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Iran claims attacks in strait of Hormuz; Houthis announce blockade of Red Sea shipping route – Middle East crisis live

Nearly 100 US service members have been injured over the last two weeks of escalating strikes on Iran, the Pentagon has said, as Tehran launched a wave of reprisals to the tenth consecutive night of attacks. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they had targeted US military sites including air defence systems and a radar installation in Bahrain and Kuwait, while a tanker in the strait of Hormuz reported being ⁠struck by an unknown projectile, forcing its crew to abandon the vessel and board a lifeboat. Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan all said they had activated defences to repel the attacks, but the scale of US injuries at facilities across the region over recent week is likely to bring greater scrutiny to Iran’s reprisal attacks. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the vast majority of those injured only experienced “minor concussions” and 96% had since returned to work. Parnell was responding to a New York Times report that the Pentagon has withheld information about troop injuries from Iranian strikes. He denied that the Pentagon was hiding data about injuries. In the last week three US soldiers have been killed in action in Jordan and Iraq. Read more:

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Tuesday briefing: Inside Andy Burnham’s first day

Good morning, and let’s abandon all conditional tenses because finally Andy Burnham is UK prime minister and, on a day of ceremony and celebration, he pledged his government would be “a circuit breaker for Britain”. A defining characteristic of Team Burnham thus far has been the concentrated silence at its heart – a vacuum filled by increasingly frenzied speculation in recent days about his cabinet picks and policy priorities. As the black box finally cracked open on Monday, with his first instruction as prime minister – to end rough sleeping – and his surprise choice of chancellor, I was at the Guardian’s head office in London, speaking to editors and correspondents covering the early hours of Burnham’s premiership about what they might reveal for the country. Five big stories UK news | A 28-year-old man from Rotherham has been charged with the murder of the former MP and Reform UK party spokesperson Ann Widdecombe. Technology | Cases of predators coercing children into harming themselves or producing sexual photos and videos of themselves have surged globally in the past year, child safety experts and law enforcement officials warn. Iran | Nearly 100 US service members have been injured over the last two weeks of escalating strikes on Iran, the Pentagon has said, as Tehran launched a wave of reprisals to the tenth consecutive night of attacks. Ryanair | The airline has reassured travellers that its planes are safe after a passenger was almost sucked out of a window mid-flight this month, and have reported strong summer bookings after a profits slump. UK politics | Reform UK MP, Sarah Pochin, has complained that the standards system investigating Nigel Farage over undeclared gifts is a “kangaroo court” and that “the media, the British state and the old parties have mounted a vicious and desperate campaign to stop Reform UK”. In depth: ‘He is at his greatest moment of power right now’ Since his return to the Commons last month, Burnham has engaged in minimal media activity, eschewing set-piece interviews for curated online Q&As with the public, and the occasional podcast or TikTok – most recently revealing his approach to tea-making (milk first, which is the best way, don’t write in). First Edition readers were positive about more direct contact with a new leader – some of you wrote in to tell me as much in response to a recent call out. But other were worried about the risks of a scrutiny gap, and that’s what I raised with political editor, Pippa Crerar, when we spoke as she got to her desk in the Commons early yesterday morning. “We all recognise this is a very strange interregnum,” Pippa told me. Team Burnham had anticipated having more transition time over the summer, and his time in recent weeks has been taken up with the heavy detail of staffing, civil service handover and policy development. She points out that, with parliament now on summer recess, the usual scrutiny of weekly questions and committee appearances is paused until September. “And obviously it’s a concern that journalists haven’t had the chance to interrogate him on his plans.” “It has made it really difficult,” she adds. “He’s kept everything – all his policy and personnel plans – in what MPs have described as a ‘black box’.” The only people privy to its contents as we speak on Monday morning are Burnham himself, James Purnell, his chief of staff and former colleague in Tony Blair’s cabinet, and Louise Haigh, the former transport minister who became his right-hand woman during the Makerfield byelection campaign. This secrecy has also his left his own MPs, including senior figures used to being in the loop, “quite jittery” after the initial rush of his re-election to the Commons, when an apparently Python-loving Tory MP heckled “he’s not the messiah” as Burnham was sworn in. (Or a “messiah without a mandate” as the Mail continues to describe him.) “Andy Burnham is at his moment of greatest power right now – when we don’t know who he’s going to appoint and what he’s going to do – because everybody has used him as a depository for all their hopes. And inevitably, people are going to be disappointed as a result of announcements he makes today and over the course of the coming weeks.” What really matters now is the policy, says Pippa – what will Burnham decide to do about the cost of living, tax or the North Sea? *** Early disappointment? One First Edition reader told me over the weekend that her early optimism had been crushed by the weekend’s speculation that Burnham will announce new plans for drilling in the North Sea. So, after morning conference, I caught up with our environment correspondent Sandra Laville. “At the moment it’s unclear what’s going to be announced: if it’s giving the go-ahead to drilling in Rosebank and Jackdaw [licenses that were approved by the last Conservative government] that’s something that is in line with the Labour manifesto and we know that Ed Miliband was considering.” “But he could make a more front-foot argument about why we shouldn’t drill more,” Sandra tells me, explaining how wrong-headed our obsession is with finding a quick fix for the current energy crisis. “We know, for example, that Jackdaw would only provide 27 full-time jobs, and that the green economy – which is worth more than £100bn a year – is where investment should be going if Burnham wants to see growth.”. *** The speech With Keir Starmer’s resignation offered to the monarch, and Burnham officially UK prime minister by lunchtime, he addressed the country for the first time, without podium or notes, in front of one of the most recognisable addresses in London, but surrounded by faces from further afield – Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram, cradling his baby grandson, former Everton manager Peter Reid, and Arooj Shah, ex-Oldham council leader. Also watching the speech was our community affairs correspondent Chris Osuh, who spoke to me afterwards from Manchester where he picks up “a genuine excitement” about the arrival of a politician who understands the country beyond the bounds of the M25 and where Burnham’s No 10 North will be based. With a 10-year plan for Britain in the works, he was sounding dangerously close to prime ministers past: didn’t that Starmer fellow offer “a decade of national renewal”? But measures to help with cost of living “including how we pay for them” are due later today, and expected to include cuts to energy bills and bus fares. His first instruction in power – after he walked into No 10 with his wife Marie-France, to raucous applause – was to end rough sleeping, a flagship policy from his early days as mayor of Greater Manchester. For Chris, this was a very deliberate choice to tie previous ambition to national delivery, and hinted at the philosophy underpinning his premiership. “We know that Manchester’s regeneration predates Andy Burnham, but the rough sleeping policy was distinctly his. I don’t think anyone in Manchester believes the work is complete, but it’s a long-term programme that’s beginning to bear fruit and similarly taking this policy to national scale is about Burnham’s ambition and vision.” Chris reminds me that Burnham is the first official Labour and Co-operative MP – a movement rooted in the north-west – to become prime minister. “When he talks about a new economic model and power being decentralised, I wonder how much that philosophy, with its tradition of place, people mattering, and community control is playing a role.” *** The cabinet When Shabana Mahmood and Ed Miliband strolled along Downing Street together on Monday afternoon in a neat bit of choreography, the bond markets didn’t know where to look. Reporting last week had been pretty definitive that, after a bitter briefing war and backlash from big business, Miliband’s candidacy for chancellor had been derailed with market-friendly Mahmood the shoo-in. Then came the first appointment of the day and a genuine surprise: John Healey, whose resignation as defence secretary pushed Keir Starmer’s leadership to the brink, was made chancellor. On reflection, says opinion columnist Gaby Hinsliff, it was “a cleverly brokered compromise”. Unlike Mahmood, he has years of Treasury experience working with Gordon Brown (where he first got to know Burnham). And unlike Miliband, “nobody in the Labour party has got a bad word to say about him”. Healey is not at all factional, Gaby tells me, “which is why his resignation was such a cataclysmic moment for Starmer”. And perhaps that explains why Burnham, who has vowed to end in-fighting and damaging briefings, went for him in the end. What’s clear is that all those folk claiming to know his mind on this critical appointment really didn’t. Miliband heads up the Foreign Office, where it’s expected he’ll spearhead a more pro-Gaza positioning after Burnham said the party must “do better” on the Middle East and dealings with Israel. Mahmood remains at the Home Office – “the best job in the business” she said yesterday evening – where Burnham has already expressed support for her controversial immigration reforms, and current foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, takes on the health and social care brief. Wes Streeting, whose resignation as health secretary also helped pave the way for Burnham’s rise to power, has been given the substantial role of defence secretary. (Our list of who’s in, and who’s out, is here). Burnham said that his cabinet choices would reflect all parts of the party. While his wholesale clear out of Starmer loyalists – former chancellor, Rachel Reeves, was reportedly offered another senior role but declined it – came as little surprise to lobby observers, they may yet provide those factional briefings from the backbenches that he’s so keen to stamp out. *** The in-tray Liveblogging the first day of his sixth prime minister in a decade, Andy Sparrow doesn’t seem as vexed as some about how much of a challenge Burnham faces in trying to be bold while sticking to the manifesto commitments of a previous leader. “It’s a mistake to think that the manifesto is a padlock on his ambition,” says Andy. Granted Burnham doesn’t have the kind of mandate that comes after an election victory, or even winning a leadership contest – but Andy points out that a manifesto is essentially a series of red lines. “There is scope for doing ambitious, interesting things without dishonouring the spirit of the manifesto.” Andy praises Burnham’s initial remarks for their “strong streak of humility and realism”. The new prime minister acknowledged he was part of the problem, calling on “my generation of politicians” to “raise our game”. “The country is still dealing with the wash-up from Brexit,” says Andy, a vote that told those in power – if they chose to listen – that there were many places in the country “where people were really fed up with the way the system works”. “Rather than just ignore those places and pretend it never happened, he is tapping into that frustration, but trying to give it a different answer.” What else we’ve been enjoying The Cockroach Janta party started as an online joke, but has grown into a major anti-Modi political force in India. This excellent explainer by Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi has all you need to know. Michael John Hughes wrote the script to my teens, and I was tickled to read that he was such a details guy that he even picked Mathew Broderick’s socks for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Libby Football might not have come home, but it did head to María Ramírez’s casa. She writes about the unifying atmosphere in Madrid after Spain’s World Cup victory. Vamos España! Michael What begins as a thoughtful interview about who space belongs to with physicist Laura Grego quickly escalates to discussion of why recent movie depictions of nuclear annihilation are not so far-fetched. A bracing read. Libby Yes, fine, I first clicked on this story because it has “poo” in the headline, but George Francis Lee’s lessons from a shampoo-free year really did surprise me. Michael Sport Football | Kevin Keegan, the former England and Newcastle manager who was twice European footballer of the year and a stalwart member of Liverpool’s serial First Division and European champions in the 1970s, has died aged 75. Rugby | England’s players have questioned the current Nations Championship format after being required to play Test matches on three different continents on successive weekends. Golf | Bryson DeChambeau has been accused of threatening to call Donald Trump during a row with senior R&A officials on Friday, after the American golfer was handed a two-shot penalty at the Open. The front pages “Burnham arrives as PM with promise to ‘bring back hope’” is the Guardian’s splash today. The Times has “New PM starts with a purge”, the Telegraph leads on “Burnham pins hope on Healey”, the i Paper says “Burnham era begins with radical pledge to transform UK” and the FT’s headline is “Burnham takes over as premier with pledge to make Britain ‘believe again’”. The Express writes “Let’s hear how you will ‘bring back hope’ then Andy”, the Mail has “Let’s pray he knows what he’s doing …” while the Mirror says “It starts now”. Lastly, Metro, playing on the number of prime ministers Britain has had in the last 10 years, asks “Seventh heaven?”. The Latest Andy Burnham becomes Britain’s new prime minister Andy Burnham has become the sixth UK prime minister in a decade after a transfer of power from his predecessor Keir Starmer. In his first address outside Downing Street, he said his arrival in power would be a ‘circuit breaker’ moment for Britain and that his government will bring the ‘biggest changes in 40 years’. Lucy Hough speaks to political correspondent, Alexandra Topping. Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad When a friend first mooted to Joanna, 50, that they go to raving, her internalised ageism reared its head and she felt “almost repulsed by the idea”. Indeed, when the University of Leeds studied the physical and mental health benefits of raving in women aged 40-65, they interviewed women who were more than used to being asked “Whose mum are you?” on the dancefloor. But the stigma is increasingly lessening and, whether it be exercise, release, or community, women are finding myriad reasons to return to clubland. As psychotherapist Rachel Giddings notes, raving provides the opportunity for women “to reclaim their identity outside ‘I’m a carer’, ‘I’m a parent’, ‘I’m a worker’ – I’m not just one dimension but multifaceted and this amazing part of me can be spontaneous and free and connected”. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

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US issues ‘worldwide caution’ for American citizens – as it happened

We’re closing this page now and moving our live coverage to a new blog here, which includes a summary of the most recent key developments. Our latest full report is here. Thanks for following along.

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Chinese warship holds live-fire drills inside Japan’s economic waters for first time

A Chinese missile destroyer fired live rounds for the first time inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) during a drill on Sunday, a day before Chinese and Philippine sailors clashed in the South China Sea. Three Chinese warships and a Russian frigate were spotted sailing between Okinawa’s main island and Miyako island into the Pacific on Thursday, before being picked up again around 330km south-west of Okinotori in the early hours of Sunday morning. The Chinese missile destroyer then issued a warning to shipping that it would be carrying out the drill, which reportedly included machine guns using live ammunition. The drill was conducted about 180km from Okinotori, the southernmost island of Japan, which extends its EEZ to the waters around it. Tokyo sees the drill – which prompted the mobilisation of air and sea surveillance efforts – as “part of a move by the two militaries toward strengthening their cooperation,” Japan’s top government spokesman Minoru Kihara said at a Tuesday briefing. Japan told Beijing via diplomatic channels that the drill “could have endangered the navigation of nearby ships”, according to Kihara. “We will continue to monitor with concern the behaviours by Chinese and Russian vessels in the waters around our country,” he added. Beijing disputes Okinotori’s designation as an island, maintaining that it is a reef and the waters around it are not part of Japan’s EEZ, and therefore that it is free to operate there. A Chinese aircraft carrier and research ship both entered the waters in 2025, but this is the first time Japan’s defence ministry has acknowledged that a foreign navy vessel has fired live rounds in the EEZ. Japan contacted China through diplomatic channels over the incident and is continuing its surveillance of the area. Chinese and Russian military exercises have ramped up around Japan since Tokyo’s relations with Moscow have soured over the war in Ukraine, and a row that erupted with Beijing over Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan in November 2025. The Japanese prime minister said a Chinese attack on self-ruled Taiwan could spark a Japanese military response. On Monday, a Chinese vessel also approached the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, which is controlled by the Philippines but claimed by Beijing. The Philippine navy stationed there sent rubber dinghies to deter the Chinese boat. According to Philippine authorities, one of their sailors suffered a serious head injury when a Chinese crew member allegedly struck him with a wooden baton. China disputed this version of events, saying its personnel issued warnings and that Philippine crew members attacked first using long poles and other implements. The Philippines won a landmark case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 that found China’s sweeping claim of sovereignty in the South China Sea had no basis under international law, a decision that Beijing continuously rejects. The Philippine and Chinese foreign ministers are due to hold talks at a meeting of the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) scheduled to start in Manila on Tuesday. The US condemned China’s actions as the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, arrived in the Philippines for the Asean summit. “China’s troubling pattern of provocations against the Philippines’ legitimate maritime operations undermines regional peace and stability and directly contradicts China’s repeated commitments to resolve disputes peacefully,” said the state department. Rubio wrote in an article published in Philippine media on Tuesday that the US affirmed its commitment to “freedom of navigation in south-east Asia”. “This freedom is by no means guaranteed. If these waters were to fall under the control of a power willing to use trade as a geopolitical weapon, both the United States and the Asean states would face serious new threats to their sovereignty, security, and economic future.” It was not yet confirmed whether Rubio would meet directly in Manila with the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, though he said he was open to doing so. China has territorial disputes with six countries in the South China Sea as well as with Japan, India and Bhutan. With Reuters

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Ukraine war briefing: Moscow targeted as Wildberries warehouse attacks continue

Ukraine fired more than 400 drones toward Moscow, the city’s mayor said on Monday. Russia had earlier bombarded Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles. The Ukrainian attack around Russia’s capital started a fire at the Yuzhnye Vrata industrial park – another Wildberries warehouse site like those hit over the weekend in strikes that Voldodymyr Zelenskyy said were because of the warehouses’ involvement in the Russian war effort. The Astra news outlet reported a fire at an oil depot in Podolsk, about 20km (12 miles) south of Moscow. Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, confirmed that Ukrainian forces hit logistics facilities and an oil depot in the Moscow region, adding that Kyiv’s forces also struck two vessels belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet transporting sanctioned oil and four dry cargo ships in the Black Sea. Russian has launched more ballistic missiles against Ukraine in July so far than it is thought to produce each month, the Institute for the Study of War thinktank said on Sunday. “Russia appears to be dipping into its stockpiles to continue increasing the number of ballistic missiles it launches against Ukraine, as these missiles have a higher success rate than drones and cruise missiles.” A Russian ⁠attack ⁠on an infrastructure facility ⁠in Ukraine’s ⁠southern city ‌of ‌Odesa on Monday ‌killed at least three ‌people and injured three others, ⁠a city official said. There were further deaths in the eastern cities of Pavlograd and Kramatorsk, and in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia. Russian ⁠strikes have killed 28 ⁠people ⁠in the southern Odesa region ⁠in July, said the regional governor, Oleh ‌Kiper. “If ‌you ‌take since the ‌beginning of July, the Odesa region was under ‌constant daily shelling. There were days when 13-15 air raid ⁠alerts had been announced in the region.” Ukraine’s military commander in chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, was widely expected to lose his job, Luke Harding writes, amid signs that Zelenskyy has bowed to protests triggered by his sacking last week of the modernising defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov. Ukraine’s general staff denied media reports Syrskyi was about to be sacked, but Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, hinted at it, saying “the public’s position has been heard” and the situation was being resolved “professionally and constructively”, urging “everyone to keep calm”. One source in the armed forces confirmed Syrskyi’s imminent departure. “His destiny is decided. The question is who will replace him. There are a few important requirements. The person should be known and popular so everyone applauds,” Budanov said: “The enemy is closely watching every one of our internal disputes and waiting for us to start fighting among ourselves … work is under way. Results will follow.” Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s Belgorod border region killed six people on Monday, authorities said, while Kyiv reported eight deaths after Russian attacks. The acting governor of Belgorod, Alexander Shuvaev, said a Ukrainian drone struck a passenger coach, and another strike killed a man at a car wash. Ukraine denies targeting civilians. Ukraine’s seaports authority said a cargo vessel under the flag of the West African country of Guinea Bissau was hit by Russian forces on Sunday shortly after it left the port of Odesa, killing 10 of its crew, including five sailors from Syria. Eight people were rescued from the ship, which was carrying Ukrainian corn, it added. India said four of its nationals were among those killed and another was injured in attacks the day before on the grain-carrying ship MV Golden Leo near the Ukrainian port in Odesa. An Indian foreign ministry statement condemned the strike. Ukraine’s navy said five people were killed and another five missing. The dead included a Ukrainian maritime pilot. Syria meanwhile said it “strongly condemns the repeated attacks targeting commercial vessels with Syrian sailors and crews aboard in Ukrainian ports and nearby maritime areas in the Black Sea, and the resulting deaths and injuries among Syrian sailors”.

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‘Front groups and fellow travelers’: state department attacks US left over Cuba

As part of the Trump administration’s continuing attack on left-leaning groups, the US state department has listed several activists and organizations as “front groups and fellow travelers” for Cuba, including Hasan Piker and Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls. In a 100-page report released on Monday, the state department denounces Cuba as the “capital of 21st-century communism”, accusing the Cuban government of carrying out a “campaign of subversion” that has “infiltrated the highest reaches of the US government, recruited and cultivated generations of American activists [and] backed an unprecedented wave of leftwing terrorism on American soil”. The state department report alleges that the so-called campaign is “designed to turn America against itself” and singles out several left-leaning activists and organizations, including the Democratic Socialists of America, Isra Hirsi – the daughter of Minnesota Democratic representative Ilhan Omar – New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, and journalist Amy Goodman, citing their criticism of US policy toward Cuba or participation in Cuba solidarity movements. Describing the DSA, of which Mamdani is a member, the report says the organization “serves as a particularly potent illustration of the ideological victory of Cuba’s effort to position itself as the spiritual capital of Third Worldist radicalism”. It accuses the DSA of maintaining a “fierce, almost religious commitment to the cause of the Cuban regime – not because the group is controlled by Cuban agents, per se, but because that commitment is now simply the de facto policy orthodoxy on the American far left”. Trump has doubled down on similar messaging in recent days, using the term communism at political rallies and presidential engagements alike. For more than 60 years, the US has maintained a sweeping economic embargo on Cuba, in addition to crippling sanctions imposed by numerous administrations. Despite US claims that its policies are designed to pressure the Cuban government, Havana and many international critics including human rights organizations say they have severely hurt the island’s economy. The report comes just days after the state department, led by Marco Rubio – the son of Cuban immigrants and one of the US’s most outspoken critics of Cuba’s communist government – imposed further sanctions on the country, targeting its tourism ministry and several state-owned companies. The sanctions come as part of the Trump administration’s “comprehensive push to end the Cuban regime’s malign activities, both in Cuba and across our hemisphere”. Rubio has long advocated for “maximum pressure” toward Havana, arguing that easing US sanctions only strengthens Cuba’s communist government. Throughout his political career including his time as a senator, Rubio has backed tighter economic restrictions and repeatedly accused the Cuban authorities of repressing political dissent and fueling violence across the region. Earlier this month, Cuba suffered its third nationwide blackout in six months amid an oil blockade imposed by Trump on the island of 9.6 million people, prompting many residents to say that “living like this is agony”.

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Nicaragua’s president says country will not hold any more elections

Nicaragua’s long-serving president, Daniel Ortega, has said the country will hold no further elections to prevent the opposition from coming to power. The 80-year-old authoritarian leader, who has been in office since 2007, also said he would work with the congress he controls to pass new laws that would “build a wall” against the opposition. Ortega made the announcement on Sunday during the official ceremony marking the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista revolution, in which he helped overthrow the brutal dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. Although his administration and that of his wife and “co-president”, Rosario Murillo, had already been marked by the steady erosion of democracy in the Central American country, many are describing his announcement as a significant rhetorical escalation. “With this decision, Ortega and Murillo have sealed the country’s transition to a full-fledged family dictatorship,” said Tiziano Breda, Latin America senior analyst at the NGO Armed Conflict Location and Event Data. During a speech in front of thousands of state employees who, according to local media, had been coerced into attending, Ortega said: “There will be no more elections here so that they [the opposition parties] can try to seize the government, seize power.” The president, who had not appeared in public for 61 days, added: “We will work with the National Assembly and the relevant institutions on laws, because we need laws that build a wall, a barrier, against the coup plotters and the traitors who sell out their country.” The elections were due to take place next year, but Ortega gave no details on whether they would be cancelled or whether the opposition would be barred from taking part – something that has already happened in practice. During the 2021 campaign, his regime outlawed parties and jailed all opposition presidential hopefuls. Breda said: “Ortega and Murillo are evidently afraid of the idea that the slightest political opening could create the conditions for dissent to manifest and threaten their grip on power, possibly suggesting that their already feeble domestic support is further falling. “Therefore, instead of staging a rigged election, they have opted to eliminate electoral competition altogether.” Last year, Ortega pushed through a series of constitutional reforms that included extending the presidential term from five to six years and promoting his wife, then vice-president, to the position of “co-president”. The US refers to their administration as the “Murillo-Ortega dictatorship”. During his speech, the Nicaraguan president criticised the US over the January operation that abducted the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro: “With all their power, they stormed the presidential palace, where Nicolás and his wife, Cilia [Flores], were. They killed the entire security detail there – most of them were Cubans – and took them away to imprison them in the US. It is monstrous.” The president said preventing the opposition from returning to power was necessary to protect the country from the “coup plotters” who, he claimed, had been behind the nationwide protests of 2018 – when, according to organisations including the UN, his regime carried out a violent crackdown that killed more than 350 people, wounded hundreds, jailed thousands and forced nearly 1 million Nicaraguans into exile. Recently, the UN, the US, human rights organisations and 30 former Ibero-American presidents have directly blamed Ortega and Murillo for the death of the Indigenous leader and four-term congressman Brooklyn Rivera, 73, who spent nearly three years “unjustly imprisoned” by the regime, the US state department said. According to organisations including Human Rights Watch, there are about 50 political prisoners in the country. The regime has stripped 546 people of their citizenship and shut down more than 5,600 non-governmental organisations, 29 universities and 58 media outlets.

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US launches 10th round of strikes as Iran says it is in ‘full-scale war’

The US military said it has launched its 10th consecutive round of strikes on Iran to force the reopening of the strait of Hormuz. Earlier on Monday, Iran’s president said the country is in a “full-scale war” after the US expanded its aerial campaign and Tehran struck Washington’s Gulf allies, even as diplomats said talks to de-escalate were continuing. Iranian media reported strikes around Tabriz, believed to hold underground missile bases, as well as Bushehr, home to the country’s only operational civilian nuclear power plant. The US military said it had struck “military command centres, air defence and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks”. Iran launched attacks against Bahrain, which hosts the US navy’s fifth fleet, and Kuwait, in addition to striking tankers in the strait of Hormuz, which carried a fifth of global oil and gas supplies before the war. Bahrain said its air traffic systems were damaged by the strikes, but that traffic was not affected. The Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen also announced a blockade of Saudi ports. “The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war,” the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said in a statement on Monday, warning it might have to endure more strikes. Meanwhile, US president Donald Trump signalled an escalation in tactics, saying on Monday ⁠that 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 under way to determine whether they belong to a third service member who was reported missing in that attack. And in Iraq, another US service member died after “a controlled detonation” of an Iranian drone. Since the war began, 17 US service members have been killed. Iran’s health ministry said on Friday that 50 people had been killed and more than 500 injured in the current round of fighting. The latest tit-for-tat attacks came as the region lurched back towards a total war despite an interim peace deal agreed last month. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) to halt attacks and open the strait is more than halfway through a 60-day implementation period that was intended to provide breathing room for diplomacy. Shipping in the strait has slowed to a trickle as a result of the fighting and the price of oil reached its highest in a month, passing $90 (£67) a barrel, exacerbating the global energy crisis. A Houthi blockade of Saudi ports announced on Monday could further strain global energy markets as Saudi Arabia was using the Red Sea route to export millions of barrels of oil and circumvent Iran’s closure of the strait of Hormuz. The group said it was responding to what it called Riyadh’s targeting of Sana’a airport last week after it was bombed by the Saudi-backed Yemen government, and that it would answer a “blockade with a blockade”. But in a sign that talks could still stop the escalating round of conflict, an Iranian official told Reuters that mediators gave Iran a proposal for a 10-day-ceasefire to find ways to revive the MoU. The proposal follows a statement by Iran that diplomacy with the US was continuing despite the fighting, without giving details on the content of the discussions. Iran’s interior minister was expected to travel to Islamabad on Monday, Agence France-Presse reported. Hours earlier, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the US was still open to negotiations with Iran, but that “it has to be real”. “We’re going to continue to respond. If the door opens to diplomacy – if the guys that want to do something productive for Iran win and take control of that system, or take control of the negotiations – that’ll be a very positive development,” Rubio said. Mediators including Qatar and Pakistan have continued to speak to both sides during the current round of escalation in an attempt to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table. As the strikes began early on Monday, a ship caught fire in the strait of Hormuz near the coastline of Oman in the southern corridor the US military has encouraged ships to use to avoid Iran’s control. The crew safely abandoned the vessel, while the ship was recovered by a tug boat, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed two oil tankers were blown up after attempting to transit through the southern route, but there was no independent confirmation. The IRGC 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 the 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,” said the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, 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. Trump has threatened to target Iran’s power stations and bridges to try to compel Tehran to loosen its hold on the strait of Hormuz. The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, defended the Trump administration’s strategy for the war, but argued that the mission had since shifted toward ensuring oil shipments could move through the strait. “We did a pause to try to get an agreement with the Iranian people to allow oil to flow without them attacking it,” Wright said on Sunday. “They’ve proven unwilling to do that, and we’ve pivoted. Now what we’re doing is assuring that that oil and gas and other products can flow through the strait of Hormuz with or without Iranian cooperation.” The US also announced that the “pilot zone” scheme in Lebanon had begun in three villages in the south, after peace talks in Rome between the governments of Lebanon and Israel. Under the programme, Israel will withdraw soldiers from areas it occupies in south Lebanon, to be replaced by the Lebanese army, which will be tasked with dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure in the areas. The US state department spokesperson Thomas Pigott said on Monday that the scheme started in the villages of Froun, Srifa and Zawtar al-Gharbiya. The Associated Press contributed reporting