Iran officials 'would not be surprised' if Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei dies soon: Report

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s health has come under renewed scrutiny after IranWire, citing two sources close to President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration, reported that senior officials are increasingly concerned about his condition.

According to IranWire, Khamenei has not met any cabinet members since the February 28 US-Israeli strikes that killed his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with other members of his family. The outlet said rumours that the younger Khamenei is in an “extremely critical condition” and could die soon are circulating within Iran’s highest levels of government.

The claims have not been independently verified.  ...reports circulating in Israeli media have also claimed that he was recently taken to hospital. 

Separately, a report by Iran International, said Pezeshkian was taken to an undisclosed location in Tehran for a brief meeting with a man presented as Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. According to the report, the meeting took place inside a darkened vehicle and Pezeshkian was unable to see the man’s face. He later reportedly questioned whether the voice he heard actually belonged to Khamenei.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/iran-officials-would-not-be-surprised-if-supreme-leader-mojtaba-khamenei-dies-soon-report/ar-AA29Cok6?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email  

Ukraine's President Zelensky has in fresh remarks warned North Korea against its deepening involvement with Russian in executing the war against Ukraine.

Zelensky's late Monday words alleged that Russia recently received additional ballistic missiles from Pyongyang and is preparing to deploy more North Korean troops, after already sending thousands to fight on the Russian side.

While reports from the last couple years have estimated that North Korea has maintained up to around 10,000 troops in Russia related to the 'special military operation' in Ukraine, Zelensky is now floating a huge number of projected new DPRK forces.

Interestingly, Zelensky is using this narrative to try and goad South Korea into changing its policy and export heavy weapons, including anti-air defenses, to Ukraine.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/zelensky-claims-north-korea-sending-50k-troops-russia-presses-seoul-send-missiles   

On Friday Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a major defense agreement as leaders gathered in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. It seeks to strengthen joint deterrence and expanding defense cooperation, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

It is essentially a NATO-style agreement for the 'Muslim world' - given that it stipulates and formalizes that an armed attack on any of the countries will be treated as an attack against all of them....

Al Jazeera comments...Pakistan brings with it, obviously, its nuclear arsenal, battle-hardened military, and munitions it has been supplying. Turkiye, with its advanced drone and munitions systems, is a NATO member, combined with the economic power of Saudi Arabia.

Turkey has opposed Trump's Operation Epic Fury, and is an avowed enemy of Israel - and so this pact will only serve to further distance Saudi Arabia from entering the Abrahama Accords and establishing lasing normalization with Israel.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/saudi-arabia-turkey-pakistan-sign-islamic-nato-style-defense-pact-amid-iran-war  

The United States on Wednesday night launched another round of heavy airstrikes against Iran, which apparently sought to widen the war by attacking an Egyptian port with a kamikaze drone.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Wednesday night’s strikes were “in response to yesterday’s attempted missile attacks on U.S. forces.”

Iran continued launching attacks against its neighbors on Wednesday and Thursday, including an attack on a Chinese-owned building in Kuwait that killed one person, and another five ballistic missiles lobbed at Jordan.

The Kuwaiti military vowed to take “all necessary measures” to defend against “heinous Iranian aggression.”

That aggression apparently widened to Egypt on Wednesday, as an unidentified drone struck two ships at the port of Damietta near the Suez Canal, starting fires on board.

President Donald Trump told reporters he has been briefed on the incident and, while he did not disclose any details of the briefing, he strongly hinted that Iran was responsible.

Iran could be taking a risk by drawing the powerful Egyptian military into the war, although so far none of the nations attacked by Tehran has responded with force, except for Saudi Arabia joining U.S. forces to bomb Iran-controlled militias in Iraq on Tuesday night.

On the other hand, Iran might want to threaten the safety of the Suez Canal to shut down one of the routes employed by the Persian Gulf oil nations to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2026/07/30/iran-conflict-expands-to-egypt-with-drone-strike-on-suez-tanker/  

Most people were surprised by this development, but in retrospect, maybe it was inevitable that the wars in Ukraine and in Ikran were to merge into a full-blown WW3 for all to see.

The Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial ship in the ​Caspian Sea drew condemnation from Iran’s Foreign Ministry, which stated that the explosion killed ‌one sailor and injured another.

Reuters reported:

“Tehran described the ​attack on its vessel as an act of aggression and ⁠said it would defend its national interests and security, while accusing Kyiv ​of seeking to expand the war in Ukraine."

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/07/merging-wars-zelensky-strikes-iranian-ship-kills-one/  

Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said any activity that facilitates U.S. attacks on Iran would amount to complicity in what he described as “aggression and war crimes”, according to Iranian state media quoted by Reuters.

The warning follows word from the Bulgarian government that it would seek parliamentary approval to station up to eight U.S. tanker aircraft at an air base in Bulgaria, a member of NATO and the European Union.

Baghaei urged ‌Bulgaria ⁠not to become “an accomplice of aggressors and lawbreakers”, they said. The tanker aircraft are mainly used for airborne refuelling of other aircraft, including during strikes.

https://www.jns.org/news/world/iran-warns-bulgaria-against-hosting-us-warplanes  

Two US service members were killed in action in Jordan this week.

One service member is still missing.

...from CENTCOM:

On July 17, two U.S. service members in Jordan were killed in action as U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. Additionally, one service member is currently missing in action.

Four American service members were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals. They have since been discharged. Other personnel who were evaluated for minor injuries have returned to duty.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/07/breaking-two-us-service-members-killed-killed-action/  

U.S. airstrikes reportedly struck bridges, railroads, and an airport in southern Iran on Thursday, the sixth night of renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran.

Iranian state media said the U.S. targets included six bridges in Hormozgan province, a railway junction station in Bandar Abbas, an airport in Iranshahr, and a maritime control tower in the port city of Chabahar.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) did not provide a full list of targets on Friday, but did confirm some individual strikes, such as the Chabahar control tower – which CENTCOM described as “part of a maritime surveillance network along Iran’s Gulf of Oman coastline used for decades by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to track and target commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”

...Another lawmaker, Mohammadreza Rezaei-Kouchi, said that Iran would “target the infrastructure of countries cooperating with the United States” in response.

“If the enemy targets one bridge, we will target two of their infrastructure bridges,” he said.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2026/07/17/report-u-s-airstrikes-expand-bridges-railroads-airports-southern-iran/  

Russian President Vladimir Putin is coming under rare public criticism at home, a significant signal of how the pressures from the more than four-year war in Ukraine are hurting the country. 

Fuel shortages and rising inflation, high-profile attacks against Russian energy infrastructure and cities, and mounting military casualties are prompting prominent figures to start pinning the blame on Putin. 

“It is a crisis,” said Vladimir Milov, a Russian economist in exile who served as deputy minister of energy in 2002. “What we are seeing right now is an extreme acceleration of public admissions that we are in trouble.”

Russian air defenses are stretched thin, and there’s not enough manpower to operate them, analysts say, leaving open targets for Ukraine to hit.  

Russian forces are stalled, and it’s unclear if Putin is denying, unwilling to confront or misinformed about the true nature of the battlefield. 

A reportedly leaked Russian Ministry of Defense map from April showed Russian forces occupying Ukrainian towns it had failed to capture. The ISW said it had reason to believe the map was authentic and matched claims of military advances and victories from top Russian generals.

Stepanenko said it’s possible Putin is operating on misinformation.

https://www.aol.com/articles/crisis-putin-under-increasing-pressure-100000000.html