news

Source

⭕️ EARLIER | The IRGC said it struck U.S. Fifth Fleet facilities in Bahrain during the fifth wave of “Operation Nasr 2.”

It claimed its forces hit and destroyed: ➤ The NS1 management center ➤ A command-and-control center ➤ Large warehouses storing military parts and equipment ➤ Fuel storage facilities

The IRGC said the attack was retaliation for what it described as a U.S. effort to control the Strait of Hormuz, block shipping routes and restrict regional oil and gas exports.

It warned that if routes serving Iran and its partners remain blocked, other regional oil and gas export routes benefiting the United States and its allies could also be closed.

“The export of oil and gas from the region should be either for everyone or for no one,” the statement said.

The United States and Bahrain have not confirmed the claimed damage.

Source

🚨 The IRGC says it struck and destroyed several U.S. military sites and weapons systems in Kuwait in its sixth wave of “Operation Nasr 2.”

In a statement addressed to the Kuwaiti public, the IRGC claimed missile and drone attacks hit: ➤ A satellite communications center ➤ Missile and air-defense radar ➤ A Patriot air-defense complex ➤ A U.S. military outpost ➤ HIMARS launch platforms

The IRGC said the strikes were retaliation for U.S. attacks on southern Iran, including the bombing of a wheat warehouse in Hoveizeh and a mineral-water factory in Dehloran.

It said Kuwaitis were not the target, but urged them to expel U.S. forces: “We expect you to seize every opportunity to destroy American institutions and to liberate Islamic lands from the bases of the occupying American forces,” the statement said.

The U.S. and Kuwaiti governments have not yet confirmed the claimed damage.

Source

⭕️ The IRGC says it struck the U.S. military base at Al-Azraq in Jordan during the sixth wave of “Operation Nasr 2” on Tuesday.

In a statement addressed to the Jordanian public, the IRGC claimed its forces destroyed: ➤ Aircraft shelters housing F-15, F-16 and F-35 fighter jets ➤ Several U.S. MQ-9 drones

The IRGC said the attack was retaliation for U.S. strikes on Iran, which it alleged were launched largely from American bases on Jordanian territory.

It called on Jordanians to end the U.S. military presence in the country and prevent Jordan from being used as a base for attacks against Iran and Palestinians.

The statement also urged people to destroy American institutions and expel U.S. forces.

The United States and Jordan have not confirmed the IRGC’s claims.

The real decolonization of Southeast Asia is only beginning. Each former colony may have won independence, but each stays strongly wired to its old metropole, such as Indonesia to the Dutch, and Malaysia and Singapore to London. These newly independent countries are barely comfortable in each other's presence, ASEAN or not, Ooi noted. It is the recent rise of a regional great power that finally forces them to consider why they have been relating so weakly to their immediate neighbours and so strongly to their former masters, he said.

He claimed that there is a necessity to "regionalize nationalism—in the region and anywhere else."

Smaller countries on the Belt and Road need to be more proactive within a historical understanding of their own situation and to act accordingly, and not just wait passively for bigger powers like Beijing to design everything from the top down with its own interests in mind, he said.

What he calls "Little BRIs" can feature smaller countries getting together, cognizant of giant regional-spanning projects being planned, to develop on their own terms their input and participation in them. This is clearly a possibility where continental speedy rail systems are concerned. Other areas would include maritime logistics, merchant shipping, and security links where the region's own states could exercise more control.

Countries that keep thinking of themselves as small and passive—as victims of history and of size—risk locking themselves into staying that way, Ooi claimed.

The view from Penang, in the end, is not about choosing between China and the United States but about how regional discourses are formulated for accepting differences rather than ranking them, Ooi stressed. The global economic and political wave reshaping the region's factories and ports, and its worries and hopes, is less a tsunami than a long-postponed invitation to a conversation the region writ large has never quite had with itself, he said.

New research indicates that Lula maintains an advantage against Flávio and other opponents in the race for the Presidency of the Republic.

A Genial/Quaest survey released this Wednesday (July 15) shows that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) leads in voting intentions for the 2026 election in all first and second round scenarios.

Against his main opponent so far, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) , the PT candidate maintains his advantage in the first round – opening up a 12 percentage point lead – and also in the second: he is 8 percentage points ahead.

• Lula da Silva (Workers' Party - Center Left): 40% (+5)

• Flávio Bolsonaro (Liberal Party - Far-Right Bolsonarism): 28% (-10)

• Ronaldo Caiado (Social Democratic Party - Far-Right Oportunism): 4% (+1)

• Renan Santos (Mission - Far-Right Incel): 3% (+1)

• Romeu Zema (Novo - Far-Right Mileism): 2% (-2)

• Cabo Daciolo (Mobiliza - Center Conspiracy Theory): 1% (+1)

• Augusto Cury (Avante - Center): 1% (=)

• Joaquim Barbosa (Christian Democracy - Center Liberal): 1% (+1)

• Samara Martins (Popular Unit - Far-Left): 1% (+1)

• Edmilson Costa (Communit Party of Brazil - Far-Left): 0% (=)

• Heró Bezerra (Renovation Party of Brazil - Far-Right): 0% (=)

• Hertz Dias (United Socialist Party of Workers - Trotskyism): 0% (=)

• Undecided: 11% (-2)

• Blank, null, or will not vote: 8% (+3)

Santiago, Chile, July 15 (Prensa Latina) The Chilean Senate will discuss and vote today, article by article, on the controversial National Reconstruction Law, also known as the mega-reform, which contains the economic program of President José Antonio Kast's government.

The initiative is generating controversy because it contains clearly neoliberal measures, including downsizing the state and weakening environmental protection, and leaves issues such as wages and employment in the hands of the business sector.

Among the points of greatest disagreement is a disguised tax reform, reducing the corporate tax from 27 to 23 percent for large corporations, under the pretext of stimulating national and foreign investment.

Although the cut is planned to be phased in gradually until its full implementation in 2029, it will cause a fiscal shortfall of about $800 million for every percentage point discounted.

The total loss when the rate reaches 23 percent will be about three billion 200 million dollars annually, benefiting a tiny sector of the population.

To compensate, the Executive applied a three percent reduction in the budget of almost all ministries starting this year, which implies the contraction of basic services, such as education and primary health care.

The idea of ​​declaring a period of tax invariability of up to 25 years also causes unease, although the Minister of Finance had to qualify the proposal and create tiers based on the amount of investments made.

Opposition political parties warned that, should the mega-reform be approved in its current form, they will appeal to the Constitutional Court to prevent the implementation of all proposed changes.

While the government had no difficulty securing a comfortable majority in the Chamber of Deputies, the forces in the Senate are more divided, and a last-minute change could alter the outcome one way or the other.

There is also the possibility that the miscellaneous law will return to a joint committee with representatives from both chambers to reconcile the various proposals that emerged from Wednesday's discussion, when the session could extend into the early hours of Thursday.

Since late 2024, the National Electric System has suffered several nationwide blackouts. On Tuesday, the Havana Electric Company reported that at 11:05 a.m., another total blackout occurred in the National Electric System (SEN), the third one in the last eight days.

The company explained that a shutdown of the Felton 1 unit caused a fluctuation in the system parameters with a sudden frequency change, which led to the SEN outage. Work is currently underway to restore power to the thermoelectric plants in western Cuba. The SEN is preparing plans for the creation of microsystems, which will allow for the restoration of power to vital centers once the necessary technical conditions are met, as part of the recovery process. This latest interruption comes amid growing economic pressure on Cuba, marked by energy sanctions imposed by the United States.

Washington is blocking oil shipments to the island following an executive order signed in January by President Donald Trump, which threatens tariffs on countries that export or facilitate the supply of fuel to Cuba.

Since late 2024, the National Electric System (SEN) has suffered several nationwide blackouts amidst the effects of the more than six-decade-long economic blockade, which limits access to resources for the maintenance and development of the electricity sector.

Restoring the SEN is a slow and laborious process: it begins with simpler starting sources such as solar, hydroelectric, and generating engines, followed by interconnecting small areas and bringing power to the thermoelectric plants, the backbone of national generation.

Peru’s electoral authority will formally recognize Keiko Fujimori as president-elect after confirming her victory in the June runoff.

Peru’s electoral authority formally recognizes Fujimori’s victory ahead of her July 28 inauguration. Keiko Fujimori will receive her credentials as Peru’s president-elect on Wednesday in a ceremony organized by the National Jury of Elections (JNE), marking the final stage of the country’s 2026 presidential election process before the transfer of power on July 28.

The official ceremony will take place at 11:30 a.m. local time (16:30 GMT) at Lima’s Gran Teatro Nacional, located in the San Borja district, ahead of Fujimori’s inauguration on Peru’s Independence Day. The solemn session will also include the delivery of credentials to Fujimori’s first and second vice presidents-elect, Luis Galarreta and Miguel Torres. JNE president Roberto Burneo will lead the ceremony, which will be attended by the four other members of the electoral authority’s full board, according to the institution.

The electoral body proclaimed the presidential ticket of Fuerza Popular as the winner of the June 7 runoff on July 3. Fujimori competed against Roberto Sánchez, the candidate of Juntos por el Perú.

According to the JNE, Fujimori received 9,223,396 votes, while Sánchez obtained 9,173,755 ballots in the second round.

During the proclamation ceremony, Burneo said Peru’s elections represented “one of the greatest democratic, organizational and institutional challenges” in the country’s recent history, due to the participation of 35 presidential tickets and the organization of two electoral rounds.

“Democracy does not end with elections; it continues with respect for the results and with the validity of electoral institutions. May this act symbolize not only the conclusion of an electoral process, but also the beginning of a stage of dialogue, stability and commitment to Peru,” Burneo said.

After being proclaimed president-elect, Fujimori said she assumed the result “with deep gratitude” toward the millions of Peruvians who voted for her and “with responsibility, humility and a profound sense of duty.”

Fujimori, daughter and political heir of former President Alberto Fujimori, who governed Peru from 1990 to 2000, will become the first woman directly elected by popular vote to lead the country. Her predecessor, Dina Boluarte, served as president from 2022 to 2025 after assuming office through constitutional succession as vice president of Pedro Castillo, who governed from 2021 to 2022.

The delivery of credentials completes Peru’s electoral process and precedes Fujimori’s assumption of office for the 2026–2031 term.

Tehran, July 15 (Prensa Latina) The United States launched new attacks today against several points in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, while local media reported explosions in the vicinity of Bandar Abbas.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Khuzestan's deputy governor, Valiollah Hayati, as confirming that US forces attacked various locations in Ahvaz.

Meanwhile, Iranian media reported three explosions east of Bandar Abbas, in the southern province of Hormozgan.

So far, authorities have not provided any information on possible casualties or material damage caused by the attacks.

This is the fourth consecutive night of US air operations against Iranian cities and islands, amid a military escalation that also involves several Arab countries in the region.

On Tuesday, Jordan announced the interception of four missiles coming from Iranian territory, while Kuwait and Bahrain reported the activation of their defense systems against aerial threats.

Washington maintains that its attacks are a response to Iranian actions against merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran, for its part, claimed to have bombed US military installations in Arab countries, some of which reported civilian casualties and infrastructure damage.

Iran also warned that it will take action against any vessel that attempts to cross the Strait of Hormuz without coordination with its authorities or outside of the routes established by Tehran.

Oman and Iran agreed to continue consultations to ensure navigational safety and freedom of transit in that strategic maritime route.

Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding in June that included a ceasefire, mediated by Qatar and Pakistan.

However, US President Donald Trump announced the end of the truce on July 8 after a new escalation of the conflict.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro says he will not attend the Aug. 7 inauguration of President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella and plans new legal actions alleging electoral fraud.

Colombian president Gustavo Petro says he will skip the Aug. 7 transfer of power and file new legal challenges alleging electoral fraud. Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Tuesday that he will not attend the Aug. 7 inauguration of President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, saying he does not recognize the legitimacy of the electoral process that declared his successor the winner.

Speaking during a cabinet meeting, Petro said he would neither attend the official inauguration ceremony nor shake hands with De la Espriella, reiterating his claim that the election was fraudulent. “I cannot accept a president, and that is why I will not be anywhere on August 7, nor shake his hand. Let him say whatever he wants, but he knows why. Because that is a fraud.”

If carried out, Petro’s decision would mark an unprecedented event in Colombia’s history, as no sitting president has previously announced that they would not attend the inauguration of an elected successor.

Petro also said he will file new legal actions on Thursday challenging the election, including criminal complaints and petitions seeking to annul the results.

According to the president, the filings will be supported by evidence that he says is already in his possession. He linked the complaints to what he described as irregularities in the counting of votes cast abroad.

Petro said the official tally sheets for approximately 848,000 overseas ballots were not delivered. He also connected the issue to what he called an “additional voter registry,” an allegation he has previously raised publicly but had not formally pursued through judicial action.

President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella has not issued a direct response to Petro’s latest statements.

A Peruvian court has admitted a habeas corpus petition for former President Pedro Castillo as left-wing parties and social organizations pursue legislative reforms on organized crime and human rights.

Court examines petition challenging Castillo’s removal, detention and conviction as left-wing coalition advances legal reform agenda. A Peruvian court has agreed to hear a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of former President Pedro Castillo, opening judicial proceedings that challenge both the congressional decision that removed him from office and subsequent court rulings against him.

The petition, submitted by Castillo’s lawyer Walter Ayala, presents seven legal arguments. Among them are requests to nullify the congressional resolution that ousted Castillo as president and the court order placing him in pretrial detention.

The filing also seeks to overturn the ruling that sentenced Castillo to 11 years and five months in prison for conspiracy to commit rebellion.

Separately, a parliamentary coalition made up of Ahora Nación, Juntos por el Perú and the Obras party has identified the repeal of laws benefiting organized crime as one of the main priorities for Peru’s next bicameral Congress.

Former Juntos por el Perú presidential candidate Roberto Sánchez said recent legislative changes had weakened efforts to combat organized crime.

“By relaxing the statute of limitations, effective collaboration and other legal mechanisms, they have seriously undermined the defense of life, economic development and social peace. That is why we have made this one of the priorities of our coalition.”

The coalition has also questioned whether those legal changes have hindered cooperation by defendants, obstructed the confiscation of illicit assets and redefined organized crime in ways that favor impunity.

Carlos Rivera, a criminal lawyer and director of the Legal Defense Institute (IDL), argued that the legislation had directly benefited criminal organizations.

“Congress was directly acting in favor of criminal organizations by reducing the range of offenses they could commit that would be classified as organized crime.”

In parallel, social organizations and left-wing political parties have reached an agreement to eliminate provisions of a law that grant impunity to members of the armed forces and police accused of human rights violations.

The inability of a munitions plant in Mesquite, Texas, to build a key part set back the U.S. Army’s plans for ramping up production of 155mm shells to 100,000 rounds per month, according to a scathing new report by the War Department’s Office of Inspector General (DOWIG). Despite receiving close to $500 million from the U.S. Army funded through supplemental spending bills from Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS), failed to make a single subcomponent needed to produce the badly needed shells as of last March. “Without the 30,000 additional projectile metal parts anticipated from the Mesquite facility, the Army will be unable to reach its monthly capability goal of 100,000 155-mm artillery rounds,” the report concluded. “As of March 2026, the CPE A&E [Capability Program Executive Ammunition & Energetics] officials have not developed a plan to produce the additional rounds that are supposed to be produced at the Mesquite facility.” At present, the Army is only producing 36,000 rounds per month, inspectors revealed.

an article from last year had a 40k monthly figure for late 2024, so the numbers have actually gone down since then!?

Through modernization efforts and two new facilities, the Army expects to exceed the 100,000-round-per-month goal significantly by the end of next year. The initial goal was established by Congress in the wake of the U.S. providing millions of rounds to Ukraine.

they were supposed to have reached that 100k goal by October of last year! and not only have they apparently not made any progress in a whole year, they've backslid! deeply unserious military industrial complex

Still, the report highlights the challenges U.S. arms makers face in trying to meet tighter timelines to produce more weapons. This all comes as the U.S. is increasingly concerned about stockpiles of a wide array of munitions after heavy usage in past and current conflicts and donations to partners like Ukraine, as well as foreign military sales. These are issues that we raised long before and during the current war with Iran, but they have become major headlines in the aftermath of the initial stages of that conflict. The plant at the center of this new report is the Universal Artillery Projectile Line owned and operated by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems. It opened in May 2024 to great fanfare and high hopes. According to the IG report, more than three million 155mm shells were donated to Ukraine, more than 111,000 rounds were used over the past four years on training and testing, and nearly 218,000 rounds were sold to foreign customers. Combined, U.S. stocks were depleted by more than 3.6 million rounds since the start of the war in Ukraine. The Mesquite plant was opened to help replenish the supply. However, according to DOWIG, it failed to live up to expectations. “The DoW increased its capability and capacity to produce 155-mm artillery ammunition but did not reach the 2025 National Defense Industrialization Strategy Implementation Plan goal of 100,000 rounds per month by October 2025,” the DOWIG report pointed out.

As of March 2026, “the Army had increased its monthly production from 14,000 to 36,000 rounds because of expansion and modernization efforts at both the projectile metal parts and the load, assemble, and pack facilities,” the IG report noted. “However, at a contractor-owned, contractor-operated facility in Mesquite, Texas, the contractor has been unable to produce any projectile metal parts that meet contract specifications.” According to an Army news release about the plant opening, it was built to “feature high-volume production capabilities for large-caliber metal parts and is equipped with long-stroke, high-tonnage forging capabilities.” “The facility’s 155mm metal parts production lines also meet Army modernization goals by incorporating high levels of automation, modern manufacturing practices, and digital-data-capture ability. It will offer the flexibility to produce a variety of metal parts ranging from 60mm to 155mm, with minimal changeover requirements,” the Army added. The Army “planned for the Mesquite Texas facility to produce 30,000 rounds per month,” the report added. “With only three facilities producing the required projectile metal parts, the DoW will reach only 71,000 rounds per month, or 71 percent of its monthly production capacity goal for 155-mm artillery rounds.” We’ve reached out to General Dynamics and the Army for comment and will update this story should the company respond.

The main issue inspectors found was that the plant adapted equipment used to make parts for M107 155mm shells to produce parts for M795 155‑mm shells. The latter is an upgraded version of the munition that is slightly heavier and longer, and has an extended range. As a result of this adaptation, several factors came into play, according to DOWIG. Army officials knew that the concept of trying to produce the more advanced 155mm shells using equipment not designed for that was risky. However, officials felt that would pay off because that machinery was already available. In addition, the report stated that the existing Scranton plant’s past work with GD-OTS on ammunition production was a factor in deciding to take a chance on what turned out to be a flawed assumption.

literally Warhammer 40k shit, can't actually make new tooling anymore so you have to use capacity leftover from the mid Cold War

The report states, in part:

• According to the Army’s CPE A&E, “ACC issued the contract and CPE A&E accepted the risk associated with the contractor’s plan to purchase and adapt M107 metal part production equipment to produce a newer variant of the 155-mm projectile metal parts at different specifications.”
• “According to CPE A&E officials, the Mesquite facility was a high-risk, high-reward opportunity, and CPE A&E is realizing some of that risk now because the facility has been unable to produce acceptable rounds.”
• “CPE A&E accepted the contractor’s proposal to acquire and adapt unique production equipment and an unproven production process because equipment was already available. According to the CPE A&E official, obtaining and adapting the available production line equipment was expected to be faster than obtaining new M795 production line equipment.”
• “The contractor has been working since the original contract task order was issued in November 2022 to produce the contracted 155-mm projectile metal parts. However, according to CPE A&E officials, acquiring the equipment and adapting it to produce M795 155-mm projectile metal parts resulted in significant challenges.” The report redacted specific examples.
• “In addition, according to CPE A&E officials, CPE A&E recommended the contractor for the Mesquite facility because the contractor has 20 years of experience producing 155-mm projectile metal parts at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant.”
• “Scranton Army Ammunition Plant officials stated that despite the contractor’s years of experience, the Scranton facility encountered separate ongoing problems with the contractor in terms of responsiveness, equipment maintenance, and timeliness.”
• “Those officials expressed concern to the evaluation team that ACC did not open the contract for the Mesquite facility to competition from other contractors.”
• “In addition, according to ACC officials, the contract for the Mesquite facility was issued as a task order under the property management contract for the Scranton Ammunition facility and not as a separate contract.”

The Army did not dispute that the Mesquite factory was not producing the needed parts. “The Capability Program Executive Ammunition & Energetics will correct issues identified in this report, and develop and implement a corrective action plan,” CPE A&E responded. The “United States Army concurs with the report as written,” the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Acquisition, Logistics and Technology stated. Army Contracting Command (ACC), however, took issue with how the relationship between the Scranton and Mesquite plants was characterized. In its response, ACC stated that no one reached out to them to question GD-OTS’s plan and that it had received sign off from higher authorities to execute the contract without Congressional approval. Moreover, ACC added that it did not need to open up competition for the new plant.