Morning update

Live Blog Update| War on Iran 20 August 2026 07:56 BST Good morning Middle East Eye readers, Here are the latest developments: US President Donald Trump announced that the US is launching the "MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY". Trump also warned that any country supporting Tehran in any way will face "TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences", but did not make mentions of a specific country or what actions Washington is expected to take. Israel's defence minister said that president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is "dragging Turkey into dangerous adventures in Syria," indicating that Ankara risks consequences for its ties with Damascus. "Israel will not allow any actor to threaten its security," Israel Katz said in a post on X. Mossad had phone call with Syria’s foreign minister on 14 August to discuss Turkey’s military presence in Syria, according to Reuters citing several sources. The call, made just days before Israel struck a military airbase in Irbil, is one of the highest-level contacts to date between Tel Aviv and the administration led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Britain's foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, has criticised Israel's move this week to launch a construction tender for the E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank as an "unacceptable and destructive act". The UK "will set out a comprehensive set of measures" in the coming weeks, including sanctions targeting those involved in illegal settlement expansion. The grandmother of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab has rejected an Israeli military probe into her killing, Anadolu Agency reported. The grandmother has instead demanded that an independent international investigation be conducted into the killing of Hind, six of her relatives and two Palestine Red Crescent medics who tried to rescue her.