An Iranian commercial vessel was attacked near Hengam and Qeshm islands, leaving one person dead and three others injured.

Source: IRIB

An IRGC Navy political deputy said, responding to Trump’s remarks that the U.S. controls the Strait of Hormuz:

If that is the case, then bring it on. Move one of your warships to within 100 kilometers.

Source: Fars

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported that a projectile struck a vessel while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian:

We are not in war with Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have their own problems.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Trump:

Trump is saying something every day. One day he wants to destroy Iran, another day he says we are friend of Iran.

One day he says he accept us. Another day he says he doesn't accept us.

So we are not sure what kind of statement we should, you know, accept and proceed based on which.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian:

The U.S. is doing propaganda. It is just propaganda.

If we were seeking nuclear weapons, we wouldn’t have become a member of the NPT. Now they are bringing about alibis and pretexts to attack our soil.

It is lies. It is lies.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian:

With their technologies, actually they are the real terrorists in the world.

You look at Israel and America. No difference what they are doing in Syria, in Lebanon, in Gaza, Iraq, Qatar, even in Iran.

They assassinate anybody they wish, and then they claim that these people are terrorists. So it’s a weird world.

They kill people very easily for a single person. They kill a whole family and they destroy a whole building, then they say they killed a terrorist.

They are real terrorists. They are state terrorists.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is pursuing a major shift toward Europe after trade relations with the U.S. deteriorated.

His government is exploring an “associate member” relationship with the EU—short of full membership—that could deepen cooperation on energy, critical minerals, AI, defense, research, and trade.

The plan aims to reduce Canada’s dependence on the U.S. by creating stronger economic and strategic links with Europe.

Ideas include easier movement of goods and workers, shared infrastructure, joint technology projects, and closer defense ties.

Source: WSJ

Jared Kushner on Ukraine:

President Putin's laid out his line of what he wants to achieve.

If Ukraine, you know, wanted to withdraw to that line, then obviously, you know, we have the rest of the deal set up and put together.

Ukraine right now does not want to do that.

Jared Kushner on Ukraine:

The economic costs of war are tremendous. I said this when I was in Ukraine.

War is just negative sum and everyone loses from war and I think that economics and business and peace is very, very positive sum.

Canada Explores EU Membership After US Trade War

Mark Carney is accelerating plans to tie Canada more closely to Europe after U.S. trade negotiations collapsed, with officials exploring deeper integration across all sectors.

READ MORE

On Monday, the first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will meet in Cardiff to sign a cooperation agreement calling for the right to hold independence referendums.

The SNP, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Féin leaders will discuss cooperation on the economy, energy, Europe and self-determination.

John Swinney, Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the SNP, said the UK’s current system is “not sustainable.”

Source: The Telegraph

Kremlin:

Modi and Xi Jinping, during their contacts with Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, actively offered their services to help facilitate a resolution to the Ukraine conflict.

Kremlin:

Russia does not rule out trilateral talks on Ukraine taking place in October.

Kremlin:

Russia has not toughened its demands for resolving the conflict in Ukraine; they remain unchanged.

Russia struck the locomotive of a passenger train in Ukraine’s Volyn region, just 2 km from the Polish border, according to Ukrainian Railways.

A monitoring group had warned the train crew of the threat in advance, and no injuries were reported.

Houthi tribal mobilization shows long lines of armed Toyota technicals in the desert, the classic Yemen war image.

Bani Hashish tribes pledge readiness to march on Marib, the last major government stronghold in the north.

Toyota pickups with mounted guns remain the backbone of Houthi ground power.

Sweden is voting today.

The left bloc under former PM Andersson leads by maybe 1–3 points, but that's within the margin of error.

But the big story is the Sweden Democrats.

They're polling around 19–20%, making them the second largest party in the country.

Åkesson told a Stockholm rally last night:

They have destroyed our country. They have made Sweden unrecognizable. I want Sweden to become Sweden again.

If the right wins, PM Kristersson has said Åkesson would get a cabinet seat, likely the migration portfolio.

That would be historic.

The party has roots in Sweden's neo-Nazi movement of the late 1980s, was a fringe outfit polling under 3% as recently as 2006, and has been treated as untouchable by every other party for most of its existence.

They entered the Riksdag in 2010 with 5.7%, hit 17.5% in 2018, became the second largest party in 2022, and have been propping up Kristersson's government from outside through the Tidö Agreement without actually sitting in cabinet.

Formal government participation would be the final step in their mainstreaming.

Jared Kushner on Ukraine:

The difference between somebody saying the right thing and then doing the right thing is that those are two different things.

But if they’re not saying the right thing — that they want to get to that — then you have no chance of getting to the actual right thing.

At least for now, the Russians are saying the right thing, which is that they want to discuss a way to resolve this.