US-Iran War LIVE | US Military Completes Ninth Consecutive Night Of Strikes Against Iran

Kuwait's military said on Monday it was responding to renewed missile and drone salvos as Tehran pressed its attacks against Gulf countries and the United States expanded its strikes across the Islamic republic.

"Kuwaiti air defences are currently confronting hostile missile and drone attacks," the Gulf state's army said in a statement blaming Iran, while an AFP journalist confirmed hearing explosions in Kuwait City. In neighbouring Bahrain, air raid sirens also sounded, according to the island kingdom's interior ministry.

A deal to secure an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah faced its first test on the ground Monday, as the Lebanese army began taking charge of security in three southern villages, Washington said.

The United States said operations had started in "pilot zones" in Froun, Srifa and Zawtar al-Gharbiya "in accordance with the Trilateral Framework and under the auspices of the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon."

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Monday announced a maritime embargo of their foe Saudi Arabia, after the pair traded fire last week for the first time in years.

The rebels "declare a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of 'an eye for an eye,' effective immediately upon the issuance of this statement," military spokesman Yahya Saree said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday said his country was in a "full-scale war" with the United States and that Tehran should accept the repercussions of the conflict. "The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war," Pezeshkian said, adding that "we must be realistic and accept the natural consequences of this resistance," he said, according to a presidency statement.

"The most important battlefield today is the economy and the livelihoods of the people," said the Iranian president in a meeting in Tehran with judicial officials. "If economic pressures cause social discontent to form and this discontent spreads, the enormous social capital that the people have created in support of the state may be damaged."

In June, inflation in Iran accelerated sharply due to the war, reaching peaks of nearly 90 percent year-on-year.

Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni is set to travel to mediator Pakistan's capital on Monday, a Pakistani interior ministry source said.

The source confirmed to AFP that the minister would have talks with Pakistani officials but did not elaborate on whether it was linked to Pakistan's long-running mediation efforts to end fighting between the United States and Iran.

Bahrain's civil aviation body said that Iran had targeted its air navigation systems with drones on Monday, though traffic remained unaffected.

"As a result of a hostile Iranian act of aggression against the Kingdom of Bahrain, civil air navigation systems serving the Bahrain Flight Information Region were targeted by hostile drones. However, air navigation operations remained unaffected," it said in a statement, adding that "flights and air traffic" were proceeding normally.

Iran has warned the United States of the "consequences of any adventure" to seize the critical oil hub of Kharg Island, amid escalating threats of military action from US President Donald Trump.

During a press briefing on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei issued a stark warning, asserting that Iranian people are "counting down the minutes to welcome" American troops in the event of a ground assault.

The spokesperson underscored that any aggressive manoeuvres by the US military would trigger an aggressive backlash. "They will face the repercussions. There are numerous people in those very regions who are eagerly awaiting their arrival," Baghaei stated.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Monday reiterated Tehran's position on the interim deal signed with the United States, maintaining that the document features absolute clarity. Addressing journalists in the Iranian capital, Tehran, the spokesperson emphasised that "there is no ambiguity" within the framework of the agreement.

Providing details on the structure of the accord, Baghaei stated, "The text of the memorandum of understanding is a short text and has 14 clauses."

He further re-established Tehran's geopolitical stance regarding the strategic maritime trade route, adding, "We had said from the very beginning that the responsibility for the future management of the Strait of Hormuz lies with Iran and this issue will be pursued in consultation with Oman and through dialogue with regional countries."

Bahrain and Kuwait reported intercepting Iranian attacks on Monday, as the United States and Iran traded the latest strikes in more than a week of escalation.

A shaky US-Iran ceasefire has all but collapsed as Iran began attacking vessels using an Omani route in the Strait of Hormuz to force them to use its waters.

In response, the US has attacked Iran, which has responded with strikes on the Gulf and other Arab countries.

Bahrain, which hosts the US Fifth Fleet, said its air defences "intercepted and destroyed a number of Iranian aerial aggressions", while Kuwait's military reported a "heinous Iranian aggression".

Iran urged the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Monday to condemn US strikes that it said targeted the Darkhovin nuclear power plant under construction in the country's southwest.

"Iran... expects the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Board of Governors and the Director General of the IAEA, who from time to time makes political statements regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, to clearly state their position on this matter in condemning the US crime," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said at a press conference in Tehran attended by AFP.

Iran said on Monday that it would not allow the vital Strait of Hormuz to be used by its foes to threaten the country's security, as the United States and the Islamic republic battle for the waterway's future.

"We must not allow this waterway to be misused again to threaten Iran's security and national interests," said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei at a press conference in Tehran attended by AFP, adding the country was "determined to take the necessary measures" to safeguard its sovereignty.

Iran said on Monday that diplomatic exchanges with the United States via mediators were ongoing despite US military strikes on the country.

"We have been informed by mediators, we have received messages -- without going into details -- but the main point is that the diplomatic apparatus has been active in recent days and ideas have been conveyed to us by certain mediators," said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei at a press conference in Tehran attended by AFP.

US strikes hit several locations in Iran's southern port city of Bushehr, home to the country's only civilian nuclear plant, state media reported Monday.

"A few minutes ago, several locations in Bushehr city were hit by American enemy's projectiles," said Bushehr governor Mohammad Mozaffari, as quoted by official state news agency IRNA.

US strikes overnight in northwestern Iran killed at least one person and wounded several more, state media reported Monday.

"One person was martyred and several others were injured in a terrorist and aggressive American attack on an area southwest of Tabriz on Monday morning," said Majid Farshi, head of crisis management of East Azerbaijan province, quoted by state news agency IRNA.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has indicated that Washington is receiving feelers through diverse channels regarding Tehran's willingness to hold talks, against the backdrop of widening fissures within the Iranian leadership.

Speaking to CNN, Rubio remarked, "We are receiving signals through multiple channels of Iran's desire to negotiate, but there is a growing split within the regime."

His assertions come against the backdrop of persistent military confrontations between the US and Iran. Washington has maintained that its targeted strikes are designed to degrade Tehran's military infrastructure, particularly assets tied to maritime assaults on commercial vessels transiting the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The top US diplomat further accused Tehran of leveraging the critical global shipping lane and called upon the international community to play a larger role in securing maritime trade routes.

Interacting with journalists ahead of his departure to the Philippines for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers' meeting, Rubio affirmed that while the US will persist with operations to safeguard maritime transit, international allies must step up with hardware or financial assets to share the security burden.

The US military has finished its ninth straight night of strikes against Iranian targets, following a sustained escalation in the region. US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that the operations targeted "Iranian military command centres, air defence and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks".

The offensive ended on July 19 at 10 pm ET (02:00 GMT, July 20) and was carried out "to further diminish Iran's ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz".

"The US military is holding Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief's direction," the official statement added. Signalling an ongoing high alert status in the region, the release noted that "CENTCOM forces remain highly vigilant, focused, lethal, and ready".

This latest wave of aerial bombardments comes as regional tensions edge closer to full-scale war, following the collapse of last month's interim ceasefire agreement, which has already severely disrupted maritime traffic across the critical Strait of Hormuz shipping corridor. The military friction intensified rapidly after Washington confirmed another American service member's death on Sunday, prompting these immediate retaliatory sorties.

The United States and Iran sustained reciprocal missile and air strikes, with the hostilities showing no indication of de-escalating following the breakdown of a preliminary ceasefire effort.

Amid the intensifying conflict, US President Donald Trump stated that the most recent wave of American military operations was launched in memory of the American troops killed over the past few days.

"We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did that in honour of the, probably three, it's probably three great patriots," Trump informed journalists after arriving back in Washington from the FIFA World Cup final.

When questioned regarding the recent casualties, Trump noted that the United States "feels very badly" and stated that the troops were engaged in combat to guarantee that "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. "The fresh wave of strikes follows Washington's efforts to "punish" Tehran after the American military suffered its initial fatalities since open conflict broke out in West Asia.

Iran will end the war with the US when it has “the upper hand in the field”, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says in an interview with state media.

Talking to the IRNA news agency, Araghchi said the most critical decision in crisis management was identifying the precise moment to halt hostilities and begin negotiations.

“The end of the war is possible either through absolute military victory or through negotiations. The right time to negotiate is precisely when you have achieved a reliable field and strategic achievement on the military front”.

“You cannot take risks with the lives of the people and the fate of the entire country; decisions must be made based on accurate and complete calculations,” Araghchi said.

“Despite some losses, we emerged as a decisive international player in this war and demonstrated the strength of the system,” he said.

US strikes targeted the town of Khormoj in southwestern Iran, causing power outages across sections of the administrative centre of Dashti County in Bushehr province, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, citing a local official.

The targeted region lies along the country's Gulf coast, situated near the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The locality has previously been subjected to American military action intended to degrade the naval and missile assets maintained by Tehran in the area.

According to reports, the impacted zone houses military facilities linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval forces. The kinetic action resulted in immediate disruptions to the electricity grid within parts of Khormoj.

The US Central Command confirmed it had initiated "a new wave of strikes" with the specific objective of "degrading" Tehran's capability to intercept commercial cargo vessels operating along the critical maritime corridors of the strait.

An MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle has reportedly been intercepted and brought down over Eslamabad-e Gharb in the western Kermanshah province of Iran, according to a report by the Mehr News Agency.

The Iranian news outlet stated that the drone was targeted by an advanced air defence system. According to Mehr, this system is operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force and is connected to the integrated air defence network of Iran. This major drone interception comes as the United States military launched a fresh wave of airstrikes against targets inside Iran early on Monday morning.

Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain reported fresh Iranian attacks as renewed US-Iran hostilities spilled into neighbouring countries, prompting calls for de-escalation across the Middle East.

Jordan's air defences intercepted three missiles launched from Iran toward Jordanian territory, while a fourth fell in a remote area in southern Jordan without causing casualties or material damage, state broadcaster Jordan Radio and Television Corporation said on X.

The missiles were aimed at US military aircraft stationed in the southern Jordanian coastal city of Aqaba, which directly borders the Israeli city of Eilat. Following the incident, Israel's Channel 13 News reported that the US military evacuated refuelling aircraft from Ramon Airport in southern Israel, about 18 km north of Eilat, after the missile launches toward Jordan. Israel's state-run Kan TV News said commercial passenger flights at the airport were delayed following the incident.