Trump confirms he switched planes after Nato summit because of possible threat

  President Donald Trump has confirmed that he secretly swapped planes as he left a Nato summit in Turkey last month due to a possible threat.

"I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, different plane," Trump told reporters. "I just have to do what they say."

The revelation comes after reports that Trump boarded Air Force One on 8 July in view of television cameras, before hiding in a catering truck to be transported to a military aircraft.

The last-minute switch has raised questions about whether those left on the decoy plane were in danger, but Trump said on Tuesday the jet he boarded instead could have been at "greater risk... because that would be the plane, I think, that they would be more likely to go for."

Officials told the BBC's US partner CBS News that the US had detected a credible Iranian threat to fire a missile at the plane. The New York Times reported that US intelligence had information of a person near the Nato summit who had been seen with a shoulder-fired missile.

Journalists and some White House staff on board did not know the US president had been smuggled out as part of an elaborate ruse in response to a possible Iranian threat.

FULL STORY AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c980r4wpl9lo

Iran Refuses to Reopen Hormuz Without US Capitulation

 

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Israel Was Just Directly Threatened By A Nuclear-Armed Islamic Nation— This Time It Is Pakistan And Not Iran

 

Israel Was Just Directly Threatened By A Nuclear-Armed Islamic Nation—And It’s Not Iran

Israel was just threatened by a nuclear-armed Islamic nation—and it wasn’t Iran.

Iran’s nuclear weapons program has been mostly obliterated by the U.S. and Israeli militaries over the past 14 months—thanks to the bold leadership of President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Political Division, Persecution, And War: How Bible Prophecy Changes Our Perspective On World Affairs

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DEFIANT IRAN Says We Will Wait Till Trump is Gone, And We Won’t Open Hormuz

 Iran: We’ll wait out Trump until 2029, won’t open Hormuz

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Colombia Joins US in the Recognizing of Israeli Sovereignty Over Golan Heights In An Historic Decision

 

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US says helicopter fired missiles to disable ship breaking Iran blockade

  The US military says one of its helicopters has fired missiles to disable "the steering gear" of a cargo ship attempting to violate the US blockade of Iranian ports.

In a statement, US Central Command (Centcom) says its MH-60 aircraft on Tuesday fired two hellfire missiles into the engine room of the Panama-flagged M/V Vela Nova vessel, as it attempted to transit the Gulf of Oman.

Centcom said it acted after "the ship's civilian crew ignored repeated warnings from American forces". The vessel "is no longer transiting to Iran", it added.

Iran has not commented. The US has been enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports, following failed attempts to end the war it and Israel started on 28 February.

Tehran retaliated by launching attacks on Israel and US-allied states across the Gulf. It has also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz - a key oil shipping waterway.

A fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas used to transit the strait before the war and prices have fluctuated wildly since then.

Mediators have so far failed to bring the sides to an agreement on reopening the strait - and, since the latest ceasefire collapsed in June, both the US and Iran have exchanged fire intermittently.

In its statement on X, Centcom said M/V Vela attempted to sail to an Iranian port without naming it. It also did not say whether there were any casualties or injuries.

It says the US blockade "remains in full effect", adding that as of 11 August Centcom has "redirected 55 commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade, disabled 3 non-compliant vessels, and boarded 2".

FULL REPORT AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg8lyyyjedo

Houthis reportedly kill six in first deadly attack since start of Iran war

  Six people have been killed and 10 injured in strikes by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis on a cargo ship in the Red Sea, the internationally recognised government of Yemen has said.

The transport ministry said the vessel was hit with three ballistic missiles, south of the port of Mocha, causing a fire on board and resulting in the deaths of four crew - three Pakistanis and one Indonesian.

Yemen's coastguard later said a second deadly missile strike targeted rescuers who tried to evacuate the ship.

The Houthis said they hit a ship carrying Saudi military equipment. It appears to be the first deadly attack by the group on a vessel since the US and Israel began striking Iran on 28 February.

The Houthis launched their attacks on shipping last month - announcing a naval blockade of Saudi ports.

The conflict in the region has been ongoing for more than five months, punctuated by a faltering ceasefire which was meant to lead to a deal to end the war.

It has whipped up regional tensions, with the Houthis also attacking Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and oil facilities, in parallel with Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz - the vital waterway where a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas used to transit.

The latest attack comes after a years-long truce in Yemen's civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government collapsed last month.

The Houthis control much of north-western Yemen, and frequently clash with the government. The government operates out of Aden in the south, due to the capital Sanaa being held by the Houthis.

FULL REPORT AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg9wpmzmlno

Ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad sentenced to death in absentia

  A Syrian court has sentenced ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia, after convicting him of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country's civil war.

It is the first conviction against Assad, who fled from Damascus to the Russian capital, Moscow, with his family after his regime was overthrown in December 2024, ending his family's five-decade grip on power.

Assad's cousin and the former head of political security in southern Syria's Deraa province, Atef Najib, was also sentenced to death. He appeared wearing a striped prison uniform inside a cage in the courtroom as the judge read out his sentence.

Deraa is widely seen as the birthplace of the uprising against Assad's rule.

In March 2011, the detention and alleged torture of a group of teenagers accused of writing anti-government graffiti sparked protests in the city, which were met with a violent crackdown by security forces.

That response helped ignite nationwide demonstrations that escalated into civil war in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed.

Syria's interim government began trying officials associated with the Assad regime, which ruled the country for more than 50 years, earlier this year.

Najib is one of the highest-ranking officials to be put on trial.

He was convicted of crimes including murder, "the intentional killing of children under 15" and "torture leading to death".

FULL REPORT AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce34dkpnyg7o

Lebanon parliament votes to abolish death penalty

  Lebanon's parliament has voted to abolish the death penalty, a move that would make it the first country in the Middle East to formally end capital punishment.

A majority of MPs in the 128-seat parliament backed the measure on Tuesday, while Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc voted against it.

The legislation will now go to the cabinet before being passed to President Joseph Aoun for signing. The government has already expressed its support for the measure.

Lebanon has not carried out an execution since January 2004, although courts have continued to hand down death sentences. Rights groups estimate that more than 78 people remain on death row.

Under the new legislation, capital punishment will be replaced with life imprisonment with hard labour. However, the legislation does not yet set out in detail how the new sentence would be enforced.

Hard labour is already written into Lebanese law but has rarely been implemented in recent years. The country's financial crisis and overcrowded prisons have limited the authorities' resources and capacity.

The latest legislation follows years of campaigning by civil society groups and lawyers for the removal of capital punishment from Lebanese law. "We cannot solve a crime with a crime or end violence with violence," Oragit Younan told reporters. 

FULL REPORT AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8enj8p1xwgo

Houthis kill three in first deadly attack since start of Iran war

  Three people have reportedly been killed in a Houthi attack on a small cargo ship in the Red Sea, in what would be the first deadly strike by the group on a vessel since the US and Israel started a conflict against Iran.

The ship is reported to have been hit by a projectile south of the Yemeni port of Mocha causing casualties, the UK's Maritime Trade Operations Centre has said. Yemen's Houthis are allied to Iran and enjoy Tehran's full support. They began attacks on shipping last month - announcing a naval blockade of Saudi ports.

The conflict in the region has been ongoing since the end of February, punctuated by a faltering ceasefire which was meant to lead to a deal to end the war.

It has whipped up regional tensions, with the Houthis also attacking Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and oil facilities, in parallel with Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz - the vital waterway where a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas used to transit. The attack comes after a years-long truce in Yemen's civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government collapsed last month.

Social media images examined by BBC Verify appear to show a damaged cargo ship in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which sits at the inlet of the Red Sea, off the coast of Yemen.

Reports from Yemeni media say that two of those killed were crew on the ship, including one Pakistani and one Indonesian. A Yemeni government vessel subsequently went to assist and came under fire which resulted in an additional casualty, whose nationality is not known.

Close-up pictures show the vessel is named Tihamah which, according to ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic, is in the Red Sea off Warner Point and is sailing under the flag of Tanzania.

The pictures, which were shared by Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency, have been verified as new and show no signs of AI-generation.

FULL REPORT AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg9wpmzmlno