Iran…Trump…War…Late Evening…7/20/2026…US Military 18 KIA…Over 500 Injuries?…The War Expands….

The latest hostilities initially focused on the Strait of Hormuz, but they have expanded into a cycle of attacks and counterattacks that have killed at least three American service members since Friday, hit Arab states across the Persian Gulf and damaged critical infrastructure in Iran and U.S.-allied Kuwait.

President Trump responded to the service members’ deaths by warning Iran on social media that “every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over,” a directive he said had been relayed to U.S. military officials.

On Monday, the U.S. military said that the number of American service members wounded in the war in the past two weeks had risen to nearly 100. The “vast majority” of those injuries, it said, were “mild concussions.”

Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz has reduced global fuel supplies, pushing prices upward, but Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, has been able to reroute some of its exports through the Red Sea. If the Houthis follow through on their statement that they will not allow Saudi vessels to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the southern portal to the Red Sea, it would worsen the global fuel crisis.

Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, said on Monday that the move came in response to what he called a “continued Saudi siege” on Yemen. Analysts said that narrative was likely directed at a domestic audience, and that the Houthis’ actions were closely tied to Iran’s interests.

While U.S. and Iranian officials said that they were open to a diplomatic offramp, there was little sign on Monday of significant progress since a cease-fire agreed last month collapsed.

Esmail Baghaei, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said on Monday that mediators had sent Tehran proposals for de-escalating tensions, but declined to offer details.

The Trump administration has been noncommittal about new negotiations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Sunday that “if that door opens, we’ll be happy to see it open.” But he added that Iran’s “behavior has to change in order for ours to change.”

Iranian forces fired on Kuwait and Bahrain — both of which host U.S. forces — overnight and on Monday, the two countries said. At least 50 people have been killed in Iran since the cease-fire broke down, according to the Iranian authorities.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

• Troop deaths: The latest confirmed U.S. military death occurred on Saturday, when a soldier was struck by fragments or debris from the controlled detonation of a drone in Iraq, said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The official also said that remains recovered at the scene of the Iranian attack in Jordan were believed to be those of a missing soldier. Read more ›

• Lebanon plan: Mr. Trump will meet President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon at the White House on Tuesday. The United States has brokered a fragile cease-fire in southern Lebanon, where Israel has occupied swaths of territory in its campaign against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia. The State Department and the Israeli military said that work began on Monday on a plan that would see Israel hand over control of some areas to the Lebanese army.

• Energy prices: Gas prices in the United States rose to $4 a gallon on Monday, according to the AAA motor club, reaching levels from the early parts of the war. Read more ›

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The Guardian….

• Iranian media reported explosions in parts of the country including the port city of Bandar Abbas, after US Central Command announced a new wave of strikes on Iran for the tenth night in a row. The Mehr news agency also reported air defence systems being activated near the Bushehr nuclear power plant. “The strikes are designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” Centcom said.

• It came hours after Donald Trump said Iran would pay for killing US soldiers “many times over” after multiple service members ‌were killed ​in ⁠action ​over the ​weekend. The US military on Monday identified two soldiers killed in Jordan while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. An examination of remains is underway to determine whether they belong to a third service member who was reporting missing in that attack. And in Iraq, another US service member died after “a controlled detonation” of an Iranian drone. It brings the total number of US military deaths in the war with Iran, which the US and Israel started in late February, to 17.

• Earlier, Iran’s president said the country is in a “full-scale war” after the United States expanded its aerial campaign and Tehran struck Washington’s Gulf allies, even as diplomats said talks are ongoing to de-escalate. “The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war,” Masoud Pezeshkian, said in a statement, warning Iran might have to endure more strikes. There were glimmers of hope, however, on the diplomatic front, as Iran’s interior minister traveled to Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict, for talks.

• Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels announced a maritime blockade Saudi Arabia after the two sides traded fire last week for the first time in years. Condemning the blockade, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said the kingdom “will take all necessary measures to protect its vessels in accordance with international law”.

• The Lebanese army began taking charge of security in three southern villages, the United States said, as a deal to secure an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah faced its first test on the ground. The US state department said operations had started in “pilot zones” in Froun, Srifa and Zawtar al-Gharbiya in accordance with the trilateral framework. However, the mayor of Froun, Hassan Bazzi, told Al Jazeera on Monday that the Lebanese army had not yet begun deploying in Zawtar al-Gharbiya, because Israeli forces are yet to withdraw from the outskirts of the town. “There have been no new developments in the town of Froun. The situation remains unchanged,” said.

• ⁠Trump also said on Monday that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested ⁠when he visits ⁠the ​United States, after New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was still ⁠considering the move. “Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while ⁠in the United States of America,” Trump wrote ​on social media, without referring to Mamdani’s comments.

• Hamas named Khalil al-Hayya as its new overall leader, according to a statement from the Palestinian militant ⁠group, succeeding Yahya Sinwar who was killed by the Israeli military in Gaza in October 2024. Hayya, ⁠the group’s exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator, is generally seen as more hardline than ⁠Khaled Meshaal, the head of the militant group’s office in exile and the other frontrunner for the leadership.

• Jordan said three missiles launched from Iran were intercepted. No injuries or material damage has been reported. Sirens sounded in the capital Amman on Monday evening, AFP reported….

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ISW.…Iran Update Special Report, July 20, 2026

1. The Houthis’ announced naval blockade against Saudi Arabia could result in an expansion of the shipping crisis in the Middle East, as it will almost certainly increase the cost of shipping through the Red Sea by discouraging ships from transiting through the Red Sea. ISW-CTP has not recorded any Houthi attacks on shipping since July 7, 2025, at the time of this writing, but the Houthis ordered Saudi-bound vessels to turn back from Saudi Arabia over radio on July 20.
2. Iran is trying to expand the geographical scope of its conflict with the United States to the Red Sea to cause further disruption to international markets and impose additional costs on the United States.
3. The Houthis may have announced the blockade to deter Saudi Arabia from striking Houthi targets in Yemen to discourage further Saudi attacks, separate from but partially satisfying Iranian efforts to impose costs on the United States.
4. Some senior Iranian officials appear concerned that the renewed conflict will deepen Iran’s economic problems and threaten Iran’s internal security. Senior Iranian officials have previously appeared concerned that the conflict will deepen Iran’s economic problems, but these concerns do not appear to have meaningfully impacted the calculus of the IRGC.
5. US forces expanded strikes to possible missile launch sites in northwestern and central Iran.
6. Iran continues to coerce vessels by force to transit through Iranian territorial waters to prevent them from using routes through the strait that Tehran does not approve. Iran has attacked at least two vessels in the strait since ISW-CTP’s last data cutoff.
7. The IRGC released a statement on July 19 thanking the Jordanian people for providing Iran with information that has aided Iran’s recent attacks on Jordan, possibly to counter continuing reports that Russia and the People’s Republic of China have helped Iran target US assets in the region during the US-Israel-Iran War. The statement could also be part of recent broader Iranian efforts to mobilize the local populations in Arab countries against US forces.