In opening arguments, the prosecution portrayed Davis as the ringleader of the group responsible for the shooting – and point to a memoir he co-authored where he wrote in detail about the night of the shooting.
“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told the jury. “Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself.”
Davis’ attorneys called the narrative “fiction”, dubbing the case a product of a flawed-decades-long investigation. Davis has distanced himself from the memoir, saying he didn’t write all of it and parts were fictionalised to sell more copies.
Davis, wearing a navy suit and blue tie, sat with his defence team as they questioned why no one had been arrested for nearly three decades and asked why “no one corroborates any of this”.
“What facts do they have after 30 years?” his attorney Michael Sanft questioned.
The prosecution’s first witness was Garry Dale, who was working for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at the time of the shooting in September 1996.
The officer detailed riding in an ambulance with Shakur after he’d been shot. He said the rapper refused to offer any information on what happened and who had shot him. “We’ll take care of it,” Shakur said, according to the officer’s testimony.
At the core of the case is East Coast vs West Coast rap rivalries and turf wars between the Bloods and the Crips street gangs that were immortalised in rap lyrics and news reports in the 1990s.
Police have long said said a lack of cooperation in the case led to dead ends in their investigation. Members of the rapper’s entourage, though, have accused authorities of initially treating them like suspects and failing to follow important leads.
Throughout the day on Monday, prosecutors painted that picture for the jury, explaining that there were no formal criminal charges in the shooting because in the world of guns and gangs “silence means survival”.
But “one person” who had a hard time staying silent was the defendant, prosecutors said, noting that Davis gave a “number” of statements on the case between 1998 and 2003.
Prosecutors allege Davis planned the shooting after his nephew Orlando Anderson was involved in a fight with Shakur in Las Vegas hours earlier. They argued Davis believed the attack on his nephew could not “go unanswered”.
The iconic rapper was just 25 years old when he was gunned down after a Mike Tyson boxing match on 7 September 1996. He died six days after the shooting.
Prosecutors contend that Davis – a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips street gang – was the “on-ground, on-site commander” who “ordered the death” of Shakur.
The murder case had largely gone cold until public statements made by Davis himself, who published a memoir in 2019. In it, and in various interviews, Davis has claimed he was a passenger in the vehicle that fired into Shakur’s car that night.
He said in the book that he gave the gun used in the murder to his nephew, Anderson, who shot the rapper.
His attorneys have argued the book is fiction and shouldn’t be used as evidence in a criminal trial relating to a case from three decades ago, but a judge ruled it could be used in court.
His defence team has pointed to missing police reports, disputed evidence and “biased, sloppy and incomplete” detective work.
They alleged prosecutors relied on “unreliable people with criminal records, financial motivations and inconsistent statements”.
The defence also argued witnesses changed their stories over time and were influenced by money, media attention or information supplied by investigators.
Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was gunned down near the Las Vegas Strip in a killing that rocked the rap world, the trial of the man prosecutors allege did everything but pull the trigger got underway Monday with new revelations.
Nevada prosecutors allege Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a one-time Compton gang member, orchestrated Shakur’s killing as revenge for an attack on his nephew hours earlier and are using Davis’ own words in interviews and a book he co-authored as evidence.
In opening statements, prosecutors said an ugly gang rivalry on the streets of Compton led to the slaying of Shakur, a famed rapper and actor, who died six days after he was shot.
The Sept. 7, 1996, shooting, they said, was rooted in a war between Southside Crips-Burris Street, led by Davis, and Mob Piru, a gang long associated with Death Row Records. Shakur was closely affiliated with Death Row, and the record company’s boss, Marion “Suge” Knight, was inside his car the night he was attacked.
In court testimony Monday, it was revealed that Shakur was conscious after the shooting en route to the hospital but did not cooperate with authorities.
The first witness, Garry Dale, a Las Vegas Metro police officer, testified that he saw Shakur pulled out of the car with gunshot wounds and rode in the ambulance with him.
When he asked Shakur who shot him, the rapper replied, “‘No, we’ll take care of it,’” Dale said. “I couldn’t get him to talk any further.”
Duane “Keffe D” Davis is accused of murder in the 1996 killing of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur.
(Steve Marcus / Associated Press)
The incident, according to Clark County Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Binu Palal, followed a violent confrontation at a Mike Tyson fight earlier that night in Las Vegas. Palal showed video of Shakur’s entourage attacking Davis’ nephew Orlando Anderson. Travon Lane, a Mob Piru member, had spotted Anderson in the MGM Grand hotel lobby. Months earlier, Anderson stole Lane’s Death Row Records chain in the Lakewood mall during an attack.
The rivalry between the groups grew after the Southside Crips became the West Coast security for Sean “Diddy” Combs’ record label, prosecutors said.
“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew,” Palal said. “Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself.”
Palal noted that Shakur’s shooting was followed by numerous slayings in Compton, including that of an 11-year-old girl.
“In this world, silence means survival,” Palal said. “The one person who has had a hard time being silent is Duane Davis.”
The prosecutor played parts of an interview with a Los Angeles Police Department federal task force in 2008 in which Davis acknowledged his role in the rapper’s fatal shooting. They also cited other interviews as well as his own memoir.
The prosecutor said Davis got the gun from Eric Zip Martin, an East Coast drug dealer associated with Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment.
“He admits putting the gun he obtained that night in the back seat of the vehicle so the shooters could shoot,” the prosecutor said. “You will learn that Duane Davis got the gun. … You will learn that he got into a white Cadillac. You will learn when the opportunity presented itself for retribution, Duane Davis made sure that the shooter was armed and ready to execute their revenge.”
Palal said Davis and his crew set out in search of Knight and Shakur. In multiple accounts, including in his book “Compton Street Legend,” Davis wrote that they spotted the Death Row caravan stopped at a red light, with Shakur waving to female fans while hanging out of the BMW window.
“Tupac, he gave himself away,” Davis said in the recording played in court. “Otherwise, they would’ve got away.”
Davis was arrested in 2023 and indicted for masterminding the killing and providing the gun.
Rapper Tupac Shakur is show at Club Amazon in New York on July 23, 1993.
(Al Pereira / Getty Images)
Michael Sanft, Davis’ defense attorney, told jurors there will be no evidence linking his client to the shooting.
“There are no facts to point to Keffe — not one,” he said. “You’re going to hear about this over and over again.”
Sanft recounted decades of probes and noted that prior investigations did not take his client’s statements seriously because they were not credible. “He treats that book like it’s fact,” Sanft said of a lead detective in the case. The defense attorney, in an unusual move, repeatedly undermined his own client’s credibility.
Sanft portrayed Las Vegas police as incompetent, with lost records, and the LAPD and then Compton police as corrupt.
“What facts do they have to put Keffe D in a car in 1996? When you look at the video in 1996, do you see Keffe D?” he added, referencing the lobby beating.
Sanft said Death Row’s security chief was Reggie Wright Jr., a felon and former Compton police officer whose father led the Compton police gang unit. He said the former officer was not with Knight and ordered his security team not to carry firearms. The defense lawyer cast Davis’ memoir as fiction and said there was no evidence his client was in Las Vegas.
The prosecutor, however, told jurors that Davis, from 1998 to 2023, made several incriminating statements and, in 1998, admitted to the FBI to being in Las Vegas at the time of Shakur’s slaying.
Davis, according to prosecutors, told investigators during a secret meeting he “was mad about Orlando Anderson’s beating” and he was the boss who got the firearm and was in the white Cadillac. When Greg Kading, an LAPD detective who led the task force, left policing and later published a book revealing Davis’ role, it made Davis want to go public, according to the prosecution.
“Greg Kading is profiting off Duane Davis’ life story,” Palal said. By the time the book was released, the others who were allegedly in the car the night of the shooting were dead. Anderson was killed and Smith passed away. In 2019, after a series of interviews, Davis published his own book, which, full of bravado, gave a similar account of Shakur’s killing as that of the federal task force. The prosecutor then played an interview from the time of the book’s release, in which Davis justified his actions.
Rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight appears in court in 2018 in an unrelated case.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Ingrid Stokes, one of four women in a car that had been following Shakur the night of the attack testified that she freaked out and screamed, then fled the scene, telling police she “didn’t see anything” because “snitches get stitches.”
A third witness who testified Monday, former Las Vegas Metro Det. Brent Becker, said he interviewed Knight about the beating in the MGM Grand lobby, and Knight said he basically “didn’t know anything.” By 1997, detectives suspected that Davis was in the Cadillac that opened fire on Shakur, he testified.
Davis, now 63, has pleaded not guilty to murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. In recent weeks, he’s denied being in the Cadillac or Las Vegas that night and, in interviews with Las Vegas TV stations, blamed a former head of Death Row Records security.
“I had nothing to do with nobody’s murder,” he told interviewers.
Prosecutors are expected to call witnesses to support Davis’ claims from over the years. Davis’ lawyers will seek to portray him as a fabricator — his bragging is all fiction. Davis has done the same with Las Vegas reporters.
“I did not write the book; a ghostwriter wrote that book,” Davis said in a recent jailhouse interview. “I was trying to make my family some money.”
In a legal complaint filed Aug. 7 with Los Angeles County Superior Court, the children of Carradine allege that the psychiatric care team at the UCLA health facility was reckless in its care and committed elder abuse and neglect.
Carradine, 71, had checked into the facility shortly before his death.
The 27-page suit names the UC regents as defendants, along with physicians, nurses, clinical care partners and other officials who are identified as “Does 1-100.” Plaintiffs in the suit include Carradine’s estate and his surviving children.
“He asked for help. He recognized that he was a danger to himself and voluntarily walked into a psychiatric hospital to be kept safe,” the family claimed in the suit reviewed by The Times. “He knew he was not safe to be left alone.”
Suicide prevention and crisis counseling resources
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, seek help from a professional or call 988. The nationwide three-digit mental health crisis hotline will connect callers with trained mental health counselors. Or text “HOME” to 741741 in the U.S. and Canada to reach the Crisis Text Line.
Carradine had bipolar disorder, and the lawsuit says that he had admitted that he had “suicidal thoughts” when he checked into UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Westwood.
“Instead of walking into a safe environment, [Carradine] walked into a locked facility that broke a cardinal rule for a hospitalized psychiatric patient with active suicidal thoughts and a history of suicide attempts,” the lawsuit says. “UCLA let him walk into a locked psychiatric unit with a belt.”
The family also said hospital staff left him in a room with a table that had not been removed from his unit before being placed there, according to the lawsuit. He died about 19 hours after checking into the facility, the lawsuit says.
“None of this happened because UCLA lacked the knowledge, the policies or the means,” the civil complaint says. “It happened because UCLA took shortcuts with two safeguards that were meant to protect Robert’s life. UCLA gave Robert the means to hurt himself and then no one watched over him or checked on him for long periods of time despite orders to watch him every 15 minutes.”
The lawsuit says that UCLA staff was distracted during Carradine’s observation intake and that they falsified their records to reflect proper care.
The Times has reached out to the UC regents and UCLA Health for comment.
The youngest son of prolific character actor John Carradine, Robert Carradine was born on March 24, 1954, in Los Angeles. Known for both his film and television work, Carradine made his debut in a 1971 episode of the long-running western “Bonanza.” His first film appearance was in the 1972 John Wayne western “The Cowboys.”
During his 50-year Hollywood career, he appeared alongside his brother David in a 1972 episode of “Kung Fu” and the 1973 Martin Scorsese film “Mean Streets.” Alongside his brothers David and Keith, Robert joined other sets of acting siblings to portray sets of real-life siblings in the 1980 western “The Long Riders.” Carradine also landed roles in Hal Ashby’s 1978 Vietnam War drama “Coming Home” and Samuel Fuller’s 1980 World War II epic “The Big Red One.”
“It is with profound sadness that we must share that our beloved father, grandfather, uncle, and brother Robert Carradine has passed away,” the Carradine family said in a statement following the actor’s death. “In a world that can feel so dark, Bobby was always a beacon [of] light to everyone around him. We are bereft at the loss of this beautiful soul and want to acknowledge Bobby’s … nearly two-decade battle with Bipolar Disorder.
“We hope his journey can shine a light and encourage addressing the stigma that attaches to mental illness. At this time, we ask for the privacy to grieve this unfathomable loss. With gratitude for your understanding and compassion.”
In the 2000s, Carradine charmed a new generation of fans as lovable TV dad Sam in “Lizzie McGuire.”
“There was so much warmth in the McGuire family, and I always felt so cared for by my on-screen parents,” the show’s star, Hilary Duff, wrote in her Instagram tribute to her on-screen dad. “I’ll be forever grateful for that. I’m deeply sad to learn Bobby was suffering. My heart aches for him, his family, and everyone who loved him.”
Carradine’s family and estate are seeking unspecified general and wrongful-death damages and compensation for medical expenses incurred during his hospitalization.
Four years ago, Knott’s Berry Farm was faced with a decision.
Its 1978 ride Montezooma’s Revenge was the first-ever coaster built with a flywheel launch system — a large, highly visible, circular drum-like mechanism with a cable attached to it — and an important piece of the theme park’s history.
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But the coaster was in need of refurbishment and they don’t make things like they used to. The flywheel design, once an advanced piece of machinery that allowed Montezooma’s to go from zero to 55 mph in less than five seconds, was no longer in vogue. Replacement parts weren’t going to be easy to come by, if possible at all.
So would they attempt to reimagine Montezooma’s Revenge, or use its footprint for another attraction?
“Nobody else really attempted a full-speed, ground-level launch until later in the ‘90s,” says Jeremy Thompson, who writes coaster analysis on his website Roller Coaster Philosophy and worked for a decade at theme park design firm Thinkwell. “It was way ahead of its time.”
It would have been a shame, roller coaster historians argue, to lose Montezooma’s Revenge. Thankfully, Knott’s Berry Farm agreed, and after four years and a $20-million investment, Montezooma’s, now rebranded as Montezooma: The Forbidden Fortress, is set to soft open in the coming days. A grand opening media event, postponed from last month, is slated for Aug. 14.
The entrance to the newly remodeled Montezooma: The Forbidden Fortress.
(Jess Boyer / Knott’s Berry Farm)
“We thought quite a bit about, ‘If we take this out, what would we put in there?’” says Knott’s Berry Farm Park President Raffi Kaprelyan. “But the answer we always came back to was, ‘Why would you do that?’ This is a perfectly unique ride.”
He adds: “An iconic ride like this, you want to maintain as long as possible.”
The coaster was planned to be named Loco Motion, but it was rebranded as Montezooma’s Revenge after a popular band with the same name that would regularly perform at the park, says Nicholas Laschkewitsch, a coaster historian and documentary producer with nonprofit American Coaster Enthusiasts. At the time of its opening, it was the tallest roller coaster in the world, thanks to 148-foot spikes. It’s also the oldest looping shuttle coaster in its original location, a shuttle coaster being a ride without a complete circuit, meaning here guests are propelled out of the launch station in a linear path through a loop and then backward through the whole course.
The loop on Montezooma: The Forbidden Fortress.
(Jess Boyer / Knott’s Berry Farm)
”A shuttle coaster is certainly not as novel as it once was,” says Laschkewitsch, who also works as a designer at experiential art firm Meow Wolf. “But I think it’s very much a part of the DNA of Knott’s Berry Farm. It’s most people’s first looping coaster who grew up in Southern California. They deserve a lot of credit for investing in [a type of] ride a lot of other parks have thrown out.”
Designed by coaster mastermind Anton Schwarzkopf, Laschkewitsch says there’s only one remaining Schwarzkopf-created flywheel coaster using its original launch system in existence, and it’s in Japan at Nagashima Spa Land. Schwarzkopf was also behind the Great American Revolution at Six Flags Magic Mountain, which opened in 1976 as the world’s first modern vertical looping roller coaster.
“He was a genius as far as how to bank track, and how to physically manufacture track,” Laschkewitsch says. “His rides were as smooth as glass. The fact that he was able to do this without computer technology is incredible.”
The Knott family rides Montezooma’s Revenge on its opening day in 1978.
(Knott’s Berry Farm)
So what’s changed in the refurbishment? Montezooma’s has been remade with new cars, enhanced thematic touches lightly inspired by Maya designs, and boasts both a brand new track as well as a refreshed launch system. It now blasts out of the station with electromagnetic propulsion, technology, says Thompson, that is found on virtually all modern launch coasters (see Disney California Adventure’s IncrediCoaster, which also jolts from zero to 55 mph in five seconds).
That means there will be a difference in “feel” at the launch. Thompson compares it to riding in a modern electric vehicle versus, say, a 1970s hot rod. “You’re losing something there,” he says.
Namely the instantaneous tension, says Laschkewitsch, which will now be smoothed out. “There’s just something special about how that flywheel launch really kicked you in the face,” he says.
A look at the reimaged Montezooma: The Forbidden Fortress.
(Jess Boyer / Knott’s Berry Farm)
The coaster in its initial form lasted just 38 seconds. That won’t necessarily change with Montezooma: The Forbidden Fortress, but Kaprelyan says the new ride system will allow the park to offer different ride profiles. The electromagnetic track, for instance, can jolt guests forward, and then tease them by reversing course, lending a linear coaster a sense of surprise.
Those changes are coming down the road, but probably not until the ride has been open for about a year. “The ride will maybe take you up to the front a little bit, and then shoot you back up the hill, and then shoot you forward again,” Kaprelyan says. “There will be different sequences.”
And overall just a different tone. When all is working properly, the coaster will launch through a haze of fog effects. And it’s blessedly no longer associated with an unsavory name that potentially had some negative cultural implications. Understandable, and the right call says Thompson, but “it kind of loses that zany ‘70s humor.” Prepare to hear fewer potty jokes at Knott’s Berry Farm.
This week in SoCal theme parks
A dementor puppet moves through the train in “Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Express Adventure.”
(David Fouts / For The Times )
‘Fast & Furious’ coaster watch, 2026. The big theme park story last week was the unexpected soft launch of Universal Studios Hollywood’s Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift. The ride is operating in “technical rehearsals,” meaning it doesn’t yet have a formal opening date. Think of it as a final testing phase. Wait times have often stretched beyond two and a half hours, with some reporting lines closer to four hours. Heads-up, though, if you’re thinking of heading to the park this week, as according to notices given to park neighbors in Toluca Lake, the coaster is not expected to be welcoming guests Tuesday through Friday.
Take a magical train ride. The Southern California Railway Museum in Riverside County is now allowing guests to experience history with a bit of mysticism, as it has temporarily turned into Platform 9 3⁄4 to host “Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Express Adventure.” A one-hour theatrical experience, expect wands, house sorting and, instead of a drink cart, a larger-than-life demonic puppet. Like all things Potter in 2026, the event has attracted some detractors due to J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans rhetoric and political funding. The Times’ Emily Tarinelli has the details.
Changes afoot at Knott’s Soak City. The Orange County water park is welcoming two brand new attractions next year that will be replacing the current Shore Break slide complex. Look out for Coral Craze, a saucer-like attraction that boasts five riders per slide and is designed to mimic a ski course. Joining it will be Kelp Kraze, also a five-person experience, but this one more of a raft-like slide.
The ‘Prince of Darkness,’ resurrected. Universal Studios Hollywood has rounded out its haunted house lineup for Halloween Horror Nights with a maze dedicated to the late Ozzy Osbourne. Dubbed Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness, the haunt will focus on bringing to life imagery from Osbourne’s solo career. The park has previously created a house inspired by the work of Osbourne’s Black Sabbath. Halloween Horror Nights begins Sept. 3.
‘It,’ reimagined. Inglewood’s Cosm is embracing horror for its next all-encompassing, wrap-around production. The venue, which boasts a high-definition spherical screen that stretches above, below and ever-so-slightly behind viewers, will on Aug. 28 begin showing 2017’s “It,” the Andrés Muschietti film based on the novel by Stephen King. Like past Cosm screenings, the venue will create CGI imagery to complement the core film.
Tell us your stories. Ask us your questions.
Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.
Ride on,
Todd Martens
P.S.
My least favorite theme park topic to cover is price increases, as parks are already an investment to visit. Yet the Disneyland Resort keeps making affordability a story. Even more food price hikes have hit the resort, after an earlier round just a couple weeks ago. I’m sad to say they’re increasingly egregious, including, as Disney Food Blog noticed, a $3 increase to $31 on a so-so cheeseburger at Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar. Sigh.
There’s head-scratching high prices throughout the resort, including a bump on a relatively small square of churro toffee, which now sells for nearly $10. It’s tasty, but I’m here to tell you it’s not worth it. I stopped buying the delectable when it topped $8, as it was no longer a respectable value at that price point. Instead, support a local bakery.
“We’re going to beat the fucking shit out of them,” Fox News reporter Troy Yingst says the president told him this morning, referring to Iran. “We’ll be hitting them hard. They’re going to get a beating.”
Yingst also said Trump told him that “U.S. forces had just minutes to shoot down these incoming Iranian ballistic missiles. The president says he has reviewed video of the shootdown, and it was U.S. forces conducting this operation to defend that area. He said it was real time; they were calling out coordinates and ensuring that none of this incoming Iranian fire got through.”
“In terms of possible talks with the Iranian regime, the president says ‘we’re going to let them keep talking,’” Yingst added. “…those talks are taking place as we speak behind the scenes.”
“We’re going to beat the fuc*ing sh*t out of them,” President Trump told Fox News after Iran launched a surprise attack against U.S. forces. “We’ll be hitting them hard.”
The President says U.S. strikes overnight against Iran-backed militias in Iraq were coordinated with the… pic.twitter.com/AeLbEGFCFi
On Tuesday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East,” U.S. Central Command stated on X. “All Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted. U.S. forces remain vigilant and at a high state of readiness.”
The attack began at 5:45 p.m. ET, according to CENTCOM.
At 5:45 p.m. ET today, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East. All Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted. U.S. forces remain vigilant and at a high…
Trump also addressed the combined U.S.-Saudi strike on Iraqi militias linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The action appears to marke the first publicly known instance of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia joining forces to carry out attacks in this conflict.
The president “says those strikes were coordinated with the Iraqi government,” Yingst explained. “He called these Iran-backed militias a cancer on the world, and says he is considering additional warnings against Iranian proxies and their link to the Iranian regime.”
Hours before Trump spoke with Yingst, Iraqi militia groups condemned the action.
Harakat al-Nujaba (HaN), an armed group in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), said those would be avenged, Al Jazeera reported. The PMF said at least 20 of its members were killed and 32 wounded in the U.S.-Saudi airstrikes, which took place across Iraq.
In a statement, HaN demanded the expulsion of U.S. forces from the country, saying their continued presence “has become an imminent threat to the country’s security and stability,” the outlet added. The group also called for an end to cooperation with Saudi Arabia and for the deployment of advanced air defense systems and threatened retaliatory attacks against U.S. and Saudi interests.
Prominent Iran-backed Iraqi Shia militia Al-Nujaba says it will not allow the U.S. and Saudi Arabia “to defile Iraqi soil without exacting a heavy price from them,” following joint U.S.-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq overnight. https://t.co/r9euaiH60u
— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) July 29, 2026
Meanwhile, influential Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged the IRGC and allied armed groups to stop launching attacks from Iraq.
“Since this holy land was not a launching point for bombing the Islamic Republic, then our brothers in the Revolutionary Guard must not bomb our independent and holy lands,” al-Sadr posted on X. “Likewise, the rogue militias must not give our brothers in the Gulf Arab states a pretext to target our holy land.”
“Everyone must embrace the spirit of brotherhood and peace and not be drawn into the schemes of the Zionist-American enemy to drag brothers into fighting and conflict,” the cleric added. “While I condemn the targeting of the holy Iraqi lands by all countries and parties, and I condemn the shameless actions of the militias to drag Iraq into a pointless war, I call upon the Iraqi government to establish security, enforce sovereignty, and work diligently for the safety of the Iraqi people and their holy sites, and not to be drawn into the abhorrent sectarian myths.”
CENTCOM on Tuesday said its forces, along with the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces, “conducted precision strikes in Iraq, July 28, against Iran-aligned terrorists that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed to attack U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure.”
“U.S. and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours. The unwarranted attacks against U.S. forces were not successful,” CENTCOM added. “From February through April 2026, there were more than 600 attempted attacks on U.S. citizens and facilities by Iran-aligned terrorist militias in Iraq. The IRGC and its terrorist proxies must cease these attacks to avoid further U.S. military response.”
A U.S. official told TWZ Tuesday night that the combined U.S.-Saudi attacks came after the Iranian barrage.
“To be clear, the IRGC-directed attacks at our forces and our Saudi partners since over the weekend came without any provocation,” the official added. “This is a clear message that we will not let those attempts go unanswered.”
An A-10 Thunderbolt II close attack jet depicted on CENTCOM’s X announcement of joint U.S.-Saudi strikes on IRGC-connected groups in Iraq. (CENTCOM)
U.S. troops are adding to the danger they face by posting cellphone videos of attacks online, CENTCOM commander Adm. Cooper warned, according to Reuters. The command is also considering having some personnel surrender their phones, the outlet added.
Cooper, in a previously unreported letter, “said Iran was benefiting from being able to see the success or failure of its strikes in near real-time by searching news reports or online posts by journalists referencing ‘reactions, photos, and footage from the cellphones of our troops,’” Reuters stated.
The CENTCOM commander appeared to reference the following video in his letter, Reuters suggested.
“The direct, unavoidable cost of this open-source intelligence could be measured in the lives of American service members and civilian residents in targeted Gulf countries,” Cooper wrote in his July 28 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
He called on troops to “redouble our focus on operational security,” without prescribing specific steps in the memo,” the news organization further noted.
“Admiral Cooper’s top priority is the well-being and protection of over 50,000 American service members operating in the Middle East,” CENTCOM spokesman Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins told TWZ in response to our questions about the letter. “His guidance to troops about operational security reinforces this priority.”
Cooper’s letter follows moves by U.S. satellite companies like Vantor and Planet Labs to delay posting imagery from the region out of similar concerns about operational security.
Cooper’s memo underscores the mounting tensions between real-time news reporting on the war, often aided by satellite imagery and first-person accounts, and the desire by the U.S. military to restrict any information that could aid Iran as it tries to kill and wound U.S.… https://t.co/0OBN2o1rtg
“The Houthis were looking into imposing fees on most traffic through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb [BAM] gateway,” Reuters noted, citing sources. The narrow waterway, between Yemen and Djibouti, links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. “No timeframe was given at this stage for implementation,” the sources added.
The Houthis’ media office did not respond to a request for comment.
July 29 (Reuters) – Yemen’s Houthi group is considering imposing fees on commercial ships sailing through the southern Red Sea, a week after declaring a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, regional sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
As we have frequently detailed, Houthi actions in the BAM threaten to add far greater pressure on oil exports from the Middle East, already drastically affected by the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the resumption of the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports. The Yemeni rebel group has already expanded its target set, hitting oil terminals and infrastructure Saudi Arabia is using to pump supplies to tankers in the Red Sea. The kingdom has diverted millions of barrels of oil per day through pipelines to its Yanbu port on the Red Sea in an effort to minimize the energy shortages due to the hostilities in the Persian Gulf. Even with the BAM closed, oil exports could still head to the West, via the Suez Canal. But if the infrastructure used to convey these energy products is put out of action, the consequences could be even more severe, with far less or even no energy supplies from Saudi Arabia moving out of the Red Sea. The closing of the BAM, and the possible imposition of tolls, also raises the specter of the U.S. having to get as involved as it did during the previous Houthi campaign against shipping that ended last September, which could pull resources away from Iranian-focused operations.
Bab al-Mandeb Strait. (Google Earth)
Despite the increased risks, transits through both straits are trending upward, according to the Kpler risk management firm.
“Daily monitoring shows stronger transit volumes across the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, with 12 and 41 confirmed crossings respectively on 28 July,” Kpler noted on X. “Yet higher traffic should not be mistaken for lower risk. Hormuz routing remains concentrated outside traditional traffic separation patterns, while Bab el-Mandeb continues to present elevated operational and compliance challenges through dark transits, sanctioned vessels and shadow fleet movements.”
“With 62 confirmed maritime security incidents recorded by the IMO as of 27 July and geopolitical tensions still unresolved, vessel behavior remains a more meaningful indicator than crossing volumes alone,” Kpler added. “For operators and markets alike, transparency, routing choices and emerging disruptions remain the key signals to watch over the coming days.”
Traffic rises, risks persist
Daily monitoring shows stronger transit volumes across the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, with 12 and 41 confirmed crossings respectively on 28 July. Yet higher traffic should not be mistaken for lower risk. Hormuz routing remains concentrated… pic.twitter.com/fwUxZyUaf8
In the wake of new fighting in the region and threat of Houthi tolls on the BAM, oil prices are once again trending upward. The per barrel price of Brent Crude has risen to nearly $90, according to OilPrice.com. It had fallen to just over $83 per barrel yesterday when the pause in hostilities was still holding.
As we have previously noted, the U.S. and Iran had stopped firing at each other late last week, leading to a pause after 13 straight days of continuous tit-for-tat operations. U.S. President Donald Trump hadn’t ordered a U.S. strike on Iranian territory since last Thursday. This was ostensibly to give another round of diplomacy a chance. However, lingering concerns over the supply of munitions, especially air defense interceptors, reportedly played a role in Trump’s thinking.
The U.S. has burned through hundreds of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot interceptors since a shaky ceasefire went into effect on April 8, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) latest assessment. CSIS was updating a previous analysis of munitions expenditures during Epic Fury that you can read more about here.
According to CSIS, the U.S. had about 2,300 Patriot interceptors in its inventories before Epic Fury, 1,030 by the time the ceasefire was agreed to and between 759 and 827 as of July 27.
As for THAADs, there were 452 interceptors in the U.S. inventory before Epic Fury, between 232 and 262 on the date of the ceasefire and between 234 and 278 as of July 27.
The report authors noted that “[e]stimated inventories today account for additional interceptor use and new deliveries since the April 8 ceasefire. THAAD deliveries during the ceasefire outpaced estimated use over the same period, resulting in higher inventories today than in April. Patriot calculations include the latest MSE variant and PAC-3s. Several hundred PAC-2s, not represented in the chart, are estimated to remain in the U.S. inventory.”
New estimates of American Patriot PAC-3 and THAAD anti-ballistic missile interceptor stockpiles in American inventory from CSIS.
The lack of sufficient magazine depth is an issue that TWZ has raised frequently for years, and especially in regard to America’s air and missile defenses, in particular. In fact, we laid out in detail these exact concerns and how they would be a major issue in war with Iran just prior to the conflict starting in a feature you can read in full here.
Given Trump’s threat against Iran today, those concerns may be set aside out of a need to respond to the ballistic missile attack. The coming hours should give us a better picture of how all this will develop.
One of the ships was a U.S.-owned and operated, Marshall Islands-flagged liquefied natural gas (LNG) floating storage facility and the other was a Greek-owned and operated, Bermuda-flagged LNG tanker, Ambrey stated.
“Reportedly, the incident occurred during LNG discharge operations, with the strike causing a fire on board” the floating LNG storage facility, Ambrey said in an alert. “Ambrey was aware that a second vessel reportedly experienced a fire in connection with the incident. AIS data indicated that the vessel was subsequently towed by two tugs to a position 2.9 NM northeast of the port, accompanied by a fire-fighting vessel.”
The security firm added that it “was aware that the crew had been evacuated and that the fire had subsequently been brought under control. At the time of writing, no party had claimed responsibility. No casualties, damage to port infrastructure or pollution had been reported in connection with the incident.”
After being struck by a drone and experiencing a fire, the Greek-owned and operated Bermuda-flagged LNG tanker “departed and anchored in a position approximately 10.2 NM northwest of the port,” Ambrey noted.
A maritime security specialist told us that the U.S.-owned and operated, Marshall Islands-flagged floating gas storage facility was the Energos Winter while the other ship was the Gaslog Salem.
Fire involving two LNG vessels disrupts Damietta terminal
A fire involving the Energos Winter floating storage and regasification unit and the LNG carrier GasLog Salem has disrupted activity at Egypt’s Damietta LNG terminal. Following the incident, both vessels were moved… pic.twitter.com/3weeuJ4YvS
TWZ cannot confirm claims about the drone attacks, however, NASA FIRMS shows two thermal anomalies within the port limits near the vessels’ berths.
NASA FIRMS
Video emerging from the scene shows what is purported to be smoke wafting from the Energos Winter after the attack.
A drone struck the U.S.-owned floating gas storage tanker Energos Winter while it was unloading cargo at Egypt’s Damietta Port, sparking a fire that spread to a second vessel, GasLog Salem. The crews were evacuated, the fire was brought under control, and no injuries were… pic.twitter.com/JwyNSywv8t
Asked during a press conference whether Iran was behind the drone attack on Egyptian port, Trump said “it’s a little more of the same, but it’s going to be straightening out, it’s going to be straightening out. But in the meantime, we are going to be hitting them very hard, because it is our turn to hit ’em. They know it’s coming, they are asking us not to do it.”
“We’re going to hit them very hard.”
President Trump warns adversaries that the U.S. is prepared to respond forcefully following a drone attack on an LNG tanker off the coast of Egypt.
Trump signaled that retaliation is imminent despite requests from adversaries to hold back.… pic.twitter.com/SMOUuj5qGT
As promised by Trump, the U.S. is hitting Iran tonight.
“U.S. forces began launching strikes against Iran at 8 p.m. ET today,” CENTCOM announced on X. “The strikes are a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on U.S. forces based in the Middle East.”
U.S. forces began launching strikes against Iran at 8 p.m. ET today. The strikes are a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on U.S. forces based in the Middle East.
In a post on X, CENTCOM announced that at 10 PM ET, its “forces successfully completed a heavy wave of strikes against Iran in response to yesterday’s attempted missile attacks on U.S. forces.”
“CENTCOM assets struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities,” the command stated. “The strikes aimed to further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighboring Gulf countries.”
CENTCOM says it struck dozens of targets in a “heavy wave” of airstrikes on Iran overnight in response to yesterday’s Iranian missile attacks on U.S. forces.
EastEnders spoilers for next week sees tensions simmer for Suki and Eve Panesar-Unwin, as they feud with ruthless Nicola Mitchell, while Bea Pollard targets Billy Mitchell
Maya Jama sizzled as she modelled swimwear for Agent ProvocateurCredit: Agent ProvocateurMaya split from Portuguese footballer Ruben Dias last monthCredit: Instagram
She is not the only one turning heartbreak into a big-brand deal.
From multi-million-pound ads to career switches designed to overshadow an ex, the new rule of uncoupling is success.
Celebrity publicist Emma Bunning says: “We’re seeing stars turn break-ups into business opportunities, launching new ventures, signing major partnerships and embarking on career blitzes just as their personal lives hit the headlines.
“It’s savvy PR because it shifts the narrative from heartbreak to success.”
The presenter’s deal with the sexy-yet-sophisticated brand is bound to bolster her bank balance even further.
Her career move comes hot on the heels of fronting the new Love Island series, which kicked off last night, and her upcoming gig on Celebrity Traitors – together bolstering her net worth of £2million.
Miley Cyrus
Miley Curus turned her 2020 divorce from Liam Hemsworth into a Grammy-winning, multi-million-pound empireCredit: INSTAGRAM/MILEY CYRUSAfter releasing anthem Flowers on Liam’s birthday in 2023, it became the fastest song in Spotify history to surpass one billion streamsCredit: PA:Press Association
The model parted ways with the 37-year-old cowboy in January after two years.
She threw herself into promoting her perfume brand Orebella and filming FX science-fiction series The Beauty.
It is a classic business move for Bella, who is one of the world’s highest-paid models and rakes in millions a year.
She also capitalised on her 2017 split from singer The Weeknd by modelling for the Victoria’s Secret campaign.
Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter hit the campaign trail following her split from actor Barry KeoghanCredit: VersaceBarry and Sabrina were together for a yearCredit: Getty
THE pop pixie hit the campaign trail following her split from actor Barry Keoghan, 33, in December 2024, after a year together.
First up was her massive Netflix holiday special, A Nonsense Christmas, wearing a black and white vintage Chanel ensemble.
Then, in April last year, the singer showed off her curves in Versace’s La Vacanza campaign cementing a total fortune that has skyrocketed to an estimated £16million.
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman bagged a record-breaking multi-million-pound deal as the face of Chanel No.5, which paid her £500,000 per minute for a single commercialCredit: Splash NewsNicole gave us the ultimate blueprint for post-split success following her 2001 divorce from Tom Cruise after 11 yearsCredit: Getty
HOLLYWOOD icon Nicole, who also divorced Keith Urban, 58, in January, gave us the ultimate blueprint for post-split success following her 2001 divorce from Tom Cruise after 11 years.
Nicole launched a relentless solo career that culminated in her winning an Oscar for The Hours in 2003 and bagging a record-breaking multi-million-pound deal as the face of Chanel No.5, which paid her £500,000 per minute for a single commercial.
Khloe Kardashian
Khloe Kardashian stripped down for her fashion brand Good American, swelling her worth to £44millionKhloe and Lamar had a highly publicised divorceCredit: Getty
When it comes to turning a messy split into a business empire, we certainly have to hand it to Khloe.
Following her highly publicised divorce from the former NBA player in December 2016, Khloe stepped out in skin-tight dresses for her E! series Revenge Body in 2017.
Since then, she has stripped down for her fashion brand Good American, swelling her worth to £44million.
Lily Allen
Lily Allen put her career centre stage following her split from her Stranger Things husband, David Harbour after four years of marriageCredit: UnknownLaunching her highly anticipated comeback in October 2025, just one month after she filed for divorce, Lily released her fifth studio album, West End GirlCredit: Rex
SINGER Lily put her career centre stage following her split from her Stranger Things husband, David, 51, after four years of marriage.
Launching her highly anticipated comeback in October 2025, just one month after she filed for divorce, Lily released her fifth studio album, West End Girl.
The record detailed their divorce, and helped to build her a sturdy personal net worth of an estimated £1.5million.
Shakira
Latin superstar singer Shakira didn’t just move on from Gerard Pique, she really cashed inAfter his alleged infidelity, Shakira launched her BZRP Music Sessions diss track and reportedly raked in £24million from her heartbreak trilogyCredit: Instagram
