Live Updates: Iran claims strikes on 2 ships in Strait of Hormuz and drone attack on U.S. base in Kuwait

A new Google feature rolled out on Thursday allows any user to digitally alter Google Earth imagery, further complicating verification efforts of claims about military gains in the U.S.-Iran war.

A CBS News analysis found that the company's Nano Banana 2 AI image generation editor could create false images of destruction of U.S. military equipment at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, the subject of multiple recent Iranian attacks – including one that killed three U.S. soldiers.

Google said it could be used for history teachers wishing to recreate ruined cities, or planners who want to see how their real estate plans would look over real-life cities. But CBS News was able to prompt it to take a real satellite image of the base in Jordan and edit it to create a realistic satellite image of damaged aircraft and burn marks around the runway.

On Thursday, Google said it takes misinformation seriously, and that every one of these images "includes the SynthID digital watermark, so if someone is unsure about an image, they can ask the Gemini app or use Lens in Search to see if the image was AI-generated."

When CBS News ran the altered satellite imagery through Google Lens, it did say the image was AI-generated, but after cropping the image and running it through Google Lens a second time, the results not only failed to detect AI manipulation, but said the satellite imagery showed destruction of military aircraft at an airfield in Shiraz, Iran.

CBS News has asked Google for comment on the findings.

Iran has repeatedly released unsourced satellite imagery purporting to show damage to U.S. military bases and equipment in the region, including on Friday when it published imagery it said showed destroyed F-35 fighter jets at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.

Egypt is investigating the source of Wednesday's drone attack on its Mediterranean port of Damietta, its prime minister said Friday.

In a press conference, Mostafa Madbouly said the attack happened at 2:20 p.m. local time when a fire broke out aboard two adjacent vessels, including one of Egypt's floating regasification units (FSRU) that receives liquefied natural gas (LNG) and converts it back into natural gas for the national grid.

Madbouly said the FSRU was moored next to an LNG storage vessel that Egypt maintains as a strategic reserve capable of supplying the national gas network when needed.

"Had the situation not been managed properly, the consequences would have been catastrophic," he added, saying an explosion aboard the vessel could have destroyed large parts of the port  and surrounding facilities.

Madbouly said military, police and security agencies conducted a comprehensive forensic investigation and that specialist teams boarded the vessel to examine what he described as the remains of the drone involved in the attack.

"Up to this moment, no party has officially claimed responsibility for the incident," he added. "There are speculations and opinions, but the state does not rely on speculation or unverified claims."

A joint security task force is continuing to analyze the incident to determine the origin of the attack and assess Egypt's response, he added.

On Thursday, Iran's foreign minister hinted in a post on social media that the attack was an Israeli "false flag" operation, without giving any evidence.

A British-Azerbaijani dual citizen was arrested in Cyprus as part of a U.K. probe and is facing extradition after allegedly spying for Iran on a British air force base, London police said Friday.

Rashad Sultanov, 44, was arrested on July 17 as part of a Counter Terrorism Policing London investigation into incidents at the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus between May 11 and June 22, 2025.

"He allegedly conducted hostile surveillance on the base, a prohibited place, and is alleged to have then shared information with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a foreign intelligence service," U.K. authorities said in a statement.

Sultanov was first arrested by Cypriot police in June 2025 on spying and terror charges and has been in custody since, Britain's Counter Terror police confirmed to AFP.

He was again arrested this month as part of an investigation under the U.K.'s National Security Act, which is the country's counter-espionage and foreign interference legislation.

"The British investigation will now take precedence and the plan is for him to be extradited back to the U.K.," police said.

Cypriot police did not provide extensive details about the man when he was first arrested last year after being spotted near the air force base near the southern coastal city of Limassol.

U.K. bases have become a flashpoint in the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran, with London allowing Washington to use Akrotiri for "defensive" operations against Tehran.

Earlier this year in March, an Iranian-made drone hit the runway of the site in southern Cyprus.

AFP

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps said Friday that it had hit two tankers trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz under an "aerial escort" of the U.S. military.

The IRGC said the "non-compliant oil tankers … were struck and stopped, while four other oil tankers quickly changed course and returned to their previous locations."

The U.S. military's Central Command said Thursday it had redirected 24 commercial vessels since restarting a blockade on Iranian ports earlier this month, up from 20 vessels a day earlier.

Iranian state media said Friday that the bodies of five members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) killed in joint U.S.-Saudi strikes in Iraq earlier  this week had been returned.

The United States and Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday they had struck Iran-backed militants in Iraq in response to recent attacks on the Gulf kingdom.

The strikes targeted positions belonging to the Hashed al-Shaabi, an Iraqi armed coalition that includes several powerful pro-Iran groups, killing at least 20 militants, including the five Iranians.

The IRGC's Quds Force oversees Iran's operations abroad, and Guard members killed outside Iran are often affiliated with the unit.

Back in 2020, the U.S. killed the Quds Force's commander, Qasem Soleimani, in an airstrike in Baghdad, along with Hashed al-Shaabi's deputy leader. 

AFP

Iran's military said Friday it launched drone strikes targeting U.S. military facilities in Kuwait.

It said in a statement that it targeted "fighter aircraft shelters, satellite communications systems and equipment storage facilities at Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait."

There was no immediate comment from U.S. Central Command, but Kuwait's defense ministry said that it had "detected hostile drones inside Kuwaiti airspace since dawn today" and "successfully intercepted and destroyed them." 

Their statement said Iran had "targeted a number of vital and military facilities," without specifying where, and said that "falling debris" from the intercepted drones had caused some "material damage" but no casualties.

The Iranian army said the strikes came "in response to the recent aggression by the terrorist U.S. military against our country and its brutal attack on a residential home on Qeshm Island." Local media reported on Thursday that three members of a family were killed in U.S. strikes on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

The strait, which  normally carries around 20% of global oil shipments, has been effectively closed by Iran since the start of the war on Feb. 28.

The U.S. has carried out repeated strikes on Iran's southern coastal provinces as it seeks to weaken Tehran's control over the waterway.

CBS/AFP

President Trump said Thursday evening that the militant group Hamas, an Iran-backed proxy, has reached an agreement with his international "Board of Peace" on the next steps in a peace deal for Gaza  that includes Hamas' disarmament in the Gaza Strip.

In a Truth Social post, the president called it a "HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza," and a "monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY."

The exact timetable for disarmament isn't clear.

Hamas communicated through mediators that it agreed to the final text of the plan, including decommissioning their weapons, U.S. and Board of Peace officials told reporters Thursday.

Read more here. 

A vote in the Senate to limit President Trump's war powers has failed again, and will likely the last one before a recess begins Aug. 10. 

The resolution, brought by New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, lost 49-50. Three Republicans voted in favor of limiting Mr. Trump's power to continue the war — Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Rand Paul — while one Democrat voted against it, John Fetterman. Republican Mitch McConnell, who remains in a rehabilitation facility, is the one senator who did not vote.

The resolution, if passed, would have "direct[ed] the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress."

The vote came exactly one week after the last Democratic effort failed.