Iran Expands Gulf Strikes As Economic Squeeze Deepens (Conflict)
Iran Warns US Over Israeli Move On Lebanon Ridge (Middle East)
Vance Rejects War Label As Iran Conflict Drags On (US)
Weapons Experts Point To US Strike On Iran Wedding (Middle East)
Milei Escalates Falklands Oil Dispute (South America)
Norway Seizes Russian Ship Over Crimea Award (Europe)
Pacific Missile Test Exposes Regional Divisions (Geopolitics)
Putin Sees Chance For Ukraine Peace Talks (Russia)
Foreign Support Fuels Sudan War (Africa)
Moraes Faces Probe Risk Over Banco Master Links (South America)
A succinct daily briefing delivered each weekday to help you stay on top of the stories shaping the world.
Iran has widened the scope of its attacks on US-linked targets in the Gulf as renewed fighting coincides with efforts by Washington to tighten the economic squeeze on Tehran. Iran said it struck US-used bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates with missiles and drones. Kuwait said its air defences had intercepted attacks.
Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said the country’s strategy would now be “asymmetrical” and warned of “dark months” for the American economy. Analysts said Tehran appears intent on showing it retains leverage as US actions constrain Iranian ports and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz rises.
The escalation also increases risks for Gulf states. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said economic pressure could push Iran towards “desperate steps”, while analysts said Tehran is willing to take greater risks to break the blockade and impose costs on the United States.
Sources: Washington Post, The Guardian
Iran has warned the United States that it would respond forcefully to any Israeli offensive on the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, where Iranian military personnel are reported to be stationed alongside Hezbollah fighters. Three officials said Tehran threatened a large scale attack if Israel launched a full offensive on the contested position.
Two officials said the warning was delivered through Oman and that more than a dozen Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps members, including at least two senior officers, were with Hezbollah fighters. A third official said US pressure had led Israel to postpone storming the ridge, though a White House official said that account was “not accurate”.
The ridge contains a Hezbollah underground command centre and weapons stores, according to Lebanese security sources. Hezbollah says a large-scale Israeli attack there would mean a return to full-blown war and could bring missile strikes on northern Israel.
Sources: Times of Israel, Reuters
US Vice President JD Vance rejected describing the six-month conflict with Iran as a “war” and declined to predict whether it would end before November’s midterm elections. “Right now, there is no active shooting,” he said, despite three consecutive days of US-Iran exchanges this week.
The White House faces an increasingly awkward political backdrop. The conflict has pushed Brent crude above $95 a barrel from about $72 before fighting began, while ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains well below pre-war levels despite US claims that more oil is moving through.
Vance said the administration would not set “artificial timelines” and blamed the uncertain end date on Iran continuing to fire at commercial shipping. Analysts said President Donald Trump appears to have settled into a holding pattern that avoids both full-scale bombardment and major concessions to Tehran.
Sources: Associated Press, CNN
Weapons experts who reviewed verified images and video from a deadly wedding strike in southern Iran said the damage was consistent with a direct hit by a US munition rather than debris from another target. Four people were killed and at least 68 injured in the attack on Kuhestak on Tuesday.
Four experts said the damage indicated a direct strike, while three assessed the weapon was more likely American than an Iranian air-defence missile. Two US officials confirmed American forces had struck the area that night, targeting a telecommunications tower about 135 metres from the wedding site.
US Vice-President JD Vance said Washington was investigating the incident. One US official said investigators were considering several possibilities, including a US strike, a ricochet from an Iranian air-defence missile or an errant interceptor.
Sources: Reuters, Times Now
Argentine President Javier Milei said he would tighten sanctions on companies involved in oil and gas projects around the Falkland Islands, increase defence resources in southern Argentina and send Congress legislation to strengthen the country’s response to what he called violations of sovereignty.
Milei said sanctions would extend beyond companies to shareholders, directors and suppliers, while an emergency decree would expand resources for a naval base in Tierra del Fuego and strengthen telecommunications. He said the Sea Lion offshore project, operated by Navitas Petroleum and Rockhopper Exploration, could begin development in the coming months.
The move marks a tougher tone from Milei, who had previously emphasised diplomacy over the Falklands dispute while seeking warmer ties with Britain.
US President Donald Trump also cast doubt on whether Washington would help Britain in another clash, though his remarks did not amount to a formal policy shift.
Sources: Reuters, Sydney Morning Herald
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Norwegian authorities have seized the Russian-owned Professor Molchanov near Svalbard to enforce a $4.22 billion compensation award won by Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz over assets confiscated by Russia after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. The vessel was taken after a 24-hour standoff with the Norwegian Coast Guard.
A tribunal in The Hague ordered Russia in 2023 to pay Naftogaz $4.22 billion plus interest and legal costs, but Moscow has not complied. A Norwegian court authorised the vessel’s arrest and compulsory sale, while the governor of Svalbard was ordered to ensure it remained in place.
Naftogaz says it is coordinating enforcement across several jurisdictions and will continue pursuing Russian assets until the award is paid.
Russia has challenged the process, with a Foreign Ministry spokesperson calling the Norwegian action “piracy” and Moscow saying it will contest the ruling.
Sources: The Independent, Al Jazeera
Pacific leaders registered collective concern over China’s July ballistic missile test but failed to reach unanimous agreement, exposing divisions within the Pacific Islands Forum over how to respond to Beijing’s growing regional presence.
The final communiqué did not name China and stopped at expressing “concern”, while urging states conducting intercontinental ballistic missile tests to provide at least 24 hours’ advance notice. Nauru dissociated itself from the statement, while Kiribati had no representative at the leaders’ private retreat.
Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. had called for a unified Pacific voice, saying Beijing should respect sovereignty and transparency. New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon downplayed the dissent, saying the forum had still reached a position despite Nauru’s objection. The split follows an earlier failure by Pacific foreign ministers to agree on a statement criticising the same missile test.
Sources: Associated Press, Bloomberg
Russian President Vladimir Putin said there was a chance of reaching an agreement to end the war in Ukraine, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said US negotiators would soon visit both Moscow and Kyiv as Washington tries to revive stalled diplomacy.
Putin said Russia and Ukraine must ultimately resolve the conflict themselves and that the US, China and other countries were ready to support a settlement. Zelenskiy said preliminary dates had been set for meetings with representatives of US President Donald Trump in both capitals in the coming days.
Despite the more optimistic language, neither side gave reasons to expect progress. Putin said Ukrainian attacks on civilian merchant ships and reported threats to civilian aircraft complicated the prospects for bilateral talks, while Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he expected a “new dynamic” in peace efforts through increased political and diplomatic engagement.
Sources: CNBC, Reuters
A United Nations-backed investigation says foreign fighters, weapons & military technology are sustaining Sudan’s civil war and extending both sides’ ability to strike far beyond front lines.
The report found transnational networks recruited, trained and deployed foreign personnel for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), including up to 2,000 former Colombian military contractors who operated drones, artillery and advanced weapons. It also said there were reasonable grounds to believe the Sudanese Armed Forces used foreign-supplied drones in operations that harmed civilians and civilian infrastructure.
The mission said external entities had substantially enhanced drone capabilities on both sides. Documented attacks included an RSF strike in Kalogi that killed 114 people and an army strike on Ad-Da’ein that killed at least 70 and destroyed a major hospital. The mission urged states to halt illicit supply networks and enforce the UN arms embargo.
Sources: Al Jazeera, The Telegraph
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes is facing calls to resign and the possibility of a formal investigation after private messages allegedly linking him to disgraced banker Daniel Vorcaro were unsealed by fellow Justice André Mendonça.
Federal police documents indicate Vorcaro repeatedly sought advice from a person authorities identified as Moraes and acted on that advice. The documents also showed Moraes checked a 130 million Brazilian reais contract between Vorcaro and his wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes. Her lawyers said he reviewed it only to ensure there was no conflict of interest and had never ruled on cases involving Banco Master or Vorcaro.
The court must decide whether to open an investigation into Moraes in the case. Chief Justice Luiz Edson Fachin has ordered written explanations, while President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has called for a full probe without shielding anyone.
Sources: Bloomberg, Associated Press
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On this day …
On this day in 1998, Stanford graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin incorporated Google, turning a research project built around a new way of ranking web pages into a company. Its search engine would become one of the principal gateways to the rapidly expanding internet.
Google subsequently expanded far beyond search into advertising, email, maps, video, mobile operating systems, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
In the process, a company created to help people navigate an increasingly crowded internet became one of the world’s most powerful technology businesses and an important intermediary in how information is discovered and distributed.
What began as a better way to search the internet ultimately helped determine how we experience it.