Latest war news. Iran: US fighter jets struck in Jordan and a base in Qatar

American allies in the Gulf are being targeted.

Eight members of an armed Kurdish opposition group based in Iran have been killed in air strikes in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. The party, which is based in exile, made the statement, attributing the attack to Iran. Idriss Kohlwazi, of the Komala party, said that “the Iranian regime attacked a camp” belonging to the party, near the city of Sulaimaniyah, with drones and rockets in the early hours of the morning. The incident in Iraq comes against the backdrop of a renewed military escalation between the United States and Iran.

During the war in the Middle East, the Kurdistan region – which is home to US troops and foreign oil companies, as well as Iranian Kurdish rebels in exile – has been a prime target for attacks carried out by Iran and pro-Iranian armed groups in Iraq. This morning in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, the US-led anti-jihadist coalition said it had shot down several drones, in the second such incident in the city this week.

- Iran has claimed that its forces targeted the US air base at Al-Udeid, in Qatar, in the fifteenth wave of attacks. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that the Iranian attacks destroyed a long-range radar system and several US aerial refuelling aircraft, Al Jazeera reports, citing the Iranian news agency Irib. “The American enemy and those who host its bases in the region must know that crossing red lines and attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure will come at a very high and painful price. If the enemy continues down this path, even more crushing responses will follow; responses that will go down in the history of battles,” the statement reads.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has claimed that the US government is the victim of an Israeli influence campaign. “Americans are being warned against foreign influence. But what about the widespread Israeli campaign to mislead the US administration and drag it into a war that cannot be won?”, Araghchi wrote in a post on X following President Donald Trump’s speech, which focused on alleged Chinese interference in the US electoral process. Iran’s foreign minister then accused Israel of using “American taxpayers’ money to silence any criticism in the United States”, adding: “All this will soon be revealed.”

The Revolutionary Guards in Tehran had claimed to have targeted the Al-Tanf military base in Syria in response to US attacks, but a Syrian military source denies this. “We deny any Iranian bombing of the Al-Tanf area,” the source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. US forces said they had withdrawn from the base earlier this year, after troops had been stationed there as part of a US-led anti-jihadist coalition.

- The Iranian Ministry of Energy has urged citizens to reduce their electricity consumption, after the power grid was put under severe strain by US attacks on energy infrastructure in the south of the country. In a statement, the ministry urged the public to switch off their air-conditioners during peak hours “to help ensure a stable electricity supply in the southern provinces, which are currently facing extreme heat and attacks on the electricity distribution infrastructure”.

- Kuwait has announced that one of its power stations was hit in an Iranian air raid, which caused damage. “One of the power generation and water desalination plants was targeted in an attack as part of Iran’s aggression, causing a fire, damage and the destruction of several production units”, the emirate’s Ministry of Electricity said in a statement, urging users “to ration their electricity consumption during this exceptional period”.

Footage from Doha shows dogfights in the skies above the Qatari capital, whilst explosions can be heard against the backdrop of regional tensions. Shortly before, residents of Doha had received a warning from the authorities alerting them to a “high level of security threat” and advising them to take shelter, according to AFP journalists at the scene.

Iranian state television reports that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed to have struck US fighter jets stationed in Jordan. This is according to Al Jazeera. Earlier, the Jordanian army had claimed to have shot down three Iranian missiles heading towards the country.

The death toll from last night’s US air strikes in Iran has risen to eight. This was reported by the Iranian state news agency IRNA, which added that the raids, which targeted infrastructure in several provinces, also left a further 20 people injured.

The Bahraini armed forces have stated that their air defence systems intercepted and destroyed “a series of hostile Iranian air strikes” today. “Iran has continued its aggressive approach by carrying out cowardly attacks against civilians in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” the army said in a statement quoted by Al Jazeera. It also urged everyone to remain vigilant, to avoid approaching any strange or suspicious objects that may be the result of the Iranian attack, and to report them immediately. “The General Command emphasises that the deliberate use of missiles and drones to target civilians and private property constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” the statement added.

Qatar has announced that its armed forces intercepted a missile attack, and that some debris injured a child. “The Ministry of Defence… announces that the armed forces have intercepted a missile attack directed against the State of Qatar,” the ministry wrote on X. A child was injured by debris that fell following the interception, the Ministry of the Interior later reported. Iran has targeted several Gulf countries since hostilities with the United States resumed on 7 July, claiming to have targeted US military installations. Qatar, which, alongside Pakistan, acts as a mediator in talks with the United States and is home to the largest US base in the Middle East, was struck on Sunday for the first time since the April ceasefire.

Only three merchant ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, the lowest daily number of transits since May, according to data from shipping companies, with most vessels either halting or turning back following recent Iranian attacks on vessels and the resumption of the US blockade against ships linked to Iran. The resurgence of hostilities between the United States and Iran has once again largely brought traffic through Hormuz – the world’s most important maritime route for oil and gas – to a standstill, causing global energy prices to soar.

No meeting is currently scheduled between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. One of the reasons is said to be the US president’s deep irritation at the Israeli prime minister’s criticism of the possibility that Trump might decide to sell F-35s to Turkey. This is reported by Axios, citing several sources, according to whom Netanyahu’s interview with Fox infuriated the president, who is convinced that “Bibi has no right whatsoever” to influence Trump’s decision.

Further complicating relations – which had already been strained for weeks – was a warning from Israeli intelligence about a possible new Iranian plot to assassinate Trump. The alert forced the president to abandon the new Air Force One and fly on the old one. Several American sources described the alert as unsubstantiated by evidence. “It was more of a wish than an operational plan,” the sources told Axios. Turkish security services also investigated the threat, concluding that there was no specific plot to assassinate Trump in Ankara, where he was attending the NATO summit.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have claimed to have destroyed a US air traffic control radar in the Ghanim region of Oman, and a maritime surveillance radar in the Strait of Hormuz, in the waters separating Iran from Oman. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated in a press release that, as part of the ongoing thirteenth wave of Iranian attacks, “the retaliatory operation is continuing with determination” and that the vital waterway “remains in the hands of the admirals of the Pasdaran Navy”.

The risk is that, ultimately, international trade will have to contend not only with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint for around a fifth of the world’s oil flows, but also with that of Bab el-Mandeb. Should this scenario come to pass, Europe – and therefore Italia as well – would find itself deprived of two strategic supply routes.

The Strait of Bab el-Mandeb is situated in a strategic geographical position between north-eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is one of the world’s most important commercial waterways (and an oil route), as it is the only passage for all vessels travelling between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal.

- The Jordanian army has announced that it intercepted three missiles launched from Iran, stating that the attack caused no casualties or damage in the US ally. “This Friday morning, air defence systems intercepted three Iranian missiles that had entered Jordanian airspace and were targeting the Kingdom’s territory,” the army said in a statement.

“If we do not seize the opportunity to oust this government in October, democracy in Israel will cease to exist. Everyone who can leave will do so, and those who cannot will lead a miserable life. If nothing changes, there will be no future for the country.” These are the words of Raluca Ganea, CEO and founder of Zazim, one of Israel’s largest progressive movements, which has led public campaigns against various anti-democratic measures adopted by the Netanyahu government. Measures which, in a last-minute push before the summer recess, the Knesset approved despite public opposition: the weakening of the Attorney General’s role; authorisation for gender segregation in universities and colleges; the possibility of redirecting funds earmarked for Arab communities to the police and the Shin Bet; and the involvement of the Shin Bet in combating crime within Arab society.

What is the thinking behind these measures?

Seven people were killed in US night-time attacks on several bridges in Bandar Khamir, a port city in southern Iran, according to IRNA, which cites the Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences. Iranian state media reported last night that the US strikes targeted an airport and two bridges in southern Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz, as well as two bridges near the village of Kohourestan and the Shor River in Bandar Khamir County.

“We have won in Venezuela and we are winning in Iran. You will see the fruits of this work very soon.” Donald Trump said this in an address to the nation.

A US missile strike has hit the maritime control tower in Chabahar, a port city in Iran on the Gulf of Oman. The Iranian news agency Mehr reports this, noting that this is the third US strike to have hit the facility in the past week.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced that it carried out a “surprise” attack on the US command centre at al-Tanf in Syria, on the border with Iraq and Jordan. “In response to US military aggression, the IRGC Aerospace Force launched a surprise attack against the enemy’s Special Operations Command Centre in the Al-Tanf region of Syria as part of the eleventh wave of Operation Nasr (Victory, ed.)”, local media reported. According to Press TV, the attack is said to have “destroyed a radar system and several helicopters, killing a large number of US soldiers”, but there has been no confirmation from the US side.