Foreign News
US launches strikes in response to attack that killed troops in Jordan
The United States military has launched dozens of air strikes against targets in Syria and Iraq in the first retaliation for a drone attack that killed three soldiers at a remote US base in Jordan.
“At my direction, US military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack US forces,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement on Friday, referring to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” he added.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its military forces struck more than 85 targets in the two countries “with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from the United States”.
“The air strikes employed more than 125 precision munitions,” it added in a statement.
CENTCOM said the facilities that were struck included command and control operations centres, intelligence centres, weapons storage sites and other facilities connected to the militias or the IRGC’s Quds Force, the Guard’s expeditionary unit that handles Tehran’s relationship and arming of regional groups.
Three US soldiers were killed and about 40 others injured in a drone attack on the military base known as Tower 22 near the Jordan-Syria border on Sunday.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iran-linked groups, claimed responsibility for the drone attack.
Iran has denied directing the attack, saying the groups act on their own.
“The US had said since the moment that attack happened that there would be a military response, and US officials like Joe Biden and Lloyd Austin said the response would come in multiple fashions. So this could very well be the first phase, but those retaliatory US air strikes have now begun,” said Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from the Pentagon.
“This is the first step, I don’t think that it will be the last one,” she added.
On Friday, Syrian state media said that an “American aggression” on a number of sites in Syria’s desert areas and the Syrian and Iraqi border resulted in a number of casualties and injuries.
Iraqi security sources told Al Jazeera that six air strikes targeted a number of locations in the country.
“These airstrikes constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty … and pose a threat that could lead Iraq and the region into dire consequences,” Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement after the strikes.
(Aljazeera)
A ferry carrying around 260 people has capsized off the coast of northern Cyprus with a search underway for survivors, according to local media.
The catamaran-style boat was travelling from the port of Kyrenia, also known as Girne, and started sinking a few kilometres off the coast of the island state on Sunday.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
[Aljazeera]
A former White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to pay more than $172,000 (£127,000) for using inside information to bet on US President Donald Trump’s speeches.
Gabriel Perez was found to have made trades on what the president would say during addresses between December 2025 and February 2026 on Kalshi – a prediction markets platform where users can bet on real-world events.
Its regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said Perez would have to surrender profits of $107,539.02 (£79,452) and pay a civil penalty of $65,000 (£48,000).
The White House has not yet commented. In July then press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Perez was on unpaid leave and would not return to his post.
Announcing the settlement on Friday, the CFTC said Perez had “misappropriated” his prior knowledge of Trump’s speeches to place bets “in breach of his duty of trust and confidence”.
It said his civil penalty had been reduced due to his “exemplary co-operation” with the investigation.
Perez has also been banned from trading for three years.
Writing on X, Kalshi’s lead lawyer Bobby DeNault welcomed the decision: “It doesn’t matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences.”
(BBC)
Qatar’s prime minister has held meetings in the Iranian capital, discussing key issues including the future of the Strait of Hormuz, amid international hopes that dialogue between the United States and Iran on ending the war will resume.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Qatar’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Thursday discussed a proposed framework that includes the creation of a temporary shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, as well as a possible “joint project” to clear the strait of mines, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Iran says the mines were laid during the war.
The two officials also reviewed “the latest developments in the regional situation … along with the efforts being made to reduce escalation and create appropriate conditions for dialogue, contributing to the enhancement of regional security and stability”, the statement added.
Sheikh Mohammed, who is both prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, later met separately with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and parliament speaker and top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Ghalibaf emphasised the need to de-escalate regional tensions, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency. He and Sheikh Mohammed also exchanged views on the current developments in the region and efforts to create suitable conditions for resuming dialogue, the report added.
“Qatar believes that dialogue and diplomatic solutions remain the optimal path for addressing disputes and overcoming crises,” Sheikh Mohammed said in a post on X, adding that his discussions in Tehran serve as “confirmation of our continued efforts to de-escalate tensions … while opening the door to peaceful solutions – including underscoring the importance of respecting freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz in accordance with international law.”
Sheikh Mohammed also met with Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezai.
Rezai told him the “US must first take practical steps to fulfil Iran’s conditions and then Iran will proceed to open the Strait of Hormuz”, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
Rezai also reiterated previous pledges by Tehran that if Washington “starts any evil”, Iran would “bring disaster to its military and economic interests”.
Sheikh Mohamed’s visit follows a week of intense diplomacy in Iran involving separate meetings with Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi and senior Pakistani officials seeking ways to end the US-Israel war on Iran and reopen the strategic waterway through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil passes in peacetime.
[Aljazeera]
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