Trump restarts attacks on Iran - bombs a wedding

• Reuters: Oil prices jumped more than 2% on ‌Monday, with Brent back above $90 a barrel, after US forces struck two ⁠Iranian launchers on Iran's Larak island in the Strait of Hormuz. 'The US-Zionist enemy, once again, based on its desperation in solving domestic problems and reducing its credibility among regional countries, seeks to revive its nefarious role and justify public opinion. In a provocative act, it attacked Larak Island, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of several of our soldiers and fellow citizens', Iranian officials stated.   

• Iran shot down the 50th US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Strait of Hormoz, early yesterday. The Iranian Army Ground Forces also used Arash-2 one-way attack drones to target Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE. IRGC targeted technical and repair infrastructure + fighter jet deployment sites at two US airbases: King Hussein and Muwaffaq al Salti AB in Jordan, using ballistic missiles. 

• IRIB: 35 Iranian civilians were injured in the US attack on a wedding ceremony in Kohstak, Sirik in southern Iran.  Number of martyrs from the wedding ceremony bombing by the US has reached 4. 
• IRNA: In the US attacks carried out on Iran, just hours ago: A fish powder factory in Qeshm, a fishing pier, and a port administration platform in Sirik were targeted. More than 5 explosions were heard near the village of Masen on Qeshm Island. 4 additional explosions were also heard from the Strait of Hormoz, on Qeshm Island.
• Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has submitted his resignation to Donald Trump, officials said Monday, after repeated clashes with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. His resignation marks the latest leadership shake-up amid the Trump administration’s ongoing war in Iran, and had been seen as increasingly imminent after months of friction with Hegseth and others aligned with the Pentagon chief. Hegseth and Driscoll clashed both professionally and personally over the firing of top generals, over Hegseth’s belief that Driscoll had not been appropriately deferential to the defense secretary and over other matters. Driscoll is a close friend and former Yale Law School classmate of V-P JD Vance. Hegseth has also forced out some of the Army’s top officers. They include Gen. James Mingus, the former vice chief of staff; Gen. Christopher Donahue, the former top Army general in Europe; Gen. David Hodne, the head of Army Transformation and Training Command.

• Responsible Statecraft: At a glance, the Hanover Institute for Public Policy looks like a new think tank dedicated to Israel/Palestine. The organization churns out think-tank style reports on questions such as “Does AIPAC Use Dark Money in Elections?” and “Is Israel Carrying out a Deliberate Campaign of Starvation in Gaza?” But the Hanover Institute is not a real think tank. None of the reports have bylines. A small disclaimer at the bottom of the webpage notes that the organization was created on behalf of the Israeli Government Advertising Agency by Piro, Inc, a firm co-founded by Daniel Rosenberg. The Hanover Institute’s reports — all of which are about Israel and Palestine — appear to be part of an Israeli effort to influence chatbots. 

• Several US military leaders have advised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that prolonging large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere, including the US homeland. The warnings - detailed for Hegseth by the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force and the four-star commanders overseeing US operations throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America - appear in the Aug. 14 edition of the Secretary of Defense Orders Book (SDOB). They described the assessment to the Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because the document is classified. The Aug. 14 orders book directs some troops deployed in the Middle East to remain there through September and some others into 2027, said those familiar with the document. The prospect of extending those forces further compelled military leaders to voice their concern. The military's warning to Hegseth, which has not been previously reported, offers new insight into the administration's dilemma as Trump seeks to end the conflict on terms favorable to the US while Iran, cognizant of the war's unpopularity with most Americans and its mounting toll on the U.S. arsenal, refuses to capitulate.  

• Iran is preparing a more aggressive response to renewed US attacks, and could strike economic targets as well as military sites, University of Tehran professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi has told RT. Marandi described the renewed US strikes as a “grave miscalculation” on the part of Washington and stated that Tehran will not hold back after the deaths of its servicemen. He predicted that the Iranian response will be “different from what we’ve had before” and include strikes on both military and economic assets. “The response is going to be very painful,” Marandi said, noting that it will likely have a significant impact on the US economy “in the weeks ahead,” possibly affecting the US midterm elections.

• 55 Zionist organizations around the world have launched an initiative called 'Gaza GenoLIE' to counter what they describe as the 'Gaza genocide lie', claiming that the characterization has been systematically promoted by anti-Zionist and anti-semitic networks in the US, Europe and other parts of the world. The initiative includes organizations such as the Ireland Israel Alliance, Italy’s Solomon Observatory on Discrimination and the Sweden Israel Alliance, along with Stand With Us, the World Jewish Congress, CAMERA and the National Jewish Advocacy Center. The initiative describes the 'Gaza genocide' as one of the biggest lies of the 21st century and says its website aims to provide material explaining and refuting the narrative that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. 

• In a recent article for Al Jazeera by Dr. Dianne Woodward, a former lecturer in Biological Sciences in the UK, “Gaza shares the Mediterranean, coastal ecosystems and coastal aquifers with Israel”, and Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s sanitation infrastructure means that 100,000 cubic metres of raw, untreated sewage are flowing into the Mediterranean or seeping into the land every day, with the sewage in the sea flowing north into Israeli waters. As well as poisoning itself by sea and through aquifers, Israel is also facing toxic blowback through its efforts to erase evidence of its genocide through massive land clearance projects in the two-thirds of Gaza under its military control. This was first exposed a month ago by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, when 100 trucks a day were removing rubble from Gaza to undisclosed locations in Israel and the West Bank. 

• In the latest episode of ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ a Ukrainian man tried to prevent his friend being kidnapped by Zelensky’s meat hunters. The man tried to stop the kidnapping by laying behind the police car. Instead of preventing the death sentence, the police car ran the man over. 

• A prominent pro-Trump social media influencer has been secretly working inside the Pentagon for months, a revelation that has renewed scrutiny of Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's ties to friendly online personalities even as he has spent more than a year restricting access for the traditional press. Jennica Pounds, who posts under the name DataRepublican to nearly a million followers on X, was confirmed this week to be working as a special government employee at the Department of Defence. In addition Hegseth has reportedly hired conservative military veterans with large social media followings — Rob Maness, a retired Air Force colonel with more than 135,000 X followers, and Kurt Schlichter, a retired Army colonel with 620,000 X followers—to work for the Pentagon . The reports raise questions about transparency and Hegseth's intentions in office. Starting in May 2025, Hegseth issued a memo requiring reporters to be escorted through hallways they had previously accessed freely, and later demanded journalists sign a pledge not to solicit or publish information the department had not explicitly authorized for release, even if it was unclassified. A federal judge later ruled that the credentialing policy's true purpose was to weed out disfavored journalists, though an appeals court has since allowed a related escort requirement to remain in place while the case continues.

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US could sanction China over its continued purchases from Iran, warning that “all options are on the table.” He also rejected claims that Washington is reluctant to target Beijing, calling that “a completely false narrative.” “This is going to be financial violence if we have to,” Bessent said, warning institutions involved in Iranian transactions: “We know who you are.”
• Trump Admin just accepted permit for an underwater AI data center off Eastport, Maine. $100 million project covering 27 acres in the Bay of Fundy near Kendall Head. Servers cooled by our ocean turning Western Passage into an industrial heat sink. Locals and the Passamaquoddy Tribe have been screaming about this for months. Thermal pollution risks cooking the water that sustains our lobsters, scallops, and clams. Data Center Developer is a Massachusetts luxury real estate guy who formed the company weeks before filing. 

• Korea Update: As a forward military base, logistics hub, intelligence platform, and missile platform within the US Indo-Pacific strategy, Japan is requesting ¥8.9 trillion ($55.66 billion USD) for its 2027 'defense' budget as Tokyo expands its long-range strike, hypersonic, drone, and AI capabilities. The stated priorities include new forms of warfare involving drones and artificial intelligence, the ability to sustain prolonged conflicts, strengthening the defense-industrial base, and improving conditions for Self-Defense Forces personnel. Japan is becoming militarily stronger, but not necessarily more autonomous. Instead, it is becoming increasingly integrated with the US military and geopolitical priorities through the expansion of its offensive military capabilities. Japan’s growing military power poses a threat to peace and stability in Northeast Asia. [You could call this Ukraine proxy war 2.0]