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The United States launched a new round of airstrikes against Iran on July 18, escalating an already widening military campaign across the Middle East after two American service members were killed in a recent attack in Jordan.

In a July 18 post on X, U.S. Central Command said American forces began conducting strikes at 6 p.m. ET "at the Commander in Chief's direction." The military said the operation is intended to further weaken Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and "swiftly punish" Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces that launched attacks against U.S. service members in Jordan the previous night.

Before the strikes, Iran's supreme leader said Washington would pay for "seeking to escalate the conflict," Reuters reported July 18.

Earlier Saturday, CENTCOM said Iranian ballistic missiles and drones struck U.S. and partner forces in Jordan on July 17, killing two American service members and leaving another missing.

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Major General Mohsen Rezaee, a senior Iranian military adviser, has warned that if the US continues bombing Iran over the coming days, Tehran will launch “full-scale offensive operations”, according to state-controlled news agency IRIB.

"Iran will no longer limit itself to retaliatory, like-for-like responses ... and no political border will be safe," he said.

Rezaee also said that the “policy of negotiating during war is over”.

"Until now, we have not focused on expanding the war, nor on launching an invasion. Until now, the goal was deterrence, to put an end to the conflict. We seized Hormuz to end the conflict," he said.

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US President Donald Trump’s "Board of Peace" has shrunk its Gaza "recovery plan" from rebuilding territory to a temporary camp of "portable cabins" under Palestinian administration, police and a small international security force. 

The pilot scheme will be located in the so-called buffer zone along the ceasefire line near Rafah, according to a Guardian investigation published on Thursday. Its blueprint reflects little of what Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, presented in his "free market Gaza" slideshow in January, which assured basic infrastructure within 100 days.

No construction or preparatory work has begun for the scheme through the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), a United Nations-mandated multinational peacekeeping force establised by the 2025 Gaza peace plan. 

A logistical base for the ISF is nearly complete at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, and the force is expected to be trained in Egypt with troops from Morocco, Kosovo, and possibly Albania and Kazakhstan. It will take months to train them, and a legal framework for their presence remains under negotiation with the Israeli government.

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A US federal judge this week ruled in favour of a prominent Palestinian-American academic and activist in a decision that deemed the search and seizure of his phones by customs officers to be illegal.

Osama Abu Irshaid, the executive director of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), had his phones taken from him and searched at Washington Dulles International Airport on two occasions in 2024, upon his return from trips to the Middle East. 

On Wednesday, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia determined that Abu Irshaid was indeed entitled to his Fourth Amendment claim, because "the evidence marshaled by Defendants... does not rise to the level of reasonable suspicion" of ongoing criminal activity, the decision read. 

The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires that warrants be issued by a judge based on probable cause.

"Not only is this a victory for Dr Abu Irshaid, but a victory for the pro-Palestine movement overall. For decades, allies who support Palestinian human rights have been systematically targeted by the US government for daring to speak out against Apartheid Israel," AMP said in a statement following the ruling.

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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk welcomed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s latest remarks on Warsaw-Kyiv relations, signaling a mutual readiness to repair diplomatic ties following weeks of heightened friction over historical grievances.

“We are ready for a serious and friendly dialogue on the issues that unite us and those that divide us today,” Tusk wrote on X.

Tusk’s response followed a high-level meeting chaired by Zelensky on Friday devoted to bilateral relations. The president emphasized that “all of us in Europe need good-neighborly, equal, and mutually beneficial relations built on respect,” while expressing gratitude for Poland’s extensive military, political and logistical support since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Zelensky also stressed that defending Ukraine’s independence directly contributes to Poland’s security.

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An employee of a company that runs an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Colorado is under arrest after shooting and injuring a woman on Thursday evening. The incident happened after the woman participated in a protest in front of the facility earlier that day, according to the Aurora police department.

When officers arrived on the scene, they said they found the woman with a gunshot wound in her lower body. She had a friend with her, who was unharmed.

Police said they stopped a man in his vehicle not far from the scene. They seized his car and gun and identified him as Brandon Booth, 42, an employee for Geo Group.

“We are aware that an off-duty Aurora ICE Processing Center employee was involved in a shooting incident,” a spokesperson for Geo Group said in an email. “This individual has been placed on unpaid administrative leave, and we will fully cooperate with law enforcement.”

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More than a thousand people rallied for Justin Pearson, a Democratic state representative running for Congress, in the wake of four fatal shootings by members of the Memphis Safe Task Force over the last two months.

Crowds packed New Direction Christian Church in the city’s Hickory Hill neighborhood in support of Pearson, who is running in the now-fractured ninth congressional district’s Democratic primary.

“Today we are in the fight of our lives to make this district, our state, and this nation better for ourselves and for those who will come after us,” Pearson said.

“If God be for us, it doesn’t matter if every white supremacist in the Tennessee General Assembly is against us, and that nothing can separate us from the love of God that’s found in Christ Jesus. No matter what they call us, no matter where they redline us, no matter how they try and lynch us, no matter what. Grandmama said, “‘If God be for us, it doesn’t matter who or what is against.’”

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The Trump administration moved on Thursday to tighten the duration of visas for foreign students, cultural exchange visitors and journalists.

The new final rule from the Department of Homeland Security creates a fixed time period for F visas for international students, J visas that allow visitors on cultural exchange programs to work in the U.S., and I visas for members of the media. Those visas are currently available for the duration of the program or employment in the U.S.

Under the new regulations, the student and exchange visa periods would be no longer than four years. The visa for journalists — which currently can last years — would be up to 240 days or, in the case of Chinese nationals, 90 days.

The effective date is 60 days from publication in the federal register, subject to congressional review. President Donald Trump, a Republican, kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown after taking office in January 2025. His administration has increased scrutiny of legal immigration, revoking student visas and green cards of university students over their ideological views and stripping legal status from hundreds of thousands of migrants.

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