Donald Trump

July 24 (UPI) — The United States and Iran traded attacks Thursday night and Friday morning, as President Donald Trump announced that damage inflicted by Iran on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz would be paid with U.S.-held Iranian assets.

U.S. Central Command said its latest wave of attacks, which were completed at 9 p.m. EDT Thursday, lasted for about two hours, 15 minutes, during which its forces hit Iranian military command centers, drone storage facilities, communications networks, coastal surveillance sites and maritime capabilities.

State-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported explosions early Friday local time across the country, with strikes in Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Omidiyeh, Qeshm and Andimeshk. Officials in Bandar Abbas reported that two people were injured.

Explosions were also reported by the IRIB in southern Khorramabad.

The Iranian Army announced retaliatory drone strikes on U.S. bases in Jordan and Bahrain.

Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said sirens were sounding. It urged residents to remain calm and seek shelter.

The United States has been hitting Iran for nearly a fortnight as it seeks to regain freedom of navigation of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy route that Iranian forces have tried to seize amid the war by attacking commercial tankers that try to transit it.

Maritime traffic freely flowed through the Hormuz until the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February. Iran responded with its maritime blockade of the chokepoint, causing gas prices to spike and threatening nations with an energy crisis.

Mid-June, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to lay foundations to end the war, but fighting resumed earlier this month over a dispute over what the agreement meant for control of the strait. Iran says the agreement recognizes its authority over Hormuz transit. Washington says Tehran committed to freedom of navigation.

CENTCOM said Thursday, as it has after the completion of each new wave of attacks, that it was seeking to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack vessels transiting the Hormuz.

“The international waterway remains open for transit despite recent attacks from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the statement said.

“Commercial vessels continue to free navigate the strait with U.S. military support.”

Late Thursday, President Donald Trump announced online that damage ships incur while traveling the Strait of Hormuz would be paid by for with the hundreds of millions of dollars in Iranian assets that the United States has frozen via sanctions.

“These damages may be very substantial but, nevertheless, this is the fair and equitable thing to do,” he said in a statement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi lashed out in response online, warning the international community that “Seizing another nation’s assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent.”

“Those who celebrate or profit from such funds should remember: once governments normalize confiscation, no one’s assets are safe,” he said in a statement.

“Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful.”

July 24 (UPI) — A federal court has allowed Tennessee to use a new congressional map that eliminates the state’s only majority-Black district in November’s midterm elections, rejecting a challenge from civil and voting rights advocates.

The three-judge panel on Thursday denied a motion filed by Black Memphis voters for a preliminary injunction against implementing the map, ruling they lacked evidence of racial motivation for the map’s unorthodox mid-decade redistricting, which could be explained by a political motivation.

“The road to a reliably 9-0 map runs through Memphis. Thus, political motivations readily explain the map’s dilutive effects,” the panel, which consisted of two Trump appointees and one Obama appointee, wrote in its decision.

With the ruling, Tennessee may use the map in next month’s primaries.

November’s midterms have been of increasing concern for President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly voiced worries about impeachment proceedings and investigations if Republicans lose the House to Democrats, and has pushed GOP-led states to redraw their congressional maps to create additional Republican-favored districts.

Texas was the first last summer to agree to Trump’s request, sparking a gerrymandering arms race, with at least 10 states have redrawn their maps. All but Democrat-led California and North Carolina, which has a Democratic governor, are Republican-led.

Tennessee’s GOP-majority legislature passed its redistricting map to eliminate the one Democrat-held seat in May, a week after the Supreme Court issued a controversial decision that weakened a key part of the Voting Rights Act, by greatly limiting the use of race in drawing electoral districts.

The three Black Memphis voters, along with the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis, the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute and the Equity Alliance sued days later, alleging that the new map unlawfully discriminates against Black Memphis voters by dismantling a district where they had long been able to meaningfully participate in the political process.

In its ruling Thursday, the court said that the plaintiffs had to show that the map redraw was racially motivated, which they failed to do.

“The map’s effects — breaking Black Memphians into three separate congressional districts — are readily explainable by political motivations,” the court said.

“It’s no secret (supported by Plaintiffs’ own statements) that city voters prefer Democratic candidates and that rural voters prefer Republican candidates. So, it makes sense that Tennessee’s legislature would split Memphis into thirds when attempting to create a map that favors Republican candidates. And it’s no surprise that the resulting map would also split the Black population of Memphis into thirds.”

Amber Sherman, a plaintiff in the case, said the court’s decision further disenfranchises Black voters in Memphis.

“It’s painful to know we’ll head into another election under a map that was designed to weaken the Black voters in Memphis,” she said in a statement.

“We deserve the same opportunity to shape our future as anyone else.”

A $1.15 trillion US defence bill passed by the House includes plans to expand military cooperation with Israel through joint work on missile defence, drones and AI. Critics warn the move could deepen ties amid growing political divisions over aid to Israel.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi reports from Tehran as the US launches strikes for the 13th consecutive night. Iranian leaders are warning further attacks could lead to retaliation targeting Gulf nations.

With existing 10 percent levies set to expire, Trump issues new tariffs on 60 countries under forced labour provision.

President Donald Trump is going ahead with new double-digit tariffs on dozens of trading partners of the United States just as the clock runs out on Friday on stopgap levies he announced after a stinging defeat at the Supreme Court.

The US will slap levies of 10 to 12.5 percent on imports from 60 countries accounting for 99 percent of US imports, charging that they have inadequately enforced bans on goods produced by forced labour.

“The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement on Thursday.

“Today’s action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere.”

The new tariffs will take effect just as the temporary 10 percent worldwide tariffs expire at 12:01am on Friday in Washington, DC (04:01 GMT). Trump had turned to the temporary levies after the Supreme Court struck down his biggest and boldest tariffs in February.

Now he is tapping more durable tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which permits the president to impose import taxes and other sanctions against countries found to engage in “unjustifiable”, “unreasonable”, or “discriminatory” trade practices.

Trump used Section 301 to impose big tariffs on China in his first term, and they survived court challenges.

More Section 301 tariffs are likely coming: Greer’s office has launched a probe into whether 16 countries — accounting for 70 percent of US imports — have overproduced goods, pushing down prices and putting US companies at a disadvantage in global markets.

The administration has yet to complete that investigation.

Trump, who argues that high tariffs will revive US manufacturing, last year overturned decades of US policy that favoured lower tariffs and freer trade.

Invoking the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), he imposed double-digit tariffs on imports from almost every country, saying that the US’s longstanding trade deficit amounted to a national emergency.

But the Supreme Court ruled that IEEPA did not authorise tariffs. The decision forced the Trump administration to pay refunds to importers that had paid the levies.

In response, Trump announced 10 percent worldwide tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. But he can only use Section 122 levies for 150 days, and the time runs out on Friday.

A US Democratic Congressman challenges UN Ambassador Mike Waltz during a congressional hearing, playing an Al Jazeera video to question troop safety in Jordan. Some lawmakers do not trust the Trump administration to be open about the danger posed by Iranian strikes on US bases.

White House hails pledge that seeks to shield consumers from the cost of energy for data centres as ‘historic’.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has said it will expand a voluntary pledge seeking to shield consumers from the energy costs of the rapid expansion of data centres, mostly used by artificial intelligence companies.

The White House announced on Thursday that it would add state governors and electricity companies to the agreement, first announced with tech and AI firms in March. But the US administration stopped short of any enforceable protections.

The White House called the expansion of the pledge “historic”, saying 200 additional utilities, data centre developers and states would join it.

The pledge is a “public commitment that hyperscalers, AI companies, and the utilities and data-center developers behind them will build, bring, or buy every kilowatt their facilities need — and cover every dollar of the infrastructure that delivers it”.

It says consumers would not foot the bill for AI’s energy needs.

In remarks about the pledge at the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, Trump called on the gathered executives and governors to sell the public on data centres, stressing that the cities and towns that have them will be “rich.”

“You have to convince your community. You can’t fight it. You have to go with it,” Trump said.

“If you don’t take all that money, somebody else is going to take it. You might as well do it yourselves.”

The US president has been a strong advocate for AI, which has become an enormous source of investment and a key priority for the country’s powerful tech sector. Trump has approached the sector, which includes some of his close allies, with a light regulatory touch during his second term.

But increased electricity demand from AI data centres could spur an increase in monthly utility bills between 15 and 40 percent by the year 2030, according to an analysis by the consulting and technology services company ICF.

A May Gallup poll suggested that seven out of 10 people in the US oppose the construction of AI data centres in their area, with about 48 percent saying they were strongly opposed. Slightly more than 25 percent said they favoured such efforts, with only 7 percent saying they strongly favoured them.

Concerns over the impact of such centres on the cost of utilities, such as electricity and water, are commonly cited as reasons for opposition, along with quality of life concerns and scepticism about the benefits of AI.

Some elections across the country have seen AI data centre construction emerge as a prominent issue, but the industry has pushed forward with plans to rapidly scale up infrastructure for the technology.

A poll from Johns Hopkins University in June suggested that Americans strongly favour greater regulation of AI, and about 60 percent of respondents said they expected AI to increase inequality over the next decade.

Four in 10 respondents said that AI companies stand to increase their power the most from the expansion of the technology, while just one in 10 said that individuals would gain the most.

Trump says he is considering a ‘massive attack’, as Iran’s Araghchi says ‘mindless aggression’ won’t help a deal.

Withdrawal is latest instance of government’s efforts to crack down on critical media facing setbacks in court.

Attorneys for the United States government have withdrawn subpoenas seeking to compel three New York Times reporters to testify about their sources for a story about an Air Force One jet gifted to US President Donald Trump by Qatar.

Judge Arun Subramanian slammed the government’s lawyers for what he deemed sloppy legal work in an exchange in court on Thursday.

“Subpoenas are not the first thing you do; they are the last thing you do,” an irritated Subramanian said.

“When you see something like this, if this were a civil proceeding, what I would normally do is ask the parties to show causes why sanctions should not be issued,” he added.

The Trump administration had sought to keep the proceedings secret as it pressured the reporters to reveal their sources for a story, a request that raised alarms for US press freedoms as the president and his allies continue to aggressively target critical media and political opponents.

Such efforts, however, have largely been rejected in court. The US government recently withdrew similar subpoenas that sought to compel testimony from reporters with the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.

Lawyers for the New York Times challenged the legitimacy of the grand jury subpoenas along with subpoenas for the phone records of several journalists and their relatives. The paper’s managing editor and general counsel sat in the gallery during proceedings on Thursday.

The government has said that it is pursuing those who have leaked material to reporters for a story about Trump taking an older model Air Force One jet back from a summit in Turkiye, rather than the one gifted from Qatar.

The Secret Service reportedly advised that the new jet, which the government has spent $400m to retrofit and upgrade, lacks important security features such as antimissile capabilities.

“Reporters are not the targets; those leaking classified information are,” the Department of Justice said of the subpoena requests.

Obtaining information from government sources is a cornerstone of journalism, and national security reporting in particular and is considered essential to press freedom. Efforts by the US government under both Democratic and Republican administrations to compel reporters to disclose their sources have been viewed as an effort to weaken those protections.

July 23 (UPI) — The head of the U.S. mission in Cuba met with the Cáritas Cuba director Wednesday as the Catholic charity began distributing humanitarian aid sent by President Donald Trump‘s administration to vulnerable families in western Cuba, the U.S. Embassy in Havana said.

The meeting between Mike Hammer and Carmen María Nodal Martínez came a day after the first shipment from a $100 million humanitarian assistance package arrived in Havana. it was announced in May by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The shipment includes prepackaged food and hygiene kits for about 700 families, the U.S. State Department said. Catholic Relief Services is distributing the aid in coordination with the Catholic Church and Cáritas Cuba.

The U.S. Embassy said Hammer and Nodal reviewed the distribution process through Catholic parishes and planned visits to volunteers and beneficiaries as the humanitarian program expands across the island.

The first deliveries began in the municipalities of Bejucal, in Mayabeque province, and Alquízar, in Artemisa province, targeting families previously identified by local communities as the most vulnerable.

Cáritas Cuba confirmed that volunteers from parish communities started to deliver the food and hygiene kits on Wednesday. The organization said the assistance is being distributed according to humanitarian vulnerability criteria, with an emphasis on transparency throughout the distribution process.

According to the State Department, the packages contain rice, beans, pasta, canned tuna and sardines, cooking oil, sugar and salt, along with soap, detergent, toothbrushes, sanitary pads, water purification tablets, solar lamps and other household supplies intended to meet a family’s basic needs for about 10 days.

Washington has said it is using Catholic Relief Services, Cáritas Cuba and the Catholic Church to ensure the aid reaches recipients directly without being diverted by the Cuban government. State Department officials said they will closely monitor the distribution process to prevent the assistance from being misappropriated.

Cuba authorized the shipment’s entry, but government officials criticized Washington for providing humanitarian assistance while maintaining sanctions and what Havana describes as a de facto oil embargo that has worsened the island’s economic crisis.

Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment acknowledged receiving the shipment, while reiterating that U.S. restrictions continue to affect the country’s economy.

Several Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives who recently visited Cuba have also called on Washington to lift the restrictions, arguing they amount to collective punishment.

Rubio and other U.S. officials have rejected that criticism, arguing that Cuba’s ruling elite and the military-run conglomerate GAESA have diverted the country’s resources and prioritized scarce fuel supplies for the government and its security apparatus rather than the general population.

The Senate was also expected to vote on War Powers resolution, in largely symbolic move attempting to reign in Trump.

Four Republicans in the United States House of Representatives have again joined Democrats in voting to constrain President Donald Trump’s power to wage war against Iran.

The resolution passed on Thursday, nearly a week after three US military personnel were killed by an Iranian attack on a base in Jordan, with a 214-208 vote. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said Democrats will also force a War Powers vote in the Senate on Thursday.

Both the House and Senate had previously passed a resolution in June that called on Trump to seek congressional approval before launching further attacks. However, because the resolution was passed as a so-called “concurrent resolution”, it was not sent to Trump’s desk.

Even if the measure had been passed as a joint resolution, requiring it to be sent to Trump for approval, the president could veto it. Overriding such a veto requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers.

Democrats have said the latest resolution sends an important message that lawmakers oppose Trump’s approach to the war, which has re-escalated after a ceasefire broke down in early July.

Both the US and Iran have traded 12 days of consecutive attacks, with some analysts warning an even greater US escalation may be on the horizon, as Trump has repeatedly threatened attacks on civilian infrastructure and a possible ground invasion.

“This is a vote that requires us to find the strength to do what is right for the American people, and to send the clearest, even stronger message to this president of the United States that the United States Congress, the House of Representatives, is reasserting our authority over war,” Representative Pramila Jayapal said from the House floor on Wednesday.

“This war must end,” she said.

Under the US Constitution, only Congress can declare war, something it has not done since World War II, although presidents can commit forces in instances of pressing self-defence.

Trump has argued that the culmination of Iran’s actions since 1979 represents such an imminent threat, a claim many constitutional law experts have rejected.

Under the 1973 War Powers Act, presidents must receive congressional approval within 60 days of committing troops. While the US-Israel war with Iran began on February 28, the Trump administration claimed that hostilities had “terminated” following a temporary pause in fighting reached in April.

War powers experts and some members of Congress have said the attempted workaround flouts the law. The administration again notified Congress that fighting had resumed before the most recent round of attacks.

In a statement on Thursday, David Janovsky, acting director of The Constitution Project at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), said the House vote “reaffirmed what people across the country have been saying all along: We want no part in an illegal war”.

“Contrary to the administration’s claims, the latest hostilities are not a new war. We’re now months past the constitutional deadline for the administration to end this unauthorised war,” he said.

He also noted that the House on Tuesday approved a sprawling $1.15 trillion defence bill that includes tens of billions more in funding for the war. The Senate has not yet voted on the package.

“If Congress is serious about bringing an end to this prolonged conflict, it must also refuse the administration’s request to fund it,” he said.

July 23 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said on social media Thursday that Saudi Arabia must sign the Abraham Accords as part of its nuclear deal with the United States.

Trump added that the nuclear deal will be approved but Saudi Arabia’s entry into the Abraham Accords is a required condition.

“The Civil Nuclear Deal (There will be no enrichment of material!) being made between the United States Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which pertains only to non-military use such as the ones that Iran and UAE (and others) already have, will be approved, but it is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” Trump wrote. “The United States is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities.”

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signed the agreement on Wednesday. The Department of Energy says U.S. companies will benefit from the deal with involvement in establishing nuclear facilities in Saudi Arabia to the tune of billions of dollars.

The nuclear deal is to last 30 years and will involve the United States supporting Saudi nuclear development.

The Abraham Accords are meant to normalize relations between Israel and Arab nations in the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia’s entry into the Abraham Accords would be a step toward a diplomatic relationship with Israel.

Saudi Arabia has called for progress toward Palestinian statehood, a sticking point that has drawn Israel’s criticism of the nuclear deal with the United States.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have also voiced skepticism over the nuclear deal, fearing that it may ultimately lead to the enrichment of uranium and plutonium for the development of nuclear weapons.

“This agreement will set off a nuclear race in the region, further disincentivizing Iran from limiting its own program,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., posted on social media.

July 23 (UPI) — A group of non-governmental organizations shared with world leaders a plan for the reconstruction of Gaza with an estimated cost of $71.4 billion, according to a report released Thursday.

Oxfam, an international coalition of non-governmental organizations, said in its report that the cost to rebuild Gaza is seven times the cost of every other reconstruction effort there over the past 20 years.

The report, “Building Gaza Anew,” shares a “blueprint” of what that construction will look like. It draws from the analyses of World Bank, European Union and United Nations assessments following military offensives by Israel in Gaza in 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2021.

The U.N., EU and World Bank’s Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment for the Gaza Strip published in April estimates that the region has suffered about $57.9 billion in damage and economic losses. It will require $71.4 billion for recovery and reconstruction over the course of the next decade.

“Gaza has never been allowed to finish rebuilding,” Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International executive director, said in a statement. “A decade after Israel’s 2014 offensive on Gaza, families were still waiting for homes that never came, and then the bombs returned. This is not fate. It is Israel’s illegal occupation and blockade, and the impunity producing the same result, war after war. Every government that funds the rubble but never the reckoning is complicit in it.”

Oxfam called on the U.N. General Assembly and President Donald Trump‘s Board of Peace to lead a charge in funding reconstruction.

The press release from Oxfam said more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed and another 173,000 have been injured. About 1.9 million people have been displaced by the Israeli military.

While the cost of reconstruction lays out the costs associated with rebuilding infrastructure, buildings and homes, the Oxfam report said human development in Gaza has been set back 77 years. This stems from the destruction of institutions of health, education, religion and culture.

“Nearly all schools are destroyed or damaged, universities levelled, thousands of teachers, professors and researchers have been killed, and libraries and archives of Palestinian history lost,” the report said.

“What was destroyed in Gaza was not merely steel and concrete,” Mohammad Skaik, Gaza program manager for PalTrade, said in a statement. “Israel eradicated an entire social and economic world, built up over generations, and only Palestinians can rebuild it.”

The non-governmental organizations have set out a five-year framework for reconstruction “underpinned by rights-based principles and a single national vision linking Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.” They argue that models for reconstruction “imposed from the outside will fail.”

In February 2025, President Donald Trump proposed the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust. The plan proposes further displacing the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip through voluntary relocation to neighboring countries while the United States takes over the strip. The U.S. government would then govern over the strip for 10 years, developing the region with outside investments.

After blowback from leaders in the Middle East, Trump walked back his proposal, referring to it as a recommendation.

“Reconstruction is not only a humanitarian task; it is a political one,” Misyef Jamil, senior researcher at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, said in a statement. “A plan designed in foreign capitals, however well-funded, would be a cosmetic exercise — simply another form of control over Palestinian land and lives. Our consultations across Gaza carried one unmistakable message: nothing about our future without us.”

July 22 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Manila on Wednesday for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations, met with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his counterpart in China, Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Meanwhile, police clashed with protesters outside who criticized the United States’ involvement in area conflicts and blamed the Trump administration for fueling tension in the region. Some protestors held up signs that said, “U.S. out of everywhere!” and “War criminals not welcome! Ban Rubio! Ban Trump!”

Rubio spokesman Tommy Pigott said the secretary of state met with Marco “to reaffirm our ironclad alliance and our shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

The two men confirmed that “there is no legal basis for China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea” and discussed other matters, Pigott said.

Tensions between the Philippines and China have been high lately over the disputed South China Sea. On Monday, the Philippine military accused Chinese coast guard personnel of striking and injuring a Philippine sailor. China said the Philippine officers instigated the conflict.

China claims most of the South China Sea, including areas that hold the exclusive economic zones of other countries including the Philippines.

In person at the ASEAN conference, Rubio behaved politely toward his Chinese counterpart, saying he appreciated China withholding support for Iran and opposing a toll in the Strait of Hormuz. He also said the countries were taking steps to establish boards of investment and trade.

He did not mention recent claims by U.S. President Donald Trump that China interfered in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

“Look, these are the two most powerful countries in the world,” Rubio told reporters Wednesday. “It would frankly be reckless and irresponsible for the U.S. and China not to have a relationship.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit the United States in September.

In contrast to his remarks Wednesday, Rubio’s words in an opinion column that the U.S. State Department placed in Philippine newspapers this week were somewhat less measured when it came to the conflict over the South China Sea.

“If those waters fall under the control of a power willing to use commerce as a geopolitical weapon, both the United States and the ASEAN states would face dire new threats to their sovereignty, security and economic futures,” he wrote.

July 21 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told a Senate committee Tuesday that the financial cost of the Iran war has now reached about $37.5 billion according to Defense Department estimates.

Lawmakers questioned Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine during a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting as the Pentagon and President Donald Trump are seeking up to $70 billion in emergency military funds.

This is in addition to the $1.5 trillion the Pentagon has requested in the upcoming defense budget. Trump has also asked for about $18 billion more in emergency funds for unrelated programs, including $11 billion for agriculture. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was also present at the hearing, although the focus remained on military spending.

Some Senate lawmakers, both Democrats and some Republicans, questioned the need for the money on top of the defense request and the roughly $150 billion in additional funding the military received through Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the committee’s top Democrat, said the request for emergency funds “may be better understood as an attempt toskirt the normal appropriations process.”

“The problem is not a lack of money, but poor planning,”Murray said. “So I’ll be blunt. The truth is, your request does not make a lotof sense.”

Hegseth, in response, blamed “gross negligence and neglect”by the Biden administration.

Some asked about Iran’s military capabilities and theobjectives of the war, as Hegseth and Trump have both previously said that the war had been won. The defense secretary also said in the early days of the war that Iran’s military had already been “destroyed and made combat-ineffective.”

Hegseth said that he never meant that Iran would be unable to launch any attack. He said he meant Iran “can lob missiles, but it’s not an effective military.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ala., asked Hegseth if the Trump administration believes it does not need authorization from Congress to continue the war. Hegseth replied that the administration believes it already has the authority it needs.

The hearing lasted more than three hours and ended in a shouting match between Hegseth and Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who questioned the war’s objectives, called Hegseth a “failure” and said the Trump administration has created another “forever war.”

Hegseth responded by telling Peters “shame on you” and saying he has “Trump derangement syndrome.”

A former Biden official tells Al Jazeera that Lebanon’s pilot zones will only create an environment for Hezbollah to continue its armed resistance. Former State Department official, Jennifer Gavito, says she has a difficult time imagining Israel fully withdrawing from Lebanon.

Latest cost comes as Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Caine ask for $1.5 trillion budget, including $70bn for Iran war.

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has put the latest official price tag on the US-Israel war on Iran at $37.5bn.

Hegseth confirmed the figure during a hearing before the Senate appropriations committee on Tuesday, in which he and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine were questioned about their request for a $1.5 trillion US defence budget, including nearly $70bn for the war with Iran.

Still, the number is significantly lower than other estimates, especially those that include knock-on expenses for US consumers. For instance, Moody’s Analytics has estimated the domestic cost of the war to be up to $150bn, accounting for factors such as higher US energy prices.

“The estimate we have as of today is $37.5bn,” Hegseth said upon questioning from Democratic Senator Dick Durbin.

Hegseth added that the price includes some operations and maintenance costs extending through the end of September, but did not provide specifics.

The latest quote is about $8bn higher than the previous figure released by the administration of President Donald Trump of $29bn in May.

Hegseth appeared before the committee as fighting between the US and Iran continued to rage, after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that had seen a halt in attacks since June 17 collapsed last week.

On Monday, ahead of the 10th consecutive night of US strikes, Trump said Iran would “pay” after two more US soldiers were killed over the weekend.

Over the last week, Trump has threatened to target energy plants and bridges in Iran; send ground forces to seize Iran’s Kharg Island; and bomb a deep-underground nuclear-linked site known as Pickaxe Mountain.

Attacks have so far targeted sites Iran uses to assert influence over the Strait of Hormuz, its key point of leverage in the conflict.

Iran, meanwhile, has pledged to continue to strike US assets in the region. The latest round of strikes saw desalination and power plants set ablaze in Kuwait, as well as other sites hit in Bahrain and Jordan. The Houthis in Yemen, close allies of Iran, have also declared a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia.

During his opening statements, Hegseth referenced strains on the US weapons stockpile from the war, which the US and Israel launched on February 28.

He said funding was needed “to expand production lines and accelerate delivery of high-demand munitions. We’re talking about solid rocket motors, JDAMs [Joint Direct Attack Munition], hypersonics, and counter-drone capabilities”.

The Pentagon chief also pointed to a pending budget crunch amid the war, saying that “training in the future would have to be curtailed if we do not get our budget needs met and met urgently, and yes, some of that has to do with the current budget cycle and how things come together”.

Democratic Senator Patty Murray questioned the sprawling budget request, which also included funding requests for the National Guard deployment in Washington, DC, US operations against alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean, and military patrols of the US border.

“So I’ll be blunt,” she said. “The truth is, your request does not make a lot of sense.”

The order prevents thousands from El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine from losing work authorisation while lawsuit proceeds.

A United States federal judge has temporarily blocked the administration of US President Donald Trump from revoking work permits for tens of thousands of asylum seekers and immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), preventing a policy that was set to take effect as early as Wednesday.

On Tuesday, US District Judge Nathaniel Gorton sided with immigrant rights groups and labour unions challenging a series of new US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policies that implement immigration restrictions passed by Congress last year.

In the five-page order, he wrote, “The consequences faced by plaintiffs are potentially severe.” The order will stay in place while he considers whether to issue a longer-term injunction, with a decision expected by August 5.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month by a coalition of organisations represented by the legal group Democracy Forward, challenged a number of recent USCIS policy changes. Those include a new policy allowing the agency to reject pending asylum applications and revoke work permits if applicants don’t pay a newly created annual asylum fee, as well as its decision to scrap a decades-old rule requiring initial asylum work permit applications to be processed within 30 days. The lawsuit argued USCIS made the changes without public input, as required by law.

It also challenged the retroactive application of the new rules to people from El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine, who are still protected by TPS, which allows people from countries affected by war, natural disasters or other major crises to live and work legally in the US until it is considered safe for them to return home.

“This decision protects thousands of asylum seekers and TPS holders from immediate and irreparable harm while this case moves forward,” said Democracy Forward president, Skye Perryman, in a statement. “Without this relief, families who have followed the law and relied on longstanding humanitarian protections faced the sudden loss of their employment authorisation and ability to support themselves through no fault of their own.”

The ruling means thousands of TPS holders from El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine will be able to keep working while the legal challenge moves forward.

While the judge didn’t block the collection of the asylum fee on Tuesday, he did temporarily block the consequences of not paying it, including having an individual’s application rejected or work permit terminated.

The controversial provisions were introduced as part of Trump’s signature tax and spending law, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by the Republican-controlled Congress in July 2025.

The Trump administration has made ending TPS protections a central part of its immigration agenda, moving to take the status away from people from more than a dozen countries. Last month, the US Supreme Court allowed the administration to end protections for thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants.

USCIS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency.

Meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House, US President Trump said he is open to direct talks with Hezbollah if requested by Lebanon. He pledged continued US support for the country.

Arizona voters head to the polls on Tuesday to choose party nominees in races that could help determine who controls the US House of Representatives and whether Republicans can flip one of the country’s most competitive Democratic governorships.

Once considered reliably Republican, Arizona has swung between the two parties in recent election cycles. Democrat Joe Biden narrowly won the state in 2020, while Donald Trump reclaimed it in the 2024 presidential election.

The biggest contest is the Republican primary for governor, where four candidates are competing to challenge Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs in November. The results will also set up key congressional races in one of the country’s most closely watched battleground states.

Here’s what to know.

When will polls open and close?

Polls will open at 6am (13:00 GMT) and most will close at 7pm (02:00 GMT on Wednesday). Anyone in line by 7pm may vote.

Who can vote?

Registered Democrats and Republicans can vote only in their own party’s primary, while independent voters can choose whether to vote in either the Democratic or Republican contest.

There are about 4.3m registered voters in Arizona, including roughly 1.5m Republicans, 1.2m Democrats and 1.5m independents or voters not affiliated with either major party.

What races are on the ballot?

Arizona voters will choose party nominees for governor, congressional seats, state offices, including secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer and state superintendent of public instruction, and all 30 seats in the state Senate and all 60 seats in the state House of Representatives.

Who is running for governor?

One of the most anticipated races is the Republican primary for governor, where four candidates are competing to challenge Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs in November. Hobbs, who is running for her second term, is one of only two Democratic governors seeking re-election this year in states Trump carried in 2024.

While four Republicans are on the ballot, the race has largely become a showdown between Andy Biggs and David Schweikert, two longtime congressmen who represent competing visions for the future of Arizona’s Republican Party.

Biggs, a former chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is closely aligned with Trump and has built his campaign around the president’s agenda. He was among the Republicans who sought to block Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 election victory and has long been associated with the party’s most conservative wing. Trump endorsed Biggs after previously backing another Republican candidate who later dropped out of the race.

Schweikert has also supported many of Trump’s priorities in Congress, but has cast himself as a more pragmatic conservative. Representing one of Arizona’s most competitive congressional districts, he argues Republicans have lost ground in the state by nominating candidates seen by voters as too extreme.

What are the congressional races to watch?

The primary will also decide who will compete for Arizona’s open 1st Congressional District, a seat left open after Representative David Schweikert decided to run for governor. Covering Scottsdale and northeastern Phoenix, it is expected to be one of the state’s most competitive races in November and could play a role in deciding which party controls the House.

Republicans are choosing between state Representative Joseph Chaplik, former NFL kicker and sportscaster Jay Feely, who has Trump’s endorsement, and technology executive John Trobough.

On the Democratic side, doctor and former state Representative Amish Shah, who narrowly lost to Schweikert in 2024, is competing against former news anchor Marlene Galan-Woods. The registered Republican until 2018 is the widow of former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, a prominent Republican who later became a vocal Trump critic.

She is being backed by the national party, which backed Shah in 2024. Publisher Rick McCartney and entrepreneur Jonathan Treble are also on the ballot. Another closely watched House race is in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, where Republican Representative Juan Ciscomani is seeking a third term against Democrat JoAnna Mendoza, a Marine Corps veteran. Both are unopposed in Tuesday’s primaries and will face each other in November in what’s expected to be one of the Democrats’ best opportunities to flip a Republican-held seat as they try to regain control of the House.

How are Israel and Gaza shaping the Arizona primaries?

The Democratic Party’s growing divisions over Israel’s war in Gaza are becoming apparent in some of Arizona’s congressional primaries, where candidates have clashed over US support for Israel and the direction of the party’s foreign policy. Two races in particular illustrate those tensions.

In Arizona’s 4th Congressional District, which is considered reliably blue, Representative Greg Stanton faces a primary challenge from progressive candidate Kai Newkirk. He has made US support for Israel a central issue in his campaign, arguing that Stanton has been too supportive.

Stanton, a staunch supporter of Israel who has been endorsed by AIPAC, recently voted against a proposal to restrict US military aid to Israel. According to Track AIPAC, an advocacy group that monitors pro-Israel political spending, Stanton has received about $322,000 in donations linked to AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups.

In the neighbouring 3rd Congressional District, Representative Yassamin Ansari has dramatically changed her position on Israel since first running for Congress, reflecting the changing dynamics within the broader Democratic Party.

Ansari received support from Democratic Majority for Israel in her closely fought 2024 primary, but has since become a sharp critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and said she will no longer accept backing from the group or AIPAC.

When will the results be announced?

Polls close at 7pm on Tuesday (02:00 GMT on Wednesday) across most of Arizona, although no results can be released until 8pm local time (03:00 GMT on Wednesday). Because Arizona conducts most voting by mail or through early voting, counties typically report a large share of ballots shortly after polls close.

More than 755,000 ballots had already been cast before election day.

Most races are expected to become clearer during the first few hours of counting, although close contests could take longer if additional mail ballots need to be processed.

Many white evangelical Christians view Donald Trump as chosen by God to lead despite not seeing him as personally devout. A recent study suggests 60 percent of them believe Trump has pushed the US closer to Christian principles, blurring the line between church and state.

For the full segment, watch Al Jazeera’s ‘This is America’.

July 20 (UPI) — The United States launched strikes on Iran for the 10th night in a row Monday as U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran would pay for the deaths of three U.S. service members.

U.S. Central Command posted on social media that a new round of strikes had started, while Iranian media reported explosions heard in several locations, including port areas of Chabahar and Konorak on the southeast coast, Bandar Abbas and Qeshm.

Iranian media also reported possible U.S. attacks on Shiraz, an inland city in the southern part of Iran.

Trump said in a social media post earlier Monday that Iran would pay “many times over” for the deaths of U.S. service members and that he’s passed that directive to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Earlier in the day, the Department of Defense identified two U.S. soldiers who were killed Friday by an Iranian strike in Jordan. Another soldier was killed Saturday in Iraq but has not yet been identified, and another is missing.

The Pentagon said Monday that nearly 100 U.S. service members have been injured over the last two weeks. Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a social media post that 96% have returned to duty.

“They are determined to get back in the fight,” Parnell wrote. “The vast majority of injuries experienced were minor concussions.”

Parnell’s statement occurred after reports from both the New York Times and CNN about how the Pentagon has reported injuries to U.S. troops in the Iran war. The Times reported that the Defense Department withheld reports on dozens of injuries to troops. CNN said the U.S. military has been slow to report on injuries, partly due to a military website with a delay in updates.

Iran continued to target countries that host U.S. military bases. The Kuwait military said it was intercepting “hostile” missiles and drones Monday afternoon, part of three rounds of Iranian attacks that day.

“The General Staff of the Kuwaiti Armed Forces confirms that any explosions that may be heard are the result of air defense systems intercepting hostile targets,” the military said in a statement.

Jordan said that it intercepted incoming missiles from Iran on Monday as well. The armed forces said the missiles caused no casualties or damage.

Also Monday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations center, which monitors shipping in the Persian Gulf, northern Indian Ocean and Red Sea, reported that a tanker was struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz.