Trump on coal:

In the Trump administration, you are not allowed to use the word coal unless you precede it by saying “clean, beautiful.”

US official to Fox News:

Thousands of Iraqi Kurds have launched a ground offensive in Iran.

Trump on Iran:

I have to go back and look at the war.

A lot of things are happening.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) says the Kurdistan Region is not part of the war between the U.S., Israel, and Iran, while warning of rising tensions in the region.

“The Kurdistan Region is not part of this war.”

It urged the Iraqi federal government to “stop militias and illegal armed groups attacking the Kurdistan Region.”

The KDP also stressed that Iraq and the Kurdistan Region must be kept out of the conflict and called for political unity and support for security forces to maintain stability.

Source: Rudaw

NOW: U.S. Senate blocks effort to force Trump to end Iran strikes without Congress' approval.

48-52

RESULT: Trump can continue the military campaign for now on Iran, and Congress did not limit his authority to carry out the strikes.

Venezuela's Acting President, Delcy Rodriguez, meets with U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

NEW: A source from the Iranian Kurdish group Komala denies reports that it launched a ground offensive into western Iran.

Source: Rudaw

Israeli airstrikes targeted the governor’s office and nearby residential areas in Bukan (West Azerbaijan province), causing heavy destruction.

The strike reportedly occurred in two waves and resulted in many civilian casualties, including women and children.

Source: Tasnim

LATEST: U.S./Israeli media reports claiming Iraqi Kurdish groups launched a ground offensive in Iran have turned out to be fake.

NATO's Rutte:

For good reasons, we always will stay very ambiguous about when Article 5 is triggered.

And if it is triggered we will always immediately let everybody know.

But we keep it very ambiguous because we don't want to make our enemies, our adversaries, any wiser.

NATO's Rutte on Türkiye:

NATO is making sure that we in a 360-degree way defend every inch of NATO territory.

You saw that this morning when news came in of a missile which was heading for Türkiye and potentially impacting on U.S. interests in Türkiye, taken out by NATO anti-missile systems. So this is working.

NATO's Rutte on NATO:

NATO is there to protect us collectively against any adversary, be it Russia or whoever, or terrorism.

But also it is a platform for the United States to project power on the world stage...

NATO's Rutte:

Yes, we have debates. We are an alliance of democracies, but in the end we will follow the American lead when it comes to these crucial moments.

NATO's Rutte on Iran:

Iran was one of the key enablers of the Russian war effort against Ukraine through these weapons of destruction — these Shahed drones — and the fact now that Iran is facing this full onslaught of Israel and the U.S. will also degrade their capacity to export their chaos even to Russia and therefore to Ukraine.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will send a special envoy to the Middle East to help mediate as regional tensions escalate.

The Pentagon is rushing additional air-defense systems to the Middle East, especially smaller, cheaper counter-drone technologies, after Iranian Shahed drones killed U.S. troops in Kuwait.

These drones are difficult to detect because they can fly below radar, and the U.S. is currently using missiles costing millions of dollars to shoot down drones that cost far less.

Source: POLITICO

Two Iranian Su-24 bombers flew toward Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar and were reportedly two minutes from striking when Qatari F-15 fighters intercepted and shot them down in Qatar’s first air-to-air combat mission.

Source: CNN

CENTCOM:

The effort to eliminate the Iranian regime's mobile missile launch capabilities continues.

We are finding and destroying these threats with lethal precision.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) in Tampa has requested more intelligence officers to support Iran operations for at least 100 days, potentially lasting through September, indicating the conflict could be longer than initially expected.

Source: POLITICO