Live: Escalating shipping route clashes as US military and Iran trade fresh strikes

Unmanned aircraft from Ukraine hit an online retail giant's storage facility close to Saint Petersburg early Friday (July 24, 2026), igniting a major fire that sent columns of smoke over the historic city, local officials and media reported. Kyiv has recently focused on Saint Petersburg as it steps up long-range drone missions against Russian energy facilities, military stations, and supply hubs, describing the operations as justified retaliation for Moscow's persistent night-time aerial bombardments of Ukrainian cities. Russia's Defense Ministry declared that its defense systems successfully brought down roughly 571 drones overnight across more than twelve regions and Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula seized and annexed by Russia back in 2014. In Saint Petersburg, which is located more than 800 km (500 miles) away from the Ukrainian border and is the hometown of President Vladimir Putin, a reporter observed dark smoke billow into the sky over residential high-rises in the morning. The local governor confirmed that a warehouse belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s biggest digital retailer and commonly known as "Russia's Amazon," caught fire after the strike. - AFP

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated on Friday (July 24, 2026) that Iran would hold any nation accountable if they assist the United States in executing military strikes on the country. "Any form of collaboration, participation, or assistance in launching aggression against Iran will invoke international liability for the involving parties," Mr. Araghchi announced during a conference in Kyrgyzstan, adding that Iran "retains its complete right to enforce all vital self-defense actions." - AFP

"Emergency sirens were activated in Bahrain on Friday (July 24, 2026)," the Interior Ministry announced, while a local journalist reported hearing a loud blast. This incident occurs two weeks into the renewed US-Iran military conflict, which has brought near-daily Iranian strikes on the island nation. "The warning siren has been sounded. We urge citizens and residents to remain composed and head directly to the nearest secure location," the Ministry posted on X. - AFP

A late-night US military strike on Iran’s southwestern region of Khuzestan resulted in the deaths of at least four people and left several others wounded, Iranian state media reported on Friday (July 24, 2026). "Following the missile strikes by the hostile US forces near the outskirts of Ahvaz city, four of our citizens lost their lives and five others suffered injuries," the province's deputy governor, Valiollah Hayati, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. - AFP

The volume of cargo vessels navigating through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to just one on Thursday (July 24, 2026), recording its lowest mark since May 7, according to vessel tracking figures, amid ongoing shipping threats in West Asia and a surge in oil prices back to $100 per barrel. Only a single oil tanker completed the crossing through the Strait of Hormuz on July 23, down from three vessels recorded on the previous day, according to analytics provider Kpler. The massive crude vessel New Giant, loaded with 2 million barrels of Basrah crude sourced from Iraq, navigated out of the strait on Thursday and is scheduled to reach Rizhao port in China by mid-August. - Reuters

Tehran announced Friday (July 24, 2026) that US President Donald Trump’s warning to utilize frozen Iranian financial assets to fund shipping damages represents a dangerous and provocative precedent. "Confiscating another sovereign nation's assets to cover unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X. - AFP