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⚡️ President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that a previously-proposed 20% fee on all cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz would be scrapped, claiming that instead the US are opting to pursue trade and investment agreements with Gulf states.
🔹 Trump’s reversal came just one day after he unveiled the plan to levy a 20% charge on all vessels using the strategic waterway, claiming that the Gulf states are rich and would cover the costs, however, sources close to the White House claimed that the reversal was due to a backlash from the Gulf states.
🔹 Writing on Truth Social, Trump said: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
🔹 Trump did not cite any specific commitments from the Gulf countries, adding: “Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future.”
🔹 According to Trump’s post, the Strait would remain open to all maritime traffic except for vessels linked to Iran: “We will therefore have a FULL Blockade, but only Ships coming to and from Iranian ports, or carrying anything to do with Iranian cargo.”
⚡️ Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that a lot of questions have been raised since the flames of war were rekindled, from various groups, adding that everyone answers the questions according to their own perspective.
🔹 Questions raised include whether Iran were seeking war, would the war and the shadow of war end, or can Iran achieve goals through negotiation, and what is the point of negotiating with a deceitful America.
🔹 Ghalibaf said: “We have never welcomed war, nor do we welcome it now, but we must always be prepared for battle and stand firm to protect our national security and interests,” adding that Iran must also use diplomacy and negotiation to ‘achieve and solidify our national interests.’
🔹 The Speaker said that America sought to strike Iran and advance its own interests at any time it could, and this was not limited to war, negotiation, or just the current US president.
🔹 “Therefore, our approach must be based on realistic, long-term national interests and security,” Ghalibaf said, stating they had no choice but to rely on their own capabilities to become stronger.
🔹 Ghalibaf said that a memorandum of understanding is only meaningful when its clauses are valid and being implemented: “If the Islamic Republic of Iran is not to benefit from the agreement, based on the policy of an ‘eye for an eye,’ we have no reason to adhere to such an agreement,” he said.
🔹 “As we are witnessing these days, our armed forces, as always, have full freedom of action to confront enemy aggression,” he concluded.
⚡️ Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters chief Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari issued a stark warning that any US strike on Iranian infrastructure would be met with the destruction of all remaining infrastructure in the region.
🔹 Zolfaghari said: “Hit infrastructure, we will hit whatever infrastructure remains in the region.”
Damage Reports from July 14-July 15 attacks:
⚡️ More than 30 civilians were killed in the early morning attacks on Iran, according to Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani, who extended condolences to the victims’ families and pledged the government would support those affected with all available resources.
🔹 Seven Iranian Army personnel were killed following the US military attack on the Bampur garrison in Iranshahr, and the Iranian Army Ground Force announced they would carry out a decisive response to the attack at an appropriate time.
🔹 The US military fired 13 missiles in the early hours of Wednesday morning which targeted the barracks and accommodation facilities of one of the Iranian Army Ground Force’s bases, attacking dormitories, a guesthouse, and guard facilities.
🔹 Seven personnel of the 388th Iranshahr Brigade, including both career servicemen and conscripts, were killed in the attack, while the several injured had received medical treatment.
🔹 The Iranian Army stated that revenge for the blood of those killed is certain and imminent, adding that, together with the other branches of the armed forces, it would deliver a decisive response to the US.
⚡️ Strikes from the US targeted civilian infrastructure on Iran’s Kish Island, as locals reported explosions near the Kish Water and Electricity Company’s power plant on the Persian Gulf island, one of the island’s most critical infrastructure facilities.
🔹 Iranian state media reported the area was targeted with seven munitions over the course of approximately one hour, with the blasts causing disruptions to the technical parameters of several production units at the plant.
🔹 Malfunctions were reported in the electricity generation system, while technical assessments were underway on Wednesday to determine the extent of the damage.
🔹 The damaged units may need to be completely taken offline for repairs, meaning there could be possible temporary or scheduled power outages on the island.
🔹 US forces also conducted strikes against grain silos in the southwestern Iranian regions of Hoveyzeh and Dasht Azadegan, according to the Deputy Governor of Khuzestan, noting that the infrastructure damage occurred in the early morning strikes.
🔹 However, Centcom published a ‘Fact Check’ that claimed US forces hit Iranian military targets in ‘Bandar Abbas, Khormuj, Ahvaz, Qeshm, Tunb, Bushehr, and Kuh e-Stak to degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,’ saying Iran had targeted innocent civilians attempting to transit the Strait, despite doing the same thing to Iranian vessels.
🔹 Further sites targeted included the maritime traffic control centre in the southern Iranian city of Chabahar, which had been struck twice in the same morning.
🔹 Iran’s Ministry of Education relocated examination centres away from sensitive infrastructure to more secure public and religious facilities on Wednesday, in a defensive posture that followed an official complaint lodged by Iran with the UN regarding the stability of regional security agreements.
Attacks overnight from July 15 to July 16:
⚡️ Iran’s attacks started early in the evening in the Erbil province of Iraq, as infrastructure belonging to Kurdish militias was targeted in Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, while a video appeared to show US interceptors malfunctioning.
🔹 Reports began to circulate of a retaliatory attack against Ahvaz in Iran, but these were later disputed by Iranian media, as locals suggested several explosions occurred within the space of an hour, and the Deputy Governor of Khuzestan Province reported four separate locations in the city of Ahvaz were struck, but no casualties reported.
🔹 Later, the Governor of Khuzestan confirmed that the Shahid Baghaei Hospital had been struck in Ahvaz during the strikes, stating that the medical staff had moved 200 cancer patients due to possible risks from further strikes, and were looking to further move patients on to hospitals in other locations.
🔹 Footage above showed the evacuation taking place at the hospital, which IRNA said was a specialised medical centre which provided medical services to patients with cancer and blood diseases, especially children, adding that a large number of patients from various parts of the province and neighbouring provinces visit the medical centre for treatment.
🔹 Some of the strikes conducted against Ahvaz reportedly targeted the Islamic Republic of Iran Army’s 92nd Armoured Division, which is the IRI Army’s most efficient armoured unit and one of the IRI Army’s most efficient units as a whole, which is equipped with T-72 tanks.
🔹 Explosions and strikes were also reported in Chabahar and Bandar Abbas, as reports circulated stating that ATACMS ballistic missile launches were taking place from Kuwait towards Iranian territory, and intel suggested the target was the Bandar Abbas International Airport.
🔹 Locals reported to Iranian media they heard the sounds of US fighter jets before explosions in Chabahar-Konorak area, coastal southeastern Iran, as several explosions had occurred near the cities.
🔹 Further strikes were committed against the Souza fish powder factory on Qeshm Island, causing limited damage and no casualties, while areas near Bandar Abbas were being struck in what appeared to be a continuous wave of US attacks.
Semnan International Airport in Semnan Province was struck by at least three projectiles in the early hours of Thursday morning, marking the first time the province was struck by US forces during this confrontation, as Iranian media reported that no residential areas were hit and no casualties were reported, but damage was noted to the windows, and damage was caused to an auxiliary building.
🔹 Central Command published a statement confirming the US forces launched a ‘second wave’ of strikes on Wednesday against Iran, likely following the morning attacks, stating that Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels transiting the Strait were targeted.
🔹 US CENTCOM also confirmed a later wave of attacks had concluded, that targeted military sites across several locations of Iran, including Bandar Abbas, claiming to have hit command centres, air defence systems, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities to reduce Tehran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping.
🔹 This would include the civilians aboard the Curacao-flagged tanker M/T Belma, which sailed towards Iran’s Kharg Island earlier in the day, stating the unladen vessel had ignored repeated warnings before a US aircraft fired Hellfire missiles into its smokestack, stopping it from continuing towards the Iranian port.
🔹 Iran’s immediate retaliation targeted Bahrain with ballistic missiles, as Iran targeted the Sheikh Issa Air Base, a staging zone for US attacks, followed by second waves targeting Kuwait and Bahrain, as locals reported air defences in operation and violent explosions being heard.
🔹 Reports suggested a larger-than-normal strike, due to the amount of Patriot interceptors launched above Bahrain, as new UAVs were reported heading from Samaheej in northeastern Bahrain targeting the NSA Headquarters, and footage showed low-altitude interceptions of IRGC ballistic missiles near the US base.
🔹 At least three explosions were head in Kuwait which were likely due to drone impacts or interceptions in a large wave of attacks on the country, which also resulted in possible impacts near Kuwait International Airport, captured in a live YouTube feed courtesy of Intel Cams.
🔹 Iran later launched ballistic missiles from the west of the country, targeting the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, as reports circulated of heavy air defence activity.
🔹 Air defence activity was reported above Tehran and areas close by, as Iranian media confirmed the targeting of a US drone, and later stating that a US Air Force MQ-9A Reaper UCAV had been intercepted above Andimeshk, in Khuzestan province.
Statements:
⚡️ IRGC published a statement announcing they had conducted a joint missile and UAV strike against Ali Al-Salem Air Abase in Kuwait, claiming to have struck both a Centurion C-Ram early radar, and a gathering location for US army soldiers, as well as later damaging an early warning radar, while the US military pier in Shualbiyeh (Shuaiba), was targeted in a combined drone and missile operation.
🔹 Another statement claimed that UAVs had struck Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, targeting a radar site, communications system, and fuel depots at the US base, which Iranian media described as the ‘Al-Azraq base,’ adding that its the home to anti-missile defence systems and is considered a strategic and important command centre of the US.
🔹 During the wave of attacks at the Al-Azraq airbase, ballistic missiles allegedly destroyed an American fighter jet storage ramp and a new US command and control centre that was designed to manage West Asia.
⚡️ Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi condemned the Wednesday evening drone attack that violated the airspace of Erbil in the northern Kurdistan region after several drones were shot down near the US consulate, prompting the activation of air defence systems near the diplomatic mission.
🔹 The Prime Minister directed relevant security agencies, in coordination with the Kurdistan region’s security forces, to take all necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of such attacks and thwart any attempts to harm the security of Iraqi society.
🔹 While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the source of the drones remained unidentified on Thursday morning, Iraq and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region have been repeatedly targeted by mostly pro-Iranian Iraqi armed groups since the beginning of the war.
⚡️ Sources: Reuters, Tasnim, Kish Electricity Company, Tasnim News Agency, Mehr News Agency, Fars News Agency, IRIB News, Al Arabia, Reuters, Bloomberg, NYT, AFP
