U.S.-Iran war re-escalates; Israeli settlers detain Ro Khanna; UAW President says Gaza advocacy led to DOJ probe

From Drop Site: The Man Who Walked Toward the “Yellow Line” in Gaza—and the Son He Carried With Him Iran shuts down the Strait of Hormuz after hitting container ship. U.S. launches third wave of strikes on Iran; Tehran retaliates , hitting U.S. Gulf bases. Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill reports on White House’s “deliberate media disinformation campaign” regarding U.S.-Iran negotiations. President Donald Trump announces reimposition of blockade on Iran ports; Iran’s armed forces warn against U.S. interference in Hormuz. Israeli ceasefire violations continue across south Lebanon with shelling, a drone attack, and home demolitions . Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says he will urge Trump to pressure Israel ahead of White House visit. Israeli Defense Minister : Southern Lebanon subjected to Gaza-like destruction; 90% of homes destroyed. Israel kills two Palestinians in Gaza on Monday as strikes continue over the weekend. Armed settlers block Rep. Ro Khanna in West Bank village. Israel advances plan for “largest settlement enclave” in East Jerusalem’s Umm Lison. Sen. Lindsey Graham, Trump critic turned ally and avowed supporter of Israel, dead at 71. Sen. Mitch McConnell addresses health speculation. Minnesota pulls its National Guard from D.C. UAW’s Shawn Fain says his Gaza advocacy prompted DOJ probe. Russian, Ukrainian attacks kill nine. Norway pushes for Israel’s suspension from FIFA, Politico reports. A website dedicated to securing the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has been launched. It includes information about his life, the latest updates on his case, and a timer tracking how long he has been held in Israeli torture prisons. savedrabusafiya.com This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Today’s edition is being sent to more than 750,000 subscribers. Help us grow that number by forwarding and recommending this newsletter. Subscribe 🛒 Get your “ Drop [Site] News/Not Bombs ” Hoodie here: Get Your Hoodie Ships sailing near the Strait of Hormuz off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates at Khor Fakkan on July 13, 2026. Photo by AFP via Getty Images. Subscribe Iran and Ceasefire Iran shuts down the Strait of Hormuz after hitting container ship: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy announced Saturday that the Strait would be “closed until further notice.” According to the IRGC, the decision came after a vessel attempted to transit through an “unapproved route” after disabling its tracking systems and ignoring orders to change course. It said it struck the vessel “with warning fire,” forcing it to stop. Oman rescued 23 crew members from the Cyprus-flagged container ship M/V GFS Galaxy after the container ship caught fire overnight near the Musandam Peninsula, according to the UKMTO monitoring organization. One sailor remains missing. A U.S. official later confirmed to Axios that the GFS Galaxy sustained heavy damage. The Iran–U.S. memorandum of understanding states that commercial vessel traffic would be fully restored within 30 days of the agreement, and that Iran “will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels.” Tehran, therefore, insists that oversight and management of the Strait remains under its control, and that navigation be conducted through its northern route, rather than through the southern U.S.- and allied-backed corridor along the Omani coast. Iran has also maintained that decisions regarding the administration of the Strait will be made exclusively by Tehran and Oman, in dialogue with other Persian Gulf states, in accordance with the MOU. The Iranian navy warned that it would “respond severely” to any further violations, noting that it would also “target enemy bases” in the region. Two other vessels were fired at on Monday, with the IRGC saying it fired warning shots at two ships attempting to “illegally” cross the Strait. U.S. launches third wave of strikes on Iran: U.S. Central Command announced on Saturday evening that it had begun a third round of strikes on the country. Explosions were heard in the southern coastal cities of Bandar Abbas, Bandar Jask, Sirik, Asaluyeh, and Bushehr in the Bushehr province, and the nearby cities of Kangan, Dayyer, and Chabahar. Explosions were also heard in Erbil in Iranian Kurdistan, near the Iraqi border. A statement from CENTCOM following Saturday’s strikes said that the U.S. had struck 140 “military targets,” including “missile and drone sites, naval assets, ammunition depots, communications networks, and coastal surveillance positions.” The U.S. launched another round of strikes on Sunday, per CENTCOM, with Iranian media reporting strikes and explosions heard in Bandar Abbas, Jask, Sirik, and Qeshm Island. A strike on Sunday destroyed a hangar at Iran’s Omidiyeh Airport, in the central Khuzestan province, according to footage purporting to be from the site circulating online. Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S. strikes in a Sunday statement, calling them “savage attacks” that violate the UN Charter, and issued a warning to Gulf states that host U.S. bases, saying that that relationship makes them a “legitimate target of defensive strikes” by Iran’s armed forces. It also chastised the UN for its “non-constructive approach” to U.S. violations of the organization’s rules. Iran retaliates, hitting U.S. Gulf bases: Iran fired upon U.S. military sites in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, the UAE, and Oman. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan, a U.S. drone command centre in Bahrain and other air bases, including Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. The IRGC also claimed attacks on what it described as U.S. military facilities and infrastructure in Juffair, Bahrain, as well as a vessel-detection radar in Oman. Kuwait said some of its border posts were damaged, and Qatar and the UAE confirmed that they had intercepted Iranian missiles. Smoke was seen rising from the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain on Sunday morning, according to video footage shared online. The retaliatory attacks continued Monday morning, with the militaries of Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait reporting strikes. Trump claims Hormuz remains open: President Donald Trump claimed in a Sunday appearance before NBC’s Meet the Press that U.S. military action had kept the Strait of Hormuz open even as Tehran announced its closure and as hostilities between the U.S. and Iran continued. “It’s open,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. had “bombed the hell out of” Iran on Saturday evening. Trump framed the situation as a product of Iran’s “giving up” on a deal, which he called a “perfect deal” for the U.S., and which he alleged, without substantiating, forbade them from pursuing any further nuclear development. Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill reported on the White House’s “deliberate media disinformation campaign” regarding these negotiations on Saturday, with the U.S. using Axios to pin responsibility for a recent attack in the Strait on a “rogue sect” in the military and to say that Tehran was considering announcing new transit routes with Oman. The official told Scahill the campaign is “a very deliberate and coordinated media campaign designed to pressure us into changing our decision.” “We had already clearly told the Qataris and Omanis about our firm and final decision: Iran will not allow anyone to disrupt our security and oversight management of the Strait of Hormuz,” he added. Trump announces reimposition of U.S. blockade; Iran’s armed forces warn against U.S. interference: In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump announced the reinstatement of a blockade on Iranian ports, under which Iranian ships and customers would be barred from entering or leaving while other countries retain access. In the post, Trump also declared the U.S. “the Guardian of the Hormuz Strait” while adding that Washington would seek reimbursement at a rate of 20% on all cargo shipped through the waterway to cover the costs of providing security. Following Trump’s comments, Iran’s unified armed forces command warned the U.S. against intervening in the Strait. Iranian forces would “deal severely with any disruption and insecurity” outside Tehran’s designated shipping route, said Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warning that any logistical support for the U.S. military would be considered “a war against Iran’s sovereignty and national security” that could “engulf all the countries in the region.” Iran repairing nuclear, missile sites hit in U.S.-Israeli strikes, CNN reports: Iran has been repairing nuclear and missile sites damaged in U.S.-Israeli strikes, a CNN visual investigation published on Saturday purported to show. Satellite images show reconstruction at the Parchin complex, activity at the underground Pickaxe Mountain facility, and coverings over buildings at Natanz and Isfahan, which experts told CNN may conceal efforts to recover nuclear material from satellite observation and block IAEA inspectors. Separate imagery showed excavators and dump trucks clearing entrances to underground missile bases, with at least 50 of 69 tunnel access points examined reopened, potentially restoring access to missiles trapped by the strikes. Iran had pledged to “maintain the status quo” of its civilian nuclear program until a final deal could be reached between itself and the U.S. in the memorandum of understanding. Oil market spikes: Oil futures jumped more than 3% as markets opened Sunday, amid renewed U.S.-Iran attacks and fears of further disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude rose to roughly $78.71 a barrel, nearly 10% above its level before Donald Trump declared the MOU with Iran “over.” Lebanon Israeli ceasefire violations continue across south Lebanon with shelling, a drone attack, and home demolitions: An Israeli drone dropped an incendiary bomb on Al-Tahra hill in the town of Kfar Reman in the district of Nabatieh on Monday, while intermittent Israeli artillery shelling targeted the area between Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Kfartebnit, according to the state’s National News Agency (NNA). In Marjayoun, the Israeli army demolished and burned homes in the southern neighbourhoods of the border town of Hadatha. Lebanon’s Aoun says he will urge Trump to pressure Israel ahead of White House visit: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Monday that only the Lebanese state and army are capable of protecting the country’s citizens, stressing that he would not compromise on Lebanon’s south or its rights. Speaking ahead of a planned July 21 meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, Aoun said he would ask Trump to exert pressure on Israel to fully withdraw from Lebanese territory, commit to having no territorial ambitions in Lebanon, and implement the terms agreed under the “framework agreement” as well as Lebanon’s demands. Open letter from residents of southern Lebanon: Amid ongoing Israeli violations in the south, a coalition representing residents of Lebanese border villages called for urgent action to stop the ongoing “destruction” of their communities. The group said more than 60 villages remain occupied and that Israel is changing their “geographic, topographic and demographic” character. It urged President Joseph Aoun to halt any negotiations until the “bulldozing, demolitions and burning” stop, Israeli forces withdraw, displaced residents are allowed to return, and reconstruction begins. Israeli Defense Minister: Southern Lebanon subjected to Gaza-like destruction; 90% of homes destroyed: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in an interview Saturday that Israeli forces had demolished homes in 24 villages along Lebanon’s southern border, saying the military had applied the “Rafah model” used in Gaza. “I said that Southern Lebanon would become Gaza... We would destroy everything there. And that is what we did,” Katz said. He added that the army had “systematically flattened the villages with bulldozers and explosives,” adding that 90% of homes had been destroyed, amounting to between 15,000 and 20,000 houses. Palestine Killed and wounded: Over the last 24 hours, eight Palestinians were killed, one due to wounds sustained in earlier attacks, and 32 were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,231 killed, with 173,686 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,108 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 3,578, while 800 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble. Israel kills two Palestinians in Gaza on Monday: Two Palestinians were killed in separate Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip on Monday,