US-Iran, Steel River & Omterra: This Week's Top Five Stories 1. Strait of Hormuz Shut Again as US-Iran Fighting Restarts The US & Iran have traded strikes over the Strait of Hormuz, leaving oil prices surging and the Commonwealth Bank warning of a return to triple-digit crude The fragile truce between the US and Iran has broken down. Air raid sirens have sounded across Gulf states in recent days as both nations resumed hostilities following a few weeks of relative calm. The immediate trigger came on 6 July, when Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) struck three commercial vessels near Oman, including a Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker, after they reportedly ignored warnings and attempted to pass through a route lined with sea mines. Washington responded with retaliatory strikes on Iranian military targets the following day. Tehran answered with missile and drone attacks on Gulf military bases hosting US forces. By 8 July, US President Donald Trump had declared the ceasefire “over”. Iran then shut the Strait of Hormuz once again, accusing Washington of interfering with the waterway by facilitating alternative transit routes. 2. Steel River: Google Breaks Ground on US's Largest Solar Farm Google and Cypress Creek Energy have begun work on the Steel River Energy Center in Arkansas, pairing solar and battery storage to power AI infrastructure Construction has officially begun on what will become the largest solar facility in the US. The Steel River Energy Center, located in Mississippi County, Arkansas, is being developed by Cypress Creek Energy with Google acting as both the anchor investor and offtaker, meaning that the tech giant has committed to buying the power the project will generate. When the project is completed in 2029, Google expects it will be capable of generating 2.5GW at peak performance, while it will also add