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US President Donald Trump said yesterday the renewed US campaign against Iran would not continue for “too long,” after the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July. Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said Iran had been trying to build a rocket capable of dropping mines and that US strikes had destroyed it, along with radar and missile systems Tehran was working to restore.“We took out all of the new equipment that they tried to build along the Strait of Hormuz – some defensive, some offensive … It was a very heavy attack last night, and we’re prepared to do another one any time we want,” Trump told reporters.The latest round saw US forces hit air defences, radar, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites on Iran’s southern coast, including targets near the Strait of Hormuz, according to the US military.Iran said its own strikes targeted US assets in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq, vowing to drive American forces from bases across the Middle East.Iran’s military command warned that “American evil in the region will be met with heavier, more widespread, and devastating responses,” and said any country co-operating with the US military must accept “dangerous consequences.”Iran accused the US of striking a wedding party in Sirik County, killing four people including a 4-year-old and wounding dozens; its health ministry later put the total death toll from the latest US strikes at 18, with 108 injured. Iranian media released images of injured children and scenes of rubble, though Reuters could not independently verify the wedding incident.US Central Command said it was aware of the reports originating from Iranian state media and reiterated that the US military does not target civilians. US officials also said initial assessments found no American casualties from Iran’s retaliatory strikes, despite Tehran’s claims of killing US forces in Jordan and northern Iraq.Asian and European stocks fell after the airstrikes, while Wall Street opened higher as investors focused on AI developments. Oil prices edged up in a volatile session, briefly touching levels not seen since July, on concerns about the war’s impact on the global economy.Washington maintained that the Strait of Hormuz remained open to shipping despite Iranian attacks, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright saying more than 17mn barrels of oil exited on Monday. Iran, however, blacklisted 11 more vessels, bringing to 56 the number of ships it says could face fines, confiscation or detention if they transit without Tehran’s permission.Trump repeated his assertion that the strategic waterway – which handled 20% of global oil and liquefied gas shipments before the war – was under US control, posting on Truth Social: “Now that we have it under U.S.A. control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT???” Source link
Two Turkish-flagged commercial vessels collided in the Sea of Marmara early Wednesday, and authorities were unable to establish contact with one of the vessels and its 10 crew members, the Istanbul Governor’s Office said.The collision occurred approximately 18 nautical miles south of Istanbul’s Silivri district, involving the Turkish-flagged commercial vessels Alsu and Tugberk Imamoglu, the governor’s office said in a statement.Numerous vessels from the Turkish Coast Guard and the General Directorate of Coastal Safety, along with a Coast Guard helicopter, were dispatched to the scene.Initial assessments by responding units found no visible damage to the Alsu, while authorities were unable to establish contact with the Tugberk Imamoglu and its 10-member crew, the statement said.Search and rescue operations were launched by sea and air, with Coast Guard and maritime rescue units deployed to the area.Turkey’s maritime affairs authority later said the Tugberk Imamoglu was believed to have sunk after it failed to respond to calls and authorities were unable to reach its crew.The cause of the collision and further details of the incident were not immediately known.The Sea of Marmara forms part of the Turkish Straits system, a major maritime route linking the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea. The area is a busy shipping lane, with heavy vessel traffic and challenging maritime conditions. Related Story Source link
The US military has completed a wave of strikes against Iranian military targets, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.CENTCOM said US forces struck targets belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including air defence sites, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites.The strikes followed recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and US service members, CENTCOM said.More than 50,000 US service members are currently operating across the Middle East and remain prepared to carry out further operations, the command said.The latest strikes mark a renewed escalation in hostilities between the United States and Iran after a period of relative calm. Source link
US President Donald Trump yesterday promised further strikes against Iran after the first tit-for-tat attacks in a month, as a conflict that had lately settled into an economic standoff threatened to escalate into open fighting again.Iran launched missiles overnight at two US air bases in Jordan in response to a US attack on Iran’s Larak Island, where Washington said it had struck Iranian launchers firing mines into the Strait of Hormuz.”We’re going to hit them hard,” a Fox News reporter quoted Trump as later telling the channel. “There will be a response.”A senior Iranian source told Reuters the overnight exchanges of fire, the first since late July, were a “limited and contained confrontation” but said Tehran would deliver a harsh response if attacked again.Trump said US air defences had downed all Iranian missiles that could have caused any damage and that new U.S. economic sanctions on Iran were having a big impact, Fox News reported.Earlier, Trump had posted to social media two videos depicting explosions engulfing Iran’s main oil export terminal, with the message “Kharg island being blown to smithereens!!!”But the videos were generated by AI and no such attack took place. Iran called Trump’s post “laughable”. Vice President JD Vance told reporters Trump “likes to switch it up on social media a little bit” and was “sending a message”.Washington has so far mainly held off from hitting Iran’s major oil and gas infrastructure, a move that Iran says would be met with devastating attacks against its Gulf neighbours.Since late July, the war that Trump launched with Israel six months ago has settled mostly into an economic standoff, with each side betting that rival blockades of shipping around the Gulf will force the other to back down.Tehran meanwhile has maintained that the Strait of Hormuz is shut and will reopen only under its supervision.The senior Iranian source, who has direct knowledge of Iranian decision-making and spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said conditions in the strait would “become worse” for vessels that violated rules set by Tehran for passage.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian struck a milder tone yesterday, telling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Kyrgyzstan that Iran still sought a negotiated resolution.”… we believe that continuing the war is in no one’s interest, neither ours, nor the region’s, nor humanity’s,” Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying. Source link
Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan have agreed to establish a secretariat in Saudi Arabia under their Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, with a Pakistani secretary general to head it for an initial three-year term, the three countries said in a joint statement today.The decision was taken at the first meeting of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee of the Makkah Agreement, held at Istanbul’s Ciragan Palace with the countries’ foreign and defence ministers and top military officials in attendance. Pakistan was represented by Chief of Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif.Signed in early August, the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, stipulating that an armed attack against any of the three countries would be regarded as an attack on all. Under it, the three countries will strengthen their collective defence capabilities through joint activities, defence industry co-operation and joint technology development.The three countries also agreed to institutionalise their co-operation to enhance their solidarity and ensure the credibility and effectiveness of their collective deterrence, contributing to regional efforts towards a just, inclusive and lasting peace.”Acting with a sense of regional ownership, the three countries reiterate their determination to work together within the framework of the Makkah Agreement to achieve sustainable peace and stability in their region. To that end, they will continue to support efforts towards de-escalation and restraint to encourage peaceful resolution of crises,” Pakistan’s Foreign Office said, adding that through the institutionalised and resolute implementation of the agreement the countries would make essential contributions to regional peace and stability. Source link
US President Donald Trump was sending a message to Iran with his social media post about Iran’s energy hub of Kharg Island being blown to smithereens, Vice President JD Vance said .”The president likes to switch it up on social media a little bit. He would be the first to say he doesn’t make announcements about military actions on social media, but I think that he’s sending a message to the Iranians,” Vance said when asked about Trump’s post.Trump’s one-line social media post on Sunday was accompanied by an AI-generated video clip. A US official said yesterday the military had not targeted Kharg Island in overnight strikes. An Iranian official dismissed Trump’s post as “laughable”.Attacking Kharg, which handled 90% of Iran’s oil exports before the war launched by US and Israeli attacks on February 28, would severely disrupt its energy trade and put huge pressure on its economy.In describing the first known US military strikes since late July, a US official said forces attacked two Iranian launchers on Larak Island. (Reuters) Source link
India dismissed on Monday an international tribunal ruling on a water sharing treaty with rival Pakistan.”India categorically rejects its so-called award, just as it has firmly rejected all prior pronouncements by this illegally constituted body”, the foreign ministry said in a statement. “India’s decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance remains in force.” Source link
(FILES) Britain’s Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband leaves 10 Downing Street in London July 20, 2026 as cabinet appointments are being made after Andy Burnham became Britain’s…
The World Food Programme said yesterday that funding shortages are forcing it to cut in half its food assistance in the occupied West Bank at a time when it says escalating settler violence and Israeli military operations are driving needs higher.The UN agency has been providing food, vouchers and cash to 400,000 in the West Bank, mostly in rural areas and the south, such as villages like Hebron, but this will be scaled back to 200,000 people from this month, it said in a statement.”Severe movement restrictions, demolitions, and widespread displacement in the West Bank have eroded Palestinian livelihoods and contributed to increased food insecurity,” Shaun Hughes, WFP Country Director for Palestine, told a Geneva press briefing.”Right now, we should be scaling up our assistance in the West Bank, not cutting these vital lifelines.”The Israeli military agency that coordinates aid in the West Bank, COGAT, referred a Reuters request for comment to the Israeli military, which did not immediately respond.Foreign aid contributions by major Western donors, including the US, have fallen sharply across the board since last year as they prioritise domestic spending and defence.Violence and land and water seizures by militant Jewish settlers in the West Bank have risen during the nearly three years since the war in Gaza began.UN bodies and most countries deem the settlements illegal under international law regarding military occupations. Israel rejects this, viewing the area as disputed rather than occupied.Hughes said that humanitarians did not use to consider the West Bank a food crisis, but more a human rights crisis, but that was now changing due to mounting pressures.”They now find themselves in a chokehold, unable to move freely to access land or jobs, and so unable to afford food for their families. They face incredible injustice and hardship,” he said.Other international aid groups like the UN Palestinian refugee agency also provide assistance to Palestinians in the West Bank but it was not immediately clear if they would step in. That agency also faces major financial constraints.WFP also said funding shortfalls are affecting its operations in Gaza where it supports 1.5mn people. “Further cuts will be unavoidable unless additional funding is secured,” it said. Source link
The Pacific Islands’ annual summit opened yesterday with a pointed message that outside partners “do not choose our destination”, as five leaders skipped the talks shadowed by China-Taiwan tensions.The gathering aims to grapple with challenges such as climate change, drug crime and the Chinese test-firing of a ballistic missile in July that landed in the Pacific Ocean. But at least five leaders won’t attend, sending lower-ranked ministers in their place. The 18-member Pacific Islands Forum is being hosted by Palau, a diplomatic ally of Taiwan.Beijing claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory, and has protested against Taiwan’s inclusion among aid partners invited to attend, which include China, Singapore, Japan, Britain and the United States.Chinese diplomats had warned Pacific leaders not to appear at side events in Palau where Taiwan’s foreign minister may be present, AFP was told. “Our partners are welcome to sail with us but they do not choose our destination,” Palau’s President Surangel Whipps said at the opening ceremony, urging Pacific unity. Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Rick Houenipwela said “strategic competition has sharpened around us”. “The forum must remain the political home where Pacific leaders speak honestly, listen carefully and decide our own thoughts,” he said. “Our partners are welcome and their support is valued, but this should help us realise our missions, not define them,” he added.Houenipwela spoke at the ceremony in place of his country’s prime minister, Matthew Wale, who rushed home a day earlier to fend off a surprise push to unseat his government. Wale had sought to reduce the Solomons’ reliance on China after taking office in May, visiting Canberra, Washington and Tokyo to seek investment and vowing to review a secret security pact with Beijing. Other leaders not attending include Kiribati’s president and the prime ministers of Samoa and Vanuatu.The head of government of the French territory of New Caledonia will also skip the summit, a forum official told journalists. Fiji’s delegation to Palau was led by the foreign minister, but it was not known whether the prime minister might join at a later stage.The leaders’ absence may weaken any joint Pacific statement on the Chinese missile test, said Oliver Nobetau, Pacific analyst at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank.”Not having these leaders there really lowers the expectation of whether or not we will see a strong statement come out of the Pacific Islands Forum,” he told AFP.Some Pacific leaders were staying at home to tackle domestic political priorities, said Nobetau, director of the institute’s Pacific Islands programme. Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Pacific countries “make their own decisions about their delegation and who leads them”. “This forum matters,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.”It enables decisions to be made for the Pacific by the Pacific and in a time of regional contest and competition… having a strong regional organisation and regional decision-making is one of the ways in which that asymmetry of power between great powers and smaller powers can be navigated.”Around 110 police officers drawn from various Pacific islands will provide security at the forum, the first large-scale demonstration of Pacific-wide cooperation on policing. Australia, the biggest forum member and aid donor, has led efforts for the Pacific to provide its own security, arguing there is no need for China to have police in Kiribati and the Solomons.”Investing in the security and prosperity of our Pacific neighbours makes our region safer and our economy stronger,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement. Source link