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Iran vows not a ‘single drop’ of oil or gas will pass strait of Hormuz as US carries out ninth night of strikes – Middle East crisis live

The latest US-Iran hostilities come as the two countries have inched closer to all-out war since last month’s interim deal meant to permanently end the fighting has crumbled and shipping traffic in the strait of Hormuz has largely stalled. Iran has continued to retaliate against US strikes by hitting American-allied countries throughout the Middle East, with sirens heard in Bahrain early on Monday and Kuwait army later saying its air defences were responding to hostile drones from Iran. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also claimed to have launched a “surprise attack” on an enemy command centre in the Al-Tanf region of Syria, in a statement reported by Iranian state news agency Irna. After Iran targeted sites in Jordan on Sunday, Israel warned of the danger of the strikes spilling across its borders, reigniting a direct regional conflict that had been restrained even as tensions between the Trump administration and Iran have soared again. “If Iran fires missiles at Israel, we will attack them with full force,” Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said on Sunday. The US is expected to send dozens of additional refuelling planes to Israel as part of a reinforcement of its force posture in the region, a US official told Reuters. There’s more in our latest full report:

‘We defeated Los Ingleses’: Argentina fans search for consolation as Messi misses out on perfect ending

“What happened?” people outside an empanada shop in downtown Buenos Aires ask, trying to read the groans and gestures of the customers inside whose TV was a minute ahead of theirs. “Spain scored,” says Julián Escalante, 20, holding up his phone. Spain’s Ferran Torres had delivered the decisive blow in the 106th minute of a final that had gone into extra time, sealing a tense, largely one-sided showdown that ended 1-0. When the final whistle blew, Escalante doesn’t hesitate and reminds the other supporters: “We defeated Los Ingleses [the English], man! And that’s what matters.” Escalante, a stretcher-bearer, says Argentina’s team “was a bit all over the place, but it doesn’t matter – they gave it everything they had. We made it to the final. We made it to extra time. That’s because we’ve got huevos.” “This is the first time I’ve felt so proud of my country,” he says, heading toward the Obelisco, the designated meeting point to celebrate Argentina’s efforts. “We beat France in the final [in 2022]. We have three World Cups. Messi retired from the Argentina national team as the greatest player in the world.” Cintia Martínez, 28, a housekeeper, can barely hold back tears. “I don’t want to speak much, because my son is crying and I will too,” she says, holding her four-year-old’s hand. Also heading to the Obelisco, she says she was celebrating anyway, “because we made it to the final”. Thousands did the same and went to the monument. The 67-metre-high Obelisco was lit up with images of the Argentinian squad and its supporters, amid the sound of fireworks nearby. A street vendor sold Fernet, a spirit, with coke: “To wash the anger down!” Next to the Obelisco, Ellen Vicente, 20, a Brazilian medical student wearing an Argentina jersey, says she came out because she respects Argentinians and considers it “an honour” to live in the country. “We are not Argentine, but you played very well, and I’m very proud,” she says. Asked about recent racism accusations against Argentinians, she said they’re partly substantiated. “I am Black, and it is real, but we can’t generalise – this country has welcomed us, and most people treat us well,” she adds. “And Argentina deserved to win.” Emiliano Romero, 18, hung an Argentine banner on the Obelisco’s fence. It read: “Thank you! You made a people happy. Love is paid with love.” Romero explains: “This is love for our country, something I can’t explain. Football is like that – you win, and you lose. But we’re proud of the result all the same.” Young people sat along the fence of the Obelisco. “We’re climbing up here because of the euphoria of the moment, of wanting to be seen, of the love all Argentines have for one another,” said Sofía Gómez, 22, a shop assistant. “Those who watched the match knew that, for Leo Messi’s last game, it had to be Argentina.”

Ukraine war briefing: Russia behind deadly strike on cargo ship, says Ukraine, as Putin thanks North Korea

Ukraine has blamed Russia for a deadly strike on a Turkish cargo ship that killed six people. Ukraine’s navy said Russia had launched three cruise missiles at the Golden Leo – flying a Guinea-Bissau flag – as it was “leaving the combat zone with a cargo of grain”. Foreign minister Andriy Sybiga said the crew included citizens of Syria and India, while prime minister Sergiy Koretsky said the vessel was struck near Odesa after leaving port. “Eight crew members were rescued,” Kyiv transport minister Mykola Kalashnyk said on Telegram. “Two of them were injured. Unfortunately, as of now, six sailors are confirmed dead, and four more are missing.” Sybiga confirmed a Ukrainian maritime pilot had been killed in the attack, adding in the statement on X: “While the world is still responding to Russia’s brutal overnight attack on Kyiv, Moscow continues its campaign of terror throughout the day.” Russia carried out one of its biggest ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on Sunday, launching a five-hour overnight assault that left at least six people dead and dozens injured, and caused fires and damage across the capital. Ukrainian officials said the capital had been hit with about 40 Iskander-M and hypersonic Zircon missiles, Luke Harding reports. A three-storey building caught fire in the capital’s central Shevchenkivskyi district, with rescuers digging out several people trapped inside and recovering a body. Four other areas were hit, with fires reported at offices and residential buildings and a dormitory. Ukrainian ⁠forces struck three oil depots and ⁠a ⁠fuel facility in Russia’s southern Stavropol region, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on ⁠Sunday. Three Russian tankers from the “shadow fleet” had ‌also been struck in the Black Sea, the Ukrainian president also said on X. Vladimir Putin has thanked North Korea for supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine as he met visiting foreign minister Choe Son Hui. “I would like once again to express my gratitude for the support provided to the special military operation we are conducting,” Putin said on Sunday. “We will never forget” the “heroic deeds” of North Korean soldiers, who would be “honoured in the same way as our compatriots”, the Russian president added. Russia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that Choe was visiting at the invitation of foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. North Korea has sent troops to Russia’s Kursk region and supplied weapons systems to support Moscow’s war effort, while in return analysts say the impoverished and isolated country has received financial assistance, food, energy supplies and military technology from Moscow. Russian anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin has said he will not be running in September’s legislative elections, saying he has been “silenced” and “pushed out of politics”. Nadezhdin – one of the few politicians in Russia openly criticising Putin and Moscow’s Ukraine offensive – had recently been convicted for displaying “extremist symbols”. “My ability to legally engage in opposition politics in Russia has been exhausted,” he wrote on Telegram on Sunday. “I’m not prepared to put at risk those who support me and took part in the election campaign”. The 63-year-old’s campaign had been severely compromised since he was declared a “foreign agent” earlier this month, followed by his sentencing for “displaying extremist symbols”, in that case posting a video in 2023 that briefly showed deceased dissident Alexei Navalny.

In Madrid fans defy heat, early starts and the torpor of a slow game to cheer Spain to World Cup victory

Neither the approach of yet another enervating heatwave, nor the prospect of heading to work on Monday morning, was going to keep madrileños huddled indoors when the World Cup, and the stifling streets of the capital, were there for the taking. With the temperature at 9pm nudging 32C, people across the city and the wider region filled bars, parks, fairgrounds and bullrings to drink, to stripe the streets red-and-yellow with their rojigualda flags, and to test their lungs, their nerves, and, as it turned out, their boredom thresholds. In the capital itself, the faithful descended on a giant screen by the river Manzanares and trooped into the cavernous concrete confines of the 15,000-capacity Movistar arena. Most, however, appeared to have made for the Plaza de Colón to watch the game under the statue of Christopher Columbus, for whom the square is named. Overhead, sharp against a bright blue July sky, flew the largest flag in Spain: a vexillological behemoth that measures 21m by 14m and weighs 35kg. While the plaza frequently doubles as a tournament-screening venue, the fact that Spain were playing one of their former imperial territories under the watchful eye of Columbus added a certain undeniable piquancy. The Argentinian ambassador in Madrid had alluded to the two countries’ long, shared history in a video message over the weekend in which he had urged pride and cool heads. “What a dream of a final: Spain and Argentina,” said Wenceslao Bunge. “Two brother countries. Two countries that have so very much in common … Let this final be an example for us and for the world when it comes sport and to the meaning of values such as work, perseverance and respect for others.” On Sunday night, the brother countries certainly had one thing in common – and it all depended on what happened on a pitch in faraway New Jersey. La Roja were hoping for another historic victory 16 years after Andrés Iniesta’s 116th-minute goal against the Netherlands in South Africa gave Spain their first World Cup triumph. Meanwhile La Albiceleste – who last lifted the trophy in 2022 after beating France on penalties in Qatar – were keen to secure a fourth title. Just before the game began amid hopeful cries of “a por la segunda!” (Let’s get a second title!), Sebastián Eros, a Chilean who stood with a Spain flag politely tied around his neck, admitted to being a little agnostic about the result. “We’re not really bothered who wins,” he confessed. “If Spain win, then that’s brilliant. But if Argentina win – even though they can be a pain in the arse – then at least the cup will stay in South America.” A 18-year-old madrileña called Katy was rather more psyched. “It’s a historic moment and it’s really exciting,” said Katy, who was two years old the last time Spain won the World Cup. Miguel Hinojal Vicente, 37, had come to Madrid from Toledo as much for the party atmosphere as for the match itself. Unlike Katy, he had vivid memories of Spain’s last World Cup triumph. “Shit, it was just a magical thing,” he said. “But, to tell the truth, I’m more of an Atléti fan than a Spain fan,” referring to Atlético Madrid football club. His friend Raquel García was a little more enthusiastic – and optimistic. “This is about the hopes of a country and it’s about unity,” she said. “Events like these bring people together and they make people happy.” For an eternity, however, it looked as though no one would ever be happy. The slow pace of the game – coupled with the lingering heat, the drifts of dope smoke and the soporific drones of vuvuzelas – loosed an atmosphere of fidgety boredom that wasn’t broken until 11.26pm, when Nico Williams slammed the ball into the Argentinian goal – only for the goal to be disallowed. The roars gave way to a disappointed torpor and some of the more refreshed fans began to nod off in doorways. They were rudely awakened 17 minutes later, when Ferran Torres’ goal drew a thunderous roar from the crowd. Screams, smiles and flares erupted and suddenly everything had become very much worth the agonising dull wait. Another disallowed goal for Spain may have followed but by then, La Roja’s momentum had become unstoppable. At the final whistle, which rang out a little after midnight, everyone in the Plaza de Colón – fans, police, ambulance workers – howled with delight. Tears flowed and hugs were suddenly mandatory. A por la segunda? Si señor!

Middle East crisis: US military says service member killed during ‘controlled detonation’ of downed Iranian drone – as it happened

The US service member killed during the disposal of an Iranian drone in Iraq on Saturday was not a bomb technician but another soldier who was hit by debris or fragments when the drone was detonated, a US official has told the New York Times. The incident is under investigation, according to the official.

Dozens missing after passenger ferry sinks off coast of Guyana

A ferry carrying 116 passengers and crew sank ⁠off the coast of Guyana in South America ⁠late Saturday, with 67 ⁠people, including 15 children, rescued so far, according to Guyana ⁠authorities. A massive search-and-rescue operation continues for dozens of missing passengers in what has been described by officials as one of the country’s worst maritime disasters. The ferry MV Barima left Georgetown, the capital of the English-speaking South American country, on Saturday at about 3.15pm for Port Kaituma, located in the oil-rich Essequibo region and just off the border with Venezuela. A distress call was received shortly after 11pm, prompting an emergency response involving the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard and Air Corps, private aircraft, fishing vessels and civilian volunteers. Juan Edghill, the minister of public works, said preliminary investigations indicate the vessel was operating within its legal limits. “There was no engine problem or any mechanical problem. It had nothing to do with overload. It had to do with the tide,” Edghill told local reporters. He said the MV Barima was certified to carry 397 passengers and 284 tonnes of cargo. Its manifest showed it was transporting 268 tonnes of cargo, below its authorised capacity. The ship was equipped with 250 lifejackets, two lifeboats and six inflatable rafts, Edghill said. In a statement on Sunday, Guyana’s prime minister, Mark Phillips, said the search and rescue coordination centre had expanded the search area from 400 sq km (154 sq miles) to 1,070 sq km, with additional aircraft and vessels deployed alongside local fisherfolk familiar with the waters. The 67 survivors include 41 men, 11 women and 15 children. As the rescue effort continues, survivors recounted the moments when the ferry overturned in darkness. Adam Matabheek, who was travelling with his wife, brother, sister-in-law and three young nieces and nephews, said he noticed the vessel leaning several hours before it capsized. “We dismissed it as rough water and went to sleep,” he said. Moments later, the vessel rolled over. “I ended up in the water,” he recalled, saying he managed to grab a lifejacket before drifting through the night. His wife, Carlita Matabheek, who cannot swim, said she became trapped inside the overturned vessel before a lifejacket fell within her reach. “I started to pray,” she said. After calling repeatedly for her husband in the darkness, she felt someone tugging at her hair. “It was Adam,” she said. The couple and Adam’s younger brother, Nathaniel, spent the night drifting in the sea until rescuers found them after daybreak. “God cleared the skies and saved us,” Carlita said. Their relief, however, was overshadowed by tragedy. Nathaniel’s wife, Rachel Welch, and their three children – Nathaniel Jr., 8, Natalia, 5, and Ezekiel, 3 – remain among the missing. According to the family, Rachel was thrown from her hammock as the ferry capsized and tried desperately to reach her children before they disappeared into the water. Another survivor, Loureen Singh, a trader who regularly travels to Port Kaituma to sell clothing, survived by holding on to the same lifejacket as Carlita after telling her she could swim “a little”. Carlita urged her: “Hold on to me.” The two women remained together throughout the night until they were rescued. Authorities say families of all recorded passengers and crew members have been contacted as efforts continue to account for everyone aboard.

Israel threatens ‘full force’ response if Iran fires missiles towards it

Israel has warned it could retaliate against Iran with “full force” if Tehran’s missiles strike within its borders, threatening a return to an all-out regional war as the ceasefire brokered by Donald Trump collapses with a new round of missile strikes across the Middle East. On Sunday, Iran launched salvoes of ballistic missiles at US-allied Arab states, targeting a power and water desalination plant for the second time in two days in Kuwait, as well as sites in Jordan and Bahrain. Air-raid sirens sounded in Amman as Jordan said it shot down three Iranian missiles targeting the country. Israel said the strikes could spill across its borders, reigniting a direct regional conflict that had been restrained even as tensions between the Trump administration and Iran soared again in recent weeks. “If Iran fires missiles at Israel, we will attack them with full force,” said the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, on Sunday. The country was prepared for “both defensive and offensive” action, he added. The US is expected to send dozens of additional refuelling planes to Israel as part of a reinforcement of its force posture in the region, a US official told Reuters. The US and Iran expanded their strikes, with civilian infrastructure hit, as Trump told a US media outlet that he “couldn’t care less” about Iran’s repudiation of his ceasefire agreement to end the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz. But since April, direct attacks between Iran and Israel had grown less frequent, in large part because of Trump’s pressure to maintain a ceasefire needed to reopen the strait and resume the flow of oil through the key waterway. Now, however, Trump has moved to apply maximum pressure on Iran. “The gates of HELL have now been UNLEASHED like they never could have imagined or seen before,” the US president said in a social media post on Sunday. The escalation followed the deaths of two US soldiers in Iranian strikes on a Jordanian airbase on Friday that marked one of the deadliest days for US forces since the beginning of the war. US Central Command (Centcom) has said a third soldier is missing after Iran launched drone and missile strikes following days of US strikes on Iran meant to pressure Tehran into capitulating in talks over Iran’s nuclear programme. Trump also urged Republican allies in Congress to expand a sanctions bill targeting Russia to include Iran, saying it is what the late senator Lindsey Graham would have wanted. The bill would punish purchasers of Russian oil with high tariffs, probably targeting big importers such as India. Centcom said the US had concluded an eighth day of strikes on Sunday, targeting Iran’s “military coastal surveillance and air defence facilities, maritime capabilities, and missile and drone storage sites to continue degrading Iranian military capabilities”. It also sought to “swiftly punish” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for the deaths of the US military personnel. Since early in the war, Trump has threatened to target Iranian civilian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, in what many observers have said would constitute a war crime. The US has denied targeting civilian infrastructure, but photos and videos have shown considerable destruction at civilian sites in the last few days. Tehran on Sunday said more than 40 people had died in attacks this month. Iran also accused the US of striking a nuclear power plant under construction in the south-western city of Darkhovin. The International Atomic Energy Agency said the site did not house any nuclear material but its director general, Rafael Grossi, urged “military restraint in the vicinity of all nuclear-related sites”. Iran has begun targeting crucial desalination plants in countries such as Kuwait, which are extremely arid and rely on the plants to produce potable water for the population. Kuwait said the Iranian strike had sparked a fire and damaged electricity generators at the plant, potentially disrupting power supplies. The Kuwaiti ⁠foreign ministry said the repeated targeting of civilian facilities amounted to a dangerous escalation and violated ‌international law, the UN charter and UN security council resolution 2817. It said Iran bore full legal and moral responsibility ‌for the attack on the plant and its consequences. Jordan summoned ⁠Iran’s ⁠chargé d’affaires in Amman ⁠over what ⁠it called “unjustified ‌and ‌blatant Iranian attacks” ‌and “provocative and inflammatory statements targeting the ‌kingdom’s territory”. Tehran has also increased pressure in the strait of Hormuz. Iran’s government-aligned Tasnim news agency said on Sunday that two ships had had an “accident” after attempting to traverse the waterway via an “unsafe route” not officially sanctioned by Tehran. “Vessels that are influenced by the words of the Americans and enter unsafe routes will certainly face accidents,” the IRGC said, adding that two other ships had turned back after the incident. In a statement on Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, warned that the US would face “unforgettable lessons” if it continued its attacks.

Israel’s brutality cannot continue in plain sight | Letters

Nesrine Malik’s incisive piece (In Israel’s prisons, torture and death have become a norm that it barely tries to hide, 13 July) lays bare the fact that all the illegal detentions, deaths, torture and sexual abuse in Israeli prisons are not aberrations from a legal system, but deeply embedded in the practices and intentions of the state. She mentions the psychological dimension to deliberately eroding the capacity of Palestinian civil society to exert any kind of autonomy. As mental health practitioners, working alongside our Palestinian co-professionals, we have long recorded the ways in which practices of degradation, humiliation and debilitation constitute attacks on minds and relationships as well as bodies. They are designed to undermine the fabric of family, social and community life, and to destroy those systems of connectivity upon which all citizens, especially children, are dependent if they are to flourish. The carceral system is part of a set of state interventions which not only detain, murder, maim and mutilate Palestinian bodies, but also conduct an unrelenting assault on their growth, dignity, personhood and identity. Malik is right to highlight the extent to which western governments and most mainstream media act as if it is the “extremist fringes” rather than the state itself that should be criticised or sanctioned. In doing so, they fail to heed the pronouncements from Israeli government representatives themselves and do a profound disservice to the victims of this violent, racist and unrestrained regime. Gwyn Daniel UK and International Palestine Mental Health Networks • Thank you once again for Nesrine Malik’s continued efforts to draw attention to the brutality that has been inflicted on the Palestinian people. While Andy Burnham has acknowledged that the British government’s response to the Israel bombardment and mass killing in Gaza “didn’t get it right”, there have since been innumerable atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank, even after a ceasefire was declared. Sanctions on illegal settlers who attack and kill Palestinians will not be enough – the Israeli government provides them with immunity, leaves the people of Gaza camped amid devastation and detains thousands of Palestinians without trial in reportedly dreadful conditions. The UK and Europe need to act far more decisively regarding trade with Israel and take meaningful steps to ending the illegal occupation of Palestine. Phil Gaunt Dumbarton • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.