Trump on Iran:

We salute the service members working right now to ensure the world’s number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never, ever have a nuclear weapon.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:

The 9/11 attack came quite literally out of the blue—an assault on our cities that we had not experienced since the War of 1812.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:

Those of us in authority on that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attack of 9/11.

We did what we knew to do, but by definition, it was not enough.

I am grateful that there was not a follow-on attack.

Oil tanker rates have surged to record highs as escalating U.S.-Iran attacks disrupt major Middle East shipping routes.

The cost of sending a VLCC from the Gulf of Oman to China reached about $11.50 per barrel, according to Baltic Exchange data.

Source: Reuters

Russia’s Medvedev:

We have no need for mobilization.

The staffing levels of Ukrainian Armed Forces units are currently at just 20–30%.

Ukrainians are facing personnel shortages, but they are afraid to admit it.

The UK’s new sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements will apply to the occupied Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, as well as the West Bank.

The Golan Heights, Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 and later annexed, is not internationally recognised as Israeli territory.

Source: MEE

Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, a key route carrying crude oil from the country’s eastern fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, was struck by projectiles on Thursday, according to US officials.

The strikes hit pumping stations along the pipeline and triggered fires.

Satellite imagery showed damage at several locations, though it remains unclear whether the pipeline itself was seriously damaged or how long repairs could take.

One US official said drones may have originated from Iraq.

Source: CNN

The White House is considering using the Defense Production Act to expand U.S. oil-refining capacity as the Iran conflict drives fuel prices higher.

Officials are discussing federal support to expand or improve existing refineries rather than build new ones, which would take years and cost far more.

U.S. refineries are already operating near full capacity at 98%.

Source: Reuters

Iran's President Pezeshkian:

The United States cannot force the Iranian people to surrender through bullying, so it wants to make them surrender by depriving them of livelihoods and basic necessities.

If they are men of war, let them fight the military. What do they have against the people’s bread, livelihoods and infrastructure?

But the Iranian people will not surrender.

Anthropic says an Iran-linked group used Claude to help track U.S. Navy warships in the Middle East.

The group combined ship and aircraft transponder data, military photos and commercial satellite imagery to identify vessel locations and potential communications vulnerabilities.

Anthropic said it detected the activity, disrupted the operation and banned the associated accounts.

Source: WSJ

Zelensky:

Sometimes I don't understand why it's so difficult to make decisions quickly.

Because during a war, it's better to make a sometimes imperfect decision than to do nothing.

What are we waiting for? Why are we all only talking about sanctions when commenting on whether or not the United States Congress will support Senator Lindsey Graham's sanctions bill?

Of course, we need to pass, vote for, and support this law. In addition, strong decisions from the U.S. President's administration are crucial.

Personal decisions from President Trump are also very much needed. I sincerely hope for that.

Russia's Medvedev on Lithuania:

Lithuania, as I understand it, talked about opening the door for the possible placement of any weapon, including nuclear weapons.

If God forbid, something like this happens and we have to react to their actions, no one will step in for them.

The famous Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty will not be implemented. Everyone recognizes this because if it is implemented, it's a global catastrophe, planetary.

Lithuania will disappear from the map of the world.

BREAKING: Saudi Energy Ministry:

The East-West Pipeline was temporarily shut down after several attacks targeted the pipeline in the Riyadh and Medina regions on Thursday.

A UK military aircraft triggered Britain’s latest air traffic meltdown on Tuesday, September 8, after submitting “spurious” flight data into the NATS system.

The error sparked a wider system failure, grounding thousands of flights, causing delays of up to 10 hours and forcing some aircraft to divert abroad.

Ryanair’s operations chief called the incident “a complete clusterfuck,” while one insider said NATS chief Martin Rolfe is “toast” and that “this is the beginning of the end.”

Source: FT

Ted Cruz: Every voter can say, “You know what? If my Republican senator is reelected, I’m getting five grand.”

Dasha Burns: That sounds like buying votes a little bit.

Ted Cruz: It does, and the Democrats do it all the time.

Ted Cruz on Iran:

Anytime you have a military conflict in the Middle East, gas prices are going to be higher.

And Trump made a determination that the national security imperatives of stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon were significant enough that it was worth enduring some short-term economic cost.

I think that was a responsible decision that made America safer.

Ted Cruz on Trump:

For the last 10 years, I’ve agreed with virtually every foreign policy decision President Trump has made.

And it’s not accidental, because most of those decisions I have been energetically urging him to make.

Donald Trump is not an isolationist any way, shape, or form, which is part of why Tucker Carlson lost his mind.

Ted Cruz on Iraq:

The Iraq War was unequivocally a mistake. We went in there, it wasn’t defending U.S. national security.

We engaged in nation-building. We lost far too many of our sons and daughters in that war, and the mission became trying to turn a foreign country into a democratic utopia.

That is not the job of our military. The Iraq War was a mistake.

Ted Cruz on Iran:

The chances of Trump putting hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground like we did in Iraq, engaging in an occupation to try to turn Iran into a democratic utopia — the chances of that are zero.

Trump is not going to do so. He shouldn’t do so. I’m urging him not to, but I don’t have to fight that because he doesn’t want to do that.

Ted Cruz on Reagan:

In eight years, do you know the biggest country Reagan ever invaded? Grenada.

Reagan didn’t send our boys over to fight and get engaged in long ground wars. He didn’t invade countries.

What he did do was rebuild our military, bankrupt the Soviet Union, and win the Cold War without firing a shot.

That’s peace through strength. And that’s what Donald Trump is doing.

Dasha Burns: Do you think that policy and that idea, and your staunch support of Israel, is out of step with a lot of voters?

Ted Cruz: No. No. And in fact, I think it is overwhelmingly where Republican Party voters are.