Ukraine and EU launch bloc-wide drone partnership
Ukraine and the European Union signed a defense-industrial partnership dubbed the Drone Deal during Ukrainian Statehood Day celebrations in Kyiv, backed by concrete funding and industrial commitments rather than rhetoric alone, according to the European Commission and Ukrinform.The Commission disbursed 1 billion euros to support Ukraine's drone capabilities under the existing 90-billion-euro Ukraine Support Loan. The deal is built around joint ventures between 19 founding member companies, including Quantum Systems, Indra Group, Fincantieri, ORQA, and Ukraine's Skyfall Industries, with their first meeting scheduled for September in Brussels.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine has "in many ways, gone from being a buyer to a net security provider for Europe," calling the agreement "our own Drone Deal." She said the partnership would combine Ukraine's battle-tested expertise with Europe's industrial capacity and manufacturing scale.A key mechanism in the deal allows drones to be built and stockpiled across EU territory rather…
Iran Hits Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait in One Day
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps carried out strikes against US military facilities in Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait within hours of each other on July 14, part of an operation the IRGC designated "Operation Nasr 2," according to The Tribune.The IRGC said it destroyed weapons and equipment storage sheds and struck ship and aircraft parts at Bahrain's Sheikh Isa Air Base, while hitting the ramp used to deploy MQ-9 drones at Kuwait's Ali Al Salem Air Base, destroying or damaging several aircraft. Jordan's armed forces said they intercepted and shot down four missiles that entered the kingdom's airspace from Iranian territory, with no casualties reported. The IRGC also called on Jordanians to press for the removal of US bases from the kingdom, describing the facilities as tied to what it called "child-killing" American forces, a reference to the February 28 strike on a primary school in Minab that killed over 100…
Houthis May Soon Close Bab el-Mandeb Strait
Yemeni Houthis have said they could close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the coming days, threatening a second major chokepoint alongside Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.A member of the Houthi-aligned Ansar Allah movement's political bureau, Mohammed al-Farah, said the group intends to close Bab el-Mandeb in tandem with Iran's closure of Hormuz, warning that combined pressure on both straits could push oil prices to 200 dollars a barrel, EADaily reported. A senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader has said separately that the wider Iran-aligned network retains the capability to block both waterways at once, a claim analysts describe as a coordinated pressure campaign against the United States and its Gulf allies rather than isolated brinkmanship.The threat follows this week's escalation in Yemen. The internationally recognized government struck the runway at Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport on July 13 to block an Iranian flight, and the Houthis retaliated with missiles…
U.S. and Iran Trade Strikes as Truce Unravels
The United States and Iran exchanged another round of strikes on Wednesday, the fourth consecutive night of fighting since the ceasefire framework agreed last month effectively collapsed.U.S. forces struck Iranian military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and along Iran's southern coast as Washington expanded maritime operations aimed at restricting Iranian shipping, according to Reuters. President Donald Trump said the campaign would continue "until I say it's enough."The legal basis for the renewed operation rests on a notification Trump sent Congress on July 10, informing lawmakers that hostilities had resumed on July 7, according to Roll Call. Under the War Powers Resolution, the notification begins a new 60-day period during which U.S. forces can continue military operations without a formal declaration of war unless Congress acts sooner. The administration had previously argued that the earlier 60-day period triggered by February's strikes ended when hostilities ceased under the June ceasefire framework.Military…
Iran War’s True Cost May Near $100 Billion
The Pentagon's public estimate of the Iran war's cost captures only part of the financial picture, according to internal Defense Department assessments reported by U.S. media. While officials have publicly put the cost of the campaign at about $30 billion, internal estimates now reportedly place the overall bill between $80 billion and $100 billion.The discrepancy first emerged in April, when CBS News reported that officials familiar with internal Defense Department assessments believed the war had already cost closer to $50 billion, roughly double the $25 billion figure a Pentagon official had given lawmakers days earlier.The gap has continued to widen. NBC News reported that the latest internal estimate now stands between $80 billion and $100 billion, while the Pentagon's public figure remains about $30 billion. Independent tracking by the Iran War Cost Tracker, which follows the Pentagon's operational accounting methodology, estimated total spending at $113.3 billion by the June 16…
Trump Presses Netanyahu as Doctrines Collide
President Trump's call urging Prime Minister Netanyahu to withdraw forces from Syria and Lebanon reads less like a request than a rebuke, exposing a strategy Israel seems intent on locking in place, according to Axios.Netanyahu's insistence on "security zones" is not merely defensive. With elections three months away and his political survival at stake, holding territory abroad doubles as political cover at home, letting him claim security gains rather than negotiate withdrawals that his coalition would treat as capitulation.That entrenchment now collides with Washington's broader project. Trump's meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Turkey signals a bet on fast-tracked normalization to pull Damascus from Iran's orbit. The IDF's continued presence in southern Syria is a direct obstacle to that timeline, exposing a clash between Trump's deal-driven realignment and Netanyahu's tactical territorialism, where occupied ground grows more valuable the longer it's held.The Rome talks over Lebanon's "pilot zones" show a…
