US-IRAN WAR: FROM TRUCE TO TALKS

The United States eased restrictions on the Iran squad's travel arrangements at the World Cup on Tuesday, allowing the squad to travel two days before its next match, the Department of Homeland Security said.

Just one in four Americans believes President Donald Trump's war with Iran was worth its costs and a majority worry that a truce with Tehran is unlikely to last, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

The five-day poll, which closed on Monday, also showed the war weighing heavily on Trump's popularity, with his approval rating dropping to 34%, a return to the lowest level of the Republican's second term that was last touched in an April survey.

Only 23% of Americans — including just half of Republicans — think the U.S. is now in a stronger position with Iran compared with its position before the war, the poll found. Some 35% of respondents think it is in a weaker position. The rest said they were not sure or that the US position was about the same as before.

Only 24% of Americans think the war with Iran was worth the costs, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. Half of poll respondents said the conflict was not worth it and the rest were unsure.

Some 63% of Americans think it unlikely that the deal Trump signed will lead to lasting peace between the two countries. About half of Republicans and eight in 10 Democrats said the deal was unlikely to deliver peace. Just 18% of Americans — including 10% of Democrats and 34% of Republicans — see lasting peace as likely.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran was wrong about there not being any plans for International Atomic Energy Agency officials to inspect damaged nuclear sites in the country.

Trump added that UN nuclear watchdog inspectors will be on the ground in Iran at the "appropriate time."

Iran's missiles were not in the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the US and "will never be", Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said at a joint news conference with Pakistan's prime minister in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Iran will never negotiate its defence capabilities with any country and believes strongly that regional peace and stability can only be reached through honest discussions and intraregional cooperation, Pezeshkian added.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Tuesday demanded a full, scheduled withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon to make way for a Lebanese army deployment in the south following the US-Iran deal to end the Middle East war.

"We now have a ceasefire. The withdrawal must take place according to a timetable. Israel has no choice but to fully withdraw from all Lebanese territory, without retaining an inch," Qassem said in a televised address. "Israel withdraws and the Lebanese army deploys exclusively south of the Litani River."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said that Iran would not be able to charge tolls in the Strait of Hormuz as part of any final agreement with the US, saying that such an arragement would be contrary to international law.

US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a call on Tuesday that the US was following up on understandings reached in Switzerland, including plans to consolidate a ceasefire in Lebanon.

The statement, issued as Lebanon and Israel began a new round of talks in Washington, added that arrangements for a mechanism to firm up the ceasefire and monitor its implementation were still being discussed.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Tuesday rejected Israel's occupation of south Lebanon and other foreign interference, alluding to Iran, as a fifth round of Israel-Lebanon talks began in Washington.

"We accept nothing less than an end to the Israeli occupation and at the same time, the fall of foreign tutelage, because our only option is our national sovereignty and our sole wager is on the Lebanese state," Aoun said, according to his office.

He also expressed hope that the new round of talks would be "decisive along the path of achieving what we seek for the good of our nation and people", namely "the full restoration of Lebanon's sovereignty over every grain of its soil".

The Israeli military on Tuesday said its forces opened fire on four alleged Hezbollah members who entered the so-called "security zone" it has established in southern Lebanon, the second such incident within hours.

The army said the militants entered the zone on a bulldozer and a motorcycle and that the soldiers initially fired warning shots as they approached troops deployed there.

"After the terrorists continued to approach and failed to comply with the soldiers' calls, additional fire was conducted in order to remove the threat. Hits were identified," the military said — the second incident of the day in the zone, which extends roughly 10 kilometres (six miles) into Lebanese territory.

Iran on Tuesday announced three days of public holidays in the capital Tehran for late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral ceremonies, state television reported.

"The farewell ceremony and prayers for the martyred leader's body will be held on Saturday and Sunday, July 4th and 5th, in Tehran's Grand Mosalla, and the funeral will be held on Monday, July 6th, and Tehran province will be off for these three days," IRGC commander Hassan Hassanzadeh, in charge of the funeral ceremonies, was quoted as saying.

Earlier, state media said Tehran would be on holiday on July 4 and 5, while the whole country will follow suit on July 6.