🇺🇸⚡️- Americans should drive less if they want gas prices to go down, according to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Do we have to say it?

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- BREAKING: US military personnel are crewing aboard US-contracted oil tankers to assist their passage through the Strait of Hormuz via the southern Omani route.

One US-contracted tanker was struck by multiple Iranian projectiles earlier this week, resulting in injuries to several US personnel on board. The wounded were subsequently evacuated to a Gulf Arab state for medical treatment.

It currently remains unknown whether the US is providing similar assistance to non-US-contracted ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

🇱🇧🇮🇱⚡️- Initial reports of Israeli airstrikes in various areas of southern Lebanon.

🇺🇸⚡️- Patrick Clancy will appear on CBS's 60 Minutes this Sunday.

🇺🇸⚡️- Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey also proposed new funding for womens healthcare programs including free nurse visits to houses with newborns yesterday due to the Lindsey Clancy trial.

🇺🇸⚡️- The Fed raises interest rates by 25 basis points.

🇺🇸🇾🇪⚡- Initial reports of the downing of an RQ-20 over the Sa'ada region, northern Yemen.

Saudi Arabia is not an operator of the drone, therefore it likely belonged to the US.

🇾🇪🇸🇦🇦🇪⚡- "UAE is conducting an intensive lobbying campaign in Washington aimed at persuading the U.S. administration not to support Saudi Arabia’s renewed war against the Houthis and pushing against weapons packages that could give Riyadh greater offensive capabilities to change the balance of power in Yemen.

Following the collapse of the Saudi-Emirati partnership in Yemen, Riyadh has become the principal external Arab power carrying the burden of the confrontation. A decisive Saudi victory would also allow Riyadh to rebuild the anti-Houthi camp under its leadership and weaken the value of the military and political networks the UAE spent years constructing across southern and coastal Yemen.

Abu Dhabi does not need to support the Houthis to benefit from their ability to exhaust Saudi Arabia. It simply needs to prevent Riyadh from obtaining the level of American assistance required to turn defensive containment into a decisive military victory.

That is why the confrontation is moving from Yemen to Washington. The UAE possesses extensive political, security and commercial relationships in the United States, allowing opposition to deeper Saudi military action to be presented through the language of restraint: preventing another regional war, avoiding another Yemen quagmire, limiting escalation with Iran and questioning whether a major Saudi offensive could produce a stable political settlement.

But behind the language of “restraint” lies a brutal Gulf struggle for power. Abu Dhabi does not need the Houthis to win. It only needs Saudi Arabia not to win," - The Dark Box, citing its high-level sources.

🇲🇦🇮🇱⚡- The foreign ministers of Israel and Morocco ‌agreed to upgrade diplomatic ties and open embassies and appoint ambassadors in ⁠both countries.

🇺🇸🇾🇪🇸🇦⚡- "There is disappointment amongst the Saudi Royal officials with the American position and a growing sense of helplessness.

The Houthis are exploiting Washington’s failure to take practical action to expand their influence and freedom of movement in the region.

As long as Washington does not make a practical decision, we are paying the price on the ground.

The security situation facing Saudi Arabia has become more complicated compared to the past, given the multiplicity of regional fronts [referring to Iran, Hezbollah, armed factions in Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen]," - Israeli Channel 12, citing Saudi sources close to the ruling circles.

🇾🇪🇸🇦⚡- Saudi / Yemeni airstrikes against the Dhamar, Ansarullah-controlled Yemen.

🇺🇸🛢⚡️- Gas prices in the United States have risen over the last 24 hours, with the national average climbing to $4.40 per gallon, the highest level since late May. Some state averages, according to GasBuddy live data:

Illinois: $4.99/gal
Michigan: $4.99/gal
Indiana: $3.99/gal
Minnesota: $4.49/gal
Maine: $4.49/gal
Arkansas: $4.29/gal
Missouri: $4.29/gal
Nebraska: $4.29/gal
Iowa: $4.44/gal

🇾🇪🇸🇦⚡️- AP reports that Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors amid its ongoing conflict with Ansarullah in Yemen.

🇺🇸🇻🇪⚡️- US imports of Venezuelan crude hit nearly 800,000 barrels per day, the highest since mid-2017.

🇫🇷⚡️- Emmanuel Macron is gathering all of France's party leaders in a "Saint Denis roundtable" to discuss international conflicts and their effects on France. Members of armed forces and intelligence services will be there to disclose classified information.

Note: these meetings are rare in themselves and have only been used recently to find solutions to internal political instability, not to discuss international events.

🇫🇷⚡️- RTL reveals the meeting will take place in the new crisis room, Room Vega, of the Elysée. Members of the DGSI, DGSE, Armed Forces intelligence, SGDSN (General Secretary of National Defense and National Security) and General Energy Direction will also attend the meeting alongside opposition political leaders.

The only times similar actors were gathered by Emmanuel Macron during his mandates were after the 2023 Hamas attack and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.