Sunday, July 26, 2026

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Axios reported, citing informed sources, that Brad Cooper, commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), has advised the Donald Trump administration to halt the bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz, as he believes the operation has reached the limit of its effectiveness. According to these sources, Cooper assessed that attacks over the past two weeks have significantly reduced the Islamic Republic’s ability to target ships in the Strait of Hormuz region, and that most of the designated targets for airstrikes have also been destroyed. The sources added that Cooper told U.S. officials that if a decision is made to resume large-scale military operations, the United States could strike 20% of the targets that were not hit during Operation “Epic Fury.” However, he stressed that if no decision is made to return to large-scale operations, there would be no justification for continuing the bombing campaign of the past two weeks. @VahidOOnLine 📡 @VahidOnline

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Abbas Araghchi, foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said in a post on X that Ukraine’s attack on an Iranian “commercial” vessel in the Caspian Sea was a “clear violation of the United Nations Charter” and declared that the action “cannot go unanswered.” In the post, Araghchi wrote that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, by attacking an Iranian “commercial” ship and causing the death of an Iranian sailor, had, in Araghchi’s words, sought “at Israel’s behest” to drag Europe into the war. Iran’s foreign minister added that in phone calls with Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, he had stressed that the action must not go unanswered. Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier announced that Ukrainian forces had targeted ships in long-range operations in the Caspian Sea that, he said, were being used to transport military cargo linked to Iran. @VahidOOnLine 📡 @VahidOnline

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the conflict with Iran will end when the Islamic Republic’s government falls or is weakened enough to halt its nuclear program. Speaking to Fox News, he claimed that the Islamic Republic must conclude that continuing to “create economic chaos around the world, kill thousands of its own citizens, and attack others” comes at a heavy cost. Netanyahu stressed that Iran’s nuclear program must end “with or without an agreement.” The Israeli prime minister also warned that if Iran or its allied groups attack Israel, they will face a “very decisive” response. Tehran, he added, would make a “big mistake” if it took such action. Asked about his upcoming trip to Washington and meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Netanyahu said he did not intend to provide any new information, noting that intelligence cooperation between the two countries is very close. He added that he was eager to hear Trump’s views on the future of the conflict with Iran, saying, “In many respects, it’s his decision.” Netanyahu also announced that he would “definitely” travel to New York in September to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he plans to speak from the UN podium about Israel and the Israel-U.S. alliance. Netanyahu went on to criticize New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, accusing him of fueling hatred against Jews and supporting Hamas. He also said he was “very concerned” by declining support for Israel within the Democratic Party, claiming that some of the party’s leading figures had moved closer to anti-Israel positions under pressure from political activists. Elsewhere in his remarks, the Israeli prime minister endorsed Donald Trump’s position on Saudi Arabia, saying Trump was right to insist that, if Riyadh normalizes relations with Israel, only a “civilian” nuclear program for Saudi Arabia should be approved. He added that the last thing Israel and the United States want is for Saudi Arabia to develop a military nuclear program. @ VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said President Donald Trump had temporarily halted attacks on Iran to allow more time for diplomacy. Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Waltz said: “He’s giving negotiations a chance; he’s created a little space for talks to move forward.” A spokesperson for the Islamic Republic’s military also said that, following the halt in U.S. attacks, Iran had stopped attacking Washington’s allies in the Middle East. @ VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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Tasnim News Agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, claimed on Sunday that an oil tanker exploded in the Strait of Hormuz after hitting a naval mine. According to Tasnim, the tanker struck the mine after leaving the shipping route designated by Iran in this strategic waterway. Under Article 5 of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, signed by Iran and the United States in late Khordad to extend the ceasefire, Iran had agreed to clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days so ships could pass freely. @ VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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Al Arabiya News reported on Sunday, 4 Mordad, that the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran had submitted their responses to a joint proposal by Pakistan and Qatar aimed at restarting negotiations between the two countries. According to the report, informed sources told Al Arabiya that Qatar, Egypt, Pakistan, and other regional mediators had presented Washington and Tehran with a new plan for a 10-day ceasefire. The plan is intended to create suitable conditions for resolving the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz and reviving previous agreements. Al Arabiya wrote that the proposal sets out two main conditions for bringing both sides back to negotiations: an immediate halt to hostile actions and the full and safe reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping. Under the plan, the southern shipping route through Omani waters would be kept safe from attacks by the Islamic Republic’s armed forces, while the northern route through Iranian waters would be removed from the US naval blockade. @ VahidOOnLine 📡 @VahidOnline

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Shayan Oveis Gharan, an Iranian computer scientist and professor at the University of Washington, has received the 2026 Abacus Medal from the International Mathematical Union. The award recognizes outstanding achievements by young researchers in the mathematical aspects of computer science. The award committee says Oveis Gharan has expanded the ways algorithms are analyzed by bringing in tools from fields such as polynomial geometry, probability theory, and spectral graph theory, opening up new approaches to solving several longstanding computer science problems. His research has attracted particular attention in two areas: finding near-optimal paths and randomly sampling from very large, complex sets. The Abacus Medal is awarded every four years. It continues an award known as the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize until 2018. Candidates must be under 40 at the start of the year in which the International Congress of Mathematicians is held. The award is considered one of the most prestigious international honors in theoretical computer science. But the importance of Oveis Gharan’s work cannot be conveyed simply by listing technical terms. A key part of his research journey leads back to one of computer science’s best-known questions: How can you find the shortest possible route for traveling among several cities and then returning to your starting point? Known as the “traveling salesman problem,” the question seems simple at first. A salesperson, driver, or delivery worker must visit several cities or destinations, stop at each one once, and return to the starting point. As the number of destinations increases, the number of possible routes grows so rapidly that it becomes practically impossible to examine them all. In such cases, rather than finding an exact answer, researchers want an algorithm that can find a route close to the best possible one in a reasonable amount of time—and guarantee that its result will not be worse than a certain bound. ... @ VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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The White House rejected a New York Times report that it had dropped plans to intensify military operations against the Islamic Republic. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said U.S. President Donald Trump has always said he prefers a diplomatic solution, but that he will keep all options on the table if the Islamic Republic continues its terrorist actions in the Strait of Hormuz or against its allies. Cheung added that, after sanctions that have crippled the Islamic Republic’s economy and thirteen consecutive days of strikes on military targets, it would be wise for the regime to move toward an agreement. Otherwise, he said, the other side knows what will happen. @VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, announced on Sunday, 4 Mordad, without giving details, that there had been “progress” in talks and consultations between Tehran and Muscat. The Islamic Republic official commented after an Omani delegation that had come to Tehran to discuss management of the Strait of Hormuz left Iran on Saturday evening. Baghaei described the talks as follows: “On Friday and Saturday, several rounds of talks were held in Tehran between Iran and Oman at the deputy foreign minister level. The two sides exchanged views on shared principles and operational mechanisms for managing safe shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, while respecting the sovereign rights of the two coastal states.” The Foreign Ministry official added that “there has currently been no change in the status of traffic through the strait.” @ VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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A man who murdered his 17-year-old daughter, Fatemeh Soltani, with multiple knife wounds last year outside the beauty salon where she worked in Eslamshahr has been sentenced by Tehran’s Criminal Court to eight years in prison and ordered to pay blood money. The laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran include provisions that exempt fathers who murder their children from harsher punishments. hra_news 📡 @VahidOnline

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CNN: Sources say Vance and Caine expressed concern about escalating the war in Iran Machine translation: A person familiar with the matter and a U.S. official told CNN that Vice President JD Vance and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both expressed concern about the move as President Donald Trump considered the possibility of escalating the war in Iran during a meeting at the White House on Friday. By Friday night, after nearly two weeks of consecutive overnight airstrikes, the U.S. appeared to have halted its bombing campaign in Iran. A Defense Department source told CNN on Saturday: “Operations are paused for now.” Sources said Caine specifically raised concerns on Friday about U.S. munitions stockpiles and other potential negative consequences. One source said Caine told Trump that the U.S. military could carry out his options and succeed, but then warned him about the possible consequences. Both sources said concerns about munitions stockpiles were among several issues raised with Trump at the meeting. It remains unclear whether those concerns or warnings about escalating the war were the main reasons the U.S. halted its consecutive overnight strikes, or whether the pause will continue. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said: “Given the successful sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy and 13 consecutive days of strikes on military targets in response to the country’s repeated acts of aggression, it would be wise for Iran to seek a negotiated agreement. Otherwise, they know what will happen.” CNN 📡 @VahidOnline

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New York Times: After advisers voiced concerns, Trump refrained for now from sharply escalating attacks on Iran One concern is that widening the conflict could dangerously deplete the dwindling stockpiles of air-defense munitions in the Middle East. Machine translation: President Trump has set aside plans, at least for now, to sharply escalate the U.S. military assault on Iran, in particular because he is concerned that intensifying the war could dangerously deplete the Pentagon’s already reduced stockpiles of Patriot antiballistic missile interceptors and other air-defense munitions in the Middle East. Administration officials say the threat to interceptor missile stockpiles is one of several considerations that have made a return to large-scale combat operations an exceptionally risky move. Mr. Trump and his senior aides are also concerned about the possibility of the war spreading across the Middle East, key Gulf allies—who are vulnerable to Iranian attacks—drifting away, and the economic pressure and worsening energy and refugee crises. The latest shift in how Mr. Trump is handling the conflict with Iran came after a meeting on Friday with his senior advisers and high-ranking Cabinet members, according to two people briefed on the discussions. The confidential consultations focused on dwindling stocks of Patriot interceptors and other Pentagon air-defense systems, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss operational matters. A senior U.S. official said that three American soldiers were killed in Jordan last Friday, when a ballistic missile got through U.S. air defenses, which were responding to a wave of Iranian missiles and drones. General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has privately warned that resuming large-scale combat operations against Iran is possible, but would dangerously deplete the interceptor missile stockpiles available to U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for operations in the Middle East, the officials said. A spokesman for General Caine declined to comment on the recommendations he gives the president. Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said the president “has consistently stated that he prefers a diplomatic solution, but continues to keep all options on the table if Iran continues terrorist activities in the Strait of Hormuz or against our allies.” He added that after enduring crippling sanctions and repeated attacks, “it would be wise for Iran to try to reach a negotiated agreement; otherwise, they know what will happen.” Mr. Trump has been grappling with how to proceed in his nearly five-month war against Iran, and specifically how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as gasoline prices are rising again amid the resumption of hostilities over the past two weeks. Diplomacy has failed, and the latest round of extensive U.S. attacks does not appear to have deterred Iran militarily. Very few people in Mr. Trump’s inner circle—and perhaps no one—believed that escalating the conflict was a wise plan, according to the two people briefed on the discussions. Another senior U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed doubt that resuming large-scale combat operations could bring Iran back to the negotiating table. nytimes 📡 @VahidOnline

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CENTCOM post, machine translation: 00:32 The U.S. naval blockade against Iran remains fully in effect. As of July 25, CENTCOM has redirected 12 commercial vessels attempting to breach the blockade, disabled 2 vessels that failed to comply with orders, and boarded 2 vessels to ensure full compliance. This morning, U.S. forces completed a boarding and verification inspection of the Comoros-flagged oil tanker M/T Charminar in the Arabian Sea, and the tanker is now continuing on its way. On July 24, CENTCOM forces disabled the Mozambique-flagged oil tanker M/T Lavine in the Gulf of Oman after its crew made several attempts to breach the blockade and ignored repeated warnings. The vessel is no longer heading toward Iran. U.S. forces 🇺🇸 remain fully vigilant, focused, lethal, and ready. CENTCOM 📡 @VahidOnline