Early Edition: July 21, 2026

Sign up to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news: IRAN WAR The United States conducted its 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, as Iran attacked a tanker off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz early this morning. U.S. Central Command said today that it had targeted “Iranian military command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and air defense systems.” Tehran also hit U.S.-allied countries throughout the Middle East. Jordan’s military said today that Iran targeted it with five drones and three missiles, all of which were shot down. The State Department issued a warning yesterday, saying “Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other U.S. interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world.” Jon Gambrell reports for AP News. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed to a crawl during the latest violence. Lloyd’s List Intelligence said only three ships transited the strait on Sunday. Jon Gambrell reports for AP News. The Iranian ballistic missile attack on a Jordanian air base last week that killed two U.S. servicemembers struck prefabricated housing units, according to U.S. officials. Iran has circulated satellite imagery on social-media accounts showing what it says is damage to the base, including what appears to be a housing area. The attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base was one of three separate missile strikes on the base in 24 hours. Michael R. Gordon, Lara Seligman, and Robbie Gramer report for the Wall Street Journal. The Pentagon said yesterday that nearly 100 U.S. troops have been injured in the war with Iran over the last two weeks. The “vast majority” of those injuries, it said, were “mild concussions,” adding that 96% have returned to duty. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said further updates would be posted to an online Pentagon database that was stagnant for days if not weeks, showing 14 troops dead and 427 troops injured since February. Dan Lamothe, Joshua Yang, and Mary Illyushina report for the Washington Post. Iran’s government is unlikely to feel significant impact or soften its negotiating positions as a result of new rounds of U.S. military strikes, according to a new intelligence assessment described by current and former U.S. officials. U.S. intelligence analysts have also concluded that Tehran and Washington are, for now, stuck in an indefinite limbo between peace and war, the officials said. Warren P. Strobel and John Hudson report for the Washington Post. IRAN WAR – POLITICAL RESPONSE Qatar, Egypt, Pakistan and other regional mediators have presented the U.S. and Iran with a proposal for a 10-day ceasefire, two regional sources told Axios. “We told the U.S. and Iran that we propose a cooling-off period,” one of the regional sources said. Esmail Baghaei, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said yesterday that mediators had sent Tehran proposals for de-escalating tensions, but declined to offer details. The Trump administration is exploring the proposal and has urged Israel to avoid steps that could close the diplomatic window, U.S. officials said. A senior U.S. official confirmed that talks are continuing but said Trump has yet to finish retaliating for Friday’s missile strike in Jordan. Yan Zhuang reports for the New York Times; Barak Ravid reports. IRAN WAR – LEBANON Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will meet with President Trump today in Washington. Kareem Chehayed reports for AP News. Lebanese army troops began deploying in the southern Lebanese town of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh today after Israeli forces withdrew from the area, a senior Lebanese security official said, in line with a U.S.-brokered plan. The plan foresees Lebanese forces confiscating weapons from Hezbollah in parts of southern Lebanon and phased withdrawals of Israeli troops. The Israeli military said yesterday that the plan, dubbed the pilot zone programme, had begun. Reuters reports. IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS Israeli intelligence believes Iran moved thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels deep inside Pickaxe Mountain last autumn, according to U.S. and Israeli officials. Activity around Pickaxe has continued steadily for the past 15 months, with truck traffic, tunnel reinforcements, and a security perimeter springing up, the Institute for Science and International Security said. “It is plausible that Iran moved centrifuges into the tunnels” in Pickaxe, said David Albright, the institute’s president. Laurence Norman, Anat Peled, and Alexander Ward report for the Wall Street Journal. YEMEN Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said yesterday that they would impose a blockade on Saudi ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the southern portal to the Red Sea. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, said that the move came in response to what he called a “continued Saudi siege” on Yemen. A full closure of the Bab el-Mandeb strait would halt Saudi oil exports to Asia and could reduce global oil supply by 7%. Aaron Boxerman, Ismaeel Naar, and Sanam Mahoozi report for the New York Times; Nayera Abdallah and Timour Azhari report for Reuters. RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR A Russian cruise missile on Sunday hit a Guinea-Bissau-flagged ship off the coast of Odesa, killing at least 10 people, Ukraine’s seaports authority said. India confirmed that four of its citizens died in the attack. The Odesa region in Ukraine has come under sustained Russian attack in recent weeks. 28 people died in Russian strikes on the region in July, Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said yesterday. Laura Gozzi reports for BBC News. Ukraine fired more than 400 drones toward Moscow yesterday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Moscow’s regional governor said 10 people were wounded, while several residential buildings and civilian infrastructure were damaged. AP News reports. ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR An Israeli airstrike yesterday killed a father, his wife, and their four children in Gaza City, health officials said. The Israeli military confirmed the strike, saying its target was a Hamas militant and it was still looking into the result of the attack. The latest deaths add to a toll of more than 1,150 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed by Israeli attacks since an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, according to Gaza health officials. Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Alkas report for Reuters. Hamas has named Khalil Al-Hayya as its overall leader, according to a statement yesterday. Hayya replaces Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in combat with Israeli forces in October 2024. Hayya is seen as more hardline than Khaled Meshaal, the head of the group’s office in exile and the other frontrunner for the leadership. Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Eman Abouhassira report for Reuters. The Israeli military is quietly but quickly building a giant earthen barrier separating the over 50% of Gaza that it controls from the rest of the territory, according to satellite imagery. The Israeli military confirmed to AP News that it has built a physical barrier in the area of the so-called yellow line. The line was envisioned in the U.S.-backed agreement as a temporary division of the territory pending a fuller Israeli withdrawal. Lee Keath and Julia Frankel report for AP News. OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS “There will never be elections here again,” Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said on Sunday at a rally marking the 47th anniversary of his leftist movement’s revolution. He accused his opponents of trying to use elections “to seize the government, to seize power.” Nicaragua had been expected to hold a presidential vote next year, a year later than promised after the nation’s Congress extended Ortega and his wife and co-president Rosario Murillo’s term. Jack Nicas and James Wagner report for the New York Times. Militants linked to al Qaeda and a Tuareg-led separatist group ambushed a military convoy in northern Mali over the weekend, killing more than 50 soldiers and allied Russian fighters, a source said. Reuters reports. The U.N. Secretary General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Vanessa Frazier, told a Security Council meeting yesterday that children in Haiti have reported being jailed for years without appearing before a judge. Sarah Morland reports for Reuters. U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS FBI Director Kash Patel is planning to visit Russia later this year, likely in mid-October, according to a U.S. official and another source. The officials said Patel’s host is likely to be the FSB, the Russian security service that is heir to the Soviet-era KGB. Nahal Toosi, Kyle Cheney, and John Sakellariadis report for POLITICO. The Trump administration said yesterday that it will impose an additional 50% tariff on certain Canadian goods. The tariffs, which take effect next month, will be imposed under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 – a never-before-used authority. A senior administration official said the tariffs were not the wildfire tariffs that Trump had earlier threatened, though the official added that options on that front remain under consideration. Courtenay Brown reports for Axios. Trump said yesterday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be arrested in the United States, “in any way, shape, or form.” Trump’s comments came after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was looking into whether he can arrest Netanyahu when he visits the U.N. headquarters in September. Ephrat Livni reports for the New York Times. Lockheed Martin is in talks with the U.S. government about building a new, lower-cost model of the Patriot missiles overseas, according to Frank St John, the company’s chief operating officer. Lockheed would look for European suppliers for everything from solid rocket motors to guidance electronics as part of the plan, St John told the Financial Times in an interview. The company could also look to produce the missiles in partnership with a European group, he said. Sylvia Pfeifer reports. Eight sources told Reuters that the Trump administration has been considering cutting ties with the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR. Several sources said a decision had been expected last week, but no announcement was made, suggesting that the lobbying effort by diplomats and U.N. officials may have helped delay or avert the move. Emma Farge, Olivia Le Poidevin, Simon Lewis, and David Brunnstrom report. U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS A federal judge yesterday issued a temporary restraining order, pausing Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery for 14 days. Scott Nover reports for the Washington Post. A former U.S. Army soldier was detained yesterday after officials said he set off an incendiary device at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, a federal building housing agencies including the Department of Homeland Security. Although officials have not established a motive for the attack, an FBI official said that the veteran made derogatory statements about ICE in an interview with investigators and said he planned to harm more people. Ashley Southall, Chelsea Rose Marcius, Nate Schweber, and Luis Ferre-Sadurni report for the New York Times. The Trump administration is negotiating directly with Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and John Cornyn (R-TX), whose votes are crucial to advancing Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche, as both senators seek changes to a controversial settlement that created a potential $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” and limited IRS audits of Trump and his family. Chris Marquette and Jordain Carney report for POLITICO. The Justice Department told the New York Times last week that it had issued subpoenas to third-party phone service providers seeking journalists’ phone and text messaging records as part of a leak investigation into reporting about security concerns around Trump’s new Air Force One. The New York Times is challenging the subpoenas in court, arguing they violate Justice Department guidelines and are an unusually broad effort to identify confidential sources and intimidate the press. Michael M. Grynbaum reports for the New York Times. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday that Trump’s new Air Force One will be taken out of service for about a month this fall for “additional upgrades and enhancements.” Tyler Pager reports for the New York Times. Trump quietly denied nearly 6,000 clemency applications this month, despite earlier expectations that a large wave of pardons might be issued around the U.S. 250th anniversary. Kenneth P. Vogel and Alan Feuer report for the New York Times. Chris Fall, director of the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, has resigned just three months after taking over the federal AI testing institute, the Commerce Department confirmed yesterday. “NIST Director Dr. Arvind Raman will continue to oversee CAISI and will serve as Acting CAISI Director,” Commerce spokesperson Kristen Eichamer said in a statement to Axios. Maria Curi reports. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION A federal judge yesterday dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit challenging Minnesota’s rules that limit cooperation with federal authorities seeking to deport people, ruling that the laws regulate only the actions of state and local officials and do not interfere with federal authority. Mitch Smith reports for the New York Times. Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions. 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