Latest war news. Trump: ‘Trade deals with Gulf countries instead of the 20 per cent tariff’

Further explosions have been reported in Ahvaz, in southern Iran, according to the Iranian news agency Fars, as reported by Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, IRNA reports three consecutive explosions in Bandar Abbas.

Bandar Abbas

Nello Stretto di Hormuz

The Kuwaiti army has stated that the Iranian attacks carried out against the country today targeted various pieces of civilian infrastructure, with debris falling in several locations and causing material damage.

The Kuwaiti army said it had detected one ballistic missile, five cruise missiles and 33 drones launched the previous evening, all of which were intercepted.

The United States has launched new attacks on military targets in Iran one hour after the blockade of Iranian ports came into force. This was reported by a US official to the Associated Press.

Air-raid sirens in Bahrain have sounded to warn of a new missile attack, whilst the authorities have urged the public to take shelter. This is the fourth such alert today. Bahrain is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel must begin withdrawing its forces from Syria and Lebanon. Axios reports this, citing informed sources. The message was conveyed during a telephone call between the two leaders last Thursday. The US President told Netanyahu that the presence of the Israeli army on Syrian territory is creating tensions and could lead to an escalation. “They don’t want you there. You must redeploy your troops,” Trump said, according to a US official.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi will be “a great leader for the whole of the Middle East”. Donald Trump said this in the Oval Office.

“Following extremely productive talks with leaders in the Middle East, I have decided to replace the 20 per cent levy on exports to the United States with trade and investment agreements that the various Gulf states will enter into with the United States itself.” Donald Trump wrote this on Truth. “These investments will be substantial but, at the same time, extraordinarily beneficial for them and for their future. As everyone knows, the United States boasts the largest volume of dollar-denominated investment in history, but these new agreements will increase that figure even further,” added the tycoon.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has stated that airlines should not fly over Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar or the United Arab Emirates, or near the waters of the Gulf of Oman.

“Unpredictable military developments, combined with the possible use of missiles, drones, fighter aircraft and air defence systems, pose a high risk to civil aviation at all altitudes and flight levels within the affected airspace,” the EASA said in a statement. Last week, the agency advised airlines not to operate in the airspace of Iran, Iraq and Lebanon.

A Norwegian shipping company has announced that one of its oil tankers was attacked off the coast of Oman in the early hours of this morning. Stolt-Nielsen said in a statement that the Stolt Magnesium was struck in the Arabian Sea at roughly the same time as two oil tankers from the United Arab Emirates were hit by Iranian cruise missiles. The attack caused a fire in the ship’s engine room, Stolt-Nielsen said. All crew members on board the ship were unharmed and accounted for following the attack, according to the shipping company, as reported by Sky News.

Iran is reportedly monitoring the movements of US military personnel in the Middle East by tracking the mobile phone data of American soldiers’ devices. According to the British newspaper the Financial Times, the prospect of hostile forces monitoring the movements of American troops has alarmed some US lawmakers, who have warned that roaming systems and smartphone advertising technologies have left the military vulnerable to attacks. The tracking attempts began in the weeks leading up to the US and Israeli offensive against Iran at the end of February and continued in the early days of the conflict, when Tehran responded with missile and drone strikes against US forces and military installations in the region, the FT reports.

A senior security official in Tehran has told CNN that Iran will deliver a “devastating response” if US President Donald Trump follows through on his threat to attack the regime’s unguarded underground site in the Zagros Mountains, known as “Forge Mountain”.

According to the official’s statement to the US broadcaster, should the United States launch an attack, Tehran would then make “American soldiers and regional partners pay dearly”. The Iranian official also denied US claims that “nuclear activities” were taking place at “Forge Mountain”.

“We are in favour of freedom of navigation; we are opposed to any kind of toll in straits where there is a man-made structure. I am thinking of Suez or Panama, where there are man-made canals. It is right to pay a toll there, but introducing tolls for passage elsewhere would set a dangerous precedent, because tolls would then be introduced all over the world.” This was stated by the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, on the sidelines of the ‘Moto d’Italia – ‘Culture Beyond the Track’ at the Farnesina, in response to a question about the statements made by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who announced his intention to impose a 20 per cent tax on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, justifying this on the grounds of the need to cover security costs in the region. “For an exporting country like Italia, this is certainly something that is absolutely unacceptable. The fundamental principle is that of freedom of navigation, which we uphold. We are opposed to any tariffs for passage through the straits, whether imposed by Iran or by others,” concluded the Foreign Minister.

The United States “wants to be reimbursed”, because “we are protecting a very wealthy part of the world”. Donald Trump made these remarks whilst speaking to journalists in the Oval Office regarding the 20 per cent tax on goods passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

In a rare direct intervention on the crisis, China has urged Iran and the United States to restore safe passage for commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. “Respecting the legitimate rights and interests of the states bordering the Strait, and restoring safe and normal maritime traffic in the Strait as soon as possible, are shared aspirations of the international community,” said Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The United Arab Emirates reported today that Iranian missile attacks had targeted two of its oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, killing one crew member.

Explosions were heard in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, after the air-raid sirens had sounded for the third time since dawn. The Ministry of Defence had warned on X that “the sirens have been activated; we urge citizens and residents to remain calm and make their way to the nearest safe place”. The warning came a few hours after the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had stated that they had carried out missile and drone attacks against the Gulf kingdom.

In a statement regarding the attack on the US base in Jordan in the early hours of the morning, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards addressed the Jordanian people directly, saying: “You know that we harbour no animosity towards your country; on the contrary, we love you deeply, noble people.” “You understand the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people better than any other nation, and you are aware of the crimes of the Zionist regime, in particular the massacre of 70,000 Palestinians, including 20,000 children in Gaza, perpetrated with the direct involvement of the United States,” he added, according to a report by IRNA. “Your firm demand to dismantle the American occupation bases in the region would go a long way towards saving the Palestinian people and restoring security in the region. We wish Jordan every success,” the statement continued. (

The President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, has condemned “the repeated attacks against the brotherly Arab states of the Gulf, the latest of which was the criminal attack against the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as the attack on the brotherly Kingdom of Jordan”.

In a statement, Aoun said: “We regard these hostile acts as blatant attempts, originating from various quarters, which target not only the security and sovereignty of the Kingdom and the nations affected, but also systematically seek to undermine the stability of the Arabian Gulf and to keep the entire region in a permanent state of tension and unrest, in the service of agendas that do not have the best interests of our Arab peoples at heart”.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have claimed to have struck a US airbase in Jordan with ballistic missiles, stating that the facility had been used in attacks against Iran. In a statement addressed to the Jordanian public, the Revolutionary Guards stated that Iran harbours no hostility towards Jordan and urged the Jordanian people to call for the removal of US military bases. The Pasdaran also accused the United States of having used bases in Jordan during previous attacks against Iran. This was reported by Iran International.

The Iranian Parliament has begun examining a bill concerning the Strait of Hormuz. This was announced by the chair of the parliamentary committee on national security, against the backdrop of tensions with the United States over control of this strategic waterway.

“Last night, just as US drones were being shot down, the bill entitled ‘Strategic Action for the Security and Sustainable Development of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf’ was officially tabled in the Iranian Parliament”, wrote Ebrahim Azizi on X, without specifying the content of the bill or when it will be considered.

- Iran has executed two men convicted of belonging to a militant cell linked to Islamic State and of carrying out armed attacks against the Islamic Republic. This was reported by the Iranian news agency Mizan, adding that Mohieddin Abdollahi and Hossein Palani were sentenced to death after their convictions were upheld by the Supreme Court, and that the cell had planned attacks in Iran whilst operating from the Bamo highlands, along the border between Iran and Iraq.

Donald Trump has formally notified Congress that the United States is once again at war with Iran. In a letter dated 10 July, seen by Politico, Trump stated that the attacks which began on 7 July constitute “military action consistent with my responsibility to protect Americans and US interests, both at home and abroad”.

According to a report by the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB, which cites an anonymous military source, the Iranian Navy has fired cruise missiles at a “hostile vessel belonging to the American enemy”. Iranian state television reported this, adding that several strategic military sites belonging to the US military in Kuwait were also targeted.

“Today, at 16:45 (US East Coast time), US Central Command launched its third consecutive night of attacks against Iran, on the orders of the commander-in-chief.” Centcom posted this on X.

The new conflict with Iran “will be very quick”. Donald Trump said this in the Oval Office. “We’ll attack tonight and we’ll strike at all their capabilities relating to the Strait of Hormuz,” he added. “They broke the deal; they realised there was something they didn’t like, and we’re not going to accept that. In the end, we’ll end up controlling everything they’re doing: it’s mad and very stupid,” Trump continued.

Further reading

War, latest news. Trump has informed Congress that the war against Iran has resumed. Tehran attacks ships and Bahrain

13 July 2026

US President Donald Trump has expressed his support for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman regarding military action against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. This was revealed by Axios, citing US officials. Yesterday’s Saudi attack on Sana’a airport and the subsequent Houthi missile strikes marked the most serious escalation between the Yemeni rebels and Saudi Arabia since 2022.

The United Arab Emirates reported today that Iranian missile attacks had targeted two of its oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, killing one crew member.