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Russia-Ukraine War 2026
19JUL

Second US strike wave in 48 hours

2 min read
13:35UTC

CENTCOM struck about 90 Iranian targets on 8 July, cutting power across three southern ports; a day later the IRGC claimed strikes on 85 US-linked sites and, for the first time, Qatari soil.

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ConflictDeveloping
Key takeaway

The war's kinetic track has outrun any signed text, leaving no ceasefire document left to enforce.

CENTCOM, US Central Command, struck Iran again on Wednesday 8 July, hitting roughly 90 military targets: missile and drone stores, logistics depots, a railway bridge in the north-east and a base at Bushehr, with partial power loss reported across the southern ports of Bandar Abbas, Konarak and Chabahar 1. That second wave dwarfs the 80-target strike CENTCOM ran days earlier , widening the campaign from military sites into the electricity that keeps three port cities running.

Iran answered on Thursday 9 July with a claimed joint IRGC Navy and Air Force operation against about 85 US-linked sites, naming Camp Arifjan and Ali Al Salem in Kuwait and Sheikh Isa and Juffair in Bahrain 2. For the first time the IRGC extended its target list to Qatari soil, claiming a strike on a satellite antenna. Iran had last hit US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain on 28 June , a salvo Washington answered then with a bounded raid on ten targets . This round outsizes both, and neither government signed an order to accompany it.

No executive order, sanction or fresh military authorisation accompanied either the strikes or the retaliation. The exchange runs on sorties and claims, not signed instruments, which leaves the Islamabad memorandum with no document to breach and none to restore.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

The United States and Iran have been trading strikes since February, and this is the latest exchange. On 8 July, US Central Command (CENTCOM) hit around 90 sites inside Iran, cutting power in three port cities. Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the country's most powerful military and political force, says it hit back at roughly 85 sites across the Gulf, including for the first time a target in Qatar, a country that has been trying to broker peace talks between the two sides. Nobody outside Iran has independently confirmed most of Iran's claimed hits.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

The IRGC's Decentralised Mosaic Defence Doctrine, activated on 28 February and built around 31 autonomous provincial launch units, means retaliation claims like the 85-site tally cannot be centrally verified even by Tehran itself; the doctrine trades coordinated accuracy for survivability after the loss of its Navy and Ground Forces chiefs in March.

CENTCOM's own force posture, roughly 24 warships and 50,000 personnel concentrated in theatre since 30 June, sets a target-count asymmetry (90 struck versus 85 claimed) that pressures Iran toward matching numbers rather than matching effect, since it cannot match capability.

Sources:CENTCOM·Tasnim News Agency
Mentions:CENTCOM (US Central Command) →Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) →Bandar Abbas →Ali Al Salem Air Base →Sheikh Isa airbase →Kuwait →Bahrain →Iran →Donald Trump →Iraq →Islamabad →Gulf War →Abqaiq-Khurais →IISS →Gulf Research Centre →Qatar →Tehran →Tasnim →United States →Israel →Washington →Doha →Saudi Arabia →Riyadh →Konarak →Camp Arifjan →Juffair →Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant →Chabahar →
First Reported In

Update #150 · Second US strike wave, first heavy toll

CENTCOM· 9 Jul 2026
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Causes and effects
Caused by
First double-digit toll of the truce
The 14 killed and 78 wounded resulted directly from the 8-9 July strike-and-retaliation exchange.
Occurred 9 Jul 2026
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Oil keeps its war premium near $78
The held oil premium is a direct market response to the 8-9 July strike-and-retaliation exchange.
Occurred 9 Jul 2026
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Iran hits Jordan and three Gulf states
The Jordan and Gulf-wide strikes extend the 8 July CENTCOM-and-IRGC exchange to a fourth country.
Occurred 9 Jul 2026
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This Event
Second US strike wave in 48 hours
A second US strike wave and an 85-site Iranian reply mark the sharpest escalation since the 16 June memorandum, with no signed instrument on either side.
Led to
CENTCOM hits 80 sites; Iran claims Gulf
The 90-target second wave escalates the 80-target strike two days earlier in count and geography.
Occurred 7 Jul 2026
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Iran hits US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain
Iran's 9 July retaliation follows the same Kuwait-Bahrain target pattern as its 28 June strikes.
Occurred 27 Jun 2026
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US strikes Iran's minelayers in Hormuz
The 90-target strike dwarfs CENTCOM's earlier 10-target response on 27 June.
Occurred 26 Jun 2026
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140 US sorties, zero signed paper
CENTCOM's third wave extends the strike cadence set by the 8 July 90-target wave.
Occurred 12 Jul 2026
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Different Perspectives
The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom
Starmer pledged £300 million in Kyiv on 16 July toward Ukraine's Gripen E squadron, adding to the PURL expansion Trump and Rutte had announced two days earlier. London is paying into a scheme built around a shortfall NATO's own published $4bn-plus pledge does not close against Zelenskyy's roughly $15bn stated need.
Brussels
Brussels
The EU's 21st sanctions package missed its Coreper vote on 15 July over Greek LNG re-export rights and an Austrian bank compensation demand, the same week Hungary stalled accession clusters on procedure rather than veto. Both processes run on unanimity, so a single national interest, not Russia policy, sets the pace either can move at.
Hungary's Tisza government
Hungary's Tisza government
Budapest refused to open EU accession Clusters 2 and 3 for Ukraine at COELA on 17 July, offering Moldova a standalone opening instead, and the question returns on 22 July. Having ended Orbán's blanket loan veto in May, it now blocks the narrower rule-of-law chapters where its own electorate is least comfortable.
Washington
Washington
Trump and Rutte expanded PURL on 14 July, letting allies fund the American interceptors and jets Washington will license but no longer gift outright. The same week, Lockheed Martin told allies it cannot guarantee PAC-3 MSE delivery timelines even after tripling output, so Washington now shapes Ukraine's air defence through a supply queue rather than a donation decision.
Moscow
Moscow
Novak ordered a study into cutting the diesel exchange quota to 10% within a week of his export ban, while June delivered Russia's first budget surplus of 2026 and National Wealth Fund liquidity above its own May forecast. Its own investors disagree: the Moscow Exchange has fallen for its longest losing streak since 1997.
Ukraine's government and its street protesters
Ukraine's government and its street protesters
Zelenskyy sacked Fedorov on 15 July, installed an acting SBU officer in his place, and did not move against three days of protest that followed across eight cities. He is betting that visible tolerance for dissent, timed to EU accession hearings on rule of law, outweighs whatever command dispute forced the reshuffle.