🇮🇷❌🇺🇸🇸🇾 — IRGC announces conducting a strike against what it believed to be a special operations center in the Al-Tanf military base, Syria; claiming to kill several U.S. soldiers and strike a radar system & several helicopters.

However, this is irregular because the U.S. has not had a publicly acknowledged permanent presence in al-Tanf for months now. The IRGC either struck a covert American presence or a purely Syrian military base.

🇮🇷❌🇺🇸🇰🇼 — IRGC announces conducting a strike against U.S. military infrastructure in Kuwait; targeting a missile detection & surveillance radar [likely an AN/MPQ-65], several U.S. weapons depots, two M142 HIMARS missile launchers, and ATACMS ballistic missiles being kept in storage. IRGC claims a base was set ablaze as a result, corroborating earlier footage of fires in Kuwait.

🇮🇷❌🇴🇲 — UKMTO reports a tanker was hit by an unknown projectile 19 nautical miles east of Khasab, Oman, causing minor structural damage to the port side.

🇮🇱🇺🇸🇹🇷⚡️ — Israeli PM Netanyahu’s public criticism of President Trump’s plan to sell F-35 fighter jets to Türkiye has caused friction with the White House, Axios reports.

➡️ U.S. officials said Trump was “pissed off” after Netanyahu criticized the proposal during a Fox News interview before his trip to Ankara.

➡️ Another official said Trump felt “Bibi had no right” to comment on the issue.

🇺🇸🇮🇱⚡️ — White House officials were caught off guard by Israeli reports claiming President Trump would host Netanyahu on Monday, saying no such meeting had been scheduled, Axios reports.

“Our impression was that Bibi was trying to will a meeting into existence,” a U.S. official said.

🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇷🇹🇷⚡️ — Israel shared intelligence with the U.S. during President Trump’s trip to Türkiye, alleging that a senior Iranian official had suggested Iran should try to kill Trump while he was in Ankara, Axios reports.

➡️ The intelligence prompted the Secret Service to take additional precautions, including switching Trump’s aircraft to the older Air Force One.

➡️ U.S. officials said the intelligence was based on a single, uncorroborated source and was “more aspirational than operational.”

➡️ Türkiye’s security services investigated the Israeli claim and concluded there was no specific Iranian assassination plot in Ankara.

🇺🇸🇺🇦🇷🇺⚡️ — CIA Director John Ratcliffe says newly deployed Russian soldiers are estimated to survive only 20–30 minutes after reaching the front lines in Ukraine, citing the effectiveness of Ukraine’s AI-enabled drone warfare.

“The average life expectancy of a Russian recruit… is estimated to be between 20 and 30 minutes,” Ratcliffe said on Wednesday.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️ — President Trump alleged during his White House address last night that China interfered in the 2020 U.S. election and accused U.S. intelligence agencies of concealing information about Beijing’s activities.

➡️ He said China carried out "the largest compromise of election data in history" in the 2020 election.

➡️ Trump claimed newly released documents showed China carried out a major compromise of U.S. voter data, allegedly obtaining 220 million voter files, and accused intelligence officials of withholding reports from his presidential briefings.

➡️ Trump said that U.S. adversaries, including Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, have the ability to target and compromise American election infrastructure and claimed China wanted him to lose the 2020 election because his administration imposed tariffs on Beijing.

➡️ He also claimed some officials “massaged” intelligence to prevent information about Chinese election-related activity from reaching him.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️ — President Trump:

Today, I'm asking the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the CIA to investigate how and why such crucial information was hidden, to fire those involved in the cover-up, and to file criminal charges, if appropriate, against those responsible.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️ — During his White House address on the 2020 election, President Trump said that television channels refusing to cover the speech, like NBC and ABC News, should have their broadcast licenses revoked.

🇮🇷❌🇦🇪 — Satellite imagery from July 16 shows the destruction of three storage facilities at Zayed Military City in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

🇺🇸❌🇮🇷 — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth posted a photo showing the collapse of the Chabahar maritime control tower in southeastern Iran after it was struck for the third time in more than a week.

🇾🇪⚡️ — UKMTO reports that a vessel was boarded by unauthorized personnel while transiting eastbound in the Gulf of Aden, approximately 65 nautical miles south of Al Mukalla, Yemen.

🇨🇳⚡️ — Chinese President Xi Jinping says China’s vision for artificial intelligence is to develop and apply AI in a “people-centered” way, using it to promote shared prosperity and global security.

➡️ He called for a fair and equitable global AI governance system, saying AI should respect cultural diversity and the uniqueness of different civilizations.

➡️ Xi also emphasized the need for effective oversight and international cooperation to prevent AI from becoming uncontrollable, arguing that the technology should serve humanity and improve global well-being.

🇬🇧❌🇮🇷 — British police have charged a 39-year-old man with allegedly assisting Iran's intelligence service under the UK's National Security Act.

The suspect, Vahid Aberi, from Liverpool, was arrested and remains in custody. Police also conducted searches at addresses in Liverpool and Birmingham.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — Vice President JD Vance denied a Drop Site News report claiming Iran accused Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, in messages to Vance, of using confidential information from U.S.-Iran negotiations for personal financial gain and leaking details to Israeli PM Netanyahu.