War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has held a phone conversation with Ed Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, “regarding bilateral issues and the latest regional and international developments”, the Fars news agency reports.

The US military says the Iranian government’s claim that the Strait of Hormuz is closed is “false”, Al Jazeera reports.

“The Strait of Hormuz remains open for commercial vessel transit. Iran does not control it. Thousands of ships have sailed through the international waterway over the past four months,” the US military’s Central Command says in a post on X.

Iraq has ordered that its air defences and intelligence activities be bolstered, a government spokesperson says after US-Saudi strikes on pro-Iran fighters accused of launching attacks in the region, AFP reports.

Spokesman Sabah al-Numan says that Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi “issued strict and immediate orders … to raise alertness and readiness to the maximum across all camps and bases, particularly at the official bases of the armed forces and the Hashed al-Shaabi”.

Rebuilding and modernising air defence capabilities is a “top priority”, Numan states, adding that this includes accelerating plans to equip and arm modern radar, early-detection and air defence systems.

Numan adds that Zaidi’s orders include strengthening intelligence activities “with the emphasis on restricting weapons to the state” and preventing any “individual irresponsible actions”.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says that Israeli army detonations near the Unesco-listed Beaufort castle in southern Lebanon overnight are a “direct threat” to a recent framework deal agreed with Israel, AFP reports.

Aoun says the explosions “are an extremely dangerous escalation”, according to a statement from his office, adding that they “represent a direct threat to the process which was launched as part of the framework agreement”.

He notes that their timing ahead of another round of talks with Israel in Rome next week “sends negative messages”.

US President Donald Trump says that Iran will grow weaker, but notes that the American public needs to prepare for more strikes in the Middle East.

Asked about the status of talks, Trump says, “They always want to talk, but they break their word so often.

“I’m losing faith in them, because they do lie,” he adds. “The five missiles they shot, we knocked them down, but we were in the midst of a negotiation.”

Asked about how many more strikes it will take to completely degrade Iran, Trump responds, “Well, you never know. Most people would have given up by now.”

Asked about a proposal from the military to “go big” when striking Iran within the next fortnight, US President Donald Trump has replied in the affirmative.

“We’re going big, we’ve already gone big,” he tells reporters during a cabinet meeting, reiterating that Tehran’s military and leadership are “gone”.

Asked about the chances of reviving the ceasefire after days of exchanging strikes with Iran, US President Donald Trump replies, “We just want to win.”

Speaking to reporters during a cabinet meeting at Camp David, Trump reiterates that the US is “doing well” with regard to Iran, that their military has been degraded and that Tehran can never possess a nuclear weapon.

“We’ll be hitting them, we’ll be hitting them very hard,” he says in response to a question about what may happen in the next four weeks. “At some point they’re going to say ‘we just can’t take it anymore.’“

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US is currently searching for Iranian assets around the world on the orders of President Donald Trump.

“That money will go to the Iranian people, Americans who have been harmed by the Iranians — whether it is the USS Cole or the barracks in Lebanon — or it will go back to when the Iranians attacked these ships coming out,” he says during a cabinet meeting.

US President Donald Trump has expressed satisfaction with Washington’s war on Iran, noting that Iran’s military has been largely destroyed, and its manufacturing capacity is “almost gone”.

“We’ve done an amazing job here, we’re in there for five months, and if you look at Vietnam, they were there for 20 years,” he tells a cabinet meeting at Camp David.

“We’re in for five months, and we have obliterated their (Iran) military capacity. Again, they’ve got some left, but soon they won’t have some left,” Trump adds, praising his cabinet.

US President Donald Trump has announced an “unprecedented investment” in his armed forces.

Addressing a televised cabinet meeting from Camp David, Trump, referring to his Secretary of War, says, “We’re also making that investment and looking forward to getting Pete [Hegseth] $1.5 trillion next year.”

He adds that Iran is “doing very poorly” in the Middle East war.

President Donald Trump tells Fox News that the US and Israel’s war on Iran is “going well”, according to Al Jazeera.

Speaking to the US channel’s senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, Trump says US troops are hitting Iran “hard”.

“It’s going well. All you can do is keep winning, then eventually something will happen,” he adds. “But we’re hitting them hard, knocking them out for a loop, and we just keep winning. Eventually they’ll have no choice but to go home.”

The Israeli military says 14 soldiers of the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion, who took part in Thursday’s mass desertion at the Sde Teiman army base in southern Israel, have been sentenced to 30 days in military jail, Al Jazeera reports.

It adds that the commander of the Givati Brigade also permanently dismissed those soldiers from combat duty.

Dozens of Israeli soldiers abandoned their weapons and walked out of the military base in a dispute with a senior commander reportedly trying to restore discipline.

Soldiers at the base have long been accused of flagrant violations of laws, including the torture of Palestinian detainees.

Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has rejected opposition criticism over the deployment of troops and military assets ⁠to the Gulf ⁠region, saying the mission’s framework had been properly disclosed, Al Jazeera reports.

According to the defence ministry’s website, around 400 Italian air force personnel have ⁠been deployed to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain since March.

Lawmakers from Italy’s centre-left Democratic Party have accused the government of failing to seek parliamentary authorisation for the mission, saying Saudi Arabia was outside the scope of ‌a mandate approved for overseas military assignments.

Kuwaiti forces have destroyed Iranian drones targeting “vital and military facilities”, AFP reports quoting the defence ministry.

“The hostile targets were engaged and destroyed. This resulted in material damage due to falling shrapnel, without any human casualties being recorded,” it says in a statement.

Iranian armed forces have said that the Strait of Hormuz remains closed despite claims by the US Central Command (Centcom) that traffic is continuing, according to state-run IRIB.

“The Strait of Hormuz is CLOSED, and any passage will be possible only in coordination with Iranian naval forces,” IRIB cited the armed forces as saying, adding that Centcom falsely claims shipping companies can cross the strait under US military escort.

President Donald Trump convenes a cabinet meeting today at his Camp David retreat as he grapples with how to resolve his war against Iran and bring down gasoline prices that are threatening Republicans in November midterm elections, Reuters reports.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing last week that this would be the 13th cabinet meeting of Trump’s second term and that it would be “a lot of fun and something different for the cabinet to experience together”.

The agenda for the meeting will likely focus heavily on foreign policy.

The Iraqi government spokesperson says that the US–Saudi airstrikes targeting the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) were carried out without Baghdad’s prior knowledge, Iran’s state-run IRNA reports.

“The government had no prior knowledge of the attacks carried out on Iraqi territory,” Haider al-Aboudi told the state-owned Iraqi News Agency (INA) late on Thursday, noting, “The government has not granted any approval to carry out attacks on specific sites or targeted groups within Iraqi territory.”

A British-Azerbaijani dual citizen has been arrested in Cyprus as part of a UK probe and is facing extradition accused of spying for Iran on a British air force base, London police say according to AFP.

Rashad Sultanov, 44, was arrested on July 17 as part of a Counter Terrorism Policing London investigation into incidents at the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus between May 11 and June 22, 2025.

“He allegedly conducted hostile surveillance on the base, a prohibited place, and is alleged to have then shared information with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a foreign intelligence service,” UK authorities said in a statement.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say that they have struck two tankers attempting to pass though the strategic Strait of Hormuz under the “air escort” of the US military, AFP reports.

The IRGC said the “non-compliant oil tankers… were struck and brought to a halt, while four other oil tankers quickly changed course and returned to their previous positions”.

Two very large crude carriers (VLCC) carrying oil loaded from the Gulf exit the Strait of Hormuz, with traffic through the waterway remaining thin, Reuters reports, citing Kpler ship-tracking data.

The Spain B vessel is carrying crude oil loaded from the Saudi Arabian port of Ras Tanura on July 12, and is currently anchored off Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile Noble, which loaded Iraqi Basrah crude on July 25, is heading to China.

Both VLCCs are carrying about 2 million barrels of crude each. They were among four commodities vessels that have transited the strait so far. All four exited the waterway.

A drone attack has targeted a camp belonging to an Iranian Kurdish opposition group located east of Iraq’s Erbil, AlJazeera reports, citing local security sources.