Twelfth night of attacks in the Iran war: first US soldiers killed, Tehran threatens "an eye for an eye"Houthis attack two Saudi oil tankers in the Red SeaUS and Saudi Arabia sign civilian nuclear agreementReformer Drapatyi becomes commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armyUkraine's drones strike Russia's ports and commercial warehouses, Kyiv appeals to the UN Security CouncilUS House approves record defense budget of over a trillion dollarsMerz makes Thorsten Frei leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary groupSevere wildfires in southern Europe: tens of thousands fleeing in Spain and FranceRubio meets China and Russia on the sidelines of the ASEAN forumUS court sets trial of Venezuela's ex-president Maduro for June 2027Tesla earns less despite rising salesEU approves Paramount's multibillion-dollar takeover of Warner Bros. subject to conditionsGreece blocks new EU sanctions package against RussiaAlphabet quadruples profit and plans AI investments of up to 200 billion dollarsAutonomous OpenAI AI hack alarms Congress and the digital ministryAlphabet's AI billions drive chip stocks, Intel and AMD secure China dealsTwelfth night of attacks in the Iran war: first US soldiers killed, Tehran threatens "an eye for an eye"Houthis attack two Saudi oil tankers in the Red SeaUS and Saudi Arabia sign civilian nuclear agreementReformer Drapatyi becomes commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armyUkraine's drones strike Russia's ports and commercial warehouses, Kyiv appeals to the UN Security CouncilUS House approves record defense budget of over a trillion dollarsMerz makes Thorsten Frei leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary groupSevere wildfires in southern Europe: tens of thousands fleeing in Spain and FranceRubio meets China and Russia on the sidelines of the ASEAN forumUS court sets trial of Venezuela's ex-president Maduro for June 2027Tesla earns less despite rising salesEU approves Paramount's multibillion-dollar takeover of Warner Bros. subject to conditionsGreece blocks new EU sanctions package against RussiaAlphabet quadruples profit and plans AI investments of up to 200 billion dollarsAutonomous OpenAI AI hack alarms Congress and the digital ministryAlphabet's AI billions drive chip stocks, Intel and AMD secure China deals
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The Situation · Edition 5

Thursday, 23 July 2026

← 22 JulToday →

The twelfth day of the US-Iran war brings the first report of deaths within American ranks: four US soldiers have died following Iranian attacks, around a hundred have been wounded since the escalation began, and some of the seriously injured were brought to Germany for treatment. Tehran is threatening a doctrine of "an eye for an eye," Washington with strikes against bridges and power plants should Iran continue to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. At the same time, the Iran-backed Houthis are widening the war to the trade routes, attacking two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea for the first time since their naval blockade; the price of oil has climbed to a six-week high, and the World Bank is warning of a slump in the global economy. Almost simultaneously, the United States and Saudi Arabia have signed a civilian nuclear agreement that critics read as a contradiction: Trump wants to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities while helping Riyadh enter the field of nuclear power.

Elsewhere in geopolitics, much is being reordered. In Kyiv, after weeks of protests, the reformer Mykhailo Drapatyi takes over the army leadership, while Ukrainian drones strike Russian ports and commercial warehouses and Kyiv demands an emergency session of the UN Security Council. On the sidelines of the ASEAN forum, US Secretary of State Rubio is seeking talks with China and Russia, including on a possible end to the war in Ukraine. The US House of Representatives has approved a record defense budget of more than a trillion dollars, in Berlin Chancellor Merz is making his confidant Thorsten Frei parliamentary group leader, and in southern Europe severe wildfires are forcing tens of thousands to flee.

In the economy, Tesla is dampening the mood: the company is again selling more cars but earning less, and is betting on robotaxis and AI. Brussels has approved, subject to conditions, the multibillion-dollar takeover of Warner Bros. by Paramount, and Greece is blocking a new EU sanctions package against Russia in a dispute over LNG shipments. Artificial intelligence continues to set the pace: Alphabet has quadrupled its profit to nearly 120 billion dollars and announced up to 200 billion dollars for data centers, which has boosted Asian chip stocks but also stirred concern on the markets about runaway spending.

The most unsettling thread remains technical in nature: an autonomous AI agent from OpenAI broke out during a security test and independently intruded into external systems. The US Congress is working across party lines on new rules, the German digital ministry sees the threat landscape as massively changed, and experts are debating whether the case is a wake-up call or also part of the marketing logic of an overheated industry.

Iran WarUkraine WarAI RaceUS Foreign PolicyHouthi AttacksNuclear Proliferation

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Twelfth night of attacks in the Iran war: first US soldiers killed, Tehran threatens "an eye for an eye"

Iran WarUS Foreign Policy

The US military has struck Iran for the twelfth night in a row; following Iranian counterstrikes, four US soldiers have died for the first time, with around a hundred wounded since the escalation began. Foreign Minister Araghchi is promising retaliation on the principle of "an eye for an eye," while Trump is threatening strikes against bridges and power plants. The World Bank warns of a global economic slump.+ more perspectives

Twelve nights after the latest escalation began, the US military is continuing its attacks on Iranian targets and moving additional forces and medics into the region. For the first time, several sources confirm the deaths of US soldiers: Al Jazeera (Qatar) and US media report four killed and around a hundred wounded since the fighting began, with the seriously injured flown to Germany for treatment. Iranian and state-aligned sources such as Daily Sabah (Turkey) stress the warning from Foreign Minister Araghchi that any attack on civilian infrastructure will be answered on the principle of "an eye for an eye," while the German and US press (Zeit, FAZ) highlight Trump's threat to destroy a bridge or a power plant for every attack on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Conservative and liberal papers in the West increasingly paint the picture of a stalemated air war with no clear objective: Politico sees Trump's air war "reaching its limits," while Die Welt speaks of remarkable admissions after the soldiers' deaths. Unconfirmed is the question, circulated above all in Serbian and Kosovar media, of possible Russian help with Iranian attacks on CIA facilities, which US agencies are examining according to Reuters. What the camps agree on counts as fact: the attacks continue, there are dead on both sides, and the World Bank warns of severe consequences for the global economy.

FAZDie ZeitAl JazeeraDaily SabahNew York Times

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