Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump’s newly announced economic campaign against Iran would bring another defeat for Washington. In a post on X, Araghchi said the initiative, described as an “economic D-Day,” would deepen anti-US sentiment among Iranians. His remarks followed Trump’s Wednesday announcement on Truth Social of what he called a major economic offensive against Iran.

Araghchi characterized the campaign as a tactic to divert attention from the United States’ own crisis, citing unprecedented debt levels and rapidly rising interest costs. He said persisting with failed policies would produce further setbacks for the United States. The Iranian foreign minister also alleged that what he termed US “economic terrorism” threatened the global economy and the sovereignty of countries worldwide.

Trump said Iran had failed to seize an opportunity for an agreement and would face economic warfare and isolation at unprecedented levels. He said Washington would seek to close financial and trade channels supporting Tehran, while warning of severe economic measures against financial institutions, businesses, airports and government bodies that help sustain Iran economically. Trump also urged US allies to join Washington in economically isolating Iran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman Brigadier General Sardar Mohebbi said Iran has continued producing weapons and would use more destructive arms if another phase of conflict begins. He made the remarks in an interview with Iranian state broadcaster IRIB, according to the report published on August 20, 2026.

Mohebbi said the destructive power of warheads used in IRGC missiles is now much greater than before. He said that if war resumes, Iran’s weaponry would be completely different from that used in the past in every respect.

The IRGC spokesman said the changes include greater accuracy, missile range and next-generation warheads. The report did not identify a specific potential conflict, provide details on the weapons being produced, or state a timeline for their deployment.

Iran has executed a foreign national convicted of involvement in January protests and unrest in Isfahan, according to the country’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. The execution was reported on August 20, 2026. Tasnim identified the man as Ghayem Hosseini, also known as Arian, and said he had been found guilty over his role in mass demonstrations and instability.

The report said four police officers were killed during the protests. Tasnim said Hosseini was convicted in connection with that incident, though the source did not provide further details about the court proceedings, his nationality, or the timing of the execution.

Tasnim said the death sentence was carried out after all legal procedures had been completed. It cited accusations of displaying weapons, creating fear and panic, undermining public security, and causing widespread disorder. The report attributed the information to Tasnim and listed Al Jazeera as its source.

Operations at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport were shut down on Thursday at 2 p.m. local time amid a dispute with workers, Israeli media reported. All check-in counters were closed, severely disrupting airport operations and passenger services. Several flights bound for Tel Aviv were forced to turn back mid-journey and return to their countries because check-in operations had stopped.

Workers at four ground-service companies operating at the airport also stopped working. The disruption occurred during one of the airport’s busiest periods, when it handles about 100,000 passengers and 600 flights daily. Ynet reported that airport and air traffic authorities had notified airlines before the airport closure.

The Israel Airports Authority said the work stoppage followed instructions from the workers’ committee and urged employees to immediately withdraw it. It warned that it would seek a court resolution if the stoppage continued. Transport Ministry officials said airport workers could face dismissal if the action was proven to be an intentional slowdown, while Transport Minister Miri Regev instructed director general Moshe Ben Zaken to take immediate action.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf said the United States’ main objective in the Middle East is to exploit the region’s resources. Speaking on Wednesday in a meeting with Iraqi President Nizar al-Amidi, he said Washington’s presence in the Persian Gulf is driven solely by a desire to plunder regional wealth.

Ghalibaf said Iran’s recent 40-day war demonstrated that foreign military deployments do not provide security and instead increase instability. He argued that the United States is not only unable to guarantee the security of Persian Gulf countries but is also actively responsible for undermining peace in the region.

Highlighting Iran and Iraq’s long-standing friendship and cooperation, Ghalibaf called for progress on the Shalamcheh-Basra railway, dredging of the Arvand Rud waterway, and expansion of border markets. He also called for an end to the current “neither war nor peace” situation between Iran and the United States, saying lasting security can be ensured through collective action by regional countries.

The United States has reportedly arranged a secret southern shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz for oil tankers, Axios reported, citing US officials. The report, republished by Amar Desh Online on August 20, 2026, said 15 to 20 tankers have crossed the route each night in recent weeks. Officials said about 10 million barrels of crude oil are leaving the Gulf region daily, roughly half of pre-war normal exports.

US forces are reportedly assisting both loaded tankers leaving the Gulf and empty tankers travelling from the Arabian Sea to ports in Gulf countries. Ships are being moved in large convoys through the southern route on a fixed nightly schedule. The US Air Force is said to be protecting the vessels from Iranian drone and cruise missile attacks.

US officials said recent military operations had weakened Iran’s radar and maritime surveillance systems, enabling the corridor’s operation. They claimed US forces shot down eight Iranian drones and two cruise missiles this week. President Donald Trump said large volumes of oil were still passing through Hormuz and that no talks with Iran were underway.

Israel has begun building a facility to carry out death sentences for Palestinian prisoners, according to the report published on August 20, 2026. The Arab League strongly condemned the move, warning that any execution would be considered a war crime and would require international accountability.

In a statement, the League described the initiative as a dangerous and unprecedented escalation in violations of Palestinian prisoners’ rights. It said the plan breaches international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, its protocols and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which require protections for prisoners in occupied Palestinian territory against inhumane or arbitrary treatment.

The Arab League said a law passed by Israel’s parliament in March expanding use of the death penalty for offences related to “terrorism,” along with preparations for execution infrastructure, forms part of a systematic policy. Human rights groups had warned the law could be applied discriminatorily against Palestinians. Thousands of Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, with many detained administratively without trial, a practice rights groups have long criticized as arbitrary and unfair.

A report published by Amar Desh Online on August 20, 2026 examines the United States’ long record of attempts to influence or change governments abroad, focusing on Iran and interventions in the Middle East and Latin America. It says US-CIA and British action removed Iran’s elected prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953 and restored Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, following conflict over oil-industry nationalisation.

The report says the Shah’s authoritarian rule later fuelled public anger and Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, turning Iran from a close US ally into a principal rival. It also cites tensions involving the Iran-Iraq war, sanctions, Iran’s nuclear programme and Iran-backed armed groups. The United States left the 2015 nuclear agreement in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, while Iran later began enriching uranium beyond the deal’s limits.

It describes mixed outcomes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, and cites allegations of US-backed interventions in Guatemala, Brazil and Chile during the Cold War. Analysts say removing a government can be easier than controlling the political consequences, urging Washington to distinguish between addressing military or nuclear capabilities and seeking to alter a country’s political system.

Colombia’s death toll from a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake has risen to 314, while 262 people remain missing, according to a Wednesday report from the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD). Rescue teams are continuing searches for those unaccounted for. The earthquake struck on August 10 at 7:34 a.m. local time near San José del Palmar in the Pacific department of Chocó.

UNGRD said 4,437 people were injured and 364 survivors were pulled alive from the rubble. A total of 262,154 people have been affected. The quake, described as Colombia’s strongest of the century, originated about 110 kilometres below the surface but caused extensive damage in the western Coffee Axis region and major cities, particularly Cali and Pereira.

At least 30,664 homes were completely destroyed, 136,946 suffered structural damage and 302 buildings collapsed. Damage also affected schools, community centres, health facilities, roads, bridges, water systems and five regional airports. Remote areas of Chocó, Caldas and Quindío have been isolated by landslides, complicating aid deliveries. Authorities are marking unsafe buildings as uninhabitable, while displaced residents shelter in temporary sites or tents.

At least 21 people were killed and four others injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a truck in Brazil’s southern Parana state. The crash occurred on the BR-372 highway, road operator Via Araucaria said in a post on X on Wednesday. All those killed were passengers on the bus, authorities said.

The injured people were taken to hospital for treatment, though no details about their conditions were immediately available. Local media reported that the bus involved in the crash operated under the health department of the municipality of Imbituva. Imbituva authorities did not immediately comment or confirm that information.

The cause of the collision was not immediately known, and relevant authorities are investigating. Imbituva has a population of about 30,000 people and is located roughly 180 kilometres west of Curitiba, the capital of Parana state. The report was published on August 20, 2026, and updated later the same day.

Writer Fatima Bhutto has questioned the silence of influential Western feminist movements and figures as women’s health conditions worsen in Gaza amid war and a humanitarian crisis. In an article published Tuesday, she said miscarriages in Gaza nearly tripled during the first half of this year, while food shortages and malnutrition have left many Palestinian mothers unable to provide sufficient milk for their children.

Bhutto asked whether international women’s rights movements and Western feminists would have mounted widespread protests if comparable circumstances had emerged elsewhere. She contrasted the situation with solidarity shown by many Western women during protests against mandatory hijab rules in Iran, including social-media videos, petition signatures and hair-cutting demonstrations.

The writer also raised questions about the role of prominent women’s rights activists and media personalities in the West. She argued that their silence on increased miscarriages, malnutrition and maternal-health problems in Gaza has generated fresh debate about global feminism and women’s rights advocacy. The source says conditions for women and children are deteriorating amid prolonged war and shortages of food and medical supplies, with particular concern over risks to pregnant women and newborns.

The family of five-year-old Palestinian child Hind Rajab has rejected an Israeli military investigation into her killing in Gaza and called for an independent international inquiry. Hind’s grandmother made the demand in comments to Anadolu after the Israeli military acknowledged for the first time that soldiers fired at the vehicle carrying the child. The article was published on August 20, 2026.

Her grandmother said the family has no trust in either the Israeli investigation or Israel’s judicial system. She said they seek justice not only for Hind as a child from Gaza, but also on behalf of all children killed in Gaza. The reported incident also killed six of Hind’s relatives and two Palestinian Red Crescent medical workers who tried to rescue her.

Hind was among seven family members traveling in a car in Gaza City in January 2024 while fleeing an Israeli attack on the devastated city. Her uncle, aunt and three cousins were killed in the vehicle, while Hind was trapped and made a phone call. The report says she was later killed by Israeli fire. Israel had previously said no soldiers were present at the location that day.

US President Donald Trump warned that countries providing assistance to Iran or conducting trade with it would face “severe economic consequences.” He issued the warning in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, according to the report published on August 20, 2026. Trump said he was launching the “most stringent economic measures” against Iran, without detailing the measures or naming any countries.

Trump said banks, businesses, airports and government entities in any country that offer Iran financial or commercial support would face strict US penalties. The announcement came as the US war with Iran has approached six months, with no immediate diplomatic solution in sight. Shipping through the strategically important Strait of Hormuz has also been heavily disrupted.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had previously said Washington would take tougher action to economically isolate Iran. The report says Russia is accused of providing Iran military assistance and drone technology, while China has continued buying Iranian oil and maintaining trade ties. Trump claimed Iran’s navy and air force had been extensively destroyed, but said talks could resume if Iran is prevented from developing nuclear weapons.

Indian authorities have removed security barricades and bollards positioned outside the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi, according to the report published on August 20, 2026. The structures, including queue liners near the mission’s visa section, had reportedly been placed on a road beyond the designated boundary.

The removal came a day after Pakistan lodged an objection with the United States over comments by a US envoy concerning Kashmir. Video footage released by PTI showed broken barricades, security personnel and a damaged wall outside the Pakistan High Commission.

India’s government had not issued an official statement on whether the action was connected to Pakistan’s diplomatic objection. Authorities also had not publicly explained the specific reason for removing the barriers and bollards.

Yemen’s Houthi rebel group has threatened to intensify conflict against Saudi Arabia, saying it views maritime blockades, attacks on Saudi military facilities and defending Yemen’s sovereignty as central policies. The warning was issued by Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree in a report published on August 20, 2026. Saree said a major conflict would be met with a major response.

Saree said the group had attacked eight Saudi oil tankers since banning Saudi shipping on July 20. He said five attacks occurred in the Red Sea and three in the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea. He also claimed that Houthi threats had forced 48 Saudi oil tankers to turn back, including 34 from the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean and 14 from the Red Sea.

The spokesperson further claimed nine attacks in Yanbu, Najran, Jizan, Abha and Saudi Arabia’s eastern oil supply system, alongside 14 operations targeting Saudi military positions in Al-Ruwaik, Al-Abr, Al-Wadiah, Marib and Al-Makha. The Houthis demanded that Saudi Arabia lift the blockade, halt military operations in Yemen, pay public employees’ salaries, withdraw foreign forces and leave Yemenis in full control of their natural resources.