Al Jazeera

By Heba Habib and Enes Abuomer

    The US military says it has completed its ninth consecutive night of strikes against Iran, targeting command centres, air defence sites, maritime assets, missile facilities, and communications networks.

    A US service member has died in northern Iraq after a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone, according to CENTCOM.

    The US military says its forces redirected six commercial vessels and disabled another while enforcing a naval blockade on Iran.

    The Iranian atomic agency says multiple projectiles hit the under-construction Darkhovin nuclear power plant site, according to local media.

Earthquake strikes Iran’s Kermanshah province

    A magnitude 5.2 earthquake has struck near Kuzaran in the western Kermanshah province at a depth of 8km (5 miles), Iran’s Irna news agency reported, citing the Iranian Seismological Center at the University of Tehran.

US doubles down on attacks as Iran talks remain distant

By Heidi Zhou-Castro

Reporting from Washington, DC

    US Central Command (CENTCOM) says another American service member was killed in northern Iraq on Saturday during the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian one-way attack drone.

    The announcement came as US authorities said human remains had been recovered in Jordan following an Iranian attack on Friday that killed two US service members and left another missing. Efforts are continuing to determine whether the remains belong to the missing soldier.

    The developments have added to Washington’s justification for its continued attacks on Iran, which have now entered a ninth consecutive night. CENTCOM says the attacks are targeting Iranian military capabilities linked to threats around the Strait of Hormuz.

    US President Donald Trump claimed Iran’s military had been severely damaged and said Washington now controlled the strait. He also said the latest attacks were carried out in honour of the American personnel killed.

    Negotiations do not appear imminent, with US officials continuing to emphasise more attacks and renewed pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme. The escalation comes more than halfway through a 60-day ceasefire period that both sides now acknowledge has effectively collapsed.

Iran will end war with US when it has “the upper hand in the field”, says foreign minister

    Iran will end the war with the US when it has “the upper hand in the field”, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says in an interview with state media.

    Talking to the IRNA news agency, Araghchi said the most critical decision in crisis management was identifying the precise moment to halt hostilities and begin negotiations.

    “The end of the war is possible either through absolute military victory or through negotiations. The right time to negotiate is precisely when you have achieved a reliable field and strategic achievement on the military front.

    “You cannot take risks with the lives of the people and the fate of the entire country. Decisions must be made based on accurate and complete calculations,” Araghchi said.

    The foreign minister added that politicians must constantly weigh whether continuing the war would increase gains or impose heavier human and national costs.

    “Despite some losses, we emerged as a decisive international player in this war and demonstrated the strength of the system,” he said.

IRGC claims ‘US military facilities’ hit at Kuwait airbase

    Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it targeted “US military facilities” at the Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait in the latest wave of its operations.

    The IRGC claimed that a drone attack destroyed an early-warning radar system and that separate strikes hit an aviation equipment warehouse and a hangar housing US MQ-9 drones, setting several aircraft on fire, according to a statement carried by the IRIB broadcaster.

Air raid sirens sound in Bahrain

    Bahrain’s Interior Ministry says warning sirens have been activated and urges people to remain calm, move to the nearest safe location and follow updates through official channels.

    The enthusiastic crowds cheered not only for the sporting triumph, but also in recognition of the Spanish government’s ongoing support for Palestine.

Iran risking relations with neighbours in ‘war of survival’, analyst says

    Iran has knowingly accepted the risk of further alienating its Gulf neighbours as it continues targeting them militarily, says Sina Azodi, assistant professor of Middle East politics at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.

    “There’s a risk that I believe the Iranians have accepted to take,” Azodi told Al Jazeera.

    He pointed to statements from senior Iranian officials, including Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, one of Iran’s chief nuclear negotiators and parliament speaker, who has described the war as “a war of survival and existence for Iran”.

    “This is why they’re risking further deterioration of relations with the GCC countries, because they believe they’re fighting for survival,” Azodi said.

    He added that he expects the rupture with Gulf states to be temporary. “Once this war ends and a political settlement with the United States is reached, in the medium and long term, the relationship between the GCC and Iran will improve”.

Iranian attacks, security alerts reported across region

By Mohamed Vall

Reporting from Doha, Qatar

    In the past hour, UK Maritime Trade Operations reported that a vessel was on fire off the coast of Oman. There is still no information about the cause of the fire or the identity of the vessel.

    Across the region, there have also been reports of Iranian attacks, particularly on Bahrain, where warning sirens sounded. The US Embassy said it had information suggesting Iran may target unspecified locations in central Manama. No such attack has been reported, but the embassy urged American citizens to remain vigilant and take precautionary measures.

    In Jordan, at least four missiles were launched, with three intercepted and one falling in an open area.

    Iran also says it targeted facilities linked to US forces in Kuwait, including a large ammunition depot and an air defence radar system. Kuwaiti authorities have not confirmed those claims. Instead, they say Iranian attacks have targeted civilian infrastructure, including a water desalination plant.

    That has prompted condemnation in Kuwait and beyond, amid growing concern over attacks on critical water and energy facilities across the Gulf.

Rubio urges global powers to share burden of protecting Strait of Hormuz shipping

    US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Iran is using the Strait of Hormuz as leverage in the regional conflict and has called on other countries to do more to protect global shipping, the AFP news agency reports.

    Speaking to reporters before travelling to the Philippines, Rubio said the United States would continue taking measures to safeguard maritime traffic but argued that other governments should contribute equipment or funding to help share the burden.

US strikes target key ports and strategic areas across Iran in new wave of attacks

By Tohid Asadi

Reporting from Tehran, Iran

    Iran has been witnessing yet another night of escalation, following strikes by the Americans targeting different cities.

    For the first time, in the northwestern city of Tabriz, at least three sounds of explosions were reported. In the southwest, we got reports of explosions in Bushehr and Hormozgan.

    We know that in Hormozgan province, two important cities, strategically speaking, Jask and Sirik, which oversee the Strait of Hormuz, witnessed another night of air strikes, as had happened over the past couple of nights.

    The heaviest bombardments by the United States have been happening there over the past few nights.

    In the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, attacks and air strikes have been reported in Konarak and the port city of Chabahar. The strikes also extend to Khuzestan province, where two key port cities, Mahshahr and Bandar Imam, have been targeted by US forces.

    On the other hand, we know that the Iranians are also talking about their retaliatory strikes. State news agency IRNA says that a new wave of missiles was launched from Lorestan province to target the “enemy”, with reference to US military bases and other assets across the region.

US military completes ninth consecutive night of strikes against Iran

    The US military says it has completed its ninth consecutive night of strikes against Iran.

    US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that the strikes targeted “Iranian military command centres, air defence and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks”.

    CENTCOM noted that the strikes concluded on July 19 at 10pm ET (02:00 GMT, July 20) and were conducted “to further diminish Iran’s ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.

    “The US military is holding Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief’s direction,” the statement added, noting that “CENTCOM forces remain highly vigilant, focused, lethal, and ready”.

US and Iran escalating to push the other to compromise

    The US and Iran are escalating military actions in an attempt to pressure each other into compromise, according to Michael Mulroy, former US deputy assistant secretary of defence for the Middle East.

    Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mulroy explained that while Washington initially focused on Iran’s ability to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, it is “now expanding to infrastructure targets specifically designed to cut the regime off economically”, a strategy he described as serving “the same purpose as the naval blockade”.

    He added that the US is “trying to do everything they can to really push the regime back to the negotiating table with something that’s more acceptable to the United States”.

    Mulroy warned that the conflict “looks like it’s going to escalate substantially”, pointing out that Iranian counterattacks “could cause significant issues for our Gulf allies”.

US strikes hit town in southwest Iran, causing power outages

    Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reports that US strikes have targeted an area in the town of Khormoj in southwestern Iran, citing a local official.

    The attacks have caused power outages in parts of Khormoj, the administrative center of Dashti County in Bushehr province, according to the Tasnim report.

    Dashti County, which lies along Iran’s Gulf coast near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, has been a site of previous US attacks aimed at disrupting Iranian naval and missile capabilities in the region. The area is home to military installations tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval forces.

IRGC says struck US aircraft at Jordan’s Aqaba airport

    Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it launched ballistic missiles at US C-17 transport planes and P-8 aircraft at Aqaba airport in Jordan, claiming several were heavily damaged.

    The IRGC also claimed that 20 hangars housing US forces in the Muwaffaq Salti/Al-Azraq airbase were destroyed, according to a statement carried by the IRIB broadcaster.

MQ-9 drone reportedly shot down over western Iran

    An MQ-9 drone has reportedly been intercepted and shot down over Eslamabad-e Gharb in Iran’s western Kermanshah province, according to the Mehr news agency.

    Mehr said the drone was targeted by an advanced air defence system operated by the IRGC Aerospace Force and linked to Iran’s integrated air defence network.

Iran’s IRGC claims two oil tankers exploded in Strait of Hormuz

    Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says two oil tankers exploded and were halted in the southern Strait of Hormuz late last night, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

    The IRGC stated that the vessels were attempting to transit through the strategic waterway under what it described as US coercion.

    “This passage is unsafe for the transport of chemical fertilizer or even a single drop of oil and gas,” the IRGC warned, adding that the corridor would remain unsafe as long as US military operations in the region continue.

US soldier killed in Iraq during ‘controlled detonation’ of Iranian drone

    The United States military has announced the death of another soldier, saying he was killed in northern Iraq “during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance” from a downed Iranian drone.

    In a statement on Sunday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the soldier died on July 18 and that a second service member suffered mild injuries during the detonation. It did not name the soldier who died.

    The death on Saturday brought the number of US service members killed since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran to 17. The war began on February 28.

    Read the article here.

Lebanese president’s visit to Washington ‘doesn’t resolve anything at this point’

    Nabeel Khoury, a former US diplomat, has told Al Jazeera that Trump’s interests may not align with those of Israel’s Netanyahu in Lebanon.

    Khoury argued that a meeting in Washington between Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Trump “doesn’t really resolve anything at this point”, noting that the best likely outcome is “a promise to continue talking” and to begin implementing the “very general” memorandum of understanding.

    “They need to start implementing those things, and the most problematic among those principles is that the Lebanese army is supposed to disarm Hezbollah as a precondition for Israeli withdrawal,” Khoury said, warning that doing so “is a very dangerous thing to do in Lebanon”.

    However, Khoury raised the possibility of a negotiated alternative in which Hezbollah hands over its weapons voluntarily in exchange for a Lebanese state guarantee to protect its borders and secure a full Israeli troop withdrawal.

    “That is a possibility,” Khoury pointed out, “but at this point, I would have to say it’s a remote possibility”.

Trump: US hitting Iran ‘very hard’ to honour killed Americans

    US President Donald Trump says that the United States is hitting Iran “very hard” to honour American service members who have been killed.

    “We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did that in honour of the, probably three, it’s probably three great patriots,” Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington following the World Cup final.

    “We feel very badly”, when asked about the military deaths, adding that those who died were fighting so that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon”.

CENTCOM not backing down despite mounting pressure in US to end war

By Heidi Zhou-Castro

Reporting from Washington DC, US

    A US service member was killed on Saturday during the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian one-way attack drone in northern Iraq.

    In addition, another US service member was injured and is being treated. That is in addition to a set of human remains found in Jordan, where one US service member is still missing in action, which may be identified as that missing service member along with two others who were killed during an Iranian retaliatory strike on Jordan on Friday.

    This brings the total to an additional three, potentially four, US soldiers killed in action as a result of this recent escalation in attacks.

    CENTCOM does not appear to be backing down. It announced that it is still striking Iranian targets and enforcing the US naval blockade of Iranian imports.

    Although President Donald Trump has not said anything about these latest deaths – we just saw him awarding the medal at the World Cup final match – we have heard from his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, saying that these US deaths only strengthen the military resolve of the US.