Iranian army says war could 'expand further' if US attacks restart

The four American troops killed during renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran in recent weeks are no longer listed as part of the Iran war death toll in the Pentagon’s official casualty count but have been placed in a new, separate category.

It is raising questions about properly counting the impact to U.S. service members as the Trump administration has escalated strikes on Iran in a bid to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while providing little indication of how it intends to wind down a conflict that is unpopular with many Americans.

The Defense Casualty Analysis System, which Pentagon officials have repeatedly pointed to as the definitive source on the numbers of dead and wounded from the conflict, removed the four fallen soldiers as well as dozens of wounded troops from its Iran war tally last week.

On Sunday, a new category called "Overseas Operations" emerged on the system's website, listing the four Army deaths by name as well as 207 wounded. It was unclear if all of the wounded were injured in the Iran conflict.

Syria is seeking to reach a security agreement with Israel with the participation of several countries, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Sunday.

He said the success of the deal could pave the way for comprehensive peace without compromising Syria's right to the Golan Heights.

Yemen's Defence Minister Lieutenant General Taher al-Aqili said the armed forces, in coordination with the Saudi-led coalition and international partners, would continue confronting the "Iranian-backed Houthi militia" until its threat is eliminated and government control is restored across the country.

He accused the Houthis of using violence, terrorism and attacks on international shipping to advance Tehran's interests, adding that lasting regional security would require "severing the arm of the Revolutionary Guard" and re-establishing state authority throughout Yemen.

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani held a phone call with UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss bilateral relations and the latest regional developments.

During the call, the two officials reviewed ongoing diplomatic efforts to ease regional tensions. Qatar stressed the importance of dialogue, implementing the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, safeguarding freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, and supporting initiatives aimed at achieving lasting peace and stability across the region.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday the Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel "cannot go unanswered."

His comments came in calls with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Araghchi posted on X.

Iran accused Ukraine of targeting an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea Saturday night, killing one sailor.

Israel's security cabinet has approved "immunity" for the Gaza International Stabilisation Force to enter areas not under Israeli control.

Part of the October ceasefire agreement, the ISF is meant to deploy in war-torn Gaza Strip as a peacekeeping mission.

Iran will halt its own attacks as long as the United States maintains its pause on strikes, but Tehran remains sceptical of U.S. intentions, a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday.

"Iran’s position remains ‘attack for attack’: if the attacks stop, Iran will also halt its operations. That message has already been conveyed to the United States," the source told Reuters, a day after Washington halted attacks following 13 successive nights of air strikes.

"There is more scepticism than optimism about the halt in attacks. The prevailing view is that the pause is tactical rather than genuine," the source added.

U.S. President Donald Trump has paused attacks on Iran to allow more room for diplomacy, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations told Fox News.

"He's giving talks some space, he's giving it a little bit of room," Mike Waltz told the broadcaster on Sunday.

Waltz did not provide further detail on the nature of the talks, but there has been a weekend lull in the fighting between Iran and the United States.

The Pentagon paused bombing operations after 13 nights of escalating strikes and there were no weekend reports of attacks by Iran on its neighbors. Asked about the pause, a senior official in ​Trump's administration said on Saturday that the president "has always been clear that his preference is diplomacy, but he has shown Iran what will happen if they fail to come ​to the table in a serious way."

The UN chief at the end of a two-day visit to Syria on Sunday urged the removal of all sanctions imposed on the country during the era of now ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Antonio Guterres told a press conference in Damascus "I welcome steps that have eased sanctions, and opening new possibilities for economic recovery, but all these sanctions must be removed immediately."

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that an oil tanker exploded in the Strait of Hormuz after colliding with a naval mine, claiming the vessel had deviated from the route designated by Iran.

The agency said Iran had repeatedly warned that ships failing to follow its declared routes would face consequences.

There was no immediate official statement from Iranian authorities regarding the incident.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel is prepared to expand its military operations in the occupied West Bank amid ongoing settler attacks and Israeli army raids across the territory.

“The instructions we gave were to enter villages, search them, seize weapons and make arrests,” Netanyahu told reporters.

He added that Israel was “prepared to act more broadly against terrorist strongholds”.

Netanyahu’s comments come as tensions continue to escalate in the occupied West Bank, following a series of settler attacks and Israeli military operations targeting Palestinians.

Israeli forces have detained dozens of Palestinians in the West Bank as the Palestinian Authority warned of "systematic pogroms" amid a wave of settler violence across the territory.

The Israeli military is mounting a large-scale operation in the north of the territory after a settler attack near Nablus on Friday left four Palestinians and two Israelis dead.

Twenty-four Palestinians were arrested during raids in Nablus governorate on Sunday while another 16 were detained in Tulkarm and Jenin, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Twelve of those arrested were from the village of Tell, the site of Friday's deadly settler attack.

The raids are coinciding with a surge in retaliatory settler violence. Israel Army Radio said at least 30 separate attacks had been recorded across the West Bank over the weekend.

Lebanon's army on Sunday condemned ongoing Israeli military activities in the country's south that it said were preventing its full deployment under a framework deal reached with Israel last month.

"Israeli occupation forces continue their attacks and violations of current understandings and of international laws through the systematic destruction and bulldozing of homes, bombardment and sweeps with automatic weapons in several southern areas," an army statement said, adding that "the continuation of these attacks obstructs the army's full deployment according to current agreements and prevents the return of residents to their villages and towns."

The US-backed framework would see Israeli forces gradually withdraw from designated areas in southern Lebanon and allow the Lebanese army to move in. The deal stipulates all Hezbollah infrastructure is dismantled and its arms confiscated. The first village was Zawtar al-Gharbiya, and the other two not occupied by Israeli forces are Froun and Srifa.

But Israel says it will not withdraw from a buffer zone along the entire border before Hezbollah is fully disarmed.

An Israeli airstrike on Sunday killed a senior officer of the Hamas-run Palestinian internal security service in the Gaza Strip and an associate as they travelled in a vehicle through Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, medics and police officials said.

The strike killed Colonel Wael El-Ledawi, head of the service in central Gaza, and Major Ramez Abu Zraiq, medics and the Hamas-run interior ministry said.

The Israeli military said it had carried out a strike against a Hamas militant, without further details.

الشهيد القائد/ وائل اللداوي (أبو حمزة) مسؤول الأمن الداخلي في الوسطى

الشهيد الثاني الضابط/ رامز أبو زريق pic.twitter.com/msqvrchBLX

— أدهم أبو سلمية (@AdhamSelmiya) July 26, 2026

Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday said they downed a Saudi drone over the northwest of Yemen, a day after the Yemeni group claimed it attacked oil facilities in the Gulf kingdom.

The Houthi's military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group "successfully shot down a Turkish-made... armed reconnaissance drone belonging to the Saudi enemy while it was conducting hostile operations".

After years of relative calm following a 2022 ceasefire, tensions have flared once again between Riyadh and the Iran-backed movement in recent weeks.

Iran said on Sunday it has halted retaliatory attacks in the region after the United States stopped its strikes on the country for the past two nights.

"These attacks continued until two nights ago, but over the past two nights the Americans have stopped their attacks," said army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia. "Since... our strategy has essentially been retaliatory, we have also halted our retaliatory operations."

The main land border crossing between Kuwait and Iraq has reopened, Iraq's state news agency cited the country's border crossings authority as saying on Sunday.

The Abdali border crossing was temporarily closed after a drone attack on Thursday that caused material damage but no casualties, the Kuwaiti army said.

Abdali, in Kuwait's northern Al-Jahra Province, is a key route for passenger and commercial traffic between the two countries. It was not clear who launched the drones.

انفجارات تهز معبر العبدلي الكويتي إثر هجوم بمسيرتين

عراقيون يوثقون اللحظات الأولى وتصاعد الدخان

منفذ سفوان (البصرة) 964
أفاد مصدر أمني، مساء اليوم الخميس (23 تموز 2026)، بأن انفجارات هزت منفذ العبدلي الحدودي في الجانب الكويتي، بعد قصفه بمسيرتين اثنتين، فيما لم تسجل أي تأثيرات… pic.twitter.com/JMFcSM2oUL

— 964 (@964arabic) July 23, 2026

Kuwait has strongly denied a Wall Street Journal report claiming it took part in military operations against Iran, calling the allegations "completely false" and demanding the newspaper issue a correction.

According to Kuwait's ambassador to the US, Sheikh Al-Zain Al-Sabah, Kuwait did not participate in any strikes against Iran and did not allow its territory, airspace or territorial waters to be used for offensive operations.

The denial came after the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources, that Kuwait had secretly deployed warplanes to carry out strikes on Iranian drone and missile depots earlier this month. Kuwait rejected the report in its entirety, reaffirming its longstanding policy of not allowing its territory to be used to launch attacks against other countries.

Kuwait has been hit hard in Iranian strikes, which Tehran says are targeting US bases and interests in the small Gulf state.

Iran accused Ukraine on Saturday of attacking one of its merchant vessels in the Caspian Sea, killing a sailor and wounding another, and warned it would not leave the incident unanswered.

The accusation came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had carried out long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea against vessels involved in transporting military cargo involving Iran, underscoring the increasingly international dimensions of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Iran's foreign ministry said the attack on Saturday morning caused the ship "to explode, killing one sailor and injuring another", according to the official IRNA news agency.

The Islamic republic "has never intervened in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine", it asserted.

Ukraine continues applying long‑range sanctions in response to Russian strikes. Last night, the warriors of our Defense Forces hit targets across different regions of Russia that are fueling this war.

Once again, a plant in Kirov was struck – the one supplying components for the… pic.twitter.com/D0Z6bFRiww

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 25, 2026

Iran said on Sunday it had made progress in talks with Oman on management of the Strait of Hormuz. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said several rounds of negotiations were held in Tehran on Friday and Saturday between Iranian and Omani deputy foreign ministers.

The discussions focused on "common principles and operational mechanisms" for ensuring the safe passage of shipping through the strait while respecting the sovereign rights of the two states, Baqaei said.

He described the talks as "useful" and said progress had been made, adding that "technical and political consultations between the two sides were continuing".

According to news site Axios, the Pentagon presented US President Donald Trump with a plan for a 14th consecutive night of strikes, but he declined to authorise it in favour of renewed talks.

The report said Trump made the order to hold fire after an Omani delegation arrived in Tehran "for talks on a new arrangement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz".

Iran's army warned on Sunday that the Middle East war would widen if the United States chose to press ahead with attacks on the Islamic republic, ahead of the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington.

"I believe that if the Americans once again fall for the Zionists' deception, or move in line with them, and insist on continuing the war, particularly through air strikes, geographically this will expand further," army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia told state television.

He said the war had already expanded to the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the entrance of the Red Sea, referencing the recent military flare-up between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia.

"The scope of our operations now encompasses the entire region, from US bases in Jordan to the countries along the Persian Gulf," he said.

Akraminia said the situation in the Middle East for the United States is "difficult and unsettled," predicting that Washington was now looking "for a new strategy."