President Donald Trump paused a 13-night bombing campaign against Iran starting on Friday, July 24, 2026. By Sunday, July 26, the pause had lasted three nights in a row. The decision came after senior US officials warned that the military was running low on weapons, and after the top American commander in the Middle East said the US had almost run out of targets to strike inside Iran.

The US-led bombing was part of a conflict that has now lasted nearly five months. It included 38 days of heavy fighting in spring 2026 and a nearly two-week escalation in July. By July 20, the US had launched its 10th round of strikes. About 3,500 Iranians were killed, and damage to Iran is estimated at between $150 billion and $270 billion.

The cost to the United States was also high. According to the CSIS thinktank, the US spent at least $38 billion. The military used more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles and more than 1,100 JASSM cruise missiles. These are long-range guided missiles launched from ships, submarines, or aircraft. Each JASSM costs $2.6 million, and each Tomahawk costs up to $3.6 million. The Tomahawks used against Iran may not be replaced until 2031. The US also used up about 1,000 Patriot missile interceptors — weapons designed to shoot down incoming missiles. That is about half of the total American supply.

Admiral Bradley Cooper, the top US military commander in the region, told Trump the US had nearly exhausted its list of targets in Iran, Axios reported. Vice President JD Vance and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine also warned Trump about the risks of a renewed military campaign at an Oval Office meeting on Friday, July 24. The Guardian reported on July 27 that senior US officials had warned the president about dwindling munitions.

Iran paused its attacks too. Iranian army spokesperson Mohammad Akhaminia said on July 26 that US attacks had stopped for two nights and Iran had halted its "retaliatory" operations. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on July 26 that Iran would stop its own attacks only as long as the US kept its pause. Trump told reporters on July 24 that the US was talking to the Iranians directly, and by July 27 he called the engagement "good talks." Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei confirmed mediators were working to prevent escalation.

A ceasefire that Trump had previously arranged fell apart before the July escalation. In May 2026, Pakistan gave Washington a revised Iranian peace proposal, after which Trump said he paused a planned attack. The US's stated reason for fighting shifted over the course of the conflict between three goals: regime change (replacing Iran's government), destroying Iran's entire missile programme, and preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway carrying about 20% of the world's oil and gas, became a major flashpoint. Washington blamed Iran for closing the strait. Iran demanded payment and control over which ships could pass through before reopening it. Senior diplomats from Iran and Oman held negotiations on July 26 about restoring access to the waterway. During the July escalation, two merchant tankers were attacked while sailing north of Oman. One caught fire and was evacuated before being towed to Oman. Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked a refinery in the Saudi city of Jizan on July 25, widening the area of conflict.

Oil prices fell on Monday, July 27, as markets responded to the pause in US strikes.

Tensions between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became visible during a visit covered by the Guardian on July 24. Netanyahu, facing pressure to show results from military campaigns against Iran and Hezbollah before Israeli elections scheduled for October 2026, criticized Washington's negotiations with Iranian leaders and pushed for the US to continue its strikes. He was expected at the White House on Tuesday, July 28. US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said on NBC's Meet the Press that the president was keeping all options on the table regarding Iran.

The broader context here is a conflict in which the United States fired a huge number of weapons but weakened its own military readiness in the process. Think of it like draining a savings account to pay for an emergency — the money is gone now, and rebuilding it will take years. The US spent over 2,100 cruise missiles, half its Patriot interceptor supply, and tens of billions of dollars in five months against an adversary whose goals Washington itself struggled to define clearly. Because Tomahawk replacement may stretch to 2031, the weapons used this summer will affect US military capacity across the world for years. Whether this pause becomes lasting peace or just a break before more fighting likely depends on three things: the direct US-Iranian talks Trump mentioned, the Strait of Hormuz negotiations led by Oman, and the outcome of Netanyahu's White House visit. Each of those has its own pace and its own pressures, and they may not pull in the same direction.