By Alexandra Sharp
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the United States’ shifting approach to the Strait of Hormuz, escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi rebel group, and another high-ranking purge in the China's Communist Party.
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U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a bilateral meeting with the Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi (not pictured) at the White House in Washington on July 14.Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a dizzying approach to the Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, he declared his intention to impose heavy tolls on all commercial shipping through the strait as payment for U.S. protection. But within 24 hours, Trump had reversed course, caving to foreign pressure that demanded an open thoroughfare.
“Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. He did not specify what those investments might be, but he claimed that they would create millions of high-paying jobs for U.S. citizens while being “extraordinarily good” for Gulf countries.
For months, Washington has cited Iran’s Strait of Hormuz ambitions, including Tehran’s desire to impose tolls on commercial shipping, as a primary reason for continued warfare. Then after several days of tit-for-tat strikes last week, Trump appeared to take a page out of Iran’s playbook, demanding that a 20 percent fee be imposed on all cargo to reimburse the United States for its security services.
“We’re going to be reimbursed because the other nations are very wealthy, they’re on our side, and we can’t be expected to do that for nothing,” Trump told Fox & Friends on Monday. A 20 percent toll would have generated around $240 million a day, according to Reuters data.
Trump’s announcement quickly sparked fierce condemnation from international organizations and global shipping companies, which argued that any U.S. (or Iranian) effort to charge fees would violate international law. The White House appears to have heard their concerns. “I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.
However, the president’s about-face on tolls has not altered his other Iran war strategies. On Tuesday, Trump reiterated his commitment to reimposing the U.S. military blockade on Iran, which officially went back into effect at 4 p.m. EDT. The “Strait of Hormuz is open to ALL Ship traffic except for Iran — and that is because of their lying, violent, malicious leadership, which is taking them down the path of TOTAL DESTRUCTION,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He applauded the U.S. military’s efforts in the region and claimed that “[o]il is flowing like never before.” Crude prices rose roughly 2 percent on Tuesday, hitting a one-month high, and the number of vessels transiting the strait continued to fall, plummeting to just 10 ships on Monday in the smallest daily total in more than a month.
Trump has also doubled down on the United States’ military campaign against Iran. U.S. Central Command announced on Tuesday that U.S. forces had begun another round of strikes on Iran, prioritizing sites that would degrade Tehran’s ability to attack ships in the strait. This was the fourth consecutive day of U.S. strikes against the country. Such intense operations mirror the kind of military action that Washington deployed at the start of the war.
Earlier on Tuesday, Iran fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan as well as launched aerial attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait.
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Riyadh’s Houthi front. Houthi rebels in Yemen launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport on Monday, marking the Iranian-backed proxy group’s largest attack on the kingdom in four years. Houthi leadership said the operation was retaliation for an alleged Saudi strike on Sanaa International Airport earlier that day, which the internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government in Yemen confirmed was meant to prevent an Iranian plane carrying Houthi officials from landing. No casualties were reported in either incident.
Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree warned airlines on Monday against flying through Saudi airspace. These threats must be taken “seriously until the blockade on Sanaa International Airport is lifted,” Saree said in a video posted to Telegram. In response, Yemeni Vice President Abdullah al-Alimi called all Iranian flights into and out of Yemen a violation of the country’s sovereignty, accusing these aircraft of carrying equipment for the Houthis.
Renewed military conflict between Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi Arabia could exacerbate tensions in the Middle East and force Riyadh to take a more direct role in the Iran war. Axios reported on Monday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman had given Trump advance warning of the strike on Sanaa International Airport and asked for the United States’ backing, signaling that Saudi Arabia might require greater U.S. military and diplomatic support in the near future.
CCP purge. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expelled a senior member of the Politburo on Tuesday as part of a state-led anti-corruption crackdown. Ma Xingrui was placed under investigation in April for allegedly violating party discipline and national laws. He was charged on Tuesday with several illicit activities, including accepting bribes, using his position to secure contracts and job promotions for others, and engaging in “power for sex” transactions. Ma was the party chief of China’s Xinjiang region until 2025.
“If [Chinese President Xi Jinping] wants the elite, and especially his own followers, to understand that the rules of survival have changed—that even attaching oneself to him does not guarantee political safety and that one can still be purged—then the best way is to make an example of one of his own,” Deng Yuwen argued in Foreign Policy in April, when Ma was placed under investigation.
Over the past 18 months, Xi has gone after several high-ranking members in his inner circle. In October 2025, the CCP expelled nine top civilian and military officials, including Central Military Commission Vice Chairman He Weidong and chief political commissar Miao Hua. Three months later, Beijing announced investigations into Gen. Zhang Youxia, the country’s highest military member below Xi, and Gen. Liu Zhenli, the head of the military’s Joint Staff Department. Then in May, the Chinese military issued suspended death sentences to former Defense Ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu for what state media called “disloyalty to the party.”
Lack of funding. The spread of Ebola across the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to outpace the response efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO). According to WHO emergencies chief Chikwe Ihekweazu on Tuesday, the United Nations agency has received less than half the funding it needs to fight the dangerous virus.
“This outbreak requires resources that match the scale of the challenges that we are facing, and this is not a burden DRC can be allowed to carry alone,” Ihekweazu said in an appeal for more foreign donations. “It’s a bit like a marathon. You can’t give up after the first lap or the second. You just have to keep pushing even when you’re getting tired and exhausted.” So far, WHO has received just 40 percent of its $115 million request.
Official estimates report that at least 721 people have died from the Bundibugyo strand of Ebola and nearly 2,000 others have been infected. However, Ihekweazu stressed on Tuesday that the true number of cases was at least double that figure and could possibly be more than four times it. The Bundibugyo strand has no proven vaccine, making this outbreak particularly worrisome. But on Tuesday, researchers in Congo announced that they had begun trial-testing an antiviral post-exposure treatment.
Soccer fanatics, bandwagon fans, and just about everyone else on Earth knows that the World Cup final is just days away. On Tuesday, France and Spain went head-to-head to determine one-half of the final roster, with Argentina and England set to compete on Wednesday. Here are some big numbers to take you into the last few matches:
- 21—the number of World Cup goals by all-time lead scorer Lionel Messi
- 507 pounds—the weight of each country flag unfurled at the start of the games
- $32,970—the face value of premium tickets to the final match that were released in May
- $713,000—the estimated value of the gold in the World Cup trophy
- $50 million—the prize money given to whichever team wins Sunday’s final
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