The US military launches a new round of air strikes on Iran! Iran’s supreme leader speaks out! US media: Iran’s missile inventory is sufficient! Do gold and silver still have a chance?
Hello everyone, let’s take a look at the latest news from the Middle East! U.S. Central Command: The U.S. military begins a new round of air strikes against Iran. According to CCTV news reports, on July 18, local time, the U.S. Central Command stated that at 6 p.m. Eastern Time that day, the U.S. military began a new round of air strikes against Iran on the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The US military said the operation was aimed at further weakening Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and quickly punishing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - the organization launched an attack on US military personnel in Jordan the night before.
Hello everyone, let’s take a look at the latest news from the Middle East! U.S. Central Command: U.S. military begins new round of air strikes against Iran According to CCTV News, on July 18, local time, the U.S. Central Command stated that at 6 p.m. Eastern Time that day, the U.S. military began a new round of air strikes against Iran on the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The US military said the operation was aimed at further weakening Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and quickly punishing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - the organization launched an attack on US military personnel in Jordan the night before. A reporter from the main station learned in the early morning of the 19th local time that local residents in Sirik, southern Iran, reported hearing explosions. Hormozgan provincial government officials said that at 1:30 that day, a US missile hit a location near Sirik. It is reported that Sirik has been attacked by the US military many times in the past few days, and the urban area has been damaged to a certain extent. Israeli airstrike kills 8 in Gaza City According to CCTV News, on the 18th local time, the Israeli army air raided two communities in Gaza City, killing a total of 8 people. The Israeli army has not responded yet. According to data released by the Gaza Strip health department on the 18th, since the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement came into effect in October 2025, Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have resulted in 1,144 deaths and 3,703 injuries. Iran's supreme leader accuses US of repeated defaults According to CCTV News, on the evening of July 18, local time, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mujtaba Khamenei issued a statement accusing the United States of repeatedly violating its commitments in the Iran-U.S. Memorandum of Understanding, calling the U.S. President’s signature “worthless and invalid.” The statement condemned the United States as "full of lies, unreasonable, and untrustworthy," and pointed out that the United States still attempts to incite war and will "pay a heavier price." "The Iranian people and the resistance front have prepared unforgettable lessons for it." The statement emphasized that one of the most important principles at this stage is to uphold the unity of people and officials at all levels in all fields to ensure Iran's dignity and independence. Several US soldiers are dead or missing in the Middle East According to CCTV News, the U.S. Central Command issued a statement later on the 18th stating that on July 17, while responding to Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks in Jordan, two U.S. soldiers died and another U.S. soldier was missing. At present, Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan have all confirmed attacks. The Kuwaiti Armed Forces stated on the 18th that Iran launched attacks on the country’s military infrastructure and important civilian infrastructure that day, causing injuries and property damage. Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy also stated on the same day that a fire broke out at a desalination and power generation facility in Kuwait that day due to the Iranian attack, causing damage to the generator set. US media: Jordan’s US military base was attacked four times in five days, indicating that Iran’s missile inventory is sufficient According to Xinhua News Agency, citing a report from the New York Times on the 18th, multiple U.S. officials stated that Iran launched four attacks on U.S. military bases in Jordan in the past five days, resulting in the death of two U.S. troops, dozens of injuries, and damage to multiple helicopters. U.S. officials believe that this series of attacks and the losses they caused show that the Iranian military still has sufficient missile inventories and that its ability to evade interception by the U.S. air defense system has also improved. Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The United States will not be allowed to open an independent parallel route in the Strait of Hormuz According to CCTV News, on the 18th local time, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Article 5 of the Iran-US Memorandum of Understanding does not allow the United States to open an independent parallel route in the Strait of Hormuz. The Iran-US memorandum of understanding is based on the two countries' mutual commitments. As long as the United States fulfills its commitments, Iran will abide by its commitments. Gold, silver, is there still a chance? This week, gold and silver prices continued their decline. Sun Fukun, deputy general manager of Huayuan Futures, said in an interview with a reporter from Futures Daily that there are three core factors currently affecting the prices of gold and silver: First, the recent performance of U.S. economic data has been better than expected, driving U.S. bond yields to new highs and increasing the cost of holding precious metals, which are non-interest-bearing assets. The cost has increased significantly and suppressed its price; second, the global equity market is generally strong, and funds have flowed out of the precious metal market and turned to risky assets with higher return expectations; third, precious metals have accumulated a certain increase in the early stage, and some profit-making bulls have concentrated on closing their positions near key pressure levels.
Xiao Jingyu, precious metals researcher at Xinhu Futures Research Institute, added that U.S. inflation data fell as expected in June, basically eliminating the possibility of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates in July, and its impact on precious metals has also weakened. However, the Fed's interest rate policy has always been anchored to core inflation, and a potential rebound in energy prices complicates this variable. The reporter noticed that recently, silver has fallen far more than gold. In this regard, Sun Fukun believes that this differentiation is directly related to the properties of gold and silver. He said that gold’s financial attributes account for a higher proportion, and its price is mainly driven by macro factors such as monetary policy and real interest rates. In addition to financial attributes, silver’s industrial attributes account for nearly half, and its sensitivity to the prosperity of the real economy is much higher than that of gold. At present, the momentum of global economic recovery is weak, and the market remains cautious about industrial demand expectations, resulting in greater downside space for silver than gold during the adjustment phase. Xiao Jingyu analyzed that at present, the growth rate of global photovoltaic installed capacity is slowing down, and the iteration of superimposed technologies has promoted the continuous decline in the amount of silver used per unit, and the demand for silver in the photovoltaic field has declined significantly. The new AI-related silver demand is far from enough to fill this gap, causing the silver supply and demand gap to narrow. At the same time, since the United States suspended its imposition of additional tariffs on silver, silver inventories previously accumulated in the United States have accelerated their distribution to the global market. Silver leasing rates have fallen back to near the historical average, and the spot shortage has been significantly alleviated. Looking forward to the market outlook, Sun Fukun believes that the suppression of short-term high interest rates has not yet been completely lifted, and precious metals are likely to remain volatile and weak. In the medium term, as the suppression of the real economy by high interest rates gradually appears, the Federal Reserve may adjust the direction of monetary policy. The decline in real interest rates will bring a new round of rising opportunities for precious metals. Medium and long-term precious metals still have allocation value. In the short term, investors need to focus on whether U.S. bond yields have peaked and fallen, and whether U.S. employment and inflation data are worse than expected. Xiao Jingyu believes that the trading logic of precious metals has not undergone a fundamental reversal. She said that global sovereign credit risks are gradually rising, and the continued expansion of U.S. debt has continued to erode the credibility of the U.S. dollar, strengthening the mid- to long-term narrative of "de-dollarization." Geopolitical risks are far from eliminated, and the situation in the Middle East has become increasingly tense. Multiple risks are intertwined, which will benefit the preservation and hedging value of precious metals in the long term. (
Xiao Jingyu, precious metals researcher at Xinhu Futures Research Institute, added that U.S. inflation data fell as expected in June, basically eliminating the possibility of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates in July, and its impact on precious metals has also weakened. However, the Fed's interest rate policy has always been anchored to core inflation, and a potential rebound in energy prices complicates this variable. The reporter noticed that recently, silver has fallen far more than gold. In this regard, Sun Fukun believes that this differentiation is directly related to the properties of gold and silver. He said that gold’s financial attributes account for a higher proportion, and its price is mainly driven by macro factors such as monetary policy and real interest rates. In addition to financial attributes, silver’s industrial attributes account for nearly half, and its sensitivity to the prosperity of the real economy is much higher than that of gold. At present, the momentum of global economic recovery is weak, and the market remains cautious about industrial demand expectations, resulting in greater downside space for silver than gold during the adjustment phase. Xiao Jingyu analyzed that at present, the growth rate of global photovoltaic installed capacity is slowing down, and the iteration of superimposed technologies has promoted the continuous decline in the amount of silver used per unit, and the demand for silver in the photovoltaic field has declined significantly. The new AI-related silver demand is far from enough to fill this gap, causing the silver supply and demand gap to narrow. At the same time, since the United States suspended its imposition of additional tariffs on silver, silver inventories previously accumulated in the United States have accelerated their distribution to the global market. Silver leasing rates have fallen back to near the historical average, and the spot shortage has been significantly alleviated. Looking forward to the market outlook, Sun Fukun believes that the suppression of short-term high interest rates has not yet been completely lifted, and precious metals are likely to remain volatile and weak. In the medium term, as the suppression of the real economy by high interest rates gradually appears, the Federal Reserve may adjust the direction of monetary policy. The decline in real interest rates will bring a new round of rising opportunities for precious metals. Medium and long-term precious metals still have allocation value. In the short term, investors need to focus on whether U.S. bond yields have peaked and fallen, and whether U.S. employment and inflation data are worse than expected. Xiao Jingyu believes that the trading logic of precious metals has not undergone a fundamental reversal. She said that global sovereign credit risks are gradually rising, and the continued expansion of U.S. debt has continued to erode the credibility of the U.S. dollar, strengthening the mid- to long-term narrative of "de-dollarization." Geopolitical risks are far from eliminated, and the situation in the Middle East has become increasingly tense. Multiple risks are intertwined, which will benefit the preservation and hedging value of precious metals in the long term. (