🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — A broker for Secretary of War Pete Hegseth sought to make a multimillion-dollar investment in a defense-focused exchange-traded fund managed by BlackRock in the weeks leading up to the U.S.-Israeli military action against Iran, FT reports.

➡️ The inquiry, made through Morgan Stanley, involved BlackRock’s Defense Industrials Active ETF, a fund designed to benefit from rising global defense spending.

➡️ Although the request was flagged internally, the investment did not proceed because the fund was not yet available to Morgan Stanley clients. It’s unclear whether an alternative investment was later pursued.

🇦🇪🇰🇼🇮🇷⚡️ — The giant Kuwaiti crude oil tanker Al-Salmi was struck in an Iranian attack while anchored near Dubai Port in the UAE.

➡️ The vessel, which was fully loaded at the time, sustained structural damage and caught fire, with concerns raised about a possible oil spill in nearby waters.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine will hold a press conference on Operation Epic Fury on Tuesday at 8 AM EST.

🇺🇸🇮🇱❌🇮🇷 — A fire can be seen at Sirik Pier in southern Iran's Hormozgan province following a US/Israeli attack.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — NEW: President Trump has told aides he is open to ending the U.S. military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, according to WSJ, citing administration officials.

➡️ He and his team concluded that reopening the waterway would likely extend the conflict beyond his preferred four- to six-week timeline.

➡️ Instead, the U.S. aims to weaken Iran’s naval and missile capabilities before scaling back operations and shifting to diplomatic pressure to restore shipping.

➡️ If diplomacy fails, Washington will press European and Gulf allies to take the lead in reopening the strait.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — The USS Tripoli (LHA 7) sailing in the Indian Ocean on Sunday.

🇺🇸⚡️ — President Trump granted a pardon to nursing home operator Joseph Schwartz after he served only three months of a three-year sentence for a $39 million payroll tax fraud scheme, ProPublica reports.

➡️ Schwartz had admitted to withholding large sums from employees’ paychecks without sending them to the IRS, while also paying himself millions as a “ghost employee” as his Skyline Healthcare chain collapsed, leading to understaffing, unpaid suppliers, and neglect linked to patient deaths. Families later won major wrongful death settlements, many of which remain unpaid.

➡️ He is one of several convicted nursing home executives to receive clemency from Trump, alongside figures involved in large-scale Medicare and Medicaid fraud cases.

➡️ Schwartz had reportedly spent over $1 million on lobbying efforts for a pardon, and despite claims he made restitution, court records indicate he still owes tens of millions in unpaid taxes.

➡️ Victims’ families have struggled to recover damages, as Schwartz moved funds through more than 200 bank accounts.