National and international media news & headlines compiled by CLG

U.S. resumes ‘powerful strikes’ on Iran after tanker attacks | 7 July 2026 | The U.S. announced a new round of strikes on Iran after several tankers were targeted while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media reported explosions in the early hours of Wednesday in the southern province of Hormozgan, including at the ports of Bandar Abbas and Sirik, as well as on Qeshm Island, close to the narrowest section of the strait. “The U.S. strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire,” CENTCOM said in a statement on X. A video posted on social media reportedly shows the strikes on Bandar Abbas.

U.S. revokes Iran oil sales authorization after tanker attacks | 7 July 2026 | The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday revoked its authorization of Iranian oil sales after a series of attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz this week. “Iran will only reap benefits if they exhibit good behavior,” a U.S. official told CNBC, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Iran’s actions in the Strait were wholly unacceptable to the United States and will be met with consequences.” A liquefied natural gas tanker, an oil supertanker and an unspecified third tanker came under attack in or near Hormuz on Tuesday, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center, a naval group led by the U.S. that provides security updates to merchant vessels in the Middle East. The threat to ships crossing Hormuz has increased to “severe” as hostile action by Iran is likely, the center warned mariners in a notice.

U.S. troops headed back to Poland | 6 July 2026 | U.S. troops are set to return to Poland after an initial pause on troop rotations, according to the Polish Ministry of Defense. The Pentagon in May halted a planned deployment of troops to the country, amid longstanding disagreements between Washington and European NATO partners over defense spending and the ongoing Ukraine War. Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stated on Monday that the troops would arrive in Poland, saying “[t]he rotational presence of American troops in Poland, which was suspended a few weeks ago, is being resumed,” according to The Hill. “It will continue, and in the coming weeks this process will be fully implemented,” he continued.

Less than half of Americans have faith in NATO – Politico | 7 July 2026 | Support for NATO in the U.S. has slipped following President Donald Trump’s repeated criticism of the military bloc, according to an internal survey seen by Politico. In a report released last week citing polling data, Politico said just 43% of U.S. adults believe NATO would honor Article 5 — the bloc’s collective defense clause in which an attack on one member is considered an attack on all — if the U.S. came under attack. This is the lowest level of confidence among the bloc’s 32 members and well below the 57% average. For years, Trump has accused European NATO members of failing to spend enough on their own defense. Last week, he called the relationship with NATO “one sided” and said it is “ridiculous” to maintain it, pointing to the gap in defense spending between the US and its allies in a Truth Social post.

Le Pen cleared to run for president | 7 July 2026 | Veteran French politician Marine Le Pen has announced that she will run for president in 2027 after an appeals court shortened the ban on holding elected office imposed last year while upholding her conviction over the misuse of European Parliament funds. A three-time presidential candidate who reached the runoff in 2017 and 2022, Le Pen had been widely viewed as the frontrunner to succeed President Emmanuel Macron before last year’s conviction sidelined her from the race. She has denied any wrongdoing. On Tuesday, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld Le Pen’s conviction but reduced her five-year ban on holding elected office to 45 months, with 30 months suspended, making her eligible to stand in 2027. The court also sentenced her to three years in prison, including two years suspended, ordered the remaining year to be served under home detention with electronic monitoring, and imposed a 114,000 fine.

Secret Service knew Trump’s shooter had a rifle and was ON THE ROOF and never told his own detail, bombshell intelligence report reveals | 2 July 2026 | Secret Service agents knew Thomas Crooks had a rifle and had made his way onto a rooftop in Butler, Pennsylvania, with a clear shot at Donald Trump — and never issued a word to the president’s own protective detail. Those details were revealed in a critical new report released Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General. According to the report, the Secret Service missed multiple opportunities to detect, prevent, and disrupt Thomas Crooks’s attempted assassination of Trump during the July 13 episode in the midst of the 2024 presidential campaign. The report details that local law enforcement notified the Secret Service of a “suspicious person” on the roof at 6:09 pm. Trump was shot at eight times at 6:11 pm.

Top highlights from Trump’s late night July 4 address: ‘No dream in history is bigger’ –Trump: ‘Our destiny is written by God’; 250 years is still only ‘dawn of Golden Age’ | 5 July 2026 | President Donald Trump delivered a 37-minute speech for America’s 250th birthday after a weather delay in the dark of night that was lit up by a Guinness world-record-setting fireworks display stretching from July 4 into July 5 at Washington, D.C.’s National Mall. While thousands outlasted the rain and dodged nature’s thunderstorm light show, many Americans might have missed the president’s historic remarks. Here are a few highlights: “No dream in history is bigger” than the American experiment –“In this country, we could achieve the wildest and most impossible dreams, and no dream in history is bigger or more incredible than the one that started on July 4, 1776,” Trump said. “The war for independence was launched by minutemen, farmers, blacksmiths, tradesmen who took up their muskets against the mightiest army on Earth, the most powerful army and unbeatable army – until they met us.” “No one made them do it. They fought because they knew that a free people must have a free country. Over 250 years, the world has seen the great empires, vast kingdoms, mighty nations and terrible tyrants: They came and they went, but after two and a half centuries, this American republic still stands tall and strong,” the president added.