Iran on Friday opened seven days of funeral ceremonies for Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on 28 February. The programme crosses five cities in Iran and Iraq and ends at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad. His son and successor Mojtaba will not attend, citing security threats, and US-Iran talks in Doha are paused until the mourning ends.
The United States carried out strikes on Iranian military sites after Washington blamed an Iranian drone for damaging a Singapore-flagged cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Bahrain, home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, then reported coming under Iranian drone attack — testing a ceasefire that President Trump had called the foundation of a lasting peace.
An explosion at the Barzan gas facility in Qatar's Ras Laffan complex killed at least 13 workers and injured 66, days after the plant was restarted following a war-related shutdown. The energy minister blamed a technical malfunction, ruled out sabotage and said exports would be unaffected.
The United States and Iran held their first formal negotiations since this year's war, in Switzerland on Monday. Washington claimed Tehran agreed to readmit nuclear inspectors and won broad sanctions relief; Iran insisted it made no new commitments on its nuclear programme.
New U.S. strikes in southern Iran were reported while negotiations continued, keeping attention on the Strait of Hormuz and the global fuel-price exposure that matters to Luxembourg.
On 3 May 2026, the White House announced an operation to escort merchant vessels stranded by Iranian pressure through the Strait of Hormuz. Two ships have already been moved; the UAE reports intercepting Iranian missiles and drones.
Doha's Hamad International, one of the world's busiest hubs, is reopening in May 2026 after airspace restrictions tied to the Iran-Israel conflict began in late February. Major carriers are returning amid a fragile regional ceasefire.