Erdogan Taunts Israel & Greece After Trump Hands Turkey F-35, Sanctions Win
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has responded to ongoing Israeli and Greek objections to the possible US sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey by mocking the Turkish enemies and rivals.
Opposition to the potential stealth fighter transfer raised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis “has no place in my world,” Erdogan said in his characteristically bellicose manner.
“Hopefully, when the F-35s are delivered to Turkey, the whole world will say America kept its promise,” Erdogan said at a Wednesday closing news conference for the NATO summit hosted in Ankara.
Netanyahu told Fox News on Monday that “Turkey is a great country, but it’s governed by a man who calls openly for the annihilation of Israel” – in reference to Erdogan. “He occupies half of Cyprus, a NATO country. He’s threatening Greece, another NATO country, and he talks openly about conquering Jerusalem.”
The Israeli leader also said that giving Ankara F-35s or fighter jet engines would “upset the power balance in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also by, I think, by America’s posture in the Middle East.” He’s been urgently requestion that the White House reign in Erdogan and his provocative rhetoric.
However, Israeli pressure did nothing to sway Trump while the US President was in Turkey. Trump strongly signaled he’s ready to go through with the sale of F-35s, saying of Erdogan, “We are great friends”.
What’s more is that Trump declared – to the surprise of US Congress (who will want a word on this) that he’ll be removing US sanctions which were imposed on Turkey during his own prior administration:
In response to that purchase, Washington in 2020 imposed sanctions on a major Turkish defense company and removed Turkey from the F-35 stealth fighter jet program, where Ankara was also a production partner.
“We’re going to be taking the sanctions off,” Trump told reporters just before his meeting with Erdogan during a visit to Turkey for a NATO summit. He added that his secretary of state and Treasury secretary were working on the issue.
In the moment, Secretary of State Marco Rubio looked a bit surprised, while President Erdogan beamed with a sense of victory…
Erdogan gives a thumbs-up as Trump lifts sanctions in real-time. Rubio has a WTF?!? look that can’t be denied. pic.twitter.com/XnGIkvyIOs
— Christopher Leonard (@ChrisLeonardATL) July 8, 2026
Later, Erdogan voiced that in reality the United States is “not enforcing any sanctions against us” and that “by and large, those measures have already been lifted.”
He said of his top national security officials, “They have all witnessed firsthand that these sanctions are not being applied to Türkiye. So, we have no such problem. And whenever an issue does arise, Mr. Trump, thankfully, returns our call within 24 hours whenever we reach out to him. Within that same 24-hour period, we receive the response we need.”
The Turkish foreign ministry has also hit back at recent Israeli statements, saying, “The baseless allegations recently circulated by Israeli officials in a coordinated manner and with calculated timing are part of a disinformation campaign.” The statement added: “Netanyahu and his partners in crime deliberately distort any criticism directed at them and seek to divert attention through a systematic propaganda effort.”
The time has come for Europeans to declare their independence from ruling-class tyranny.
We made it to our two-hundred-fiftieth birthday, America. What’s next? Let’s get back to work, so that our descendants can celebrate one thousand.
Making sure the American Experiment endures is work, after all. Protecting American ideals from our ideological enemies is never easy.
Well before our nation declared independence from Great Britain, the American system repudiated the whole “ruling class” hierarchy that — to this day! — still oozes from the infected abscesses of the United Kingdom and much of continental Europe. After we fought two world wars in the twentieth century to save Europe from itself, we spent the Cold War period in a bit of a kumbaya stupor during which Americans often equated the beliefs of Western nobles with those who founded and built the United States.
But Europe and America have never been the same. The people who built America left Europe behind for good reasons. They rejected Europe’s aristocratic allegiances, its feudal social structures, and its false pretension that blue-blooded “elites” are divinely and innately empowered to rule over everyone else. The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are not merely documents establishing America’s political separation from Britain and the legal foundations for its new government. They are revolutionary statements of America’s intent to remove itself from the generational enslavement upon which monarchies, ruling classes, and feudal systems depend.
Taken together, the Declaration and Constitution assert fundamental truths that governments throughout human history have tried to obscure from their peoples. Those truths include the recognition that all of us are equal before God; so-called noble aristocrats are not divinely given or entitled to receive more power or privilege than the common man. Furthermore, our rights come from God, not the government. Aristocrats, government officials, elected representatives, and bureaucrats cannot give us what only God provides for our well-being and happiness. Additionally, because governments are artificial creations constructed by imperfect human beings, they are legitimate only when the people who live under those governments consent to their structure. Governments that exercise power in defiance of the will of the people are unjust governments utilizing illegitimate powers. Finally, when governments deny the people their God-given rights, fail to keep the public safe, undermine their citizens’ happiness, usurp powers belonging to the people, abuse the public, or threaten the lives and liberties of citizens, the people have a right — nay, a duty! — to overthrow those governments and replace them with new governments more likely to protect the people’s lives, liberties, and God-given rights.
These assertions didn’t just repudiate the British Crown. They repudiated the legitimacy of governments throughout the world. Princes justified their powers over common people as expressions of God’s will. Claiming to be God’s direct emissaries on Earth, noble aristocrats considered themselves the arbiters of what rights and liberties common people might enjoy. The American Revolution rejected these premises as outright lies. Princes are endowed with the same rights as commoners. Rights and liberties come from God, not ruling class elites!
In other words, America’s War for Independence was also a war that threatened systems of power throughout the world. If legitimate government powers come directly from the people, then the whole feudal hierarchy is inverted. Rather than a pyramid with a king or queen on top who allocates certain powers to a small royal court of lords who allocate a few powers to vassals who allocate a tiny portion of those powers to peasants who remain in indentured servitude, the Declaration of Independence asserts that power arises from the base of the pyramid with the people and that government authorities merely borrow the people’s power as temporary custodians obligated to secure and advance the public’s will. Nothing at the top of the pyramid is legitimate unless the bottom of the pyramid consents. Two-hundred-fifty years ago, America turned the world upside down.
Do any of these American convictions describe Europe today? Does the unelected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen behave as someone who derives her power from the consent of those Europeans she insists upon governing? Do the digital censorship laws that prevent citizens of the United Kingdom and the European Union from freely communicating with each other protect their God-given rights and liberties? Do the growing swarms of European bureaucrats writing endless rules and regulations inside unaccountable government institutions appear to respect the people’s inherent powers? Do Europe’s open borders policies provide European citizens with security, safety, and happiness? If the answer to these questions is “no,” then don’t common Europeans have the right and duty to overthrow their governments and form new institutions committed to their protection and the preservation of their freedoms? Otherwise, aren’t most of the bureaucracies and government institutions of Europe wholly illegitimate?
It is easy to see why governments around the world don’t spend much time teaching young students about the Declaration of Independence or the American Revolution. If they did, most citizens would immediately recognize their own forms of government as oppressive, harmful, unjust, and resentful of God’s authority.
This is why European political “leaders” refuse to talk about rights and freedoms and instead drone on about “democracy.” It is difficult to explain how rights and freedoms can be inalienable when governments insist on defining, redefining, or abridging them whenever those in power find it necessary or convenient to do so. “Democracy,” on the other hand, stands for nothing other than the dangerous proposition that fifty-one cannibals can vote to eat forty-nine of their neighbors. “Democracy” can even be twisted to mean that a couple dozen European Commissioners are entitled to choose a European Commission president who is somehow entitled to write laws for all of Europe. Such an arrangement undermines all safeguards for Europeans’ inalienable rights and liberties. Describing fascism, socialism, or monarchy as “democratic” does not lend legitimacy to despotic forms of government.
To this day, Europe’s leaders don’t understand America. Or they understand, but they pretend that America embraces European “values.” Or they look down upon America as some kind of wild mongrel that makes a good guard dog but remains incapable of appreciating the dignified sensibilities of European “elites.” The noble gentry who spread their cancerous ideologies from Brussels do their best to groom and domesticate America while expecting us to pee on the rug at any time. Europe’s entrenched aristocracy prefers for the unruly American dog to stay outside.
Part of the reason we are “unruly,” though, is that our political instincts are foreign and threatening to a European feudal structure that demands total power for the few and no power at all for the many. Europe’s bureaucrats prefer Karl Marx to Thomas Jefferson. Europe’s aristocratic “elites” prefer declarations of dependence to America’s Declaration of Independence.
The future is not a battle between the so-called “democratic” West and the authoritarian regimes of the world. The future is a battle between feudal forms of government and an American system that recognizes governments as legitimate only when they are used to protect each individual’s God-given rights. Both in Europe and the United States, the war against government tyranny and for human freedom will continue to rage. European and American “elites” will do everything they can to foster public dependence upon government. European and American citizens who wish to be free must declare their independence from Big Government.
There are those alive today who believe that Big Government cannot be beaten. That’s natural. Two-hundred-fifty years ago, few believed that America’s Declaration of Independence would lead to the British Empire’s defeat. The war for human freedom never truly ends. Every generation must fight to secure their God-given rights. When governments forfeit the people’s consent and undermine the people’s freedoms, they are rendered illegitimate. There is but one public remedy: revolution.
The arrests of foreign spies “means our tech stays home and our defense secrets stay locked down,” a video shared by Patel on X said. “But the FBI didn’t stop there. They forced 62 removals of Chinese spies in 2026 alone.”
The video added that this has shattered the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) deep cover operations against the United States.
The House Committee on Homeland Security released a report in February 2025 detailing multiple cases of espionage conducted by the CCP in the United States since 2021.
The cases, spread across 20 U.S. states, involved the transmission of sensitive military information to Beijing, stealing trade secrets to benefit the regime, transnational repression schemes targeting Chinese dissidents, and obstruction of justice. Every 12 hours, the FBI opened new cases to counter Beijing’s intelligence operations, according to the report.
The report noted that the CCP’s theft of U.S. intellectual property amounts to roughly $4,000 to $6,000 annually per American family of four after paying taxes.
In one prominent case, a senior adviser to the State Department was arrested in October 2025, accused of taking thousands of top-secret documents and meeting with Chinese officials. The individual allegedly downloaded and saved documents related to U.S. fighter jets and weapons capabilities.
On Jan. 12 this year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a former U.S. Navy sailor was sentenced to 200 months in prison for spying for Beijing.
The person had access to sensitive national defense information about the amphibious assault ship U.S.S. Essex, such as its weapons, propulsion, and desalination systems. These ships are a “cornerstone of the U.S. Navy’s amphibious readiness and expeditionary strike capabilities,” according to the DOJ statement. The sailor sold critical information to a Chinese intelligence officer for $12,000.
More recently, on June 4, the DOJ announced that a U.S. citizen pleaded guilty to acting as an agent for China. The man, who lived in China, would travel to the United States to meet with individuals who could provide him, and ultimately the Chinese Ministry of State Security, with important information.
Digital Threats, Cartels
The video shared by Patel also said that the FBI has been successful in countering cyber threats.
On Jan. 8, the FBI issued an alert warning about a North Korean state-sponsored cyber threat group targeting American entities with a QR code phishing scheme to steal sensitive information. As of last year, threat actors from the group targeted academic institutions, think tanks, and U.S. and foreign government entities.
Last month, the DOJ said that 13 internet domains backed by suspected Chinese agents were seized by authorities. The domains were used to target Americans with security clearance to access classified government information.
The FBI is now targeting cartels as foreign terrorists, which has led to around 4,800 cartel members getting arrested, the video said.
Despite the ongoing crackdown, cartels are shifting drug trafficking tactics. During a Senate committee hearing on May 12, top law enforcement officials raised concerns about some Mexican cartels moving operations to Canada in order to manufacture and distribute fentanyl.
Terry Cole, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said there have been “significant seizures” of fentanyl in Canada over the previous months.
At the hearing, Patel said: “The drug traffickers got smart with the securitization of the southern border and moved it up there [to Canada]. So we’re tackling that with our seize partners.”
Fiber-Optic Kamikaze Drone Found In Mexico Signals New Drone Threat South Of Border
The global proliferation of low-cost suicide drones is setting off alarm bells across the US military and among national security officials and experts. The race to harden high-value assets in the homeland, from military bases and airports to power substations, crude oil refineries, stadiums, and data centers, is already underway as officials fear the next major threat could come from a cheap drone equipped with a warhead.
The latest warning that Ukrainian-style drones are just south of the US-Mexico border comes from a new report by the Mexican newspaper El Sol de Durango, which states that Mexican federal forces discovered an unjammable fiber-optic kamikaze drone during a raid on a compound.
The raid took place at a compound in the Dolores del Río neighborhood, located deep inside north-central Mexico, about 500 miles from the US border and about 560 miles from Mexico City by road.
The Mexican Army and National Guard secured the perimeter of the compound, while Durango’s regional federal prosecutor’s office and other law enforcement agencies found the fiber-optic suicide drone, guns, ammunition, ATVs, and other vehicles.
The operation stemmed from a citizen complaint received by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR ) through the Single Window for Attention (VUA), in which a member of the National Guard (GN) reported potentially criminal activity at the aforementioned address. In response, the Federal Public Prosecutor (MPF) requested and executed a search warrant for the location.
During the operation , supported by agents of the Federal Ministerial Police (PFM) and the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC), authorities seized an explosive device , two magazines and 78 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, a drone, two ATVs, and four vehicles . The perimeter was secured by personnel from the Mexican Army ( Sedena ) and the National Guard (GN).
The importance of this find is that fiber-optic kamikaze drones, once largely confined to major war zones across Eurasia, from the Russia-Ukraine conflict to the Gulf area, now appear to be spreading worldwide.
Even more troubling, this drone was found roughly 500 miles south of the US-Mexico border. The discovery points to one unavoidable conclusion drawn from today’s conflict zones: the US must supercharge the hardening of high-value assets against this drone threat (read here).
Military bases, airports, power substations, refineries, ports, data centers, and other critical infrastructure are entering a whole new risk environment in which cheap drones can cause outsized damage.
We recently penned a note for readers on how to profit from the “asymmetric warfare boom.” Read the note here.
Federal immigration agents are now working alongside state troopers at commercial truck weigh stations across the country as the Trump administration intensifies its crackdown on illegal commercial drivers, according to U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan.
Appearing on Fox News on Tuesday, Homan said the Department of Homeland Security is partnering with the U.S. Department of Transportation and state law enforcement agencies to identify commercial drivers who are operating trucks with improperly issued commercial driver’s licenses.
“We’ve got a lot of people we’re looking for,” Homan said. “Actually, some states we’re actually working weigh stations with the troopers, trying to get these people as they’re coming through.”
Homan said more than 28,000 non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses have been revoked nationwide and acknowledged that obtaining driver records from some states has complicated enforcement efforts.
“We’re working very closely with many states,” Homan said, adding that DHS is coordinating with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy while the Department of Justice pursues legal action against jurisdictions that refuse to share driver information.
Enforcement expands beyond paperwork
The latest announcement builds on a series of recent commercial vehicle enforcement operations by state agencies focused on licensing violations, unsafe equipment, hours-of-service compliance and immigration-related offenses.
Last week, FreightWaves reported that law enforcement agencies in Texas, Arizona and California had expanded commercial vehicle inspections targeting unqualified drivers and unsafe trucks. Those operations resulted in immigration arrests, equipment citations and drivers being placed out of service.
Homan suggested the latest federal effort goes beyond revoking licenses by focusing on locating drivers who remain behind the wheel after their commercial driving privileges have been canceled.
According to Homan, DHS agents are working directly with state troopers at weigh stations to identify those drivers during routine commercial vehicle inspections.
Arizona stop highlights safety concerns
The enforcement push comes as Arizona authorities continue reporting cases involving commercial drivers operating without required credentials.
In a Facebook post, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said on Tuesday a Highway Patrol Commercial Vehicle Enforcement trooper stopped a hotshot truck on June 26 along State Route 202 near Arizona State University after discovering numerous violations.
Investigators said the driver lacked both a commercial driver’s license and a required USDOT medical certificate. Inspectors also found that none of the trailer’s brakes were functioning, meaning only the tow vehicle could stop the fully loaded 14,900-pound trailer.
Arizona troopers also cited exposed hubcaps and a missing emergency brake cable before placing the driver and vehicle out of service.
When Will The Cattle Cycle Turn? BofA Has Answers For Beef Lovers
Bank of America analysts spoke with Oklahoma State University agricultural economist Derrell Peel, who offered new insight into the US cattle cycle. His key takeaway: the herd-rebuilding phase may not meaningfully begin to turn until near the end of the decade, suggesting elevated beef prices at the supermarket are here to stay.
The most important issue in the beef industry is when the cattle cycle will turn. The US beef cow herd is the smallest since 1961, while the 2025 calf crop is the smallest since 1941. Beef production is expected to decline by 4.5% to 5% in 2026 and continue falling through at least 2027, despite heavier carcass weights partially offsetting lower slaughter volumes.
Peel explained to Sara Senatore, a BofA Securities research analyst covering restaurants, protein processors, and food and beverage, that the beef industry has not yet seen the tightest supplies because meaningful heifer retention has only just begun.
He added that if ranchers begin saving heifer calves in 2026, those animals would be bred in 2027, calve in 2028, and only begin adding to supply in 2029 or 2030.
Peel explained more about when the cattle rebuilding cycle could turn:
The bottom line is, I don’t think we’re saving very many heifers yet. I don’t think we’re doing more than perhaps slowing the liquidation down, or stabilizing the herd. We’re certainly not going to expand any in 2026. I think the prospects for expansion in 2027 are very limited at this point, because again we know that the supply of heifers that’s already on the ground, that we would need to be breeding this year to enter the herd next year, just isn’t there.
And so if we start saving heifers, which would really be heifer calves in 2026, we breed them in ’27, they would calve in 2028, we’re talking about 2029 into 2030 before those calves would be weaned and fed out and have an impact on beef production. So we’re really looking at the end of the decade before we can change the path here.
And in fact, what it means is that in the meantime we have to save some additional heifers. We haven’t yet seen the tightest supplies of this particular situation. We’ve got tight supplies, the feeder supply continues to decline with these smaller calf crops, but at some point we have to pull additional heifers out of that mix in order to retain them for herd rebuilding. We have not done that yet to any appreciable degree.
Cow calf producers are getting market incentives, returns are good. But we’ve been very slow to respond as an industry for, I think, a wide variety of reasons, that includes drought and financial conditions and demographic changes in the herd or in the producer population, and just a variety of things that contribute to that.
The upshot of it all, this is my final analytical slide, is that we think that prices will continue to go even higher. I would expect that heifer retention process to be what would put the peak in this thing. That peak will not happen, in my opinion, at this point in 2026. It will be at least into 2027. And there is a possibility that it gets pushed off even beyond that if we don’t see some indications of heifer retention pretty quickly here in 2026.
So the short answer is the current situation will continue, and I think persist, and actually get a little bit more in terms of higher cattle prices. Now, that’s all predicated on demand continuing as strong as it is. I don’t see that changing at this point. There’s certainly some potential threats out there that we’re watching, but I don’t see demand changing enough to prevent this.
So the short answer is the current situation will continue, and I think persist, and actually get a little bit more in terms of higher cattle prices. Now, that’s all predicated on demand continuing as strong as it is. I don’t see that changing at this point. There’s certainly some potential threats out there that we’re watching, but I don’t see demand changing enough to prevent this.
The warning that the cattle cycle is still several years from a meaningful turn builds on our prior note that there are “no quick fixes” for historically tight supplies.
The structural fix is herd rebuilding, and Peel’s timeline points to meaningful relief in beef production closer to 2029-2030, not anytime soon.
In other words, high supermarket beef prices are not a temporary squeeze. This is a new reality folks must understand: a broken cattle cycle that will take years to repair – and quality might lack…
That’s why locking in high-quality beef now matters. While the Trump administration searches for ways to bring prices down (see here) and the industry waits years for herds to rebuild, readers can skip the junk at the supermarket and buy directly from our ranchers.
Radia and Blue Water Shipping (Blue Water) have announced a strategic alliance that will combine the former’s gigantic Windrunner aircraft with the latter’s global logistics network. Under the agreement, Radia will supply the aircraft, and Blue Water will do basically everything else.
“The companies expect to focus initial collaboration efforts across several strategic sectors, including energy and project cargo, humanitarian aid and disaster relief, aerospace logistics, and military and defense-related transportation,” Radia explains in a press release.
In case you are unaware, the Windrunner is being marketed as the world’s “largest cargo aircraft.” Not in terms of raw weight, incidentally, but rather in the fact that it can vary extremely large, and non-standard cargo.
To date, examples have included 328-foot (100-meter) long turbine blades, large military vehicles, satellites, and aircraft fuselage parts, among other notable examples. So, in a sense, the selling point for it is its cargo-carrying volume.
Windrunner Is One Hell Of An Aircraft
Another interesting wrinkle is that the Windrunner is designed to operate out of both existing and “semi-prepared runways.” This means it can deliver cargo to dirt strips, compacted gravel, temporary runways, and remote airfields.
That means it could, in theory, fly directly to places like wind farm construction sites, military bases, disaster zones, and mining projects, rather than unloading hundreds of miles away.
Both Radia and Blue Water are particularly pitching their services to militaries and humanitarian aid efforts. The former often requires irregular cargo like radar systems, missile launchers, helicopters, engineering gear, bridge-laying equipment, etc, delivered to areas with no existing aerodromes.
The same is true for humanitarian aid, especially when natural disasters have knocked out existing infrastructure.
“Many of the industries we support are constrained not only by infrastructure but by the inability to efficiently move oversized cargo where and when it is needed,” said Mark Lundstrom, Founder and CEO of Radia.
Blue Water is a logistics company that has made its fortune arranging global logistics via things like ships. trucks, trains, etc, and navigating all the administrative red tape like customs, permits, etc. Both companies believe they can combine their respective talents to streamline the integration of their respective services.
Not An Exclusive Partnership, More Of An Open Relationship
“By combining WindRunner’s transformational airlift capabilities with Blue Water Shipping’s global logistics expertise, we believe we can help create more flexible and resilient transportation solutions for customers operating in some of the world’s most challenging environments,” Lundstrom added.
“Blue Water Shipping has extensive experience delivering complex logistics solutions across industries that depend on precision, reliability, and flexibility,” said Rasmus Svane, Head of Global Product Development Wind, Blue Water Shipping.
“Our collaboration with Radia represents an exciting opportunity to explore new logistics models for oversized cargo and help customers rethink what is possible when combining multimodal transportation solutions,” he added.
It is important to note that the agreement is for both to become “preferred partners” of one another. That doesn’t mean exclusivity, but rather, they will bid together for projects that benefit both.
“Turn Off Bluetooth, Use Signal”: ACLU Advises Anti-Trump Protesters On Evading Gov’t Surveillance
If you want a sign of how the left-wing, permanent protest-industrial complex is gearing up for the next wave of street mobilization, look no further than Chad Marlow, a senior policy counsel at the ACLU.
Marlow, whose work focuses on privacy, surveillance, and technology, has circulated guidance for protesters on social media about how to limit digital exposure, avoid government surveillance, and communicate via encrypted messaging platforms while protesting.
“If you’re protesting and not actively using your phone, the best thing you can do to prevent it from sharing information about you and your location is to shut it off entirely. If you want to turn on your phone to take pictures and record video during the day, turn your phone on, enable Airplane Mode, and turn off Bluetooth. That way, your phone won’t be inadvertently sharing your private location and other data while you’re using it,” Marlow said in a video posted on Instagram.
He continued, “If you need to use your phone, turn it on while you’re communicating, then shut it off when you’re done. By the way, it’s always safest to use a fully encrypted app like Signal, which makes it more difficult for the government to intercept your communications.”
After the North Texas Antifa defendants were convicted over the anti-ICE terror shooting attack and the Minnesota Antifa cell suspects were indicted for anti-government violence, leftist groups have been releasing guides on how to hide and destroy digital evidence.
The ACLU is listed as a proud partner of the failed No Kings rally, an event that is far from organic; instead, it is a heavily coordinated coalition of far-left socialist groups, NGOs, and unions seeking a socialist revolution by toppling Trump.
Marlow’s educational session on how protesters can limit digital exposure and evade government surveillance is certainly not a good look for a nonprofit that claims to defend all civil liberties. Instead, it has become a legal arm of far-left protesters.
Concerns that the ACLU is no longer merely protecting constitutional rights but is increasingly helping to equip DSA-aligned protesters for their revolution are very troubling, given what socialists say in their own words:
DSA Members: “The most important thing we can do is take America down from within” pic.twitter.com/phicruCxKe
This blurs the line between civil-liberties advocacy and activist support infrastructure at a time when the broader protest-industrial complex appears to be gearing up for the next round of street chaos.
Israel Hands US Curiously-Timed Intelligence Saying Iran Plotting To Assassinate Trump
Update(21:00ET): Here’s what President Trump said from Ankara on Wednesday which left many wondering just what he was referring to: “They want to take out the U.S. leader—me,” he said in reference to the Iranians. “I’m on every list. I saw this morning, I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a little bit lucky, but that maybe doesn’t last very long.”
The Wall Street Journal in a Thursday evening report says that Israel has provided fresh intelligence to the White House indicating just such a Tehran-linked plot. The timing is quite curious and interesting given it comes just as the warring sides standing on the brink of returning once again to full-scale war:
Israel shared new intelligence with the U.S. that it said indicated a fresh Iranian plan to kill President Trump, people familiar with the matter said, a finding that would mark an escalation in the war between Washington and Iran.
Iran for years has vowed openly to retaliate against Trump for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, who was a top general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in the president’s first term.
The Israeli embassy in Washington declined to comment. Iran’s Mission to the United Nations didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House referred The Wall Street Journal to comments the president made on Wednesday.
The Israelis have remained deeply dissatisfied with terms laid out in the previously agreed-to MoU, and so have every incentive to goad Washington further into the conflict. Certainly many within the US administration know this, and so might be taking this new ‘intelligence warning’ – which was leaked rather quickly to major media – with the appropriate degree of skepticism.
Meanwhile the US says it is still engaged in ‘technical talks’ with Iran, despite the past days of tit-for-tat bombings. “Technical talks between the US and Iran are continuing, according to a US official, following two days of clashes that threatened to shatter an already fragile ceasefire between the two nations,” reports Bloomberg, also late in the day Thursday. “The US is still committed to finding a solution with Iran, the official said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.”
So it appears there’s still hope that things might not spiral further. As for the alleged assassination plot, this isn’t the first time Iran has faced such accusations, and each time Tehran officials have vehemently denied them.
* * *
Just as the US nighttime strikes were significantly bigger than prior rounds in June, so has Iran’s ‘retaliation’ been bigger – chiefly on Gulf states and American bases there.
In the overnight and Thursday daytime hours, Iranian ballistic missiles and drones have targeted Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and even faraway Jordan. The country is reporting that it has intercepted several missiles, which targeted Muwaffaq Salti Air Base – jointly operated by US and Jordanian forces. Oil prices have persisted above prewar levels on Thursday.
“Jordan has intercepted eight Iranian missiles in its airspace after sirens sounded across the country, according to the armed forces,” reports Al Jazeera. “Falling shrapnel did not cause any casualties or material damage, it added.”
Following the US bombing of the Islamic Republic for a second consecutive night, which came after Iranian forces sought to enforce its own shipping route and protocol on the Strait of Hormuz (which saw several international vessels attacked), Tehran has newly confirmed it in turn struck “US bases and strategic centers” in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar.
In particular the IRGC has claimed that two US bases in Kuwait and two base in Bahrain were attacked – and the Iranian elite force is threatening more to come. US Central Command (CENTCOM) says the rate of its strikes have grown to about 14 times the number of targets hit in the last late June flare-up in fighting.
Sirens blared in several cities in Jordan as Iranian missiles were intercepted.
U.S. forces have struck more than 170 Iranian military targets in the past two days, including air defense systems, drone and missile storage sites, military speed boats, and logistics infrastructure along the coast near the Strait of Hormuz, according to the U.S. Central Command.
CENTCOM released footage of some of the fresh strikes:
According to a release from U.S. Central Command, in the most recent wave of U.S. strikes against Iran in response to the Iranian targeting of commercial shipping, 90 military targets, including military logistics infrastructure, missile and drone storage sites, air defense… pic.twitter.com/c1sRyvbN5H
In some instances civilian infrastructure like rail lines and bridges have reportedly been hit, which marks a return to the opening months of Operation Epic Fury, when targets all across the country were damaged or obliterated.
Little that’s confirmable in the way of damage has come out of the Gulf states at this point:
Kuwait said that it had intercepted three ballistic missiles, a cruise missile and 10 drones early Thursday morning and that falling debris had injured one person and caused material damage. Bahrain’s military said it had intercepted and destroyed several drones and missiles after Iran launched attacks on Thursday.
Iran also said that it had launched an attack in Qatar, a key mediator in Iran’s talks with the United States. The Qatari authorities did not confirm any strikes but did issue a public security alert early this morning that it later lifted.
Iranian state sources have said the two days of renewed American attacks have killed 14 people and wounded 78. The casualty count could be much higher given that strikes and counterstrikes could be extended as an offramp becomes more elusive. Explosions have been observed along the Iranian coast, including Bushehr, Chabahar, Bandar Abbas, and Sirik.
VIDEO | Footage shows the Chabahar maritime traffic control tower following last night’s US attack.
The tower was attacked in an attempt to disrupt Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz. pic.twitter.com/wM5KLRhgqN
As for potential offramp, President Trump is still claiming that Tehran wants to make a deal “badly” – and even specified to reporters aboard Air Force One that Iran “called a while ago” make just such a request. Most pundits and reporters, after hearing the same line literally dozens of times over the past months, are skeptical to say the least.
While this remains Trump’s public-facing rhetoric, a fresh Thursday report in The Wall Street Journal offers a contrasting account. “Angered by the strikes, Trump pressed them on whether they believed Iran was serious about reaching a final deal,” WSJ writes. “In the end, after discussing it with his senior aides, the president decided they weren’t.”
Reports by Iranian state-run media of a cruise missile impact on the site of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Southern Iran. pic.twitter.com/T9hKKx80NJ
Trump had later (on Wednesday) said from Ankara at the NATO summit, “To me, I think it’s over.” He then emphasized: “I don’t want to deal with them…They’re liars, they’re cheats, they’re sick people.”
As for Tehran’s position, “An Iranian diplomat said Wednesday that the US had violated the peace deal by setting up a shipping lane that wasn’t coordinated with Tehran, contending that it justified the Islamic Republic’s decision to fire at traffic,” according to the same report.
⭕️ Axios, which has frequently published official U.S. and Israeli leaks throughout the war, reports that the White House is preparing for what could become a multi-day or even multi-week military campaign against Iran centered on the Strait of Hormuz after President Trump… https://t.co/s0A4M71boV
From there, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warned alongside Trump that the United States would hit Iran “even more, and even deeper” – after that the Pentagon announced it would “further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”
A US official was also quoted in the WSJ as saying Iran had chosen “the path of violence” and so will face the consequences.
The US has once again bombed fishing boats under the pretext of hitting IRGC fast attack boats. pic.twitter.com/WYYEkOnaw1
— Arya Yadeghaar (Backup) (@AryJeayBackup) July 9, 2026
* * *
More overnight developments
via Newsquawk…
Overnight strikes:
At the direction of the Commander in Chief, US Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway.
US military base in Kuwait was hit in an Iranian retaliatory attack, while explosions heard at the US Fifth fleet HQ in Bahrain.
Iranian missiles targeted the Azraq base in eastern Jordan, Fars reported.
Iranian opposition sources report that maritime industries, shipyards, and the Revolutionary Guards’ naval base in Bandar Abbas were attacked, report Kan News.
US Commentary:
US President Trump said Iran called a while ago, they want to make a deal.
US President Trump’s frustration with Iran was due in part to his anger over the Strait not being fully open yet and that Iran hit ships transiting the Strait, CNN reported citing a US official. The official added that Trump is losing patience with the pace of negotiations, specifically Iran’s appearing to slow walk Washington on the nuclear talks.
US President Trump posted “This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!”.
US President Trump said Iran was just hit very hard, we have many ways to win; do not know if Iran will honour a deal but Iran wants to make a deal badly. Europe wants to help on Iran.
A US official said the ceasefire with Iran has been halted, at least temporarily, CNN reported.
“Everything depends on Iran’s response – if they continue to shoot, the night’s events could become a daily, weekly event. We are prepared,” i24News reported citing a US source.
The length and severity of the new campaign depends entirely on Tehran’s next moves, Axios reported citing a US official; The White House is preparing for a multi-day or multi-week exchange of fire with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.
Israel has no connection to the US strikes on Iran, Al Arabiya reported citing an Israeli military source. Any attempt to target Israel will be met with a swift, decisive and strong response.
Iran Commentary:
Iran’s Bushehr Governor said that US attacks on a nuclear plant in the region are not true.
Iran’s advisor to the Supreme Leader Rezaei said “martyr Khamenei taught us not to fear American and showed that falsehood will perish. Await the hard slap from the Iranians”.
Iran’s IRGC said they will respond to the targeting of a bridge in Aqqala, Al Arabiya reported.
Iran’s IRGC said two US bases in Kuwait and two base in Bahrain were attacked, response will be extended to other US bases in the region if the US repeats its attacks.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf said America has not yet learned that bullying and breach of promise are no longer free, adds the Strait of Hormuz will only open with Iranian arrangements, not American threats.
The US attack on Bushehr did not cause any damage to the nuclear power plant, Nour news reported citing a source.
Lebanon:
“The US ambassador in Beirut: Negotiations between Lebanon and Israel have moved to Rome for technical reasons”, via Al Arabiya. Preparations are underway regarding the start of work in the pilot areas.
Israeli Defence Minister Katz said they will remain within the Lebanon security zone and will operate within it until Hezbollah is disarmed.
The U.S. Department of Justice said July 7 the Biden administration’s oil and gas leasing restrictions in northern Alaska’s Arctic region violated federal law and asked the court to dismiss lawsuits by the state and its industrial development and export authority challenging the regulations.
The lawsuits were filed in 2025 over the Biden administration’s 2024 restrictions on oil and gas lease auctions in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Alaska argued that the administration essentially sabotaged bidding with its restrictions on surface use and occupancy, which made “any development economically and practically impossible.”
“The Biden era Alaska oil and gas leasing program violated the law and improperly limited Alaska’s energy potential with unreasonable regulation,” U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a July 7 press release.
“This settlement supports the Trump administration’s commitment to secure American energy independence and our national security for generations to come,” he added.
Congress set aside 1.5 million acres along the Alaska coast in 1980 for potential oil and gas development, and in 2017 instructed a federal agency to develop the resources on the land. Alaska’s lawsuit claims the Biden administration negated Congress’s directive.
“These resources not only help our energy independence as a nation but also grows the Alaska economy and puts more money in the Alaska Permanent Fund for future generations,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a January 2025 statement.
The settlement says the 2024 leasing program violated the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by abdicating the government’s duty to conduct a second lease sale, closing 75 percent of the 1.56 million-acre Coastal Plain to exploration and leasing, imposing unreasonable surface use restrictions on the remaining 25 percent, and unreasonably restricting surface disturbance.
“This settlement sets the record straight that the Biden administration’s 2024 restrictions on oil and gas production in Alaska were overly restrictive and contrary to Congress’s clear command to establish a competitive oil and gas leasing program in Alaska’s Coastal Plain,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement.
Alaska’s governor’s office and the industrial development and export authority didn’t immediately return requests for comment about the settlement.
The Justice Department also settled a decades-old lawsuit with Alaska on July 7 over a botched federal expansion project at the Don Young Port of Alaska in Anchorage, agreeing to pay the state $180 million.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks at the White House in Washington on July 16, 2020. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
The funds will go toward rebuilding the Don Young Port, according to Dunleavy.
The port serves about 90 percent of Alaska’s population with food, fuel, building materials, and other goods.
