🇺🇸🇮🇷🇮🇱⚡- "U.S. officials believed that Israel might have been plotting to kill Iran’s top negotiators while Washington was engaged with Tehran in delicate talks this spring to reach an interim peace deal.

Killing senior Iranian leaders had been part of Israel’s strategy from the start of the war. But American concerns about the targeting of two particular Iranian officials — Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Parliament — spiked during delicate cease-fire negotiations that began in April.

Fearful that an Israeli assassination effort would doom the negotiations, the United States, went so far as to ask other countries in the region to warn Iran about the possibility Israel could target the two officials.

While U.S. strikes focused on Iran’s navy and missile forces, Israel prioritized targeting the leadership in the early phase of the war, intent on killing as many high-ranking officials as it could.

That included killing potentially more pragmatic leaders that the Trump administration had hoped to negotiate with, such as Ali Larijani, Iran’s top national security official, and Kamal Kharazi, a former Iranian foreign minister. Both men were involved in the negotiations with the United States when they were killed in Israeli airstrikes," - The New York Times, citing multiple U.S. officials.

🇷🇺🇺🇦 - Ukrainian civilian death toll from the Russian attack on Ukraine last night rises to 27.

🇲🇱🇧🇫🇳🇪⚡️- Renewed JNIM activity in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Heavy intensity reported in Aguelhoc over the past 3 days, with shelling of the FAMa camp and ambushes on Africa Corps vehicles.
Several outposts and patrols attacked by the JNIM in Burkina Faso.
The JNIM claimed to have wiped out and captured the barracks belonging to Niger's armed forces in Diagourou today.

🇸🇦⚡️- "Saudi Aramco, opens new tab resumed loadings from Ras Tanura, the world's largest oil port, on Friday ​after a halt of nearly four months. The Saudi national oil company is ramping up loadings and shipments ​to Asia, adding to a prompt glut that has depressed Brent crude to about $70 a ⁠barrel from close to $120 in March following the interim U.S.-Iran peace deal.

In addition to using its Bahri tanker fleet to ​deliver the cargoes, the world's top oil exporter offered the crude to its Asian customers on a spot pricing basis ​to attract demand as competition among suppliers heats up, said several trade sources who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

At least five supertankers carrying a total 10 million barrels ‌of Saudi oil loaded from Ras Tanura have exited the Strait of Hormuz [...] Two of the ​five very large crude carriers ⁠that have left the strait are heading to Japan, while another two are making their way to China." - Reuters.

🇷🇺🇸🇪⚡️- "On July 2, 2026, at around 2:00 a.m., the Russian Embassy in Sweden was subjected to yet another attack involving unmanned aerial vehicles. One quadcopter dropped a container of red paint onto the embassy grounds. A second drone, to which a mock homemade explosive device was attached, crashed (apparently not by accident) onto our grounds in the immediate vicinity of the Russian Embassy building." - Russian Embassy in Sweden.

🇺🇸⚡️- A Protester has set themselves on fire outside the United Nations headquarters in New York City, local media report he had a Tibetan flag and a piece of paper that said "China out of Tibet".

🇺🇸🇪🇺⚡️- "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was planning to head to Brussels last month to deliver what would be a bombshell announcement in a meeting with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s top military chiefs.

The U.S., he planned to say, was preparing additional cuts to its forces in Europe that would go beyond the canceled deployment of an armored brigade to Poland and the earlier withdrawal of an infantry brigade from Romania, people familiar with the matter said. But Hegseth’s proposal was nixed after it was shared with Marco Rubio—President Trump’s national-security adviser—and other senior officials, the people said.

Instead, Hegseth said the U.S. would conduct a review of its force posture in Europe that could last as long as six months." - The Wall Street Journal.

🇩🇪🇺🇦⚡️- Germany has formally charged Ukrainian national Serhii K., an officer of the Ukrainian army at the time of the incident, with being an accomplice to a war crime over the 2022 Nord Stream Pipeline attack. The attack destroyed 3 of the 4 pipelines that deliver Russian natural gas to Germany. The charges include acting as an accomplice in a war crime by carrying out attacks on civilian energy infrastructure, causing an explosion, destroying infrastructure, and disrupting public utilities.

German prosecutors claim that the officer, along with other military personnel, was "acting on behalf of state bodies in Ukraine" and had created the plan to destroy the Nord Stream Pipelines to prevent Russian gas deliveries. Serhii allegedly led the Ukrainian team of up to 7 people and piloted the sailing yacht, which was used to carry out the attack.

German media say the evidence is "overwhelming" and includes phone calls where he incriminated himself in intercepted phone calls, although Serhii has denied involvement.

Serhii was arrested on August 21, 2025, in Italy, was extradited to Germany in November 2025, and has been in pre-trial detention ever since. This is the first time Germany has brought the Nord Stream case to court.

🇲🇩⚡️ – Moldova’s Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu, in office since late 2025, has announced his resignation, triggering the fall of the government. President Maia Sandu will now nominate a new Prime Minister, who must be approved by the Party of Action and Solidarity-led pro‑EU majority in parliament.

Moldova's parliament will continue to function effectively as normal for the time being until a new Prime Minister can be approved by parliament. Should the Parliament fail to agree on a replacement, the government would dissolve and lead to snap elections, although it is likely they will agree on a replacement.

"The moment I realized that I could no longer carry out my mandate in accordance with my principles and convictions, I chose to step down.

I will continue to serve my country from whatever position I may hold, regardless of where I live or whether my future responsibilities are in the public or private sector. I believe that our duty to our country is not defined by the office we hold, but by the commitment we continue to uphold." - Alexandru Munteanu.

🇾🇪⚡- BREAKING: Unidentified jets over Sana'a, Ansarullah's capital of Yemen. Air defences are active.

🇾🇪 - Sana'a, Yemen.

🇾🇪 - Yemen Today confirms explosions were heard in the al-Hajjah and Amran Governorates, Ansarullah-controlled Yemen, while the unidentified jets were airborne earlier today.

🇵🇱🇷🇺⚡- "Russia is planning an armed “provocation” on Polish soil to test NATO's resolve, the United States has warned.

Polish critical infrastructure could be targeted by missiles and drones or Russian soldiers could cross the border into NATO territory.

Washington has issued several warnings to Warsaw about the plot. The goal of the Russian provocation would be to escalate tensions and force Western allies to suspend aid to Ukraine. It could be launched in a matter of months.

Polish security sources have also not ruled out a more conventional attack, such as a small ground incursion of Russian soldiers across NATO's eastern [Baltic + Poland] flank.

Provocation scenarios could include a drone attack on critical infrastructure, such as power stations, or simulated air strikes that would force Poland to activate its air defence systems. Armed incursion involving Russian or Belarusian soldiers was conceivable. This could be presented by Russia as an accidental straying into Polish territory because of a GPS failure, or as a dubious rescue mission to retrieve a helicopter suffering from a malfunction," - Sources close to Karol Nawrocki, the Polish President, told the Polish outlet Onet.

🇺🇸🐘⚡- On June 14th, paramedics were dispatched to “a known address” of Senator Mitch McConnell for cardiac arrest, and according to the 911 call, the first responder began performing CPR on what is believed to be McConnell.

Notably, McConnell has not been seen or heard from since this incident, with only his staff providing statements about his alleged hospitalization. In addition, the success rate of CPR on a individual outside of the hospital is around 10%.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇮🇱⚡- Netanyahu's Press Office denies the New York Times report that Israel tried to assassinate Iran's Araghchi and Ghalibaf.

🇬🇧⚡️- Amnesty International in the UK is advocating for new "mandatory human rights due diligence" legislation to regulate social media companies for hate speech.

Some are speculating the Labour Government is building up the argument to ban Twitter from the country entirely.

🇷🇺🇺🇦 - A Ukrainian drone hunts an African-Russian soldier on a plantation in eastern Ukraine.

Note, Rerum Novarum has no explanation for why the soldier appears to have his pants down or removed.

🇾🇪🇸🇦🇮🇷⚡- Ansarullah spokesman Yahya Saree stated that Saudi aircraft entered Yemeni airspace and attempted to prevent an Iranian aircraft from landing and taking off from Sana'a. According to Saree, the aircraft was transporting a Houthi delegation to Tehran to attend the funeral of Ali Khamenei.

Saree also confirmed reports of air defense activity, corroborating earlier reporting by Rerum Novarum.

Iran's arrival at Sana'a broke an eleven year Saudi blockade of Ansarullah-controlled Yemen.

🇮🇷🇸🇦 - During Ali Khamenei's funeral, every Muslim delegation had a verse from the Quran recited in Arabic. For the Saudi delegation, the Iranians chose an interesting passage, with a clear political meaning:

"There was a sign [lesson] for you between the two groups that faced each other. One group was fighting in the way of God, and the other was disbelieving. They [the disbelievers] saw them [the Muslims] double with their own eyes. And God strengthens with His help whom He wills. Surely there is a great lesson in this for the discerning ones [people of wisdom]."