Iran War Enters 13th Night as Talks Continue
The United States and Iran remain locked in overlapping tracks of warfare and negotiation, with President Trump calling talks the "most serious" yet even as US strikes against Iran continued for a 13th consecutive night. "I think they are by far the most serious that we've seen," Trump told reporters Friday, adding, "But that doesn't mean we get there," according to Reuters.Trump has used similar language in past rounds of negotiation that ultimately collapsed, including a March characterization of "major points of agreement" that did not produce a deal, according to Reuters.US Central Command's overnight strikes targeted military command centers, drone facilities, communications networks, and maritime capabilities, according to CNN. The US military also disabled a tanker attempting to bypass its blockade of Iranian ports.Iran claimed to have struck a US-operated base in Kuwait on July 24, though neither US nor Kuwaiti officials have confirmed the claim, according to RFE/RL.…
Cargo Flights Underscore Foreign Role in Sudan
Foreign sponsorship has become a central operational driver of Sudan's civil war. Competing supply networks give both sides access to drones, munitions and logistics that help them replace losses and continue fighting despite repeated peace efforts.Flight-tracking records show SU-SAW, a Boeing 737-8F2 operated by the Egyptian cargo carrier Air Master, flying from Istanbul to Port Sudan on June 26. The record confirms that the route was used; it does not establish what the aircraft carried.Ground evidence supplies context absent from flight data. The Washington Post reported that Baykar supplied SAF with at least $120 million in drones, warheads, and supporting equipment under a contract and end-user certificate reviewed by the newspaper. Amnesty International documented recently manufactured Turkish, Chinese, Russian, and Emirati weapons inside Sudan. ACLED tracks SAF's variable network of Turkish, Egyptian, Iranian, Saudi, and Eritrean support against RSF's dependence on alleged Emirati backing.External supplies can reduce the material pressure…
NATO Certifies Ukrainian Mine-Warfare Command
NATO has certified a Ukrainian Navy headquarters as capable of commanding multinational mine-countermeasure forces, the first such qualification for Ukraine and a practical step in its integration with the Alliance.During Sea Breeze 26-2 in Portland, Britain, the mine-countermeasures headquarters of Ukraine's 1st Division of Mine Countermeasure Ships passed NATO Evaluation Level 2 and received "Mission Capable" status, the Ukrainian Navy said. Assessed under NATO's Operational Capabilities Concept programme, NEL-2 measures full operational capability, beyond the unit-level interoperability tested at the first level.The certification confirms the headquarters can command subordinate multinational units, work up to the level of a Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group and conduct the full range of mine-clearance missions under Allied Command Operations standards.The US Navy said the July 13–24 exercise, co-hosted by Ukraine and the United States, drew forces from 15 countries and NATO Maritime Command for mine hunting, ordnance disposal, diving, salvage and unmanned systems.The qualification…
Israel Strikes Gaza After Displacement Orders
Israeli strikes killed at least two Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday, hours after the military issued evacuation orders for four areas and then hit those same locations, according to Al Jazeera. Israeli air strikes destroyed homes in the Bureij and Jabalia refugee camps and in Gaza City's Zeitoun and Tal al-Hawa neighborhoods. In contrast, a separate strike on a building in Zeitoun injured several people, a source at al-Ahli Hospital said. The Israeli military says such strikes target militant infrastructure and accuses Hamas of embedding fighters and weapons among civilian sites.This is not an isolated pattern. The UN Human Rights Office has said Israel's evacuation-order practice raises serious concerns that it intends to permanently clear civilian populations from parts of Gaza to create a buffer zone, which would amount to forcible transfer, a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, according to OHCHR. The strikes come despite a US-brokered "ceasefire"…
Romanian F-16 Downs Drone Over Buzău
A Romanian Air Force F-16 shot down an unidentified drone over Buzău County on Friday, the first confirmed shoot-down of a drone over Romanian territory since Russia's full-scale invasion began.The Defence Ministry said radar detected the aircraft at 9:39 a.m., 20 kilometres east of Sulina, on a course along the Sulina - Brăila - Fetești - Buzău corridor. Two Italian Eurofighters took off at 9:48 to monitor it, and two Romanian F-16s followed at 10:56. At 11:02 a.m., one F-16 destroyed the drone with a missile over an uninhabited area near Padina. Romanian President Nicușor Dan said the location let the pilot fire without risk to people on the ground. Investigators have not identified the drone's origin.It was the second drone downed by a Romanian F-16 this year, but the first over Romania itself. On May 19, a Romanian jet on NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission shot down a drone…
Ukraine Hits Wildberries Hub, Targets Defense Plant
Ukraine struck a Wildberries logistics hub in Russia's Leningrad region on Friday, according to Reuters, which reported that Governor Alexander Drozdenko confirmed the warehouse caught fire and that three people were wounded. Wildberries said operations at two logistics sites in the region were suspended.The strike is the fifth reported attack on Wildberries facilities since July 18. Ukrainian officials have previously described the company's logistics network as a dual-use target, alleging that it has transported goods supporting Russia's war effort alongside civilian commerce. Wildberries and the Kremlin deny the company supplies the military. Russian media reported this week that the attacks have damaged or destroyed roughly 10 percent of the company's logistics capacity nationwide, although that estimate has not been independently verified.Separately, Ukrainian monitoring groups and Russian Telegram channels reported a strike on the Avitek plant in Kirov, part of the state-owned Almaz-Antey defense group, which manufactures air-defense systems and other…
