Pakistan-administered Kashmir is facing its biggest political crisis in years, with deadly protests ahead of a final round of voting in regional elections.
Al Jazeera’s Ava Warriner explains why the wider territory is divided and what’s driving the latest unrest.
Published On 10 Aug 202610 Aug 2026
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SAN DIEGO — Emanuel Lexius’ market in El Cajon is typically bustling.
Not lately.
Lexius is Haitian, and so are most of the shoppers at Miche Caribbean Market. They come to stock up on familiar Haitian staples — Ti Malice vegetable oil spread, long-grain heirloom rice, Cola Couronne soda.
“People don’t want to be out,” he said, and “no one wants to be exposed.”
A wave of fear swept Haitian American communities in San Diego County and nationwide last week after the Trump administration revoked protections for Haitian immigrants living in the U.S. under temporary protected status, or TPS. The program has allowed roughly 350,000 Haitians — including thousands in San Diego and Los Angeles — to live and work in the U.S. because their home country is unsafe.
A federal district judge temporarily blocked the action for nearly five months before the Supreme Court upheld the Trump order in June. The Department of Homeland Security officially moved to remove the protections last Monday.
That has left Haitians in Southern California in a state of anxiety over whether and when they could be deported. Community leaders say the repercussions could be widespread, with people now scared to leave their homes or go to work — or at risk of losing their jobs because they no longer have work authorization.
“People who applied for a program that the U.S. government laid in place … they came to the U.S. in search of safety and protection, only for that to be pulled from under them without any support,” said Guerline Jozef, the executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, a local nonprofit that provides legal and social services to Haitians and other immigrant groups.
Along with Haiti, the Trump administration has moved to roll back temporary protected status for people from 13 countries, all of them majority Black or brown.
“Temporary Protected Status is exactly that — temporary,” said a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. “For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent.”
TPS was established for Haiti in 2010, after a catastrophic earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and destabilized the country. The protection was extended in 2021 amid the civil chaos that unfolded after Haiti’s president was assassinated and again in 2024 due to ongoing safety concerns. Today, armed gangs control sections of the country, presidential elections haven’t been held in a decade, and millions of people struggle with daily needs, per a recent United Nations report.
Today, the Trump administration says conditions in Haiti have improved enough for Haitians to return. But Haiti remains under a “Do not travel” advisory from the U.S. State Department, and the country has been under a state of emergency since March 2024.
Since their deportation protections ended Monday, local Haitians say they can’t go back to Haiti, pointing to safety concerns for themselves and their families.
“I had no choice but to leave Haiti,” said Galencha, a Haitian TPS holder who works in San Diego and requested his last name be withheld for fear he might be deported.
The 42-year-old, who is married with two young daughters, has lived in San Diego for seven years. He said his mother and uncle were killed in Haiti; his older brother was shot. His father is still there, but his sisters and close friends have left.
A Homeland Security spokesperson declined to comment on plans for any enforcement operations targeting Haitians but said enforcement actions are happening every day.
“Whenever we go out, it makes me feel bad,” said a 43-year-old Haitian man who lives near El Cajon. He too just lost his temporary protected status.
He arrived in the U.S. two years ago, alone, leaving behind his family. He typically waits in a Home Depot parking lot with the hope of getting picked up for a job, but it hasn’t been easy to find steady work.
Now, he and other local Haitians say they have been keeping their head on a swivel for immigration enforcement.
Even with temporary protected status, immigrants face a host of challenges to find work in the first place, said Maria Chavez, immigration legal director at the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans. The process to qualify for a work permit and a reauthorization can take over a year with delays, she noted.
Most Haitians who have settled in San Diego since 2010 have found work in the hospitality, healthcare and construction industries — though many arrive with an entrepreneurial mindset forged in their home country, explained Jozef, from the Haitian Bridge Alliance.
“Due to the lack of a formal job market, the majority of the people have to find ways to create small businesses in Haiti,” she said. “So they come with that mindset of creating businesses.”
Right now, Haitian Bridge Alliance is focused on helping former TPS holders create a family plan — including getting their financial documents in order and creating contingency plans in case they’re deported. It’s also helping get basic needs like food to Haitians who are scared to leave home and connecting them with legal representation.
Since going back to Haiti is not an option for many Haitians in the region, now is the time for former TPS holders to pursue alternatives such as asylum or seeing if they qualify to stay in the U.S. through marriage, Chavez said.
“None of these are fast options,” she noted.
PANA and Haitian Bridge Alliance are fighting in court against the Trump administration’s termination of temporary protected status for Somalia. But Chavez says that fighting the termination for Haiti is largely off the table, since the Supreme Court has already upheld that order.
In the meantime, the end of Haitians’ temporary protections has created heartbreak throughout the community.
Husband and wife Martha and Feret Milliem own Caribbean Pleasure, a Point Loma restaurant serving Haitian cuisine in a dining room hung with Haitian flags.
The couple have lived in San Diego for nearly half a century and aren’t personally affected by the end of TPS protections — but it’s been painful to watch their community grow fearful and lose their grip on the American lives they’ve worked to build.
The impact extends to families back in Haiti, too, they add, if relatives in the U.S. who suddenly lose their legal jobs are unable to send money back to them.
“Right now, the Haitians are living under hell,” Martha said.
Fox writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
For California businesses, 2020 will be a year of reckoning.
Sweeping new laws curbing longtime employment practices take effect, aimed at reducing economic inequality and giving workers more power in their jobs.
Under one, companies could be forced to reclassify hundreds of thousands of independent contractors as employees with broad labor law protections. Under another, bosses could no longer force workers into closed-door arbitration proceedings, a tactic which protects businesses from costly lawsuits.
The new laws are about “job quality — what it means to work in a just workplace,” said California Labor Secretary Julie Su. “California leads the way on labor standards and we’re not going to let employers do end runs around those standards. We want to support businesses who look at their role in a holistic and humane sense.”
Many new measures, she added, are “not big splashy things, but day-to-day things.” She cited a law giving working mothers a place to express breast milk besides a bathroom. And a law making it easier for firefighters and other first responders to gain workers’ compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Other new statutes ban discrimination based on hairstyle, such as Afros, braids, cornrows and dreadlocks; grant organ donors additional guaranteed leave; and extend whistleblower protection to patient rights advocates at county mental health centers.
The California Chamber of Commerce, a leading voice for business, picked its fights. It did not list Assembly Bill 5, the independent contractor bill, on its annual “job killer” list, preferring to help negotiate for a slew of professionals, such as doctors and real estate agents, to gain exemptions.
“We felt it was important to participate in the compromise,” said Chamber President and Chief Executive Allan Zaremberg. “This is a work in progress, and it will continue to be.”
But the chamber, along with the National Retail Federation and other business groups, filed suit against Assembly Bill 51, the first-in-the-nation law preventing companies from making workers sign arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. And it helped defeat other bills favored by the Legislature’s labor-friendly majority, including one extending unemployment benefits to striking workers and another curbing the University of California’s ability to hire temporary workers.
“A lot of employers feel the rules are complex and tough to deal with,” Zaremberg said. “Our job is to make sure laws are reasonable and fair … and they can afford to stay in business. From that perspective, it has been a successful year.”
Here are a few of the changes coming to California workplaces in 2020:
On Jan. 1, the statewide minimum wage steps up to $13 an hour for employers with more than 26 employees, and to $12 an hour for those with 26 or fewer employees. The increases are mandated by a 2016 law that gradually raises the floor to $15 an hour for nearly all workers by 2023.
Several local jurisdictions have higher minimums including the city and county of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Malibu and Pasadena, all of which will raise them on July 1 to $14.25 an hour for small employers and $15 an hour for large employers.
“People talk about prosperity and GDP growth, but that’s not enough,” Su said. “One in 3 California workers makes less than $15 an hour. That is not how we want to build an economy.”
Some 2.6 million Californians will be due a raise in January under the statewide floor, according to a UC Berkeley study. California will have the nation’s second-highest minimum next year after Washington state’s $13.50.
Meanwhile, several large businesses have already raised their floors to $15 an hour or more, including Costco, Spectrum, Amazon and Disneyland Resort.
In April 2018, the California Supreme Court dropped a bomb on a vast swath of companies, from Uber and Lyft to yoga studios and hair salons, which have built their businesses on independent contractors. To classify workers as contractors rather than employees subject to minimum wage and overtime laws, companies would have to satisfy a strict three-pronged test.
Under the “ABC test,” a business may only contract with independent contractors who satisfy all three of these conditions: a) they are free from control and direction of the hiring entity; b) they perform work outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business; and c) they are customarily engaged in an independently established business of the same nature as that of the work involved.
The court decision set off a scramble in the Legislature. Backed by labor unions that see an opportunity to organize newly empowered employees, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) authored AB 5 to codify the decision, expanding it to areas such as workers’ compensation and unemployment and disability insurance.
Even under a previous, looser standard, state officials estimated misclassification was costing California some $7 billion a year in payroll taxes. Companies also avoid paying federal Social Security and Medicare taxes for contractors.
“Structural reform was necessary because more and more companies want to reduce their obligations,” Gonzalez said. “We’re playing whack-a-mole trying to protect workers while companies try to get more profit for shareholders.”
A lobbying frenzy led to exemptions for some professions in which workers have more negotiating power or autonomy than in low-wage jobs. Among them: lawyers, accountants, architects, dentists, insurance brokers and engineers.
But the Legislature declined to exempt app-based ride-hailing or food delivery companies, whose workers complain they often earn less than minimum wage and are subject to arbitrary dismissals. Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Postmates and Instacart, arguing that they are technology companies, not transportation employers like taxi businesses, set aside $110 million to mount a ballot initiative exempting them from the law.
Supporters of AB 5, a California law requiring companies to reclassify many independent contractors as employees, rally in August in Sacramento.
(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)
Trucking associations, freelance writers and photographers filed suits to avoid the new law’s strictures.
“AB 5 fundamentally disrupts the right of Californians to have independent working relationships with their clients or employers,” said Sen. Mike Morrell (R-Rancho Cucamonga). By favoring some industries over others, he added, “Sacramento Democrats embrace a slide towards socialism.”
Gonzalez said she is open to changes in the bill next year, including an exemption for musicians — but not for app-based ride-hailing and delivery giants. “We will continue to clarify this law, but rest assured, it won’t be repealed,” she added.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown twice vetoed bills to curb the exploding practice of mandatory arbitration, which allows companies to make employees resolve disputes in a private, closed-door session rather than in public court proceedings.
Brown argued that a U.S. Supreme Court decision allows the practice. And businesses contend that in conflicts over wages, discrimination, disability, harassment and other issues, arbitration saves them, and workers, the needless expense of class-action lawsuits.
But in the last year, allegations of sexual harassment and assaults by serial perpetrators, many of whom were protected by arbitration agreements, fueled public outrage, as in the cases of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves. At Google, 20,000 workers staged a global walkout demanding an end to forced arbitration. Other tech workers, including at Los Angeles’ Riot Games, followed suit.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new version of the law, which avoids invalidating existing agreements. “AB 51 just prohibits firing or threatening employees who refuse to sign,” said UC Berkeley law professor Catherine Fisk. “Forced arbitration is clearly used as a device to prevent workers from bringing claims. So it allows companies to violate the law.”
But Zaremberg argues: ”Our employment laws are more complex than those in the rest of the country. People make honest mistakes every day trying to comply with them. With arbitration, they can be resolved through an expedited process.”
An estimated 67% of California workplaces had mandatory arbitration policies in 2018, higher than the national average, and the number may have grown this year as attorneys advised companies to get ahead of the new law.
A new activist strategy this year — filing thousands of individual arbitration claims against Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Postmates — hit companies with millions of dollars in processing fees. Companies used to dealing with employee grievances one by one refused to pay. A new law, Senate Bill 707, imposes stiff penalties on businesses that stall payments, and allows workers to then take their grievances to court.
#MeToo scandals lent impetus to other measures besides the arbitration statute.
Under current law, workers have a year to file complaints of discrimination, harassment and retaliation in court. AB 9 extends the deadline to three years. Brown had vetoed the bill in 2018, saying claims should be filed “while memories and evidence are fresh.” Victim advocates contend a year is often insufficient for workers to come to terms with what happened to them and seek counsel.
Often companies will require a worker who gains a financial settlement for harassment or discrimination to quit his or her job. Assembly Bill 749 prohibits “no re-hire” clauses affecting the “aggrieved employee.”
Assembly Bill 547 requires training for janitors to be conducted by their peers. “We’ve seen reports of rape on the night shift,” Su said. “This law means immigrant women with lived experience will make the training real. So companies can’t just pay lip service to training, letting people go through the motions and check a box.”
Home-based child-care workers are not covered by federal labor law. Now, some 40,000 private family day-care providers, paid by California to service more than 360,000 low-income children, will gain the right to bargain collectively with the state under Assembly Bill 378.
The new law sets the stage for California’s largest union election since 1997, when home-care workers were granted the right to bargain over wages and working conditions. Child-care workers, who are largely Latino and African American, earn close to minimum wage — pushing many out of the industry. The new law will lead to “creating quality jobs, not poverty jobs,” said Assemblywoman Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara), the bill’s author.
Senate Bill 826, enacted last year, requires publicly traded companies headquartered in California to have at least one woman on their boards of directors by January 2020. By the end of 2021, boards with five directors must include two women, and boards with six or more directors need to include three women.
Noncompliant companies could be fined as much as $100,000.
Several European countries have similar laws. But California’s is the first U.S. board diversity mandate. When the law passed, 188 of 650 affected California companies had all-male boards, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission compiled by Clemson University scholars.
Two conservative groups, the Pacific Legal Foundation and Judicial Watch, have filed lawsuits to overturn the statute, but businesses have largely complied. According to Clemson finance professor Daniel Greene, just 32 companies had failed to add any female directors as of Dec. 26.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in Washington, DC, and will visit the White House on Tuesday, with the war on Iran topping the agenda.
Netanyahu’s visit is his first for talks with President Donald Trump since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran with strikes on Tehran on February 28. It also comes amid increasing Israeli raids and arrests in the occupied West Bank and three months before elections in Israel.
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He has visited the White House more times under the Trump administration than under any other US president. Political analysts say Netanyahu is seeking Trump’s support for re-election.
What are the two leaders likely to discuss and what happens next in the US-Israel war on Iran?
Here’s what we know:
Netanyahu is primarily in the US to attend the funeral ceremony of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who died on July 11.
Graham was a close Trump ally in the Senate, both on domestic and international matters, including the war on Iran, as well as a staunch supporter of Israel. His funeral ceremony will take place on Tuesday in Washington, DC, beginning at 2pm (19:00 GMT).
Before attending Graham’s memorial, Netanyahu is also expected to meet Trump at 11am (15:00 GMT) in Washington, DC, where protesters have lined the streets in anticipation of his visit.
He is scheduled to fly back to Israel on Wednesday.
A White House official told the Reuters news agency that the two leaders were likely to discuss the war on Iran as well as Israeli strikes and occupation of Lebanon, whose president Trump hosted last week. Israel says it is targeting strongholds of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which began firing rockets into its north shortly after the war on Iran began. However, Iran says it will not agree to a peace deal unless Israeli forces withdraw from Lebanon.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said many people in Israel believe the US should not make a deal with Iran and should instead resume the war. He said some in the US support this view.
“Now, Trump has expressed his frustration with Netanyahu and has said several times that he feels the Israeli leader is not seeing the big picture. And sometimes you’re not sure whether both men are on the same page or whether they are diametrically opposed to one another. So it will be interesting to see if we get any readout from either side after that meeting,” he said.
Fisher, however, added that the outcome of the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu is currently not expected to be made public.
The White House official also told Reuters that the two leaders would also discuss the Abraham Accords, the series of agreements between Israel and Arab and other nations which Trump began brokering during his first term as US president to normalise diplomatic relations. So far, only the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and Kazakhstan have agreed to sign.
Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, DC comes amid intensifying pogroms and violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank over the weekend following a deadly shootout in the town of Tal, in which two Israelis and four Palestinians were killed.
Israeli settlers have been making a push to increase the number of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank since 2022, when Netanyahu formed the most far-right government in the country’s history, including ministers who are leading figures in the settler movement.
Expanding the illegal settlements would help Netanyahu garner the far right’s support in the upcoming elections, political observers say.
However, in a letter published on Tuesday, about 600 former Israeli officials appealed to Trump, saying he is the only one capable of helping to avoid the “calamity” of escalating violence in the West Bank and its implications for Israeli, US and regional security.
“Unless arrested swiftly and decisively, escalating violence in the West Bank is poised to ignite the region and carries severe ramifications for both Israeli security and US regional interests,” the letter, written by lobby group Commanders for Israel’s Security (CIS), stated.
“It is our professional judgment that no one but you, Mr President, can avert this calamity.”
CIS is a movement of more than 550 retired Israeli army colonels and generals, as well as equivalent ranks in the intelligence agency Mossad, the internal security agency Shin Bet, police, the foreign service and other corps.
The two leaders once appeared politically inseparable, with Netanyahu describing Trump as the “greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House” last October. Trump returned the praise. During a 2025 appearance in Israel, he joked, “He’s not easy – not the easiest guy to deal with – but that’s what makes him great.”
But Israel’s hostilities with Iran have showcased a crack in Netanyahu and Trump’s alignment.
Last month, Trump reportedly called Netanyahu “f****** crazy” during a phone call and accused him of undermining US diplomatic efforts to end the war on Iran by continuing attacks on Lebanon, among other issues. He warned that Israel’s military escalation risked derailing peace talks with Iran.
“He will have no choice,” Trump told the Financial Times when asked about the likelihood of Netanyahu approving a possible peace agreement with Iran. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots.”
Political observers say the two leaders are each driven by their own political interests, which are on a collision course. In the US, the war with Iran is deeply unpopular, so Trump needs to reach a deal with Iran to end the war. Netanyahu, on the other hand, could benefit politically at home if it were to continue.
“Regime change” in Iran appears to be a major sticking point between the two leaders.
Alex Vatanka at the Middle East Institute told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu is likely to try and “sell the idea of regime change again in Tehran” when he meets Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
“I don’t think it will go down well with President Trump because he doesn’t want to do that,” Vatanka said. “Politically, in the US, this war is hugely unpopular, so it remains to be seen what Prime Minister Netanyahu gets out of this meeting.”
He added that previous meetings between Trump and Netanyahu in Washington, DC, have often preceded a flare-up in tensions with Iran, and it remains to be seen whether this one breaks that pattern.
Vatanka said Israelis are still unhappy with the Trump administration about the memorandum of understanding agreed with Tehran, because they “have a different sense of threat perception when it comes to Iran”.
Israeli officials will want Netanyahu to continue to press Trump on Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programmes, he said.
“The Trump administration’s counter to that is there is only so much the US can do militarily unless they decide to go in and occupy Iran, and this is something nobody really takes seriously,” he added.
But in a video statement before departing for Washington, DC, Netanyahu said: “In these complex times, you need to act with both great determination and great wisdom. We will discuss all the issues on the agenda, primarily Iran.”
“Of course, our goal is to protect our security and also to expand the circle of peace around us,” he added.
Israel has also refused to withdraw from Lebanon, insisting that it has the right to bomb the country at any time to respond to “threats”.
According to Axios, in a phone call in early June, Trump told Netanyahu: “Everybody hates you now … everybody hates Israel because of this.”
According to an Israeli official quoted by CNN, Netanyahu told his security cabinet on Sunday that the Trump administration wants Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, Syria and Gaza but he would oppose the idea.
Al Jazeera’s Fisher noted that another point of friction between the two leaders is Washington’s sale of F-35 aircraft to Turkiye.
“Netanyahu doesn’t want that to happen. Trump was asked about it in the last few hours, and he said we will sell to whoever he wants. So it could be a very interesting meeting at the White House on Tuesday,” Fisher said.
In July, in an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu said: “I don’t think they [Turkiye] should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets because that’ll upset the power balance in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority, and also by, I think, by America’s posture in the Middle East.”
Currently, there are frictions between the two leaders’ policies towards the June 17 MoU between the US and Iran that made provision for a regional ceasefire, including in Lebanon.
In February, a White House official told reporters that the Trump administration also opposes any Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu has, however, brushed off frictions with Trump and said their ties are “fine”.
In an interview with Fox News in early July, Netanyahu heaped praise on the US and Trump.
“America has been a tremendous force for good, and without America, there won’t be any democracy in the world, and there won’t be any freedom in the world,” he said.
Netanyahu said there may be some differences between the US and Israel, but the two countries are “model allies”.
“My relationship with the president is fine, and we have a way of ironing out our differences as allies who respect each other,” he said, adding that he would smooth things over.
But an Israeli official told CNN on Monday that it had taken time to schedule the meeting with Trump, and that Netanyahu got confirmation only once Graham’s funeral had been announced.
Speaking to reporters about the war on Iran on board Air Force One while travelling to Michigan on Monday, Trump said Israel “needs the US”.
“You know who wouldn’t survive without us? Israel. Bibi’s coming, he’ll tell you,” he said.
“If I didn’t get involved, and I didn’t blow up those nuclear, essentially, soon-to-be nuclear weapons to dust, Israel would have been terminated months ago.”
Trump added that he and Netanyahu remain “pretty close”.
Amid frictions, it is unclear whether the meeting will end with Israel and the US continuing their war on Iran and Israel continuing its attacks on southern Lebanon, Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.
Therefore, it is going to be a high-stakes meeting for Netanyahu.
Sources have also told Reuters that Netanyahu would use the meeting to lobby for Trump’s support for his re-election campaign ahead of an October 27 vote.
A meeting with Trump will, he hopes, showcase what has traditionally been a close relationship between the two leaders and could help Netanyahu at home, where he is struggling in opinion polls.
France and Spain have deployed thousands of firefighters, and neighbouring countries have sent help.
Wildfires are ravaging many parts of western and southern Europe, with France and Spain among the hardest hit.
The World Health Organization has warned that climate change is contributing to the frequency and intensity of the fires. This is clear in the record temperatures and successive heatwaves seen across the continent since May. France and Spain have deployed thousands of firefighters, and neighbouring countries have sent assistance. Authorities say the situation is unprecedented.
list of 4 itemsend of list
So, what will it take to extinguish the flames?
Presenter: Per Nyberg
Guests:
Eduardo Rojas – chairman of the board at the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification
Soraya Fettih – global campaigns coordinator at 350.org, an international environmental organisation focused on addressing the climate crisis
Laurie Laybourn – executive director of Strategic Climate Risks Initiative, a non-partisan think tank
Published On 26 Jul 202626 Jul 2026
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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.