New posts
20:55
US Says It Is Hitting Iran Again In Fresh Wave Of Strikes
The US military said it launched a new wave of air strikes on Iranian targets despite signs of a possible move toward avoiding a full resumption of the war with Tehran’s release of a US national from detention.
“At 2 p.m. ET today, US forces began conducting a new wave of strikes against Iran for the fifth consecutive night to further degrade Iranian military capabilities,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in astatementon July 16.
Iranian media reported strikes around the Gulf island of Qeshm near the Strait of Hormuz, the focal point of the conflict in recent weeks.
Reports from around the Gulf said Tehran had launched its own attacks on targets throughout the region, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) saying it struck a US airbase in Jordan with ballistic missiles after accusing the United States of an attack near a children’s cancer hospital in Iran.
Some media reports also said there were explosions in Kuwait, though the Dubai Media Office rejected the claims.
Despite fears that Washington and Tehran are on the edge of a return to a full-blown war, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on July 16 Iran continues to talk and is seeking to make a deal.
“The reason for the recent strikes over the course of the last several days is because Iran violated the memorandum of understanding that we struck with them,” Leavitt said.
“Specifically, in the memorandum of understanding that they signed, they were not to fire on commercial vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz, and unfortunately they have made the tragic decision for them to do that.”
Hopes the two sides may be moving toward a rapprochement were buoyed late on July 15 when Tehran allowed a US national who Washington says was “wrongfully detained” since 2004 to leave the country.
“The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran!” President Donald Trump said in a social media post.
Human rights attorney Jared Genser identified the American as Dena Karari, saying she was free after being brought up on “bogus charges.”
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
LinkedIn
Email
Share
18:41
Maritime Security Center Keeps Hormuz Threat Level At ‘Severe’
A vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, on July 16.
Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz continued at reduced levels on July 16 despite the heightened security situation, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), which said US-assisted transits through the strategic waterway were continuing .
The advisory said some shipping companies had delayed voyages following recent attacks, while vessels continued using both the southern Omani shipping corridor and the northern Iranian-controlled route.
The JMIC said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps continued to harass commercial vessels through radio hailing, drone overflights, and “targeted surveillance.”
The maritime security information center maintained its regional threat level at “severe,” citing the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, thedisabling of a vesselattempting to breach it, and the continued risk from drifting mines as well as ongoing interference with satellite navigation systems.
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
LinkedIn
Email
Share
16:59
Iran Deal Must Put Iranians At The Center, Policy Analyst Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau Says
People walk past a billboard with an image of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on July 13.
WASHINGTON — As tensions between the US and Iran intensifies, with renewed military strikes and growing arguments around the Strait of Hormuz, global attention has focused on regional security, commercial shipping, and the risk of wider escalation.
But Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau, a former senior US diplomat who is currently the Bradford M. Freeman Managing Director of Global Policy at the George W. Bush Institute, argues that the most important story is unfolding inside Iran itself.
In an interview with RFE/RL, Trudeau says the daily lives, rights, and freedoms of ordinary Iranians must become a central part of any diplomatic process.
Read morehere
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
LinkedIn
Email
Share
15:29
Drone Strikes Reported At Iraq’s Basra Port
Reports from Iraq say drones struck two vessels at the port of Basra.
A security official told the AFP news agency that a drone hit a ship carrying American-branded cars near an oil terminal on July 16. The vessel had arrived from the United Arab Emirates, the official said.
Separately, four Iraqi oil and security sources told Reuters that crude-oil loading at all Iraqi terminals had been halted after a drone struck an oil tanker at the Basra terminal.
Responding to the reports, an Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman said crude loading at the countrys southern terminals had been temporarily suspended but later resumed. The ministry also said that officials were investigating reports that an unidentified object had fallen onto an oil tanker.
Iraqi sources said the incident caused no damage or fire.
With reporting by AFP and ReutersShare
Copy link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
LinkedIn
Email
Share
14:48
What Is Iran’s Secretive Pickaxe Mountain?
Satellite images show Iran is accelerating work at a secretive nuclear-related site deep beneath Kuh-e Kolang mountain, known as Pickaxe Mountain.
Intelligence agencies suspect this is where Iran is seeking to build a secret uranium enrichment facility.
What do we know about one of the most fortified sites in Iran, which US President Donald Trump has threatened to attack?
