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strikeAug 17, 2026

Ukraine's 822-Drone War Record Burns Moscow Warehouse; Oregon Now Builds Its Naval Weapons

Summary

On the night of August 15–16, 2026, Ukraine sent 822 drones into Russian territory in a single overnight operation — the largest drone barrage in the history of armed conflict, surpassing by more than 24% the prior record it set on June 26 — when Russia claimed 660 drones intercepted in a single night. Russian air defense forces claimed to have intercepted all 822 before they reached their targets; fires still burned at two major Moscow-region logistics sites by morning, and at least six people were dead. The attack was the latest — and largest — in a campaign that has now knocked seven of Wildberries' ten largest logistics hubs out of operation, forced Russia's Central Bank to raise its 2026 inflation forecast from 4.5–5.5% to 6–7%, and produced economic losses analysts estimate at up to 230 billion rubles (approximately $2.74 billion USD). At the same time, a separate milestone passed almost unremarked: on July 21, Clackamas, Oregon-based defense manufacturer ReconCraft signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukrainian drone company UFORCE to produce Ukraine's battle-tested Magura naval drone — the weapon that drove Russia's Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol — at factories in Oregon and South Carolina, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. Taken together, those two developments define the moment Ukraine's drone war has reached: it is no longer just reshaping the battlefield in eastern Europe. It is reshaping what gets manufactured in American factories. Russia Claims 822 Drones Shot Down — Fires Burned Anyway Russia's Ministry of Defense reported that its air defenses intercepted all 822 Ukrainian drones overnight, with approximately 600 directed at the Moscow region alone. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that 201 drones were destroyed over Moscow Oblast; Moscow Oblast Governor Andrey Vorobyov described the night as "one of the most massive drone attacks in recent memory" and confirmed that one person was killed when a drone struck a private home — an 83-year-old man. In Russia's southwestern Rostov region, Governor Yury Slyusar reported that more than 150 drones targeted three communities, killing five people, damaging residential buildings and a railway station, and setting off a forest fire. Drones were intercepted over 16 Russian regions, plus occupied Crimea, the Sea of Azov, and the Black Sea — meaning that air defense batteries, radar stations, and electronic warfare units across a geography stretching from Moscow to the far southwest were simultaneously activated and stressed. That dispersion is not a side effect of the attack; it is a primary objective. When 16 defensive systems must activate simultaneously to track and engage incoming waves, none of them can concentrate resources where they matter most. The cost arithmetic reinforces the point: Ukraine's Fire Point company confirmed that its FP-1 drones — which cost $55,000 per unit — were used to strike the Wildberries Koledino warehouse complex in Podolsk. Russia's interceptor missiles cost anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars per shot. An 822-drone night costs Ukraine an estimated $45 million at FP-1 unit prices; the interception bill for the defender runs far higher. Simultaneously, six people were wounded in Kyiv after Russian missile strikes hit a book market and other civilian areas. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the Kyiv casualties. What Ukraine Hit — and Why the Targeting Logic Has Changed The primary target in the Moscow region was a Wildberries warehouse complex in the village of Koledino, near Podolsk, approximately 185 kilometers (115 miles) south of Moscow. The facility is Wildberries' largest single logistics center in Russia — approximately 200,000 to 250,000 square meters (2.15 to 2.69 million square feet) — and employs 13,000 workers. A second logistics complex, Severnoye Domodedovo, was also struck in the Moscow Oblast attack. This was not the first strike on a Wildberries facility, nor the tenth. Ukraine has struck approximately 20 Wildberries sites since the campaign began on July 18. By the morning of August 16, seven of Wildberries' ten largest logistics hubs had been taken out of operation. The total warehouse space disabled or destroyed across the campaign has been estimated at roughly 552,000 square meters (5.94 million square feet) — approximately 10% of Wildberries' total logistics footprint. The explicit rationale from Kyiv has two parts. Ukraine's military has accused Wildberries of routing drone components, navigation equipment, fiber-optic cable, body armor, and other military materiel through its logistics network — a claim the company denies. A senior Ukrainian official separately told the Financial Times that the strikes constitute retaliation for Russian attacks on Nova Poshta, Ukraine's largest private logistics company. Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert Brovdi has added a psychological dimension: the strikes are intended to destroy "the illusion of a comfortable peacetime existence for the obedient population of the aggressor state." Whether that targeting logic satisfies international humanitarian law remains genuinely contested. Under Article 52(2) of Additional Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, a lawful military target must make "an effective contribution to military action" and offer "a definite military advantage" when struck. International lawyers cited by Meduza assessed that Wildberries' incidental sale of dual-use goods is likely insufficient to meet that threshold. Conflict Intelligence Team co-founder Ruslan Leviev argued the strikes constitute a war crime by the same legal standard that governs Russian attacks on Ukrainian logistics. Wildberries Bank is sanctioned by both the European Union and the United Kingdom. The company itself removed the "SVO" — special military operation — search category from its platform only after the strikes began. What is not in legal dispute is the economic consequence. Wildberries accounts for approximately 52% of Russia's online orders, making it the country's dominant e-commerce platform. Independent economist Vladislav Inozemtsev told The Moscow Times that the Wildberries strikes are "quite seriously undermining the Russian economy" and forecast that inflation will run 2–3 percentage points above prior expectations, with thousands of business owners facing bankruptcy. Russia's Central Bank, in its July 2026 monetary policy statement, explicitly cited strikes on oil refineries and on Wildberries' logistics network as the primary drivers of the revised 6–7% inflation forecast — up sharply from the prior 4.5–5.5% — and cut its 2026 GDP growth forecast from 0.5–1.5% to 0.0–1.0%. Read more: Ukraine Drone Strikes Ryazan Refinery and Wildberries Hub as Russia's Refining Hits 21-Year Low How Ukraine Flies a $55,000 Drone 994 Miles Through Russian Jamming Understanding how the August 16–17 attack was possible requires understanding the specific engineering challenge it solved — and why it took until late 2024 to solve it. Russia operates one of the world's most sophisticated electronic warfare (EW) environments. From the early months of the full-scale invasion, that environment reliably degraded GPS-dependent weapons: drones lost positioning lock, missiles wandered off course, targeting systems fed false coordinates. For the first two years of the war, this constrained Ukraine's deep-strike capability to systems that either used inertial navigation (accurate over short ranges but degraded over long ones) or depended on Western platforms that carried their own EW-resistant guidance. The Fire Point FP-1 resolved this by layering three independent navigation modes. The primary mode is satellite guidance — used when available. The fallback is an inertial navigation unit: a gyroscopic reference system that tracks the drone's movement through space without any external signal, accumulating position estimates from acceleration data alone. Over the FP-1's full 1,600-kilometer (994-mile) operational range, inertial drift would eventually produce meaningful errors — but the system resolves that with a third layer, terrain-matching. A downward-looking camera compares the landscape passing beneath the drone against a preloaded digital map of the expected flight path, correcting position estimates in real time without any external signal that Russia's EW systems could spoof. For terminal approach — the final few kilometers before impact — a remote Ukrainian operator takes visual control via a satellite or mesh radio-relay link, a chain of relay drones that passes line-of-sight signal from the target zone back to the controller. The drone strikes on impact. That architecture — three redundant navigation layers terminating in human visual control — is specifically designed to survive the Russian EW environment that degraded simpler systems. The FP-1 carries a modular warhead weighing between 60 and 120 kilograms, and its airframe uses radar-absorbent materials to reduce radar cross-section. Fire Point had scaled from 30 to more than 100 units per day by mid-2025, with more than 5,000 built in total. At $55,000 per unit, the FP-1 costs roughly one-quarter of comparable Western long-range strike systems. The Backfire — a reusable fixed-wing strike drone from Ukrainian firm Raging Birds — represents a different segment of the same evolution: a shorter-range (180–200 km / 112–124 miles) tactical bomber designed for targets deep in Russian rear areas. A 2026 aerodynamic redesign nearly tripled the Backfire's payload capacity from 5–6 kg (11–13 lbs) to 14–17 kg (31–37 lbs), while extending its range from 140–160 km to 180–200 km (112–124 miles). Raging Birds described the redesign as a complete rethinking of "shape, weight, arrangement of elements and their functions" driven by direct feedback from units that had already flown over 50 missions with the new prototypes. Both systems solve the same strategic problem Ukraine identified by mid-2024: the country needed strike capacity that neither exported engines could be embargoed from nor Western governments could veto. New domestically produced propulsion systems addressed the engine dependency; the FP-1's navigation architecture addressed the EW vulnerability. The result is a strike portfolio that is harder to constrain at the supply level and harder to defeat at the defense level simultaneously. What the Economics of 822 Drones Mean Beyond Ukraine The Australian Army Research Centre, in its analysis "Drones in Modern Warfare 2024–2026," described the period from mid-2024 to mid-2026 as a transition from what it called the "hobbyist era" into the "industrialised autonomy era" of systematic, high-tempo, multi-domain uncrewed systems warfare, with innovation cycles measured in weeks rather than months. Every day, according to the AARC, Ukrainian forces deploy thousands of platforms across the full spectrum of unmanned categories — FPV strike drones, ISR systems, loitering munitions, deep-strike drones, heavy multirotor bombers, and drone interceptors. That assessment arrived in the same summer that Ukraine retook 78 square miles of territory over five days in February 2026, driven in large part by drone scaling — the fastest Ukrainian territorial gain in years — and continued generating gains throughout its fifth spring offensive. Ukraine is on track to produce between 5 and 6 million robotic and autonomous systems in 2026, according to CFR analysis. The significance of the August 16–17 record extends beyond the Ukraine theater. Any major power's distributed logistics network — warehouses, ports, rail hubs, fuel depots — faces the same structural vulnerability that Wildberries demonstrated: such networks are too large and too dispersed to protect economically with the interceptor systems that currently exist. A nation seeking to defend 200 Wildberries-scale facilities across 11 time zones against 822-drone nightly waves would require defensive expenditure that dwarfs the commercial value of the facilities being protected. The August 16–17 attack proved, at operational scale, that this vulnerability is real and exploitable. The Hudson Institute has noted that cruise missiles and attack drones are converging fast: drones now offer loitering capability, onboard target search, and precision-strike accuracy at a fraction of the cost of traditional cruise missiles. That convergence has specific implications for NATO air defense architecture — specifically, that legacy systems designed to intercept a limited number of expensive cruise missiles face a fundamentally different threat geometry when the incoming payload arrives at 800 units per night at $55,000 each. Ukraine's Naval Drones Are Now Being Built in Oregon The strategic export of Ukraine's drone doctrine has moved past the transfer of finished hardware into something deeper: the transfer of production itself. On July 21, ReconCraft — a Clackamas, Oregon-based manufacturer that builds craft for US Special Operations Forces — signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukrainian company UFORCE, maker of the Magura USV series. Under the agreement, ReconCraft will produce Magura drones at facilities in Oregon and South Carolina, with a long-term production target of hundreds to potentially thousands of vessels annually. The Magura is a 7.6-meter (approximately 25-foot), high-speed naval drone capable of carrying more than 770 kg (1,698 lbs) of payload across distances exceeding 500 km (310 miles), at a unit cost under $500,000 depending on configuration. The platform can launch aerial drones from its hull, perform mine countermeasure operations, and tow sonar systems for submarine detection. UFORCE says Magura-type USVs contributed to the destruction of more than 12 Russian warships — a campaign that forced Russia's Black Sea Fleet from its former home in Sevastopol, in occupied Crimea, before further relocating to Novorossiysk. The deal follows the Pentagon's July 22 bilateral statement of intent on drone cooperation with Ukraine and comes weeks after six Ukrainian manufacturers shipped combat-tested FPV drones to the US under the Pentagon's Drone Dominance evaluation program. It is also not an isolated instance of doctrine adoption: NATO members have cooperated with Ukraine on the "Drone Wall" (DWS-1) initiative and joint development projects covering counter-drone systems, electronic warfare integration, and autonomous targeting. UFORCE CEO Oleh Rohynskyi has described Ukraine's decision to allow American production as critical, explaining that it will allow the US to benefit from tactics and operational concepts developed under four years of continuous combat — not simulated combat, not adversarial red-team exercises, but real sustained warfare against a near-peer adversary with layered air defenses, sophisticated EW, and its own rapidly evolving drone arsenal. How Does Russia Count Drones It Intercepts? One factual caveat runs through every figure in this article: Russian Ministry of Defense drone-intercept claims are not independently verifiable. Russia has consistent incentives to overstate the number of drones it destroys — to claim effective air defense even when facilities burn — and Ukraine has symmetric incentives to neither confirm nor deny the specific composition of its barrages. The August 16–17 figure of 822 intercepted drones comes exclusively from Russian authorities. What can be independently confirmed is the outcome: fires burned at Wildberries Koledino in Podolsk, fires burned at Severnoye Domodedovo, five people were killed in Rostov, and one was killed in the Moscow region. Those effects exist regardless of the intercept count. The same caveat applies, to a lesser degree, to earlier records. The June 26 "660-drone wave" figure also originated with Russian authorities. What is consistent across all these attacks is the structural pattern: claimed intercept counts rise, damage accumulates anyway, and defense economics tilt further against the defender with each successive wave. What This Means for Every Country Still Running Last Decade's Air Defense The August 16–17 attack did not change the geopolitical facts of the Russia–Ukraine war: the front lines remain contested, peace talks remain frozen, and neither side has achieved a decisive breakthrough on the ground. What it changed — or more precisely, confirmed — is an engineering and economic reality that will shape defense procurement globally for the next decade. The cost-exchange ratio between attack drones and interceptor systems has now been demonstrated, at scale, across hundreds of real-world engagements. Ukrainian defense analysts have estimated that ratio at anywhere from 1:50 to over 1:200 depending on which interceptor system is used. At those ratios, indefinite saturation defense against a high-volume drone campaign is not economically sustainable for any nation — not Russia, not a NATO member state, not any country whose critical logistics network extends across a large enough geography to make distributed protection economically incoherent. Every defense ministry watching the August 16–17 attack from Washington to Warsaw to Beijing is not just observing what Ukraine did to Russia. They are observing what a 5-million-unit drone production base can do to a country with 11 time zones and several thousand commercial logistics facilities, at a nightly operational cost that a mid-sized economy can sustain indefinitely. The question for defense planners is not whether their countries face this risk — the risk is structural, and the technology that creates it is now being manufactured in Oregon and South Carolina. The question is how quickly they can build air defense architecture that doesn't lose money faster than it can be replaced. Currency conversions in this article are approximate, based on an exchange rate of approximately 84 Russian rubles to 1 US dollar as of August 17, 2026. Frequently Asked Questions What did Ukraine hit in the August 16–17 drone attack, and is this really the largest ever? Ukraine struck the Wildberries Koledino logistics complex near Podolsk in the Moscow Oblast — the company's single largest warehouse in Russia, at approximately 200,000–250,000 square meters (2.15–2.69 million square feet), employing 13,000 workers. A second logistics facility, Severnoye Domodedovo, was also struck. Russia's Ministry of Defense claimed 822 drones were intercepted overnight, which would make this the largest single-night drone operation in the war — surpassing the June 26, 2026 record of 660. The 822 figure cannot be independently verified (it comes from Russian authorities), but the fires at Podolsk and other sites are confirmed by multiple independent sources. How does Ukraine's FP-1 drone navigate through Russian electronic warfare jamming? The FP-1 uses three layered navigation modes specifically designed to function in GPS-jammed environments. Its primary guidance is satellite-based; when that is spoofed or jammed, it switches to an inertial navigation unit — a gyroscopic system that tracks movement without external signals. Over long ranges, inertial drift is corrected by terrain-matching: a downward-looking camera compares the landscape against a preloaded digital map to continuously update position estimates without any external signal Russia can disrupt. For terminal approach, a remote Ukrainian operator takes visual control via satellite link. Why does the US manufacturing Ukrainian-designed drone boats matter? The ReconCraft–UFORCE agreement to produce Magura naval drones in Oregon and South Carolina marks a qualitative shift in the US–Ukraine defense relationship: it moves from Ukraine shipping battle-tested hardware to the US to American manufacturers incorporating Ukrainian engineering and operational concepts into domestic production at scale. UFORCE's CEO has described it as allowing the US to benefit from tactics and concepts developed over years of real combat — not theoretical or simulated, but refined against a near-peer adversary. The long-term target is annual production in the hundreds, potentially reaching thousands of vessels, at a per-unit cost under $500,000. That production scale, if achieved, would give the US a large, affordable fleet of combat-proven autonomous naval strike systems for a fraction of traditional naval procurement costs. What does the cost-exchange ratio of Ukraine's drone campaign mean for NATO countries' air defenses? The August 16–17 attack illustrated, at unprecedented scale, a structural problem for any country defending distributed infrastructure against high-volume drone campaigns. Ukraine's attack drones cost $55,000 each; Russia's interceptor missiles cost hundreds of thousands to millions per shot. At 822 drones in a single night, the defender's interception bill vastly exceeds the attacker's launch cost — regardless of how many drones are destroyed. Ukrainian defense analysts estimate the offensive-to-defensive cost ratio at 1:50 to over 1:200 depending on the interceptor system used. No existing NATO air defense architecture is designed or funded to sustain indefinite defense at those ratios against a high-volume campaign. The implication is not that NATO is about to be attacked with drone swarms; it is that the engineering problem demonstrated over Russia's logistics network is one every defense establishment now has to solve. ⓒ 2026 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

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  • Scott McCainBy Scott McCain

    On the night of August 15–16, 2026, Ukraine sent 822 drones into Russian territory in a single overnight operation — the largest drone barrage in the history of armed conflict, surpassing by more than 24% the prior record it set on June 26 — when Russia claimed 660 drones interce…

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Something Changed in a Single Day: Trump Claimed Backchannel Talks With the IRGC, Then Said No Talks Were Happening at All

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President Donald Trump has made another bombastic pronouncement amid the war with Iran. On Tuesday, he shared a map labeling the Strait of Hormuz “NEW U.S. Territory,” via his Truth Social platform. Iran has continued to stress that the strait will not be fully reopened until Washington meets its slew of demands, including ending its blockade on Iranian shipping and scrapping oil sanctions.

Ship Hit in Strait Just hours before Trump’s latest post, a vessel exiting the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an unidentified projectile off the coast of Oman. According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, the ship’s engine room was hit, resulting in a “crew casualty.

” Officials did not immediately identify the vessel or its cargo. The Omani Coast Guard said it was assisting the remaining crew as authorities investigated the incident. Iran’s Stranglehold on the Strait Since the United States and Israel launched attacks on the Islamic Republic on February 28, Iran has tightly restricted shipping through the waterway.

Prior to the war, around one-fifth of globally traded oil passed through Hormuz. Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Tuesday that Tehran would maintain its restrictions until Washington fulfilled what Iran considers its commitments under the interim U.

S.-Iran agreement struck in June. Those demands include lifting the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, releasing frozen Iranian assets, removing sanctions on Iranian oil and gas exports, and ending U.S. military threats and operations. “Until the United States fulfills its commitments under the agreement … the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen,” Qalibaf said.

Blockade Vs. Territory Asked in the Oval Office on Monday about his earlier suggestion that Hormuz could become American territory, the president said he liked the idea. “We control it with the blockade, and I like the idea of declaring it a territory,” Trump told reporters, adding: “We have total control over the strait now.

” Washington’s blockade is hitting Iranian shipping hard. U.S. Central Command said Monday that American forces had redirected 64 commercial vessels, disabled three ships, and boarded another two as part of the renewed blockade. That does not mean Washington has eliminated Iran’s ability to disrupt other shipping.

Tuesday’s unexplained attack came after a string of strikes on vessels attempting to navigate the area. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi also rejected Trump’s territorial claim on Tuesday, describing it as a “delusion.” Tehran has repeatedly maintained that it, rather than Washington, will determine when normal passage through the strait resumes.

Iran and Oman Near Deal Complicating matters further are separate negotiations between Iran and Oman, the two countries sitting on opposite sides of the strait. Iran said Monday that the two governments were finalizing details of an agreement concerning shipping routes through Hormuz.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said an “understanding has been reached regarding the map of the transit route.” Trump responded by threatening Oman, a longstanding U.S. partner, telling Fox News that Washington would “bomb the shit out of them” if Muscat “gets in the way.

” The diplomatic clock has already run down. The 60-day negotiating period established by the June memorandum between Washington and Tehran expired on Monday without a broader agreement being reached. Trump has said the United States is not seeking an extension.

Tehran Likely to Double Down Columnist Melanie Phillips slammed President Trump’s plans for a ceasefire last month, complaining that it had given Tehran the upper hand and showed that “everyone can now see America is not prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to defend itself.

” Trump has claimed Iran has essentially lost this war and that the blockade is massively damaging its economy. However, he has also instructed his team to pursue a “low-key” approach to talks. On July 7, Trump said the agreement was “over”, while Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it was “suspended” the following week.

“They should put up the white flag of surrender,” Trump told Fox News on Monday, claiming that backchannel talks with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were ongoing. The IRGC has denied these claims. On Tuesday, Trump dramatically changed his tune, stating that no talks with Iran were ongoing, and that no discussions were scheduled.

About the Author: Georgia Gilholy Georgia Gilholy is a journalist based in the United Kingdom who has been published in Newsweek, The Times of Israel, and the Spectator. Gilholy writes about international politics, culture, and education.

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Iran War Day 172: ‘No Talks’ Scheduled with Tehran, Trump Says

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Iran War Day 172: ‘No Talks’ Scheduled with Tehran, Trump Says In a post on Truth Social Tuesday President Donald Trump said that “there are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Trump added that the U.

S. naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz “remains in full force and effect” and that the waterway “is open and operating.” In a separate post, Trump published an image labelling the strait as “NEW U.S. Territory.” Only six commodity ships transited the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, according to Kpler data cited by Reuters.

Iran’s Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tuesday, Until the commitments made by the United States in the memorandum of understanding, including the lifting of the blockade, the release of frozen assets, the lifting of oil sanctions, the end of threats and military operations on all fronts, and other conditions to which America agreed in the memorandum, are implemented, the strait will not be opened.

The deadline for that memorandum of understanding—signed by Trump and Iran’s president in June—expired on Monday. The two nations had agreed to negotiate a final peace deal over a 60-day period, but the framework agreement quickly fell apart, and the deadline seemingly wasn’t extended, despite mixed reporting.

Subscribe Today Get daily emails in your inbox Ghalibaf will lead a “high-level parliamentary delegation” to Iraq on Wednesday, Iran’s Fars news agency reported. The visit comes as pro-Iran militia groups face a September 30 deadline set by the Iraqi government to disarm.

Syria condemned reported Israeli strikes against Abu Duhur airbase on Tuesday, while the U.S. expressed concern over the incident. U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria and Iraq Tom Barrack wrote on X that “we are deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.

” The price of Brent Crude oil was over $91 per barrel on Tuesday morning. AAA recorded the national average price of regular gas at $4.07.

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Trump says no talks planned with Iran, Tehran says Strait of Hormuz still shut

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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday no talks were taking place with Iran and none were scheduled, and he insisted that the Strait of Hormuz was open, contradicting an earlier Iranian assertion that the critical waterway remained shut to shipping.

The receding prospects of a deal to end the nearly six-month conflict drove up oil prices again on Tuesday, while stock markets sagged and borrowing costs for major economies including the U.S. hit multi-decade highs, amid concerns about the long-term inflationary and fiscal impact of the crisis.

A temporary ceasefire agreement expired on Monday and a senior Iranian official told Reuters that his country was moving to a “fully offensive” military posture due to the diplomatic stalemate, though there were no reports of fresh strikes by either side on Tuesday.

“There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday. “The Naval Blockade remains in full force and effect. The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated,” he added.

On Monday, Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and special envoy, had sounded an optimistic note, saying talks with Iran were still under way and were “probably more robust” than they had ever been. Despite Trump's typically ebullient remarks about the situation in the Gulf, preliminary shipping data on Tuesday showed ship crossings via the Strait of Hormuz were still in single digits on Monday.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said it received a report on Tuesday that a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting outbound in the Strait of Hormuz, causing engine room damage and a crew casualty. The remaining crew were being assisted by the Omani Coast Guard, according to the report.

Top Iranian negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said in comments published by state media that the strait would remain shut until the U.S. met the conditions of an interim deal signed with Iran in June. These conditions include the U.S. lifting its blockade of Iranian ports, lifting oil sanctions, releasing Tehran's frozen assets, and ending threats and military operations on all fronts, Qalibaf told parliament.

A memorandum of understanding signed on June 17 had set a 60-day time frame for a broader deal on Iran's nuclear programme and U.S. sanctions. That period elapsed on Monday and Trump said he had no plans to extend it. The agreement, which declared the “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts,” had quickly unravelled over a dispute about control of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the war.

Both Trump and Tehran have frequently switched between threats and more emollient rhetoric as they seek a way out of the crisis, which erupted when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28. Iran remains open to dialogue with the U.

S. but does not confuse negotiations with surrender, Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said on Tuesday, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. Mokhber said military pressure and sanctions would not break Iran's resolve and that the country would defend its security, dignity and allies while not seeking war.

Even as Iran projects resilience in the war, its leaders are worried that a threat of more economic punishment could increase hardships, reignite unrest and further erode the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy, according to three Iranian officials. Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, mainly in Iran and Lebanon.

Iran has bombed U.S. military bases and infrastructure in countries including Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Benchmark Brent crude oil futures have surged during the conflict, hitting a peak of $126 a barrel, roughly 75% above pre-war levels.

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Iran’s gutted ranks leave loyalists filling critical posts — with one glaring problem

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Iran is rebuilding the upper ranks of its military and security establishment after months of wartime losses by turning largely to familiar veterans — figures whose careers in some cases stretch back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War and previous domestic crackdowns.

The appointments follow the deaths of several senior Iranian commanders in U.S.-Israeli strikes since the war began Feb. 28, The National reported Aug. 11. For Washington, the stakes go beyond who fills the vacancies. The reshuffle puts veteran hardliners atop institutions that shape Iran’s military operations, national-security policy and internal security at a time of renewed confrontation with the United States.

The appointments do not prove that Tehran has run out of younger commanders or that loyalty was the sole criterion, but the reliance on figures whose careers stretch back decades is raising a broader question for U.S. policymakers: whether wartime losses have left Iran increasingly dependent on a smaller circle of trusted ideologues — potentially narrowing the room for compromise even as Washington tries to pressure Tehran back toward a deal.

IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARD SIDELINES PRESIDENT AS MILITARY GRIP EXPANDS Former American prisoner Morad Tahbaz, who was detained in Iran in 2018 and freed in a U.S.-Iran prisoner exchange in September 2023, told Fox News Digital that he views the latest appointments as evidence of Tehran's continued dependence on longtime loyalists.

"They keep rotating the same old people, most of whom are fairly inept but are loyal to the Khamenei father and son," Tahbaz told Fox News Digital. The reshuffle spans Iran's conventional military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its naval arm, the Basij paramilitary force and the country's highest national-security council.

Iran's state-run IRNA reported Aug. 10 that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed Ali Abdollahi chief of staff of the Armed Forces, Kioumars Heydari his deputy, Ahmad Vahidi commander of the IRGC, Mostafa Izadi deputy IRGC commander, Ali Ozmaei commander of the IRGC Navy and Hossein Taeb head of the Basij.

The previous day, former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei, 71, was named secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and Khamenei's representative on the powerful body. Reuters reported Aug. 10 that the SNSC coordinates Iran's security and foreign policy and that Rezaei replaced Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, who had been appointed secretary in late March following the death of his predecessor, Ali Larijani.

The appointments do not establish that Iran has run out of younger or less familiar commanders. But the reliance on longtime military and security figures has fueled assessments that wartime losses have narrowed the regime's pool of officials it regards as sufficiently experienced and politically trustworthy.

Erfan Fard wrote for the Middle East Forum on Aug. 15 that Khamenei was not promoting a new generation but turning to veterans of the revolution, the Iran-Iraq War, intelligence operations and domestic repression, arguing that an architecture based on "institutional memory, loyalty, and coercive power" was taking shape.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies argued in an Aug. 12 policy brief that the reshuffle looked "less like renewal than a game of musical chairs among regime veterans." The appointments also formalized the position of Ahmad Vahidi, a veteran hardliner who had already emerged near the center of wartime decision-making.

Vahidi was a major player in shaping Tehran's wartime policy and had risen through the IRGC's early intelligence and external-operations apparatus before later serving as defense and interior minister. As interior minister, Vahidi oversaw police units involved in the crackdown on the 2022 protests.

IRNA confirmed Aug. 10 that Khamenei promoted Vahidi to major general and formally appointed him commander-in-chief of the IRGC. WHO IS AHMAD VAHIDI? IRAN’S NEW IRGC CHIEF TIED TO GLOBAL ATTACKS AND ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ IDEOLOGY Hossein Taeb: The intelligence veteran returns to the Basij to build a ‘20-million-strong Basij force.

’ One of the most closely watched appointments is Hossein Taeb, the cleric and veteran security official tapped to lead the Basij, the IRGC's volunteer paramilitary force that has repeatedly been used against domestic dissent. The National reported that the Basij has been used to suppress internal dissent, while The Times reported Aug.

12 that the force is embedded in neighborhoods, universities, workplaces, factories, ministries and mosques and has played a central role in suppressing successive uprisings. For Tahbaz, Taeb's return is personal. Tahbaz was detained in 2018, while Taeb was leading the IRGC Intelligence Organization.

"Ta’eb is extremely close to Mojtaba Khamenei but was very unceremoniously fired from his former position as head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization," Tahbaz told Fox News Digital. "He was personally responsible for my and my colleagues' arrests and detentions.

He lives and breathes conspiracy theories." The Times reported Aug. 12 that Taeb and Mojtaba Khamenei's relationship dates back more than four decades and that both served in the Habib Battalion during the Iran-Iraq War. The newspaper also reported that IRGC intelligence arrested environmentalists and dual nationals during Taeb's tenure.

Taeb previously commanded the Basij before moving into IRGC intelligence. The Times reported that months after the disputed 2009 election, the Guards' intelligence division was elevated into an independent organization with Taeb as its first chief. Taeb's earlier leadership of the Basij also drew U.

S. sanctions. In a Sept. 29, 2010 Treasury Department fact sheet, the U.S. government said that while Taeb commanded the Basij during the June 2009 election, forces under his command participated in "beatings, murder, and arbitrary arrests and detentions of peaceful protestors.

" According to IRNA, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf congratulated Taeb on his appointment as head of the Basij Organization, saying his tenure could mark a new chapter for the volunteer force. Ghalibaf said the Basij now needs a more comprehensive and forward-looking approach and argued that Taeb’s appointment by the supreme leader could help advance what he described as one of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s longstanding goals: building a 20-million-strong Basij force.

UN WATCHDOG SLAMS POTENTIAL ELECTION OF IRAN TO PANEL WITH HUMAN RIGHTS SWAY: 'LUNATICS RUNNING THE ASYLUM' Mohsen Rezaei: Back at the center after four decades Few appointments better illustrate the return of Iran's old guard than Mohsen Rezaei, who was named secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

Reuters reported Aug. 10 that Rezaei joined the IRGC shortly after the 1979 revolution, became its commander in 1981 at age 27 and led the force for 16 years, including through most of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. He later served as secretary of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council for more than two decades and as vice president for economic affairs from 2021 to 2023 under President Ebrahim Raisi.

Now, at 71, he is secretary of the SNSC and Khamenei's representative on the body. Beni Sabti, an Iran expert at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, argued that bringing back longtime figures such as Rezaei reflects weakness rather than renewal.

"This is, again, another evidence that they don't have anyone else," Sabti told Fox News Digital. "So they have to bring him out again from the desk and put him somewhere. These are the guys that they have." Rezaei and Vahidi were also among six people for whom INTERPOL authorized Red Notices requested by Argentina in 2007 in connection with the investigation into the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.

INTERPOL said in November 2007 that its General Assembly upheld the publication of notices for six individuals, including Ahmad Vahidi and Mohsen Rezaei, after Iran challenged Argentina's requests. Sabti argued that Rezaei's re-emergence is particularly telling because Tehran's decision-making circle has become less ideologically diverse.

"Today, there is only one opinion, and this is the main problem," Sabti said. "This is why you think that there is unity and the system is stronger. No, it's not stronger. Actually, it's weaker also because of that." TRADE VESSEL STRUCK BY PROJECTILE IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ AMID US-IRAN TALKS Ali Abdollahi: A wartime commander takes the top military job Ali Abdollahi was elevated to chief of staff of Iran's Armed Forces, putting him at the top of the country's military command structure.

IRNA confirmed the appointment Aug. 10. Abdollahi had previously commanded the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Iran's joint operational command responsible for coordinating its armed forces in wartime, according to Iran International on Aug. 10.

His appointment also comes amid an effort to integrate the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters more closely with the Armed Forces General Staff. Le Monde reported Aug. 11 that Abdollahi's task includes completing that integration in an effort to further centralize command and coordination.

Fard argued in his Aug. 15 Middle East Forum analysis that Abdollahi's elevation exemplifies Tehran's reliance on longstanding revolutionary-security figures rather than a generational break. FREED AMERICAN REVEALS BRUTAL IRAN PRISON ORDEAL, WARNS HOSTAGES FACE GREATER DANGER Kioumars Heydari: The regular army moves closer to the center Former Army Ground Forces commander Kioumars Heydari was appointed deputy chief of staff of the Armed Forces, bringing a senior officer from Iran's conventional military into the new command structure.

The National reported that Heydari formerly commanded the Army Ground Forces and has held senior positions in Iran's regular army, known as the Artesh. IRNA independently confirmed his appointment. His inclusion also demonstrates that the reshuffle is not limited to the IRGC.

Fard argued in the Middle East Forum that Heydari's previous public rhetoric surrounding protest suppression indicates that Tehran has increasingly integrated the regular army into its domestic-security posture. Mostafa Izadi: Another veteran rises inside the IRGC Mostafa Izadi was appointed Vahidi's deputy, putting another longtime commander near the top of the IRGC hierarchy.

IRNA confirmed Izadi's appointment Aug. 10, while The National described him Aug. 11 as a veteran commander who has held a number of senior positions in Iran's military and security establishment. Iran International reported that Izadi previously commanded the Cyber and New Threats Headquarters within the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.

IRAN HARDLINER BEHIND US DEAL WARNS TEHRAN WON’T HONOR AGREEMENT IF TRUMP FAILS TO DELIVER Ali Ozmaei: A new commander at one of Iran's most sensitive fronts Rear Adm. Ali Ozmaei was appointed commander of the IRGC Navy, putting him in charge of a force central to Iran's military posture in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.

The National reported Aug. 11 that Ozmaei replaced Alireza Tangsiri, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in March, and that the IRGC Navy is responsible for Iran's military operations in the Gulf and around the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media also highlighted Ozmaei's longstanding maritime experience.

IRNA reported Aug. 11 that Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf praised Ozmaei's years in maritime defense and his familiarity with the current conflict and the Strait of Hormuz. The appointment came one day before Rezaei said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless the United States changed its behavior and accepted Iran's conditions.

Reuters reported that Rezaei said Washington would have to end the war and unfreeze Iranian funds overseas, with other conditions relayed through mediators. Taken together, the seven personnel changes show Tehran moving to fill and reshuffle critical military and security posts after significant wartime losses.

What remains an assessment rather than an established fact is whether the identities of those chosen reveal a deeper shortage of trusted successors. Sabti said the return of veteran figures reflected what he sees as a shrinking bench of trusted officials and a less diverse decision-making circle.

Tahbaz offered a less academic version of that assessment. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP "They keep rotating the same old people," he said.

Location: Tehran
Efrat Lachter