U.S.

July 10 (UPI) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reported that well over 800 cases of a food-borne parasite have been confirmed by 31 states.

CDC officials were working with state and local health agencies to investigate clusters of cyclosporiasis cases in multiple states, some of which the Food and Drug Administration is working to trace and others that have not yet been linked to a common source, the agency said in an update.

Cyclosporiasis is a gastrointestinal disease caused by the parasite cyclospora, which can cause watery diarrhea, loss of appetite and weight loss, and in some cases require hospitalization, according to the CDC.

The parasite can be acquired when people eat or drink contaminated food or water and, although it can be spread year-round, it is considered to be a larger problem during the spring and summer months.

The current series of outbreaks has been tracked since at least mid-June, although the FDA lists its first investigation of cyclospora as staring June 3. With no product linked to the parasite or any other outbreak, the FDA is attempting to trace back to a source.

“Multiple jurisdictions have reported an increase of cases in the last two weeks compared to the same period in 2025,” the CDC said in the update.

“We assume a 6-week reporting lag between illness onset and case reporting to CDC,” the agency said. “Therefore, we anticipate that case counts will continue to rise as data are received.”

The CDC reported that as of July 9, it has confirmed 843 cases of the nationally notifiable disease in 31 states, with 86 hospitalizations, but officials said the agency is aware of at least 1,500 more cases that have not yet been confirmed as domestically acquired in the United States.

Among the states reporting cases and investigations, Michigan on July 4 reported that its confirmed cases increased to 572, a large increase from 170 on June 30.

Cyclospora infects the small intestine after contaminated food or drink is consumed, and symptoms of infection can be seen anywhere from two days to two weeks after exposure.

Overall, the infection is generally not life-threatening, but because of dehydration linked to frequent and sometimes explosive diarrhea — especially in younger or older people, and those with weakened immune systems — it may require hospitalization.

Outbreaks in the United States have previously been linked to bagged salad mixes and kits, fresh cilantro and basil, raspberries, snow peas, and green onions, health officials said.

Fox News declined to broadcast an ad Sunday about the violence that law-enforcement members faced as they tried to stop the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to the creators of the political commercial.

“We couldn’t have fathomed in our wildest imaginations that even a Fox News would reject an ad that simply condemns the insurrection, and condemns people who support the insurrection,” said Ben Meiselas, one of the co-founders of MeidasTouch, the liberal Political Action Committee that created the 60-second ad. “What Fox has really become is a fascist echo chamber gatekeeper for their base.”

Broadcast and cable networks have discretion in refusing to air ads by political campaigns and advocacy groups. A Fox News spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Meiselas and his two brothers, Brett and Jordan, said they placed the ad buy as they have in the past, but were informed over the phone on Friday that the cable network would not air the ad and were not given a reason. Fox News has never before refused to air one of their ads without offering suggestions for edits, they said.

The commercial features law-enforcement officers testifying in Congress and speaking to the media about their experiences during the insurrection, including getting sprayed with bear mace, engaging in hand-to-hand combat and being called “traitors.”

“It’s been very difficult seeing elected officials and other individuals whitewash the events of that day or downplay what happened,” DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone says in a clip from a CNN interview as images of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP elected officials are shown on screen.

The ad ends with block letters that say” “The GOP Betrayed America. We Will Never Forget.”

The ad has gone viral on social media, racking up more than 1 million views on Twitter.

Fox News is the target of multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuits by voting system and software makers over its coverage of the integrity of the 2020 presidential election. Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic accused Fox News of irresponsibly broadcasting falsehoods that their technology and equipment were used to rig the election. The fraud claims are among the factors that led to the insurrection as lawmakers were voting to certify the election results.

Fanone, who suffered a heart attack after rioters beat him with a flagpole and repeatedly stunned with him with his Taser gun on Jan. 6, is among the law-enforcement members who have been vocal critics of Republican lawmakers who blocked the creation of a commission to study what happened that day.

The House of Representatives approved a plan to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the insurrection on a 252-175 vote; but in the Senate, it received 54 votes in late May, six shy of the number required to bring the proposal up for debate.

A spokeswoman for President Biden on Thursday ruled out creating a presidential commission to study the matter, aligning the White House with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the belief that such an inquiry needed to be instigated by Congress.

MeidasTouch booked nearly $185,000 of air time to play the ad on Fox News between June 6 and 15, starting with Chris Wallace’s Sunday show and continuing for seven days on “Fox and Friends” as well as two spots on daytime programs and one more on Wallace’s show next weekend.

Brett Meiselas noted that many shows on the network routinely talk about “cancel culture.”

“The fact they want to cancel and censor the voices of law enforcement who bravely guarded the Capitol. It’s the height of hypocrisy, and it’s un-American,” he said.

MeidasTouch is a liberal political action committee formed in 2020 by the three brothers, who have notable ties to Hollywood. Their father is a prominent attorney who represents musicians including Lady Gaga.

Ben Meiselas is a lawyer whose clients include former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Brett Meiselas was an editor on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show. Jordan Meiselas, a former marketer, is now working full time on the PAC.

The PAC made anti-Trump videos during the 2020 presidential race and supported Democrats during the special Georgia Senate races earlier this year. The PAC did not receive as much attention as anti-Trump groups such as the Lincoln Project; it spent about $4.2 million last year.

President Trump has ousted members of a bipartisan federal election commission that resisted his efforts to require would-be voters to document their U.S. citizenship before registering.

The White House on Friday confirmed the executive action against members of the Election Assistance Commission, which distributes federal grants to states, oversees the testing of voting systems and maintains the national voter registration forms.

It’s the latest move in the Republican president’s effort to expand White House influence over how U.S. elections are conducted and comes after a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave the president new personnel authority to fire members of independent agency boards.

“The President, and head of the Executive Branch, reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted. The Slaughter decision gives the President precedence to do so,” said a White House statement to AP.

The president removed the commission’s two Democratic members, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland. The panel’s Republican member, Christy McCormick resigned. Former Republican commissioner Donald Palmer already had left his post voluntarily earlier this year.

The changes were first reported by VoteBeat, a news outlet that covers elections and voting across the U.S.

While the White House statement did not offer a specific reason for Trump’s action, the commission has previously declined to change the national voter registration form to require documentation of an applicant’s U.S. citizenship, as Trump’s urged in a sweeping March 2025 executive order on U.S. elections. A federal judge blocked the order, ruling it exceeds the president’s authority since the U.S. Constitution grants authority over elections management and oversight to Congress and the states. The administration has indicated it will appeal.

It was not clear whether Trump planned to nominate new members immediately or leave the positions vacant — a move that, months ahead of midterm elections, could prevent the agency from distributing new grants to state or local elections offices and, at the least, complicate its role in overseeing testing and certification of voting systems around the country.

“The Administration from the start has been working across all agencies and local partners to safeguard elections from fraud and abuse, and investing in a strong infrastructure to sustain that mission especially in the midterm elections,” the White House said.

Congress created the four-member commission as part of the Help America Vote Act, a bipartisan law signed by Republican President George W. Bush in 2002. The act requires the commission to include two Democrats and two Republicans, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Hicks and McCormick were appointed by President Barack Obama. Trump appointed Hovland during his first presidency.

According to VoteBeat, Hicks and Hovland were notified of their removal by an email signed by Morgan DeWitt Snow, the deputy director of presidential personnel in the Executive Office of the President.

Barrow writes for the Associated Press.

July 10 (UPI) — A bipartisan housing bill that swept the House and Senate is set to become law at midnight Friday if President Donald Trump doesn’t veto it, and he said Friday morning on social media that he won’t sign it.

The 21st Century Road to Housing Act was passed on June 29 by a wide margin of Democrats and Republicans in both chambers of Congress, but the president canceled a signing ceremony at the last minute and said he wouldn’t sign it until Congress passed Trump’s pet project, the SAVE America Act, which they don’t have the support to do.

On Friday, he posted on Truth Social that he refuses to sign it.

“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, which is polling at 97% with the Republican Party, and very high with the non-politician Dumocrats,” he wrote.

He didn’t mention a veto, but it’s still a possibility.

“The Act states, quite simply, that to Vote a person must show PHOTO VOTER I.D., PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP, AND THAT THERE WILL BE NO MORE CROOKED, CORRUPT, & DESTABILIZING MAIL-IN BALLOTS (EXCEPTIONS for Military, Disabled, Illness, and Travel!). THE SAVE AMERICA ACT’S non-passage is CRAZY, and a serious threat to any politician who votes against it! If the Dumocrats, or any RINO (or worse!) working with them, do not allow a positive Vote on SAVE AMERICA, TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, and pass this, and every other Bill that true Republicans have ever dreamt of (In addition to the upcoming Budget BOMB and the 1929 catastrophic style DEBT CEILING BILL!). The Dumocrats will TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, if and when they ever get the chance to do so, in their very first hour – And I will no longer be able to call them Dumocrats again! The title of DUMB will revert to the Republicans who allowed this horrible calamity to happen to our Party, and our Nation, itself! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he wrote.

If the president vetoes the bill, Congress will likely have the votes to override it. It would need a two-thirds majority to pass the override in the House and Senate.

“This is the exact kind of bill they want to point to and say Republicans are working on issues that their voters care about, and Democrats would want the same,” Julian Zelizer, a history and public affairs professor at Princeton University, told The Washington Post. “That’s not the signal that the administration is sending.”

Since the bill passed and Trump refused to sign it, he has called it “a yawn.”

“To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, everything is a big yawn,” he said.

The SAVE Act is an election bill that would require voters to prove they are citizens when registering to vote. Critics argue that it would disenfranchise too many voters because of the types of proof it would require.

The housing bill includes measures that modernize building standards, encourage renovating older homes, encourage communities to build more housing with funding and grant programs, local governments to reform restrictive zoning policies around building housing and effectively ban private equity from buying up single-family homes. Critics of the bill say it doesn’t go far enough, but they acknowledge it’s a good first step.

It’s the first bipartisan measure that’s passed this Congress.

Some Democrats have been publicly pushing the president to sign the bill.

“It’s been sitting on President Trump’s desk long enough. Sign the bill,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., posted on X.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said on X, “Republicans and Democrats worked together to pass a bill to build more housing and stop hedge funds from buying up single-family homes, but Trump is holding it hostage. He needs to stop playing games and sign the bill so more Americans can finally afford homes.”

July 10 (UPI) — An eighth suspect has been arrested and charged in an alleged plot to attack last month’s Ultimate Fighting Championship event held at the White House, federal prosecutors said.

The suspect was identified as 21-year-old Chandler Scaggs of Chapmanville, W.Va.

The Justice Department said in a statement that he and the other seven suspects were charged in an indictment returned Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, with two conspiracy counts: providing material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder government officials on government grounds. Jail records indicate that Scaggs was arrested Tuesday, with federal prosecutors saying he was taken into custody by the FBI in West Virginia.

Federal prosecutors allege that the eight suspects, who range in age from 19 to 32, were among nearly two dozen people conspiring to attack the White House’s Freedom 250 UFC event on June 14, staged in celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary and President Donald Trump‘s 80th birthday.

According to the indictment, the co-conspirators allegedly planned to attack the north side of the event with explosive-laden drones, which would force fight spectators to evacuate to the south, where stationed snipers would open fire on the fleeing crowd.

Prosecutors alleged that Scaggs was to be one of the snipers.

The indictment states that the eight defendants began plotting the alleged attack in May, with the conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists stemming from allegations that they worked together to procure money, firearms, ammunition, body armor, drones and other resources to further the plot. The charge is punishable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment.

They are alleged to have developed plans and encouraged one another in online chat groups and forums on encrypted applications, such as Signal, and on social media platforms, including TikTok and Instagram.

The indictment states that the second charge of conspiracy to murder government officials stems from allegations that the suspects planned to murder Trump, Vice President JD Vance and “other high-value targets” as well as Elon Musk and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose attendance at the event was not immediately confirmed. If convicted, the charge carries a potential penalty of up to life in prison.

The first five suspects arrested and charged in the scheme were taken into police custody last month after the parents of one of the suspects, 19-year-old Tycen Proper, alerted police to their son’s purchase of weapons and online activities.

Court documents state the group’s alleged grievances appear to be purported government corruption and U.S. lawmakers’ involvement with Israel.

As part of the scheme, Proper was allegedly supposed to pick up Scaggs and drive to Washington, D.C., for the event.

Prosecutors said that after Proper’s arrest, Scaggs allegedly indicated to the rest of his co-conspirators that he was still willing to carry out the attack and made arrangements with a second co-conspirator, who was not named, to pick him up.

The Thursday indictment follows earlier criminal complaints filed against the original seven defendants.

The prospects for a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran have reached the most perilous point since the two warring parties agreed to a ceasefire in April. A day after ordering the most intense wave of airstrikes on Iran since that agreement went into effect, President Donald Trump on Wednesday proclaimed that he could resume striking Iran as early as tonight and restore the naval blockade after saying he believed the ceasefire was over.

His comments came after Iran attacked tanker ships in the Strait of Hormuz. There were also unconfirmed reports that Iran fired missiles and drones at U.S. warships.

You can read about yesterday’s exchange of fire in our story here.

Meanwhile, Iranian official media declared that the Memorandum of Understanding extending the ceasefire for 60 days to continue negotiations, worked out in Pakistan, is no longer in effect.

“The Islamabad Agreement is Dead,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-connected Tasnim media outlet stated on Telegram. 

This latest and most serious flare-up of tensions came after Iran struck three ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, as we reported. The attacks came during a pause in negotiations for the week-long funeral procession for the former Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli attacks.

In response to those attacks, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it hit 85 targets across southern Iran, including “air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in and near the strait to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international commerce flowing through the international trade corridor.”

Wednesday morning, Trump amped up the rhetoric during several bilateral meetings at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey.

“We hit them very hard last night — very, very hard — and we’ll probably hit them hard again tonight,” Trump proffered. “They’re cuckoo. There’s something wrong with these people. For 47 years, they’ve been the bully of the Middle East… It’s very simple: they can’t have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump also shed additional light on yesterday’s attacks by CENTCOM.

“We attacked Kharg Island last night, knocked out a piece,” Trump stated. “I said, ‘Don’t touch the oil, because maybe we’ll take over Kharg Island.’ We may take over Kharg Island. It’s not a thing they can do about it, but I said, ‘Don’t hit the pipes, just hit everything else,’ and they hit it. They may hit it again tonight.”

You can read about what it would take to attack Kharg Island in our story here.

Trump also hinted that the naval blockade on Iran, lifted when the MoU was signed on June 17, might be resumed.

“And we may put down the blockade,” the American leader suggested. “We may put it back… and it will only be a blockade for Iran.” 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon was prepared to resume attacks at an even higher level.

“Anything used to harass shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Anything they thought they had rebuilt or capability they were using was a target last night—and tonight, if we need to, on your order, Mr. President, we will hit even more, and even deeper,” he said.

All this came after Trump professed that the ceasefire had ended.

“To me, I think it’s over,” Trump exclaimed. “I don’t want to deal with them, but they’re scum. You know what scum is? They’re scum, they’re sick people, they’re led by sick people, and they’re vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it.”

Iran, for its part, said that it struck 85 targets in Kuwait and Bahrain after the U.S. attacks.

Kuwaiti officials said they downed all the missiles and drones fired at them.

A U.S. official told us that damage to American facilities in the region was minimal.

“Regarding last night: No U.S. injuries. All missiles and drones fired by Iran were intercepted or failed to hit anything or cause major damage,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational details. “Bottom line, Iran’s response was defeated.”

As for the future of negotiations, as we noted earlier in this story, Iran is also painting a grim picture.

“Trump, the self-proclaimed terrorist, officially announced the end of the Islamabad Agreement; an agreement that, although earnestly pursued by Iranian negotiators who emphasized the continuation of the struggle and acknowledged that dishonesty is inherent in the United States, was from the beginning clearly understood to be an agreement that would not be honored by the Americans, especially if Iran insisted on its rights,” Tasnim stated. “Trump and the terrorist U.S. government failed to implement the most important clause of the agreement, Clause 1, from the very beginning. Despite the efforts of officials, this agreement was essentially dead from the start, due to the Americans’ broken promises, and only last night was its death officially announced.”

Aside from taking swipes at Iran, Trump also lashed out at Spain for failing to allow the U.S. to have access to its airspace during Operation Epic Fury. The U.S. has several key military installations there, including Naval Station Rota and Moron Air Base. Both facilities had been used as staging grounds ahead of the attack on Iran.

“Spain is a terrible partner in NATO,” Trump complained at a news conference in Ankara with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. “They don’t participate. They don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits.”

Meanwhile, Rutte noted that Spain was an outlier when it came to supporting the U.S. war.

“I would say these are isolated cases; 5000 planes taking off from European airports in support of Epic Fury, it was Europe as one, big platform of power projection for the United States helping with Epic Fury,” Rutte explained.

As we have frequently seen since Operation Epic Fury was launched, tough talk from Trump or the Iranians does not always translate into action and things can and have quickly changed. Still, given what is at stake, we will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates when warranted.

UPDATE: 2:05 PM EDT –

Despite all these harsh statements from both sides, one former CENTCOM commander tells us that a resumption of full-scale hostilities is not inevitable.

“I think the immediate way forward will be controlled escalation focused on a military campaign to degrade the regime’s ability to disrupt activities in the Gulf,” Joseph Votel, who led the command from March 2016 to March 2019, told us. “The targets struck last evening seem to support this and I suspect this is where we are heading.”

“I would expect, as the President said, that we will reimpose the blockade against ships transiting to and from Iranian ports,” added Votel, now a Distinguished Military Fellow at the Middle East Institute. “I think this is what we will see for the next few days until there is greater clarification on where all this is leading.”

The future, however, remains uncertain.

“I don’t know if there is an immediate off-ramp – the next day or two will tell us that,” Votel surmised. “If we strike tonight – that may lead to Iranian counter-strikes against U.S. partners hosting American forces. I think Iran will continue to try to impose costs on us by disrupting the Strait and targeting of Gulf nations that support us.”

As for the Strait of Hormuz (SoH), Votel said: “I think we will see (at least in the short term) control of the SoH to be similar to what we saw before the signing of the June 17th MOU – the U.S. largely in control but with Iran continuing to periodically disrupt and impact shipping and commerce.”

Meanwhile, a high-ranking Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) official we spoke with said a resumption of full-blown hostilities or Israel carrying out a new wave of attacks is not a foregone conclusion.

“My assessment is that the current ceasefire is fragile, but I do not believe we are on the verge of a return to full-scale war,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details. “Despite President Trump’s recent remarks, I think his preferred course of action will be to restore and tighten economic sanctions while preserving the option of limited, targeted military strikes against specific Iranian assets if necessary. I do not believe the United States has a strategic interest in becoming involved in another prolonged military campaign unless Iran fundamentally changes the situation through a major escalation.”

The official added that the IDF is ready to resume attacks on Iran if called upon, but that whether it will be remains unknown.

“The IDF itself is not the limiting factor. Israel remains highly prepared, and the military retains credible operational options across the region,” said the official. “Readiness, however, should not be confused with intent. Military capability exists regardless of whether the political leadership decides to employ it.”

“Ultimately, I believe the decisive variable is Washington rather than Jerusalem,” he added. “Any major Israeli operation against Iran would almost certainly require at least tacit American political support and close strategic coordination with the United States. For that reason, I have greater confidence in assessing Netanyahu’s preferences than in predicting President Trump’s decisions.”

Trump “has demonstrated that he is capable of taking decisive military action when he believes it serves American interests, but he has also shown that he is pragmatic and willing to halt escalation when he concludes that continued conflict no longer advances those interests,” the IDF official postulated.

“In short, my expectation is that the near-term strategy will be one of deterrence rather than renewed war: tighter economic pressure on Iran, continued intelligence and covert activities, and the option of limited military strikes if required,” the official continued. “A return to a broad regional conflict remains possible, but in my view it would most likely require a significant Iranian escalation rather than being initiated by either Washington or Jerusalem.”

UPDATE: 5:30 PM EDT –

The U.S. has resumed striking Iran as Trump said he would, according to CENTCOM.

“At the direction of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” the command stated on X. “The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway.”

At the direction of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent…

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 8, 2026

Videos purporting to show those attacks are emerging online.

Video footage shows the moment that U.S. strikes targeted Chabahar City in Southern Iran earlier tonight, with the strikes reportedly impacting an air and naval base operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). pic.twitter.com/AwXdsgGnXC

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 8, 2026

As the ongoing U.S. strikes against Iran have already exceeded the scale of last night’s strikes, a U.S. official has told Reuters that the strikes will indeed be greater in scale and number than previous waves of U.S. strikes. The U.S. targeting of an IRGC barracks in Bushehr is… pic.twitter.com/4oTqMUYCLw

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 8, 2026

UPDATE: 5:51 PM EDT –

“This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “If it happens again, it will get much worse!”

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

July 10 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has reportedly fired the three remaining members of an independent, bipartisan commission that helps states administer elections, intensifying Democratic concerns that he is trying to interfere in November’s midterm elections.

Trump fired the Election Assistance Commission’s two Democrats, Benjamin Hovland and Thomas Hicks, while allowing its Republican commissioner, Christy McCormick, to resign on Thursday, according to The New York Times, NPR and ProPublica, which was the first to report on the development.

With the exit of the three commissioners, the commission has no sitting members. Republican Commissioner Donald Palmer resigned in late April.

The EAC was established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 in response to issues surrounding the 2000 election. Its mission is to improve the administration of elections and help Americans participate in the voting process, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The midterm elections have loomed large over Trump’s second term. He has repeatedly warned that Democratic impeachment proceedings and investigations would follow Republicans losing the House, which they hold by a narrow 218-212 majority.

Trump has sought to influence the outcome by pushing Republican-led states to conduct unorthodox mid-decade redistricting to create additional GOP-favored seats, setting off a redistricting fight with Democrats. The president, who wrongly maintains that the 2020 election was stolen from him, has also repeatedly voiced skepticism over the integrity of U.S. elections, pushing legislation to impose stringent voting restrictions that critics say would disenfranchise voters.

Democrats and critics have been warning that Trump is trying to undermine the upcoming midterm elections and create a pretext for his administration to intervene. They say the hollowing out of the EAC removes election expertise and oversight from the process.

“Firing every remaining member of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission months before the midterms is a brazen attempt to seize control of our elections before a single vote is cast,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

“He is gutting the independent agency that certifies voting systems and helps election officials run secure elections.”

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee, and Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, called the firings illegal.

“Trump continues to double down on his efforts to erode trust in our elections, undermine independent oversight and further his administration’s attempt to ‘take over’ elections,” the Democratic pair said in a statement, referencing Trump’s repeated calls for Republicans to “take over” the election process.

“Americans deserve elections that are safe, secure and run free from political interference — not overseen by partisan loyalists and election deniers beholden to Trump.”

Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, described the ousting as “deeply concerning” given “Trump’s relentless efforts to interfere in elections.”

“Until bipartisan replacements are confirmed, the agency cannot lawfully make any decisions that affect how Americans vote,” he warned in a statement.

The U.S. Embassy in Jordan on Thursday warned Americans about “missiles, drones, or rockets…in Jordanian airspace.” The warning came as the U.S. and Iran reportedly exchanged fire amid resumed hostilities that have entered a third day. This latest round of fighting was touched off Tuesday when Iran attacked three ships in the Strait of Hormuz. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump and Iranian officials declared that the shaky ceasefire agreed to on April 8 was over.

“Seek overhead cover and shelter in place immediately,” the U.S. Embassy in Jordan cautioned this morning. “Remain indoors and pay attention to local announcements and alerts. The U.S. Embassy in Jordan will continue to review the situation and provide additional information as needed.”

The Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) General Command said the country’s air defense systems “intercepted and shot down eight missiles launched from Iran toward Jordanian territory on Thursday. The interception operations resulted in the fall of missile debris, but no casualties or property damage were reported.”

“JAF is closely monitoring regional developments and remains at the highest level of operational readiness to safeguard the Kingdom’s airspace and defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the command added. “JAF will not allow any party to violate Jordanian airspace under any circumstances.”

July 9 (UPI) — A humanoid robot successfully assisted during a laparoscopic surgery for a gall bladder removal, suggesting that robots may serve a purpose in some health care scenarios.

The operation, which involved surgery on non-human primates, could pave the way toward robots assisting with surgeries on human beings, the University of California San Diego said in a news release.

In a study published in the journal Nature, UCSD researchers outlined two surgeries that were performed with the assistance of non-human robotic humanoids on non-primate mammals.

“Remotely operated and autonomous humanoid robots have real potential for amplifying access to critical surgeries to which patients would otherwise not have access,” Michael Yip, UC San Diego Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said.

“Our goal is an operating theater of the future, where humanoid robots and humans work side by side as an integrated team to deliver procedures to those in need, both in traditional hospital settings, as well as in non-traditional, field medicine scenarios,” Yip said.

The benefit, Shanglei Liu, assistant professor of surgery at UCSD in its School of Medicine, said that using robots for some surgeries could help to curtail costs and staff needed for surgical procedures.

“It’s easy to deploy,” she said, “anywhere from rural areas, to the battlefield, and even to space,” Liu said.

Liu said that one of the research team’s goals is to develop autonomous surgical assistants in order to treat people in areas that are difficult to get to.

“One of our goals is to develop the autonomous surgical assistant,” Yip said, adding that using robots in places where there are not enough doctors could solve the problem of patients not being treated.

July 10 (UPI) — The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Maryland on Thursday challenging the state’s laws that limit local law enforcement’s cooperation with immigration agents, the latest legal salvo in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

Federal lawyers with the Justice Department’s Civil Division have filed about 20 lawsuits against so-called sanctuary policies that the Trump administration argues violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, under which federal law supersedes state policies.

“Federal immigration officers merely enforce the laws that our nation’s elected representatives in Congress passed, reflecting the will of ‘We the People,'” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement.

“When sanctuary jurisdictions enact laws to shield illegal aliens from federal law enforcement, it is not merely federal law that is violated, but the voices of everyday American voters silenced.”

The Community Trust Act, passed by Maryland’s General Assembly, took effect immediately on May 31, 2026, limiting local cooperation with federal immigration authorities amid the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown.

Opponents criticize the law as permitting the harboring of undocumented migrants, while advocates argue such policies are needed to create safe communities by reducing barriers that hinder immigrants from communicating with law enforcement.

In the lawsuit, the Justice Department argues that by enforcing the Community Trust Act, Maryland was unlawfully interfering with the federal government’s enforcement of federal law, in violation of the Supremacy Clause.

“Maryland has no lawful interest in assisting removable aliens to evade federal law enforcement. The state’s prohibitions on cooperation with federal immigration agencies have endangered public safety, resulting in criminals being released into Maryland rather than turned over to immigration authorities for removal from the United States, as required by Congress,” the federal lawyers said in the complaint.

“The challenged laws are not a mere passive effort to avoid providing state or local resources to federal officials but rather are an active and deliberate effort to obstruct federal immigration enforcement.”

The Maryland Freedom Caucus, a group of Republican state delegates, celebrated the lawsuit’s announcement in a Thursday statement, saying it is challenging “Maryland’s dangerous penchant for favoring noncitizens over lawful Marylanders.”

From targeting sanctuary laws to seeking to end humanitarian protections for migrants from crisis-hit countries, the Trump administration has sought to remove obstacles to its mass deportation campaign, drawing staunch opposition from civil and human rights advocates.

Under a Trump executive order, the Justice Department has identified dozens of states, counties and cities, mostly Democratic-led, that have sanctuary laws.

July 9 (UPI) — A federal Washington, D.C., planning agency advanced plans Thursday night for President Donald Trump‘s 250-foot triumphal arch, clearing a key procedural hurdle toward construction despite staunch opposition from historic preservation groups.

The National Capital Planning Commission approved preliminary site and building plans in an 8-1 vote, with three members voting present, during a meeting at its Washington headquarters.

The sole objector, Evan Cash, representing D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson on the panel, said he would not vote in its favor. He said the plans would “have the effect of upending decades of NCPC practice and thee century-old height framework.”

According to the proposed plans, the arch would be constructed across the Potomac River in Virginia. At 250 feet tall and 166 feet wide, it would be twice the height of the Lincoln Memorial.

Rob Nieweg, senior vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, also objected to the project.

Nieweg told the commission that the arch would “overwhelm” nearby historic landmarks, including the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington House and Memorial Bridge, while being inconsistent with “the solemn character of Arlington National Cemetery.”

“Each new rendering submitted for this proposal is totally inappropriate in its scale and location,” he said.

“The new images clearly show that the arch blocks the view of the Lincoln Memorial from vantage points on the Virginia side. It looms larger on the skyline than everything other than the Washington Monument. From the District side, placing the arch in the foreground completely overpowers the sacred rolling wooded hills and rows of white grave markers at Arlington National Cemetery.”

The vote comes after the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts approved a modified design of the arch in May. A final vote on the plan will take place at the September commission meeting, NCPC Chair Will Scharf said.

“It’s disappointing that the NCPC approved the preliminary site and building plans for the Monumental Arch today, and we remain strongly opposed to its scale and locations,” the National Trust for Historic Preservation told UPI in an emailed statement.

Trump proposed the arch as he has sought to remake the capital in his own image, including plans for a new White House ballroom and renaming the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to include his name, among others. Several of those efforts have been met with lawsuits.

July 9 (UPI) — The Trump administration on Thursday proposed to roll back a Biden-era rule on emissions from heavy duty diesel trucks because it is “unworkable.”

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed lowering requirements for heavy truck emissions systems because of issues with the technology for new trucks and penalties for older vehicles that do not measure up, the agency said in a press release.

The change is expected by the administration to save up to $6,000 per new truck and could help save truckers roughly $12 billion, Fox News and The Hill reported.

The change will shorten government requirements for engine warranties to 100,000 miles, from 450,000 miles, and will delay a requirement that trucks meet emissions standards for their first 650,000 miles — an increase from the first 435,000 miles — for three years.

“This proposal to eliminate engine deratements and reform the Biden-era … requirements will lower costs, increase safety and keep our nation’s food supply moving,” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in the release.

The Biden administration rule was aimed at strengthening rules about nitrogen oxide emissions by improving maintenance and repair requirements over a longer period of time.

Critics have said that the new rule will weaken clean air protections and potentially affect Americans’ health, but the administration has countered that lowering business and consumer costs are an essential focus and that environmental concerns are overblown.

July 9 (UPI) — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday recalled more than 2.5 million bottles of eye drops because they may contain a “foreign substance.”

The nationwide recall was initiated by Lupin Pharmaceuticals on June 4 because of some type of foreign substance, though the company and the FDA have not identified it or how it got into the eye drops, MassLive and NJ.com reported.

The class II recall of the prednisolone acetate eye drops — used to reduce inflammation after eye surgery or for allergic and other conditions — is the second-highest risk recall for the agency because it may cause adverse consequences if used.

In a recall notice posted on its website on Thursday, the FDA said that the recall of more than 2.5 million bottles of Lupin’s prednisolone eye drops was because of the “presence of foreign substance.”

The affected bottles come in 5 mL, 10 mL and 15 mL quantities, and were produced by the India-based Lupin, which specializes in manufacturing generic pharmaceutical medications.

The FDA also cautions against simply pausing the use of these medications, suggesting that people who need to use them contact their eye doctor or pharmacist in order to properly react for their own conditions.

July 9 (UPI) — More than a dozen news organizations asked a court to sanction OpenAI for withholding evidence in lawsuits filed against the company for copyright infringement.

The New York Times, New York Daily News, The Intercept and 14 other news organizations asked a federal court on Thursday for sanctions against the artificial intelligence company for lying about its ability to provide data showing how it has used copyrighted material to train its models.

The companies had sued OpenAI for violating copyright law by using their content to create a secondary product — its AI models — without paying for it, The New York Times and Variety reported.

In court, the AI company had said it could not search training datasets and output data, but earlier this year one of the company’s employees said during a deposition that the data could be accessed.

“The evidence is in OpenAI’s training data sets and ChatGPT output logs,” the organizations said in the court filing.

“But instead of just producing that evidence at the start of the case and focusing on the merits of its fair use defense, OpenAI chose obstruction,” they said.

In addition to accusing OpenAI of lying about searching for the organizations’ content in its data, they allege that the company deleted data logs, which would violate a court order to preserve relevant evidence.

An attorney for the organizations said in a statement that OpenAI had claimed that searching its ChatGPT outputs was “infeasible, burdensome and invasive of users’ privacy” but then lied about having already done searches.

OpenAI called the news organizations’ allegations in the filing “blatantly false,” and said that its use of their content falls under “the long-established principles of fair use.”

July 9 (UPI) — Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office formally accused former U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar of violating his diplomatic duties by allegedly misleading Mexican authorities about the 2024 capture of alleged Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

The accusation alleges that Salazar knowingly made false statements when he said U.S. agencies had not participated in the operation that led to Zambada’s capture and transfer in July 2024.

The complaint followed reports by Mexican media outlets Milenio and Azteca Noticias that the FBI recently displayed the aircraft used in the operation at the War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, N.M., describing it as an FBI success.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum backed the Attorney General’s Office on Thursday, saying the former ambassador misled the Mexican government by insisting that U.S. agencies had no role in the operation.

Sheinbaum said Mexico’s consulate in New Mexico directly verified that the aircraft was on display at the museum.

“On Aug. 9, 2024, then-U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said his government did not participate in this operation, that it was not a U.S. aircraft, nor its pilot, nor its agents or personnel in Mexico, but rather an operation between cartels,” Attorney General Ernestina Godoy said.

The Attorney General’s Office also said it had identified the pilot who flew the aircraft that transported Zambada. Although authorities did not identify the person, Mexican media reported the pilot may be Mauro Núñez, also known as “El Jando,” who is described as a trusted pilot for Los Chapitos, the faction of the Sinaloa cartel led by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Mexican media reported that “El Jando” is facing proceedings in federal court in Washington.

The Attorney General’s Office also pointed to what it described as a causal link based on the close timing between judicial benefits granted in the United States to Ovidio Guzmán López, one of Guzmán’s sons, and Zambada’s alleged kidnapping on Mexican territory.

Mexican authorities contended the events were not coincidental, but rather part of a coordinated strategy and an unlawful agreement between Los Chapitos and U.S. agencies, primarily the FBI.

The formal accusations further strain relations between Mexico and the United States by directly accusing a U.S. federal law enforcement agency of violating Mexico’s sovereignty and alleging that Salazar misled the Mexican government.

However, officials from the Attorney General’s Office said that while they could establish Salazar’s responsibility for withholding information, he would not face criminal consequences because he is protected by diplomatic immunity.

Salazar rejected the allegations in a statement posted on social media, reiterating the position he maintained while serving as ambassador.

“It was not our plane, not our pilot and not our operation,” Salazar wrote.

The dispute comes as excerpts from Salazar’s forthcoming memoir, The Borders: My Fight for an Inclusive United States, have begun circulating, prompting additional friction with the Mexican government.

Iran said on Thursday it had targeted U.S. military infrastructure across the Gulf in retaliation for fresh American strikes on Iranian territory, marking the latest escalation in a conflict that is increasingly testing a fragile ceasefire brokered just weeks ago.

The renewed exchange of attacks came as Iran prepared to bury its late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the holy city of Mashhad following a week of nationwide funeral processions.

Although oil prices eased after surging on fears of wider disruption, investors and governments remained focused on whether the latest violence represented a temporary escalation or the beginning of a broader collapse of efforts to end the conflict.

Iran retaliates after U.S. strikes

Iranian armed forces said they targeted U.S. military facilities in neighbouring Gulf states after American forces struck military infrastructure across Iran’s southern coast and eastern provinces.

According to Iranian officials quoted by state media, the latest U.S. attacks killed 14 people and wounded 78 others across five provinces on July 8 and 9.

The semi-official Fars news agency reported that one strike hit a railway bridge used for trade links with Russia and China.

Explosions were also reported on Thursday morning in Bushehr province, home to Iran’s only operational nuclear power plant, though authorities did not immediately provide details on the cause.

Gulf military installations targeted

Iran’s military said it launched drone and missile attacks against several U.S.-linked military facilities across the Gulf region.

According to Iranian state media, the targets included:

• U.S. Patriot missile systems in Kuwait
• An early-warning installation in Qatar
• A U.S. military fuel storage facility in Bahrain

Kuwaiti authorities said their air defences intercepted a cruise missile, three ballistic missiles and ten drones. Officials reported one person was injured by falling debris.

Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, called for restraint and urged all sides to return to diplomatic negotiations.

During a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani also condemned attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Strait of Hormuz remains at the centre of tensions

The latest military confrontation follows attacks on commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy shipping routes.

The U.S. military said Wednesday’s strikes were designed to protect international navigation after blaming Iran for attacks on three commercial vessels.

Although Tehran has not officially claimed responsibility for those attacks, analysts say Iran has increasingly used pressure around the Strait of Hormuz as leverage in negotiations with Washington.

Before the war began in late February, roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies passed through the narrow waterway.

Iran has since exercised significant control over maritime traffic in the strait, giving it considerable strategic influence over global energy markets.

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said American forces struck around 90 Iranian military targets.

According to CENTCOM, the operation targeted:

• Air defence systems
• Coastal surveillance infrastructure
• Missile and drone storage facilities
• Naval assets
• Military logistics centres along Iran’s coastline

“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway,” CENTCOM said.

President Donald Trump defended the operation on Wednesday, writing on Truth Social: “This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse.”

Trump says ceasefire agreement is effectively over

While attending the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump said he believed the memorandum of understanding signed with Iran to halt the fighting had effectively collapsed.

Asked whether the agreement remained in force, Trump replied:”It’s a very interesting question. To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them.”

He later added that even if another agreement were reached, he doubted Tehran would honour it.

Despite the renewed military exchanges, Trump said he did not expect the confrontation to develop into another prolonged war.

“Anything that happens is going to be over very quickly… and will only make it safer, including for oil,” he told reporters.

Iran vows continued retaliation

Iranian officials condemned the latest U.S. military operation as another breach of understandings reached after the ceasefire.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned Washington that future attacks would receive a military response.

“The U.S. has yet to learn that bullying and breaking its commitments no longer come without a cost,” he wrote on social media.

“The Strait of Hormuz will be reopened only under Iranian arrangements, not through U.S. threats.”

Oil markets remain on edge

Oil prices retreated on Thursday after jumping sharply a day earlier, as traders assessed whether the latest fighting would significantly disrupt Gulf energy exports.

Shipping also remains under close watch.

One of the vessels struck this week the Qatari LNG tanker Al Rekayyat remains stranded off Oman after suffering an engine-room fire following a projectile strike.

Industry sources said its liquefied natural gas cargo appears secure and that the immediate risk of explosion remains low.

Future outlook

The latest exchange of strikes has significantly weakened confidence in the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, even if neither side appears ready for a return to full-scale war.

Attention is now focused on whether further attacks occur around the Strait of Hormuz, where any prolonged disruption could quickly tighten global energy supplies and drive oil prices higher.

Diplomatic efforts led by Gulf states are likely to intensify, but Trump’s declaration that the interim agreement is “over” and Iran’s vow to continue retaliating have raised doubts over whether negotiations can still produce a lasting settlement.

With information from Reuters.

In his latest spat with a fellow NATO member, U.S. President Donald Trump condemned Spain as a “wasted cause” and “terrible partner” in the alliance. Speaking at the NATO Summit in Ankara, as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte looked on, Trump said he wanted to cut off all trade relations with Spain. While Spanish officials have stressed that relations won’t be affected, it does raise questions about the long-term status of the U.S. military presence in Spain, should the situation deteriorate further.

“We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore… I’d like you to cut it off,” Trump said. “Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate; they don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits. Watch them, watch them come running back; oh, they’ll come running back.”

He continued: “We don’t have to trade with them. I don’t want to do any more trade with them… Don’t even talk to them; they’re hopeless, bad people, because you know they have everybody else going and paying and working… They’re open about it, they’re hostile about it, and let’s see how hostile they remain when they call up, and they ‘please, please, we want to trade with you, sir. We want to trade with you, sir.’ They make so much money with us, and we’re going to see that they make a lot less. I want no business with them.”

According to U.S. Congress figures, mutual trade between the two countries was worth $75 billion in 2025, and the United States made $3 billion more from the relationship than Spain.

In an effort to heal the rift, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez later insisted that relations with the United States were “very positive,” and that he had spoken to Trump.

“We talked about the World Cup… there was no tension whatsoever, on the contrary it was all very friendly,” said Sánchez.

The BBC reported that government sources in Madrid said that Spain had no plan to change their “excellent social, cultural, and economic relationship.”

The background to this is Trump’s unhappiness with the Sánchez government refusing the U.S. military permission to use its bases at Morón and Rota in Spain for missions during the war against Iran.

Another point of conflict is Sánchez’s refusal to increase defense spending to five percent of GDP, in line with NATO targets.

This is not Trump’s first threat to cut off trade relations with Spain. The same had happened back in March, in response to Sánchez’s stance on the Iran war.

While there was no change to trade between the two countries after that, were relations between the United States and Spain to worsen, the continued access to Morón and Rota would become a question.

Of the two, Naval Station Rota, in the province of Cádiz, is the most critical. It sits in a strategic position at the mouth of the Mediterranean, which is one of the world’s most important naval control points.

Described by the U.S. Navy as “the gateway to the Mediterranean,” Rota is one of the most strategically important U.S. military hubs in Europe, critical to supporting U.S. and allied naval operations across multiple theaters. The installation is central for Naval Forces Europe-Africa/Central (EURAFCENT) and the U.S. Sixth Fleet.

Located on a 6,100-acre Spanish Navy facility in southern Spain, Rota functions as a major logistical gateway linking North America with Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Middle East.

The base supports the movement of personnel, equipment, fuel, and supplies through its three operational piers, a 670-acre airfield capable of supporting U.S. Navy and Air Force aviation operations, and some of the largest weapons and fuel storage facilities in Europe.

Perhaps the highest-profile resident unit at Rota is Destroyer Squadron 60 (DESRON 60), one of three U.S. Navy destroyer squadrons permanently based outside the continental United States and the only one of these to call Europe home.

In 2024, the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Oscar Austin arrived at Rota, as the first of two additional destroyers to join the Forward Deployed Naval Force-Europe, which will have an eventual total of six. These warships are notably modified with special defenses tailored to the European theater, as you can read about here.

Other key Navy units at Rota include Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron Seven Nine (HSM-79), the “Griffins,” flying the sub-hunting MH-60R Seahawk, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Eight.

Turning to Morón, this airbase is located southeast of the city of Seville in southern Spain. While Naval Station Rota is a springboard for U.S. maritime forces, Morón provides a similar role for the Air Force. Its strategic position means it plays a key role as a forward operating location for air operations, rapid response missions, and contingency support across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

The base’s capabilities include airfield operations, aircraft support, logistics, maintenance, communications, security, and host-nation support, all of which are geared toward rapid deployment and sustainment of U.S. forces when and where they are needed.

Resident U.S. Air Force units at Morón, under the Third Air Force, include the 496th Air Base Squadron, a geographically separated unit (GSU) that comes under the command of the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The 86th Airlift Wing flies C-130J airlifters as well as C-21A and C-37A staff transports.

Morón also serves as a critical node in the transatlantic and transeuropean tanker bridges, making it a key logistical gateway for the massive movements that are critical to buildups in Europe and the Middle East, as well as for more routine transatlantic deployments.

As well as other U.S. Air Force assets that temporarily deploy to Morón, including from the Bomber Task Force, the base also regularly hosts deployments of U.S. Marine Corps aircraft.

Both Morón and Rota operate under the U.S.-Spain Agreement on Defense Cooperation, which allows the United States and Spain to operate alongside one another and share critical infrastructure.

Morón Air Base and Naval Station Rota remain key nodes in the U.S. military’s global posture, providing a strategically positioned bridge between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Their combined capabilities allow U.S. forces to rapidly move, stage, and sustain aircraft, ships, personnel, and equipment across multiple theaters.

A loss of access to Morón and Rota would extend far beyond a bilateral dispute between Washington and Madrid. While the United States could maintain operations through other European and regional locations, replacing the unique combination of air, maritime, and logistical capabilities provided by the two installations would take time and impose additional strain on U.S. forces. Loss of access to these bases, especially Rota, could be one of Spain’s most powerful cards to play if Trump’s rhetoric turns into action.

More importantly, any decision by a NATO member to restrict access to critical allied infrastructure would have broader implications for the alliance, raising questions about the reliability of defense commitments and the political cohesion that underpins collective security.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

July 9 (UPI) — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said early Thursday that it has launched attacks targeting U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, hours after U.S. Central Command announced the completion of its attacks against Iran.

The tit-for-tat strikes follow President Donald Trump a day prior saying the cease-fire agreement between Washington and Tehran was all but over, and threatened the return to all-out war in the Middle East.

Fighting had simmered between the two sides following last month’s agreement to conditions that could lead to an end of the war, but the Strait of Hormuz has proved a sticking point. The Trump administration is demanding a return to freedom of navigation through the chokepoint; Iran is seeking to maintain control over the vita energy transit route.

As negotiations were stalling, three commercial vessels were struck while transiting the strait, resulting in the United States attacking Iran early Wednesday, kicking off the continuing retaliatory strikes as Iran appears unrelenting in its oversight of the Strait of Hormuz.

“America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a social media statement early Thursday.

“Don’t flail around pointlessly, or you’ll sink ever deeper: the Strait of Hormuz will only open with ‘Iranian arrangements,’ not American threats.”

The IRGC said it had not only attacked but “smashed important infrastructure and facilities” at Arifjan and Ali Al Salem bases in Kuwait and Juffair and Sheikh Isa bases in Bahrain.

State-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that Iran early Tuesday was attacking U.S. bases from Bushehr city, stating the United States had targeted those assets hours earlier.

The state broadcaster also claimed the U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain was also hit.

The extent of potential damage was not immediately clear, but both Kuwait and Bahrain confirmed incoming attacks.

The elite military unit in charge of protecting the Islamic regime warned that the United States that “should it repeat its aggression, our crushing responses will expand to other American bases in the region,” it said.

The attack came as the U.S. Central Command announced that it had completed strikes against Iran late Wednesday.

CENTCOM said late Wednesday that it had completed strikes against about 90 Iranian military targets, including air defense systems and coastal surveillance assets, were hit. The announced follower an earlier round of U.S. attacks overnight Tuesday that struck about 80 targets in Iran.

July 8 (UPI) — Graham Platner dropped out of the Maine Senate race on Wednesday evening, two days after allegations arose that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2021.

In a video, Platner said that “we believe that for the movement to continue, it can’t be me — and for that reason we are suspending campaign operations.”

“It’s not the false allegations, though, that have brought us to where we are,” he said. “It’s the fact that they’re being used by the political establishment to put structural pressure on us. We live in a political system that is not built for normal people. It is a system built structurally to make sure movements like ours cannot flourish.”

The decision allows Democrats to choose a new candidate for the race against Republican Susan Collins, the five-term incumbent. Platner had until Monday to drop out; Democrats now have two weeks to pick a contender for the race.

On Monday, a woman who once dated Platner said he forced her to have sex with him about five years ago, Politico reported. Jenny Racicot said Platner was intoxicated when he entered her home one night in 2021 andassaulted her while she told him repeatedly to stop. Others have also made claims about Platner and abuse.

Platner has steadily denied the allegations, calling them “categorically untrue.”

Earlier Wednesday, the Maine Democratic Party approved a plan to hold a nominating convention if Platner suspended his campaign.

Valli Geiger, a Maine state representative, told WMTW-TV of Portland, Maine, that Platner called her and encouraged her to try to take his place on the ballot.

“He said, ‘Valli, you are a fighter; you have been with this movement since the beginning,’ ” Geiger said. She said she was “heartbroken” by the accusations against Platner but agreed that he needed to suspend his campaign. She also said he was encouraging others to put their names forward.

CNN reported that candidates to replace Platner include three Democrats who ran for governor: Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control; Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; and former state Sen. Troy Jackson.

Since the allegations broke, a rising tide of Democrats called on Platner to suspend his campaign, including former supporters Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Many groups rescinded endorsements of the candidate.

Platner has also been involved in other controversies, including over a tattoo with Nazi connotations that he said he was unaware of.

WASHINGTON — A tentative armistice between the United States and Iran reached less than a month ago appeared all but dead Wednesday after the two sides traded fresh military strikes, and as President Trump directed further attacks on the Islamic Republic.

The escalation marked a dramatic turn after the Trump administration spent weeks selling a diplomatic breakthrough with Tehran that proved controversial across the political aisle, lifting oil sanctions and a naval blockade on Iran in exchange for the promise of talks over the status of the Strait of Hormuz and its decades-old nuclear program.

Now, speaking to reporters at the NATO summit in Turkey, Trump said he believed the truce — which diplomats describe as a memorandum of understanding — was “over” and that it was a “waste of time” dealing with Iranian leadership.

“They’re scum. They’re sick people,” Trump said of Iranian leaders, whom he had characterized last month as “very rational people” and “very nice to deal with.”

The president’s dim views of the ceasefire agreement’s fate were shared by Iran’s foreign ministry, which issued a statement on Wednesday saying the American attacks, the reinstatement of a U.S. naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, and Israel’s continuing attacks in Lebanon rendered “important and fundamental” parts of the deal “ineffective.”

The truce’s unraveling was underscored by Trump ordering the U.S. military to launch a series of strikes against Iran on Wednesday afternoon to “further degrade their ability to threaten” the commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement on social media.

Earlier in the day, Trump signaled that the United States planned to “hit them hard” and floated the possibility of taking over Kharg Island, which is vital to Iran’s economy. His remarks quickly prompted oil prices to rise and global stock markets to fall, a worry that Trump acknowledged but which did not seem to sway his decision-making in relation to Iran.

“If we hit Iran, oil goes up a little bit, it is all right,” Trump said. He later added that the United States may “do some other thing that could lift it a little bit, but I don’t think it’s gonna lift it a lot at all.”

As Trump signals the continuation of fighting, his administration has been seeking more than $67 billion in funding to cover expenses related to the Iran war, a request that Congress has not yet approved as lawmakers have been split over the president’s handling of the conflict.

“The American people are paying the price for Trump’s total failure in Iran,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Wednesday. “Our troops are back in harm’s way and high gas costs are continuing to punish working families.”

The president’s stance on the war marked the latest setback to a fragile truce that has barely held since the 14-page agreement was signed June 17, as the U.S. and Iran engaged over the last few weeks in cycles of attacks and counterattacks.

Trump was noticeably angrier at Iran on Wednesday as he cast doubt over the deal. Last month, Trump had complimented Iranian leadership for trying to reach a peace deal and celebrated the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for the world’s oil and gas. But based on his remarks, it was clear he was out of patience.

“I am not happy with them,” Trump said. “They’re cuckoo. There’s something wrong with these people. For 47 years, they’ve been the bully of the Middle East and they are not the bully anymore. They are not the bully anymore.”

Trump expressed frustration with Iran’s negotiators and their resistance to abiding by U.S. demands to reopen the strait. When asked if he intended to send troops to Iran, the president dismissed the idea.

“Why would I go in now?” Trump said. “I’d go in when they’re completely eliminated or an agreement is made.”

Still, the president kept the door open for negotiations, saying that his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner “want to negotiate.”

“They’re good people, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, but they have to come back to me,” Trump said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with [the Iranians]. They’re liars.”

The latest breakdown to the ceasefire followed a now-familiar chain reaction of tit-for-tat attacks, starting with a series of strikes on three oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, including a Qatari vessel carrying natural gas, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center.

The Qatari tanker was off the coast of Oman when it was hit and caught fire, the maritime monitor said, in what experts say was a move to thwart ships attempting to use an alternate transit route to the one Iran specified. Iran did not claim responsibility, but a report on Iranian state television said the Qatari tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings to turn back.

The two other vessels were damaged but were able to continue to their destination, according to the U.K. group.

Qatar, which has played a vital role in facilitating negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, condemned the attack on its tanker as “unacceptable.”

The U.S. responded with a wave of strikes against more than 80 Iranian targets aimed at “impos[ing] heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway,” according to a statement from U.S. Central Command. That tally included roughly 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in the strait.

Iranian state media said U.S. strikes targeted Sirik, Qeshm Island and Bushehr and Bandar Abbas, while a U.S. drone strike on the port city of Mahshahr killed one Revolutionary Guard member.

Ahead of the strikes, the White House revoked the 60-day temporary license given to Tehran to sell and deliver oil during the truce.

Iran’s military countered with its own strikes on 85 U.S. military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait; it also shot down an MQ-9 drone, according to a statement on Wednesday.

Kuwait said its military intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones, but that none had resulted in material damage or casualties.

Global oil prices surged 6% on news of Trump’s reversal on the deal, rising to more than $78 a barrel, down from the peak during the war but still above prewar levels.

The renewed violence appeared to have little effect on the funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Feb. 28, in the war’s opening hours.

The funeral, a days-long period of mourning, is set to end on Thursday, when Khamenei’s body will return from Iraq to be buried in the city of Mashhad, his birthplace. Negotiations were to begin once more.

In his remarks Wednesday, Trump said Iranian leaders had asked for a “timeout” to attend the funeral, and that he had promised not to kill them.

“And I said give it to them, and they start shooting missiles,” Trump said.

Whether those talks — which were meant to deal with the thorniest issues between the two countries, including the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program — will go ahead remains unclear. Iran, for its part, maintained a defiant attitude.

“The era of bullying and extortion is over,” wrote Mohammad Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker. “It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”

Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to the supreme leader, posted on X that Trump’s policy had “driven the region towards fire.”

“We had previously warned that the region is not a place for the political gambling of small countries, and we have repeatedly proven that adventures are met with an immediate response,” he wrote.

He added that the Axis of Resistance — a reference to Iran’s network of allied groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen — would not be “silent against humiliation and adventurism” and has “its finger on the trigger.”

Bulos reported from Beirut and Ceballos from Washington.

July 8 (UPI) — The U.S. military resumed attacks against Iran on Wednesday afternoon “to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” U.S. Central Command said.

“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway,” the statement continued.

U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking at a news conference at the end of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, said the United States would resume its naval blockade of Iran. He said further negotiations were “a waste of time” and added “Let’s just finish the job.”

Trump had earlier characterized the resumed strikes as “a little warning,” and said, “We’re going to hit them hard tonight, but we’ll see how it all works out.”

Iranian media reported explosions in the cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik, which the United States also struck Tuesday, and in the cities of Chabahar and Konarak on Iran’s southern coast. Sources said Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant did not sustain any damage.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the Pentagon would strike Iran “even more and even deeper” if Trump said the word.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump called Iran’s leaders “scum” and “vicious, violent people.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that addressing Iran with “derogatory language” does not diminish it.

“Iranians are known for their civility, culture and strong moral values,” he said in a social media post. “We do not answer vulgarity with vulgarity, but with action: fearlessly and with great valor.”

Tuesday’s attacks lasted about four hours and struck more than 80 targets, U.S. Central Command said. The attacks came after Iran attacked three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The United States also reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil sales in retaliation for the attacks. Iran said the sanctions were “in clear violation” of the memorandum of understanding to end the conflict between Iran and the United States that was signed in June.

The fatal shooting of a Houston man by a federal immigration officer Tuesday marks at least the eighth death during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign, and the first fatality amid a newly intensified push by the administration to carry out its mass deportations agenda.

Department of Homeland Security officials said in a statement that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, ignored commands while trying to evade arrest during an enforcement operation. They say he attempted to ram his car into an agent, who opened fire in self-defense.

Araujo’s family said he was on his way to work at a construction job. He died on the way to the hospital.

The fatal shooting drew immediate criticism from immigrants rights groups and some Democrats who called for an independent investigation and for all footage, communication and evidence to be preserved.

Video footage in several previous shootings has contradicted the accounts of federal officers. No immigration officers have been charged in those fatal encounters.

Man shot during vacation trip traffic stop

A fatal late-night traffic stop in Texas in March 2025 marked the earliest deadly shooting by federal officers during the nationwide immigration crackdown. It took almost a year for records in the fatal shooting of the 23-year-old U.S. citizen to be disclosed.

A Homeland Security Investigations team was conducting an immigration enforcement operation with local police when agents stopped Ruben Ray Martinez, who was on his way from San Antonio to South Padre Island. Family members said he had just turned 23 and was with his best friend on his way to celebrate.

DHS officials said Martinez was told to exit the vehicle, but he refused and instead “intentionally ran over” an agent. Another agent fired shots through the open driver’s window, striking Martinez, who died at a hospital. The HSI agent was treated for an undisclosed knee injury.

Martinez’s mother said she was contacted by investigators with the Texas Rangers who told her there was video that contradicted the account given by federal agents. Federal and state authorities have declined to comment on potential discrepancies.

Nurse shot during Minneapolis protest

A Border Patrol officer shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, during a Jan. 24 protest against the Metro Surge immigration operation in Minneapolis.

Federal authorities immediately described Pretti, a U.S. citizen, as an armed agitator who was a threat to officers. But bystander video showed Pretti was on the ground and had been holding a cellphone during the interaction with officers.

The video showed an officer appearing to pull a gun from Pretti’s waistband and step away before the first shot was fired by another officer, followed by more shots. Pretti had a permit to possess a firearm.

State and local officials pushed back against the federal officials’ initial characterizations of Pretti, with Gov. Tim Walz calling the comments “despicable.”

Driver shot behind the wheel of an SUV

Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, was repeatedly shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Videos show she was turning the wheels of her car away from an officer, Jonathan Ross, when he opened fire. Trump administration officials have repeatedly defended Ross, claiming his life was at risk from the moving vehicle.

Good’s death caused a firestorm across the country. The U.S. Justice Department said it wouldn’t share information on the shooting with state authorities.

State and local officials subsequently sued to try to stop the immigration sweeps. Protesters with whistles trailed officers who, in response, deployed tear gas and other chemical irritants.

Cook from Mexico shot during a traffic stop

ICE agents fatally shot Silverio Villegas González during a traffic stop Sept. 12 in suburban Chicago. Relatives said the 38-year-old line cook from Mexico had dropped off a child at daycare that morning.

At the time, DHS officials said agents were pursuing a man with a history of reckless driving who was in the country illegally. They alleged Villegas González evaded arrest and dragged an officer with his vehicle.

Homeland Security said the officer opened fire fearing for his life and was hospitalized with “serious injuries.” However, local police videos showed the agent walking around and dismissing his injuries as “nothing major.”

DHS has said the death remains under investigation.

Farmworker fell from greenhouse roof during ICE raid

Authorities were arresting dozens of farmworkers July 10 at Glass House Farms in Camarillo when Jaime Alanis fell from the roof of a greenhouse and broke his neck. The 57-year-old laborer from Mexico died at a hospital two days later.

Relatives said Alanis had spent a decade working at the farm. During the raid, Alanis called family to say he was hiding. Officials said he fell about 30 feet from the greenhouse roof.

Homeland Security said Alanis was never in custody and was not being chased by immigration authorities.

Man struck on California freeway after running from officers

A man fleeing from immigration officers outside a Home Depot store in Monrovia died after being hit by an SUV as he tried to cross a freeway on Aug. 14.

Monrovia police said ICE agents were conducting enforcement operations when the man was hit while running across the eastbound lanes of the 210 Freeway.

The man, identified by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network as Carlos Roberto Montoya Valdez, 52, of Guatemala, died at a hospital.

Homeland Security said Montoya Valdez wasn’t being pursued by immigration authorities when he ran.

Gardener from Honduras killed on Virginia interstate

A pickup truck fatally struck Josué Castro Rivera on a highway in Norfolk, Va., as he tried to escape authorities during a traffic stop on Oct. 23.

Castro Rivera, 24, of Honduras, was heading to a gardening job with three passengers when ICE officers pulled over the vehicle, according to his brother, Henry Castro.

State and federal authorities said Castro Rivera ran away on foot and was hit by a pickup truck on Interstate 264.

Homeland Security said Castro Rivera’s vehicle was stopped as part of a “targeted, intelligence-based” operation and that Castro Rivera had “resisted heavily and fled.”

Bynum and Lauer write for the Associated Press. Bynum reported from Savannah, Ga. Lauer reported from Philadelphia. AP reporters Ed White in Detroit; Sophia Tareen in Chicago; and Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed to this report.