Iran war live: US bombs Iran; Trump says soldiers killed ‘a sad thing’

Live updates,

For the eighth consecutive night, US forces launched strikes on Iran, as Iranian officials announced that a memorandum of understanding has been ‘suspended’.

The strikes are part of a broader military campaign that began in February and has since expanded across the region.

Published On 19 Jul 2026

• The United States has launched new strikes on Iran after two of its soldiers were killed in Jordan in an Iranian attack.
• US President Donald Trump says the deaths were “a very sad thing”, adding that “we’re never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon”.

38 Updates

• 2m ago

   (06:00 GMT)

  Israeli forces kill Palestinian woman in overnight attack on tent in Gaza City

  There have been several Israeli attacks on Gaza overnight, according to our colleagues on the ground. These include:

  • An Israeli air strike that hit a tent in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, killing a woman and wounding her husband
  • A strike on an apartment in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City at 3am (00:00 GMT) that wounded several people, including children
  • A gun attack in Khan Younis in the south that wounded another Palestinian
  • Two drone attacks on a residential area in central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp that did not cause any casualties

  The attacks took place despite Israel and Hamas agreeing to a “ceasefire” in October. More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in near-daily Israeli attacks since then. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed.

• 17m ago

   (05:45 GMT)

  Resident says demand for water has increased in Kuwait

  Kuwait has accused Iran of striking a power and water plant within its borders for the second time this Saturday.

  One Kuwaiti resident told AFP there were fears that basic goods might become unavailable if the escalation continues.

  “The demand for water and canned goods has increased since this morning amid fears that services or supply chains will be affected,” Hassan Rayan, 61, told AFP.

  Resident Ali Mahmoud, 46, told the agency that “the streets and beaches were almost empty, even though it is a holiday”.

• 32m ago

   (05:30 GMT)

  WATCH: Moment Iranian missiles hit airbase in Jordan killing US soldiers

  A video captures the moment an Iranian missile struck Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti airbase, killing two US service members and injuring four others.

  At least 16 US service members have died since the US and Israel initiated their military campaign against Iran in February.

  Watch below:

• 47m ago

   (05:15 GMT)

  Iran’s Khuzestan puts emergency services on alert after earthquake

  Khuzestan Governor Seyed Mohammad Reza Mowlaizadeh says he has issued the “necessary instructions for the full mobilisation of rescue and operational forces” after a magnitude 5 earthquake struck the southwestern province this morning.

  The IRIB state broadcaster reported earlier that the earthquake struck at a depth of about 12km (7.5 miles).

  Mowlaizadeh said assessment teams have been rapidly deployed, and a field assessment of the situation in earthquake-affected regions is ongoing. He added: “No casualties or significant financial damage have been reported so far, and all relevant executive bodies are on full alert.”

• 1h ago

   (05:00 GMT)

  If you’re just joining us

  Here’s where things stand:

  • The US military says it has completed an eighth consecutive night of attacks on Iran, hitting Iranian coastal surveillance and air defence facilities, maritime capabilities, and missile and drone storage sites.
  • Iranian media have reported explosions in cities along the coast, including Qeshm, Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Hajiabad and Shadegan.
  • Iran’s army claims it launched a large-scale drone attack on an ammunition depot at Camp al-Adiri and air defence radars at Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait.
  • Iran’s embassy in India says two girls were among seven civilians killed in the US air strike on a bridge in Bandar Khamir on Thursday.
  • Top Iranian commander Ali Abdullahi has warned the US saying “any aggression or barbarism will be met with a decisive and devastating response” from Iran’s armed forces.
  • Iraq says it is studying a strategic oil pipeline from Basra to Kirkuk and onwards to Turkiye’s Ceyhan port, with a possible branch to Syria’s Banias, as Baghdad seeks to reduce its reliance on the Strait of Hormuz.

• 1h ago

   (04:45 GMT)

  Iraqi Kurdish politician condemns Iranian missile strikes

  We’ve been covering several strikes on Iraq’s Kurdish region, including drone attacks that caused the US embassy in Erbil to activate air defences, as well as on Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the region.

  They follow strikes that killed nine members of the Iranian Kurdish opposition group, Komala, on Friday.

  According to Rudaw, a Kurdish news outlet, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has condemned Friday’s strikes, calling them “deliberate” and “a severe breach” of international norms.

  “Our nation faced a grave and unacceptable violation of our security and sovereignty. A ballistic missile strike, launched from Iran, targeted our homeland and our heroic security forces,” Bafel Talabani said on Saturday.

  “We stand with our brothers in Erbil at this grave time; an attack on one is an attack on all,” he said, adding that while the Kurdish region did not seek a wider conflict, its restraint “should not be mistaken for a lack of resolve or ability”.

  The PUK is one of the two dominant political parties in Iraq’s Kurdish region, alongside its longtime rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

• 1h ago

   (04:30 GMT)

  

  How many US troops have been killed in the war on Iran?

  The latest casualties in Jordan bring the total number of US soldiers killed since the war began to 16. More than 430 others have been wounded, while one remains missing.

  Here’s what we know:

  • The first deaths occurred on March 1, shortly after the war began, when an Iranian drone struck a civilian port in Kuwait, killing six American soldiers.
  • A seventh soldier – wounded the same day in an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan airbase in Saudi Arabia – died more than a week later.
  • On March 12, six others were killed when a KC-135 refuelling aircraft supporting US operations crashed in Iraq. The US military said the crash followed an unspecified incident involving another aircraft, and ruled out hostile or friendly fire.
  • A US Navy pilot also died after a helicopter crashed in the Arabian Sea on July 1. The Navy said there was no indication the incident had been caused by hostile action.

• 1h ago

   (04:15 GMT)

  Iraq studying new pipeline to Turkiye and Syria to bypass Hormuz

  Iraq’s Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair says the Iraqi government is conducting a study on the construction of an oil pipeline from Basra to Kirkuk and onward to the Turkish port of Ceyhan and Syria’s Baniyas.

  Speaking to the Iraqi News Agency (INA) from Washington on Saturday, Khudair said the ministry “has a clear vision and strategy based on diversifying Iraqi oil export routes and not relying solely on the Strait of Hormuz”.

  He said a memorandum of understanding had been signed with a consortium including US companies Chevron and TE Capital, alongside Qatar’s UCC.

  “The ministry is currently conducting a study on how to construct a strategic pipeline extending from Basra to Kirkuk, and from there to the port of Ceyhan,” Khudair said, adding that the project also includes a study on extending a branch of the pipeline to Baniyas in Syria.

  Baniyas is a coastal city in northwestern Syria, which hosts one of the country’s main oil refineries and an export terminal on the Mediterranean. It has historically been the terminus of a pipeline carrying Iraqi crude overland from Kirkuk, which is currently largely defunct due to decades of war and sanctions.

  Iraq – OPEC’s second-largest producer – has for years relied heavily on the Strait of Hormuz to export crude.

  

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• 2h ago

   (04:00 GMT)

  Overnight US strikes on Iran ‘less intense’ than in recent nights

  Reporting from Tehran, Iran

  We saw yet another night of escalation, but I would say it was less intense.

  Still, we saw air strikes targeting different cities.

  The office of the governor of Hormozgan Province confirmed strikes on Qeshm Island, while the Tasnim news agency said that the sound of six explosions was heard there. Qeshm is located in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz and is the largest island of the country.

  Also, in Bandar Abbas, explosions were reported. We’ve got similar reports in other cities of Hormozgan province, such as Hajiabad and Sirik.

  On the other hand, we know that the Iranian side is also talking about their retaliatory strikes. We’ve got statements coming from the military side saying that they have targeted US military assets across the region.

• 2h ago

   (03:50 GMT)

  WATCH: Plumes of smoke rise over Kuwait after repeated Iranian attacks

  Towering plumes of smoke rose over Kuwait after Iranian strikes hit multiple locations in Mangaf on Saturday.

  Kuwaiti authorities said the attacks targeted a power generation and water desalination plant and have asked citizens to conserve power when possible.

  Watch below:

• 2h ago

   (03:43 GMT)

  

  US military claims attacks on IRGC forces involved in deadly Jordan strikes

  We have more from the CENTCOM statement.

  It said that during the latest round of attacks, its forces “successfully hit Iranian military coastal surveillance and air defence facilities, maritime capabilities, and missile and drone storage sites”.

  It added that “American military assets also targeted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces that launched attacks against US service members in Jordan on July 17”.

  As we’ve been reporting, at least two US service members were killed in the attacks on Jordan, while another remains missing.

• 2h ago

   (03:40 GMT)

  

  US military says eighth night of strikes against Iran now over

  The Central Command says it has completed the eighth consecutive night of strikes against Iran, at the commander-in-chief’s direction.

• 2h ago

   (03:30 GMT)

  

  US extending attacks inland ‘to try and isolate Iran’s coast’

  We have more from David Des Roches on the US military strategy in the war on Iran.

  The former Pentagon official said the US offensive had evolved since the first phase of the war, when strikes were “designed to decapitate the leadership and degrade Iran’s ability to launch volleys of ballistic missiles”.

  Those strikes meant Iran “hasn’t been able to launch volleys of missiles and overwhelm defences”, he said, though noting that it has “been able to launch individual or maybe two or three missiles at once, which are generally intercepted”.

  The renewed US bombardment – following Iranian attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz – have been “directed against maritime observation, and launching facilities”, he said, such as the towers in Chabahar, “which Iran had been using civilian navigation systems to locate targets”.

  In recent days, however, the campaign has pushed further inland. “We saw the targets extend inland to try to isolate the coast, so that Iran would be unable to reinforce it with missiles, troops, drones,” Des Roches said, adding that he expected the next phase to focus on “national leadership, national military facilities and dual-use infrastructure within the Iranian interior”.

  He warned, though, that air power alone has clear limits as a tool for achieving strategic objectives.

  “What we find is that it never performs as advertised, or very rarely,” he said.

• 2h ago

   (03:20 GMT)

  

  Earthquake strikes Iran’s Khuzestan province

  A magnitude 5.0 earthquake has struck the Saland area of the southwestern Khuzestan province at a depth of about 12 kilometres (7.5 miles), the IRIB state broadcaster reported, citing the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

  It said two rescue teams have been sent to villages near the epicentre to assess possible damage.

• 2h ago

   (03:10 GMT)

  Photos: Scenes from Gaza as Israel’s deadly strikes continue

  

  

  

  

• 3h ago

   (03:00 GMT)

  

  Top Iranian commander warns US of ‘devastating response’ to aggression

  Major-General Ali Abdullahi, the commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, has warned the US, saying “any aggression or barbarism will be met with a decisive and devastating response” from the country’s armed forces.

  In a statement carried by Iranian state media, Abdullahi described the US as “the Great Satan” as well as “the criminal, treacherous and deceitful enemy”.

  He pledged to strengthen unity between the armed forces, the Iranian public and officials and pledged to “impose heavier costs” on the US than in the previous wars.

  “The enemy, following successive defeats in the military conflict, has taken comfort in creating division and discord between the people and their leaders,” Abdullahi said.

  “Our dear country’s defensive power is a solid foundation for the peace and security of the proud and courageous nation from south to north and from east to west of the glorious and vast Iranian land,” he added.

• 3h ago

   (02:53 GMT)

  

  New US strikes reported on Qeshm Island

  US fighter jets have carried out another round of attacks on Iran’s Qeshm Island, according to the Tasnim news agency.

  It said at least two explosions were heard on the island, and that emergency, security and operational teams have been deployed to identify the locations hit and assess any casualties or damage.

• 3h ago

   (02:50 GMT)

  US urges Americans abroad to exercise caution

  Reporting from Washington, DC, United States

  The US State Department is urging Americans travelling anywhere in the world to exercise increased caution because of heightened tensions in the Middle East and the possibility of what it described as “unforeseen escalation”.

  That warning was issued before the latest US air strikes against Iran, and the feared escalation has since materialised.

  The developments are also showing how a war that may appear distant to many Americans at home is directly affecting them. The economic impact is already being felt through higher fuel prices, while American service members have also been killed in the conflict.

  Those latest military deaths have further increased the number of US personnel killed since the fighting began.

• 3h ago

   (02:46 GMT)

  

  US forces hits location near Shadegan in southwestern Iran

  US fighter jets have struck a location near the city of Shadegan in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province, the Tasnim news agency reported, citing the province’s deputy governor for security.

  The official said emergency teams were at the scene and would provide further information about the situation and the extent of any damage later.

• 3h ago

   (02:40 GMT)

  

  Iran claims drone attacks on two ‘US bases’ in Kuwait

  Iran’s army says it has launched a large-scale drone attack on two “US military facilities” in Kuwait.

  In a statement carried by the IRIB state broadcaster, the army said its “destructive drones” hit an ammunition depot at Camp Al Adiri as well as Patriot and air-defence radars at Ali Al Salem airbase.

The conflict's toll on US forces has reached at least 16 deaths since February, with the latest casualties from an Iranian missile strike on Jordan's Muwaffaq Salti airbase. Meanwhile, Kuwaiti residents face supply fears, with Hassan Rayan, 61, telling AFP, 'The demand for water and canned goods has increased since this morning amid fears that services or supply chains will be affected.' The sustained attacks across multiple countries signal a widening war with no immediate end in sight.