War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Oil prices have jumped nearly 5 per cent, hitting a two-week high after President Donald Trump warned Iran that the United States will likely engage in additional strikes tonight, adding that they might take over Kharg Island as well, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures are up $3.81, or 5.14pc, to $77.97 a barrel as of 1339 GMT (6:29pm PKT), while US West Texas Intermediate crude has climbed $3.36, or 4.77pc, to $73.80 a barrel.

President Donald Trump claims US forces attacked Iran’s Kharg Island last night, the main hub of Tehran’s oil infrastructure.

“We attacked Kharg Island last night … I said don’t touch the oil,” Trump tells reporters. “Maybe we’ll take over Kharg Island … there’s not a thing they can do about it. But I said, ‘don’t hit the pipes’, just hit everything else and they hit it. They may hit it again tonight.”

The latest US strikes on Iran had “a tremendous impact”, Trump tells reporters in Ankara, claiming, albeit without evidence, that they destroyed radar systems Tehran was rebuilding, Al Jazeera reports.

He warns that the US could escalate further.

“Their electric manufacturing facilities, electric plants … if we have to, we’ll take them out,” and adds, “Desalinisation [sic] plants … we’ll take them out if we have to. I hate to do that.”

The US president has blamed Iran for the recent escalation of attacks between the two sides, saying that they asked for a “timeout” during the week-long funeral of late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in US-Israeli strikes on the first day of the war, Al Jazeera reports.

“They asked for a timeout, they wanted to go to the funeral of Khamenei, and I said give it to them, and they start shooting missiles”, Trump said.

“I mean, it was a crazy thing. Now we did kill him, so I guess you have to look at it that way”, he concedes. “They also asked that we not kill them, and we said we’re not going to kill you”, during the funeral.

US President Donald Trump has suggested he will reimpose a naval blockade on Iranian ports.

“We may put it back … and it will only be a blockade for Iran,“ he tells reporters at a Nato summit, adding that the US is “taking out those little boats”, referring to Iranian fast attack watercraft.

Airbus has revised down its 20-year industry-wide forecast for passenger aircraft demand by 1 per cent after the Iran war and trade tensions slam the brakes on what had been a sharp rebound in airline activity since the Covid-19 pandemic, Reuters reports.

The lowered long-term growth outlook points to a somewhat less buoyant aviation market ahead, as airlines trim their capacity growth plans in the wake of higher oil prices stemming from the Iran war.

One area continuing to come back strongly during a fragile ceasefire in the Iran conflict is the Middle East, whose Gulf hubs have returned towards normal traffic volumes, Airbus says.

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A military strike on the strategic port of Sirik in southern Iran has injured four people and heavily damaged maritime infrastructure, Al Jazeera reports citing the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

The Sirik attack, which occurred in two waves inside the port basin, severely damaged one of the facility’s primary floating piers, IRNA quotes Hamidreza Mohammadhosseini Takhti, head of ports and maritime affairs for eastern Hormozgan province, as saying.

Local commercial vessels and nearby telecommunications towers were also hit, the report adds.

One person sustained critical injuries and was evacuated to a hospital in Minab, while three others were treated for minor wounds at the scene, Takhti tells the state news agency.

US President Donald Trump has not explicitly said Washington will return to full-fledged war, and it is not immediately clear whether the negotiations between the two sides to turn the ceasefire into a permanent deal will still continue, Reuters reports.

“I don’t know if we’re going to have a deal. We may just do it without a deal,” Trump says. “If we make a deal with Iran, I’m not sure that will stick because I’ve found them to be very dishonourable people.”

French President Emmanuel Macron believes Iranian strikes on US bases in the Gulf have violated the interim accord and Iran was mistaken to carry them out, but understands that meetings as part of the 60-day ceasefire between Iran and the United States will continue, Reuters reports.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Defence says it has intercepted two hostile missiles and 13 hostile drones over the past 24 hours, according to the Kuwait News Agency.

US President Donald Trump has reiterated that Iran cannot possess a nuclear weapon, noting that “we’ve made a lot of progress”.

“I’m not happy with them, it’s like, for instance, we’ll have a meeting and discuss the denuclearisation of Iran,” he tells reporters. “We don’t want them to have nuclear weapons, and it’s de-nuking, or denuclearisation, and I think we’ve made a lot of progress.

“We’ll talk about it … then they’ll go have a news conference and say ‘We never even talked about it.’ They’re cuckoo.”

President Donald Trump has said the United States will carry out further strikes on Iran tonight.

“We hit them very hard last night … we’re probably going to hit them hard again tonight,” he tells reporters during a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “I’ll give them a little warning, we’re going to hit them hard tonight.”

According to Al Jazeera, Nato alliance leaders have renewed their affirmation of the necessity that Iran not possess nuclear weapons at their meeting in Ankara, Turkiye.

“The alliance continues to respond and adapt to the strategic competition, pervasive instability, hybrid threats and recurrent shocks that define our broader security environment,” Nato says in a formal declaration from the summit.  

“Allies reiterate that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon and call on Iran to fully respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” it adds.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has assailed the United States and compared their foreign policy to their conduct while hosting the ongoing FIFA World Cup, accusing them of “bending rules, bullying rivals, creating obstacles, and cheating”.

“This is their MAGA playbook. Iran rejects such games. We stand firmly for our rights,” he writes on X, referring to Trump’s rallying cry of ‘Make America Great Again’.

Oil prices jumped following the United States and Iran trading strikes overnight, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures have leapt more than 5 per cent, the most in a day since late May, to $78.48 a barrel.

People in Bahrain and Kuwait have woken up to the now familiar sound of warning sirens and explosions in the distance, as Iranian strikes again dash hopes of a return to normalcy, AFP reports.

“We want the situation to stabilise, we want our normal lives back. I run a business, and continued instability does me no good,” Adel Mohammed, a Bahraini man in his sixties, tells AFP. “The fact that Bahrain continues to be subjected to Iranian attacks makes me angry, it’s completely unacceptable.”

An AFP correspondent in Manama heard repeated explosions in the early hours of the morning, as air-raid sirens sounded three times.

Some residents are now worried about a return to hostilities in the Gulf after US President Donald Trump told reporters that the “ceasefire is over”, though he has left the door open to more talks.

“We do not want war to return to the region. We have already been through a harrowing time, and we do not want the crisis to start all over again,” says Sawsan Deif, a Saudi homemaker in her fifties living in Bahrain.

Further north in Kuwait, Ola Hashem had just flown in to visit her Jordanian relatives when she awoke to the sounds of sirens.

“This has made me feel anxious, I’m inclined to leave as soon as possible,” the 40-year-old tells AFP.

Israel is closely monitoring developments in the Gulf, but is not surprised by the escalation, as it believes that Iran will be unable to meet US demands, Al Jazeera reports quoting a military source who has told the Israeli outlet Maariv.

“The IDF (Israeli military) is prepared for any development in Iran. We are at the same levels of alert and readiness as we were yesterday and the day before,” the source says. “If we are required to act whether in offence or defence, we are ready.

“At the moment, it is the Americans who are conducting the negotiations, and they are also the ones who acted in Iran last night,” the source adds.

Shipping monitor Kpler reports that 41 vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz during the past 24 hours, compared to 36 on July 6.

“Commercial west to east movements continued to dominate, while sanctioned vessel activity eased and laden crude, dry bulk and LPG voyages remained significant,” the monitor writes on X.

“However, the operating picture became more complex. Use of the Iranian route declined as IMO routing recovered, but elevated Dark or Unknown movements highlighted uneven confidence across the market.”

Kpler notes that tanker attacks near Oman, revoking a licence for Iran to sell oil and tightening the sanctions framework for Iranian-related trade has caused the situation to deteriorate.

“The focus is now shifting from traffic recovery towards security, compliance and route risk management,” it says.

Bahrain’s defence ministry says in a statement that it has successfully intercepted “treacherous” Iranian drone and missile strikes.

“The General Command states that, with unwavering determination and a high level of combat readiness, the Bahrain Defence Force’s air defence systems successfully intercepted and destroyed a number of these treacherous Iranian aerial attacks,” the statement reads.

It adds that all branches and units are at the highest level of readiness and fully prepared to defend the kingdom.

It also urges everyone to exercise caution and avoid approaching or touching any unfamiliar or suspicious objects resulting from the remnants of the Iranian attacks, encouraging the public report them immediately to the relevant authorities.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has cancelled a planned visit to Israel, Al Jazeera reports citing Israel’s Channel 12.

Earlier, Israeli media reported that Hegseth’s visit, his first to Israel since taking office, was intended to allay Israeli concerns over the potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkiye.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has had a meeting with Saudi Ambassador Nawaf bin Saeed Ahmad Al-Malkiy, where they discussed the latest regional developments, according to the Foreign Office (FO).

“They exchanged views on the latest regional developments following the signing of the Islamabad MoU (memorandum of understanding) and emphasised advancing collective efforts aimed at facilitating dialogue and diplomacy,” the FO writes on X.

It adds that the Saudi ambassador appreciated Pakistan’s continued efforts towards peace between Washington and Tehran, including through the Regional 4 and its leading role in mediating the Islamabad MoU.

Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency says an Indian oil tanker has been turned back from the Omani corridor in the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reports.

Fars said Iran’s IRGC continues to warn ships intending to use the Omani corridor via radio communications, ordering them to use the corridor designated by Iran instead.

Fars said ship tracking showed all vessels that transited the Strait of Hormuz this morning travelled along the corridor approved by Iran.

Almost 6,000 seafarers “remain stranded” in the Gulf, the head of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) says as he calls for “maximum restraint and de-escalation”, AFP reports.

“I condemn the attacks over the past two days against several ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement after US President Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was over.

“These reckless attacks have again placed innocent seafarers in grave danger,” Dominguez added.