BREAKING: Trump now says "we don’t need Ukraine’s help with drone defense."

Market speculation suggests the U.S. Treasury may be selling crude futures to stabilize prices.

Traders were “being pushed by clients as to who the big seller was,” according to analyst Skirrow.

Some speculated “it could be from the US Treasury.”

Source: FT

The Pentagon is considering sending more warships to the Middle East to potentially escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz after increased Iranian attacks.

U.S. officials say escorts won’t start until the threat level drops, which could take a month or longer.

Source: WSJ

Trump on Mojtaba Khamenei:

I think he probably is alive; I think he is damaged, but I think he is probably alive in some form.

Trump on Iran:

We are going to be hitting them very hard over the next week.

Trump on Mojtaba Khamenei:

This is not somebody that the father even wanted.

You were asking whether or not he is alive. A lot of people are trying to figure that one out.

Trump on Iran:

Their missile attacks are down to a trickle now compared to what they were. Now they will go out because they hear me make that statement.

That’s all right, because they will go out, and we have it covered and guarded.

Iran’s Embassy in Ankara deny launching ballistic missiles toward Türkiye, saying “no munition has been launched from Iran toward Türkiye.”

It added that Iran “respects the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the friendly and neighboring Republic of Türkiye.”

IRGC Aerospace Commander says 30 “super-heavy” ballistic missiles weighing 1–2 tons were launched at targets in Israel.

Maj. Gen. Seyed Majid Mousavi says the strike “disrupted and destroyed key aerospace monitoring systems,” calling it “the heaviest operational barrage against the regime so far.”

He added “a new part of the regime’s sky is now under our control.”

Brian Kilmeade: Would you say that it is important to get the uranium that Witkoff talked about? Is there some type of operation in place to grab it?

Trump: No, not at all. We are not focused on that, but at some point we might be.

Trump on Iran:

They literally have people in the streets machine-gunning people down if they want to protest, okay?

That’s a pretty high standard to say, “I want to go out and protest.”

Trump on Iran:

We are being nice. I can take out things within the next hour.

In one hour, you would be reading about taking out power plants that create electricity.

We could do things that would be so bad that they would never be able to rebuild as a nation again.

We are not doing it. We are trying to be nice about it.

Trump on Kharg Island:

I can change my mind in seconds.

Kilmeade: When are you going to know that it is over?

Trump: When I feel it in my bones.

Trump on his advisers:

They do speak their mind. We have some differences, but they never end up being much.

I convince them all to let’s do it my way.

Trump on James Talarico:

He is so woke. He is beyond woke.

Trump on shoes:

When they tell me they have a problem, I say, “Let me get you a pair of shoes.” It seems to work out pretty well.

Now they look all spiffy and nice.

I never like Cabinet members walking in on sneakers. Sneakers are wonderful, but I don’t want my Cabinet members wearing sneakers, so I’ll get them a pair of shoes. It’s a gift from Donald Trump.

Kilmeade: Do you think Putin is helping Iran?

Trump: I think he might be helping them a little bit. He probably thinks we are helping Ukraine, right?

Kilmeade: And you are, right?

Trump: Yeah, we are helping them also, and he says that and China would say the same thing.

They do it, and we do it, in all fairness.

Kilmeade: Are the Ukrainians helping us with drone defense?

Trump: We don’t need their help in drone defense.

We know more about drones than anybody.

We have the best drones in the world, actually.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posts in Turkish:

In these blessed days of Ramadan, the prayers offered by the brotherly Turkish nation and the solidarity shown by the friendly Republic of Türkiye for the people of Iran are a great source of strength and morale for us.

Iran will continue to firmly defend its sovereignty and the security of its people.

The US Army has sent 10,000 AI-enabled Merops interceptor drones, originally developed for Ukraine, to the Middle East to help defend against Iranian drone attacks.

The drones cost about $14,000–$15,000 each, with the potential to drop to $3,000–$5,000 in larger orders—far cheaper than using missile defenses like Patriot or THAAD, which can cost over $4 million per intercept.

The US also deployed Bumblebee explosive quadcopters designed to hunt and crash into enemy drones.

Source: Bloomberg