🇺🇸❌🇮🇷 — CENTCOM has announced the conclusion of this round of strikes against Iran. CENTCOM claims to have struck coastal surveillance systems, air defense systems, maritime capabilities, and missile and drone storage facilities.

CENTCOM also claimed to target IRGC forces responsible for striking Muwaffaq Salti AB on July 17 that killed at least two U.S. soldiers.

🇮🇷❌🇰🇼 — Kuwait's Ministry of Defense says air defenses are currently engaging Iranian missiles and drones.

🇮🇷❌🇺🇸 — Iran’s IRGC says air defenses shot down a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper UCAV over Ahvaz, southwestern Iran, a short while ago.

🇷🇺❌🇺🇦 — WATCH: Footage from last night shows several Russian ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv.

🇺🇸🇷🇺⚡️ — The Trump administration is concerned that excessive sanctions on Russia could encourage more countries to reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar, potentially weakening its dominance in global finance, NYT reports.

➡️ As a result, the administration has been scaling back some sanctions while preserving them as a flexible diplomatic tool.

➡️ At the same time, Congress is advancing a bipartisan sanctions bill, championed by the late Sen. Graham, that would impose mandatory sanctions on Russia and its allies, expand penalties to include tariffs on buyers of Russian energy, and potentially broaden measures to target Iran and Hezbollah.

🇮🇷❌🇺🇸🇧🇭 — Sirens in Bahrain.

🇮🇱🇺🇸⚡️ — Israel is spending about $50 million on a U.S.-focused influence campaign to improve its image as American support has declined over the wars in Gaza and Iran, according to WSJ.

➡️ Spearheaded in part by former Trump adviser Brad Parscale, the campaign employs AI-generated content, conservative media advertising, influencer partnerships, and pro-Israel websites aimed at shaping how AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Claude present information about Israel, while also monitoring public opinion and reporting those findings to the Israeli government.

➡️ Parscale, whose contract is significantly larger than those of other Trump advisers working for foreign governments, has regularly visited Israel to brief officials.

➡️ It is part of a broader $700 million Israeli initiative to strengthen its global image.

🇮🇷❌🇺🇸 — WATCH: Iran’s IRGC released footage showing their fighters downing an American MQ-9 UCAV over Asaluyeh, southern Iran, and recovering the wreckage.

🇮🇷❌🇺🇸🇯🇴 — Iranian state media has released satellite imagery showing a destroyed aircraft hangar at Muwaffaq al-Salti Air Base in Jordan as a result of a recent Iranian strike carried out between July 15 and 17.

➡️ The hangar was likely being used to shelter U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones.

🇧🇭🇮🇷⚡️ — Air defense systems intercepted Iranian aerial targets in Bahraini airspace, according to Bahrain TV.

🇮🇱🤝🇦🇷 — Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says he hopes Argentina wins the World Cup final against Spain today.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — An Iranian-American woman, Dena Karari, has returned to the U.S. after being detained in Iran for 566 days on espionage charges, her attorney announced.

➡️ President Trump said on Wednesday that Iran released her as a “gesture of goodwill.”

➡️ Karari, who was arrested in December 2024, had been unable to leave Iran after her release because authorities confiscated both of her passports.

➡️ The dual citizen worked for an American technology company and also ran a charity for children in Iran.

🇺🇦❌🇷🇺 — Ukrainian President Zelensky says SBU units hit three oil depots in Russia’s Stavropol Krai overnight, while the armed forces struck another fuel-related facility in the same region.

➡️ He also said Ukrainian forces successfully targeted three Russian shadow fleet tankers in the Black Sea.

🇮🇷❌🇺🇸 — Iran’s IRGC Navy says four vessels attempting to pass through an “unsafe route” in the Strait of Hormuz a few hours ago, in coordination with U.S. forces, while disabling navigation systems and ignoring warnings were intercepted.

➡️ According to the IRGC, two vessels “suffered incidents” and were forced to stop, while the other two abandoned the route.

➡️ The IRGC warns vessels entering unauthorized routes in the strait could face “incidents.”

🇺🇸🇯🇴⚡️ — The U.S. Embassy in Amman says Jordanian authorities evacuated Aqaba’s international airport and seaport today due to a “specific and credible threat.”

➡️ The embassy advised Americans to avoid traveling to either location and to follow all security instructions issued by Jordanian authorities.

🇮🇷❌🇺🇸 — Iranian air defense downed an American MQ-9 Reaper UCAV in Dehloran County, southwestern Iran, earlier today.

🇺🇦❌🇷🇺 — New high-resolution satellite imagery appears to show that a Russian Tu-95MS strategic bomber at the Engels-2 air base was destroyed as a result of a Ukrainian drone strike on July 16, previously announced by President Zelensky.

🇮🇱❌🇸🇾 — Israeli forces entered al-Samdaniyah al-Sharqiyah village in southern Syria’s Quneitra Governorate with five military vehicles, establishing a temporary checkpoint and searching civilians, SANA reports.

➡️ Separately, Israeli forces stationed in nearby Al-Hamidiyah fired a mortar shell and a smoke grenade toward an area between Al-Hamidiyah and Al-Salam, though it resulted in no casualties.

➡️ Syria condemned the operations and called for a complete Israeli withdrawal.