Lawyers for the ICC’s ousted Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan say he is the victim of a political witchhunt, motivated by his decision to go after Israeli leaders for war crimes. Khan was removed from office over sexual assault allegations. Soraya Lennie explains.
Published On 25 Jul 202625 Jul 2026
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The United States has continued to attack Iran for a 13th consecutive night on Thursday and explosions were reported in multiple Iranian cities on Friday morning.
In addition to the ongoing attacks, shipping disruptions continue to intensify. Ship tracking data revealed that just one tanker successfully crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, marking the lowest level since May 7.
However, shipping data from London Stock Exchange Group shows that two Chinese supertankers carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia successfully exited the Bab al-Mandeb strait on Friday. This is despite the naval blockade Yemen’s Houthis announced against Saudi Arabia on Monday.
Here is a recap of what happened on Thursday night and Friday.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that at 01:00 GMT on Friday, it concluded its latest round of strikes against Iran.
CENTCOM said it targeted Iranian military command centres, drone storage facilities, communication networks, coastal surveillance sites and maritime capabilities.
On Friday, Iranian media reported explosions or attacks across multiple Iranian cities. State broadcaster IRIB reported that explosions were reported in Khondab, Khorramabad, Konarak and Jask. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that two people have been injured following an early morning drone attack on Khorramabad, citing the deputy governor of the western Lorestan province.
Iran’s Mehr news agency reported on Friday that US missile strikes hit the cities of Andimeshk and Omidiyeh in the Khuzestan province. There were no casualties or injuries.
Al Jazeera’s Tohid Assidi reported from the Iranian capital, Tehran, that explosions were heard on Qeshm island, located in the Strait of Hormuz, on Friday.
Attacks on the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas have injured two people, Iranian media reported on Friday.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Friday that four people were killed and five others were injured in a US missile attack near the southwestern city of Ahvaz.
Bahrain: In a statement carried by Iran’s Mehr news agency, the Iranian army said it used drones to target fuel storage tanks, equipment warehouses and troop living quarters at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain.
Jordan: The military added that aircraft hangars, maintenance facilities and accommodation sites at the Muwaffaq Salti/Al-Azraq base in Jordan were also hit, warning that any actions against Iran’s interests would undermine regional security and economic stability.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump stepped up his rhetoric against Tehran. He told the US news website Axios that he may launch the largest strikes on Iran yet, after Tehran carried out another wave of retaliatory attacks on US allies in the Gulf, including hitting a telecommunications tower in Kuwait.
Trump said he was “considering a massive attack” that would be “bigger than ever before”.
“I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,” Trump said.
Separately, Trump threatened, on his Truth Social platform, that if Iran attacked ships, the US would use Tehran’s frozen assets to pay for repairs.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Friday that using frozen state assets to pay for future claims sets a dangerous global precedent.
“Seizing another nation’s assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent,” Araghchi wrote on X.
He cautioned that “those who celebrate or profit from such funds should remember: once governments normalise confiscation, no one’s assets are safe. Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful”.
The first day of the 2026 Commonwealth Games is upon us and it’s a busy enough Friday for various Team Northern Ireland athletes in Glasgow.
It’s an early start Gary Kelly who is in action in the men’s singles against New Zealand’s Shannon McIlroy at 08:30 BST after his win against Niue on Thursday.
Shauna O’Neill and Chloe Wilson will face Niue in the women’s pairs at 11:20 after their victory
At the Tollcross Swimming Centre, it is a morning full of heats from 10:30.
Victoria Catterson will be in the women’s 400m freestyle while Grace Davison and Lottie Cullen will get under way in the women’s 200m backstroke.
Conor Ferguson and Paddy Johnston will be in the 50m backstroke with Alana Burns-Aiken in the 50m butterfly and Adam Bradley in the 100m breaststroke.
Barry McClements will go in the men’s S10 100m butterfly while Team NI will take part in both the men’s and women’s 100m freestyle relay heats.
Should the various swimmers progress through their heats, the semi-finals or finals of all those events will take place that evening from 19:00.
At the SEC Centre, one of Team NI’s boxing contingent will be in action.
Louis Rooney fights in the men’s bantamweight 55kg round of 32 against Mathealira Seholoholo from Lesotho at 11:45.
From 13:00 at the Emirates Arena, Olympic champion Rhys McClenaghan alongside Ewan McAteer and Eamon Montgomery are in qualification action.
The biggest complaint from fans is scheduling.
In 2025-26, the WSL replaced the Sunday 18:45 kick-off time with more noon matches, but this also proved unpopular.
“For an away day it’s horrible,” explains Arsenal fan Major. “You’ve got fans leaving at three o’clock in the morning or you’re going the night before and having to pay for a hotel.”
The revised time also clashes with grassroots football, played widely on a Sunday morning. It is a barrier for the younger generation to attend games.
Regular breaks throughout the season are an issue too. Earlier this year, former England defender Anita Asante suggested extended gaps between league games hampers momentum and rhythm for fans.
Another complaint from supporters is accessibility.
While Premier League-level grounds like Emirates Stadium and Everton’s Goodison Park are well equipped, smaller venues are less accommodating.
Jones, a wheelchair user, was frustrated by the lack of Blue Badge parking information when trying to attend London City’s away trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
“A lot of the issues I experience are with communication,” she says. “Every club has an accessibility section on their website but for Tottenham it is only for the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, not Brisbane Road [where Tottenham women play].”
Jones told BBC Sport the onus was on her to seek further information via email, to which she received a reply stating Blue Badge parking had sold out. Only after she spoke to Tottenham’s disability co-ordinator did she learn the venue did not have Blue Badge parking as it was in a residential area.
To compound matters, the wheelchair accessible allocation was on the opposite side of the ground to the away section, leaving Jones isolated.
Tottenham Hotspur told BBC Sport information for the venue is available on the website via the ‘Ask Spurs’ chatbot. However, after an internal investigation, they are making improvements.
Brisbane Road-specific guidance has since been added to their event day accessible parking section on ‘Ask Spurs’, while a matchday-specific guide is in the works.
A spokesperson for the club confirmed: “We’re working on a full Brisbane Road matchday guide for the website for next season to give parity with our Tottenham Hotspur Stadium information.”
The United States continued to hit Iran for a 12th consecutive night early on Thursday, and Iran retaliated, striking targets across the Gulf, particularly in Kuwait and Jordan.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday that an explosion set a tanker ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz after it attempted to navigate the southern route off the coast of Oman.
Here is a recap of what happened on Wednesday night and Thursday.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said at 02:30 GMT on Thursday that it concluded the latest round of strikes against Iran.
It targeted Iranian military targets, including maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites and air defence assets, CENTCOM said, without specifying what areas in Iran were struck.
A local official told the Mehr news agency that US missiles struck the area around a passenger terminal in Shalamcheh, a western city near the Iraqi border. Two people were killed in the attack, the deputy governor of Iran’s Khuzestan province told the state broadcaster IRIB on Thursday. Local media also reported that 11 people were injured.
Al Jazeera’s Tohid Assidi reported from Iranian capital Tehran that overnight strikes targeted at least three cities in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. This included the city of Ramshir, where an asphalt facility was reported to have been targeted.
In Hormozgan province, explosions were heard in the city of Sirik, which overlooks the Strait of Hormuz, Assidi reported.
He added that the governor confirmed an overnight attack in Bushehr on a power substation near the city’s nuclear power plant. This resulted in a few hours of power outage in the city.
IRIB also reported that explosions were heard in Iran’s Jask.
The Tasnim news agency reported that a US missile hit a location on the outskirts of the city of Andimeshk.
Two naval search and rescue vessels were hit and seriously damaged in a US attack on Iran’s Hormozgan, the ISNA news agency reported, citing the province’s Ports and Maritime Administration.
The IRGC claimed attacks on US assets in Kuwait on Thursday.
It said it had “attacked and destroyed a large warehouse of military equipment, a Patriot missile defence system, and a hangar of American MQ9 drones” at Ali Al Salem airbase.
Addressing the Kuwaiti people, the IRGC insisted that it was the US, not Iran, that had “violated your territorial integrity and sovereignty”.
It said its attacks were aimed at US bases, territory it described as beyond the control of Kuwait’s own border guards.
“So it is America that has violated your territorial integrity and sovereignty, not us. We are attacking lands occupied by the American army, an army that knows nothing but crime,” the IRGC said.
Later on Thursday, the IRGC claimed attacks on US assets in Jordan, saying it had “destroyed a radar of the American THAAD missile defence system with lightning strikes”.
“A Patriot system and a C-RAM radar were also targeted and destroyed, and the fuel tanks of the American base were set on fire,” it said.
The IRGC added that “a large helicopter equipment warehouse and a helicopter repair and maintenance shed were also set on fire and destroyed”.
Addressing the Jordanian people, it insisted that its actions did not violate Jordanian sovereignty, arguing that the US military presence infringes on local authority and that targeting US forces was a legal and necessary response.
The IRGC said an explosion set a tanker on fire in the Strait of Hormuz.
In a statement carried by Iranian media, it said two other vessels quickly turned back following the explosion.
The IRGC claimed the three ships were acting under US orders and had “intended to pass through the mine-laid route south of the Strait of Hormuz”.
“The powerful IRGC Navy emphasises that the Strait of Hormuz is under our control and that as long as America’s evil deeds in the region continue, it is completely closed and no oil tanker will enter or exit [the strait],” it warned.
“Any ship that is deceived by America and intends to pass through without coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran will suffer the same fate.”
The UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre said a ship was targeted 70 nautical miles (130km) off the Saudi coast, causing a fire on board. There was no mention of casualties among the crew.
The Houthis, meanwhile, claimed a major operation against two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, called the Encelia and the Layla. The Saudi SPA news agency confirmed the Encelia was hit.
The Houthis said they targeted those two tankers with cruise and ballistic missiles as well as drones, causing huge balls of fire and devastation.
The Houthis framed the attack as part of a tit-for-tat campaign against Saudi Arabia. They are calling it a “siege-for-siege”. They said it has been 12 years since Saudi Arabia has been imposing a siege on the Yemeni people, and that it is now time for Yemen and the Houthis to respond in kind. Riyadh has rejected Houthi claims that it had besieged Yemen.
For the ninth consecutive night, the United States mounted attacks on Iran’s defence facilities and maritime capabilities into the early hours of Monday, with Tehran hitting back in tit-for-tat strikes as warning sirens blared in neighbouring Gulf countries and Jordan, home to US military bases.
Both sides have accused each other of violating the memorandum of understanding (MoU) they had signed in Islamabad, Pakistan, on June 17. US President Donald Trump has said he views the truce as over, while Iran has said it no longer intends to adhere to the MoU.
Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz — through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas passed during peacetime — is shut again, sending crude prices shooting up yet again. On Sunday, the US military said another American service member had been killed late last week, bringing the total number of deaths to 17.
So, what has changed in the last two months for the US, Iran and the Gulf countries as the MoU has unravelled in terms of economic impact, widening of military targets, and how they view the war?
The Strait of Hormuz — the kill switch of the global economy — has been closed down by Iranian authorities, warning that not even a drop of oil shall pass through the waterway amid US attacks and a naval blockade against Iran’s ports.
The MoU had paved a path for the reopening of the strait. And that had briefly pulled oil prices to par with pre-war levels.
The strait is of critical importance, especially for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, which saw their economic security and energy strategy severely affected by export curbs. The war on Iran has brought about the largest disruption to global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies in modern history.
The costs go beyond just energy revenue losses, noted Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, an economist at Germany’s Marburg University.
“The conflict also threatens the GCC countries’ diversification strategies. Tourism, aviation, logistics, construction, real estate and foreign investment all depend on perceptions of regional stability,” he told Al Jazeera. “Continued war increases insurance and transport costs and encourages investors and tourists to reconsider their exposure to the region.”
For Iran, the MoU lifted the naval blockade against Iranian ports and offered oil and banking sanctions waivers, and Tehran rushed to export tens of millions of barrels of crude oil.
The earlier US blockade had curbed Iranian exports, with Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, telling Iranian state TV in an interview last month that “we did not export even one barrel” during the blockade.
However, as fighting resumed, the US disabled a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, reported to be carrying Iranian crude. Tehran has also hit commercial vessels in the waterway, and the US has been bombing Iran’s coastal areas since then.
“[The renewed US naval blockade] is more damaging than conventional sanctions because the restrictions are now enforced physically,” said Farzanegan. “Iran therefore has much less room to use intermediaries, alternative flags and informal shipping arrangements to maintain oil exports.”
“The immediate consequences are lower foreign-exchange revenues, further depreciation of the rial and stronger inflationary pressure,” the economist told Al Jazeera.
Iran’s economy has been suffering from one of the world’s highest inflation rates. The rial touched nearly 1.9 million against the US dollar this week, a new all-time low. The Tehran Stock Exchange’s main index lost another 120,000 points or 2.4 percent on Saturday to stand at 4.77 million.
Trump’s war has been widely unpopular in the US. The president recorded a 60 percent disapproval rating on the economy, as per the latest CNBC polling, with a net approval rating of -22, reported to be the lowest of his political career.
As per the poll, 61 percent of respondents said they are pessimistic about the state of the economy, the highest percentage since December 2023.
“The effects are most visible in energy prices and consumer purchasing power. This increases household costs and complicates the political position of President Trump and Republican candidates ahead of the November 2026 congressional elections,” said Farzanegan.
![A vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, July 16, 2026 [Reuters]](https://i0.wp.com/occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026-07-16T062529Z_1977252053_RC2QEMAIXJ4I_RTRMADP_3_IRAN-CRISIS-OMAN-HORMUZ-1784543675.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
The US military has had 17 personnel killed in the war with Iran so far. Three of them have been killed since the resumption of the war about 10 days ago.
“We hit them very hard again tonight,” Trump said on Sunday, adding, “We did that in honour of the – probably three – it’s probably three great patriots.”
Two US personnel were killed in an Iranian attack on an airbase in Jordan on Friday, and a third is missing. Another soldier was killed last week in Iraq while defusing unexploded ordnance from an Iranian drone.
Tehran has claimed to have hit several US military facilities in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan, including an aircraft at Aqaba airport.
Al Jazeera could not immediately verify the extent of damage to any facilities.
The renewed attacks from Iran on most Gulf countries, as well as Jordan, have forced them to deploy their interceptors. GCC countries had already used hundreds of expensive interceptors during the first phase of the US-Israel war on Iran in March and April.
But the Iranian military’s attacks have also hit civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries. The bombing of power and desalination plants in Kuwait has drawn widespread regional condemnation.
“What is happening is a severe shock to the GCC countries,” Nader Habibi, an Iranian-American economist, told Al Jazeera. “Now, after the disruptions of the past seven months, even as they have tried to avoid getting involved, the civilian population is indirectly impacted.”
The US insists that it has focused its attacks on Iran’s military infrastructure, especially on the country’s southern islands — some of which act as forward military or surveillance posts, and others that are believed to host missile bunkers.
But Tehran has accused the US of targeting civilian infrastructure as well in recent days, including bridges and tunnels, ports and dock facilities, power stations and water plants. Iranian officials have said more than 50 people have been killed and about 500 wounded in US attacks in the past three weeks.
More than the war itself, a significant part of the messaging from the US and Iran has been over the control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Washington says its renewed attacks are aimed at degrading Iranian capabilities to disrupt maritime traffic in the waterway, with Trump saying last week that “the US controls the Strait”.
Tehran has pushed back on Trump’s claim.
Farzanegan said Iran’s “ability to influence shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains a unique source of bargaining power”. “Tehran is therefore prepared to bear considerable costs to preserve this leverage.”
He added that Iran may also calculate that extending part of the economic costs to neighbouring oil-exporting countries will encourage these governments to use their political influence in Washington and push the US towards negotiations.
“This appears to be one reason why Iran is prepared to maintain pressure in the Strait despite the considerable costs to its own economy,” the analyst added.
Aniseh Tabrizi, an associate fellow on the Middle East and North Africa Programme at think tank Chatham House in London, said the significant change since the MoU unravelled “is that there is less optimism than before about diplomacy being feasible”.
“For all the sides, it is difficult to foresee a scenario in which another deal is not only reached, but also implemented successfully,” she told Al Jazeera. “And that makes it particularly concerning for all the parties involved.”
Tabrizi noted that there appears to be “no imminent drive” from the Iranian side to sign a deal. “They are still maintaining escalatory attacks, but also reciprocating the kind of attacks that are conducted against the country,” she said.
GCC countries have continued to condemn Iran’s attacks on the regional countries, while calling for diplomacy to dial down the escalation. They have made it clear that Iran’s unilateral control over the Strait of Hormuz would not be acceptable to them.
Tabrizi added that, like the weeks before the Islamabad MoU, regional countries, especially Qatar, are still batting for talks.
If anything, Farzanegan said, the economic losses can bring all the sides to the table again for talks.
“Higher economic losses increase the incentives for negotiations,” he said. “A return to negotiations becomes more likely when both sides conclude that continued escalation cannot improve their bargaining position.”
Economist Habibi agreed that if an agreement is reached again, “it would be primarily because of the stability of the economic pressures on both sides”. However, he added that the probability of escalation in the next couple of weeks is higher than the probability of negotiation.
The United States has attacked Iran for a ninth consecutive night after the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) announced a US soldier had died in northern Iraq in a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone.
Here is what happened over Sunday night and Monday morning and what officials on both sides have said:
CENTCOM announced in a statement on X that it completed the ninth wave of attacks against Iran at 02:00 GMT on Monday.
It said it “targeted Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks to further diminish Iran’s ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.
The US military did not provide details about the actual sites hit in Iran.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said two oil tankers “exploded” and were halted in the southern Strait of Hormuz late on Sunday, according to a report by the semiofficial Tasnim News Agency on Monday.
The IRGC stated the vessels were trying to transit through the strategic waterway under what it described as US coercion.
“This passage is unsafe for the transport of chemical fertiliser or even a single drop of oil and gas,” the group warned, adding that the corridor would remain unsafe as long as US military operations in the region continue.
An MQ-9 drone was intercepted and shot down over Eslamabad-e Gharb in western Iran’s Kermanshah province, according to the Mehr News Agency on Monday.
Mehr said the drone was targeted by an advanced air defence system operated by the IRGC aerospace force.
Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim News Agency reported on Monday that US strikes targeted an area in the town of Khormoj in southwestern Iran. It quoted a local official.
Jordan: The IRGC said on Monday that it launched ballistic missiles at US C-17 transport planes and P-8 aircraft at Aqaba airport, claiming several were heavily damaged. In a statement carried by the state-controlled IRIB broadcaster, the IRGC also said 20 hangars housing US forces in the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Azraq were destroyed.
Bahrain: The US embassy in Bahrain said it has information suggesting Iran may seek to target unspecified locations in central Manama. It urged Americans to remain vigilant, follow instructions from local authorities and immediately seek shelter if warning sirens sound or explosions are heard.
US soldier in Iraq: A US service member was killed in northern Iraq on Saturday during the controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from an Iranian drone, CENTCOM said.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency reported late on Sunday that a vessel about 8 nautical miles (15km) northwest of Kumzar, Oman, had caught fire.
It is unclear whether this happened due to an attack by Iran. The UKMTO said the cause of the fire had not been verified and advised vessels in the area to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity while authorities investigate.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the US is hitting Iran to honour American service members who have been killed.
“We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did that in honour of the, probably three, it’s probably three great patriots,” Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington, DC, after the World Cup final in New Jersey. At least two US soldiers were killed in Jordan last week after Iranian missiles struck a US base there, and the third soldier Trump referred to was killed in Iraq during the detonation of the Iranian drone.
“We feel very badly,” he said when asked about the military fatalities, adding that those who died were fighting so “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with state media that Tehran would end the war with the US when it had “the upper hand in the field”, local news reported on Monday.
Talking with the IRNA news agency, Araghchi said the most critical decision in crisis management was identifying the precise moment to halt hostilities and begin negotiations.
“The end of the war is possible either through absolute military victory or through negotiations. The right time to negotiate is precisely when you have achieved a reliable field and strategic achievement on the military front,” Araghchi said.
“You cannot take risks with the lives of the people and the fate of the entire country. Decisions must be made based on accurate and complete calculations,” Araghchi said.
The US military has continued strikes against Iran, hitting targets further to the country’s north as well as close to capital Tehran for the first time in the latest round of violence.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said early on Thursday it struck several military sites and assets in a bid to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten innocent mariners” in the Strait of Hormuz. The unit also said it disabled an oil tanker in the passageway.
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At least 35 people have died, and more than 300 have been wounded in the latest wave of attacks that began last Wednesday after CENTCOM launched strikes on Iranian port cities close to the Strait of Hormuz. The US says the attacks are in retaliation for Iran hitting three commercial ships in the Strait.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted US military assets in neighbouring Gulf countries.
Here’s what has happened in Iran and the US on Wednesday and Thursday and what both sides are saying:
CENTCOM said in a statement early on Thursday that US air strikes targeted Iranian command centres, air defence sites, missile and drone capabilities as well as coastal surveillance facilities.
Multiple locations were hit, CENTCOM said, including Bandar Abbas on Thursday.
An earlier wave of strikes late on Wednesday hit coastal defence and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb Island in a 90-minute bombing wave, CENTCOM added. The small, strategically located island sits near the Strait of Hormuz and is believed to hold a naval base, although details are not publicly available. It is also believed to be a point from which the Iranian military has disrupted shipping routes.
Meanwhile, Iranian media reported attacks in Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island, Sirik, Chabahar, Konarak, Rask, Khondab, Khorramabad and Semnan.
A hospital in Ahvaz was forced to evacuate 211 patients after reportedly being hit in the strikes.
Air defences were activated in Tehran and neighbouring Pakdasht and Parchin on Thursday. The Iranian military said an MQ-9 drone was downed over the city of Andimeshk.
CENTCOM, in a separate statement on Thursday, said it was enforcing a naval blockade reimposed on Tuesday by disabling a “non-compliant” oil tanker that was attempting to sail towards Iran’s Kharg Island using Hellfire missiles.
Iran’s army claimed retaliatory attacks on US military assets in Kuwait and Bahrain on Thursday.
Kuwait: The Iranian army said in a statement it targeted radar systems, the Patriot defence system and fuel tanks belonging to US forces at the Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait. In an earlier statement, it said it hit a radar and gathering point for US soldiers in Kuwait, as well as US communications systems and fuel depots in Jordan’s al-Azraq airbase.
Bahrain: Drones also targeted US Super Hawk radars and Patriot defence systems at the Sheikh Isa airbase in Bahrain, the army added.
Jordan: Meanwhile, Jordan said it intercepted eight Iranian missiles on Thursday.
Iraq: Iraqi authorities said five drones attacked the city of Erbil, with two crashing near a US base and one shot down near the US consulate. Iran’s army has not claimed the attacks.
Iran’s parliament speaker and lead negotiator, Mohammad Ghalibaf, said on Wednesday Iran is prepared for a fuller military confrontation if the US does not live up to the terms of the interim deal. The country is fighting an “existential” battle, he added.
The IRGC has, meanwhile, threatened to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the US’s naval blockade, which was reimposed on Tuesday.
“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” it said in a statement.
Speaking at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, President Donald Trump reiterated his claims that Iran was pushing to strike a peace deal behind the scenes but did not provide details.
“They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,” he said.
However, in a rare show of gratitude on Wednesday, Trump thanked Iran via his Truth Social platform for the release of Dena Karari, an American citizen the US says was “wrongfully” jailed in the country since 2024.
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance, in an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan released on Wednesday, defended the war on Iran but added that an agreement was needed between the two sides to end the conflict.
A day after general manager Raegan Pebley was fired, the Sparks were in Atlanta and seemingly still focused on trying to reach the playoffs this year.
The suggestion that Pebley’s removal was a sign that the team is performing poorly didn’t sit well with coach Lynne Roberts.
“I don’t think we underachieved last year and this year is still going,” Roberts said in Atlanta on Monday before the team’s loss to the Dream. “For where we want to get, that’s not where we want to be, but we tripled our win total in my first year — that’s not underachieving. We haven’t hit our stride, we’ve been injured all year. Hopefully we get [Kelsey Plum] and Cam [Brink] back. Our system is designed around KP. I’m not close to thinking we are underachieving.”
Pebley and the rest of the Sparks’ organization signaled a clear intention to compete this season, signing veterans Nneka Ogwumike and Erica Wheeler in the offseason, signing Dearica Hamby to a three-year deal and trading for Ariel Atkins.
The Sparks’ Rae Burrell protects the ball under pressure the Chicago Sky’s Natasha Cloud at Crypto.com Arena on July 10.
(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)
They are still in the playoff race midway through the season, but have the second-worst defensive rating in the WNBA and sit a game below the postseason cutoff line.
They have competed without Plum, their top scorer, for 12 games and former No. 2 overall pick Brink during the past nine contests.
But even with their struggles, culminating in an 82-64 loss to Seattle on July 6, the Sparks responded well with consecutive home wins against Indiana and Chicago. After those games, Roberts seemed to think the team was moving in the right direction, but team owners made a major change.
The Sparks have a decision to make about how hard they want to push the rest of this season as the team flirts with missing the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season. With the trade deadline on Aug. 2, they could make some moves to improve this season or sell off their veteran assets and attempt to rebuild again.
The Sparks haven’t made the playoffs since 2020 and have made some controversial moves while trying to snap out of the slump.
In addition to the questionable trade of 2024 fourth overall pick Rickea Jackson to Chicago for veteran Atkins this offseason, Pebley traded the picks that would become Storm post duo Awa Fam and Dominique Malonga for Plum and Kia Nurse. In her sole season with the Sparks, Nurse averaged 7.6 points per game.
Pebley also traded the No. 8 pick in 2024 (that later was used to draft Alissa Pili) to Chicago for Julie Allemand and Li Yueru, then lost Allemand in the expansion draft. Yueru was sent to Seattle in the Plum trade and is now playing with Dallas. The Sparks’ 2025 first-round draft pick Sarah Ashlee Barker was left unprotected and went to Portland in the expansion draft.
The Sparks waived their top pick in this year’s draft, Ta’Niya Latson, after barely playing, and she has gone on to join Las Vegas. Sania Feagin, a 2025 first-round draft pick, was waived and signed with Portland.
Most of those moves, though, came after the Sparks lost the top spot in the 2025 draft lottery to Dallas, which selected Paige Bueckers with the No. 1 pick. Before the lottery result, it seemed like the Sparks — who went 8-32 in 2024 before that draft — were lining up for a youth movement led by Brink and Bueckers. A lineup of those three, a healthy Feagin, Barker and Allemand would be an entirely different kind of team.
Once that failed, they focused on adding veterans who could win now and have only managed modest improvement.
The Sparks have their next two first-round draft picks and four players still on rookie contracts after this season (Brink, Chance Gray, Kate Martin and Pili). Brink is their lone lottery pick left from their disappointing past six seasons. (Pili was a top-10 pick, but she has struggled to stay on a WNBA roster and just signed a player developmental contract with the Sparks this month.)
Pebley told The Times in an interview on Friday that she was open to making moves to compete at the deadline this year.
Players on the Sparks’ bench celebrate during a win over the Chicago Sky at Crypto.com Arena on July 10.
(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)
“We are in a space where we are here to win,” she said. “This is a city that wants to win. We have an ownership that wants to win. You see what they’re doing with the Lakers. You see what they’ve done already with the Dodgers. … We have to always continue to invest in the roster. We have a responsibility to always listen and be aware of what’s out there.”
A league source not authorized to discuss trade conversations publicly told The Times that Pebley had been aggressive ahead of the deadline, and now teams are unsure what approach the Sparks will take moving forward.
“I found out when everybody else did,” Roberts said of Pebley’s firing. “It was a surprise. She’s a good friend of mine. I think the tone is set that we need to keep building and get the Sparks back to where they have been. That’s been the tone. Raegan did some great things for our org in that regard and improved a lot of things. That work can’t go undenied. It’s full-steam ahead and I’m focused on what I can do.”
It would be difficult to move some of their heftier contracts, especially since WNBA teams cannot take on more salary than their remaining cap space allows in a trade. Hamby, 32, is signed for two more years for more than $1 million per season. Atkins is also signed for two years at $1 million-plus and is having a career-worst offensive season, shooting 36.4% with 8.7 points per game.
Wheeler, 35, has another year left on her deal, but a $625,000 cap hit for a player who would be a backup point guard on most teams is a tough sell.
Plum and Ogwumike are on expiring deals, and the Sparks’ most valuable roster asset, Rae Burrell, is a restricted free agent, but one of the few young players left on the Sparks’ roster.
The Sparks have a limited $86,000 in cap space, too, so if they decide they want to buy at the deadline, they have to find a way to clear space.
They enter the trade deadline period in a difficult spot as a team in purgatory that just fired its general manager.
Yet what they decide to do in the next month might be the most clearest sign of their ambition and hope for the future.
It seems a long time ago now, but go back to the day that Liverpool sealed the Premier League title under Arne Slot in 2025 and there is a lovely clip of Alexis Mac Allister.
As the final whistle goes and the players run on to the pitch to celebrate, Mac Allister sits alone on the bench and starts to cry.
That day, when the Argentina midfielder scored a goal the celebrations inside Anfield registered 1.74 on the Richter scale – just shy of the 2.0 needed for a minor earthquake.
Mac Allister was undeniably a force that season and integral to Liverpool‘s title-winning campaign.
But a year on, after a disappointing campaign that wasn’t helped by injury problems at the outset, Mac Allister would be the first to admit that the 2025-26 season fell below the standards he had set previously.
It was undoubtedly the poorest of his three campaigns since he arrived from Brighton for £35m in 2023.
Inevitably, there were question marks about his future going into the summer, but seeing him play a starring role for Argentina at the World Cup will please new Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola – even if it means he will have to wait a little longer before meeting Mac Allister.
Bar Argentina’s last group-stage game – when qualification was already secured – the 27-year-old has played every minute for his country, including 120 minutes against both Cape Verde and Switzerland, which went to extra time. Only the keeper, Aston Villa‘s Emiliano Martinez, has played more minutes for Argentina.
Across those games, Mac Allister has played 539 minutes, won 31 duels, 10 tackles, made nine interceptions and applied high pressure 208 times – all numbers which put him high up in the rankings.
“I feel like maybe the number eight position, also double number six (double pivot), is my best position, but I can play anywhere,” Mac Allister told ESPN last month.
That versatility will be food for thought for Iraola – who is known to want his midfielders to be all action, given his high-press system and his desire for his teams to be direct.
Regardless of the result against England in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final, Argentina will be in the United States until the weekend, when the third-place play-off and final take place.
According to Fifa regulations, players at the World Cup are entitled to at least three weeks off, so anyone who features this weekend will not return to their clubs until 10 August at the earliest, which is less than two weeks before the Premier League season begins.
So there is a strong chance that Mac Allister won’t be ready to start for the first few weeks of the season, but Iraola will know that when it comes to building his midfield, he already has a proven winner.
“It’s always about winning,” Mac Allister said on Saturday, after Argentina beat Switzerland in the quarter-final in a game in which he scored.
Mac Allister’s CV already contains a World Cup and a Copa America title, as well as a Premier League title. He is the only man to have 12 World Cup appearances to his name and have won all 12 of those games.
He is no stranger to big games now and perhaps Wednesday’s semi-final, when he will come up against England’s midfield, will give the clearest indication yet that he is still an asset on the biggest stage.
The United States carried out attacks against Iran for a third consecutive night late on Monday.
Iran has continued to hit targets in the Gulf in several waves of retaliatory strikes on Tuesday, including UAE‑flagged oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.
Here is a recap of what has happened on Monday night and Tuesday, and what each side has said.
US Central Command, the military’s regional command known as CENTCOM, said its latest strikes began at 4:45pm ET (20:45 GMT) on Monday and were aimed at degrading Iran’s capacity to attack “innocent civilians and commercial shipping” in the strait.
CENTCOM later announced the conclusion of its strikes and said the latest round of attacks on Iran lasted five hours. It added that US forces “successfully struck military targets across Iran including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa, and Bandar Abbas”.
Iranian state television and semi-official news agencies reported explosions throughout the night across the country’s southern coast, including the port city of Bandar Abbas, and on Kish and Qeshm islands, as well as the town of Jam in Bushehr province.
A projectile that struck western Bandar Abbas caused no casualties, the Fars news agency reported, citing the regional governor’s office.
For its part, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched a wider retaliatory campaign against US allies and interests across the Gulf.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that Iranian forces had struck several “violating” vessels in the strait, and that a US-made drone had been shot down near Bandar Abbas.
The UAE: The UAE said two of its oil tankers had been hit by Iranian cruise missiles in Omani waters in the Strait of Hormuz. The UAE added that one Indian national crew member had been killed on one of the tankers, and eight other people were wounded.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said the IRGC hit two “offending” oil supertankers, citing an IRGC statement – apparently referring to the two UAE tankers.
Kuwait: The Iranian army said on Monday that it had carried out a drone attack on US military targets in Kuwait. In a statement posted by state broadcaster IRIB, the army said it launched drones at a US Patriot missile system, fuel tanks, a watchtower, an ammunition depot and communication systems.
Bahrain: The IRGC said it targeted “several weapons storage depots, a satellite communications centre, and a building housing US forces” at al-Juffair Base in Bahrain. It also said it had hit the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain with missiles and drones.
Air sirens have been heard four times in Bahrain on Tuesday so far.
Jordan: Jordan’s army said it shot down four missiles in Jordanian airspace that were fired from Iran, according to the official Petra news agency. After this, the IRGC said it launched ballistic missiles at US forces and key facilities at an airbase in Jordan.
In a message addressed directly to Jordanians, the IRGC insisted that the operation was aimed at the US military presence in the country rather than at Jordan or its citizens. “You know that we hold no animosity toward your country. On the contrary, we deeply love you, the noble people. You understand the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people better than any other nation, and you are aware of the crimes of the Zionist regime in the massacre of 70,000 Palestinians, including 20,000 children in Gaza, carried out with the direct involvement of the United States,” it said.
US President Donald Trump formally notified Congress on July 10 that fighting with Iran had resumed on July 7, invoking his authority to keep US forces in combat for another 60 days without lawmakers’ approval.
At a news conference on Monday, Trump said Iran’s offensive capabilities were being dismantled, but he still thinks a “deal is possible” despite the return to open fighting.
Trump also repeated an earlier demand that Gulf nations help cover the cost of protecting shipping, saying Washington was “protecting a very rich portion of the world” and expected to be paid for it.
On Monday, Trump also threatened to “take out” Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, also known as Pickaxe Mountain, a suspected nuclear site near the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran.
Meanwhile, the US blockade on Iran, confirmed by the US Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Centre (JMIC), is due to begin at 20:00 GMT on Tuesday.
The US’s blockade covers Iran’s ports and terminals along the entire southern coastline, according to JMIC.
Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Committee, has warned that Iran remains steadfast in defending its red lines, following the formal introduction of a bill to manage the Strait of Hormuz.
In an X post on Tuesday, Azizi wrote: “Last night, coinciding with the downing of US drones, the ‘Strategic Action for the Security and Sustainable Progress of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf’ bill was formally introduced in Iran’s Parliament. We remain steadfast in defending our red lines, particularly regarding the management of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Oil prices rose more than 9 percent on Monday, with Brent crude climbing to about $81 a barrel, its highest level since mid-June.
Kpler, the ship-tracking firm, said crossings through the strait fell by about 52 percent between July 10 and July 12, compared with the previous week.
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Tesla (TSLA) delivered a record 480,126 vehicles in Q2 2026, up 25% year-over-year, while producing about 452,000 vehicles during the quarter. Despite the strong delivery beat, shares slumped 8% following the report, with the stock now down more than 9% year
Islamabad cites national security concerns, returns thousands of undocumented migrants.
With the passing of another government deadline for undocumented Afghans to leave, Pakistan has launched a new crackdown on thousands still living in the country.
In response to criticism, authorities say they are enforcing immigration laws and cite national security concerns.
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Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have returned to a country they fled. The UN says they include undocumented migrants, refugees and Afghan citizen card holders.
The campaign has coincided with rising political tensions between Islamabad and Kabul.
But is politics involved in the rising tension between the neighbours? And how is Kabul dealing with the influx of returnees?
Presenter: Scott McLean
Guests:
Obaidullah Baheer – Adjunct lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan
Kamran Bokhari – Senior fellow with the Middle East Policy Council in Washington, DC
Zahid Mahmood – Pakistani defence analyst and former senior officer of the Pakistan Army
Published On 11 Jul 202611 Jul 2026
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Whether or not France’s World Cup campaign ends with a third world title, few will remember Kylian Mbappe’s penalty miss in their quarter-final victory over Morocco.
The match in Foxborough was goalless when Mbappe was fouled by Noussair Mazraoui. The France captain stuttered in his run up, looked up at goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, and saw his tame penalty easily saved.
Mbappe made amends on the hour mark when his sensational curling effort broke a stubborn Morocco defence, before Ousmane Dembele doubled France’s lead six minutes later to secure a 2-0 win.
But his earlier blunder, uncharacteristic for the joint-top scorer in this tournament, begs the question: Is it time players stopped with the ‘stuttering’ penalty kicks?
In the list of things football traditionalists hate about the modern game, stuttering run ups are high up alongside players wearing gloves with short sleeve shirts, diving, and of course the video assistant referee (VAR).
There is no strict definition of a stutter, but under Fifa rules, a player is allowed to stop or feint during the run-up as long as they don’t do it directly before kicking the ball.
It’s nothing new – John Aldridge, Mexico legend Hugo Sanchez and Pele all used the stutter to gain an advantage – but it can backfire spectacularly if the goalkeeper doesn’t commit to diving early.
Mbappe joins Bruno Guimaraes, Jorgen Strand Larsen, Lionel Messi and Harry Kane (though he was able to retake his penalty against Croatia, which he scored without having a stutter in his approach) in missing penalties after stuttering in the run-up.
Of the 26 ‘stutter’ penalties taken during this World Cup – penalty shootouts included – 11 have not been scored, which leads to a conversion rate of 57%.
“This stuttering penalty seems to be the one. The goalkeepers seem to have got a march on it now,” said Ian Wright on ITV.
Marko Arnautovic, Raul Jimenez, Neymar, Mbappe, Cristiano Ronalo, Yoane Wissa and Kai Havertz have used the technique successfully.
Meanwhile, 24 of the 35 ‘non-stutter’ penalties taken have been scored, a conversion rate of 68%.
In general, this has been a poor World Cup for players looking to convert from 12 yards.
A total of 30% of non-shootout penalties have been missed this summer, the second most of any World Cup since records began in 1966.
When shootout penalties are added to the equation, then the miss rate rises to 35%, the highest of any World Cup since 1966.
“There is an arms race going on. It is definitely harder to score a penalty now. The reason being, the goalkeepers are bigger now, more athletic,” former Scotland winger Pat Nevin said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“If your keeper goes the right way, you must hit the side netting with pace, even then it still might be saved.
“A very good penalty is no longer a certainty, so you have to re-think it. I need to make sure he goes the wrong way, hence the stutter, you try to send them the wrong way.
“Of course the goalkeepers have the data, they know what everybody does, there is no hiding what you prefer because it shows up. There is a constant running battle to figure out how you get the advantage.
“Mbappe knows what his advantage is: preparation. He has a set up [placing the ball before taking the penalty], he went through it twice today but problem is that he had to go through it three times, and the third time [he missed].”
A vision was set out to Guimaraes when he joined a club fighting relegation.
Newcastle‘s hierarchy at the time said they did not just want to go on to qualify for the Champions League – they ultimately wanted to win it.
Newcastle have twice since sat at Europe’s top table, but they are a long way off from taking that next step.
It was rather telling that Isak pushed hard to move to Liverpool, even after Newcastle secured Champions League football in 2025.
As much as Liverpool were able to offer Isak a huge wage increase, because of far superior revenues, the Swede also wanted to compete to win the biggest trophies.
Guimaraes appears to face a similar dilemma further on in his career following a bruising domestic season for Newcastle, who finished 12th in the Premier League.
Arsenal have yet to make contact with Newcastle, who do not want to lose the Brazilian, but does Guimaraes feel this is potentially the last chance he would have to win a Premier League title or the Champions League if they do come to the table?
As loved as Guimaraes is on Tyneside, does the 28-year-old have the patience to help lead a new era at Newcastle with a young group who will take time to flourish?
Newcastle had previously managed to keep hold of their most important players, but the side who made history by ending a seven-decade wait for a major domestic trophy in 2025 has broken up.
Of the 26 players pictured in a jubilant team photograph after the EFL Cup final win against Liverpool, 11 have left the club.
Some changes were overdue, yet there is also a delicate balance to strike.
Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe touched upon this in one of his final news conferences of last season when he warned “the squad can’t get weaker”.
The squad, as it is now, has clear gaps, but Newcastle are understood to have made progress on a move for exciting Freiburg midfielder Johan Manzambi.
Newcastle have also completed the signings of winger Bazoumana Toure, midfielder Sean Steur and goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen.
Turning to younger players from European clubs is a strategy others have adopted successfully.
Bournemouth, who finished sixth last season, have shown how clubs can recover from the loss of key players with the help of smart recruitment and good coaching.
But experience is needed, too, and Guimaraes is priceless to Newcastle in that regard. Losing him would mean the whole project is called into question.
US President Donald Trump has denounced communism more than 80 times in the past two weeks.
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The FIFA World Cup 2026 quarterfinals lineup as it builds, with match kickoff times and locations.
Published On 6 Jul 20266 Jul 2026
As the biggest FIFA World Cup in history enters its fourth week, fewer than half of the 48 teams that kicked off the tournament remain in contention to win the title in North America.
The quarterfinals are now under way, with four of the last eight teams confirmed on the second day of action in the round of 16.
Some nations confirmed for the third stage of the knockouts recorded comfortable victories, while others had late scares but pulled through.
Here’s what you need to know about the World Cup’s quarterfinal stage:
Fans in the US can watch every match in English on Fox and FS1, with all 104 games also available to stream on Fox One and the Fox Sports app.
Spanish-language coverage in the US is available on Telemundo and Universo, with streaming through Peacock. Cord-cutters can also watch via services that carry Fox and FS1, including Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV and DirecTV.
In Canada, TSN is the primary English-language broadcaster, with selected matches also shown on CTV. French-language viewers can follow the action on RDS and RDS2.
A number of senior politicians have been detained in a wave of arrests.
For more than two decades, corruption has been a serious issue in Iraq.
The oil-rich nation has consistently been ranked as one of the most corrupt in the world.
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But this week, its new government has embarked on an unprecedented anti-corruption crackdown.
It’s targeting many high-profile politicians and other senior figures accused of making illicit wealth and abuse of office.
Iraqis have repeatedly protested against what they say is rampant corruption in their nation.
Now, they hope the new government keeps this promise to eradicate what they call a ‘pandemic of fraudulent activities’ at the highest echelons of power.
But what are the challenges ahead in this battle?
Presenter: Imran Khan
Guests:
Ahmed Rushdi – President of the think-tank, House of Iraqi Expertise Foundation.
Renad Mansour – Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House.
Manuel Pirino – Regional Advisor for Middle East and North Africa at Transparency International.
Published On 29 Jun 202629 Jun 2026
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(Updated to include comments from SA analyst Kenio Fontes.)
What’s the most attractive chip stock for investors right now?
Seeking Alpha analysts Kenio Fontes, Vinay Utham, Jack Bowman, and Hunting Alphas offer their picks.
Kenio Fontes: In terms of momentum, I think Micron (
EXPLAINER
China and Sudan signed off on a waiver of $50m as Sudan’s military-led government seeks support amid Western sanctions.
China has waived loans worth $50m that it had given to Sudan, the two countries said over the weekend. The agreement comes three years into a war between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that has shrunk the country’s economy by roughly 40 percent, according to the United Nations.
The sum is small compared with what Sudan owes overall to external governments or agencies, an amount estimated at more than $56bn before the war. But the waiver lands at a moment when Khartoum has few other international lenders extending any financial support.
China’s relationship with Sudan predates the war by decades, built on oil and infrastructure interests that survived multiple changes of government in Khartoum. But the war has narrowed Sudan’s options elsewhere, as Western governments have largely held back or imposed sanctions.
Here’s why this deal is significant for Sudan and China:
The signed protocol in Port Sudan cancels four interest-free loans worth 344 million yuan, about $50m, with immediate effect, according to Sudan’s official news agency, SUNA.
Sudan’s Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim welcomed the move, reportedly saying that China has continued investing in the country throughout the war while Western governments, including the United States and European Union members, have largely held back. Gibril himself was added to the US Treasury sanctions list in September 2025 for his alleged “involvement in Sudan’s brutal civil war and … connections to Iran”.
China’s charge d’affaires in Sudan, Xu Jian, reportedly said at the signing ceremony that China was ready to help rebuild what was destroyed during the war in Sudan.
Sudan’s external debt of more than $56bn before the war is expected to have ballooned since.
The $50m debt relief amounts to not even 1 percent of the total external pre-war debt. In fact, Sudan was close to a far bigger debt write-off in 2021. It was on track with the IMF and the World Bank Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative to have more than $50bn of its debt forgiven within three years. The 2021 military coup in October derailed that debt relief plan, and the process was formally suspended a year later.
Still, China’s waiver arrives at a moment of acute need for the country. The war is now in its third year. More than 1.5 million people have been killed, according to the UN, and the war has displaced about 14 million people – about a quarter of the Sudanese population. The World Health Organization says less than 14 percent of health facilities are still functioning. Jobs have vanished in many parts of the country, and the rising cost of living has made it difficult for households to survive.
The Sudanese pound has collapsed since the start of the war. It went from roughly 600 to the dollar before the war to more than 5000 to the dollar by June 2026.
In many ways, Beijing’s decision to waive the $50m loan is in keeping with a broader approach it has taken in recent years, one that has helped cement China as Africa’s largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years.
China has provided interest-free loan forgiveness as a diplomatic gesture to multiple countries, and these decisions are recurrent announcements at Beijing’s frequent leader-level summits with African nations. This is especially true for smaller loans. Research from the Johns Hopkins China Africa Research Initiative found that China forgave at least $3.4bn of these kinds of debts across the African continent between 2000 and 2019.
By contrast, larger loans are usually commercial loans through state banks that come with interest, and waiving those is harder.
At a time when the West is largely trying to isolate Sudan’s leadership, a small loan waiver gives China outsized influence in a country that sits at the intersection of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.
Oil has long served as a catalyst for their relationship. From the mid-1990s on, China’s National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) poured billions of dollars into Sudanese oil fields and the pipelines carrying that crude oil to Port Sudan. This was a time when many Western companies were pushed out due to sanctions.
The relationship changed when the southern part of the country voted in favour of independence in 2011. The world’s newest country, South Sudan, left the north and took most of the country’s oil fields with it.
Chinese investment largely dried up afterwards, but Sudan still has more than $5bn of outstanding debt to China. The war has aggravated Sudan’s economic challenges. The CNPC requested a formal exit from Sudan in December 2025.
Cape Verde’s stunning debut headlines the team list for the World Cup knockouts, which begin on Sunday in Los Angeles.
Published On 27 Jun 202627 Jun 2026
The 48-team FIFA World Cup is nearing the end of the group stage matches and moving towards the knockout stages, beginning on Sunday.
Only 32 teams will advance to the next round of football’s most prestigious tournament. The 2026 iteration in North America is the first time 48 teams have featured, and some debutants have already left their mark.
Here’s what you need to know about the round of 32:
The top two teams in each of the 12 groups, along with the eight best third-place finishers, advance to the knockouts.
The knockout phase begins with the round of 32, introduced at the World Cup following the tournament’s expansion from 32 to 48 teams.
Then comes the round of 16, followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and a playoff for third place. The final is on July 19.
The stage-wise breakdown of the tournament’s knockout schedule is:
Round of 32: June 28 to July 3
Round of 16: July 4–7
Quarterfinals: July 9–11
Semifinals: July 14–15
Bronze medal match: July 18
Final: July 19
So far, 26 teams have punched their ticket to the knockouts. They include:
⚽️ Colombia
⚽️ Argentina
⚽️ France
⚽️ Norway
⚽️ Germany
⚽️ USA
⚽️ Mexico
⚽️ Switzerland
⚽️ Canada
⚽️ Brazil
⚽️ Morocco
⚽️ South Africa
⚽️ Ivory Coast
⚽️ Bosnia and Herzegovina
⚽️ Ecuador
⚽️ Netherlands
⚽️ Japan
⚽️ Sweden
⚽️ Australia
⚽️ Spain
⚽️ Cape Verde
⚽️ Paraguay
⚽️ Egypt
⚽️ England
⚽️ Ghana
⚽️ Portugal
Sunday, June 28
Monday, June 29
Tuesday, June 30
Wednesday, July 1
Thursday, July 2
Friday, July 3
Iranian armed forces say they’ve closed the Strait of Hormuz after Israeli attacks on Lebanon – just days after an agreement with the US reopen it.
Disruption to the crucial waterway has had a huge economic impact worldwide.
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So, what happens next?
Presenter: Tom McRae
Guests:
Ian Ralby — Senior Fellow at the Center for Maritime Strategy and Associate Fellow with the International Law Programme at Chatham House
Mehran Kamrava — Professor of Government at Georgetown University in Qatar and Head of the Iranian Studies Unit at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies
Stavros Karamperidis — Associate Professor in Maritime Economics and Head of the Maritime Transport Research Group at the University of Plymouth
Published On 21 Jun 202621 Jun 2026
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