Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Syria:

You have the Sunni axis. Syria is already an ISIS state. Jolani [Ahmed al-Sharaa] put on a suit and disguised himself, and they like him a little in the United States, but Syria is problematic.

And its connection with Türkiye — that is a rising Sunni axis.

We will have to be a strong and powerful country.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich:

We need a larger ground army. And I’m telling you, there are plans for a significant force buildup, including adding more formations.

We are dramatically enlarging the army.

Netanyahu:

On September 11th, America was hit by pure evil.

On October 7th, Israel was hit by it again.

Netanyahu:

There is no context for burning families alive.

There is no grievance that justifies murdering innocents deliberately.

Israel has expelled British soldiers who were monitoring settler violence in the West Bank and feeding intelligence to the Trump administration.

The team had been due to expand, but was ordered out after Britain imposed sanctions on Israeli settlements.

Source: The Telegraph

Putin met with Modi in New Delhi ahead of the BRICS summit.

Lukashenko:

The army needs to be shaken up; the time has come.

We’ll check everyone, up to and including mobilization.

WATCH: Yemen’s Houthi fighters somewhere near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Ukraine's Budanov:

Ukraine will continue to fight for as long as it takes.

Pakistan Seeks to Avoid Saudi-Houthi War Despite Defense Commitments

Pakistan is trying to prevent Saudi-Houthi tensions from turning its defense commitments to Riyadh into a combat role, while protecting relations with Iran.

READ MORE

Russia Seeks to Influence German and French Elections, Sweden Warns

Sweden’s disinformation defense chief says Moscow is using bot networks and fabricated content to deepen political divisions and weaken public support for Ukraine.

READ MORE

Bessent:

Look, if some of the Bloomberg Terminal bros are unhappy with what I’m doing, well, that’s too bad.

Bessent on Iran:

The Iranians, if you look at their X accounts, they are trying to create economic problems in the US, either using the bond yields, using the oil price.

And, you know, just because whether it’s Stephanie, Bloomberg, the Financial Times, even the Wall Street Journal, you know, are so unhinged with Trump derangement syndrome, they want to give the Iranians a platform to operate on.

Bessent on Iran:

Everything the Iranians say, most—much of it—is rooted in fantasy. Much of it is aspirational.

Bessent on Iran:

The Wall Street Journal said the Iranians are rebuilding their missile inventory.

Maybe they are, but where’s the calibration? Where’s the magnitude?

We’ve destroyed 85% of their factories. So are they building one new one a week? Are they building two?

You know, it’s just these headlines.

Putin:

Over the past 5 years, more than 40% of world GDP has been produced by the BRICS states.

Whereas the contribution of the so-called "Big Seven" — why it's big, I don't understand — well, it amounted to only 29 percent.

Bessent:

To think that I don’t know what the chair of the Fed’s thinking is, you know, is absurd.

But if somebody sitting at a Bloomberg terminal can somehow divine and figure out what the Fed’s going to do better than I can from my conversations with the chair, then they should have at it.

Bessent on Iran:

They’re just a bunch of losers, like sitting around saying, "Yeah, we’re going to do this. We’re going to do that."

I mean, they’re comical to me.

Bessent on Iran:

What we’re seeing with Iran now is a cornered and wounded animal.

It’s the last gasp of the dying regime.

Putin:

All the time we were told that competition is a sacred cow, and you can't touch it.

But unfortunately, your Western competitors today are trying by any means to return their former leadership.

This competition today acquires, at times, unseemly forms.

Entrepreneurs are trying to block international transport corridors and capture maritime routes.

Illegal restrictions are also being imposed, along with threats of so-called secondary sanctions against those who refuse to act in someone else’s interests and instead protect their own national interests.

Bessent:

I am the house now.

But you can bet against me if you want.