{"success":true,"data":{"id":"fe16444c-3932-47bf-9c07-38cba9c1f91b","title":"🔴 Middle East live: Iran's Guards say two ships involved in 'accident' after defying Hormuz warnings","summary":"Middle East Issued on: 19/07/2026 - 07:09 Modified: 19/07/2026 - 17:10 By: File photo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) flag taken in Vienna, Austria on March 2, 2026.","content":"# Middle East live: Iran says US attacked Darkhovin nuclear site, IAEA investigates reports\n\n Middle East \n\nIssued on: 19/07/2026 - 07:09 Modified: 19/07/2026 - 17:10\n\n By: \n\n File photo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) flag taken in Vienna, Austria on March 2, 2026. © Heinz-Peter Bader, AP \n\nIran's Atomic Energy Organization on Sunday said the US conducted an “aggressive and brutal” attack on the under-construction Darkhovin nuclear power plant. The ⁠International ​Atomic Energy ​Agency (IAEA) said it was investigating reports of an attack on the planned plant, which contained no nuclear material when the UN agency last visited the site. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.\n\nLIVE\n\n19/07/2026 - 16:54\n## Iran war turns into ‘retaliatory system of one nation striking the other’\n\nSince the July 8 collapse of the US-Iran ceasefire, the conflict in the Middle East has turned into “a retaliatory system of one nation striking the other\", says Dafyyd Townley, a US national security policy expert at the University of Portsmouth.\n\nThe Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was signed last month, collapsed last week after the US launched strikes on Iran in what it said was retaliation for Tehran’s attack on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.\n\nThere has been no let-up in the retaliatory strikes and no roadmap for a de-escalation since, Townley notes.\n\n“We’re seeing a number of accusations of civilian infrastructure being targeted,” he says. “This is now a war of propaganda as much as anything else. And it’s incredibly difficult to call how this is going to end,” he notes.\n\n19/07/2026 - 16:38\n## Israel warns will respond to any Iran attack with 'full force'\n\nIsrael's defence minister has said his country will respond powerfully to any attack by Iran, after Israeli and Jordanian forces intercepted an Iranian missile launched towards the Jordanian city of Aqaba.\n\n\"If Iran files missiles at Israel, we will attack them with full force,\" Israel Katz said during a visit to a rescue service facility. \"If the United States changes its policy, which is also something that could happen, we are prepared for both defensive and offensive\" action against Tehran, he added.\n\n19/07/2026 - 08:19\n\n19/07/2026 - 16:26\n## Rubio holding talks with Lebanese president in Washington\n\nUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio is holding talks with visiting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Washington, AFP reports, citing a State Department official.\n\nOn his first trip to Washington as president, Aoun is set to meet President Donald Trump on Tuesday.\n\nThe meeting comes at a crucial moment for Lebanon: Israeli troops are occupying a swathe of the country's south, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese remain displaced ⁠following Israeli strikes and Hezbollah has firmly rejected the government's direct talks with Israel -- and efforts by the state to strip it\n\nof its arms.\n\nIn comments published by his office last week, Aoun said he would ask Trump to \"exert the necessary pressure on Israel\" to implement a U.S.-brokered ‌June 26 agreement between Lebanon and Israel.\n\n19/07/2026 - 15:04\n## Jordan shot down three Iranian missiles, state news agency reports\n\nJordan's ⁠armed ​forces ​said they shot down three Iranian ​missiles ‌targeting ⁠the ‌kingdom, while a fourth ⁠fell in a ​remote area, ‌the state news ‌agency has reported.\n\nThere ​were no casualties or material ​damage, ​the agency said, ​citing a ​military official.\n\n19/07/2026 - 15:02\n## IAEA investigates reports of attack on Iran's Darkhovin nuclear power plant site\n\nhe ⁠International ​Atomic Energy ​Agency said that it ​was ‌investigating ⁠reports ‌of an overnight\n\nattack ⁠on the construction site ​of Iran's ‌planned Darkhovin nuclear power plant.\n\nThe ‌facility was ​in the very early stages of ​construction and ​contained no ​nuclear material ​when last inspected, the agency said.\n\n19/07/2026 - 14:46\n## Israel says Iran missile towards Jordan's Aqaba intercepted\n\nIsraeli and Jordanian forces have intercepted an Iranian missile aimed at the Jordanian city of Aqaba, the Israeli military told AFP.\n\nWhen asked by AFP about reports of explosions near the Israeli city of Eilat, a military spokeswoman said both Israeli and Jordanian forces had intercepted a projectile.\n\n19/07/2026 - 14:23\n## Sirens sound in Jordanian capital\n\nSirens have sounded in the Jordanian capital, Amman, according to reporters, just minutes after the Israeli military said it had identified missiles fired from Iran towards Jordan and warned of a spillover of fire into Israeli territory.\n\nEarlier Sunday, the Jordanian government denied to AFP that authorities had ordered the evacuation of the airport and seaport in the coastal city of Aqaba, after the US embassy in Amman said the transport hubs had been evacuated over a threat.\n\n19/07/2026 - 14:18\n## Israeli military says identified launch of missiles from Iran towards Jordan's Aqaba\n\nIsrael says Iran has launched missiles toward Jordan and warns fire could spill over into its borders.\n\n\"A short while ago, the IDF identified the launch of missiles from Iran toward the city of Aqaba in Jordan, adjacent to Israeli territory,\" the military said. \"It is possible that as a result of the fire, there will be spillover into Israeli territory.\"\n\n19/07/2026 - 14:10\n## Trump says Republicans should add Iran to Russian bill\n\n19/07/2026 - 13:47\n## Israel to receive more US refuelling planes, officials say\n\nIsrael ​is preparing to receive more US refuelling aircraft, an Israeli military official has said, as attacks launched by the United States and Iran have escalated over the past ​week.\n\n> The US had \"decided⁠to adjust its force posture in the region\" and \"to reinforce the existing fleet of aerial refuelling aircraft stationed in Israel with additional refuelling aircraft,\" the official said.\n\nCiting three US and Israeli officials, Axios ​reported on Friday that the Trump administration notified Israel that it was sending dozens more refuelling planes to the country ahead of a potential expansion of military operations ​against Iran.\n\n19/07/2026 - 13:31\n## Kuwait says water, power plant on fire after second hit in days\n\nAn Iranian attack on a power and water plant in Kuwait caused a fire for the second day in a row on Sunday, Kuwaiti authorities said, as Tehran retaliates to US strikes with attacks across the Gulf region.\n\n> \"As a result of the heinous Iranian agression on Kuwait, a power and water distillation plant, for the second time in two days, has been subjected to an attack that caused a fire in some facilities of the station,\" the Kuwaiti ministry of electricity, water and renewable energy said in a statement on X.\n\nIt added that firefighters were working to extinguish the blaze.\n\n19/07/2026 - 13:12\n## Gulf crude exports jump in July but shipments slow amid renewed hostilities\n\nGulf countries boosted crude oil and condensate exports in the first half of July to the highest levels since before the Iran war began in late February,shipping data ​showed, although ‌flows through the Strait ofHormuz are now slowing as fighting⁠escalates.\n\nCrude and condensate exports from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Kuwait and Iran rose about 16% from the whole ‌of June's daily average to 12 million barrels per day(bpd) in the⁠first half of July, Kpler data showed.\n\nVortexa estimated exports during the period at an even higher 13.06 million bpd.\n\n19/07/2026 - 12:47\n## Jordan authorities deny evacuation of Aqaba airport, seaport\n\nJordanian authorities have not issued any decision on Sunday to evacuate the airport or seaport in Aqaba a ​government's ‌spokesperson said after⁠the US embassy in Amman said they had been evacuated ‌due to a credible threat.\n\n> \"No potential threats have⁠been recorded by the relevantJordanian authorities in the past few hours,\" governmentspokesperson ​Mohammad Al-Momani told Reuters in a ‌writtenstatement.\" The airport and port are operating normally.\"\n\n19/07/2026 - 12:45\n## Iran nuclear agency condemns US strike on Darkhovin nuclear power plant site\n\nThe ​Atomic Energy ​Organization of Iran condemned a US ​attack ‌on ⁠the ‌site of the nuclear ⁠power plant under contruction in ​Darkhovin, saying ‌the strike violated international law, ‌Mehr news ​agency reported on Sunday without saying when ​the ​strike occurred.\n\nConstruction ​of the plant ​in southwestern Iran's Khuzestan province began in ⁠2022.\n\n19/07/2026 - 12:08\n## Iran executes two men convicted over killing of four police officers during early 2026 protests\n\nIran ​has executed ​two men convicted of killing four ​police ‌officers ⁠during violent ‌unrest in the central ⁠city of Isfahan in ​January, judiciary-linked ‌news outlet Mizan reported on ‌Sunday.\n\nMizan identified ​the men as Erfan Esfandiyari and Golmohammad ​Mohammadi, adding ​that their ​death sentences ​were carried out on Sunday after a ⁠court process.\n\n19/07/2026 - 12:06\n## Airport and seaport in Jordan evacuated due to 'credible threat', US embassy says\n\nThe⁠international ​airport and ​seaport in Aqaba in southern Jordan was ​evacuated ‌because⁠of a \"specific and ‌credible threat\", the⁠US embassy said on X ​on Sunday.\n\n> \"We ‌strongly advise all Americans ‌to refrain (from) travelling ​to either the airport or seaport. Continue ​to follow all ​Jordanian ​authorities’ security directives,\" ​the embassy said, without providing further details.\n\n19/07/2026 - 12:05\n## Palestinians say Israeli settlers torch West Bank mosque, factory\n\nIsraeli settlers set fire overnight to a mosque in a village in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian official said Sunday.\n\nMore than two dozen settlers, some masked, attacked the Al-Taqwa mosque in the village of Al-Tuwani during the night and set it on fire, Mohammed Rabie, head of the village council, told AFP.\n\nThe settlers also set fire to two houses and a dairy factory, he said, adding the attackers spray-painted Hebrew graffiti on the walls of the mosque.\n\nRabie said the settlers fled after villagers emerged from their homes, adding that local volunteers managed to extinguish the flames before they spread further.\n\nThe Israeli police said it deployed officers to the village last night \"after a report of suspects who caused damage at the site, including a vehicle that was set on fire, damage to the door of a prayer structure, and graffiti sprayed on walls.\"\n\nThe incident came during a period of increased attacks against Palestinian communities by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in 2023.\n\n19/07/2026 - 11:58\n## Iran's Guards say two ships involved in 'accident' after defying Hormuz warnings, Tasnim reports\n\n⁠Iran's Revolutionary ​Guards said on ​Sunday that two ships were involved in ​an \"accident\" ‌after attempting ⁠to transit the Strait ‌of Hormuz via an \"unsafe route\", ⁠while two other vessels abandoned ​that route, the semi-official ‌Tasnim news agency reported.\n\nThe Guards ‌said the four vessels ​had ignored Iranian warnings and acted with US ​backing.\n\n\"Vessels that are ​influenced by ​the words of the ​Americans and enter unsafe routes will certainly face accidents,\" the Guards ⁠warned in a ⁠statement.\n\n19/07/2026 - 10:58\n## US soldiers killed in Jordan, Trump vows to shift action\n\nTwo American service members were killed and a third is missing following an Iranian attack on a US base in Jordan following a week of the heaviest fighting since the conflict began in February.\n\nDays of escalating exchanges have targeted military installations and civilian infrastructure across the region, Morgan Ayre reports.\n\n*   US Central Command said that two US service members in [Jordan](https://www.france24.com/en/tag/jordan/) were killed in Friday and one was missing in action marking the first US deaths due to direct Iranian fire since the start of the [Iran war](https://www.france24.com/en/tag/iran-conflict/).\n\n*   As Iran continued attacks on its Gulf neighbours,[Kuwait](https://www.france24.com/en/tag/kuwait/) accused Tehran of targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure in the country, after reporting attacks on an oil facility and two power and [water](https://www.france24.com/en/tag/water/) plants.\n\n*   Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayotollah [Mojtaba Khamenei](https://www.france24.com/en/tag/mojtaba-khamenei/) warned of \"unforgettable lessons\" if US attacks on Iran continued and accused Washington of repeatedly breaching commitments under the [Islamabad](https://www.france24.com/en/tag/islamabad/) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). He said the US president's signature was \"worthless and invalid\".\n\n_(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AP and AFP)_","source_name":"France 24","source_url":"https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20260719-middle-east-live-us-targets-iran-s-revolutionary-guard-in-retaliation-for-killed-troops","url":"https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20260719-middle-east-live-us-targets-iran-s-revolutionary-guard-in-retaliation-for-killed-troops","author":"FRANCE24","author_name":"FRANCE24","published_at":"2026-07-19T10:13:33.000Z","publication_date":"2026-07-19T10:13:33.000Z","image_url":"https://s.france24.com/media/display/da7a25d2-8373-11f1-9a8f-005056a90284/w:1024/p:16x9/AP26161573913572.jpg","category":"world","topic":"world","tags":[],"political_bias":null,"bias_score":null,"confidence_score":null,"credibility_score":null,"factual_quality":null,"reading_time":10,"word_count":1953,"view_count":0,"breaking":false,"breaking_news":false,"ai_analysis":null,"fact_check_status":"unverified","archive_status":"hot","language":null}}