外媒每日新闻 War & Rebound Edition

In a dramatic escalation, the military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei announced on July 14 that the temporary U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding “no longer exists” and that the United States, as an enemy, is now in a formal “state of war” with Iran. The declaration came hours after the U.S. restored its full naval blockade of Iranian ports and Trump issued what amounted to an ultimatum: accept U.S. terms or face annihilation. Separately, 180 Iranian MPs issued a joint statement demanding military retaliation, supporting the armed forces’ counteroffensive, and establishing a special committee to draft legislation on Strait of Hormuz management. On July 15, the U.S. launched its 7th round of airstrikes in a week, targeting coastal defense installations and cruise missile depots on Greater Tunb Island.^[1]

Just 24 hours after proposing a 20% transit fee on all cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, Trump abruptly reversed course on social media on July 14, stating the Strait would remain open to most commercial vessels and that the blockade would only target ships bound for Iranian ports. Trump claimed he had secured “unprecedented” trade and investment agreements with Gulf states as an alternative, though he provided no specifics on partner countries or investment amounts. The reversal followed fierce international condemnation: Brazilian President Lula called the fee proposal “piracy”; the UK Liberal Democrats described it as “highway robbery”; and the International Maritime Organization stated it had no legal basis whatsoever. Iran’s Foreign Minister sarcastically agreed that “whoever ensures safe passage deserves compensation”—but said Iran, not the U.S., was the real guardian of the Strait.^[2][3]

China’s National Bureau of Statistics released first-half economic data on July 15: GDP reached 69.5704 trillion yuan (in constant prices), growing 4.7% year-on-year. Q1 growth was 5.0%, while Q2 moderated to 4.3% with a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.9%. The tertiary (services) sector was the standout performer at 5.2% growth, with service retail sales rising 5.3%. Daily express deliveries exceeded 550 million parcels. New economic drivers—including the digital economy, high-end manufacturing, and new energy products—continued to accelerate. Total import and export value in the first half exceeded 25 trillion yuan, with RCEP trade ties strengthening.^[8]

South Korea’s KOSPI index staged a dramatic reversal on July 15, soaring as much as 7% intraday and triggering an upward circuit breaker that halted program trading for 5 minutes. The index closed at 7,284.41, up 427.5 points (+6.23%). SK Hynix surged 11.66% and Samsung Electronics gained 6.27%. The rebound was driven by three catalysts: (1) the government’s “F4” economic coordination body scheduling an emergency meeting on July 16 to address leverage ETF risks; (2) the government upgrading its 2026 GDP forecast from 2.0% to 3.0%, with the current account surplus forecast nearly doubling to a record $290 billion; and (3) import prices falling 4.4% month-on-month in June, the steepest decline in 3.5 years, as Dubai crude prices dropped 23%. Separately, SK Hynix ADRs on Wall Street soared over 27%, with a 51% premium over Korean-listed shares, signaling strong U.S. demand. SK Hynix also reportedly began mass delivery of 12-layer HBM4 chips to Nvidia for its Vera Rubin AI platform.^[9]

A sustained extreme heatwave continued to grip much of the Northern Hemisphere on July 15. The Balkans in Southern Europe, the Southwestern United States, and multiple West Asian nations recorded temperatures exceeding 40°C. Major cities issued maximum-level heat alerts as power grids and water supplies came under increasing strain. Public cooling shelters were opened across affected regions. Agricultural drought conditions worsened simultaneously, with crop damage reports mounting. The heatwave—the third major one this summer—has killed an estimated 1,300+ people across Europe since late June, according to public health monitors.^[11]

Apple’s generative AI service “Apple Intelligence” has officially passed China’s regulatory filing for generative AI services, according to public disclosures on July 15. Apple Technology Development (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. completed the filing on July 8 and was publicly listed on July 15, joining Huawei (Xiaoyi), Xiaomi (Surge AI), OPPO, vivo, Samsung, and Nubia as one of seven mobile AI models approved in the current batch. Notably, Apple Intelligence in China will be powered by Alibaba’s Qwen and Baidu’s AI capabilities, marking a significant localization strategy. The approval clears the path for Apple to bring its AI features to hundreds of millions of iPhone users in China.^[13]

The hashtag #HormuzToll trended globally after Trump proposed—and then abruptly abandoned—a 20% transit fee on all cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Social media users mocked the rapid reversal with memes comparing the Strait to a “Trump toll booth” and calculating that a single VLCC would owe $32 million per passage. Brazilian President Lula’s quote calling it “piracy” was widely shared. Even U.S. netizens joined the mockery, with many noting that Secretary of State Rubio had stated just weeks earlier that “no country has the right to charge fees on international waterways.” The episode became a symbol of what critics called the administration’s increasingly improvisational foreign policy.^[17]