Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
- US launches 10th night of strikes on Iran
- Saudi Arabia condemns Houthis’ Red Sea blockade
Below is a roundup of the main developments from the US-Iran war on July 21, 2026.
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Skip next section Saudi Arabia slams Houthis’ Red Sea blockade announcement07/20/2026July 20, 2026
Saudi Arabia slams Houthis’ Red Sea blockade announcement
Saudi Arabia has condemned the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen after they announced a naval blockade in the southern part of the Red Sea.
With Iran and the US restricting ship movements in the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia had relied on its Red Sea ports to export oil.
Overnight, the Saudi Foreign Ministry expressed the “strongest condemnation of the allegations made by the so-called military spokesperson of the Houthi terrorist militia, who accused the kingdom of besieging the brotherly Yemeni people and claimed the imposition of a maritime blockade on the Kingdom.”
The Houthis and Saudi Arabia have traded strikes in recent days after an Iranian plane attempted to landed in the Yemeni city of Sanaa.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HSSkSkip next section US launches fresh strikes on Iran07/20/2026July 20, 2026
US launches fresh strikes on Iran
The US has launched strikes on Iran for the 10th night in a row.
“The strikes are designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the US military’s Central Command said on social media.
Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that air defenses were activated near the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant on the southern coast. The complex has been hit by previous waves of US strikes.
Strikes between the US and Iran have escalated in an attempt to control the Strait of Hormuz.
On Friday, Iranian strike on an air base in Jordan killed two US service members and left a third unaccounted for. Another US soldier was reported dead in Iraq on Saturday due to a “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that whenever Iran killed an American soldier, they would “pay for that killing many times over.”
https://p.dw.com/p/5HSQVSkip next section Welcome to our coverage07/20/2026July 20, 2026
Welcome to our coverage
Wesley Dockery Editor
Welcome to our coverage of the US war with Iran.
The United States military has launched fresh strikes on Iran for a 10th consecutive night since US President Donald Trump declared on July 8 that the shaky ceasefire between the two countries was “over.”
Stay tuned as we bring you the latest on the US conflict with Iran and other developments from the Middle East.
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