separate telephone conversations with his counterparts from Britain and Turkey, as well as with Pakistan’s army commander, to discuss the latest regional developments.
Khamenei has not appeared in public since he was named as the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader following the death of his father on 28 February, on the first day of the war.
