War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say they have targeted a data centre in Bahrain belonging to US tech giant Amazon, according to state media, AFP reports.

The forces “targeted and destroyed the intelligence data centre building of the American company Amazon, which plays a major role in completing information for the American child-killing army”, they have said in a statement aired by state TV.

Neither Amazon nor Bahraini authorities have commented so far on Iran’s claims.

UN rights chief Volker Turk has urged countries involved in the Middle East war to help evacuate and repatriate some 6,000 sailors stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, AFP reports.

“Parties to the conflict should urgently work to facilitate safe passage for stranded seafarers to safely evacuate and disembark, as well as ensure the delivery of critical supplies,” his spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo has told reporters in Geneva.

Kuwait’s military says their air defences are actively intercepting Iranian drones and missiles, Al Jazeera reports.

Iran’s army says it has launched projectiles towards the Al Salem Air Base – which is used by US forces.

Iran’s West Azerbaijan crisis management organisation says a site in the city of Piranshahr, near the border with Iraq, was struck in a US air attack at about 9am, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.

Several vehicles were damaged in the attack on Friday, the organisation said, adding that no figures were yet available for the number of people killed or wounded.

Iran’s army says it has launched another wave of drone attacks against US military facilities in Kuwait, Al Jazeera reports.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has urged vigilance against those who seek to “undermine regional stability”, saying: “Such actors will exploit every opportunity to derail the peace process and reverse the progress already achieved.”

He stressed the need to work together as an international community to achieve peace, stability and prosperity.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, speaking at the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Kyrgyzstan, has urged the international community to take advantage of the opportunity provided by US-Iran negotiations to push for a permanent settlement.

“Dialogue, diplomacy and mutual respect provide the only sustainable way forward to resolve conflicts and achieve durable peace and security,” DPM Dar said.

Referring to the Islamabad talks in April and subsequent signing of the Islamabad MoU, he said, “This historic breakthrough became possible due to Pakistan’s close engagement with both parties … complimented by our intensive diplomatic outreach to regional and international partners.

“The international community must seize the opportunity provided by the Islamabad MoU and the ongoing technical negotiations between the two parties to push for a permanent, peaceful and durable settlement of this conflict.”

Flights resumed at Erbil International Airport after they were suspended following a drone crash near the airport, two security sources told Reuters.

No casualties were immediately reported, and fire at the site was brought under control

Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior has urged people “to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place” as sirens sound.

Daily vessel transits of the Strait of Hormuz were steady at three for each of the past three days, according to preliminary shiptracking data, amid continuing shipping risks in the Middle East and as oil prices surged back to $100 a barrel, Reuters reports.

Three vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz each day from July 22 to July 24, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.

On Friday, one more laden very large crude carrier (VLCC) Romania Prosperity appeared off Fujairah outside the strait with Murban crude, though its destination is so far unknown, and two empty soft commodity bulk carriers exited the strait into the Gulf.

Several blasts sounded near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, an AFP journalist said.

Explosions were heard after air defences were activated, according to the journalist who also saw drones hovering over the city and smoke rising in the airport area.

Iranian authorities said that the United States struck a Revolutionary Guards’ base in the northern province of Gilan, AFP reports.

“This morning, an IRGC naval forces headquarters in Zibakenar was targeted by American enemy projectiles, which damaged some of the equipment in the complex,” said Ali Bagheri, deputy governor for the province, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Iran would hold accountable any country assisting the United States in an attack on the Islamic republic, AFP reports.

“Any participation, cooperation or assistance in committing aggression against Iran will create international responsibility for the relevant parties,” Araghchi said at a meeting in Kyrgyzstan, adding that Iran “reserves its right to take all necessary measures within the framework of self-defence”.

Sirens sounded in Bahrain, the interior ministry said, with an AFP correspondent hearing an explosion two weeks into renewed US-Iran hostilities that have seen near daily Iranian attacks on the island kingdom.

An overnight US attack on Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan killed at least four people and injured several others, AFP reports.

“Following the missile attack by the terrorist US enemy on areas around the city of Ahvaz, four of our compatriots were martyred and five others were injured,” Valiollah Hayati, deputy governor of the province, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Iran’s military says it has launched a new wave of drone attacks targeting US military facilities in Bahrain and Jordan, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement carried by Iran’s Mehr news agency, the Iranian army said it used drones to target fuel storage tanks, equipment warehouses, and troop living quarters at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain.

The military added that aircraft hangars, maintenance facilities, and accommodation sites at the Muwaffaq Salti/Al-Azraq base in Jordan were also hit, warning that any actions against Iran’s interests would undermine regional security and economic stability.

“The siren has been sounded. Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,” Bahrain’s interior ministry said on X.

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reports that two people have been injured following an early morning drone attack on Khorramabad, citing the deputy governor of the western Lorestan province.

Tehran said that US President Donald Trump’s threat to pay for shipping damage with Iranian assets was an “incendiary precedent”, AFP reports.

“Seizing another nation’s assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X.

“Those who celebrate or profit from such funds should remember: once governments normalise confiscation, no one’s assets are safe. Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful,” he said.

The number of tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz fell to just one on Thursday, the lowest level since May 7, according to shiptracking data, amid ongoing shipping risks in the Middle East and as oil prices surged back to $100 a barrel, Reuters reports.

Only one tanker crossed the Strait of Hormuz on July 23, compared with three the day earlier, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.

No ships entered the Strait of Hormuz on July 23.

Japanese companies are passing on rising costs from the Middle East conflict at a faster pace than in 2022, when the war in Ukraine pushed up fuel costs, Reuters reports, citing the government’s annual white paper.

Corporate and household inflation expectations are also accelerating, the white paper said, aligning with the Bank of Japan’s view that inflationary pressures are becoming embedded in a country once mired in deflation.

“Companies’ spending appetite remains strong with their investment plans exceeding the historical average for two straight years,” the white paper said, highlighting the economy’s resilience to the conflict-induced energy shock.

The white paper, however, warned that “close attention” was needed on the extent to which the Middle East conflict could hurt Japan’s economy and output gap.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi departs from Tehran after holding talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and other top officials, AlJazeera reports, citing his office.

During his meetings al-Zaidi reached agreements on international road freight transport and shipping as well as railway connectivity between Kermanshah, Khosravi, Khanqin and Baghdad, his office said in a post on social media platform X.

His visit to neighbouring Iran comes shortly after he returned from trips to Washington, DC and Texas, where he signed deals with Western oil firms to revive a pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump said that the US would begin using frozen Iranian assets to pay for ships and cargo damaged by strikes in and around the Gulf, Reuters reports.

“Please let this statement serve to represent, until further notice, that from this point forth, any and all damages done to Ships, Cargo, or anything related thereto, will be paid for by Iranian Money that the United States has in its possession, and controls,” Trump said on Truth social.