News

U.S. Central Command: At 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, the U.S. military launched a new round of strikes against Iran. The operation is intended to further weaken Iran's military capabilities used to attack commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Dow Jones Index closed down 305.32 points, or 0.59%, at 51841.10 points on July 20 (Monday);The S&P 500 Index closed down 14.0 points on July 20 (Monday). 28 points, or 0.19%, to 7443.41 points;The Nasdaq Composite Index closed down 12.17 points, or 0.05%, to 25508.07 points on July 20 (Monday).

White House: Trump takes further steps to adjust U.S. aluminum import policy.

The Israeli military said plans for a pilot area in southern Lebanon were launched on Monday. The pilot regional program in southern Lebanon is being developed in partnership with the U.S. military and the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Senior war correspondent Elijah Maniye said that although the United States does have powerful offensive capabilities and can launch high-intensity strikes against Iranian facilities, it can only weaken Iran at best. He pointed out that the United States has a large number of offensive weapons used to attack Iran, but at the same time its inventory of interceptor missiles is limited, making it difficult to resist Iran's retaliatory attacks on U.S. assets, allies and Israel. "The United States can therefore launch a large-scale campaign, but to sustain it, it must make difficult choices: which bases to protect, which cities to defend, and which incoming threats to intercept," Magnier explained.At the same time, Iran is likely to seek to expand "the geographic scope of the conflict and increase the number of targets that Washington must defend, thus raising the political and especially economic costs of another U.S. strike." By concentrating its use of ballistic and cruise missiles in saturation attacks that wear down enemy air defenses and force the United States and its allies to waste interceptor missiles on decoy targets, Iran could launch devastating strikes against U.S. military bases, logistics hubs, ports, radar facilities, and fuel storage facilities in the region. Attacks on U.S. Gulf allies could increase internal pressure on their governments to demand that the U.S. back down.

According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Radio and Television (IRIB): Deputy Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Bagheri said that the United States has not taken action to unfreeze Iran’s frozen assets and has violated its commitments.

U.S. Steel (X.N) proposed a five-year collective bargaining agreement to the United Steelworkers union, including a cumulative 18.2% wage increase and a $4,000 agreement approval bonus. The two sides will resume negotiations on August 10 in Pittsburgh.

A spokesman for Paramount (PSKY.O): Thank you to the U.S. court for quickly approving the application for a temporary restraining order. We are confident that the relevant evidence will prove that the antitrust claims made by state attorneys general against the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD.O) merger transaction are "baseless."

Iranian Embassy in France: (Regarding the Strait of Hormuz) Continued pressure and threats from the United States will not help ensure the safety of shipping. Engaging with Iran on the basis of mutual respect is the way to achieve regional stability.

According to AFP: French lawmakers are paving the way for age restrictions on social media users.

According to Israel's i24News: Israeli security sources said that the United States is preparing to launch the next phase of military operations against Iran in the next few days.

The British government has appointed Ed Miliband as Foreign Secretary and Shabana Mahmoud as Home Secretary. Louise Hague has been appointed First Secretary of State.

British Prime Minister's Office: British Prime Minister Burnham and European Commission President von der Leyen agreed that teams from both sides should work closely to prepare for the UK-EU summit to be held later this year.

Market news: French mining and metallurgical company Eramet signed a memorandum of understanding with the Republic of Gabon to jointly develop the manganese industry value chain.

The Fed accepted a total of $30 million from six counterparties in fixed-rate reverse repurchase operations.

**British Government:** John Healy, MP, has been appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Chevron (CVX.N): Due to the impact of tropical depression, it shut down production at the Petronius offshore platform and evacuated some offshore personnel, but production at other Gulf of Mexico assets remained normal.

A U.S. judge temporarily halts the deal between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD.O).

US President Trump: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested in any form while in the United States.

Ukrainian President Zelensky: had a phone call with British Prime Minister Burnham and reached a consensus on holding a meeting in the near future to further deepen bilateral cooperation.