US military launches new strikes on Iran as clashes escalate over shipping routes
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U.S. Central Command said the attacks were designed to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters,” as the Americans push to regain control over the Strait of Hormuz and restore the flow of international shipping
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President Donald Trump honored four U.S. service members killed in the Middle East during a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday, the third such ceremony he has attended since launching the war in Iran in February. (AP Video: Tassanee Vejpongsa)
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration is poised to help end the “senseless war” in Ukraine but acknowledged there is no quick path to a deal. Commenting on the Iran war, Rubio said that U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy toward Iran is a “head for an eye.” That was in response to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi supposedly describing Iran’s own policy towards the war as an “eye for an eye.”
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Mourners carry the coffins containing additional remains of victims identified through DNA testing during funeral ceremonies in Minab, Iran, Tuesday, July 22, 2026, nearly five months after they were killed in the Feb. 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School.(Razieh Poudat/ISNA
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President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Marietta, Ga. /Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
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In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, center, reviews an honor guard as he is welcomed by the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, left, during his official welcoming ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, July 22, 2026. (Iranian Presidency Office
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In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian, right, shakes hands with Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, July 22, 2026. (Iranian Presidency Office
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U.S. Central Command said the attacks were designed to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters,” as the Americans push to regain control over the Strait of Hormuz and restore the flow of international shipping
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President Donald Trump honored four U.S. service members killed in the Middle East during a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday, the third such ceremony he has attended since launching the war in Iran in February. (AP Video: Tassanee Vejpongsa)
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration is poised to help end the “senseless war” in Ukraine but acknowledged there is no quick path to a deal. Commenting on the Iran war, Rubio said that U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy toward Iran is a “head for an eye.” That was in response to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi supposedly describing Iran’s own policy towards the war as an “eye for an eye.”
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Mourners carry the coffins containing additional remains of victims identified through DNA testing during funeral ceremonies in Minab, Iran, Tuesday, July 22, 2026, nearly five months after they were killed in the Feb. 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School.(Razieh Poudat/ISNA
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Mourners carry the coffins containing additional remains of victims identified through DNA testing during funeral ceremonies in Minab, Iran, Tuesday, July 22, 2026, nearly five months after they were killed in the Feb. 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School.(Razieh Poudat/ISNA
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President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Marietta, Ga. /Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
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President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Marietta, Ga. /Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
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In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, center, reviews an honor guard as he is welcomed by the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, left, during his official welcoming ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, July 22, 2026. (Iranian Presidency Office
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In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, center, reviews an honor guard as he is welcomed by the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, left, during his official welcoming ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, July 22, 2026. (Iranian Presidency Office
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In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian, right, shakes hands with Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, July 22, 2026. (Iranian Presidency Office
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In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian, right, shakes hands with Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, July 22, 2026. (Iranian Presidency Office
By
ELENA BECATOROS, FATMA KHALED and COLLIN BINKLEY
Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year]
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CAIRO (AP) — The U.S. military announced the 13th night of strikes Thursday against Iran as clashes escalate over shipping routes. The attacks came after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, potentially widening the Iran war as international oil topped $100 a barrel
A short time later, Iranian state media reported explosions along the strait in Qeshm and Bandar Abbas, where two people were reportedly injured, as well as to the northwest near Andimeshk, Omidiyeh and Firuzabad
U.S. Central Command said the latest attacks concluded shortly before 5 a.m. local time. The strikes were designed to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters” as the Americans push to regain control over the Strait of Hormuz and restore the flow of international shipping
Meanwhile, the Houthis threatened to shut down another key trade route, with the world economy already reeling from Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran and the U.S. have stepped up attacks as they vie for control of the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas transited in peacetime, setting off a scramble for alternative routes
President Donald Trump threatened “major military punishment” against the Houthis if their attacks on ships continue
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“If they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves,” Trump wrote on social media
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Marietta, Ga. /Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
AP AUDIO: Yemen’s Houthis attack Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, threatening to widen Iran war
AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim an attack on Saudi oil tankers
As the rhetoric escalated, so did the economic fallout. The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked more than 6% Thursday, to about $100 a barrel. That is the highest level since May, before the two sides reached a preliminary peace agreement last month that has since collapsed
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi of Iraq, which has close ties to both the U.S. and Iran, was in Tehran on Thursday to call for peace and dialogue, and he promised not to allow Iraqi territory to be used for attacks on Iran, his office said. Al-Zaidi met with Trump earlier this month in Washington
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday that the region is being pulled “into an ever-widening circle of confrontation” with one crisis feeding another and every escalation triggering the next
“Diplomacy is the only way forward,” Guterres told the U.N. Security Council. He called for Pakistan’s efforts to mediate an end to the war to be strengthened
In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, center, reviews an honor guard as he is welcomed by the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, left, during his official welcoming ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, July 22, 2026. (Iranian Presidency Office
Houthi attacks are a ‘double whammy’ on oil shipments
The Houthis’ SABA news agency said the rebels had struck two tankers, the Encelia and the Layla, in the Red Sea, causing fires on both. There were no reports of casualties
It was the first reported Houthi attack on a vessel since they announced a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait earlier this week in retaliation for the kingdom’s blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on the international airport in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, Sanaa
Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is a vital shipping chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Around 12% of the world’s trade, including a fourth of global container traffic, passes through there, moving between Europe and Asia
The state-run Saudi Press Agency reported an attack set the Encelia ablaze overnight in the Red Sea. It did not mention the Layla
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said it received a report of a tanker being struck by “an unknown projectile” 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of Al Shuqaiq, Saudi Arabia, in the Red Sea
The Houthi attacks put at risk oil shipments from Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port on the Red Sea and present a “double whammy” on top of the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, said maritime data and analysis firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence
Saudi Arabia has diverted millions of barrels a day of oil exports to Yanbuulf
The Houthi threat “raises questions on then online webinar Thursday
The rebels say they are blockading Saudi Arabia, but during their announced blockade of Israel at the height of the war in Gaza, they targeted many vessels with little or no connection to that conflict, disrupting global trade
Mourners carry the coffins containing additional remains of victims identified through DNA testing during funeral ceremonies in Minab, Iran, Tuesday, July 22, 2026, nearly five months after they were killed in the Feb. 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School.(Razieh Poudat/ISNA
Both sides dig in over Strait of Hormuz
Iran says it has the right to manage traffic and potentially charge fees in the Strait of Hormuz, which was open to all toll-free before the war. It has attacked ships using a route through the strait that is overseen by U.S. forces and intended to be outside Tehran’s control
Trump said on social media Thursday that sanctioned Iranian funds in the possession of the U.S. will cover the expense of fixing boats damaged in the war
“Please let this statement serve to represent, until further notice, that from this point forth, any and all damages done to Ships, Cargo, or anything related thereto, will be paid for by Iranian Money that the United States has in its possession, and controls,” Trump said
It was unclear what legal mechanisms Trump would use to access and spend the funds, but he said that doing so would be “the fair and equitable thing to do.”
In response to Iran’s attacks, the U.S. began the widening campaign of strikes across Iran and restored a naval blockade of Iran’s ports. U.S. Central Command said it has redirected about a dozen commercial vessels and disabled one since the blockade resumed
The war of words has also escalated. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would adopt an “eye for an eye” policy on U.S. strikes against its infrastructure. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio retorted that Trump’s policy is “a head for an eye.”
“The price will continue to get higher every single night until they come to their senses,” Rubio told reporters while traveling in the Philippines for a regional summit
Iran’s health ministry said Thursday that 55 people have been killed and 629 have been wounded since renewed U.S. airstrikes began on June 27
Iran has responded to U.S. attacks by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants providing drinking water in parched neighboring Gulf countries
Polls have shown the war is unpopular among Americans, a fact reflected in the narrow passage Thursday of a resolution in the U.S. House to halt the war. Though a handful of Republicans crossed party lines to support the measure, the vote remained largely symbolic
Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece, and Binkley from Washington. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Michelle L. Price and Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Matthew Lee in Washington; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report
ELENA BECATOROS
FATMA KHALED
COLLIN BINKLEY
