Former senior Israeli officials to Trump: ‘The US President should express concern over the escalation in the West Bank’. Netanyahu is on his way to Washington

“I’ve got plenty of time.” That was Donald Trump’s response to those asking how long his patience with Iran might last. “There is a chance of reaching an agreement with Iran,” he added, noting that talks are currently under way.

“We are having productive talks with Iran; we’ll see what happens. There is a good chance that something concrete will come of it.” Donald Trump made these remarks whilst speaking to journalists on board Air Force One, according to a report by Bloomberg.

“I’ll tell Bibi that if I hadn’t been president, Iran would now have nuclear weapons and Israel would have been destroyed.” This is what Donald Trump said when speaking to Axios about his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, due to take place tomorrow at the White House. Regarding his decision to suspend air strikes against Iran to give diplomacy a chance, Trump pointed out that since he decided on the pause, the price of oil has fallen and the market has risen. “If you gain nothing, you lose nothing,” he added, explaining why he agreed to accept the request from those asking him to halt the air strikes to make way for negotiations.

Donald Trump has decided to suspend attacks on Iran to give negotiators another chance, but if diplomacy fails, he is “ready” for “strong military action”. The president made these remarks in an interview with Axios.

Il presidente degli Stati Uniti Donald Trump sale a bordo del Marine One, diretto a Milford, nel Michigan, presso l’Ellisse vicino alla Casa Bianca, a Washington, D.C., Stati Uniti, il 27 luglio 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

“If I hadn’t been elected, I believe Israel would no longer exist today; it would have been struck by a nuclear weapon. And this includes, right from the start, Barack Hussein Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, which was so terrible: it was a path to a nuclear weapon.” So said US President Donald Trump during a press conference at the White House.

Almost all the ships that have passed through the Strait of Hormuz over the last three days have followed the route indicated by Iran, whilst none appear to have taken the more southerly route, close to the coast of Oman, advocated by the United States. This is according to CNN. According to Marisks, since Saturday, 78 ships have been observed in transit through the Strait of Hormuz; of these, 20 were flying the Iranian flag. All 58 non-Iranian ships in transit used the route indicated by Iran. No vessel chose the southern route, promoted by the US armed forces as an alternative to other maritime routes. The latest AIS data (the Automatic Identification System, which tracks the position of ships) indicates that “all non-Iranian merchant traffic detected has continued to favour the northern route controlled by Iran, despite the political and sanctions-related implications”, Marisks noted. “The only movements detected in the southern area involve local vessels from the United Arab Emirates and offshore support vessels, not international merchant ship transits.” Another maritime intelligence group, Windward, stated on Monday that it had recorded just seven transits through the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, all of which took the northern route. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has repeatedly stated that it would target any ships attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without Iranian consent. Against the backdrop of the US blockade of Iranian ports, 24 oil tankers were reported to be waiting at Iran’s main port on Kharg Island on Sunday, up from 21 the previous day, according to Windward.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has threatened repercussions following the Ukrainian attack on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea. According to Tehran, the explosion killed one sailor and injured several other crew members. Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry: “You cannot be certain that a theatrical move designed to attract attention and demonstrate your influence – which is not all that great – in the international balance of power will remain confined to that level. The consequences for you will certainly be unpredictable.” “This action by Ukraine,” the spokesperson continued, “was an utterly illegal and unjustified act, contrary to the United Nations Charter, as well as a dangerous act of adventurism, to which we will certainly not fail to respond”.

The Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed responsibility for new drone attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure. The attacks had ceased following Saturday’s raids on facilities belonging to the Saudi oil giant Aramco.

Una persona osserva il portavoce militare degli Houthi, Yahya Sarea, mentre rilascia una dichiarazione televisiva a Sana'a, nello Yemen, il 20 luglio 2026. Gli Houthi yemeniti hanno annunciato un embargo marittimo contro l'Arabia Saudita nel contesto di crescenti tensioni a seguito del bombardamento dell'aeroporto di Sana'a avvenuto il 13 luglio, secondo quanto riportato in una dichiarazione del portavoce militare degli Houthi, Yahya Sarea. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

“Mired in Iran”, Donald Trump “is learning the limits of power” through a war that is “gradually wearing down his presidency and from which he cannot find a way out”. This is the analysis of the New York Times, which argues that in five months of conflict, Trump has failed to achieve the objectives he had set for the war. What was supposed to be a “Venezuela-style” conflict is turning out to be a protracted war, which has had an impact on oil prices.

The Ukrainian attack on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea – which, according to Kyiv, was transporting weapons from Russia to Iran – represents an attempt by Ukraine to expand the conflict geographically and is an “extremely dangerous” development. This was stated by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, as quoted by TASS.

Iran is aware that the United States has used British bases to launch attacks on its territory and is calling for the United Kingdom to be held accountable for its complicity in the military aggression against the Islamic Republic, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Ismail Baghaei, said today.

“We are aware that during the 40 days of Israeli-American aggression against Iran, the United States used military bases in the United Kingdom to support its military operations against Iran. The new British Prime Minister’s statement on this matter amounts, in effect, to an admission and a confirmation of complicity. The British government must be held accountable for this”, Baghaei said live on Iranian state television.

The Caspian Sea, a maritime basin that links Asia Minor with Eurasia , is in danger of becoming the link between the two conflicts that are dominating the international political agenda, namely the war between the United States, and Israel against Iran, and the now long-running conflict between Russia and Moscow. This escalation has seen Turkmenistan take a firm stance, with its Foreign Minister Ra?it Meredow describing the attack on the Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea as “unacceptable”.

“Turkmenistan, as a state bordering the Caspian Sea and a country with permanent neutrality recognised by the United Nations, emphasises that the Caspian Sea is a sea of peace, harmony and good neighbourliness,” Ashgabat stated.

Kuwaiti companies managing the country’s oil sector have signed a concession agreement worth $16 billion with a group of investors led by Blackstone, Brookfield and KKR. The deal comes after President Trump announced in early July that he had scrapped plans for tariffs on the Strait of Hormuz following talks with Middle Eastern countries aimed at securing greater investment in the United States.

Kuwait Petroleum, the state-owned company that oversees the sector, and its subsidiary Kuwait Oil, which explores for and produces oil on behalf of the state, have both signed the agreement covering all the country’s domestic and export oil pipelines. This is the largest foreign direct investment in Kuwait’s history.

Senator Lindsey Graham, an influential ally of Donald Trump who died on 11 July shortly after returning from Kyiv, had planned to travel to Florida in early March to persuade the tycoon to join Israel in bombing Hezbollah in Lebanon, until a friend dissuaded him from doing so. That friend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told him in a phone call prior to the trip that involving the US, in the midst of a war with Iran, would have meant going too far, too fast.

This is revealed by previously unseen footage taken from a documentary about the South Carolina senator. “We are currently focusing on Iran,” Netanyahu said during the phone call on 4 March, according to the Wall Street Journal. “If we tell Hezbollah that we are prepared to go all the way, we are threatening them; but if we then actually do so, they would have no reason not to go all the way against us. And at the moment, that is not in our interest,” he said, speaking on speakerphone.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has stated that the Islamic Republic will continue to support Hezbollah as a matter of strategic policy and that “there is no other path but jihad and resistance”, in a letter to the group’s secretary-general published on Telegram. He also stated that perseverance on the path of resistance will lead to “divine victory” and described Hezbollah’s stance as “a message of inspiration”. Preserving Lebanon’s territorial integrity and ensuring a “complete and unconditional” end to Israeli attacks, he said, are the primary conditions for an agreement.

Further reading

Latest war news. Escalation in the West Bank: settlers set fire to two mosques. Oil tanker explodes after hitting a mine in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran threatens Ukraine

26 July 2026