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Washington reinstated a unilateral naval blockade on Iran and said it will charge a 20 % fee on all cargo through the Strait of Hormuz while conducting a third straight night of air- and missile-strikes; Tehran replied with cruise-missile hits on two UAE tankers and attacks on US bases.
In a 13 July 2026 staff memo, CEO Oliver Blume said Volkswagen’s 20 % cost gap could require cutting a further 50,000 positions worldwide—doubling the previously-announced downsizing to a potential 100,000 jobs.
At midnight 14-15 July 2026, the 1-km fence and passport booths between Gibraltar and Spain were scrapped, replacing a 118-year physical frontier with Schengen-style free movement under a newly-signed EU-UK-Gibraltar treaty.
On 14 July 2026 Washington reinstated a naval blockade of Iranian shipping, carried out a third straight night of air- and missile strikes inside Iran, and declared a new 20 % transit fee, prompting Iran to fire cruise missiles at two UAE tankers and launch drones at Bahrain.
In an internal 13 July 2026 memo, CEO Oliver Blume for the first time told employees that Volkswagen may axe an additional 50,000 jobs worldwide—on top of a pre-agreed 50,000—unless it closes a 20 % overhead cost gap with rivals.
On 13 July 2026, a coalition of twelve Democratic attorneys general led by California filed an antitrust lawsuit in the Northern District of California seeking to block Paramount Skydance’s US$110–111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, directly contradicting the Justice Department’s June approval and threatening the deal’s planned Q3 close.
On 12 July 2026 Tehran fired drones and missiles at targets in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Oman and the UAE, marking the widest direct strike by Iran on Arab soil in decades and sparking coordinated condemnations from every major Arab and Islamic multilateral body within 24 hours.
Weekend air- and missile strikes by both Washington and Tehran shattered last month’s fragile cease-fire, cutting Strait of Hormuz traffic on 12 July to only six ships—the lowest in five weeks—and immediately lifting oil prices roughly 4 percent.
On 11 July 2026 Volkswagen’s 20-member supervisory board voted 12-7 to reject CEO Oliver Blume’s proposal to cut production capacity to 9 million cars and eliminate up to half of the group’s 150 model lines, sparking immediate plant-gate protests.
On 10 July 2026 Volkswagen told its supervisory board it will phase-out up to 50 % of its car models and lower global plant capacity from roughly 10 million to 9 million vehicles, teeing up the company’s largest restructuring in decades.
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