Iran war updates: Trump threatens ‘heavy attacks’ on Pickaxe Mountain

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We are about to close this page. Before we go, here’s a recap of the day’s main developments:

• Trump said the US will hit the area where Iran’s nuclear centrifuges are rumoured to be “pretty soon” and “very heavily”.
• Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni met with top officials in Islamabad, as Pakistan continued efforts to revive truce talks.
• Iran continued attacks across the Gulf, targeting Bahrain and Kuwait.
• Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador over an attack on a Kuwaiti oil tanker, Kaifa, in the Strait of Hormuz.
• Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called for Israel’s urgent, complete withdrawal from Lebanon in a meeting with Trump in Washington, DC.

A congressional rules committee has said no to allowing a vote on an amendment challenging US-Israeli military integration, US representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna have said.

“No debate or vote was allowed on section 219, integration of US military technology and supply chains with Israel’s,” Massie said in a post on X.

“We do not even have the chance to vote in the House to stop Israel and the United States from co-producing weapons,” Khanna said in a video.

“We need to now fight to strip this amendment in the conference between the House and the Senate.”

Democrats came out strongly against the Trump administration’s request for billions of dollars in additional funding for the war in Iran, arguing that this is a war of choice rather than one of necessity.

They also challenged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over what they described as imprecise and inconsistent language about the military campaign. Senator Jon Ossoff questioned why the administration was requesting more money after previously suggesting that its adversary had been rendered combat ineffective.

Other Democratic senators highlighted domestic priorities that could instead receive the funding, including childcare, healthcare, and assistance with household energy costs.

Their arguments reflected growing public frustration with the war, which remains deeply unpopular in the United States. There is particularly little appetite for further spending among some of President Donald Trump’s own supporters.

During the election campaign, many backed Trump because they believed he would prevent or end foreign wars. His administration’s aggressive pursuit of the conflict in Iran, therefore, contrasts sharply with how many voters expected him to govern.

As Americans become increasingly concerned about the cost of the war, the loss of US service members, and continued military involvement in the Middle East, there appears to be very limited public support for extending the campaign.

Antonio Guterres “is deeply concerned by the continuing and expanding military escalation between Iran and the United States over the past few days”, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has said.

“The crisis has already affected Iran, Bahrain, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.”

Guterres is “particularly concerned” by attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran, including a nuclear power plant under construction and a desalination plant, as well as “power plants and desalination plants in Kuwait and other places”, Dujarric added.

“Such attacks are unacceptable and must stop immediately.”

Trump has met with Lebanese leader Joseph Aoun in Washington, DC.

It was the first time a Lebanese head of state has visited the White House since 2009.

While Trump hailed his relationship with Aoun, he also had strong words for Tehran.

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher reports:

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Syria later this week at the invitation of the government, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has said.

“The visit will offer the secretary-general an opportunity to witness both the hope and the challenges of the political transition and recovery, as well as the impact of the enduring of years of conflict,” Dujarric told reporters in New York.

Guterres will meet with President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and other government officials in Damascus and will “underscore the importance of respecting Syria’s sovereignty, its unity, and its territorial integrity”, Dujarric added.

This will be Guterres’s second visit to the region this year, after Lebanon in March.

Yassamin Ansari, an Iranian-American congresswoman, has expressed outrage at the death of Isabella Gonzales, a 19-year-old US soldier.

“I opposed Trump’s reckless, illegal war from the start because I knew it would cost American and Iranian lives,” Ansari wrote in a post on X.

“Not one more cent for this war that has killed Americans and innocent civilians, destabilized the entire Middle East, and made life even more painfully unaffordable.”

Of course, the Gulf region countries are apprehensive about the fact that a conflagration in the region would be detrimental and catastrophic for everyone.

Pakistan is trying to salvage or rescue the Islamabad memorandum, which was signed between the two countries.

However, both the US and Iran are keeping very hush-hush when it comes to the nature of the talks, the extent of the talks.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has already admitted that the negotiators are still trying to find some sort of a way out, although the hostilities are still continuing.

So, Pakistan is still trying to see if there is a way out of this particular crisis, which, of course, is now threatening to engulf the entire region.

The Iranian interior minister, Eskandar Momeni, is in Pakistan.

He has already held an important meeting with the Pakistani military chief, General Asim Munir, who, of course, along with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has played a pivotal role as a main mediator, with support also from Qatar and other friendly countries.

The Islamabad memorandum that was signed just a little over a month ago has already broken down, with renewed hostilities and tit-for-tat attacks against each other in the Gulf region.

There is an expectation here in Pakistan that the Iranians have come out with a reply to a proposal for a 10-day ceasefire.

That, of course, the Iranian Foreign Ministry is also confirming that although the hostilities continue, the diplomatic channels through the mediators are still being used.

However, it will be important to see whether Washington will be willing to go along with that.

The US-Israel war on Iran has cost $37.5bn so far, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says, an increase of nearly $8bn since the last public estimate.

Hegseth told lawmakers that the figure also included anticipated costs through September 30, defending a request for some $67bn in supplemental funding for the Pentagon.

This is the first time that Hegseth, who appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, has faced public questions from lawmakers since the US military restarted operations against Iran earlier this month.

In his earlier meeting with US President Trump, President Aoun “emphasized the urgent need for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territories,” the Lebanese presidency said in a statement.

Aoun affirmed that this is “an essential step toward consolidating stability, enabling the Lebanese state to fully extend its sovereignty — through its own forces alone—and moving forward with the implementation of the joint tripartite framework.”

The Lebanese president also detailed the catastrophic repercussions of the war on Lebanon, and he and Trump discussed “bolstering American support for the Lebanese Armed Forces, and developing cooperation between the two countries across all fields”.

The meeting, which followed an invitation from the US president, focused on the “security, political, and economic priorities necessary to bolster Lebanon’s stability and prosperity”.

Kuwaitis are rationing electricity after Iranian strikes on power infrastructure are raising fears of outages during peak summer heat.

Authorities say public conservation efforts have helped ease pressure on the grid as the country grapples with soaring demand.

Watch the report below:

President Donald Trump says he will allow the resumption of direct flights by US airlines to Lebanon, which have been suspended for decades.

“After meeting with the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, who has done a remarkable job working to transform his Country, I am hereby directing my Administration to allow all US airline carriers to fly directly to Lebanon so that Americans can easily visit this beautiful land,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the announcement, saying the move “represents a significant opportunity to enhance travel and connectivity between Lebanon and the United States, and to support the Lebanese economy”.

US Central Command says that it has redirected eight commercial vessels and disabled one “to fully enforce” its naval blockade of Iran.

“Every operational success in the Middle East begins and ends with service members focused on their missions, including the U.S. blockade against Iran,” it said in a statement.

The US reinstated its naval blockade earlier this month, after lifting it in June.