Iran Says It Has Halted Attacks On Washington's Allies, As US Pauses Bombardment

Tehran said it had halted retaliatory attacks against US allies in the Middle East as Washington refrained from attacking Iran for the second night in a row.A top military official in Tehran, meanwhile, threatened to widen Iran’s attacks across the region, suggesting that Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen could step up attacks on Red Sea shipping traffic.The overnight lull in attacks on July 26 came two days ahead of a key meeting scheduled in Washington between President Donald Trump and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.That July 28 visit falls exactly five months since US and Israeli forces launched a wide campaign of air strikes on Iranian targets.

Iran has pushed back, attacking US allies in the Middle East and essentially closing the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint waterway through which a massive amount of oil and gas normally passes en route to global markets.In past weeks, Washington declared a partial cease-fire, though prior to July 24, there were nearly two weeks of consecutive US bombardments of Iranian targets.The lull in US attacks were partly motivated by dwindling US stockpiles for interceptors to shoot down Iranian missiles, which has worried US military planners, according to The New York Times.Vice President JD Vance and General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both raised concerns about escalation at a White House meeting, CNN reported.The Pentagon has maintained that its forces remain well-equipped. Spokesman Sean Parnell told CNN that "the US military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities."A spokesman for Iran's military warned on July 26 that the war would widen even further if the US chose to restart its attacks.