The Republican Party is going to be spanked in the midterms.

That doesn't make the country better.

I don't see any political leader right now speaking for the majority of Americans.

Source: Bloomberg

I certainly did support the Iraq War.

And I not only supported it, I argued against and attacked people who opposed it.

And I'm sorry, and I remain sorry, but I also was chastened and I learned something, which is you can get carried away by propaganda and you can end up lying. I didn't mean to lie, but I did.

And I'm resolved. I'm never going to allow that to happen to me again ever. I will never do that again. And I haven't.

Source: Bloomberg

I think if JD Vance were president, of course he would not be at war with Iran.

It's impossible for me to imagine JD Vance standing up and saying we need to have two wars to defeat a phantom nuclear program.

It's too insane. I think he has too much self-respect to say something like that.

I wish he had been elected president in 2024, but that didn't happen. I love JD.

I don't agree with him on everything, of course, but I think he's an honest, very smart, decent person. That puts him above almost all politicians I've ever met.

Source: Bloomberg

The United States has lost this war. The memorandum of understanding signed on June 17th was basically a surrender document.

The United States gave in to Iran on every point.

Nothing has changed. The United States does not have a magic formula for defeating Iran.

Trump can escalate all he wants, but it's not going to do any good — the Iranians will match the United States at every point.

There is no question that China and Russia have benefited from this war. They would be crazy not to help the Iranians.

The United States is a mortal enemy to both.

They're giving the Iranians weaponry and intelligence, which is very important for waging the war.

If you're China and you're worrying about the United States pivoting to Asia to contain you, what you want is the United States bogged down in a war in the Middle East — using up precious weaponry fighting Iran that it doesn't have to use against China.

We have no war-winning strategy.

The only question is when President Trump folds.

Israel as a nation, I'm not just including the nine million people who live in Israel, but also its many agents in the United States are enormously powerful because so much of the money that funds campaigns in the United States comes with the express purpose, the intent of tying American foreign policy to Israel's foreign policy.

The elected president of the United States has power for sure, but he does not have sovereignty.

He does not have unlimited power or full freedom of motion to act on behalf of his voters. He just doesn't.

Source: Bloomberg

The United States and Israel have failed on every one of their objectives — regime change, eliminating enrichment capability, ballistic missiles, support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis. Every one.

Israel is in real trouble because it has been unable to shut down Iran's nuclear program, which is the issue it cares about the most.

There is a serious possibility that Iran will get nuclear weapons.

If Israel and the United States cannot get a nuclear deal, there is a serious possibility Israel will use its nuclear weapons to attack Iran.

For the first time, I have accepted the offer made by the French President to jointly think about nuclear deterrence.

Historically speaking, General Charles de Gaulle had already offered the Federal Republic of Germany a French nuclear umbrella many decades ago.

Germany never accepted that offer. At the time, we didn't need to, because we lived in a different world.

But the world we live in today requires new answers. That is why we will, for the first time, take part in a French nuclear exercise with conventional forces in order to determine where we can achieve our shared objective of stronger deterrence in Europe.

The Iranians are clearly going to win. But what Trump will do is declare victory and all of his acolytes will say it is a great victory.

The question is: can he convince most Americans? I think he will not.

You have to ask yourself — do you believe what we see with our own eyes, or do you believe what President Trump says?

Before this war, hardly anyone thought the Iranians would do as well as they have.

I don't think anyone fully understood — including the Iranians themselves — exactly how well Iran would do against the United States.

Let me be absolutely clear: I am not anti-China.

But we see in our economies, and across Europe, that every year our trade deficit with China grows.

This means that tens of thousands of jobs are lost in Europe every year.

China is also a country that has become a global leader in innovation. But if we want technological development in our own countries, we cannot simply import Chinese products. We need technology transfer.

We need investment and cooperation in sectors such as chemicals, the automotive industry, and many others that are currently under pressure.

China supports its own industries on average eight times more than we are able to do in Europe. Those are rules of competition that must be rebalanced.

Emmanuel Macron will not be able to be the next President of France, but I assume that whoever succeeds him will also be guided by what is right and necessary for the interests of our countries.

From Germany's perspective, I can only say this: we will continue to do everything we can to make our cooperation with our French neighbor as close, as deep, and as trusting as possible—regardless of how the French people vote.

That applies both to the Élysée Palace and to the National Assembly.

The German hand will always remain extended toward deeper and trusting cooperation with France, regardless of how the voters in our two countries decide.

Russia threatens our security. The People's Republic of China challenges our economy.

The transatlantic partnership can no longer be taken for granted.

Islamabad fears Houthi escalation, rather than direct Iranian action, could draw Pakistani forces into the conflict.

Source: Reuters

Problem is, that quote is fabricated.

The man on the photo is also Poland’s former President Duda.

Most vessels transited via the Iranian route, while none used the Omani route.

Source: MarineTraffic

While Trump hasn't made a final decision, officials say an escalation could come in the coming days.

Source: Axios