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Authored by Noel Williams via AmericanThinker.com,

Yesterday, Mr. Noel S. Williams noted the impudent and impertinent behavior of Argentina’s soccer players after their World Cup semi-final match against England (you’re welcome).

The unfurling of the banner that read “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” may have flown under the radar for many, but it was actually a rather sizable geopolitical offense.

The Falkland Islands Government has now issued a statement condemning the Argentinian team’s hubris.

Here is part of it:

That said, it is hardly news to anyone that the people of the Islands were victims of an aggressive invasion in 1982, which left many traumatised [sic].

The banner displayed by Argentina last night, therefore, was particularly insensitive for many people in the Falklands.

...

We welcome the UK Government’s supportive statement this morning.

The statement also calls upon FIFA to sanction their atrocious behavior in keeping with their categorical rules to eliminate politics from sports.

Now we will see if FIFA has really purged their inherently corrupt tendencies.

As for sport, frankly Argentina probably deserved to win the match because England essentially chose to lose (after taking the lead).

Nevertheless, their brutish behavior (fouls, simulations, swarming, and the “dark arts” in which they specialize) are not a good advertisement for the game.

Good sportsmanship and soccer don’t dovetail, but Argentina’s tactics scrape the bottom of the barrel.

Argentina does have a much-loved player named Lionel Messi, and a considerable fan base, but their soccer shenanigans are messy.

I hope FIFA president Gianni Infantino is not coyed by their fervor.

Since Argentina is now in the World Cup Final, he has the perfect opportunity to highlight the importance of FIFA’s rules about politics and sportsmanship by imposing punishment in a high-profile moment.

He said he wants the tournament to unite the world — prove it by sanctioning Argentina for the pariah they are.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

Side-note, England play Argentina at Rugby later today and tensions are already rising...

Summary

• Iran formally suspends MoU with the US, declaring agreement is over & commitments will no longer be fulfilled.
• Fighting escalates into seventh strait day of heavy bombings.
• Iran reportedly struck a US base in Saudi Arabia for the first time in four months.
• US strikes disrupt southern Iran's telecom network, knocking out 116 communication towers amid new infrastructure war.
• Iran pounds Kuwait's energy infrastructure, damaging power & desalination facilities.

*  *  *

Iran Formally Suspends MoU

It is now "official": the Iranians have declared that the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States is dead. Tasnim is reporting Saturday that Iran will no longer fulfill its MoU obligations amid alleged repeat US violations. The past weeks have seen each side hurl warnings and threats to pull out, while attaching conditions that must be fulfilled.

But after what is now a full week of renewed fighting, it has been effectively torn up, with negotiations no longer happening. Al Jazeera is citing a top Iran official's precise statement on suspending the MoU in the following:

Previously, we have seen again and again Iranian officials accusing the US of violating the MoU and also putting some conditions if the aggression continues.

What we’re seeing is Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, who is also head of the Iranian technical negotiating team, saying that in practice, the US has violated all the commitments and suspended the MoU entirely.

“We also likewise have suspended all of our commitments as a result; we are no longer implementing those commitments,” he added.

So, officially, this is the first time the Iranians are saying the MoU is over and they’re not going to implement any clause.

Given President Trump has apparently just ordered dozens more aerial refueling planes to the region, the conflict looks to continue going up the escalation ladder for at least the next week or longer. Each side will seek to impose more economic and military pain, while waiting for the other to blink. Battle of narratives over damage and retaliation:

??????????– Insane footage of Iranian ballistic missiles striking Jordanian air bases despite a large number of interceptors in the air.

Despite clear footage of impacts they still deny it and lie that all of them were intercepted. pic.twitter.com/Es8hw7TCXJ

— MonitorX (@MonitorX99800) July 18, 2026

Saudi Base Attacked for First Time in 4 Months

Saudi Arabia has come under attack by Iranian missiles in the last 24 hours, the kingdom is confirming on Saturday, in a major escalation given that this is a first since near the start of the war several months ago. According to Reuters:

The Saudi civil defense early on Saturday issued two early warnings for Al-Kharj city and Yanbu to be alert to “potential danger,” but it later says the danger has passed in both areas, without providing details on the danger that triggered the warnings.

A US official tells the Axios news site that Iran targeted an American military base in Saudi Arabia with a ballistic missile, the first time that the Islamic Republic has directly attacked the kingdom in four months.

Locations in Jordan and even Syria have also been hit in recent salvos, but the US military has downplayed these attacks - and there's a battle of narratives over just how destructive these have been amid the fog of war.

Kuwait also reeling from stepped-up attacks...

?? ??Unprecedented crowd at Kuwait Airport for departure from the country pic.twitter.com/Db5IeZsmDg

— Middle East Observer (@ME_Observer_) July 18, 2026

116 Telecoms Towers In Southern Iran Taken Out

As we featured earlier, Iranian communications and even the supply of drinking water have been severely impacted in some places of southern Iran, amid continuing US airstrikes on civic and national infrastructure, amid the seventh consecutive day of war. "Hormozgan’s chief of communications and information technology says the US's overnight attacks disrupted telecommunications in Bandar Abbas and Hajiabad, in the northern part of the province," Al Jazeera reports

Authorities there have tallied at least 116 telecommunication towers which were taken out of service due to the US onslaught. This has resulted in outages and disruptions of fixed-line, mobile, and internet services, per Tasnim news agency.

This suggests the US is returning to a strategy which seeks to create destabilization within, targeting the ability of the public to communicate and access information, returning the situation to the early weeks of the war, which saw Tehran authorities themselves curb internet and some telecoms access for the citizenry.

Kuwait Power & Desalination Plant Hit

Kuwait was bombarded overnight in one of the fiercest Iranian retaliatory strikes since the US-Iran conflict erupted in late February, with missiles and one-way drones targeting power infrastructure and other critical energy assets.

Local outlet Kuwait News Agency reports an unspecified site of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation suffered "significant material losses" as the week-long flare-up in Gulf tensions has derailed any near-term normalization of tanker flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

There was a report that the Al-Subiya power station was struck. This marks the second attack on Kuwaiti power infrastructure in just days, after a transformer at the Zour South electricity and desalination complex was hit on Friday.

Authorities disconnected several power-generating units as a precaution and urged residents to conserve electricity. A Kuwaiti army base was also struck during the latest escalation, injuring several personnel.

Second Iranian strike in two days hit a Kuwaiti power/desalination plant, sparking a fire.

A similar plant was hit yesterday.

Strikes are part of Iran's ongoing campaign against US military sites in Kuwait (Ali Al Salem base and others).

Kuwait relies on desalination for ~90%… pic.twitter.com/EyTPOwTIsM

— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 18, 2026

Infrastructure War in Full Swing

On March 2, we warned: 

• Airports, Data Centers, Skyscrapers, & Power Plants: Are Desalination Plants Next Targets In U.S.-Iran War

Bahrain and Jordan intercepted Iranian missiles and drones. The overnight barrage followed a seventh consecutive night of US strikes targeting Iranian surveillance sites, weapons storage, logistics infrastructure and maritime offensive capabilities as the Department of War seeks to erode Tehran's leverage on the Hormuz waterway.

As of late Friday, the previous US-Iran wrap stated:

• Surge in more large US refueling planes headed to Mideast, signaling likely expansion of strikes on Iran.
• US attacks hit Iranian energy and transport infrastructure.
• Iran threatens stronger retaliation and claims strike on US base in Qatar - and deepens attacks to include US outposts in Jordan, Syria.
• Iran urges power conservation; Hormuz shipping traffic declines further.
• Oil prices rise to session highs on fears of broader regional conflict.

Brent chart

The latest Hormuz tanker transit data via Bloomberg shows that activity at the maritime chokepoint has all but ceased. This data is based on ships activating their transponders and doesn't account for ships that 'go dark'...

Overnight headlines

...courtesy of Bloomberg:

US-Iran Escalation

• The US launched its seventh consecutive night of strikes against Iran on Friday at 3 p.m. ET, aimed at degrading Iran's military capabilities, including hitting bridges, energy infrastructure, and a port facility in southern Iran, according to Iranian state media.
• The conflict has intensified beyond military targets, with the US striking six road bridges and reports of attacks near Bushehr's nuclear power plant and the province of Lorestan, raising fears of a return to full-scale war.
• The hostilities were triggered by an Iranian drone strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on June 25, just days after the US and Iran signed a preliminary ceasefire deal, setting off a chain of escalating attacks.
• Iran has threatened a "full-scale offensive" in response to US strikes, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining virtually closed as of Saturday.

Iran Attacks Kuwait

• Iran launched a heavy barrage on Kuwait on Saturday morning, striking a vital oil facility and causing significant material losses and injuries, according to Kuwait Petroleum Corporation via state news agency KUNA.
• Kuwait airport suspended flights following the Saturday attacks, which triggered multiple rounds of sirens from around dawn.
• Iran also struck a power and desalination plant and a transformer at the Zour South facility, causing a fire and marking Tehran's first targeting of power infrastructure during the current escalation.
• Kuwait's foreign ministry accused Iran of systematically targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure, saying it "endangers the lives and safety of civilians."

Iran's Counterstrikes

• Iran has been targeting US bases in Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain in retaliation for US strikes. The IRGC claimed its 20th wave of "Nasr 2" operations destroyed several American aircraft at a US airbase in Jordan.
• US-sanctioned Iranian tankers are U-turning and zig-zagging in the Gulf of Oman as the US enforces an aggressive blockade of Iranian shipping, having redirected three merchant ships, boarded one vessel, and disabled a non-compliant tanker.

Energy Market Impact

• Crude oil prices surged sharply, posting their biggest rise since April, as fears of renewed escalation grew and shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slumped significantly.
• The Strait of Hormuz shutdown is expected to spark massive investments aimed at permanently reducing reliance on the chokepoint, restructuring global energy infrastructure and trade flows, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Venezuela's official death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck the country on June 24 has surpassed 5,000 and could climb much higher.

New footage of the June 24th earthquake in La Guaira shows multiple buildings collapsing #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/hq1ywikhpA

— CNW (@ConflictsW) July 11, 2026

Poorly constructed multifamily housing complexes, built with low-quality materials under the socialist government's mass-housing programs, collapsed "like sandcastles" when the quakes hit the coastal state of La Guaira.

The devastating earthquakes in Venezuela exposed exactly how the socialist government built housing for their people. Look at this video from La Guaira.

The buildings in the Misión Vivienda program were constructed using expanded polystyrene (EPS) panels coated with a thin layer… pic.twitter.com/N4qLX7W3Xa

— Maila Maria Rosa (@MailaMariaRosa) June 28, 2026

The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes struck within seconds of each other, devastating Chávez-era socialist housing projects in La Guaira and reducing buildings to rubble.

As the Spanish daily newspaper ABC recently reported, "The explanation given by engineers and construction specialists is that low-quality materials were used in the Chavista Housing Mission, without supervision and without the application of anti-seismic standards."

Aerial footage shows the widespread destruction across La Guaira, Venezuela.
pic.twitter.com/KVUrstkx97

— Resist the Mainstream (@ResisttheMS) June 25, 2026

Local authorities reported 16,740 injuries and said that more than 6,400 people had been rescued from the rubble. The death toll surpassed 5,000 on Friday, while the United Nations estimates that more than 50,000 people remain missing.

2/
The UN estimates as many as 50,000 people may still be missing. Nearly 17,000 are wounded, and more than 21,000 are living in shelters. Recovery could cost $37 billion — while Venezuela's own funds sit frozen abroad.

— CEPR (@ceprdc) July 17, 2026

On Friday, acting President Delcy Rodríguez said that Venezuela has drawn on $346 million of its own reserves at the International Monetary Fund to begin reconstruction projects in the quake-ravaged region.

"My heart is with the people of Venezuela," IMF's Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a post on X.

Supporting ongoing disaster relief efforts, the US military has shifted ships, rotary-wing aircraft, cargo planes, and amphibious landing craft to deliver vital supplies directly to damaged coastal infrastructure.

Racing the clock and clearing bottlenecks to help save lives in Venezuela:
Since mobilizing to Simón Bolívar International Airport in the aftermath of the earthquakes, the @usairforce Contingency Response Element (CRE) has been vital in accelerating the flow of critical relief… pic.twitter.com/pfIgvmFx8N

— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) July 17, 2026

US military forces supporting Venezuela's disaster response are helping stabilize the country after the devastating quake.

Still, the deployment is notable: US troops are now positioned inside Venezuela just as US military activity around Cuba could intensify, amid rumors of a potential invasion (read here).

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

A total of 227,548 properties in the United States made foreclosure filings in the first six months of this year, a 21 percent increase from the same period last year, according to real estate analytics company ATTOM.

The first half foreclosure filings are also up by 28 percent from the same period two years back, ATTOM said in a July 16 report.

In states with a minimum of 500 foreclosure filings, Idaho registered the largest year-over-year increase: 59 percent. This was closely followed by Colorado with 57 percent, Georgia with 52 percent, and North Carolina with 47 percent.

Foreclosure is a legal process by which a mortgage lender repossesses a property after the borrower fails to make mortgage payments on time. Initially, the lender issues a notice of default once payments are missed for 90 days. If the borrower fails to settle the claim within 30 days, the lender can repossess the property and sell it off.

In the first half of the year, 0.16 percent of all housing units made a foreclosure filing, according to ATTOM.

Florida had the highest rate, with 0.27 percent of housing units making a filing. South Carolina was in the second spot with a 0.26 percent rate, followed by Indiana and Delaware, both with a rate of 0.25 percent.

“Foreclosure activity continued to increase in the first half of 2026, but the broader picture remains one of a market that is gradually returning to more typical patterns,” Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM, said in a statement.

Foreclosure filings in a year’s first half hit their lowest level in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but have risen since. Prior to the pandemic, first-half filing numbers were higher than the 2026 figure for every single year between 2008 and 2019.

However, the filing increase in the first half of 2026 also suggests “that some homeowners may be facing greater financial strain than they were a year ago,” Barber said.

In a June 12 post, legal services company Nolo predicted foreclosure rates would gradually rise in the latter part of 2026.

The company cited factors such as high interest rates and reduced buyer demand as contributing to a growing housing crisis. Unless there is significant relief or intervention, the trend of rising foreclosures is likely to continue, it said.

High Mortgage Rates, Avoiding Foreclosure

The average weekly rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has mostly remained above the 6 percent level since September 2022, according to data from Freddie Mac.

Since mid-May, rates have been hovering around the 6.5 percent level. For the week ending July 15, rates were at 6.55 percent.

Meanwhile, demand in the housing market has subsided, with some house hunters backing off due to high costs, real estate brokerage Redfin said in a July 16 statement.

“High mortgage rates mean that even homes in the most affordable price point—under $350,000 in the Grand Rapids area—are a stretch for a lot of buyers, and they’re hard to find and competitive,” Christine Kooiker, a Redfin Premier agent in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said in a statement.

Elevated mortgage rates can raise monthly payments for homeowners who have taken loans at variable rates. This can squeeze them financially, potentially pushing some properties into foreclosure.

For homeowners struggling to pay their monthly mortgages, there are some ways they can avoid having their properties foreclosed. One way is to refinance the mortgage, according to a Sept. 26, 2025, post by financial services company Rocket Mortgage.

Refinancing can help a homeowner shift to a more affordable monthly payment plan in case the current one is financially challenging.

Another option is to seek mortgage forbearance from the lender. If a lender approves, mortgage payments may be temporarily paused or lowered to give the homeowner enough time to get their finances back in shape.

Communications and even the supply of drinking water has been severely impacted in some places of southern Iran, amid continuing US airstrikes on civic and national infrastructure, amid the seventh consecutive day of war.

"Hormozgan’s chief of communications and information technology says the US's overnight attacks disrupted telecommunications in Bandar Abbas and Hajiabad, in the northern part of the province," Al Jazeera reports

Authorities there have tallied at least 116 telecommunication towers which were taken out of service due to the US onslaught. This has resulted in outages and disruptions of fixed-line, mobile, and internet services, per Tasnim news agency.

This suggests the US is returning to a strategy which seeks to create destabilization within, targeting the ability of the public to communicate and access information, returning the situation to the early weeks of the war, which saw Tehran authorities themselves curb internet and some telecoms access for the citizenry.

It might also be that the US simply perceives infrastructure like telecommunications towers as utilized chiefly by the government and military, in a dual-use way, and so is ready to punish entire swathes of the country in order to cripple this ability.

It could be Washington still maintains the fantasy of fomenting a mass uprising against government leadership by imposing as much daily hardship and disruption, and economic pain as possible. Of course, the biggest squeeze is the blockade of Iranian ports and disallowing the country's ability to sell oil.

The Wall Street Journal this week observed that it will continue to be ordinary Iranians feeling the immense strain:

Iran’s economy is already buckling under the combined weight of years of sanctions and soaring inflation. The conflict has intensified those pressures by damaging factories, disrupting trade and payments, shutting down internet access and further weakening the currency.

Consumer prices in June were up 88.6% from a year earlier, according to official statistics. Just in the first few days of July, the price of a tray of eggs in Tehran shot up by 40%, to the equivalent of $3.30, according to Iran’s Fars news agency, which is close to the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It seems the US wants to create the conditions of a return to the January economic protests, which resulted in thousands of deaths, which involved protesters and rioters clashing with police and security services, the latter which suffered deaths too as clearly some of the anti-government elements were armed.

According to more of the Iranian economy's spiral via the WSJ report:

Iran’s gross domestic product is expected to shrink by 5.4% this year, according to forecasts by the International Monetary Fund prepared before the recent uptick in fighting. 

According to Kahalzadeh’s calculations, only the top 3% of Iranian households are able to afford the full food basket recommended by Iranian health officials. Many families are buying basic groceries like rice, meat and pasta on credit via a government program. Others are eliminating meat from meals and purchasing staples one at a time as their wages lose value.

Below: Despite US bombs blowing up vital telecoms infrastructure, there's a renewed effort by Saudi-Israeli aligned opposition media to accuse the regime of imposing a new internet blackout...

Meanwhile the war on infrastructure is only growing more aggressive and somewhat unprecedented. Power is one thing, but going after the population's water supply?...

"Iranian authorities also said the supply of drinking water to several villages in the south had been cut off, accusing the US of striking power facilities and desalination plant pumps in the village of Bonji, according to Tasnim," Al Jazeera writes.

Already Iranians nationwide have been urged to conserve electricity - for example by switching off air conditioners during peak hours, amid an ongoing severe strain on the power grid. Things look to get a lot worse for Iranians, and the outlook for broader war, before they get better.

This week has brought new US attacks on Iranian infrastructure and logistics, including fresh overnight attacks on some half a dozen bridges, and even reports of strikes on rail hubs and airports.

The New York Times observes Friday that "Bridges, rail lines, power and water facilities, and other targets in Iran, Kuwait and elsewhere in the Middle East were attacked in airstrikes on Friday as the United States and Iran escalated their weeklong crisis over the Strait of Hormuz."

Russia has chimed in, reiterating that its close relations with Tehran offer the country which is now under American bombs and important economic lifeline.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in fresh remarks at a press conference following talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov reminded his audience that the backbone of Russia-Iran trade remains the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a network of shipping lanes, railways, and roads linking Russia with more southerly Asian continent allies.

This 'north-south corridor' as it is sometimes reference, will become all the more important as the US-Iran conflict drags on with no end in sight.

"The topic is indeed very important, especially in a situation where the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz is dragging on, as it appears. The global economy and global transport routes are suffering from this," Lavrov stated.

According to more via Russian media:

Lavrov expressed optimism about the trilateral project involving Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, noting that Tehran has completed land allocation on the Rasht-Astara section, which had long prevented construction from starting. Railway chiefs from the three countries have discussed practical issues for beginning work, and progress is expected, he added.

The North-South transport corridor is a multimodal route of about 7,200 kilometers (4,473 miles) connecting St. Petersburg to India's Mumbai port. Russia and Iran signed an agreement in May 2023 to build the Rasht-Astara railway section, the last missing link of the corridor's western route, with the project estimated at 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion), of which 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) is a Russian loan.

As for the current situation in Iran, while vital infrastructure and even energy sites have indeed in many cases been obliterated, the lights are still on across the country, but the energy grid is coming under strain in the south of late.

????Jembatan kereta api "Aq-Teke-Khan" di Kabupaten Aq Qala adalah koridor perkeretaapian strategis yang menghubungkan Iran dengan China dan Rusia telah dibuka kembali hanya empat hari setelah bentang tengahnya rusak parah akibat serangan udara AS. pic.twitter.com/bqnRnGi2QV

— Z Operation (@yo2thok) July 14, 2026

The prior ceasefire which has this week clearly collapsed saw multiple damaged rail lines and bridges get restored in record time - sometimes within 40 to 96 hours - using domestic engineering teams. These efforts have showcased by pro-Iran and even sometimes official diplomatic accounts on X.

Via Remix News,

Finnish MEP Sebastian Tynkkynen has warned that Britain is fast becoming the worst example in Europe when it comes to defending free speech after he became the latest elected European politician to be banned from entering the country ahead of his appearance at the inaugural Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Great Britain.

In a video posted on social media, the conservative politician said, “I was just banned from entering the U.K. I am an elected member of the European Parliament and was invited to speak at the very first conservative CPAC conference in the U.K.

“We had the adverts out, flights and hotel booked, and I was supposed to head to the airport in just two hours.

“Then, only moments ago, I was informed that my presence wouldn’t be conducive to the public good.

“Throughout my political career, I have defended our girls and women from the threats posed by mass migration. For some, like U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, this is hate speech.

“For me, it is simply what all politicians should be doing: addressing the problem, changing the legislation and sending them home.”

Tynkkynen then warned the British people that something is “deeply wrong” with their country, and that it was “becoming the worst example in Europe of the death of freedom of speech.”

"Dear British People, something is deeply wrong with your country. You are becoming the worst example in Europe of the death of free speech."

Finnish conservative @SebastianMEP reveals he is the latest elected politician to be banned from entering Britain on the eve of #CPACUK,… pic.twitter.com/Q73a2dwtGQ

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) July 16, 2026

He urged them to change their leadership if they wanted to change their lives “for the better.”

Tynkkynen is a member of the co-governing Finns Party, a right-wing populist party that is currently the second-largest in the Finnish parliament. The party holds seven of the 19 ministerial positions in Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s coalition government.

He is also a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), the European parliamentary faction originally founded by the U.K. Conservative Party when Britain was still a member of the European Union.

Tynkkynen is the latest in a growing list of European and US politicians and political commentators to be banned from Britain after the Home Office deemed their conservative views not to be “conducive to the public good.”

This is the phrase used by the U.K. government in notices handed to individuals when they are informed that their Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) has been revoked.

In May, Polish MEP Dominik Tarczynski vowed to sue U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer personally after the Home Office cancelled his permission to travel to Britain ahead of a major patriotic rally in London.

“This is what communism looks like in the 21st century,” Tarczynski said.

“Starmer will be sued by me. Not the government, not the Home Office, but Starmer personally. Once you lose the next election, communist, we’ll meet in court!” the conservative politician added.

Other figures banned ahead of speaking at the London rally back in May included Dutch conservative activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek, US commentator Joey Mannarino, MAGA influencer Valentina Gomez and Spanish political commentator Ada Lluch.

Read more here...