Latest war news. US sends tanker aircraft to Israel amid escalation. Iran: all-out offensive if this continues

US forces have attacked, for the second time in two days, an Iranian oil tanker moored near the Iranian island of Kharg. This was reported by an Iranian official to the Fars news agency. “The empty oil tanker Belma NI22, which was hit two days ago, was attacked again today by two US missiles,” the deputy governor of Bushehr told the Fars news agency.

The Iranian army has stated that its 65th Airborne Special Forces Brigade carried out 11 cross-border operations in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, killing eight mid-level commanders of what it described as separatist groups and destroying three bases. The army stated that the operations were carried out with intelligence support from groups allied with Tehran. This was reported by Iran International.

The new US refuelling aircraft due to arrive in Israel – between five and eight aircraft a day – against the backdrop of a possible new escalation with Iran, will not be stationed at Ben Gurion Airport. This is reported by Ynet, specifying that the ban follows Transport Minister Miri Regev’s decision to limit the number of US refuelling aircraft at the airport, which are already causing congestion at Israel’s main international airport and risking the cancellation of tens of thousands of civil aviation flight tickets. According to Ynet, US Centcom officials have lodged a protest with their Israeli counterparts, arguing that the issue ‘undermines the operational flexibility of US forces in the region’. It is not specified at which other Israeli airports or military bases the aircraft will land.

“We are ready to carry out any directive from Iran’s Supreme Leader” Mojtaba Khamenei. This was stated by the Houthi Defence Minister, Major General Mohammed Al-Atafi. “We confirm the armed forces’ readiness to carry out any directive issued by the Iranian Supreme Leader should the siege of the Yemeni people continue,” he told the official Yemeni news agency Saba. – “The aggressor countries, in particular the Saudi enemy and those who support it, should know that all options are open to us.”

According to Axios, Trump has not yet made a decision, but appears inclined to escalate the conflict, believing that by inflicting damage on Iran, the regime will open the Strait of Hormuz and accept the US’s nuclear demands. According to the website’s sources, an order to increase military pressure on Tehran could come in the next few days. Among the options under consideration, says Axios, are the bombing of Iranian infrastructure, such as power stations; further attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities to bury enriched uranium even deeper; and the bombing of the underground site at Pickaxe Mountain, suspected of being a facility under construction.

A “flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the targeted states, as well as a blatant breach of international law, the United Nations Charter and the principles of good neighbourliness”. In a statement on X, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attacks launched by Tehran, stating that it holds Iran “fully legally responsible” for the attacks and their consequences. Qatar also expressed solidarity with nations defending their territorial integrity and called for the immediate cessation of all military actions, a halt to further escalation, a serious return to dialogue and negotiations, and respect for previously reached diplomatic agreements.

Donald Trump has informed Israel that he is sending dozens more in-flight refuelling aircraft, in anticipation of a possible expansion of military operations against Iran. This was reported to Axios by three American and Israeli officials.

New threats from Iran against US forces in the region. The commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Navy, Ali Azmaei, has warned Washington, claiming that “zero hour” is approaching for possible operations against US Central Command (Centcom) forces in the region’s waters. “The American terrorist armed forces are under surveillance by Iranian naval units,” Azmaei said. “Just wait and see.”

At least eight Palestinians were killed and a further 20 injured in an Israeli air strike that hit a gathering of civilians in the Al-Balata market area, in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. This was reported by the Wafa news agency. Medical sources reported that the airstrike struck civilians taking part in the funeral procession of a Palestinian who had been killed earlier, killing several people and injuring dozens with injuries of varying severity.

The US military and a Syrian official interviewed by CNN have denied the attack claimed by Tehran on a US base in southern Syria.

The US Central Command (Centcom) posted on X: “Iranian forces claim to have attacked the al-Tanf garrison in Syria and to have captured or killed American soldiers. FALSE. No American soldiers in the region have been killed or captured recently.”

Images released on 17 July by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards appear to show missiles and drones launched against US ships in Qatar, Kuwait and Oman. The United States bombed Iran for the sixth consecutive night on Friday, and Tehran is accused of causing casualties by striking civilian infrastructure, whilst many of Washington’s allies in the Middle East have reported suffering attacks, including on a power station.

The regional government of Iraqi Kurdistan has condemned Tehran’s “unjustified attacks”, urging the government in Baghdad and the international community to take concrete measures to put an end to the escalation.

“We condemn the unjustified attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against the Kurdistan Region,” said the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the Kurdistan Region, emphasising in a statement that “the continuation of these attacks undermines the stability of the entire region”.

The Kuwaiti army states that several members of the Kuwaiti Ground Forces were injured in the Iranian attacks, which targeted “various facilities and camps affiliated with the Kuwaiti army”. Lieutenant General Khaled Dirj Saad Al-Shreian, Chief of the General Staff of the Army, visited the injured personnel “to check on their condition and monitor the progress of the medical treatment being provided”, the army said in a statement. This was reported by Al Jazeera.

The Israeli Defence Forces have opened 57 criminal investigations into the deaths of Gaza residents and a Lebanese detainee in military custody during the war, but none have led to an indictment, despite the fact that most of the deaths occurred within military detention facilities equipped with CCTV cameras and where potential witnesses were present, reports Haaretz.

Of the 57 investigations, seven cases involved prisoners who had been shot dead. According to the Israeli newspaper, the army was unable to identify the suspects in most of the cases.

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s speech on foreign interference in the US elections, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, posted on his X account the cover of *Time* magazine dedicated to “the Israeli influence campaign targeting the MAGA voter base”, commenting: “Americans are being warned against foreign influence. What about the vast Israeli campaign to deceive the US administration and drag it into a war that cannot be won?”

“Worse still: Israel is using American taxpayers’ money to silence any critical American voices,” added Araghchi. “Everything will soon be revealed.”

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 for this 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-35sto Turkey.

This is reported by Axios, citing several sources who claim that the interview given by Netanyahu to Fox infuriated the president, who is convinced that “Bibi has no right whatsoever” to influence Trump’s decision.

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.