Fdd's overnight brief

While Israel and the U.S. were bombing Iran’s nuclear sites, another battlefield emerged behind the scenes: the financial infrastructure that keeps Tehran connected to the world. Israeli authorities, and a pro-Israeli hacking group called Predatory Sparrow, targeted financial organizations that Iranians use to move money and sidestep the U.S.-led economic blockade, according to Israeli officials and other people familiar with the efforts. – Wall Street Journal

Benjamin Netanyahu has spent three decades sounding the alarm about Iran’s nuclear program. With the ferocity of a biblical prophet, he warned that Iran was an existential threat to Israel. But his dire rhetoric was always balanced by a wily tactician’s caution, especially in gauging the military and political ramifications of acting against Iran. – Wall Street Journal

Israel pounded southern Lebanon with a series of airstrikes Friday in what analysts and officials on the ground said were some of the most significant strikes since Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November. – Washington Post

The Israeli military issued broad evacuation orders on Sunday for neighborhoods of Gaza City, amid growing calls for a cease-fire deal from President Trump. – New York Times

Israel is interested in establishing official diplomatic ties with Syria and Lebanon, but will not negotiate the fate of the Golan Heights in any peace agreement, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a press conference on Monday. – Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out at prosecutors in Israel over the corruption trial that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced, saying Washington, having given billions of dollars worth of aid to Israel, was not going to “stand for this”. – Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed media reports that said his administration had discussed possibly helping Iran access as much as $30 billion to build a civilian-energy-producing nuclear program. – Reuters

Short of commanders, deprived of much of its tunnel network and unsure of support from its ally Iran, Hamas is battling to survive in Gaza in the face of rebellious local clans and relentless Israeli military pressure. – Reuters

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that a U.S.-backed aid operation in Gaza is “inherently unsafe,” giving a blunt assessment: “It is killing people.” – Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday urged progress in ceasefire talks in the 20-month war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, though some weary Palestinians were skeptical about the chances. Israel issued a new mass evacuation order for parts of northern Gaza. – Associated Press

Israeli security forces were attacked and military vehicles were vandalized by civilians on Sunday night at the Binyamin Regional Brigade Headquarters in the West Bank, the IDF announced early Monday morning. – Jerusalem Post

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that rescuing the hostages is the primary goal of the war over defeating Hamas, during a visit to a Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) facility in southern Israel on Sunday. – Jerusalem Post

The government approved a proposal in a telephone conference on Sunday that there is no security reason preventing residents of the Gaza border communities from returning to their homes, starting Tuesday, based on an IDF and Defense Ministry assessment, according to Israeli media citing informed sources. – Jerusalem Post

The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) killed Hakham Muhammad Issa al-Issa, a senior member of Hamas’s military wing, in extensive Friday strikes on the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, the two security organizations announced Saturday night. – Jerusalem Post

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said Saturday night that reports of Hamas targeting its personnel and aid workers in Gaza are credible. – Jerusalem Post

The IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) uncovered an extensive Hamas terrorist network in Hebron that was planning to commit terror attacks imminently, the security organizations said in a statement on Sunday. – Jerusalem Post

Israel’s airspace reopened Tuesday night, hours after a ceasefire was achieved between Israel and Iran. While many flights have resumed, Israel’s tourism industry still has a long way to go to recover. Anat Aronson, spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism, told The Media Line that the tourism industry is “the first to get hurt and the last to recover” in situations like these. – Jerusalem Post

The Shin Bet security agency said Sunday that it had arrested over 60 Hamas operatives over the past few months as part of one of the largest crackdowns on a West Bank terror network in recent years. – Times of Israel

Editorial: A former IAEA chief, Hans Blix, once told our Benny Avni that bombing Osirak only encouraged Saddam Hussein to rush to a bomb. Yet, Iraq never resurrected its nuclear program afterward. The Vienna-based agency correctly condemns Iran for violating the NPT. Referees, though, never win games. The IAEA’s job is to document Iran’s progress toward achieving its dream of erasing Israel off the map. Israel and America will provide the alarm clocks. – New York Sun

Aliza Pilichowski writes: This is a Herculean achievement for any individual, and he celebrated his 75th birthday this year. Netanyahu deserves criticism for his failures that led to the October 7 massacre. As the leader of Israel, he is ultimately responsible for the nation’s security. By the same token, as the leader of Israel, he deserves credit in the same measure for Israel’s victories and military success in the war since October 8, 2023. All Israelis owe prime minister Netanyahu a debt of gratitude and their appreciation. – Jerusalem Post

Iran

When Israel’s attacks on Iran began before dawn on June 13, explosions shattered the homes of some of Iran’s top scientists, killing nine people who had worked for decades on Tehran’s nuclear program. All nine were killed in near-simultaneous attacks to prevent them from going into hiding, according to people familiar with the attacks. – Wall Street Journal

As soon as U.S. and Israeli bombs stopped raining down on Iran, the country’s theocratic leaders and the security forces emerged from their bunkers and began waging a new campaign—this time against their own people, targeting alleged spies, dissidents and opposition figures. – Wall Street Journal

President Trump lashed out at Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday, saying the U.S. would abandon plans to roll back sanctions on Tehran. In a social-media post, Trump criticized Khamenei for claiming victory over Israel, arguing that the country’s leader wasn’t grateful for the U.S. president’s efforts to spare his life. – Wall Street Journal

The United States obtained intercepted communication between senior Iranian officials discussing this month’s U.S. military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program and remarking that the attack was less devastating than they had expected, said four people familiar with the classified intelligence circulating within the U.S. government. – Washington Post

Iranian state news media reported on Sunday that 71 people were killed during the war in an Israeli attack on Evin Prison, a notorious detention facility in Tehran where dissidents and political prisoners are held. – New York Times

Ever since Israel’s attack, the Iranian authorities have asked citizens to alert them to anyone carrying bags, wearing sunglasses at night or even donning hats — an uncommon accessory in Iran. – New York Times

Thousands of mourners thronged the streets of Iran’s capital, Tehran, on Saturday at a funeral procession for about 60 people killed in the war with Israel, including some of the country’s top military commanders and nuclear scientists. – New York Times

Israeli and American strikes appear to have created a major roadblock to Iran’s manufacture of atomic bombs, even if its cache of uranium fuel remains untouched, analysts say. – New York Times

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi indicated on Friday that Tehran may reject any request by the head of UN nuclear watchdog the IAEA for visits to Iranian nuclear sites. – Reuters

If U.S. President Donald Trump is genuine about wanting a nuclear deal with Iran, he should put aside “the disrespectful and unacceptable tone” towards Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and “stop hurting his millions of heartfelt followers,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a post on X early on Saturday. – Reuters

CIA Director John Ratcliffe told skeptical U.S. lawmakers that American military strikes destroyed Iran’s lone metal conversion facility and in the process delivered a monumental setback to Tehran’s nuclear program that would take years to overcome, a U.S. official said Sunday. – Associated Press

Argentina has condemned what it said were threats against UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi, an Argentine citizen, after Iran rejected his request to visit nuclear facilities bombed by Israel and the United States. – Agence France-Presse

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months,” despite damage to several nuclear facilities from US and Israeli attacks, CBS News said Saturday. – Agence France-Presse

The US must “rule out” any strikes against Iran in order to hold further nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, the regime’s deputy foreign minister, said in a BBC interview published early Monday morning. – Jerusalem Post

Senior Iranian officials are awaiting the green light from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to begin negotiations with the Trump administration, a source familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post. – Jerusalem Post

Mossad agents had been monitoring nuclear sites in Iran for nearly 15 years before the start of the Israel-Iran War, The Times reported on Friday. According to leaked intelligence documents seen by The Times, the Mossad realized that Iran’s capability, knowledge, and components of the nuclear program expanded beyond the main sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. – Jerusalem Post

Donald Trump would “absolutely” consider a new military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, he said on Friday, as he lashed out at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. – Financial Times

Editorial: This does not mean the intelligence community should be dismissed, ignored or, worse, discouraged. Attacks on the honest brokers tasked with telling it straight might cause self-censorship, as they have done in the past. Intelligence community staff owe the country candor in their communications with the president and others making life-and-death decisions. Anything else is not intelligence work. The president should be the first one to recognize that. – Washington Post

Editorial: Absent a diplomatic solution, the best-case scenario would require the United States and Israel to play a long-term game of whack-a-mole, continuously trying to find and destroy suspected nuclear sites. And Iran, having been humiliated, would concoct ever more creative ways to hide and protect its nuclear weapons program. – Washington Post

Mary Anastasia O’Grady writes: In 2017 the Miami Herald reported on a former Venezuelan immigration official who had worked under Venezuela’s then-Vice President Tarek El Aissami around 2008-09. The former official estimated that during his tenure, some 10,000 Middle Easterners a year got Venezuelan documents. A credible intelligence analyst told me last week that business has boomed in recent years. Nukes in the hands of the fanatics running Iran since 1979 would be catastrophic, and not only for Israel. President Trump’s decision to send out the B-2 team on its brilliant and heroic mission was a gift to humanity. But no one should be surprised if Iran and its proxies in the Americas refuse to call it a day. – Wall Street Journal

Nicholas Kristof: Someday the regime will crack and people power will prevail, but I suspect that will be more likely when there’s peace. The implication is that the diplomatic toolbox, reinforced by military might, is profoundly flawed, but may still be more likely than bombs alone both to contain Iran’s nuclear aspirations and to deliver lasting change in the country. – New York Times

Marc Champion writes: The US and the West as a whole need to play a more subtle game. In the wake of the bombings, keeping Iran from pulling out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and from expelling International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors is vital. This should not be sacrificed to the pursuit of an unachievable certainty. Failure to reach a political settlement would all but guarantee further airstrikes and leave the region more unstable and prone to a nuclear arms race than before Trump’s military intervention. – Bloomberg

Andrew Ghalili writes: The recent attacks have bought time, yet that time can quickly evaporate. The current window can be squandered attempting to resurrect a charred negotiation file, or it can be invested in the only strategy with a chance to shut the nuclear program for good. The Iranian people will be ready. And the U.S. should ensure they have every tool they need when they are ready. Military considerations aside, there are ways to do so without risking a U.S. soldier or spending a dollar of U.S. taxpayer money. Give them the chance. – The Hill

Ryan Fournier writes: This month, Israel successfully did the dirty work for the free world in defanging a nuclear Iran. Thanks to President Donald Trump’s leadership, the U.S. stepped in to finish the job. About time. For nearly half a century, the Islamic Republic of Iran has declared itself the sworn enemy of the United States. Not metaphorically, not diplomatically, literally. “Death to America” has not been merely a slogan for the regime. It has been its anthem. And its policy. – Washington Examiner

Yossi Mansharof writes: Behind the boasts, however, lies a deep fear of what comes next. This anxiety will likely drive a dual strategy: intensifying domestic repression, while simultaneously offering economic incentives and populist gestures to mitigate the regime’s growing legitimacy crisis. For now, having ended its war with Israel, the regime appears poised to turn inward – to wage a war of survival against its own people. – Jerusalem Post

Russia and Ukraine

Having almost entirely ejected Ukrainian forces from the Russian Kursk region earlier this year, Russian forces have now poured over the border in the opposite direction toward Sumy. With 50,000 troops in the area, they outnumber the Ukrainians roughly 3-to-1, according to soldiers fighting there. – Wall Street Journal

Russia pounded Ukraine overnight with hundreds of drones and missiles, the Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday, in one of the war’s largest assaults. Strikes on infrastructure were reported across the country, including in western Ukraine, which Russia hits less frequently. – New York Times

The pace of talks to resolve the war in Ukraine depends on Kyiv’s position, the effectiveness of U.S. mediation, and the situation on the ground, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in remarks televised on Sunday. – Reuters

A Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilot died in a crash while repelling a Russian air attack that involved hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles, authorities said on Sunday, as Moscow intensifies night-time air barrages in the fourth year of war. – Reuters

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he had signed a decree to pull Ukraine out of the Ottawa Convention banning the production and use of anti-personnel mines as a necessary step in view of Russian tactics in their 40-month-old war. – Reuters

Russian spy chief Sergei Naryshkin said in remarks published on Sunday that he had spoken to the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, and that they had agreed to call each other at any time. – Reuters

The Kremlin said in remarks published on Sunday that the tougher the sanctions imposed on Russia by Europe, the more painful the recoil would be for Europe’s own economies as Russia had grown resistant to such “illegal” sanctions. – Reuters

Two people were killed and at least 14 wounded when a Russian drone smashed into a residential high-rise in Ukraine’s Black Sea city of Odesa, authorities said on Saturday. – Reuters

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia was looking to cut its military expenditure from next year, contrasting that with NATO’s plan to ramp up defence spending over the next decade. – Reuters

Turkey

Turkish police detained at least 30 people in central Istanbul on Sunday as they tried to take part in a Pride March, which authorities had banned as part of a years-long clampdown on LGBTQ+ events, an opposition politician said. – Reuters

A Turkish court on Monday delayed until September a hearing on a case that could oust the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Ozgur Ozel, by potentially annulling the 2023 congress at which he was elected. – Reuters

Firefighters in Turkey are battling wildfires for a second day raging in the western province of Izmir fanned by strong winds, the forestry minister and local media said on Monday. – Reuters

Middle East & North Africa

Iran’s missile strike targeting a U.S. air base in Qatar this week could have imperiled the effort by Persian Gulf monarchies in recent years to ease Tehran’s isolation on the grounds that it would make the region more secure. – Washington Post

The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted”, while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch. – Reuters

The U.S. ambassador to Turkey said he expects Donald Trump and Tayyip Erdogan to resolve long-standing defence-related sanctions on Turkey by year end, according to an interview with state owned Anadolu Agency. – Reuters

Noam Raydan and Devorah Margolin write: U.S. and Iraqi officials should continue planning and implementing the transition to the post-coalition period. This includes signing a status of forces agreement or other bilateral understanding that defines the continued legal status of U.S. forces in Iraq. Besides allowing Washington to continue supporting Iraq’s fight against IS, such an agreement would show Iran and its militia partners that Baghdad has prioritized its relationship with Washington. It would also show private-sector investors that both governments are prioritizing Iraq’s security, making the country ripe for investment. As Baghdad seeks to redefine its relationship with Washington, emphasizing cooperation on energy and security can directly serve the U.S. goals of countering Iranian and Chinese influence, creating new economic opportunities, stabilizing the broader Middle East, and shrinking the under-governed spaces that hostile actors so often exploit. – Washington Institute

Korean Peninsula

Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova arrived in North Korea on Saturday with a 125-strong delegation of performers and praised cultural cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang for achieving “unprecedented heights”. – Reuters

South Korea’s former President Yoon Suk Yeol answered a summons on Saturday by a special prosecutor under a threat of another arrest as an investigation intensified over the ousted leader’s failed bid to impose martial law in December. – Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he will “get the conflict solved with North Korea.” At an Oval Office event where he highlighted his efforts to resolve global conflicts, Trump was asked whether he had written a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as was reported this month. – Reuters

Sangsoo Lee writes: Given ongoing North Korean missile tests and nuclear development, the Lee administration must carefully manage domestic expectations, as unilateral overtures risk public backlash. While broad inter-Korean reconciliation remains unlikely absent a significant shift in Pyongyang’s strategic thinking, for now, a carefully calibrated, security-focused approach offers the most realistic and constructive path forward for his administration. The US–South Korea alliance will remain central, with close coordination needed to deter North Korean provocations and enable future diplomatic initiatives. While hopes for a renewed Sunshine Policy may be premature, a more realistic approach, rooted in patience and pragmatism, will shape the Lee administration’s North Korea policy. – The National Interest

Byong-Chul Lee writes: However, the lesson of the past decade is clear: peace cannot be achieved unilaterally, and dialogue without deterrence yields no results. So long as Kim Jong Un fundamentally regards South Korea as an enemy, the Lee government’s priorities must be strengthening alliances, maintaining military readiness, and preparing for contingencies. For now, the clouds over inter-Korean relations remain thick. Diplomatic engagement will only be possible when the strategic climate changes, not just in Seoul, but also in Pyongyang. Until then, realism must prevail over romanticism in South Korea’s approach to North Korea. – The National Interest

China

Taiwan is accelerating efforts to develop a high-tech fleet of naval drones that military planners see as a potential game-changer in the island’s ability to fend off a possible Chinese invasion. For Taiwan, Ukraine’s success in using sea drones to erode Russia’s naval superiority in the Black Sea offers the possibility that the weapons could be used to establish supremacy over the Taiwan Strait and hold off an amphibious attack by China. – Wall Street Journal

On the same day China and the United States were finalizing a framework to guide negotiations in their bitter tariff dispute, Chinese Premier Li Qiang was making his pitch for Beijing as the solution to global trade volatility unleashed by Washington. – Washington Post

Hong Kong’s League of Social Democrats said on Sunday that it would disband amid “immense political pressure” from a five year-long national security crackdown, leaving the China-ruled city with no formal pro-democracy opposition presence. – Reuters

Taiwan’s Vice-President Hsiao Bi-khim said she will not be intimidated by China after Czech military intelligence said Chinese diplomats and secret service followed Hsiao and planned to intimidate her physically when she visited Prague last year. – Reuters

Washington and Beijing have signed a trade agreement that will make it easier for American firms to obtain magnets and rare earth minerals from China that are critical to manufacturing and microchip production, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday. – Associated Press

Taiwan said it’s made “constructive progress” in a second round of trade talks with the US, which are aimed at avoiding tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. – Bloomberg

China’s envoy to Canberra urged Australia not to be “incited” by NATO’s support for US demands to sharply raise defense spending and instead cooperate with Beijing to resolve regional disputes. – Bloomberg

Tamás Matura writes: China and Russia have increased their efforts to shape narratives in the Asia Pacific region, focusing on Taiwan, employing disinformation campaigns, and engaging in cyber warfare to advance their geopolitical interests. Once again, while their goals and tools are similar, there is no clear evidence of their actual collaboration. Russia has consistently endorsed China’s sovereignty claims over Taiwan. In November 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed this stance, describing China as an ally and supporting Beijing’s position on Taiwan. He emphasized that deepening Sino-Russian cooperation poses no threat to other countries. Taiwanese officials have expressed concern over this alignment. – Center for European Policy Analysis

South Asia

A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a Pakistani military convoy on Saturday in a town near the Afghan border, killing at least 13 soldiers, the army said. The convoy was attacked in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan district, the army said in a statement. – Reuters

China has rolled over $3.4 billion in loans to Pakistan, two senior Pakistani government officials told Reuters on Sunday, in a move that will help boost Islamabad’s foreign exchange reserves, a requirement of the International Monetary Fund. – Reuters

India’s ministry of external affairs said on Sunday it rejects a statement by the Pakistan Army seeking to blame India for Saturday’s attack in Waziristan. – Reuters

India’s agriculture and dairy are “big red lines” in its ongoing trade negotiations with the United States, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Financial Express newspaper in an interview published on Monday. – Reuters

The Bangladesh government ordered tax and customs workers to return to work immediately on Sunday and end a two-day nationwide strike that has brought tax operations to a standstill, including customs operations at major trade hub Chittagong Port. – Reuters

At least 1.2 million Afghans have been forced to return from Iran and Pakistan this year, the U.N. refugee agency said Saturday, warning that repatriations on a massive scale have the potential to destabilize the fragile situation in Afghanistan. – Associated Press

Hartosh Singh Bal writes: Among the most prominent RSS demands has been to capture the part of Kashmir under Pakistani control, or what India terms “Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.” Doing so is part of an RSS vision for a greater India in which New Delhi reaches out and occupies part of its neighborhood. That idea might seem fanciful. But so were many RSS proposals that have now become real. With the organization still dominant, a Hindu nationalist foreign policy may be something India’s neighbors—and everyone else—will have to contend with. The country, after all, does not appear poised to change course any time soon. – Foreign Affairs

Asia

Thailand, which decriminalized marijuana in 2022 — a first for the region — has reimposed restrictions on the drug. Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin signed an order this week to bar sales of cannabis without a medical prescription. – Washington Post

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Bangkok on Saturday to call for the resignation of Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whose leaked phone conversation with Cambodia’s de facto leader has stirred growing anger. – New York Times

Indonesia has offered the United States the chance to jointly invest in a critical minerals project as part of its tariff negotiations with Washington, its senior economic minister said on Monday. – Reuters

Thai Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said on Monday that he will travel to the United States later in the day for trade talks to be held over the next two days. – Reuters

Japan executed a man on Friday who killed nine people after contacting them on social media, the first use of capital punishment in the country in nearly three years. – Reuters

Azerbaijan has canceled all cultural events planned by Russian state and private institutions in protest over the deaths of two Azerbaijani citizens during police raids in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, Azerbaijani officials said Sunday. – Associated Press

Japan on Sunday successfully launched a climate change monitoring satellite on its mainstay H-2A rocket, which made its final flight before it is replaced by a new flagship model designed to be more cost competitive in the global space market. – Associated Press

Europe

Macron and his European peers are angling to turn President Trump’s overhaul of U.S. academia into their gain. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in May said she would establish a fund of about $575 million “to make Europe a magnet for researchers.” The U.K. in June said it would spend about $75 million over five years to cover relocation costs and research for foreign scientists moving to the U.K. – Wall Street Journal

The organizers of Glastonbury music festival said on Sunday that they were “appalled” by statements made onstage during a performance by the British punk duo Bob Vylan, in which the lead singer led the crowd in chants of “Death, death to the I.D.F.,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces. – New York Times

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called Saturday’s Pride “repulsive and shameful”, accusing the EU of directing opposition politicians to organise the event, which turned into an anti-government protest, local media reported in Sunday. – Reuters

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has arrived in Kyiv to discuss support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, the foreign ministry said on Monday. – Reuters

The head of Denmark’s Arctic command said the prospect of a U.S. takeover of Greenland was not keeping him up at night after talks with a senior U.S. general last week but that more must be done to deter any Russian attack on the Arctic island. – Reuters

Germany is aiming to establish a joint German-Israeli cyber research centre and deepen collaboration between the two countries’ intelligence and security agencies, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Sunday. – Reuters

Poland’s departing President Andrzej Duda visited Ukraine on Saturday and urged Kyiv to be patient during the handover to his nationalist successor, Karol Nawrocki. – Reuters

The Kremlin said on Friday that Estonia’s stated readiness to host NATO allies’ U.S.-made F-35A stealth jets, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, posed a direct threat to Moscow. – Reuters

Thousands of people Sunday set up street blockades in Serbia, angry over the arrest of anti-government protesters who clashed with police at a massive rally a day earlier demanding early elections. – Associated Press

Days before Bulgaria was expected to become the 21st member of the eurozone, opponents of the move geared up Saturday for a final battle to change the schedule. – Associated Press

UK car manufacturers can export to the US under a 10% tariff starting Monday, a reduction from the 25% rate imposed by Donald Trump on other countries, as the first elements of an economic agreement between the US president and Prime Minister Keir Starmer come into effect. – Bloomberg

Norway’s largest private pension fund has excluded two defense companies from its portfolio, citing their ties to the Israeli military and the war in Gaza. – Bloomberg

The Irish government, which has openly displayed its hatred for Israel in recent years, took another step targeting the Jewish state, becoming the first country in Europe to introduce legislation forbidding imports from the Biblical areas of Judea and Samaria. – Daily Wire

Stephen Cimbala and Lawrence J. Korb writes: First, NATO must invest in competitive, advanced technologies that will define who the great powers are and who the lesser, as we move forward in the twenty-first century. Second, European members of NATO must also wean themselves from hyper-dependency on the United States for leadership. Of necessity, the US must provide for much of the muscle that underlies NATO’s military credibility. However, European members of NATO can and should take the initiative in specific areas, such as reinforcing NATO’s civil defense for protracted war and active defense against Russian “liminal” warfare, which includes covert actions and ambiguous aggressions. Related to this, NATO European states with nuclear forces should share a greater responsibility for deterrence at the high end of the conflict spectrum. In this regard, the UK’s announcement of its plan to purchase approximately 12 F-35A nuclear-capable aircraft from the United States is a crucial step in deterrence messaging. – The National Interest

Africa

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a U.S.-brokered peace deal, aiming to end one of the world’s most pernicious conflicts and open their shared stretch of East African mineral wealth to U.S. investment. – Wall Street Journal

Three years ago, Ibrahim Traoré was a junior army officer in Burkina Faso’s armed forces. Today, he has emerged as a surprising anti-Western hero preaching self-reliance and resilience with fans across Africa and beyond. – Wall Street Journal

The 3-year-old boy darted among the mourners, his giggles rising above the soft cadence of condolences. Women with somber faces and bright scarves hugged his weeping mother, patting her shoulders as she stooped to pick up her remaining son. Marwan didn’t yet know that his twin brother was dead. – Washington Post

Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni has confirmed he intends to contest in next year’s presidential election, potentially extending his rule in the east African country to nearly half a century. – Reuters

South Africa’s Democratic Alliance party has withdrawn from a national dialogue but stopped short of leaving the coalition government after President Cyril Ramaphosa fired one of its deputy ministers, DA leader John Steenhuisen said on Saturday. – Reuters

A long-time ally of Cameroon’s leader has quit the government to run for president in October elections – a defection that could reshape the West African nation’s politics after more than four decades of Paul Biya’s rule. – Reuters

Fatima Omas Abdullah wakes up every morning with aches and pains from sleeping on bare ground for almost two years. She did not expect Sudan’s civil war to displace her for so long into neighboring Chad. – Associated Press

The Americas

Activists, human rights advocates and dozens of former Latin American presidents said Mr. Samcam’s killing strongly suggested that the government of Nicaragua is running sophisticated intelligence operations on foreign soil against its enemies. There have been no arrests so far. – New York Times

Chileans overwhelmingly elected Jeannette Jara, the country’s former labor minister, on Sunday to be the incumbent government’s candidate and face off against a field of right-wing contenders in November’s presidential elections. – Reuters

Chile is losing an average of 2.6% of its gross domestic product, about $8.2 billion a year, due to rising crime according to a study released by CLAPES UC, a research center at Chile’s Universidad Catolica. – Reuters

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday attended a public demonstration in Sao Paulo to protest against his ongoing Supreme Court trial in the South American country. – Associated Press

Guyana has pledged to crack down on gold smuggled across the border from neighboring Venezuela at the urging of the U.S. government. – Associated Press

Brazil’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink to curb the use of its services in illegal mining and other criminal activities in the Amazon. – Associated Press

Guatemala President Bernardo Arévalo said Friday he has not signed an agreement with the United States to take asylum seekers from other countries, pushing back against comments from U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. – Associated Press

Toby Dershowitz writes: The US Congress in 2023 passed a law calling for the President to designate Kirchner for corruption. Senator Ted Cruz noted that she has both stolen from Argentina’s citizens and “undermined American security interests in the region by placing Argentina’s institutions at the service of Iran’s global terrorism campaign.” Kirchner continues to deny any wrongdoing and blames her woes on her political opponents, saying she is being persecuted. The Argentine people have had to wait for years to see Kirchner’s corruption addressed. But her political career appears to be over. And she will no longer be able to shop for gold bracelets at Bulgari. Instead, she will have to wear surveillance ankle bracelets, courtesy of Argentina’s judicial system. – Jerusalem Strategic Tribune

North America

Canada announced late on Sunday that it is rescinding a digital-services tax in a bid to salvage trade discussions with the U.S. after President Trump paused talks on Friday. Canada’s finance department was set to collect billions of dollars from U.S. tech companies starting on Monday, when payments were due under a digital-services tax that Canada’s Liberal government implemented last year. – Wall Street Journal

President Trump said he terminated trade talks with Canada over what he called an “egregious” digital-services tax on U.S. tech companies, plunging relations with America’s second-largest trading partner back into turmoil. – Wall Street Journal

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will end deportation protections for half a million Haitians, the latest move by the Trump administration to strip migrants of legal status as it ramps up deportations. – Reuters

The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that it is terminating legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, setting them up for potential deportation. – Associated Press

United States

Unlike semiconductors, rare-earth magnets or other goods at the heart of geopolitical wrangling, home decor isn’t a sensitive sector. But Bursky’s recent efforts are emblematic of a broader push by American businesses to reconfigure global supply chains for a new era of economic warfare. – Wall Street Journal

President Donald Trump says he is not planning to extend a 90-day pause on tariffs on most nations beyond July 9, when the negotiating period he set would expire, and his administration will notify countries that the trade penalties will take effect unless there are deals with the United States. – Associated Press

A trade agreement with India was supposed to be one of President Donald Trump’s first victories from the “reciprocal” tariff salvo he fired against dozens of trading partners in early April. But while the administration has been promising for more than two months that a deal is imminent, they’re still struggling to get it over the finish line. – Politico

Editorial: As an Assemblyman, Mr. Mamdani made denouncing Israel his priority. He called a boycott “the only solution” and can be expected to advocate it as mayor. He proposed a 2023 bill cracking down on most Jewish institutions that donate to Israel. He conspicuously declined to co-sponsor Holocaust remembrance resolutions the past few years and he defends the chant “globalize the intifada,” despite its call for violence and intimidation in our streets. None of this seemed to disqualify Mr. Mamdani for Democratic voters in the city with the most Jews in the world. New York Democrats Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries praised Mr. Mamdani after his victory. Do they also condone his bitter views about Israel and the American Jews who support it? – Wall Street Journal

W.J. Hennigan writes: But common sense must prevail. No nation armed with an arsenal of this size has ever given it up — other than former Soviet nations, which didn’t control the weapons on their territories. Every president since Bill Clinton has missed an opportunity to rein in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions because of denuclearization’s all-or-nothing approach. Mr. Trump should not allow the shackles of the past to hobble his administration when there are more sensible strategies available to shape a more promising future. – New York Times

Cybersecurity

The Trump administration is readying a package of executive actions aimed at boosting energy supply to power the U.S. expansion of artificial intelligence, according to four sources familiar with the planning. – Reuters

Germany’s data protection commissioner has asked Apple (AAPL.O) and Google (GOOGL.O) to remove Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from their app stores in the country due to concerns about data protection, following a similar crackdown elsewhere. – Reuters

A hacker working for the Sinaloa drug cartel was able to obtain an FBI official’s phone records and use Mexico City’s surveillance cameras to help track and kill the agency’s informants in 2018, the U.S. Justice Department said in a report issued on Thursday. – Reuters

Switzerland said on Monday that a cyberattack on the non-profit health foundation Radix that involved data being stolen and encrypted had also affected the federal administration. – Reuters

Defense

The Air Force wants to retire its final 162 A-10 Warthog attack jets in fiscal 2026, as part of a plan to divest 340 total aircraft. The Pentagon also plans to cancel the E-7 Wedgetail program over what an official said were “significant delays” and cost increases. – Defense News

The Space Force’s fiscal 2026 budget request proposes stalling plans to buy a third batch of communication satellites through the Space Development Agency as it weighs whether an existing constellation, largely dominated by SpaceX, is better suited for the mission. – Defense News

The U.S. Army in the Pacific has begun working through how it will build two Multi-Domain Commands in the theater to oversee and direct the service’s Multi-Domain Task Force units as it continues to expand and refine its presence as part of an overall effort to deter China’s increasing aggression in the region, Gen. Ronald Clark, U.S. Army Pacific commander, told Defense News. – Defense News

The US Army is interested in acquiring two new autonomous platforms under a new initiative it’s calling the Common Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (CAML). – Breaking Defense

J.D. Crouch II writes: Missile defense protects the U.S. and promotes global stability. It gives America the advantage, not only after an attack but before one begins. To be effective, the Golden Dome must cover multiple domains: space, air, land and sea. The architecture to build it is already within reach—modeled decades ago, proven technically sound, and now economically and operationally viable. We don’t have to wait for a breakthrough. We already have the skills and tools to build a strong missile-defense system. We need only the political will to turn it into reality. – Wall Street Journal

Seth G. Jones writes: Yet Israel’s F-35s were essential in establishing air dominance over Iran, and the $2 billion B-2 bomber was critical in targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities. What the U.S. military needs is a combination of specific platforms, such as submarines and manned stealth aircraft, as well as cheap unmanned systems. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it best this June: “The Chinese Communist Party’s actions throughout the world, and conflicts in Europe, the Middle East and Asia make it clear: Our adversaries are advancing.” He’s right, though you wouldn’t guess it from this administration’s defense budget. Talk is cheap. Real defense demands serious money. – Wall Street Journal