Iran-US war latest: American forces resume strikes after Trump promised Iran would ‘get a beating’

A furious Donald Trump has threatened to punish Iran following a “surprise” attack on US military targets in the Middle East.

The offensive took place days after the US president suspended air strikes over the region.

In an expletive-ridden outburst, he told Fox News: “We’re going to beat the f****** sh** out of them. We’ll be hitting them hard. They’re going to get a beating.”

In a day of escalation in the region, Saudi Arabia also joined the US in striking several Iran-backed groups.

Oil prices gave up some of their gains today as oil tankers continued to make their way out of the Middle East even as tensions there escalated, with ​the US-Iran war spreading beyond its main fronts.

Brent futures fell $1.29, or 1.42 per cent, to $89.45 a ‌barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude fell 56 cents, or 0.66 per cent, to $83.90 a barrel.

Brent settled up 7.91 per cent in the previous session and WTI up 6.56 per cent in one of the sharpest spikes of the Iran war, reversing ​a 5 per cent plunge on Tuesday after a pause in hostilities in the five-month conflict.

A QatarEnergy-controlled liquefied natural gas tanker exited the Strait of Hormuz overnight, the first such vessel visible on ship-tracking data to leave ⁠the waterway since 11 July, data from analytics firms showed.

The Al Areesh tanker, which loaded a cargo at Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal around 4-6 July, sailed out of the strait overnight on 29 July, according to Kpler and LSEG data.LSEG data shows it is currently heading to Port Qasim, Pakistan, ⁠with an estimated arrival date of 31 July.

Its ​departure ⁠marks the first time a QatarEnergy-controlled LNG tanker exited the Strait of Hormuz since the Al Rekayyat was struck in early July.

The previous LNG tanker to exit ⁠was the Al Hamra, which left on 11 July carrying a cargo loaded at ​the United ⁠Arab Emirates’ Das Island, according to Kpler ‌data.

The US military said it completed its latest wave of strikes on Iran, which lasted ⁠two hours and hit dozens of targets, with Washington casting the strikes as a “powerful response” to Iranian missiles launched towards US forces in the Middle East a day earlier.

The US ⁠military said on Tuesday it intercepted ⁠multiple ballistic missiles launched by Iran towards US forces in what Washington called “an attempted surprise attack” by ⁠Tehran. Iran confirmed it had fired on US bases in ⁠Jordan.

President Donald Trump said ‌after the missiles were intercepted that US forces would retaliate. “We’re going to hit them very hard,” he said

Iran is reportedly expected to receive within weeks a first shipment of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defence missile launchers.

The purchase, valued at $60-70m, is one of Tehran’s largest-known efforts to strengthen its short-range air defences since the outbreak of its war ⁠with the US and Israel, which exposed gaps in Iran’s ability to protect military sites and strategic infrastructure.

The contract covers the purchase of between 300 and 400 man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS), including Chinese-made QW-12 and FN-16 missiles, Reuters reported, citing sources.

The deal was signed with Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment. Sources told Reuters the Hong Kong-based company was acting as an intermediary between the Iranian side and the Chinese supplier.

The US military has launched strikes against Iran in a “powerful response” to attempted attacks on American forces.

“U.S. forces began launching strikes against Iran at 8 p.m. ET today. The strikes are a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on U.S. forces based in the Middle East”, US Central Command wrote on X.

A man who fears persecution in Iran has spent 15 years in the UK battling a failed asylum claim, homeless and unable to lead a normal life, after repeated refusals by the Home Office to allow him to stay.

In the more than a decade he has been trapped in the asylum system, Mostafa Rahmani has not been allowed to work or been housed in Home Office accommodation – forced to depend on the kindness of friends to get by.

Mr Rahmani, now 41, he arrived in the UK from Iran in 2011 as a 26-year-old student looking to learn English. He came on a student visa, but claimed asylum a few days after arrival when he says Iranian security forces turned up at his family’s home in Tehran looking for him. He said that he had taken part in anti-government protests in 2011.

The Independent’s social affairs correspondent Holly Bancroft reports:

A US-brokered plan for Israel to withdraw gradually from occupied areas of southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia has started slower than expected.

The “pilot zone program” is the centrepiece of the US’ June 26 framework deal intended to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah, and establish peaceful ties between Israel and Lebanon.

Hezbollah still refuses to give up its weapons, while on the ground, the rollout of the first zone in the south Lebanese village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh last week offered a glimpse of a strained and complex process that will be no easier to repeat elsewhere.

A senior Lebanese military official, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, told the Reuters news agency it had taken weeks of US-brokered negotiations with Israel and days of military operations to establish the first zone in a single village.

The agreement links Israel’s progressive withdrawal to the “verified disarmament” of Hezbollah — which is not a party to the deal, has refused to give up its arsenal, and has raised the prospect of internal strife if the state tries to disarm it by force.