Pentagon chief cancels Israel visit as US-Iran tensions escalate

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth canceled a planned visit to Israel on July 8 in which he was meant to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz, a source told The Jerusalem Post.

Hegseth, who is in Ankara alongside US President Donald Trump for the NATO summit, was expected to make a brief visit against the backdrop of the American strikes against Iran.

The US strikes took place overnight, in response to a series of attacks carried out by Tehran against three commercial tankers in the waters of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian state media reported several injuries after US forces began launching what CENTCOM described as "a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway."

Later, Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed they targeted 85 US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait, "in response to US ceasefire violations," shortly after Kuwait's military reported sirens due to hostile missile and drone attacks.

The strikes also came hours after Washington announced it was canceling sanctions relief on Iranian oil sales, one of the main steps included in the memorandum of understanding between the sides, in a move it said was intended to punish Iran for the attacks and renew economic pressure on it.

By Vafa Guliyeva