War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

The IRGC has issued a second statement claiming additional strikes against US military targets in Kuwait, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency, the IRGC claimed its forces hit and destroyed an early warning radar, a missile defence radar system, an FPS-117 radar, a Patriot defence system, and an air defence satellite communication system at the Ahmed Al-Jaber base.

An “unknown projectile” struck a tanker off the coast of Oman, a British maritime agency said, as Iran and the United States exchanged fire over control of the Strait of Hormuz, AFP reports.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said it “received multiple reports that a tanker … has been struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz,” adding that the incident occurred eight nautical miles (15 kilometres) northeast of Limah, Oman.

The US military said it had completed its latest round of strikes against Iran, targeting various sites to counter Tehran’s ability to attack ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, AFP reports.

“US forces struck Iranian military command centres, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense systems to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial vessels flowing through the Strait of Hormuz,” Centcome said in a post on X.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they hit US military targets including air defence systems in Bahrain and Kuwait, AFP reports.

The Guards said they struck two air defence systems and a radar installation at two different US outposts in Bahrain, as well as missile defence systems and radars and satellite reception systems in Kuwait.

“With this radar sweep, the enemy should prepare for even more decisive and powerful waves of drone and missile attacks,” the Guards said in a statement carried by IRNA.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they stopped two “non-compliant oil tankers” attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, AFP reports citing IRNA.

“Two non-compliant oil tankers attempting to pass through the unsafe southern route of the Strait of Hormuz were stopped after explosions caused extensive fires aboard them,” the Guards said in a statement carried by IRNA.

The mayor of the Lebanese town of Froun has contradicted a statement issued by the Lebanese army where it said it had retaken southern towns from Israeli control, Al Jazeera reports.

Hassan Bazzi told Al Jazeera that the Lebanese army has not yet begun deploying in the town of Zawtar al-Gharbiya, because Israeli forces are yet to withdraw from the outskirts of the town.

“This is just talk. There have been no new developments in the town of Froun. The situation remains unchanged,” he said.

Oil prices have hit one-month highs today before scaling back as Iran said diplomatic exchanges with the United States were ongoing via mediators to dial back renewed conflict in the Middle East, AFP reports.

That helped give a positive tone to sentiment on Wall Street, while European equity markets largely stabilised.

However, Asian stock markets ended the day mostly lower under the weight of higher oil prices which briefly shot above $91 per barrel, alongside lingering concerns that the AI sector may be overbought.

“The Iran war has escalated and driven oil prices back above $90 a barrel,” noted Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

“That means inflation fears are back on the table.”

Jordan’s armed forces say three missiles launched from Iran have been intercepted, Al Jazeera reports citing Jordan’s state TV.

Sirens sounded in the Jordanian capital Amman on Monday evening, an AFP correspondent says, as the United States and Iran exchange attacks in the region.

The state-run Al-Mamlaka channel also said that sirens had sounded in the kingdom.

The deputy security officer of Iran’s central province governorate has said that an industrial unit on the outskirts of Khomein County was targeted in an US-Israeli attack earlier today, which resulted in no loss of life, student-run news agency ISNA reports.

An assessment of potential damages is underway, the officer added.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations says a vessel has been struck 17 nautical miles east of Dibba, near the UAE’s Fujairah port, Al Jazeera reports.

Crew aboard the ship told UKMTO that an unknown projectile hit their ship, damaging the steering gear. All crew aboard the vessel are reportedly safe.

US President Donald Trump has warned Iran that it will pay “many times over” for every US soldier it killed, AFP reports, after Washington announced over the weekend three new military fatalities and one service member missing in action.

“Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” Trump posted on his platform, Truth Social.

“This directive has been passed on to Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Daniel Caine, and every Leader in the Military.”

On Truth Social, Trump has claimed that Benjamin Netanyahu is fighting against Iran, which has “recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors” and has been killing US soldiers “and others” for 47 years.

“The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents!” he said.

US President Donald Trump has said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape or form, while in the United States of America”, in a post on Truth Social.

Air raid sirens have sounded in Bahrain for the fifth time, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency has reported.

The US military says it has disabled one ship and redirected seven in its continuing naval blockade against Iran.

“As of July 20, the US military has redirected 7 commercial vessels and disabled 1 to prevent the ships from leaving or entering Iranian ports,” Centcom wrote on X.

Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni has arrived in Islamabad on an official visit.

Upon his arrival in Pakistan, the senior Iranian official was received by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.

Earlier reports had suggested that Momeni was likely to engage with Pakistani officials who previously mediated a now-collapsed interim ceasefire between the US and Iran.

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Two French diplomats in Iran suffered “an extremely serious act of intimidation” by its security services, with one of them physically abused, France’s foreign minister says according to AFP.

Jean-Noel Barrot said in a statement sent to AFP that the two diplomats were targeted by the Iranian officials late on Sunday “in flagrant violation of diplomatic immunity”.

Both were “detained for several hours without reason, interrogated and one of them was physically abused” before they were able to return to the embassy, he said.

The assistant to the US Secretary of War, Sean Parnell, has rejected the New York Times’ earlier report that the Pentagon withheld “dozens” of US military injuries in the Iran war.

In a statement on X, Parnell termed the claims “baseless and malicious accusations” and “outright lies from partisan hacks”.

“Injuries in the military encompass everything from minor sprained ankles during routine training to incidents entirely unrelated to combat operations,” he said. “Cherry-picking raw numbers without context paints a deliberately misleading and incomplete picture.”

He added that the military’s casualty information is publicly available and regularly updated online on the Defence Casualty Analysis System.

Lebanon’s health ministry says 4,328 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since it began its air strikes and ground invasion in March.

During the same period, 12,230 others were wounded in Israeli attacks.

Israeli officials have vowed troops will remain in a “security zone” 10km deep along the frontier for as long as Hezbollah remains armed.

Israel’s military continues launch strikes on southern Lebanon and carry out demolitions of villages it occupies near the border despite an ongoing “ceasefire”.

US gasoline prices have jumped back to an average of $4 per gallon, AFP reports citing the AAA motor club, as Iran says it is fighting a “full-scale war” with the United States while both sides intensified attacks.

The uptick underscores the political risks faced by US President Donald Trump ahead of crucial midterm elections in November, with affordability shaping up to be a key worry among voters.

Kuwait’s military says it was responding to renewed missile and drone salvos as Tehran pressed its attacks against Gulf countries and the United States expanded its strikes across the Islamic republic.

“Kuwaiti air defences are currently confronting hostile missile and drone attacks,” the Gulf state’s army said in a statement blaming Iran, while an AFP journalist confirmed hearing explosions in Kuwait City. In neighbouring Bahrain, air raid sirens also sounded, according to the island kingdom’s interior ministry.