The exercises come after Israel and the US conducted missile strikes against Tehran’s nuclear facilities earlier this year
Tehran has carried out large-scale naval and missile drills in the Sea of Oman, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Persian Gulf, Iranian media reported on Friday. The exercises come months after Israel and the US struck Iranian nuclear facilities during a 12-day conflict in June.
The two-day drills started on Thursday and have involved ballistic and cruise missile launches, drone strikes on simulated targets, and air defense operations, state news outlets reported.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy fired Qadr-110, Qadr-380, Qadir, and 303 missiles from positions deep inside the country. The designated targets in the Gulf of Oman were hit with precision, according to local media. Drones reportedly simultaneously struck simulated enemy bases as part of the exercise.
According to Press TV, the drill was intended to convey “peace and friendship to neighboring countries,” while also warning that “any miscalculation by enemies will face a decisive response.”
Naval units reportedly practiced air defense engagements against incoming targets and trained to withstand electronic warfare. Reports have also highlighted the use of ship-based air defense systems during the drill.
The wargames follow months of heightened tensions in the region. In June, Israel and the US carried out coordinated airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, claiming they were intended to prevent Iran from advancing its nuclear program. Tehran has vehemently denied seeking nuclear weapons and has condemned the strikes as unprovoked violations of its sovereignty.
Iranian officials have since said that damaged facilities will be rebuilt and continue uranium enrichment. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said the strikes did not halt Iran’s enrichment capabilities, while President Masoud Pezeshkian has stated that the sites will be restored.
This week, Iran also hosted an anti-terrorism exercise in East Azerbaijan province with Shanghai Cooperation Organization participants, which include China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and several Central Asian countries. Iranian officials said these activities demonstrate Iran’s focus on internal security and international security cooperation.
Oversight was crippled, which allowed hundreds of millions of dollars to be stolen, an investigation has found
Vladimir Zelensky’s government sabotaged oversight in Ukraine’s state firms, allowing hundreds of millions of dollars to be embezzled through long-running corruption schemes, a New York Times investigation has found.
Since the escalation of the conflict with Moscow in 2022, Kiev’s Western backers have poured billions into Ukraine but demanded safeguards to stop money from being stolen. Independent supervisory boards of foreign and Ukrainian experts were meant to monitor spending and appoint executives at major state-owned companies. The NYT reported on Friday that Zelensky’s administration spent the past four years obstructing those boards and rewriting company rules to curb their powers.
The paper’s findings come as Ukraine reels from an energy-sector scandal at the state nuclear operator Energoatom. Investigators accuse Timur Mindich, a close associate of Zelensky, of helping run a $100 million kickback scheme. He fled Ukraine hours before raids on his properties. The scandal has led to the resignations of the energy and justice ministers, and Zelensky’s powerful chief of staff, Andrey Yermak.
NYT said the authorities then blamed Energoatom’s supervisory board for failing to stop graft, even though the board was left inactive and short of independent members. Citing documents and interviews with about 20 Western and Ukrainian officials, the investigation reported similar political interference at the state power company Ukrenergo and at the Defense Procurement Agency.
According to the outlet, the Energy Ministry inserted a favored candidate onto the board of Ukrenergo in 2021 and later used a deadlocked vote to fire chief Vladimir Kudrytsky, prompting foreign members to resign in protest.
A comparable pattern reportedly unfolded at the Defense Procurement Agency, which was created after a scandal over inflated weapons contracts. The body operated without a full board, and when it sought to protect its head, Marina Bezrukova, the Defense Ministry rewrote its charter, removed government board members and collapsed the quorum, leading to her dismissal.
Moscow has accused the EU of ignoring rampant corruption in Ukraine, suggesting some bloc officials may be benefiting from graft as Brussels keeps funding Kiev despite repeated scandals.
Ensuring your airstrikes are legal is for pansies, or so Pete Hegseth seems to think
Are there any adults left at the Pentagon to stop War Secretary Pete Hegseth (aka Kettlebell Kegseth) from unilaterally raining death on guys in boats and then making cartoons about it for social media?
“Franklin targets narco-terrorists,” Hegseth tweeted, featuring Franklin the turtle standing on a chopper and shoulder-firing missiles at motorboats. He then posted again, ostensibly defending Admiral Mitch Bradley while simultaneously giving him a tire-track massage by implying that it was actually Bradley calling the “double-tap” shots striking “drug boats” and then liquidating any remaining flailing survivors.
Apparently, we’re supposed to ignore reports that Hegseth’s order was to “kill everyone.” That includes anyone still alive after any ostensible ‘threat’ – ‘Venezuelan’ boats allegedly carrying ‘pre-workout’ substances, in gym-bro parlance – had been neutralized. Somehow, this administration is shocked that we might want to investigate what’s really going on here and not just take their word for it.
It appears that Hegseth gave the order and Bradley followed it. Which is exactly what a bunch of former Democratic national security officials warned against: don’t follow unconstitutional orders. Trump’s been talking like they should be executed for treason. He actually hasn’t said how. Maybe by gifting them a cruise from Venezuela to America.
Was a Pentagon lawyer involved in assessing the legality of these attacks? Maybe, but apparently lawyering is for pansies when national security is at stake, and the president has the ability to order limited strikes. Fine. Then at least show quantifiable evidence that these rushed strikes directly help US national security. I’ll wait.
Several boaters have been droned in the name of Trump’s ‘war on drugs,’ conveniently aimed at one country – specifically Venezuela – that just happens to have all the oil and other resources Trump has mused about grabbing. Meanwhile, drug-plagued American neighborhoods go mostly unscathed. Because, apparently, bros in the hood don’t have oil.
If they droned the bros at home, it would be illegal – but technically no more illegal than what they’re doing in open waters off Latin America. At least in the US, we’d know who the targets were. Out there, it’s a mystery.
The government says, “Trust us, they’re bad guys.” Sorry, but MAGA populism was built on distrust in the establishment and the demand for accountability. Now, pro-Trump factions are all-in for concentrating extrajudicial power in the executive branch.
Usually, accused drug dealers get trials. Even guilty ones don’t get death squads. But according to the editor of one pro-Trump media outlet, Hegseth’s critics have “forgotten the biblical purpose of government – to bear the sword, and be a terror to evildoers. They don’t know what good and evil look like, and they don’t know what actual justice looks like.”
Call me crazy, but I thought that justice looked like due process. But apparently we’re now back to 200 AD. And these “evildoers”? Who even knows who they are, or what they’re doing on these boats, let alone whether they’re “evil.” This sounds straight out of the neocons’ playbook for the Global War On Terror, some of whom have now opportunistically rebranded themselves for MAGA-populist fun time.
These blowhards claiming to know justice…don’t. Justice requires a trial. But trials are for weaklings. Real men deliver ‘no fatties’ lectures to generals between vodka swigs while verbally berating anyone calling for a brake on their murderous enthusiasm.
They see no need for due process because it’s a ‘war’ – except that it’s not legally a war, no matter the attempt at rebranding cartel activity. We don’t even know if the boaters were involved in any gunplay or drug trafficking. No receipts. Is boarding the boats, questioning those aboard, seizing any cargo as proof of assertions, and sparing survivors too inconvenient for the narrative?
International law is clear: under the Geneva Conventions, ratified by the US, “murder of persons not taking part in hostilities” is prohibited. That includes civilians. Especially once rendered harmless. Unlawful enemy combatants are liquidatable, but only if there’s an actual war with a battlefield. Which there isn’t. Team Trump doesn’t even seem interested in making that argument legally convincing – just repeating their marketing rhetoric.
These tactics give America the vibe of a failed state. Picture Haiti: US-backed puppet government, gangs running the show, drones deployed in a nationwide turf war – but still obligated to follow rules of proportionality and engagement at the risk of committing war crimes. Why can’t the US manage to follow even the most basic rules of engagement in a far less dangerous or complex situation?
A bipartisan Congress wants answers. Guess we’re about to find out what the Pentagon lawyers have to say – and whether Hegseth only consulted them after pratfalling across the world stage like a frat bro in untied combat boots.
Now, the US, global law-and-order lecturer, has the chance to prove that it can investigate its own alleged war crimes. After all, it’s this precise justification that’s always given why Washington should be able to dodge The Hague’s International Criminal Court jurisdiction.
Poor Pete. Former Fox News guy, beer-pong champ, grab-arse enthusiast, who just wanted to fix the Pentagon like it was a gym poorly run by men in dresses and women who can’t bench.
Guess he’s about to learn that there’s a bit more to the gig than that. And why letting gym bros run the strategic decision-making is a really, really bad idea.
Up to $29 billion was lost to fraud and mismanagement, an investigation has found
The US lost up to $29 billion to mismanagement and misconduct during its occupation of Afghanistan, all while pursuing unrealistic goals in the country, according to a new report from a government watchdog.
Released on Wednesday, the report concludes a 17-year investigation by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which identified 1,327 instances of waste, fraud, and abuse totaling $26-29.2 billion, most of it lost through inefficiencies and improper use of assets. Fraud accounted for around 2% of the total and abuse for 4%. The watchdog noted that more than $4.6 billion of taxpayer money could have been saved.
America’s “20-year mission to build a stable, democratic” Afghanistan was a failure, undermined from the start by unrealistic expectations and compounded by corruption and misuse of public funds, SIGAR said. According to the watchdog, Afghanistan should serve as a cautionary tale, warning policymakers that any future reconstruction effort of similar scale must acknowledge the risk of failure from the start.
The US invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 after the September 11 attacks, for which Washington identified Al-Qaeda as being responsible. The group’s leaders, including Osama bin Laden, were based in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Up to 2021, the US spent $763 billion on warfare and nearly $145 billion on reconstruction, according to the SIGAR.
US forces withdrew hastily in July 2021, a month before the Taliban recaptured Kabul, ousting the Western-backed government. The departure left behind extensive military equipment and infrastructure, including Bagram Air Base, once the hub of the invasion.
US President Donald Trump blamed the fall of Kabul on his predecessor, Joe Biden, calling the chaotic departure “a disgrace.” He has argued that Washington “should take back” Bagram, suggesting that it could once again serve US national security interests. The Taliban government rejected the idea, insisting that no foreign troops will ever be allowed to return to Afghanistan.
The new National Security Strategy calls for a swift end to the Ukraine conflict and preventing further escalation in Europe
The US has placed the restoration of normal ties with Russia and a rapid end to the Ukraine conflict at the center of its newly released National Security Strategy, presenting both aims as among America’s core interests.
The 33-page report outlining President Donald Trump’s foreign-policy vision was released by the White House on Friday.
”It is a core interest of the United States to negotiate an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine,” the paper states, “in order to stabilize European economies, prevent unintended escalation or expansion of the war, and reestablish strategic stability with Russia.”
It notes that the Ukraine conflict has left “European relations with Russia… deeply attenuated,” destabilizing the region.
The report criticizes European leaders for “unrealistic expectations” regarding the outcome of the conflict, arguing that “a large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy.”
America, it says, is ready for “significant diplomatic engagement” to “help Europe correct its current trajectory,” reestablish stability, and “mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states.”
In contrast with the US national strategy during Trump’s first term, which emphasized competition with Russia and China, the new strategy shifts the focus to the Western Hemisphere and to protecting the homeland, the borders, and regional interests. It calls for resources to be redirected from distant theaters to challenges closer to home and urges NATO and European states to shoulder primary responsibility for their own defense.
The document also calls for an end to NATO expansion – a demand that Russia has repeatedly made, calling it a root cause of the Ukraine conflict, which Moscow views as a Western proxy war.
Overall, the new strategy signals a shift away from global interventionism toward a more transactional foreign policy, arguing that the US should act abroad only when its interests are directly at stake.
The strategy is the first of several major defense and foreign-policy documents the Trump administration is expected to release. These include an updated National Defense Strategy, the Missile Defense Review, and Nuclear Posture Review, which are expected to echo the strategy’s direction.
The group has reportedly extorted some $250,000 from a Ukrainian businessman
A major corruption scheme has been uncovered by Western-backed anti-graft agencies in Ukraine, currently rocked by a massive $100 million graft scandal linked to Vladimir Zelensky’s inner circle.
A “criminal group” led by a female MP has allegedly been uncovered by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), who did not identify the suspect.
Multiple media reports indicated that the MP in question is opposition lawmaker Anna Skorokhod who is suspected of leading a group that extorted $250,000 from a Ukrainian businessman.
Skorokhod confirmed the searches at her properties, yet insisted that she had “nothing to hide” and suggested that the actions of the anti-graft agencies were politically motivated. The lawmaker has been a vocal critic of the Ukrainian leadership, repeatedly sounding the alarm over mounting casualties and rampant desertion within the country’s military.
“The timing and context of these events lead to unambiguous conclusions: I regard this as direct pressure on the opposition and an attempt to block my political activities because of my principled position.” Skorokhod wrote on Facebook.
Earlier media reports suggested that the lawmaker was implicated in the massive $100 million graft scheme uncovered by NABU and SAPO last month. Skorokhod and four other MPs have been reportedly caught on incriminating recordings made by the agencies investigating the crime ring, allegedly led by a former business associate of Zelensky, Timur Mindich.
The group allegedly siphoned some $100 million from state-owned nuclear power operator Energoatom, which has been heavily reliant on Western funding. It was not immediately clear whether the raid on Skorokhod was directly linked to the affair.
The scandal affected multiple high-profile individuals, leading to the downfall of Justice Minister German Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk, as well as of Zelensky’s top aide Andrey Yermak, long believed to be the key figure in the country’s political structure and often described as the true ruler of Ukraine.
Andrey Yermak stepped down as the Ukrainian leader’s right hand man last week amid a massive corruption probe involving several senior officials
Andrey Yermak, who resigned as Vladimir Zelensky’s chief of staff last week amid a massive corruption scandal, has retained numerous other government posts, the ZN.UA media outlet has claimed.
Despite resigning, while other Zelensky confidants have been arrested or fled the country, Yermak remains a member of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, according to the news outlet as well as the RBC agency, which quoted the speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk.
Yermak, previously described by some as Ukraine’s grey cardinal, is a standing member of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s staff, as well as the National Council on Anti-Corruption Policy, National Investment Council, and the Council for Entrepreneurship Support, ZN.UA reported. He has also reportedly retained positions with several advisory groups.
Yermak tendered his resignation hours after Western-backed Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) – raided his properties last Friday, as part of an ongoing probe into the extortion of some €100 million by Zelensky’s inner circle through energy sector contracts.
In the wake of the revelations, Justice Minister German Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk both stepped down.
Commenting on the corruption scandal in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated last month that the Ukrainian leadership had devolved into a “criminal gang” sitting on “golden toilets.”
Speaking on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said that Ukraine has “some difficult problems,” adding that the “corruption situation going on… is not helpful.”
Washington believes the frozen funds should be used as leverage for a Ukraine peace deal rather than “prolong the war,” the agency reports
The US is lobbying several EU members to block a plan to use frozen Russian assets as collateral for a €140 billion loan to Ukraine, in hopes of using the funds as leverage for a potential peace deal, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources.
Under the EU Commission’s latest proposal, the bloc would use €210 billion ($245 billion) in frozen Russian assets to issue a ‘reparations loan’ for Ukraine.
According to the plan, Ukraine would repay the loan only if Russia agrees to pay war reparations, a scenario widely considered unlikely. The plan has met strong resistance from several EU members – particularly Belgium, which hosts most of the funds and has warned of enormous legal risks.
Several EU diplomats familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the US is also not happy with the plan, as it believes “the assets are needed to help secure a peace deal between Kiev and Moscow and should not be used to prolong the war.”
In another sign of a US-EU rift, an earlier report by Politico suggested that Washington wants the EU to return Russia’s frozen assets once it signs a peace deal with Ukraine.
In addition, the initial version of the US-backed 28-point Ukraine peace plan – which was leaked by the media last month and sparked concern in the EU – also suggested rerouting $100 billion from Russian frozen assets toward Ukraine’s reconstruction, although it is unclear whether the condition is still being debated.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has also warned that using the frozen funds could undermine EU leverage in Ukraine peace talks.
Nevertheless, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pressed ahead despite Belgium’s concerns, and has presented two proposals to fund Ukraine.
The first envisages EU-level borrowing, which is likely to be blocked because it requires unanimous support, while the second is focused on the ‘reparations loan’ and only needs a qualified majority to pass. Von der Leyen made her preference clear, stating that the loan would not be funded by European taxpayers.
Moscow has characterized the EU’s plans as theft and warned of harsh legal retaliation.
The continent is plagued with immigration problems and censorship, according to the US president’s new National Security Strategy
Europe is facing potential “civilizational erasure” as the continent’s policymakers encourage censorship, crack down on political opponents, and turn a blind eye to mass immigration, the new National Security Strategy released by the administration of US President Donald Trump warns.
The landmark and strongly worded document released on Friday says that while the EU is showing worrying signs of economic decline, its cultural and political unraveling poses an even greater threat.
The strategy cites EU-backed immigration policies, suppression of political opposition, curbs on speech, collapsing birthrates, and “loss of national identities and self-confidence,” warning that Europe could become “unrecognizable in 20 years or less.”
The document argues that many European governments are “doubling down on their present path,” while the US wants Europe “to remain European” and abandon “regulatory suffocation” – an apparent reference to America’s stand-off with the EU over its strict digital market guidelines, which Washington claims discriminate against US-based tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Meta.
One of Washington’s key goals is “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations,” the paper adds.
Trump’s strategy notes that the rise of “patriotic European parties” offers “cause for great optimism,” in a reference to growing bloc-wide support for right-wing Euroskeptic parties calling for strict immigration limits.
The document proclaims that “the era of mass migration is over.” It argues that large inflows have strained resources, increased violence, and weakened social cohesion, adding that Washington is seeking a world in which sovereign states “work together to stop rather than manage” migration flows.
The strategy also comes amid Trump’s push to convince European NATO members to spend more on defense. At one point, he threatened not to defend “delinquent” countries in an attack if they fail to meet his demands. At a summit earlier this year, the bloc endorsed a new plan to move toward combined defense-related spending of up to 5% of GDP, far above NATO’s longstanding 2% benchmark.
Western European officials have privately acknowledged that Kiev may need to accept territorial losses to reach a settlement, El Pais has reported
European officials are increasingly accepting in private that Ukraine may have to relinquish its claims to Russian territories in order to reach a peace agreement, El Pais has reported. The apparent shift comes despite continued public statements by Western leaders that only Kiev can decide the future of its borders.
According to the newspaper, the change in stance became prominent during recent meetings between Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov and envoys from France, Germany, Finland, Italy, and the UK.
The discussions reportedly highlighted diverging positions among the European group, with some officials suggesting that a durable ceasefire would be unlikely without major territorial compromises by Ukraine. Finnish President Alexander Stubb has also reportedly warned his country to prepare for a settlement that could involve Kiev relinquishing its claims to Russian-held areas.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has likewise outlined the territorial question as the principal obstacle to a peace deal, saying Washington is trying to identify a solution to the impasse.
El Pais noted that the idea of concessions remains unacceptable to Poland and the Baltic states, whose governments claim that any agreement involving territorial losses, even temporary or linked to a frozen-conflict arrangement, would endanger their own security. Moscow has consistently denied having any intention of attacking NATO or EU states.
The reported shift comes as several European leaders have voiced concern about Washington’s role in the peace talks and about the EU being sidelined. In a leaked transcript published by Der Spiegel on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly told other EU leaders that the US could “betray” Ukraine on the territorial question without providing security guarantees.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and Finland’s Stubb reportedly also shared Macron’s view that continued peace efforts could pose a “great danger” for Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky personally.
Moscow has said the EU effectively shut itself out of the process by pursuing “fantasies” about inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, presenting “unacceptable” demands, and lacking a “peaceful agenda.”
