Waves of strikes continue between US and Iran for a fifth night

For months now, Iran has been pounded by American and Israeli missiles and bombs. Much of the leadership has been eliminated, including the former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

After a short period of calm, when it was hoped that diplomacy would prevail, it appears as though war has returned for the time being. 

Much focus has been given to what the US and Israel are thinking, and how the Gulf states are coping with Iranian attacks on cities, and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

But what's happening inside Iran. 

Hear more below:

On Thursday, the State of Qatar condemned the repeated Iranian attacks targeting Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, considering them a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the three countries and a clear violation of the rules of international law.

In a statement, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed the need to spare the region from the repercussions of unjustified attacks, and to continue the path of dialogue, diplomacy and de-escalation, in a way that contributes to enhancing security and stability at the regional and international levels.

The Ministry renewed Qatar's full solidarity with Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, stressing its support for all measures taken by these countries to preserve their sovereignty and security.

Dana Gas says it has shut down the main production facilities at Iraq's Khor Mor gas field due to credible security threats and escalating regional tensions, adding it is monitoring the situation, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters on Thursday.

The idea has been discussed within the Islamic Republic's leadership, and the message has been conveyed to Iran's Houthi allies, two senior Iranian sources and a regional source familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The sources said the Houthis had been informed recently of Tehran's request, which had not previously been reported.

They did not give further details on how it had been conveyed or whether it was after US President Donald Trump’s threat to attack Iranian power infrastructure on Tuesday.

Kuwaiti air defences are currently confronting attacks by "hostile drones" as strikes on the US’s Gulf allies continue.

"The General Staff of the Army notes that any explosion sounds heard are the result of air defence systems intercepting the hostile attacks," the military said in a statement on X, denouncing "the sinful Iranian aggression".

"Everyone is requested to adhere to the security and safety instructions issued by the competent authorities," it added.

Earlier, a drone struck a ship located off the port in Iraq's southern province of Basra on Thursday, an Iraqi security official told AFP.

The ship, which was "carrying American-branded cars", had arrived from the United Arab Emirates and was hit near an oil terminal, the official said.

Iraq's oil ministry said it was verifying reports of an unspecified "object" falling on a tanker.

Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, as a US-based research group reported a surge in Israeli attacks to levels not seen since the latest so-called 'ceasefire' took effect in October.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed two people near the Tuffah neighbourhood in the north of the enclave, while a third person was killed in Israeli tank shelling in the Zeitoun suburb in eastern Gaza City.

Another airstrike at a tent encampment for displaced people in western Gaza City killed one person and wounded several, while an attack on a vehicle in Khan Younis, in the south, killed another, medics said.

Witnesses also reported that an airstrike hit a residential building in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.

Conflict monitor ACLED, which tracks Israeli attacks in Gaza, said air and drone strikes against Hamas and other militants increased to more than 40 in June, the highest monthly total since the ceasefire.

"With polls showing the opposition in the lead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing growing domestic pressure to take a tougher security position against Hamas," ACLED Middle East Assistant Research Manager Nasser Khdour said, referring to Israel's legislative election in October.

A drone struck a ship located off the port in Iraq's southern province of Basra on Thursday, a security official told AFP.

The ship, which was "carrying American-branded cars", had arrived from the United Arab Emirates and was hit near an oil terminal, the official said.

Iraq's oil ministry said it was verifying reports of an unspecified "object" falling on a tanker.

India has ordered shipowners, ship managers and recruitment companies not to deploy the country's seafarers on vessels undertaking trips through the Strait of Hormuz amid renewed fighting in the region.

India is the world's third-largest supplier of seafarers, with more than 300,000 sailors working across global shipping fleets, according to government data.

"No deployment of Indian seafarers on vessels undertaking voyages involving passage through the Strait of Hormuz until further orders," the Directorate General of Shipping said in an order issued late Wednesday.

Tehran on Thursday accused the United States of carrying out a "barbaric attack" after a cancer hospital in Iran's southwest was forced to evacuate due to nearby strikes.

"This barbaric attack, reminiscent of Israel's atrocities against healthcare facilities, caused severe suffering and anxiety upon the hospitalised children," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X, saying "211 patients undergoing chemotherapy" were evacuated.

Crude oil loading was suspended at all Iraqi terminals on Thursday after a drone crashed into an oil tanker at the Basra terminal, although it did not cause damage or a fire, four Iraqi oil and security sources told Reuters.

US President Donald Trump has called the release of a US citizen held in Iran a "gesture of goodwill", even as conflict raged for a fifth night across the region.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday that an American who was "wrongfully detained" under the Biden administration in 2024 had been allowed to leave Iran.

"She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition. The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran," Trump wrote.

Human rights attorney Jared ​Genser identified the American as Dena Karari.

"Dena is now safe and travelling back to the United States," Genser wrote on X, thanking Trump for his efforts to free her.

Iran has neither confirmed nor denied that Karari has been released.

Projectiles hit an airport in northeastern Iran, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported on Thursday, citing the office of the governor of Semnan Province.

The report stated that the attacks targeted Semnan Airport, but that no deaths or injuries occurred.

The governor's office said in a statement that the attack was carried out by "the enemy," without specifying who was responsible.

The incident comes after the US army said it launched a new wave of attacks against Iran during the night.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not travel to the United States next week because the funeral of US Senator Lindsey Graham has been postponed until the end of the month, the Prime Minister's Office said on Thursday.

More than half the House Democrats voted Wednesday to strip $3.3 billion in U.S. aid from Israel, the most substantial signal yet that once rock-solid bipartisan support for the country is disintegrating in the aftermath of its genocidal war on Gaza.

The vote tally, 104-314, was not enough to attach the amendment to a broader national security spending bill, but stands as a stark accounting of the shifting attitudes that are dividing the Democratic Party and the nation over Israel.

The House's Democratic leadership split over the issue in what was largely seen as a test vote ahead of the US midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. M

ore than 100 Democrats voted for the amendment to strip foreign military aid funding, and almost as many voted against it. Most Republicans voted to preserve the Israel aid.

Syrian authorities foiled an attempt to smuggle in a shipment of advanced weapons and missiles over the border from Iraq, the state news agency SANA reported on Thursday, citing an Interior Ministry source, who said preliminary investigations showed the shipment was intended for Lebanon's Hezbollah militia.

US President Donald Trump said in June he had spoken to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa about combating Hezbollah.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's office said Sharaa had assured him Syria would not take sides in Lebanon's internal affairs.

Fewer vessels travelled through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the first day after the US reimposed its naval blockade on Iranian ports, with both countries escalating strikes across the Gulf, shipping data showed.

Nine vessels crossed the strait on Wednesday, mostly on the Iranian route, down from 13 the previous day, Kpler data showed.

There were no Very Large Crude Carriers or liquefied natural gas tankers visibly passing through the strait on Wednesday.

US Central Command said on Wednesday it disabled an unladen oil tanker that was attempting to sail towards Iran's Kharg Island after it ignored multiple warnings, firing Hellfire missiles into the ship's smokestack. The Curacao-flagged VLCC Belma was no longer transiting to Iran, it added.

Since resuming a naval blockade against Iran on Tuesday, the US has redirected two ships and disabled another, the military said.

Caught between an increasingly confrontational United States and an emboldened Iran unwilling to surrender, the Gulf Arab monarchies face mounting security challenges.

Giorgio Cafiero the options.

Read more below:

NEW Economist/YouGov Jul 10-13: Iran
% who think in hindsight, the decision to go to war in Iran was right | wrong
U.S. adult citizens 27% | 57%
Democrats 5% | 89%
Independents 13% | 65%
Among Republicans
Overall 63% | 16%
MAGA 77% | 5%
Non-MAGA 31% | 51%
(Link in reply) pic.twitter.com/V2zE9fFCpU

— YouGov America (@YouGovAmerica) July 14, 2026

Pakistan said on Thursday it would encourage the United States and Iran to stop violence and resume talks under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) it helped mediate last month.

"While the implementation of the MoU is facing challenges, Pakistan will continue to encourage all sides to end violence and resume technical-level talks in accordance with the MoU," Tahir Andrabi, Pakistan's foreign office spokesman, told reporters in Islamabad.

Tehran warned Thursday it would target regional infrastructure if the United States carried out threats to attack Iran's infrastructure, as the US-Israeli war on Iran resumed.

The spokesman for Iran's military headquarters said that if the US followed through on its threats, "all infrastructure in the region" would be "crushed under the steel blows" of Iran's armed forces.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz told his US counterpart Pete Hegseth early Thursday that Israel is determined to keep its forces in "security zones" it has carved out inside Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, Katz's office said the two men spoke overnight and the minister "emphasised Israel's determination to remain in the security zones in Syria, Gaza, and Lebanon in order to protect Israel's borders and the communities near the border from the threats posed by jihadist forces".

US President Donald Trump urged senior defence officials on Wednesday to accelerate weapons manufacturing and increase production capacity, in light of the pressure caused by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East on US stockpiles.

In a speech he delivered during the Defence and Innovation Summit in Pennsylvania, Trump urged arms manufacturers, saying, “We have the best quality in the world, but we need more speed.”

Iran's Revolutionary Guards say they struck a US air base in Jordan with ballistic missiles in response to what they describe as an American attack near a children's cancer hospital in Iran.

The IRGC says US forces "used air bases located in Jordan to target various parts of Iran, including the vicinity of a children's cancer hospital," and that its aerospace force responded by "launching two waves of missile strikes" on the bases in Jordan.

Iran’s army says it carried out drone attacks against US bases and facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain, state TV reports, after the United States carried out strikes on the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s military says it targeted "radar systems, a Patriot air defence system, and fuel storage facilities at Ali Al Salem Air Base" in Kuwait and US military facilities at the Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, IRIB reports.