Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Netanyahu says fall of Iran's leadership not a goal but could be a result Grenade thrown at Norway's ambassador residence in Tel Aviv, says Israeli foreign minister JPost’s Zvika Klein: Israel’s blueprint for a multi-faceted war on Iran Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard poised for more power Trump to decide on US action in Israel-Iran war within two weeks, White House says Iran appoints new Revolutionary Guards intelligence chief Manhattan Institute’s Douglas Murray: President Trump can end the nuclear threat from Iran with one phone call Putin says he’s open to meeting Zelensky, even as he denies his legitimacy Ukraine's Zelenskiy: Russia's defence of Iran shows need to tighten sanctions Hezbollah leader: We will 'act as we see fit' in Iran-Israel conflict Rights abuses continue in North Korea a decade after probe, says UN investigator Xi shows no sign of rescuing Iran as Trump ramps up pressureIn The News
Israel
Israel’s conflict with Iran is costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars a day, according to early estimates, a price tag that could constrain Israel’s ability to conduct a lengthy war. – Wall Street Journal
Aside from a potentially game-changing American intervention that shapes the fate of Iran’s nuclear program, two factors will help decide the length of the Israel-Iran war: Israel’s reserve of missile interceptors and Iran’s stock of long-range missiles. – New York Times
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the change or fall of Iran’s leadership was not a goal of Israel’s attacks but could be a result. “The matter of changing the regime or the fall of this regime is first and foremost a matter for the Iranian people. There is no substitute for this. – Reuters
When a phone alert sounded on Saturday night to warn of Iranian missiles flying towards his town of Tamra in northern Israel, Nidal Abu Al Heija called his sister to tell her to take shelter with her daughters, but no one answered. – Reuters
A grenade was thrown at the residence of the Norwegian ambassador to Israel on Thursday evening in Tel Aviv, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said, causing no injury. “I spoke a short time ago with the Norwegian ambassador to Israel, Per Egil Selvaag, in whose yard a grenade was thrown this evening,” Saar said on X. – Reuters
Israel has resumed limited natural gas exports from surplus supplies, the country’s Energy Ministry said on Thursday, nearly a week after shutting down two key offshore fields as Israel and Iran waged an air battle. – Reuters
An Israeli military official said on Thursday that “it was a mistake” for a military spokesperson to have said earlier in the day that Israel had struck the Bushehr nuclear site in Iran. The official would only confirm that Israel had hit the Natanz, Isfahan and Arak nuclear sites in Iran. – Reuters
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which Merz called for moderation in Israel’s campaign against Iran, a German government source told Reuters on Thursday. – Reuters
The Israeli military said on Friday it carried out strikes on dozens of military targets in Iran overnight, including an attack on the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), which it said is involved in Iran’s nuclear weapons development. – Reuters
As the world awaits US President Donald Trump’s decision on whether to join Israel in attacking Iran’s nuclear program, many experts argue that Israel simply can’t do the job alone. […] But there is a competing view and it was expressed by a top Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity: There are many options still on the table, this official replied, when asked how the mission could be achieved without the bunker busters in the US arsenal. – Bloomberg
As Washington debates whether Iran was close enough to a nuclear bomb to justify Israel acting militarily, and as President Trump delays a decision on joining the battle, Prime Minister Netanyahu says the Tehran threat was so acute that he decided to launch Operation Rising Lion last week even after last-minute snags almost aborted it. – New York Sun
The Israeli Air Force and Navy have intercepted around 95% of threats that have approached Israeli airspace, the IDF announced Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
“Iran’s indiscriminate fire at population centers is a war crime,” National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told The Jerusalem Post, opening a candid assessment of Operation Rising Lion. – Jerusalem Post
The IDF is close to destroying half of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers, sources told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. The disclosure came after IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin, on Thursday afternoon, noted that the air force has now destroyed “hundreds” of such launchers. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: President Trump is owed credit for giving Israel the space to fight, and he yet may deserve more plaudits if he commits America to the battle that the Jewish state has so ably waged. In any event, Israel has proven that its spirit is undimmed and its capacity to defend itself is undiminished. When the missiles fell, Zion itself arose like a lion, just as was foretold in the Book of Numbers to which the country has reached during this time of test and triumph. – New York Sun
Amit Segal writes: The greatest test came for Mr. Netanyahu. Iran’s ayatollahs learned from previous Israeli strikes and scattered their nuclear program across the country. President Obama signed a nuclear agreement that left Iran’s facilities intact, and President Biden openly opposed an Israeli strike. Despite these difficulties, Mr. Netanyahu passed the “Begin test” with distinction. Persuading the Trump administration to support the attack was a historic diplomatic success. The ayatollahs spread their tentacles throughout the Middle East, but now Iran stands completely vulnerable. […] At least Israel has become the world’s bomb squad, a stroke of good fortune for which we can thank Menachem Begin. – Wall Street Journal
Michel Gurfinkiel writes: October 7 seemed initially to confirm that Israel was not working properly anymore. The subsequent counterattacks, and the fact that the IDF was able to fight on several fronts simultaneously, quickly changed the equation. Then, the decapitation of Hezbollah, the raids against the Houthis or inside Iran, and the induced disintegration of Syria improved Israel’s image even further. […] Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are left to ponder what might happen to them if they engage into a confrontation with Israel. Or in other terms, whether renouncing friendship was a sound move. – New York Sun
Zvika Klein writes: Iran’s leadership has already vowed to target US bases and Gulf partners if we press on. Hezbollah is on high alert; militias in Iraq and Syria are primed to strike. Our challenge will be to calibrate our following options, sabotage or strike, so that the regime feels enough pain to back off but not so much that it lashes out in a wave of unpredictable proxy attacks across the region. At home, we prepare for what’s next. Hospitals run drills for blast victims and cyber-lockdown survivors. Schools teach shelter-in-place routines, and ordinary families stockpile food and water. – Jerusalem Post
Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi write: Israel should now expand its operations and show it is seeking justice for the common Iranian toward liberation from the tyrannical Islamist regime. […] Israel should make explicit links between each regime target and its inflicted repression in Iran or terrorist activities in the region. Israel has already won over Iran’s airspace, but it should not forget the hearts and minds of the Iranian people. They will be crucial to winning the war against a joint enemy: the tyrannical Islamic Republic regime. – Haaretz
Iran
Israeli strikes have taken direct aim at the backbone of its enemy’s military power: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. But the attacks are also increasing the chance of a change in leadership that would concentrate power in the hands of the elite military force, potentially resulting in a more hawkish and anti-Israeli Iran. – Wall Street Journal
As President Donald Trump considers launching an attack on Iran, Tehran has warned of swift retaliation. If the United States attacks, Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh warned this month, “all U.S. bases are within our reach and we will boldly target them.” – Washington Post
Iran’s fragmented opposition groups think their moment may be close at hand, but activists involved in previous bouts of protest say they are unwilling to unleash mass unrest, even against a system they hate, with their nation under attack. – Reuters
Roughly one month ago, from the stage at an investment forum in Saudi Arabia, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a warning to Iran that would prove prophetic. “We’ll never allow America and its allies to be threatened with terrorism or nuclear attack,” Trump told the crowd, sending a message to the leadership in Tehran. – Reuters
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi on Thursday identified Isfahan, home to one of Iran’s biggest nuclear facilities, as the location of a uranium enrichment plant that Iran said it would soon open in retaliation for a diplomatic push against it. – Reuters
President Donald Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the U.S. will get involved in the Israel-Iran air war, the White House said on Thursday, raising pressure on Tehran to come to the negotiating table. – Reuters
Israeli military strikes hit Iran’s Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor, a project under construction that had not begun operating, and damaged the nearby plant that makes heavy water, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Thursday. – Reuters
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi have spoken by phone several times since Israel began its strikes on Iran last week, in a bid to find a diplomatic end to the crisis, three diplomats told Reuters. – Reuters
Iran is maintaining crude oil supply by loading tankers one at a time and moving floating oil storage much closer to China, two vessel tracking firms told Reuters, as the country seeks to keep a key source of revenue while under attack from Israel. – Reuters
The chief of the United Nations atomic watchdog rejected Iranian allegations that a recent nuclear-inspections report, which determined Tehran is in breach of its legal obligations, “in any way” justified Israel’s attacks on the Islamic Republic. – Bloomberg
Iran appointed a new chief of intelligence at its Revolutionary Guards on Thursday, the official Irna news agency said, after his predecessor was killed in an Israeli strike last week. – Agence France-Presse
Pro-regime activists called for Iranians nationwide to participate in the “Friday of Rage and Victory” after prayers on Friday morning. – Jerusalem Post
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted to X on Thursday to justify the Iranian regime’s targeting of Soroka Medical Center by comparing it to the destruction of hospitals in Gaza, alleging there are military targets nearby. – Jerusalem Post
Bartle Bull writes: Mr. Khamenei is a clerical mediocrity managing a heresy within an apostasy. Iran is large, and he has his followers, but in strict religious terms, he isn’t a figure of major consequence or legitimacy in the Muslim world. His countless victims have overwhelmingly been fellow Shiites. The preservation of such a man in the name of faith would present a painful irony. – Wall Street Journal
Wesley Clark writes: The U.S. has a rare opportunity to combine the leverage of a military campaign with strategic diplomacy to force Iran’s remaining leadership to confront their real choice: likely being overthrown and killed by their own people, or giving up their aggressive ambitions and renouncing their hold on government. If they choose wrongly, they will reap the consequences. The power is in our hands. Do we have the wisdom, gained by painful experience, to achieve a more peaceful Middle East? – Wall Street Journal
Douglas Murray writes: President Trump’s campaign promise is that he will never allow Iran to have nukes. […] If the Iranian people want to rise up and overthrow the death-cult regime that has held their country in terror for 46 years, then they should. Many of us will wish them well. But that is their affair. The president’s only need is to make good on his promise to the American electorate. If he does that, then he will send a sharp but necessary message to a regime that has too long threatened his own life, the life of Israel and indeed the world. – New York Post
Aidin Panahi writes: But diplomacy with Tehran is not a neutral process. Time is not a holding pattern. Every day the regime is allowed to maneuver through delay, it strengthens systems that are meant to survive collapse, resist inspection, and project threat. The nuclear program is not the core threat – it is the shield. What must be dismantled is not just Iran’s enrichment infrastructure, but the regime that built it to delay, deceive, and survive. It is no longer enough to manage the crisis through talks. It is time to dismantle the regime itself – before it crosses the nuclear threshold and makes the cost of action exponentially higher. – Jerusalem Post
Arash Azizi writes: Iran’s long history is filled with many a martial hero, but even as it finds itself in one of its worst wars ever, Iranians are looking for a diplomatic hero instead. They are asking if their country could have another Abbas Mirza, the Qajar crown prince of early 1800s. Abbas Mirza was traditionally reviled in Iranian historiography due to the controversial peace treaties that he signed with Russia, giving up Iranian territory in the Caucasus. But he is now praised by many as a man who was able to keep Iran’s sovereignty intact. Yes, Iran lost a lot, but it lived to fight another day. That will be the task of Iranian pragmatists today. – Foreign Policy
Russia and Ukraine
Days after a Russian attack on Kyiv destroyed apartment blocks and killed 28 people, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied in remarks published Thursday that Moscow was targeting civilians and said he was open to meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, even while still questioning his legitimacy. – Washington Post
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Russia’s defence of Iran’s authorities underscored the need for intensified sanctions against Moscow. Zelenskiy said Russia’s deployment of Iranian-designed Shahed drones and North Korean munitions was proof that Kyiv’s allies were applying insufficient pressure against Moscow. – Reuters
The head of Russia’s nuclear energy corporation warned on Thursday that an Israeli attack on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant could lead to a “Chernobyl-style catastrophe”. – Reuters
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday appointed Hennadiy Shapovalov as commander of Ukraine’s land forces, replacing a commander who resigned over a Russian strike on a training area. – Reuters
Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war on Thursday, officials from both countries said, the latest round of swaps under an agreement struck in Istanbul. – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed in a telephone call on Thursday what they saw as frictions between G7 leaders at this week’s Group of Seven summit, the Kremlin said. – Reuters
A military court in Moscow sentenced a Russian man to 17 years in prison after finding him guilty of attempting to blow up a railway on behalf of a pro-Ukraine Russian paramilitary group, the TASS state news agency reported on Thursday. – Reuters
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto held talks with President Vladimir Putin in the northern Russian city of St Petersburg on Thursday after which the duo signed a declaration on a strategic partnership between the two nations, the Kremlin said. – Reuters
Russia’s economy is “on the brink of going into a recession,” the country’s economy minister said Thursday, according to Russian media reports. – Associated Press
During its war on Ukraine, Russia has leaned on North Korea for artillery shells and troops, and on Iran for drone technology. The payback for the two members of what George W. Bush once called the “Axis of Evil” has been markedly different. – Bloomberg
The Kremlin, reeling from Israel’s blows against Moscow’s Mideast allies, now fears that Israel is secretly planning its biggest move: regime change in Iran. With few cards left to play, President Putin on Friday called the leaders of Israel and Iran. Then, he called President Trump to offer his services as peace mediator. – New York Sun
U.S. President Donald Trump doesn’t want Russian leader Vladimir Putin to mediate in the Israel-Iran conflict before he ends the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine. – Politico
Hezbollah
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Lebanon’s Hezbollah to exercise caution on Friday, saying Israel’s patience with “terrorists” who threaten it had worn thin. – Reuters
A top U.S. official visiting the Lebanese capital on Thursday discouraged Tehran-backed armed group Hezbollah from intervening in the war between Iran and Israel, saying it would be a “very bad decision”. – Reuters
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem declared on Thursday that the Lebanese terrorist group will “act as we see fit,” asserting its unwavering support for Iran amidst escalating regional tensions, AFP reported. – Arutz Sheva
Turkey
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is expected to attend a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Saturday, a Turkish foreign ministry source said on Thursday, as war rages between Israel and Iran. – Reuters
Turkey has stepped up security on its border with Iran since the start of Tehran’s conflict with Israel, but has not yet seen any increase in people trying to cross the frontier, a Turkish Defence Ministry source said on Thursday. – Reuters
Turkey’s central bank held its key interest rate steady, at 46% on Thursday, as expected and also kept the upper band of its rate corridor at 49% despite predictions it would be lowered. – Reuters
Middle East & North Africa
The United Arab Emirates blamed navigational errors for a collision involving two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. The incident raised worries about security through the passageway, a choke point for ships carrying oil from the Persian Gulf. – New York Times
Syria took a small but significant step toward rejoining the international banking system with the announcement on Thursday that the country had completed its first electronic transfer in 14 years with a Western bank. – New York Times
Qatar is in advanced talks to invest $3.5 billion in a tourism project on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, the latest potential Gulf backing for the North African nation’s economy that’s been roiled by regional conflict. – Bloomberg
With Israeli forces deployed up to the Bravo Line of the (formerly) demilitarized zone in Syria’s Quneitra Province, and with the new government in Syria possessing only a limited ability to project power within its own area of control, the conditions for such a campaign are present. – Jerusalem Post
Korean Peninsula
A decade after a landmark U.N. report concluded North Korea committed crimes against humanity, a U.N. official investigating rights in the isolated state told Reuters many abuses continue, exacerbated by COVID-era controls that have yet to be lifted. – Reuters
North Korea fired more than 10 multiple-launched rockets on Thursday morning from Sunan near the capital Pyongyang in a north-westerly direction, South Korea’s military said. – Reuters
South Korea’s new administration proposed on Thursday $14.7 billion of extra government spending to support sluggish domestic demand, as President Lee Jae Myung makes economic recovery his top policy agenda. – Reuters
China
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, groups linked to the Chinese government have repeatedly hacked Russian companies and government agencies in an apparent search for military secrets, according to cyberanalysts. – New York Times
China has evacuated more than 1,600 citizens from Iran and hundreds more from Israel, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday, as evacuees clog border crossings amid the intensifying conflict between the two countries. – Reuters
China’s military on Friday condemned the sailing of a British warship through the Taiwan Strait as a deliberate attempt to “cause trouble”, as Taiwan’s president ordered stepped-up monitoring in response to Chinese military activities. – Reuters
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Friday he and China’s President Xi Jinping discussed the role of business, education and science to help boost relations between the two countries. – Reuters
China was quick to condemn Israel after its assault against Iran. Yet President Xi Jinping has shown no sign of rushing to provide weapons and other support that would help Tehran face its most critical military test in decades. – Bloomberg
Mathis Bitton and George Yean writes: After seven decades of strategic commitment-breaking, perhaps the most dangerous illusion is the belief that the next Chinese promise will somehow be different. As American representatives negotiate trade with Beijing, they would do well to secure not just the “best” trade deal for the U.S., but one that accounts for the possibility of deception. – The Hill
South Asia
Air India, India’s flagship carrier, said it would temporarily reduce the number of international flights it operates, after the deadly crash of one of its flights last week unleashed plane delays, unnerved passengers and prompted technical inspections of its fleet. – New York Times
In the brief but pitched military clash between Pakistan and India last month, the skies swarmed with waves of cutting-edge drones, signaling a shift from traditional border skirmishes to high-tech showdowns. – New York Times
Separatist and jihadist militants on the Pakistan-Iran border could take advantage of any collapse of authority in Iran, fears that Pakistan’s army chief pressed in a meeting this week with the U.S. President Donald Trump. – Reuters
Thousands of supporters of Myanmar’s jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi celebrated her 80th birthday Thursday by attempting to set a world record for the most birthday greeting videos, while others took to the streets in demonstrations against the military government that ousted her. – Associated Press
Mihir Sharma writes: Sri Lanka has already been bailed out 16 times by the IMF, and Dissanayake has promised that this 17th package will be the last. But he will also need to keep the US and Europe open to his goods, assuage domestic critics, and maintain cordial relations with the military while cutting it down to size. If he fails in even one of these tasks, Sri Lanka will be faced with yet another crisis. – Bloomberg
Muhammed Nasir Chaudhry and Farhan Zahid write: Any approach to resolving this crisis will have to involve both national policy as well as local outreach across the country to engage the nation’s diverse population. There is a dire need to reeducate and reorient people towards a more tolerant understanding of interfaith relations. Pakistan could benefit in this regard from the experience of other Muslim-majority countries such as Saudi Arabia and Indonesia to learn how to best curtail extremist tendencies in society. – Hudson Institute
Asia
A Japanese comic book’s premonition of an impending natural disaster in Japan has gotten some tourists so wigged out that they are avoiding the country this summer, prompting government officials to try to dispel rampant rumors about the prophecy. – Washington Post
Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, is facing mounting pressure to resign after she appeared to disparage her own country’s powerful military and to take a deferential tone in a private conversation with the de facto leader of Cambodia. – New York Times
Australia said on Friday it had suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, citing a deteriorating security situation as Israel hit Iran’s nuclear facilities again, and the week-old air war showed no sign yet of an exit strategy from either side. – Reuters
Japan’s top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said on Friday that trade negotiations with the U.S. “remained in a fog” despite efforts by both sides to seek an agreement. – Reuters
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Thursday ordered defence and security units to step up their monitoring and intelligence efforts in response to China’s military activities, which he said have not abated even as tensions rise in the Middle East. – Reuters
Vietnam and the United States held an online round of negotiations on a new trade deal on Thursday night, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said on Friday. – Reuters
Europe
Israel and Iran’s air war entered a second week on Friday and European officials sought to draw Tehran back to the negotiating table after President Donald Trump said any decision on potential U.S. involvement would be made within two weeks. – Reuters
Bulgaria has closed its embassy in Tehran and evacuated diplomatic staff and their families to neighbouring Azerbaijan as the conflict between Iran and Israel intensifies, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov told local media on Friday. – Reuters
European Union budget rules are “stupid and senseless” and need to be changed to allow member states to boost defence spending as recommended by Brussels, Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said on Thursday. – Reuters
Finland’s parliament voted on Thursday in favour of withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention that bans the use of anti-personnel landmines amid concerns over a military threat posed by neighbouring Russia. – Reuters
Denmark will continue preparing Ukraine for EU membership in the face of Hungary blocking negotiations, when the Nordic country takes over the presidency of the European Council from July 1, its European affairs minister said on Thursday. – Reuters
Romania’s new government will likely include all four of its pro-European parties after weeks of negotiations, centre-left Social Democrat leader Sorin Grindeanu said on Thursday following talks with centrist President Nicusor Dan. – Reuters
Spain has asked to opt out of NATO’s plan to increase members’ defence spending to 5% of their gross domestic product, a move that could derail a summit at which the military alliance plans to ask them to commit to the target. – Reuters
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called on President Donald Trump to keep the door open to talks over Iran’s nuclear program, in the clearest sign yet of the UK leader’s concern about possible American military action against the country. – Bloomberg
The companies behind the Eurofighter, Europe’s most prevalent homegrown combat jet, have set new growth targets that prize a near-term fleet buildup over more distant breakthroughs expected from sixth-generation programs like the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS. – Defense News
David Fickling writes: Such confusion is fertile ground for misinformation, even when it rests on absurd assumptions — for instance, that Spain’s regulators, politicians, grid managers and engineers are so in thrall to net-zero religion that they’re prepared to risk the stability of the power system for the sake of their beliefs. South Australia’s example should serve as evidence that such conspiracy theories are spurious. Grids shifting to a new source of generation might occasionally trip, but the effects have always been short-lived, and easily fixed. The future is already here, and it’s clean. – Bloomberg
Africa
The Nigerian Navy has arrested 76 vessels and at least 242 suspects in anti-oil theft operations, and destroyed more than 800 illegal refining sites during a two-year crackdown, it said on Thursday. – Reuters
Kenya’s parliament on Thursday voted to approve this year’s proposed finance law, denying the revenue authority’s request to get unrestricted access to taxpayers’ data on account of privacy concerns and constitutional safeguards. – Reuters
A Kenyan court on Thursday sentenced two men to 30 years in prison for aiding a 2019 attack by militant members of the al Shabaab group on a hotel and office complex in Nairobi that killed 21 people. – Reuters
South Africa was under a declared state of national disaster on Thursday as the death toll from floods caused by severe rains in the Eastern Cape region rose to 92. – Associated Press
Parties led by former Credit Suisse AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam and ex-President Laurent Gbagbo agreed to form at alliance after both men were excluded from competing in October elections. – Bloomberg
Health-funding cuts are wreaking havoc on many African countries’ ability to gain control diseases such as cholera, according to the continent’s main health-advisory body. – Bloomberg
The Americas
Canada unveiled on Thursday policies to support the domestic steel sector, including a curb on imports. The sector faces financial duress due to President Trump’s hefty 50% tariffs on the metal. – Wall Street Journal
Former Nicaraguan military officer Roberto Samcam was killed on Thursday in Costa Rica, where he was living in exile, his wife and opposition parties said. Samcam, a retired Sandinista major, was shot to death in his condo on the outskirts of the capital San Jose, his wife, Claudia Vargas, told Reuters. – Reuters
Erick weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall as a major hurricane on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast on Thursday, leaving flooded streets, damaged boats and buildings in Oaxaca as authorities warned of dangerous rains. – Reuters
The world’s largest car-carrying ship – with the equivalent of 20 football fields of vehicles – completed its maiden journey late last month to dock in Brazil’s Itajai port. But not everyone is cheering its arrival. – Reuters
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva insisted that he will run for reelection next year provided he remains healthy, pledging to block the far-right from regaining power in Latin America’s largest nation. – Bloomberg
President Nicolás Maduro has intensified his crackdown on independent economists and consultants, detaining at least eight people in what critics call a bid to control data exposing Venezuela’s decline. – Bloomberg
United States
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met British foreign minister David Lammy on Thursday and held separate calls with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to discuss the war between U.S. ally Israel and its regional rival Iran. – Reuters
A U.S. appeals court let Donald Trump on Thursday retain control over California’s National Guard while the state’s Democratic governor proceeds with a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Republican president’s use of the troops to quell protests and unrest in Los Angeles. – Reuters
The New York City Police Department said on Thursday its hate crime unit was probing anti-Muslim threats against mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, and in another incident U.S. Representative Max Miller of Ohio said he was “run off the road” by a driver with a Palestinian flag. – Reuters
Editorial: Mr. Trump sees himself as a peacemaker, but that is no contradiction with wanting to deny a nuclear bomb to a theocratic Iranian regime. On that point he has been consistent since before he entered politics. The inconsistencies lie with the isolationists so traumatized by Iraq and Afghanistan that they would let a revolutionary regime go nuclear in the name of peace. – Wall Street Journal
Cybersecurity
Italian prosecutors are looking into the alleged hacking of seven phones, including that of the head of political gossip website Dagospia, sources said, as part of a surveillance scandal involving the technology of spyware company Paragon. – Reuters
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to keep TikTok running in the U.S. for another 90 days to give his administration more time to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership. – Associated Press
Iran is tapping into private security cameras in Israel to gather real-time intelligence about its adversary, exposing a recurrent problem with the devices that has emerged in other global conflicts. – Bloomberg
Argentina’s intelligence service reportedly has uncovered a group of suspected Russian spies accused of spreading disinformation to promote Moscow’s interests in the region. – The Record
The Justice Department is attempting to claw back more than $225.3 million in cryptocurrency stolen from Americans in confidence schemes and romance scams run out of Vietnam and the Philippines. – The Record
Ukrainian authorities said a suspected member of the Ryuk ransomware gang has been extradited to the U.S., where he faces charges over cyberattacks that extorted more than $100 million from victims worldwide. – The Record
Defense
Beyond projecting military strength and pledging unity, a more pressing theme has emerged for next week’s NATO summit: Keep President Trump happy. – New York Times
Iran retains the naval assets and other capabilities it would need to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a move that could pin any U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf, American military officials say. – New York Times
The U.S. is shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to protect Israel from Iranian attacks as President Donald Trump warns Tehran to step back from the conflict. – Associated Press
Luis Simón writes: A cross-theater ecosystem upstream offers the versatility to navigate all three ideal-type approaches to deterrence. It would be compatible with bifurcation downstream — U.S. allies could still focus primarily on their respective regions — and premised on cooperation upstream. And it would allow the United States and its allies to dial up towards integration (upstream and/or downstream) according to changes to strategic circumstances, policy preferences, or national interests. – War on the Rocks
Robert Peters and Parker Goodrich write: By servicing and operating B-2s, the Royal Australian Air Force could learn valuable lessons and acquire the skills required to potentially operate B-21 Raiders in the 2040 timeframe, exactly when the B-2s will reach the end of their operational lifespan. An Australian fleet of B-2s would be a signal. It would signal to China that the United States and its closest allies can strike with precision from great distances, and that any Chinese aggression will be met with force. Anything less would be a gamble with the balance of power in the region. – The National Interest