Wars 2026 02/28 Israel-Iran War 3.0

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Wars 2026 02/28 Israel-Iran War 3.0
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Iran steps up retaliation against US
Agence France-Presse . Tehran, Iran 22 July, 2026, 00:19

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Representational image.

Iran stepped up its strikes in the Middle East on Tuesday, two weeks after its war with the United States resumed, with Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain coming under attacks.

Despite the latest fighting, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said diplomatic exchanges with Washington via mediators were on-going.

Mediator Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif called for restraint from all warring sides during a meeting with Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni on Tuesday.

Sharif urged the sides to ‘refrain from actions that could further destabilise the region’, his office said.

Iran’s Yemeni allies, the Houthis, declared they would blockade Saudi Arabia’s ports, threatening to throw the world’s energy markets into further chaos after the Islamic republic blockaded the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

US president Donald Trump said he would ‘take care of’ the Houthi rebels if the Iran-backed militant group followed through on its threatened blockade.

‘If something like that happens, we take care of it,’ Trump said. ‘You know, we’ve done that with the Houthis before, and we haven’t heard from them in a while since we did what we did originally.’

It remains unclear how the Houthis would implement their blockade of Saudi ports, and oil markets eased slightly despite the threat from Iran’s ally against the world’s biggest crude exporter.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards earlier said they had attacked and stopped two ‘non-compliant oil tankers’ attempting to transit Hormuz, which Tehran has blockaded in response to the US-Israeli attacks that kickstarted the war.

Bahrain said it intercepted Iranian attacks as sirens sounded multiple times in the kingdom, with Kuwait and Jordan also announcing they had intercepted drone and missile strikes.

Kuwait has said that Tehran hit multiple power and water desalination plants across the country over the past week, including on Monday, forcing residents to ration energy consumption.

Iran’s Guards confirmed a strike on Jordan, claiming in a statement they had targeted a ‘complex housing US terrorist forces in the region of Rukban’.

The Iranian army had earlier said it targeted US assets in Kuwait and Bahrain, including air defence systems, radar installations and administrative buildings.

‘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 state news agency IRNA.

Following the deaths of at least three US soldiers in the past several days, the US launched a new round of attacks against Iran on Monday that it said was ‘designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping’ in the Strait of Hormuz.

The deaths bring to 17 the number of fatalities among US service members. Nearly 100 US service members have been wounded since war resumed on July 7, the Pentagon said on Monday, most with minor concussion.

Should the Houthis make good on their threat to blockade Saudi ports, that would put at risk Riyadh’s ability to bypass Hormuz for some of its oil exports and have major repercussions for the global economy.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis traded fire last week for the first time in years, threatening a 2022 truce in their years-long conflict, but the rebels have largely remained on the side-lines since Israel and the United States attacked Iran in late February.

Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the threat from what it called the ‘terrorist Houthi militia’ and said it ‘continues to support the brotherly Yemeni people and their legitimate government’.

Oil prices surged briefly to a one-month high Monday before easing slightly early Tuesday as the foes battle to control the strait, through which a fifth of world oil travelled in peacetime.

On the ground, Iranians expressed frustration. Shahin, a 34-year-old embroiderer from Iranshahr, said: ‘I’ve become more stressed and irritable.’

‘We’re still struggling to secure our most basic life necessities, and now we’re dealing with destruction from the war on top of it.’

The Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that two tankers attempting to transit Hormuz ‘were hit by explosions, resulting in massive fires that brought them to a standstill’.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency earlier reported that an ‘unknown projectile’ struck a tanker off the coast of Oman.

Kuwait’s foreign ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador over a strike on Monday.

The ministry said on X it delivered ‘a protest note regarding Iran’s targeting of the Kuwaiti tanker ‘Kifan’ on Monday evening, while it was passing through the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in injuries to several crew members’.​
 

Trump threatens to destroy Iran bridges, power plants
US war cost hits $37.5 billion

Agence France-Presse . Tehran, Iran 23 July, 2026, 00:43

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Donald Trump.

US president Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to knock out one Iranian bridge or power plant in return for each attack on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, warning he was ‘not finished’ with a war that has already cost Washington $37.5 billion.

Fighting over the strait led to the collapse of a preliminary deal between the United States and Iran, and Tehran has reimposed its blockade on the strategic conduit for oil and gas shipments, firing on vessels that seek to transit.

The blockade has rattled markets and sent oil prices climbing, adding to the pressure on Trump to find an off-ramp to a conflict that has hit Americans’ pocketbooks heading into closely-fought midterm elections.

‘Any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT,’ Trump wrote on social media, reiterating his longstanding threat to go after Iranian infrastructure.

A US missile struck the Iranian island of Larak on Wednesday, the Tasnim news agency reported, in the latest attack to target the Islamic republic’s islands in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

The islands have been hit multiple times as the two sides fight over the strategic waterway, which Iran has sealed following the collapse of a preliminary deal aimed at ending the war.

But top US diplomat Marco Rubio maintained Washington is still willing to find a negotiated agreement with Tehran.

‘We remain open to working it out in a negotiated way. But right now, they don’t seem to be serious about that,’ Rubio said at a Southeast Asia ministers’ meeting in Manila.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei had previously said that diplomatic exchanges with Washington through mediators were continuing.

On Wednesday afternoon, a US missile hit Larak island in the strait, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported, saying the extent of the damage was being investigated.

Trump has faced intense political pressure to end the conflict, which is unpopular even with segments of his political base as it nears its five-month mark.

Critics have pointed to the cost, which Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday had soared to $37.5 billion, defending a request for tens of billions in additional funding for the military.

But Trump himself has so far bucked the pressure, saying on Tuesday: ‘We’re not finished at all we’re not leaving right now.’

The US military said it had launched an eleventh consecutive night of strikes against Iran, saying it targeted military sites to ‘further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz’.

Trump had said earlier that the next US target could be an underground complex known as Pickaxe Mountain, or Kolang in Persian, a site near Natanz where Western intelligence agencies suspect Iran is building an undeclared nuclear enrichment facility.

Iran threatened reprisals, with the Khatam Al-Anbiya military command saying it would ‘consider it as an expansion of war’ if such an attack were carried out, threatening strikes on ‘all the interests of America, the allies and supporters’, the state broadcaster reported.

Foreign ministry spokesman Baqaei, meanwhile, insisted that ‘Washington’s obsessive focus on Kolang Kouh where no nuclear activity is taking place is nothing more than a fabricated pretext for aggression, destruction, and sabotage’.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, told the BBC that inspectors ‘should be there already’ in reference to Iran, saying it was important that the IAEA check on Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

The threats came as Tehran pressed its assault on targets in US-allied Gulf states.

Kuwait’s army said its air defences were engaging drones from Iran, while Jordan said it had shot down four Iranian missiles and four drones.

Air alert sirens also sounded in Bahrain, with an AFP correspondent in Manama hearing an explosion.

The Iranian military said it targeted US assets in Kuwait and Bahrain, including air defence systems, radar installations and administrative buildings.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also said they had targeted US bases in Jordan.

After Tehran’s Houthi allies in Yemen threatened to blockade Saudi ports, Trump said he would ‘take care of’ the rebels if they followed through.

It remains unclear how the Houthis would enforce such a blockade, but it would only compound the effects of the Hormuz closure.

Brent Crude, the global benchmark, briefly topped $95 a barrel for the first time in six weeks on Wednesday, but shed some of the gains.

The Houthis are yet to resume their attacks on shipping, but maritime intelligence provider Vanguard Tech said a Singapore-flagged tanker and a Liberia-flagged tanker both ‘reversed course’ in the Red Sea after loading crude at the Saudi port of Yanbu.

If the Houthis make good on the threat, they could endanger Riyadh’s ability to bypass the Strait of Hormuz for some oil exports, with major repercussions for the global economy.

During the Gaza war that began in October 2023, the Yemeni rebels attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, forcing vessels to make a long detour around Africa and prompting a US bombing campaign.​
 

US House passes symbolic resolution calling for Trump to halt Iran war

Reuters
Washington, United States

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US President Donald Trump AFP file photo

The US House of Representatives passed a largely symbolic resolution Thursday calling for President Donald Trump to halt military action against Iran, delivering another congressional rebuke as the Middle East war sharply escalates.

The measure -- which passed 214-208 after four Republicans joined opposition Democrats in support -- directs Trump to remove US forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress explicitly authorizes the war.

But as a concurrent resolution, it does not go to the president for signature and carries disputed legal force, meaning Trump is almost certain to ignore it.

The vote came after the United States launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iranian military targets, its 12th consecutive night of attacks, while Iran has fired on US bases and American-allied Gulf states.

Four US service personnel killed in recent Iran-related attacks were honored this week as their remains returned to the United States in flag-draped cases.

The conflict has also spread further across regional shipping lanes. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Wednesday they had struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea after declaring a maritime blockade, while Iran has kept pressure on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global energy supplies.

The House vote underscored growing unease in Congress over a war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February and has become a political burden for Republicans ahead of November''s midterm elections.
Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said the war had "no clear mission, no strategy, no end goal."

Democrats have used repeated war powers votes to force Republicans onto the record over the unpopular conflict, arguing that Trump violated the Constitution by launching and sustaining military operations without approval from Congress.

Most Republicans, however, stood by the president.

House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Brian Mast accused critics of failing to recognize the sacrifice of US troops killed in the conflict and said the operation was bringing a "reckoning" for Iranian attacks.

The Senate was voting Thursday on a separate war powers measure from Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen. It was expected to fail.

Congress passed a similar resolution in June, but Trump dismissed that vote as "poorly timed and meaningless."

The White House has argued that efforts to limit Trump's authority would weaken Washington as it seeks to pressure Tehran.

Democrats and a small number of Republicans say the opposite: that Congress must reclaim its constitutional role over decisions of war and peace.​
 

Iran halts retaliatory attacks, US holds fire
Agence France – Presse . Tehran, Iran 26 July, 2026, 17:03

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This screen grab made on July 26, 2026 from undated handout video footage released by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on July 25, 2026 shows what CENTCOM says are operations enforcing its naval blockade against Iran. | AFP photo

Iran said on Sunday it has halted retaliatory attacks against US allies in the Middle East after Washington stopped its strikes on the country for the past two nights.

The Iranian declaration came after Washington paused a war nearing its fifth month and reports emerged that concerns over dwindling munitions were restraining plans for further escalation.

‘These attacks continued until two nights ago, but over the past two nights the Americans have stopped their attacks,’ said army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia.

‘Since... our strategy has essentially been retaliatory, we have also halted our retaliatory operations.’

Fighting over the strategic Strait of Hormuz derailed diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran, but the conflict then expanded beyond the vital energy corridor to include attacks on US bases, regional shipping and Gulf allies.

But the recent lull has revived hopes of a return to negotiations after nearly two weeks of consecutive nightly US bombardments, although US media reported the pause could also reflect pressure on stockpiles of Patriot interceptors and other defensive weapons.

Meanwhile, US operations against Iran were ‘on a hold’, CNN reported, quoting an unidentified Pentagon source, even as US President Donald Trump threatened a ‘much higher level’ of strikes on Friday.

Plans to escalate the campaign have been shelved in part because of those shrinking supplies, The New York Times reported, citing two people briefed on the matter.

Trump also faces the risk of a wider Middle East war, the estrangement of vulnerable Gulf allies and further shocks to the global economy, the newspaper said.

Vice-president JD Vance and top US general Dan Caine both raised concerns about escalation at a White House meeting on Friday, CNN reported.

Caine told Trump the military could carry out the options available to him successfully but warned of the possible implications, according to the network.

Iran’s army however warned on Sunday that the war would widen even further if the US chose to restart its attacks,

ahead of a visit by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington on Tuesday.

Trump said on Friday he had not decided whether to return to an all-out operation.

‘We’re talking to them right now. I think they’re getting more and more serious,’ he told journalists.

Trump said Iran faced a choice between a deal and strikes at a ‘much higher level’.

The war that Trump once predicted would last four or five weeks is now nearing its fifth month, and is weighing on the Republican’s approval ratings ahead of crucial US midterm elections in November.

The Pentagon had presented Trump with a plan for a 14th night of strikes but he declined to authorise it in favour of a push for talks, Axios reported.

On Sunday locals in Iranian capital Tehran carried on with a normal morning, dealing with heavy traffic jams on their way to work, an AFP journalist said.

Shops and restaurants were open as usual as the city suffered a heatwave.

Fighting has meanwhile spread to a new front.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday said they downed a Saudi drone over the northwest of Yemen, a day after the Yemeni group claimed it attacked oil facilities in the Gulf kingdom.

A day earlier, the Houthis had said they struck Saudi Aramco sites in Jizan and Yanbu, after Riyadh bombed Houthi targets on Friday.

A surface-to-air battery operated by Greek personnel in Saudi Arabia downed two ballistic missiles and a drone over Yanbu, the Greek air force media office said.

Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran could not be blamed for the escalation and offered to broker talks between the Houthis and Riyadh, saying ‘there is no military solution’.

On Sunday, Iran’s armed forces stopped six vessels attempting to transit the Hormuz strait over the past 24 hours after warnings, according to state television.

Tehran’s effective blockade of the waterway remains the central flashpoint with Washington.

Iran said on Sunday it had made progress in talks with neighbouring Oman on ‘common principles and operational mechanisms’ for shipping in the Strait.

In June, Oman and Iran said they would discuss imposing service fees, a move Washington opposes, but Muscat also said ships could transit Hormuz via its waters, angering Tehran.​
 

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