10 Things Global News - 14th July 2026
US reverses position on free passage through Hormuz, Americans hunker down for a long war and US declares virtual war on ICC | Succinct, unbiased global news.
US And Iran Escalate Fight Over Hormuz Control (Conflict)
Houthis Strike Saudi Airport As Truce Frays (Conflict)
Poll Shows Americans Expect Long Iran War (US)
Kyiv Hit As Europe Launches Missile Coalition (Conflict)
Rubio Opens US Campaign Against ICC (US)
Wildfires Close In On Paris As Europe Bakes (Europe)
Europe Sanctions Russia Over Cyber Campaign (Geopolitics)
EU Launches Gaza Recovery Fund Amid Vast Shortfall (Middle East)
Reports Say Israel Cultivated Ahmadinejad (Middle East)
Judge Rebukes Trump IRS Settlement Deal (US)
A succinct daily briefing delivered each weekday to help you stay on top of the stories shaping the world.
The US carried out a third consecutive night of strikes on Iran on Tuesday as President Donald Trump said Washington was reinstating a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and insisted the waterway would remain open.
US Central Command said it struck coastal defence systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities around Bandar Abbas, Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak and Abu Musa, while Iran acknowledged strikes around those areas.
Iran responded with attacks across the Gulf, including strikes on Bahrain, Jordan and two tankers associated with the United Arab Emirates in the strait, killing one mariner and wounding eight others.
Trump also said the US would be reimbursed for protection and announced a 20 percent toll on cargo shipped through the strait, a shift from longstanding US support for freedom of navigation. Brent crude rose above $84 and Kpler said crossings fell 52 percent between July 10 and July 12.
Sources: Al Jazeera, The Independent
Yemen’s Houthi movement said it launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport on Monday after strikes on Sanaa International Airport earlier in the day. Saudi Arabia said its air defences intercepted missiles launched towards the southern region, and no casualties were reported. The exchange marked the sharpest escalation between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia since a period of relative calm began in 2022.
The Houthis said the Sanaa strikes were aimed at closing the airport to humanitarian flights and warned airlines against flying through Saudi airspace until what they called the blockade on Sanaa airport was lifted.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government said the runway was hit to stop an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation from returning from the funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The United Nations warned of the risk of a wider escalation.
Sources: Associated Press, Reuters
Four in five Americans expect the US war with Iran to continue for an extended period, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted as fighting escalated and US President Donald Trump declared a blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf. The three-day poll found that 79 percent expected US military involvement in Iran to last, up from 65 percent in late March, while 18 percent said the war would end quickly in a matter of weeks.
The poll also pointed to the domestic political cost of a longer conflict. Sixty percent of respondents said they expected gasoline prices to worsen over the next year as a result of the war, and half said the war had not been worth its costs.
Trump’s approval rating has stayed near the lowest levels of his political career since the conflict began, with Republican strategists warning that rising living costs have eroded the political benefits of his tax cuts.
Sources: Reuters, Dawn
Russia launched a new ballistic missile attack on Kyiv early on Tuesday, hours after Ukraine and nine European countries announced a coalition to build a shared ballistic missile defence capability for Europe. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defence units were trying to repel the attack and that fires had broken out in the Holosiivskyi district.
The announcement in Paris brought together Ukraine, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The coalition said Europe required an integrated missile defence architecture to deter and neutralise future missile threats. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the effort could help develop a mass-produced, lower-cost system within 12 months.
The move came as Russia escalated missile and drone attacks, while President Vladimir Putin warned that Russian strikes would be several times more powerful in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Associated Press
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio launched a campaign on Monday to dismantle what the Trump administration described as the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to American sovereignty. In a video message and opinion article, Rubio said the court had become radical and extreme, and warned that Border Patrol agents, Marines and prosecutors could face prosecution by the tribunal.
The administration is considering travel bans, visa revocations, increased sanctions against the court and affiliated organisations, and diplomatic pressure on other countries to withdraw from the ICC. A State Department official said no diplomatic option would be off limits and that countries benefiting from US assistance or a US security presence were being called on to reject the court’s authority to prosecute American officials and servicemen.
The ICC said it would not comment at this stage. Legal experts disputed Rubio’s claims, saying the court was not asserting jurisdiction over conduct in the United States.
Sources: The Guardian, Reuters
A wildfire in the historic Fontainebleau forest south of Paris prompted evacuations, disrupted train and highway traffic and spread across more than 1,300 hectares as France battled its third heatwave in less than three months. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said a second fire had broken out and around 1,000 people had been evacuated. President Emmanuel Macron said all available resources were being deployed against what he called an exceptionally large wildfire.
The blaze, unusual for its proximity to the capital, came as western Europe faced multiple fires under a third red-alert heat wave this year. In Spain, 10 people were still missing after a southern wildfire that killed 13 people, while authorities said extreme heat, wind and little rainfall were allowing smaller fires to grow unchecked.
French authorities were investigating whether the Fontainebleau fire had been started intentionally.
Sources: Associated Press, South China Morning Post
European authorities imposed sanctions on Monday over what they described as a long-running Russian cyber campaign targeting governments and critical infrastructure across the continent. The European Union and the United Kingdom said the measures targeted Russian military intelligence officers, hackers and private companies, while France said it would summon Russia’s ambassador in Paris. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the campaign involved sabotage and espionage in a dozen European countries.
Officials said the operations targeted government ministries, companies and service operators, with rail infrastructure in Poland cited among the cases. The European Union said Russia had built a malicious cyber ecosystem linking intelligence services, cybercriminal groups, hacktivists and private companies.
The United Kingdom said an alleged plot targeting Poland’s energy grid could have cut electricity to 500,000 civilians had it succeeded. The measures came as France prepared to host a summit of Ukraine’s allies in Paris.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, CBS News
The European Commission on Monday launched a $1bn aid and reconstruction fund for Gaza, bringing together European donors, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank for what it called an early recovery effort. EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica said the package would support debris removal and the restoration of water, sanitation, health, energy, agricultural and food systems.
The initiative comes far short of the scale of need. The European Union and United Nations said in April that more than $71bn would be required over the next 10 years, including $26.3bn in the first 18 months. Suica said support now required conditions on the ground to reach people in Gaza, while EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib said shelling continued, disease was spreading and people were dying nine months after the so-called ceasefire.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Times of Israel
Reports published on Monday said Israel spent years trying to cultivate Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a potential post-regime leader, including meetings in Budapest and a plan to move him to a safe house inside Iran after strikes began in late February. The reports said the effort became such a priority that then Mossad chief David Barnea travelled to Hungary to meet Ahmadinejad.
The plan reportedly collapsed after Ahmadinejad became upset by the rescue operation and disillusioned with the idea of returning to power under the Israeli plan. He later reappeared briefly at the funeral procession for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after months out of public view. The reports said he is now believed to be in the custody of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence wing.
The alleged effort underscored how regime change planning had extended beyond military pressure to attempts to identify an alternative political figure inside Iran.
Sources: New York Times, The Guardian
A federal judge on Monday ruled that President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service was filed for an improper purpose and used to manipulate the judicial process. US District Judge Kathleen Williams said there was never true adverseness between the parties and said the case was an attempt to use the court to lend legitimacy to an agreement that would confer tax protections on Trump and entities affiliated with him.
The ruling targeted a now-abandoned proposal for a nearly $1.8bn taxpayer-funded pool for alleged victims of government weaponisation and raised the prospect of professional sanctions for lawyers involved. Judge Williams said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had given at best misleading and at worst disingenuous testimony to Congress.
She ordered her ruling sent to disciplinary bodies in New York and Washington, and referred one Trump lawyer to the Florida Bar while restricting another lawyer’s ability to practise in the Southern District of Florida.
Sources: Washington Post, ABC News
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On this day …
On this day in 1789, revolutionaries stormed the Bastille prison in Paris, an event widely regarded as the beginning of the French Revolution.
Although only a handful of prisoners were held inside, the fortress symbolised royal authority and arbitrary power under the monarchy. Its capture demonstrated that the French crown could no longer rely on unquestioned control and encouraged revolutionary movements across the country.
The Revolution that followed transformed France’s political system and helped spread ideas of citizenship, constitutional government and popular sovereignty that continue to shape democratic societies today.
Few single events have carried such lasting political symbolism.