The Latest: US and Iran trade strikes as hopes dim for a quick resolution

The U.S. and Iran each fired barrages of missiles Thursday, as the pattern of back-and-forth strikes took hold again and hope dimmed for any quick resolution. After a brief respite , the risk of a return to all-out war emerged once more, with the fighting threatening to engulf even more countries. Jordan said Thursday it intercepted Iranian missiles for the second consecutive day , while Kuwait said a strike in the northern part of the country killed one person.

Todd Blanche’s nomination to become attorney general stalled Wednesday as lawmakers scrapped a planned committee vote after key Republicans demanded more assurances about the settlement of President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.

Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, and Trump’s approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month , according to a new AP-NORC poll . The results are a stark repudiation of Trump’s approach to the conflict, which has dragged on far longer than he originally predicted.

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The stop-start fighting between the United States and Iran appears to have entered a new phase with Saudi Arabia publicly joining military escalations against Tehran-backed proxies and an already untenable diplomatic effort to end the war faltering once again.

Little is clear about what strategy , if any, American or Iranian officials have for a path forward. The Republican president has vacillated for months between insisting a deal was near to end the war and Tehran’s nuclear program, and using vulgarities and threats to try to get Iran to capitulate .

The stakes for continued U.S. military action have never been higher for Trump and his party as the conflict, unpopular among many Americans, has jolted the world economy months before voters get their say in November. The renewed fighting has killed and injured more American troops and raised concerns about drawing down the stockpiles of key U.S. air defense systems.

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Flying to a rally at General Motors this week, the president declared that “car companies are doing better than they’ve ever done” thanks to his tariffs, “all because of Trump.”

“It’s amazing what tariffs will do for General Motors” the Republican leader said before autographing a white Corvette. “Michigan is thriving,” he told cheering supporters.

That’s not exactly true, according to many metrics. Tariffs have cost businesses in Michigan and across the country billions of dollars while stoking inflation that continues to run hot. Many Americans believe tariffs have pushed prices higher and the war in Iran has increased gasoline prices, hurting consumer confidence in the economy while keeping Trump’s approval ratings low.

There are few places where Trump’s boasts and economic reality are more likely to collide ahead of November’s midterm elections than in battleground Michigan, which holds its primary on Tuesday.

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Global opposition is growing to FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s plan for selling a stake in World Cup revenue to private investors.

The FIFA project would be underwritten by a New York investment vehicle, Thrive Eternal, created by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Infantino has had close ties to Jared Kushner and held secret talks with potential backers the U.S. about creating the $20 billion FIFA Forward Enterprise subsidiary with $4.2 billion of private equity.

“FIFA’s unilateral actions appear to undermine the very foundations of continental football,” the Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa warned in a letter Thursday to member federations that was seen by The Associated Press.

It circulated as the 55-nation European soccer body UEFA prepared meet Thursday to shape a resistance strategy. The 35-member North American soccer body CONCACAF, meanwhile, said it is “deeply concerned by the lack of due process” in Infantino’s project.

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The U.S. economy expanded at a sluggish 1.5% pace from April through June as rising imports weighed on growth. But consumer spending rose. And the Federal Reserve’s favored measure of inflation grew more slowly last month, by 3.7%, but remained above the central bank’s 2% target.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that growth in U.S. gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — decelerated from 2.1% in the first three months of 2026 and came in below economists’ expectations.

The Fed on Wednesday chose to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged for the fifth straight meeting. But three regional Fed presidents dissented, saying they wanted to raise rates to combat elevated inflation.

Higher costs have frustrated Americans ahead of November’s midterm elections, which will determine whether Trump’s Republicans keep full control of Congress.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but layoffs remain in the historically healthy range of the past few years.

U.S. filings for jobless aid in the week ending July 25 rose by 9,000 to 197,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The previous week’s figure was revised up by 1,000 to 188,000 but remains the lowest in more than 50 years.

Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast 207,000 new applications.

Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the U.S. job market.

The American Dream may not be dead for many Black Americans, but a National Urban League report warns that it’s further away than at any point since the Civil Rights Movement.

The 50th annual “State of Black America” report released Thursday grimly describes Black Americans ’ economic and political prospects as having worsened due to Trump’s policies. A copy obtained by The Associated Press says all Americans should be concerned.

“While they have targeted and focused on Black Americans, these attacks are going to impact broadly working Americans, poor Americans, aspirational middle-class Americans, and this is what this report points to,” said Marc Morial, the league’s president and CEO.

Morial urged concerned Americans to respond at the ballot box and with their pocketbooks. “We cannot be dejected. We cannot be cynical. We must act,” Morial said.

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Many Americans continue to be concerned about the pocketbook impact of the Iran war, the new poll shows.

About 7 in 10 U.S. adults — 72% — say it’s “extremely” or “very” important for the U.S. to prevent domestic oil and gas prices from rising, up slightly from 67% in March.

A similar share, 70%, say it’s highly important for the U.S. to reach a ceasefire agreement with Iran.

Americans’ goals for the Iran war may not be fully aligned with Trump, who has repeatedly said the war was launched to keep a nuclear weapon out of Iran’s hands .

While about two-thirds of U.S. adults say it’s “extremely” or “very” important to keep Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon — with Republicans especially likely to say this — Americans are more likely to prioritize low gas prices and a permanent ceasefire with Iran.

Most U.S. adults say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, according to a new AP-NORC poll . About two-thirds of U.S. adults say the war with Iran, which began Feb. 28 , has not been worthwhile. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and independents, as well as about 37% Republicans.

The poll shows little appetite among Americans for a prolonged conflict.

Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults want to continue military action in Iran, while about 3 in 10 say the U.S. should pause military action and seek a renewed ceasefire through negotiations. About 2 in 10 want to completely stop military action in Iran and roughly one-quarter don’t know enough to say.

Trump on Wednesday announced a $22.5 billion renovation of Washington Dulles International Airport that will end the use of the widely disliked “people movers,” the mobile lounges that have been used for decades to shuttle travelers to and from the main terminal.

In place of the people movers, the airport will add a new U-shaped passenger train, a central walking tunnel, more moving walkways and new concourses. An above-ground parking garage closer to the main terminal with space for 32,000 vehicles is also in the offing, according to Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

The airport makeover would add to a long list of renovation projects the Republican president is pursuing to leave a lasting mark on the Washington region after his term ends in January 2029. Among other undertakings, he is building a new White House ballroom and wants to build a towering triumphal arch near the Lincoln Memorial.

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The president's approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month , according to a new AP-NORC poll .

Just 28% of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling Iran, a slight decline from 34% last month.

Republicans also appear to be increasingly unhappy with the prolonged conflict: 61% approve of how Trump is handling Iran, an apparent decline from 71% in June.

The margin of sampling error for Republicans is 6 points, so that 10-point decline is considered slight – but it’s still noteworthy given Republicans’ higher approval of how Trump is handling the presidency overall. About 7 in 10 Republicans, 73%, approve of Trump’s job performance.

Trump’s overall job approval rating is 33% among U.S. adults. That’s slightly below where he was at this point in his first term , and similar to where former President Biden stood about one and a half years into his presidency, as inflation peaked.

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Todd Blanche’s nomination to become attorney general stalled Wednesday as lawmakers scrapped a planned committee vote after key Republicans demanded more assurances about the settlement of President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had been expected to vote Thursday on whether to advance Blanche’s nomination to the full chamber. But resistance from two Republican senators on the committee who could block Blanche’s nomination threw his confirmation into doubt.

A spokesperson for the committee said in a statement Wednesday night that the vote would be postponed “as work continues to secure sufficient support.” The delay came after hours of negotiations between the Justice Department and Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis over the controversial settlement that afforded Trump and members of his family protection from tax audits.

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The United States and Iran each fired barrages of missiles Thursday, as the pattern of back-and-forth strikes took hold again and hope dimmed for any quick resolution.

After a brief respite , the risk of a return to all-out war emerged once more, with the fighting threatening to engulf even more countries: Jordan said Thursday it intercepted Iranian missiles for the second consecutive day, while Kuwait said a strike in the northern part of the country killed one person. Also this week, drones caused fires on ships at an Egyptian port, and Saudi Arabia said it came under fire from Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

The spiraling violence underscored the difficulty of winding down a five-month conflict that has sent the price of fuel and other basics soaring, jolted the world economy, and added to concerns about American stockpiles of weapons needed to defend its bases and allies. After an earlier hiatus had given hope that diplomatic efforts were moving forward, there was no public sign of progress.

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