Bolton: Damage to Iran's military infrastructure is real, but the regime stays and this deal is a significant political defeat.
Trump wanted the strait open to get gasoline prices down before November. He lost sight of the strategic issues that should have been central. 1/
Bolton: Gulf Arabs will live in fear that Tehran turns the strait on and off like a light switch.
Friends around the world wonder even more what an American commitment means. If we had taken military control of the strait at the outset, none of this would have happened. 2/
Bolton on the $300B fund Trump says the US won't pay for, the MOU says the US undertakes to create this fund "while ensuring financing of at least $300 billion."
That is a guarantee, and the US is the guarantor. If the Saudis and Emirates won't pay, it comes from us. 3X
Graham: If the Iran deal fails, Trump takes the Strait of Hormuz by force. The US will control it and charge a fee for all ships passing through.
He says he spent four and a half hours with Trump on Friday laying this out. Expand the Abraham Accords in 2026. 1/
Graham: New policy if diplomacy collapses — when Hezbollah attacks Israel, the US hits Iran directly.
Not the proxy. Iran itself. "If Iran tests control of the Strait of Hormuz by the United States, we will obliterate them." To the Iranians: that is the message. 2/
Graham: On the $300B fund he called "a Marshall Plan for Germany with the Nazis still in charge", he changed position.
If money comes from Sunni Arabs, not the West, it proves Iran changed. "Do you think Saudi Arabia will invest in a theocracy bent on destroying Sunni Islam?" 3/
Ukrainian strikes have already disabled almost 40% of primary oil refining in European Russia
Russia runs its war on refined fuel. Diesel moves trucks and logistics. Jet fuel keeps aviation in the air. Generators need fuel every day, — Hromadske. 1/
Ukraine is hitting the core refinery units that turn crude into usable fuel.
These units are large, complex and hard to replace under sanctions.
Every successful strike removes capacity, adds repair time and increases pressure on the Russian fuel system. 2/
The route from refinery to front is long.
Fuel leaves the plant, moves to depots, goes by rail toward Rostov or Bataysk, reaches local bases, then moves by tanker trucks to Russian units.
Every broken refinery creates delays across this route. 3/
Russia killed her husband when she was 20. She became an FPV pilot and killed an enemy pilot. First in her battalion.
Iryna “Bilka” Kolobaeva for Radio Svoboda: After around 2 weeks from the burial, I started regaining consciousness and understood it would be revenge.
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Bilka: During my last shift before leave, I destroyed my first enemy vehicle. There isn’t much in our sector, so this is a big deal.
I also have the battalion’s first enemy pilot kill to my credit. I’m the first girl in the battalion, and I destroyed the first enemy pilot.
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Bilka: When my husband and I were hanging out in Lyman, he never led me by central streets. He said we were always walking by those scary corners, so I know hidden ways “just in case.”
He knew I would work here. Knowing those ways helps me.