War in Iran/Middle East/Gulf and beyond
(AFP/Al Arabiya) President Donald Trump said Monday that there are “major points of agreement” in US-Iran talks which he said must result in Tehran giving up its nuclear ambitions and enriched uranium stockpile. – US, Iran talks have ‘major points of agreement’: Trump
(Reuters/Al Arabiya) Israel should extend its border with Lebanon up to the Litani River deep inside the country’s south, Israel’s finance minister said on Monday as Israeli troops bombed bridges and destroyed homes in the area in an escalating military assault. The comments by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich were the most explicit yet by a senior Israeli official on seizing Lebanese territory in a fight Israel says targets Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. – Israeli minister calls for annexation of southern Lebanon
(Agencies/Al Arabiya) German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday he was “grateful” to US President Donald Trump for delaying previously threatened strikes on Iranian power plants. “I expressed my concerns to him regarding the announced attacks on the power plants in Iran,” Merz told a Berlin press conference about their phone call the previous day. “I am grateful that he said today he is postponing them for another five days.” – Germany, UK welcome Trump’s announcement to delay strikes on Iranian power plants
(AFP/Al Arabiya) Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Monday, after US President Donald Trump revealed Washington and Tehran had held “very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities.” – Russia, Iran FM hold call after US-Iran war talks: Moscow
(Barak Ravid – Axios) President Trump told reporters his envoys had been negotiating with a senior Iranian official and claimed the parties were in agreement on many points. Regional leaders and global markets were bracing for major escalation on Monday, but Trump walked back his threat to strike Iran’s power plants, citing productive negotiations. Iran denied any such talks had taken place and claimed Trump was just trying to calm the energy markets. But an Israeli official told Axios that U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had been in touch with the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Trump did not name the Iranian interlocutor, saying he did not want to get him killed, but claimed the U.S. and Iran were aligned on many of the key issues. “We are dealing with a man that I believe is the most respected, not the supreme leader, we have not heard from him,” Trump said. – U.S. negotiating with senior Iranian official: Trump
Climate Action
(UN News) All-time high greenhouse gas concentrations in Earth’s atmosphere continue to drive heat records on land and sea, with long-lasting consequences for humanity, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Monday. Hot on the heels of a scorching decade, the UN’s weather agency has said that the planet’s climate is “more out of balance than at any time in observed history”. “Between 2015 and 2025, we experienced the hottest 11 years on record,” WMO’s deputy executive secretary Ko Barrett said. Last year was some 1.43°C above the 1850 to 1900 baseline in addition to breaking an ocean heat record, she explained. – UN weather agency warns of record ‘climate imbalance’ as planetary warming accelerates | UN News
EU/Hungary/Russia
(Sebastian Starcevic – Politico) The European Commission wants Budapest to explain explosive allegations that the Hungarian foreign minister shared information from confidential talks with other EU member countries with Moscow. The reports are “greatly concerning” as trust between member countries and the bloc’s institutions is fundamental to the EU’s functioning, Commission foreign affairs spokesperson Anitta Hipper said Monday. The Commission is waiting for “clarifications” from the Hungarian government, she added. A report over the weekend by the Washington Post claimed Budapest maintained close contacts with the Kremlin throughout the war in Ukraine and that Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó even used breaks during meetings with other EU countries to update his Russian counterpart. – European Commission wants Hungary to ‘clarify’ claims it shared info with Russia – POLITICO
Russia/Ukraine
(Veronika Melkozerova – Politico) The Russian army sustained over 6,000 casualties in the last four days as it attempted a renewed offensive that was beaten back by the Ukrainian military. “The enemy tried to break through the defensive formations of our troops in several strategic directions at once … In total, the enemy conducted 619 assault actions during these four days,” Ukrainian Army Commander Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a statement on Monday, describing the Russian operations as “a colossal pressure.”. Syrskyi said the Russian command threw tens of thousands of soldiers into the “meat assaults.” – Russia’s ‘meat assaults’ in Ukraine cost it over 6,000 troops in four days, Kyiv says – POLITICO
Stock Market
(Emily Peck – Axios) The stock market is increasingly dominated by a few huge and extremely profitable “superstar” companies. The historic rise in stock market concentration reflects Big Tech’s dominance and mirrors a worrying rise in wealth inequality among regular people — but it’s not clear if it’s a real problem for investors. The most profitable third of publicly listed U.S. stocks now account for roughly two-thirds of total market capitalization — the highest share on record, going back to 1963. – Superstar companies dominate the stock market
US
(Reuters/Al Arabiya) US immigration agents began deploying at some US airports on Monday to aid security screening as staffing absences by unpaid airport security officers cause massive delays. – ICE agents begin deploying at some US airports
(Mike Allen – Axios) A cruise-missile airframe is being 3D-printed before my eyes. The AI-driven system, the size of a shipping container, hums as it stacks layer on layer of aluminum and proprietary advanced metals. This white-floored factory at Divergent Technologies, just outside L.A., is a window into the American arsenal of the future. Each of Divergent’s printers, engineered and manufactured in the U.S., can produce hundreds of these missile airframes each year. They’re part of a new generation of “low-cost” missiles that are roughly one-tenth the cost of a legacy system. – America’s arsenal of tomorrow: Divergent 3D-prints cruise missiles
US/EU
(Aiden Reiter, Fiona Maxwell and Kathryn Carlson – Politico) U.S. regulators this week proposed easing capital rules on big U.S. banks in a package of proposals that departs from globally agreed-upon standards. Now, it’s sparking calls from European trade groups to loosen the EU’s own version of the rules. On Thursday, U.S. bank regulators released a number of potential rule changes intended to align U.S. policy with a 2017 global agreement known as Basel III. Its provisions imply a 2.4 percent decrease in capital held by the largest U.S. banks and bigger cuts for smaller banks. – US easing of capital requirements prompts calls for more lax regulations in the EU – POLITICO
