Trump Warns Iran Over Strait Attacks
President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that the United States will strike an Iranian bridge or power plant each time Iran fires on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Washington Post. Trump said on social media that any Iranian missile, rocket, drone, or other weapon fired at a ship would prompt the United States to "bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT."The warning followed an eleventh consecutive night of U.S. airstrikes on Iran, whose air defenses opened fire over Tehran. Iran also launched a missile and drone attack on the Jordanian city of Aqaba, within sight of Israel's border city of Eilat, while air raid alerts sounded in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.Jordan's military intercepted four Iranian missiles and four Iranian drones over Aqaba, with two additional missiles landing in uninhabited areas. The strike on Aqaba underscored Jordan's position as a frontline buffer state absorbing attacks aimed…
Billions From Venezuelan Oil Remain Unaccounted For
The Trump administration has collected an estimated $13 billion from Venezuelan oil exports since assuming control of the country's oil sales in January, according to a Financial Times investigation.Public records account for only about $300 million reaching Caracas.The first cargoes, sold to traders Vitol and Trafigura at a discount, were routed through a Qatar-based account rather than the U.S. Treasury, avoiding standard congressional accounting procedures until lawmakers sought greater disclosure.President Donald Trump has said the United States is "making a lot of money" from the arrangement. At the same time, Executive Order 14373 designates the proceeds as Venezuela's sovereign property held in U.S. custody. The State Department has told Congress that billions of dollars have been returned to Venezuela under strict oversight, but it has not published a comprehensive accounting of those transfers.The discrepancy has fueled questions over the management of one of the world's largest state-controlled oil revenue streams.…
Can Iran Be Defeated Without a Ground War?
The United States can almost certainly destroy more of Iran's military than Iran can destroy America's. That, however, does not answer the question now confronting Washington: can overwhelming military superiority produce political victory without putting American troops inside Iran?After eleven consecutive nights of strikes, U.S. forces have demonstrated that they can penetrate Iranian airspace almost at will, repeatedly attacking command centers, missile infrastructure, air-defense systems and military facilities across the country. Yet every additional wave of bombing exposes the same strategic dilemma. Destroying targets is relatively straightforward. Deciding what political outcome those strikes are meant to achieve is considerably harder.Whether Iran can be defeated without a ground war depends almost entirely on what Washington means by "defeat."The answer changes depending on which objective the United States is pursuing.Defeating Iran could mean:destroying its conventional military;forcing political concessions;overthrowing the Islamic Republic;permanently eliminating its nuclear and missile programs.Only the first objective is clearly…
Ukraine Strikes Russia’s Largest Online Retailer Again
Ukrainian drones struck Wildberries logistics centers in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk overnight into July 22, sparking large fires and injuring at least eight people, according to Ukrainska Pravda. Drones also hit an oil depot in Armavir, Krasnodar Krai, where a fire spread across roughly 800 square meters.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strikes on his official Telegram channel, saying the logistics centers were used to supply the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment, and gear. Ukrainian forces also struck a tanker and four dry cargo ships from Russia's shadow fleet in the Black and Azov seas, he said.The strikes fall under Operation "MoLoCHKa" — a Ukrainian acronym translating roughly to "Moscow will fall because of Crimea" — which Unmanned Systems Forces Commander Robert Brovdi has described as a unified campaign combining maritime strikes on shadow fleet oil tankers with deep strikes on logistics hubs supplying the Russian military, according to Kyiv…
US Iran War Bill Hits $37.5 Billion
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that the war against Iran has cost the United States approximately $37.5 billion, up from an estimate of roughly $29 billion in mid-May.The revised figure reflects payroll, operations, maintenance, and other anticipated costs through the end of the fiscal year, according to Hegseth's written statement to the committee. The estimate does not include the cost of rebuilding US bases damaged in the conflict. Air & Space Forces MagazineThe costs trace to a specific set of drivers. Officials cited munitions replenishment, sustained naval operations in the Strait of Hormuz, and the collapse of a fragile ceasefire that had held since an earlier deal fell apart, according to Arab News. Hegseth was joined by Joint Chiefs Chair General Dan Caine, who acknowledged the limitations of airpower in the conflict.Democrats pressed the administration on why new funding is needed at all. Senator…
Zelenskyy Appoints New Military Chief
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi on Tuesday, appointing Joint Forces Commander Mykhailo Drapatyi in his place. Zelenskyy thanked Syrskyi for leading Ukraine's defense in Kyiv, the Kharkiv counteroffensive, and the Kursk operation, saying: "A significant path has been traveled," according to Ukrainska Pravda.The move followed the dismissal of reformist Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, which triggered days of street protests in Kyiv and other cities demanding Syrskyi's removal, according to Euronews.Drapatyi first earned his reputation in 2014, when, as a young major, he ordered his armored column to vault a militant barricade during a rescue operation in Mariupol, a moment captured on video that became one of the war's earliest symbols of resistance, according to the Kyiv Independent.A decade later, he stabilized the Kharkiv front during Russia's May 2024 border offensive and mounted a counteroffensive near Lyptsi, before taking command of the Khortytsia sector in January 2025, one of…
