U.S. Launches New Strikes on Iran

SPEAKER_1 (0:03)

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Alex Ossola (0:30)

The NATO summit wraps up with a show of unity.

Dan Michaels (0:33)

Ukraine and President Zelensky come out of this summit about as well off as anybody could have hoped for.

Alex Ossola (0:41)

Plus, the US again launches strikes against Iran. And YJP Morgan is hoping to make big bucks off deals for small companies. It's Wednesday, July 8th. I'm Alex Ossola for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that moved the world today.

The US military launched strikes against Iran today. The military said the strikes were designed to hurt Iran's ability to control the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media reported explosions around the same areas that the US strikes hit yesterday night. It's the latest sign that efforts to sign a permanent peace deal with Iran are unraveling. President Trump said earlier today that the ceasefire was over.

After a two-day meeting in Ankara, Turkey, the leaders of NATO countries are headed home. Our Brussels Bureau Chief, Dan Michaels, chatted with us after the meetings and press conferences wrapped from within the summit compound in the Turkish National Library. Dan, you've been on the ground there. What is the main takeaway from the summit?

Dan Michaels (1:48)

NATO lives to fight or they would say defend another day. There had been a lot of concern about whether the alliance would come out of this summit in one piece because President Trump has been very unhappy with a lot of European members and Canada, but in the end, he seemed very happy.

Alex Ossola (2:09)

Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today, and it was a friendlier meeting than we've seen in a while. They held a joint press conference after their meeting.

Donald Trump (2:19)

We've actually developed a good relationship, it's hard to believe, right?

SPEAKER_6 (2:22)

From the Oval Office to now, we've developed.

Donald Trump (2:25)

I think we've developed a very good relationship.

Lauren Thomas (2:30)

And this is not the end?

Alex Ossola (2:31)

No, this is not.

SPEAKER_2 (2:32)

This is going to be the beginning, maybe.

Alex Ossola (2:35)

Trump also said that he supported Ukraine striking deep in Russia. What might US support for Ukraine look like on a material level?

Dan Michaels (2:43)

Zelensky got pledges from Trump for weapons, for Patriot interceptors, maybe even producing them in Ukraine.

Alex Ossola (2:50)

Right, those are the interceptors that Ukraine's critically low on and that they need to defend against Russian missiles.

Dan Michaels (2:57)

What Ukraine wants to do is hit the missile launch locations that Russia is using to strike innocent civilians in Ukrainian cities. The Ukrainians don't want to hit Russian cities like the Russians are doing. So it's sort of a defensive offense. And Trump seems to have come around to this, in part because Ukraine has seized the initiative on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Alex Ossola (3:23)

We've been talking in the show all week about how Europe needed to show that it was spending money in an effort to appease President Trump. Where does this relationship stand? What does it look like at the end of this summit?

Dan Michaels (3:34)

The Europeans are doing what Trump says he wants them to do, but he still gives them a hard time for not offering to help in the war with Iran.

So the Europeans still scratch their heads and are worried about which President Trump they're going to get on any day. The one who is very lovey-dovey and as he was today, saying how much the Europeans love him and he loves them, or the one who criticizes and lambastes the Europeans, as he also did today.

Alex Ossola (4:06)

That was WSJ Brussels Bureau Chief Dan Michaels.

Three months ago, economists at the International Monetary Fund worried that a prolonged Iran conflict could push the world into a recession. The IMF's latest quarterly projections out today were much sunnier. Last month's ceasefire meant that growth for the next quarter would be slightly weaker, but long-term damage would be limited, with the global economy expected to grow 3% for the year.

Matt Grossman (4:33)

So the global economy was just a bit more resilient than the IMF had been expecting. The biggest economic consequence was a really steep rise in energy prices, but that didn't derail the global economy because people who use oil, businesses, countries, were just more flexible in responding to that price increase than people were expecting.