Trump considering a 'massive attack' on Iran in wake of Jordan base bombings

Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery said Friday he expects the Trump administration to intensify its military strategy against Iran in an effort to pressure the regime into reaching a resolution.

Montgomery, a Fox News military analyst, said on "America Reports" that he believes President Donald Trump will "go big" in the coming weeks.

"I think at this point, the president is going to go big," Montgomery said, predicting the administration will continue strikes near the Strait of Hormuz.

He also expects the U.S. to broaden its campaign by targeting Iran's economy.

"And he's going to expand it to include more economic targets in Iran," Montgomery said. "In other words, increase the economic pressure."

Montgomery argued that combining additional strikes with a successful blockade would significantly increase pressure on the Iranian regime.

"When you combine that with a successful reimposition of the blockade, you bring real pressure on the regime," he said. "You need to expand this to impose costs on the regime so that they feel pressure to make either an appropriate deal, or eventually, maybe the regime collapses."

The U.S. military fired upon and disabled a merchant vessel Friday after it repeatedly attempted to violate an Iranian blockade in the Gulf of Oman, Fox News has learned.

According to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the M/T Lavine attempted to evade the blockade at least four times despite repeated warnings from U.S. forces. After the crew failed to comply, U.S. forces fired into the vessel's engine room, bringing the ship to a stop.

The vessel was successfully disabled, CENTCOM said.

Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., delivered an impassioned Senate floor speech urging lawmakers to reject the Iran War Powers Resolution, arguing the measure would undermine U.S. troops and ignore decades of Iranian aggression against Americans.

"We didn't start this war," Sheehy said. "We did not, but we will finish it."

The combat veteran dismissed criticism that the U.S. was entering another "forever war," saying American service members deserve lawmakers' support while confronting a threat that has persisted for nearly five decades.

"Forever wars are not popular with anybody these days," Sheehy said. "Both sides love to attack our forever wars. And I can promise you, being someone overseas wearing the uniform, when you're fighting for your country, you don't care what party's in office. But you're fighting to defend your country, and you turn on the news and see your elected officials stabbing you in the back, telling you that you're failing, that you've failed every goal of the war."

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) released an image Friday showing U.S. Army soldiers working on a generator. 

"U.S. Army Soldiers work to refuel a generator at a base in the Middle East," CENTCOM wrote on X. 

The name of the military installation was not disclosed, but many with U.S. troops in the middle East have been targeted in Iranian airstrikes. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi reportedly asked Iranian officials to guarantee the safe passage of Iraqi oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz during his visit to Tehran.

The development was reported by Alhurra, a U.S. government-funded Arabic-language satellite television and digital media network.

Tehran has not provided a clear response and may react negatively over al-Zaidi's recent visit to Washington and agreements with US companies, sources told the news outlet.

The United Nations human rights systems has been losing credibility for decades, said Jeff Bartos, the the U.N. ambassador for UN Management & Reform.

Bartos saved his harsh criticism for Volker Türk, an Austrian lawyer who serves as the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"Mr. Turk has condemned free democracies, including the United States, UK, France, Australia, Italy, and more than any other country, Israel. But when it comes to the aggressive human rights abuses of the authoritarian regime in Havana, instead of giving hope to the Cuban people, his office has spent its time calling on the United State to lift sanctions on this oppressive communist regime," Bartos said. "When the Iranian regime began a new wave of brutalizing and massacring 40,000 of citizens, Turk remain silent for 12 days. But he quickly condemned U.S. Actions to ensure Iran, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, never obtains a nuclear weapon."

Truk also presided over a "discriminatory database targeting American companies, enabled the UN's anti-Israel machinery," said Bartos.

The U.N. General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly voted to extend Turk's role for four more years.

Threats from Iranian proxy forces targeting President Donald Trump and Air Force One prompted hm to switch planes as he was leaving the NATO Summit in Turkey.

Trump flew into Ankara on the new Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8, which lacks the same advanced defensive capabilities of the old Air Force One, The New York Times reported.

Trump changed planes after the Secret Service learned of a credible threat against him.

While at the summit, Trump said that Iran wants him dead.

"I'm No. 1 on the kill list for Iran," the president told reporters Wednesday. "I like being number one on TikTok better."

Jewish leaders in New York City called on Mayor Zorhan Mamdani to tone down his remarks concerning Israel, a day after a Jewish man was stabbed on the street.

“When the mayor of New York repeatedly uses his platform to relentlessly single out and demonize Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, and calls those who support it ‘monsters,’ he contributes to a climate in which Jewish New Yorkers are increasingly targeted,” said Eric Goldstein, the head of the UJA-Federation of New York, the Times of Israel reported.

“Mayor Mamdani, stop fanning the flames of hatred and division. The consequences are not abstract. They’re playing out on our streets,” he added.

Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus, 50, was stabbed with a screwdriver by a man “Allahu Akbar!’’ on the Upper West Side, the New York Post reported.

A Saudi-led coalition on Friday it struck Houthi targets threatening Red Sea shipping.

“The terrorist Houthi military… targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea,” coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki wrote on X, adding the coalition “carried out a decisive and strong response” targeting Houthi military sites used to threaten Red Sea shipping and that the “military response is now over.”

The coalition noted it continues to take measures to protect its ships and the kingdom's interests.

President Donald Trump repeated calls for Saudi Arabia to  join the Abraham Accords in an effort to normalize relations with Israel, in order for a recently signed U.S.-Saudi nuclear agreement to take effect.

“In order to do it, they have to be a member of the Abraham Accords, which have been very successful, but it’s time now that they do it,” Trump said Friday.

The deal, inked this week, would allow U.S. companies to provide nuclear energy to Saudi Arabia.

"A lot of things have changed with respect to that country," Trump said. "So, no, we want them to it's a two way street, and we think it's very important for the future of the Middle East."

Iran can either negotiate a deal with the United States or continue to be targeted with military strikes, President Donald Trump said Friday when asked about a U.S. exit strategy.

"There's two ways. I mean, you can just keep doing exactly what we're doing and take them apart piece by piece," Trump told reporters on Friday. "We could do it in a more rapid fashion, which we might do. Or we can negotiate with them, which we're also doing right now. I mean, as we speak, we're talking to them."

Trump said Tehran wants to make a deal despite the current regime's actions.

"Sometimes they don't want to say they want to make a deal," he said. "They want to be the tough guys, but they do want to make a deal."

President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States was “locked and loaded” should the war with Iran escalate.

Trump said his administration was talking with leaders in Tehran amid continual military strikes aimed at degrading the country's military capability.

“I think they're getting more and more serious as the days go by. There are two ways. I consider that the smarter way, but the other is probably the easier way, doing what we are doing,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “And we can take that to a much higher level if we want to… We're locked and loaded and ready to go.”

"But we're talking to them. I think while we're talking, we'll see what comes of it,” he added.

A Mozambique-flagged tanker carrying 28 Indian crew members was ​attacked in Iranian territorial waters ‌on Friday, the Indian embassy in Tehran said.

All crew member were safe, the embassy said. The embassy said it was monitoring the situation.

The vessel, the Disha, was attacked by an unknown missile near the Strait of Hormuz while en route to the Persian Gulf. the Forward ​Seamen's Union of India, which represents ‌Indian ⁠maritime workers, said on X.

President Trump was meeting Friday with top advisers and senior members of his cabinet to decide whether to intensify the military action against Iran, according to media reports.

The meeting comes after the collapse of a fragile cease-fire and a memorandum of understanding that was intended to bring the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table for a longer-term denuclearization deal, The New York Times reported.

“I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision," he told Axios on Thursday. "We are all set for it.”

The Trump administration and British leaders are planning to convene a high-level meeting in London next week to discuss a potential international coalition to protect maritime shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The narrow waterway has been a primary point of contention between the U.S. and the Iranian regime.

The strait is at the center of the fight, with Tehran claiming ownership and U.S. forces initiating a blockade.

Bahrain and Kuwait, Gulf states that have been targeted multiple times by Iranian missile strikes, secretly sent fighter jets to attack targets inside Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The United Arab Emirates provided intelligence on the targets and defensive air cover for the strikes, according to the report.

The airstrikes were carried out earlier this month and targeted drone and missile storage facilities, among other military sites.

The French Embassy in Iran mocked a report by an Iranian state-run media outlet that claimed European ambassadors stationed in Tehran gathered at the residence of the French ambassador on July 20.

The claim was part of a report alleging that the departure of British diplomats from Tehran was part of a U.S. psychological warfare campaign, coordinated directly with Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a phone call with the British Foreign Secretary.

"To the esteemed journalists of the Tehran Times, next time, please check your information with your friends in Iran's intelligence services, who have about ten cameras monitoring the French Embassy," the French Embassy wrote on X. "Unfortunately, no gathering took place at our embassy on July 20!"

President Donald Trump thanked Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev after the country’s lawmakers approved allowing the U.S. military to use an air base there in support of American operations amid the war with Iran.

“Thank you, President Radev!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, sharing a Newsmax report on the parliamentary vote despite Tehran’s warnings to Bulgaria.

The vote by the country's parliament to authorize the use of Bezmer Air Base comes as Western allies have resisted participating in the conflict.

The U.S. Embassies in Jordan and Jerusalem each issued stark warnings to Americans in the region amid heightened tensions and the threat of Iranian attacks.

The U.S. Embassy in Jordan, a country which announced its military had already shot down Iranian missiles and drones on Friday, warned Americans against traveling to U.S. bases in Jordan after direct threats from Iran. The embassy also warned all Americans not already in the Middle East from traveling to the area.

"Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise caution and heightened vigilance and should be prepared for flight cancellations, periodic airspace closures, and potential travel disruptions. Some airlines in the region have postponed resumption of earlier flight schedules; others have cancelled some routes," the embassy wrote in a Friday post on X.

"U.S. diplomatic facilities, including outside the Middle East, have been targeted. Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other U.S. interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world, including U.S. businesses and other institutions," the post continued.

U.S. Embassy Amman advises all Americans to avoid travel to military bases in Jordan. We remind U.S. citizens that Iran has also attacked civilian and critical infrastructure across the Middle East, including hotels, airports, and other civilian locations," the embassy also added.

Similarly, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem also advised U.S. travelers to prepare for canceled flights.

"Due to heightened tensions in the Middle East, the security environment remains complex, with the potential for unforeseen escalation. U.S. citizens should exercise increased caution, stay alert, and be prepared for possible flight cancellations, airspace closures, and other travel disruptions," the embassy said in a Friday post on X.