The Global Eye is in partnership with SIOI – Società Italiana per l’Organizzazione Internazionale
Afghanistan – US
(Donald Self – Al Arabiya) Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has invited American companies to invest in Afghanistan’s mining, infrastructure and agricultural sectors, the Financial Times reported on Monday. During an interview with the publication, Muttaqi reportedly proposed that US-Afghan relations “should not be assessed through the lens of the past 20 years of war, but rather on the basis of future co-operation”, saying that Afghanistan would “absolutely” welcome US investment. A Pentagon valuation of US Geological Survey (USGS) data in 2009 estimated at least $1trillion of untapped mineral resources in Afghanistan. – Taliban attempt rapprochement with US over potential $1 trillion minerals deal
Australia – South Asia – Nuclear
(Simran Keshwani – Lowy The Interpreter) For decades, Australian nuclear policy towards South Asia revolved around one problem: India. New Delhi had built nuclear weapons outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and Canberra worried that civil nuclear cooperation would weaken the rules it was trying to defend. That framing is now obsolete. South Asia’s nuclear order is no longer an India–Pakistan problem with China in the background. It is an interconnected China–India–Pakistan nuclear triangle, shaped by arsenal modernisation, emerging technologies, territorial competition and deepening civil nuclear relationships. What happens inside this triangle increasingly affects the wider Indo-Pacific. Australia has just acquired a new entry point. In July, Canberra and New Delhi finalised the administrative arrangement that operationalises their civil nuclear agreement and enables long-term Australian uranium exports to India for peaceful purposes under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. Australia should treat this not as the end of an old non-proliferation argument, but as the beginning of a more ambitious South Asia nuclear policy. India and Pakistan remain outside the NPT. China is a recognised nuclear-weapon state under it, yet its nuclear modernisation feeds directly into Indian calculations, which in turn affect Pakistan. Pakistan’s civilian sector is also deeply connected to Beijing, with six operable Chinese-supplied reactors and another under construction. For Canberra, defending the NPT and managing nuclear risk in South Asia are not identical tasks. Treaty architecture alone cannot encompass a regional nuclear balance in which two weapons states sit outside the treaty and the third is simultaneously a global and regional strategic competitor. Australian foreign policy should therefore shift from a politics of nuclear eligibility to a strategy of nuclear enmeshment: building additional layers of safeguards, transparency, industrial accountability and risk reduction around the nuclear relationships that already exist. That makes India the logical starting point. – The nuclear triangle in South Asia and Australia’s opening | Lowy Institute
Australia – South Korea
(Joonho Choi – East Asia Forum) Australia’s naval buildup is constrained by severe workforce shortages, delayed shipbuilding programs and mounting sustainment backlogs. South Korea’s smart‑shipyard technologies, already leading to productivity growth at firms like HD Hyundai and Hanwha Ocean, could help Australia overcome these bottlenecks. A formal AI‑enabled industrial partnership would expand capacity, strengthen sustainment and rebalance bilateral defence ties, giving both countries greater resilience in an increasingly contested Indo‑Pacific. – South Korea’s digital shipyards could keep Australia’s navy afloat | East Asia Forum
China
(Irvan Maulana – East Asia Forum) Beijing’s April 2026 guidelines for platform workers and its pivot to consumption-led growth mark early steps in an era of slower growth, but they do not resolve the precarity facing China’s underclass. Rural migrant workers and gig economy workers are groups long excluded from full social protections by the hukou system and increasingly, by algorithmic labour management. Whether Beijing follows through with real fiscal redistribution will determine what kind of social contract emerges as the era of high growth comes to a close. – China’s precarious underclass teeter on the edge | East Asia Forum
(Haiqing Yu, Joanne Kuai – Lowy The Interpreter) Would you accept US$15 to let an AI company use your face in artificial intelligence generated content? In China, this is becoming a real proposition. A recent Rest of World article reports that people are paid from between US$15 to US$700 to license their facial likenesses for AI-generated microdramas and advertisements produced for mobile phone viewing. China’s mobile entertainment industry is already enormous – and the use of AI-generated content is growing. More than 95% of microdramas released in China during the first three months of 2026 reportedly used AI somewhere in their production. The industry needs more faces – celebrities and ordinary people – to meet the demand for fast-paced, audience-driven microdrama production. One response has been straightforward: pay people for their faces. At the same time, regulators and platforms are cracking down on harmful and pirated content, unauthorised digital likeness, and homogeneous AI-generated characters. Licensing might be “legal” rather than simply scraping somebody’s photographs or reproducing their likeness without permission. But it creates a new problem for AI governance. An agreement might authorise one advertisement. But could the same AI facial model later appear in 100 advertisements? A romance or a political drama? Could it be aged, sexualised or made to say things you would never say? Generative AI transforms the question of facial rights. It is no longer only about protecting people from having their identity stolen. It is about governing what an authorised digital likeness can be made to do – potentially forever. – Losing face? Licensing and governing AI content in China | Lowy Institute
Climate Action
(UN News) The ocean is rising faster now than at any point in recorded history. The impacts are already being felt and the threats are growing. Land is being inundated, homes are flooding, livelihoods are being lost, driving significant hardships on people in search of a more secure future. It is not just the environment that is being affected, rising sea levels also have a significant impact on human rights, economic development, health, culture, the future of many countries and basic human dignity. Everyone and pretty much everywhere are affected across developed and developing nations. The ability to act and adapt today will prove decisive for whether rising seas become a manageable challenge or a generational crisis. – Rising seas, rising stakes: What increasing sea-levels mean to humanity | UN News
India – Myanmar
(Saima Afzal – Lowy The Interpreter) Reports that New Delhi is considering a small territorial exchange along the India–Myanmar frontier raise a question much larger than the disposition of a few square kilometres: what does a bilateral boundary agreement mean when the government signing it does not control all the territory it claims? Indian officials have confirmed that discussions are underway over unresolved sectors of the 1,643-kilometre frontier, following reports that New Delhi is considering an exchange of roughly 1.4 square miles (3.6 square kilometres) around boundary pillars 65 to 68 in Manipur’s Chandel district. India’s Ministry of External Affairs has not confirmed that a territorial exchange has been agreed. India’s rationale is clear. It wants to complete border demarcation, facilitate fencing and to curb insurgent movement, trafficking and irregular migration. But Myanmar’s fragmented political geography makes implementation considerably more complicated. Formal sovereignty and operational control are increasingly different things in Myanmar. Myanmar is the only ASEAN country sharing both land and maritime boundaries with India and remains the principal overland gateway connecting India’s northeast with Southeast Asia. New Delhi therefore needs functioning channels with Naypyitaw on border security, trade and connectivity. Yet the Arakan Army controls large parts of Rakhine State, while resistance and ethnic armed organisations hold territory elsewhere, including parts of Chin and Kachin states. India’s flagship Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project passes through areas where Naypyitaw’s capacity to guarantee security or implementation is limited. – India can redraw the border with Myanmar – but who controls it? | Lowy Institute
Indonesia
(Adhimas Muzakki – East Asia Forum) Indonesian women remain systemically excluded from the green workforce because of occupational segregation, unequal care burdens and inaccessible capital. Despite Vice President Gibran’s explicit emphasis on providing women green jobs during the 2024 election, employment numbers are lagging behind the promises and the Prabowo administration has largely failed in connecting gender and the green jobs agenda. The New Energy and Renewable Energy Bill represents a rare opportunity to fix this and bolster Indonesia’s green transition through women’s participation. – Indonesia must centre women in its green economy agenda | East Asia Forum
(Deni Friawan – East Asia Forum) Danantara’s successful international bond debut suggests that investors remain willing to back Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund. But the institution is being asked to maximise commercial returns, finance structural transformation and implement government policy simultaneously. Unless these functions are separated through distinct portfolios, performance measures and reporting requirements, developmental and political objectives may erode commercial discipline and obscure risks ultimately borne by Indonesia’s public sector. – Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund faces an impossible trinity | East Asia Forum
Israel – Gaza
(AFP) Israeli airstrikes killed five people west of Gaza City on Monday, a Gaza hospital and rescuers said, while the Israeli army said it targeted Hamas “military operatives”. Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said Monday morning it received two bodies “following an Israeli airstrike that targeted the entrance of a residential building near the municipal park in Gaza City.” – Israel strikes kill five in Gaza, health officials say
Pacific
(East Asia Forum) The Blue Pacific Ocean of Peace Declaration was intended to protect Pacific autonomy amid intensifying great-power rivalry, but Australia’s use of it to frame a new mutual defence treaty with Fiji risks transforming the concept into an instrument for containing China. China’s recent ballistic missile test reinforces legitimate regional concerns about militarisation, creating a case for Pacific states to strengthen home-grown frameworks such as the Treaty of Rarotonga to establish clearer constraints on military and nuclear activity. Strong regional institutions will be essential to preserving Pacific states’ ability to cooperate with traditional partners while maintaining mutually beneficial ties with China. – Doubts over Ocean of Peace but demilitarised Pacific remains the aspiration | East Asia Forum
PNG – Australia – Indonesia
(Serena Sasingian, Hilman Palaon – Lowy The Interpreter) Australia has enduring ties with Papua New Guinea as its largest development partner, a major source of investment and skills, and now a formal security ally. This relationship will remain central to PNG’s future. Yet if PNG is to accelerate its ambition of building a PGK 200 billion / AU$64 billion economy, creating one million jobs and improving the quality of life of its citizens, it needs to look to the broader neighbourhood as well. PNG has spent much of its history looking south. But its geography makes its northern horizon matter economically. Indonesia is the obvious place to start, offering something Australia cannot: a peer development journey. It is PNG’s closest large neighbour and part of the same regional economy. Beyond it lie some of the world’s fastest-growing markets, manufacturing capabilities, digital technologies and supply chains. – PNG wants a bigger economy – Indonesia shows how | Lowy Institute
Russia – Serbia
(Sonja Gocanin – RFE/RL) Thousands of people on Facebook and Instagram follow the page Govorit Moskva, whose content consists almost exclusively of speeches by Vladimir Putin translated into Serbian. The page publishes the Russian president’s speeches on a daily basis, in which he justifies the invasion of Ukraine, praises the Russian military, and says that people in the West are being led toward a “spiritual catastrophe”. Serbia has become an oasis for Russian propaganda. Pro-Russian narratives are spread not only through official Russian media but also through a complex web of aggregator websites, which often serve the interests of the Serbian authorities. – How Kremlin Propaganda Is Spreading Through Serbia
Russia – Ukraine
(Reuters) Russian drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the surrounding region stretched into the fifth day on Monday, with near round-the-clock air raid sirens disrupting daily life for millions. The attacks early on Monday injured four people and damaged warehouse facilities, an apartment block and a retail outlet in the Kyiv region, regional governor Tymur Tkachenko said on Telegram. Swarms of drones, many of them powered by jet engines, have plagued Kyiv and nearby areas in recent days, killing residents, damaging homes and warehouses. A Russian drone strike on an ammunition depot on Friday sparked explosions, killing 38 people. – Russian drone barrage on Kyiv enters fifth day, disrupting life across capital
(Dan Johnson – BBC) Viktoria Haidai surveys the mangled remains of the printing press, which should have been busy churning out textbooks ready for the new school year. The plant, on the edge of Kyiv, was hit during the night by a Russian missile, just as production was ramping up to deliver 1.3 million books – 10% of Ukraine’s schoolbooks. In the ashes there is a charred page from an English language textbook: “My name is William, I’m from the UK. My grandmother lives in Nottingham. It’s a beautiful city”. Russia has hit printing presses and publishing houses across Ukraine in a series of recent attacks, destroying 12 million books and damaging other icons of Ukrainian history and culture. Local media report that Russia has destroyed one third of all the books printed in Ukraine this year. Nothing is salvageable at this Kyiv printing press. Even the pages that survived the flames have succumbed to water damage, from firefighting or exposure to the elements from the collapsed roof. “I believe it is deliberate on the part of the Russian Federation,” says Haidai, commercial director of the Konvi publishing firm. “Over the past two months, some of the largest publishing houses have lost their logistics warehouses, where very large quantities of books were stored. “The Russians are also destroying printing houses in an attempt to erase Ukraine as a nation. But frankly they will not succeed.” – Russian strikes destroy 12 million books in Ukraine ahead of new school year
Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan – ASPI The Strategist) The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, taking place on 31 August and 1 September, will be another opportunity for China and Russia to try to promote an alternative to Western-led international institutions. But the organisation, now in its 25th year, faces internal rivalries and tensions that are becoming ever more difficult to sweep under the rug. The SCO appears to be high on geopolitical symbolism and low on genuine relevance, at least on the political and security front. Despite its Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure and the Peace Mission military exercises between SCO member countries, the organisation’s security agenda has been weak with very little to show in terms of actual results. It is not a security treaty, and it has had little effect in diluting the political and military tension between its major players. – After 25 years, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization faces an uncertain future | The Strategist
Singapore
(Hwee Kwan Chow – East Asia Forum) With its high exposure to imported inflation, Singapore uses the exchange rate, rather than an interest rate target, as its primary instrument of monetary policy. The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s policy tightenings in April and July 2026, despite still-subdued inflation, reflect a forward-looking approach that responds to rising imported cost pressures before they become entrenched. Exchange rate policy is reinforced by macroprudential measures, proactive fiscal policy and a flexible labour market toolkit, helping Singapore weather external shocks while preserving price stability and economic confidence. – The enduring logic of Singapore’s monetary policy | East Asia Forum
Tech World, Cybersecurity, Surveillance
(DigWatch) The European Commission has designated ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox as very large online services under the Digital Services Act (DSA). These designations bring the three services within the DSA’s strictest supervisory regime, which now covers 28 platforms and search engines. According to the European Commission, the three services declared that they each have reached at least 45 million average monthly users in the EU, meeting the threshold for designation. The Commission classified ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) and Reddit and Roblox as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs). The designated services have four months (until the end of January 2027) to comply with additional DSA obligations, including the assessment and mitigation of systemic risks related to illegal content, minors, users’ physical and mental well-being, fundamental rights, electoral processes and public security. – Stricter Rules for ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox under the DSA
(DigWatch) Multiple US municipalities have moved to terminate, suspend, or decline to renew contracts with Flock Safety, as scrutiny of the company’s automated licence-plate reader (ALPR) network intensifies over privacy, data sharing, oversight, and reported misuse. The cancellations accelerated during August. Ars Technica, citing data compiled by Oakland-based surveillance advocacy organisation Secure Justice, reported that 93 jurisdictions ended their relationships with Flock during the month, bringing the number recorded by the organisation since 2021 to 214. The figures cover different forms of discontinuation and do not constitute an official government count. When presented with the data, Flock told Ars Technica that new municipal partnerships in 2026 were still outpacing non-renewals by approximately ten to one. Several recent decisions are documented directly by local authorities. On 26 August, the City of Tempe in Arizona announced that it had switched off its Flock ALPR system and would end the programme rather than seek a replacement. The city said that although its own audits had not identified improper searches, concerns about potential misuse elsewhere and the need to maintain public trust supported ending the programme. – Multiple US municipalities terminate contracts with Flock over surveillance concerns | Digital Watch Observatory
(DigWatch) The National Commission for the Control of Personal Data Protection (CNDP) of Morocco communicated on 29 August requirements governing the use of personal data ahead of the House of Representatives (parliamentary) elections scheduled for 23 September 2026. The guidance covers the processing of political opinion data and the identification of AI-generated content. The CNDP requires personal data processing to be notified to the commission before it begins, in accordance with Law 09-08 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data. It also stresses that data must be processed for specified purposes and retained only for the required period. Data relating to political opinions may not be used without the explicit consent of the individuals concerned. – Morocco’s data regulator outlines 2026 election data rules | Digital Watch Observatory
(DigWatch) A consortium composed of Saigon Technology and Telecommunications JSC (SAIGONTEL), World Harmony Co., Ltd (WVU) and SAIF Eagle II Investment Co., Ltd has submitted a letter of intent (LOI) to develop an AI‑focused data centre complex on about twenty hectares of land in the Tay Ninh province of Vietnam. The project is designed for a total IT‑load capacity of up to 200 MW. The first phase would involve an investment of around USD 3.5 billion in a 100 MW facility, with groundbreaking targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026 and commercial operation in 2027. Following the LOI, the consortium will work with Tay Ninh authorities and the power sector to finalise the power supply plan and related mechanisms before investment policy approval procedures are considered, in accordance with regulations. – Consortium proposes a US$3.5 billion AI data centre in Vietnam | Digital Watch Observatory
(DigWatch) The Republic of Korea and Singapore have launched a teacher exchange programme aimed at strengthening STEM education and developing educators’ capacity to use artificial intelligence in the classroom. The inaugural programme will involve 42 teachers, including 20 from the Republic of Korea and 22 from Singapore. The Korean delegation is visiting Singapore from 20 August to 5 September for training, classroom observations, and visits to educational institutions, while Singaporean teachers will travel to the Republic of Korea from 25 to 31 October. – Singapore and the Republic of Korea deepen AI education cooperation | Digital Watch Observatory
(DigWatch) The Republic of Korea has announced a nationwide regional development strategy that will leverage artificial intelligence, semiconductors, robotics, and other advanced technologies to create specialised industrial hubs outside the country’s main economic centres. Under the National Land Transformation Strategy, local governments will help develop growth engines tailored to the strengths of individual regions. The Southwest Region will combine renewable energy and AI infrastructure with semiconductor investment, while Daegu–Gyeongbuk will focus partly on advanced AI robotics. Gangwon will develop AI data centres, Jeonbuk will target robotics and physical AI manufacturing, and the Southeast Region will promote AI-driven manufacturing. – Republic of Korea puts AI at the centre of regional growth strategy | Digital Watch Observatory
(DigWatch) Botswana has begun its first comprehensive mapping of the digital environment for its cultural and creative industries, as the country seeks to identify skills gaps, market barriers, and policy challenges affecting the sector. UNESCO, Botswana’s Ministry of Sport and Arts, and the Botswana National Commission for UNESCO held a two-day consultation in Gaborone on 25 and 26 August. Government representatives, academics, development partners, industry representatives, and creative professionals participated in the discussions under the UNESCO-KFIT Digital Creativity Lab III Project, which is supported by the Republic of Korea. – Botswana maps creative industries for the digital economy | Digital Watch Observatory
(Adriel Bettelheim – Axios) AI has an image problem. And one way to fix it is for top companies to dive headlong into health care. Saving the world with AI-designed cures is better than being blamed for ruining the environment or driving up Americans’ utility bills. But even the most advanced AI models can’t produce miracle treatments at the moment — and could create serious security risks if they try. That could set up a fraught debate over the next two or three years about the allocation of resources and whether the benefits of throwing vast amounts of computing capacity into medical research outweigh the costs. The Wall Street Journal reported this month that Anthropic was trying to shore up investor confidence ahead of its massive initial public offering with talk of pushing harder into health care and biology. CEO Dario Amodei wrote on X that Anthropic is moving quickly in biology and medicine “and we hope to have incredible results in the coming years and some early glimmers in the coming months”. Anthropic isn’t alone: Nvidia and Eli Lilly are building a $1 billion drug discovery lab in San Francisco that will team up life science researchers with AI model builders and engineers. Isomorphic Labs, the AI drug discovery spinoff from Google, recently raised $2.1 billion to hire more AI and clinical talent and has ongoing research collaborations with Novartis, Lilly and Johnson & Johnson. – AI giants like Anthropic bet on health care to fix public backlash
(Maria Curi – Axios) Build American AI — an advocacy group tied to pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future — is spending big on the AI data center fight, with plans to pour millions of dollars into battleground states, according to an announcement shared first with Axios. The data center backlash is becoming a defining issue of the midterms, and supporters of the developments are punching back. Build American AI, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, has about $50 million cash on hand. The group’s campaign will begin in Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin. The money will go toward paid advertising, grassroots engagement, research, earned media and public education. – Exclusive: AI advocacy group launches data center push in battleground states
(Ina Fried – Axios) A new independent evaluation finds that leading AI models are far less likely than earlier versions to explicitly encourage suicide or reinforce delusions. The study also found most models too willing to assist with suicide-related creative writing, farewell notes and other task-based requests even when a user’s distress should have been apparent. “Models aren’t great at detecting that, and they’ll still help with the task,” Transluce chief scientist Sarah Schwettmann told Axios. Transluce, a San Francisco nonprofit that studies AI behavior, simulated more than 50,000 multi-turn conversations between chatbots and users experiencing suicidal ideation, psychosis or mania. – Chatbots are getting better at identifying suicide risk
Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan
(Al Arabiya) Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey agreed on Monday to take further steps to institutionalize cooperation under the Mecca Alliance, pledging to strengthen collective defense and contribute to peace and stability in the region. In a joint statement following the first meeting of the alliance’s Political and Defense Strategic Committee in Istanbul, the three countries said the meeting marked an important step toward moving the Mecca Alliance from signing to implementation. The three countries reaffirmed the defensive nature of their partnership and their commitment to mutual respect for state sovereignty. They also pledged to continue efforts to promote de-escalation and restraint. – Mecca Alliance agrees steps to boost collective defense, regional stability
(Reuters) Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday that a roadmap was being worked on for the process of other countries joining the joint defense pact established earlier this month by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Fidan was speaking at a press conference after the first meeting of a key committee established as part of the “Mecca Defense Alliance”. The three countries signed the agreement on August 7 in Saudi Arabia’s Mecca, Islam’s holy city. – Turkey says roadmap underway for others to join defense pact with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan
Uganda
(UN News) On the shores of Nkondo, in Uganda’s Kikuube district, the day begins before sunrise. Fishers enter the lake to fish, while families around Lake Albert rely on its waters for food, income and daily survival. But, behind these daily activities lies an increasingly visible threat: plastic waste and other debris entering Lake Albert. Leaders of the local fishing community are warning that without urgent action, pollution could endanger fish stocks and, as a consequence, the lives of future generations. Like the local fishers, the UN has also warned of the decline of freshwater species due to pollution and environmental degradation in recent decades. Surface water bodies are shrinking or being completely lost in areas home to 93.1 million people, while more than a quarter are becoming increasingly cloudy because of pollution, according to a 2024 report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN-Water. In celebration of World Lake Day, marked annually on 27 August, Solomon Wamara, the chairperson for fishers on Lake Albert, said the community cannot continue to view the lake as a source of livelihood while allowing it to be filled with waste. “It is a good time to highlight the threats facing this lake that is our lifeline,” he told UN News. – ‘The lake is our life’: Protecting a shared lifeline in Uganda | UN News
UK
(Bronwen Maddox, Olivia O’Sullivan – Chatham House) Chatham House sets out a proposed foreign policy agenda for the government of Andy Burnham, the UK’s new prime minister. Given the extent to which the UK’s fiscal and military resources are stretched, the government must identify a relatively narrow set of priorities and stick to them. These priorities should be confined, we argue, to national security, the economy and boosting the UK’s global influence. On Europe, a first task is to complete several nearly concluded technical agreements with the EU. But there is also scope to deepen the defence and security relationship, and to coordinate policy responses regarding the Chinese competitive threat to European industries. In dealing with an unpredictable US, the UK should maintain cordial cooperation but be prepared to diverge with US positions that clash with UK interests or values. Boosting cooperation among ‘middle powers’ should be a focus of the UK’s G20 presidency next year. On defence, there is an urgent need for the government to clarify how it plans to finance raising core spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2035. – What the Burnham government should do in its foreign policy | Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank
US
(Reuters) The Pentagon said on Monday it secured seven-year agreements with General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS) and Lockheed Martin to increase missile production. – Pentagon signs 7-year deals to increase missile production
War in Iran – Middle East – Gulf
(Al Arabiya) US President Donald Trump on Monday said that Iran was “officially a failed nation,” whose leaders rely on fabricated claims. “Iran is officially a Failed Nation. IT IS DEAD!” Trump said on Truth Social amid renewed tension between both countries. He went on to say that Iran was without a navy, an air force and has been left with a struggling currency. – Iran is ‘officially a failed nation,’ Trump says
(Al Arabiya) Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of tricking Washington into going to war with Iran, calling him a “serpent”. “In Hebrew, Netanyahu openly crows that he suckered the US Administration into a war on Iran on behalf of Israel. Netanyahu explicitly laughs about how he ‘influenced’ America through 1,000 hours of airtime on US networks,” Araghchi said in a post on X. “In English, he praises POTUS’ leadership. Serpent,” he added. – Iran FM accuses Israel’s Netanyahu of tricking US into war
(Reuters) The US Treasury Department is likely to unveil weekly new secondary sanctions aimed at increasing economic pressure on Iran, with an initial focus on banks, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters on Sunday. After imposing penalties on the United Arab Emirates branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr on Friday over alleged financial links to Iran, Bessent said in an interview that the next step may be cutting off an institution entirely from the dollar-based financial system. – Bessent expects new US secondary sanctions weekly, aiming to increase pressure on Iran
(Agencies) Iran on Monday condemned renewed US attacks on its island of Larak and justified strikes by Iranian forces on bases in Jordan as “legitimate defense”. In a statement, the foreign ministry said Iran “strongly condemned the American military aggression on Larak,” adding that Iranian forces responded “in accordance with the inherent right of legitimate defense.” – Iran condemns new US attacks, says its forces acted in self-defense
(Reuters) A supertanker caught fire and was brought to a complete halt after being struck by two naval mines in the southern Strait of Hormuz, Iran state TV reported on Monday, citing a statement by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). – Iran’s IRGC says supertanker struck by mines in Strait of Hormuz
(Al Arabiya with AFP) Jordan’s army said Monday it had intercepted eight missiles, shortly after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said they had attacked US military targets in the kingdom. – Jordan army says intercepted eight missiles: Statement
(Haley Britzky, Zachary Cohen, Mohammed Tawfeeq – CNN) Iran and the United States traded attacks for the first time in over a month overnight into Monday, in an exchange that risks reigniting the damaging conflict after weeks of relative military calm. Iran fired missiles toward US military targets in Jordan in retaliation for a strike on Iranian rocket launchers that the US said were trying to launch sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz –– the key shipping route that’s become the center of regional tensions and diplomatic efforts. Six months into the festering conflict, the two nations have been locked in battle over control of the waterway, critical to global energy supplies, with Tehran asserting its claimed right to manage it with regular strikes on vessels, and the US determined to keep traffic flowing by guiding ships and a military blockade of Iranian ports. The exchange came just days after President Donald Trump declared the strait free from mines, and is a break with Washington’s recent shift in focus to maximizing economic pressure on Iran rather than military actions. – US and Iran trade attacks, marking first major military escalation in a month | CNN Politics
