Iran's Ghalibaf:

The brave Yemeni people will certainly triumph, by the permission of God Almighty.

BIG: CNN reports that 100–200 U.S. military advisers are now on the ground in Saudi Arabia providing real-time intelligence and targeting support against the Houthis — a significant escalation of involvement.

A joint forces command was set up in recent weeks after Iran ramped up support to the Houthis, including deploying hundreds of IRGC officers to Yemen with the goal of shutting down the Bab-el-Mandeb strait.

The U.S. is sharing a Maven-like targeting tool and geospatial support but is not directly participating in strikes or refueling Saudi jets.

This comes as Houthis seized Mokha and now threaten the strait, while the U.S. military is already stretched thin after six months of war with Iran around Hormuz.

One source's quote captures the tension:

This is not the old days.

Source: CNN

Saudi oil production plunged 23% in August to 6.24 million barrels a day as the Iran war and Houthi threats disrupted key export routes.

Source: WSJ

A Guardian-produced documentary at Venice reveals how Israel built AI systems to mass-generate low-ranking Hamas targets in Gaza.

Those targets were then bombed at home, at night, with full knowledge their families would die too.

The film, NAZA, features 24 Israeli military and intelligence insiders speaking anonymously.

They describe hacking phones to locate targets. Listening to conversations with wives and children moments before strikes. Destroying entire neighborhoods with up to 25% of residents still sheltering inside. Systematically burning civilian homes.

The title is a military acronym — it's the Israeli army's euphemism for civilians expected to be killed in an attack.

One insider from a unit reporting directly to Netanyahu's office said their mission was to "thwart peace."

Russia's balance of payments just posted a record $12.2 billion in "net errors and omissions" for Q2 2026 — the largest unexplained hole since records began in 1994.

The previous record was $8.3 billion in 2009.

It jumped from $1.4 billion the quarter before — an 8.7x increase.

In plain terms: $12.2 billion left Russia and nobody can officially account for where it went.

That's roughly 10% of quarterly export revenue and a third of the trade surplus.

The central bank calls it a statistical discrepancy.

Bloomberg reported in July that several of Russia's richest people — including Kremlin-connected figures — moved billions abroad over the past year through crypto, gold, Dubai property, and private funds.

Destinations: UAE, Cyprus, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Africa.

Motivations cited: slowing economy, budget strain, and fear of state asset seizures — which have totaled ~980 billion rubles in 2026 alone.

It's not courtroom proof of capital flight.

Sanctions workarounds, parallel imports, and oil payment timing can all inflate the number.

Russia still ran a $21.4 billion current-account surplus that quarter.

Source: TVP World

Mossad went after Tehran.

The fallout came back home.

Vice President JD Vance privately sought direct, unfiltered assessments from U.S. military commanders about the Iran war, and what he heard was much more concerning than the administration’s public message.

Commanders warned that the war was draining critical U.S. weapons stockpiles, particularly Patriot interceptors and long-range missiles, while potentially weakening America’s ability to deter China, Russia and North Korea.

They also told Vance that Iran was proving more resilient than expected and willing to absorb enormous damage rather than collapse.

Vance, who had opposed the war before it began, used these private assessments to advise Trump and became increasingly involved in efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict.

Source: NYT

BIG: The U.S. national average for diesel has reached $6 per gallon for the first time, according to GasBuddy, up from about $3.70 a year ago.

Senator Ted Cruz on AI:

I'd rather they be American killer robots and not Chinese killer robots.

Two vessels were hit by unidentified projectiles near Khasab, Oman, causing a fire.

Trump says his proposed $5,000 “Trump Dividend” may not require congressional approval.

Asked whether Congress would need to authorize the payments, Trump told CBS News Texas: “Well, we think not.”

Q: Even the neoconservatives are saying, if you are gonna go in, go in full, go in and take them out.

Trump: Maybe I don't do that because of the election.

Q: How is Iran getting missiles off if we decimated them?

Trump: They can always get off missiles. They had plenty of them.

They will always have some missiles.

Trump on Iran:

If Iran had a nuclear weapon, we would be calling up and saying, "Sir, could we get together, possibly?"

We would be dealing with them much differently.

Q: What do you say to all the young men who supported you in 2024?

Trump: They still do.

Q: Some of them are demoralized.

Trump: I don't think they're demoralized. I think they're very proud of the fact I'm not letting Iran have a nuclear weapon.

Q: Any regrets about Iran?

Trump: I don't believe in the word "regret."

RFK Jr. on Trump:

Trump is a self-effacing man of superior intelligence, of empathy and compassion, with an encyclopedic grasp of the issues in molecular detail.

JD Vance:

To the radicals who wish to abolish millions of families, we have a simple message for them: Stay the hell away from our kids.

RFK Jr. has used military aircraft for some official travel, including an August trip to Iowa where he appeared with Republican candidates ahead of the midterms.

The White House and HHS approved the flights, citing his schedule, security needs and threats.

One Air Force Gulfstream flight costs about $9,000 an hour, compared with roughly $250 for a commercial Washington–Des Moines ticket.

Source: WaPo

During Sen. Ted Cruz’s speech at the Republican midterm convention, a crowd member repeatedly shouted, “He should be shot!” as Cruz named several Democrats.

JD Vance:

Charlie Kirk did not always agree with us.

Charlie Kirk hated war, whether in Europe, Africa, or the Middle East. He didn’t care. He just hated war. That was his view.