USA - Donald Trump is deciding whether to restart the bombing of Iran, and his own officials rush towards securing a peace deal with the regime. Trump met his national security team at the White House on Wednesday and again on Thursday to weigh resuming military operations against Iran, according to multiple reports. It was the president's first session on the war since Democrats seized both chambers of Congress on Tuesday. Officials told the presiden t that this Monday brings a new moon over the Middle East, leaving next to no moonlight and the kind of cover commanders want for air operations, sources told Fox News. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office hours earlier that Washington would ‘make a decision’ on resuming the war, and asked whether to ‘go further’ to ensure Iran’s nuclear program is finished for good. Tehran fears the next American strike will hit Pickaxe Mountain, the nuclear complex buried as deep as 100 meters under granite near Natanz.

IRAN - The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has reported the shootdown of a US MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, marking the latest in a series of American drone losses during the ongoing conflict. The US Air Force is facing an unexpectedly severe capability gap after suffering extensive drone losses, leading the service to initiate an urgent search for replacement aircraft. This has included efforts to purchase unused MQ-9A Block 5 airframes from the producer, General Atomics, although fewer than ten new aircraft remain available worldwide. The fallout from the losses has been interpreted by analysts as an important indication of how limited the United States’ ability is to rapidly regenerate its forces have become. The US-led assault on Iran has depleted inventories of a very wide range of armaments types including Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM), Patriot, THAAD, SM-3, and SM-6 air defence interceptors, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and GBU-57 penetrative bombs, among others, with Reaper drones representing the bulk of the American aircraft lost in the conflict.

USA - The Trump administration is putting a massive $20 MILLION bounty on information about Iran’s nuclear program, offering potential informants not only a staggering financial reward but also the possibility of relocation. On Friday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) publicized the State Department’s Rewards for Justice initiative, seeking information about the Iranian regime’s nuclear infrastructure, sensitive equipment, scientists, and the movement of nuclear-related materials and personnel. The announcement comes as President Donald Trump continues his campaign to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, following devastating American military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. This bounty comes amid the ongoing conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. President Trump has repeatedly stated that key facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan were “completely and totally obliterated” in the June 2025 strikes. Tehran continues to defy inspectors while pursuing enrichment and supporting proxy attacks across the region.

USA - American voters elected a record seven Muslims to the US Congress on November 3, 2026, the eve of the 47th anniversary of Iran’s seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran, and all seven have called for ending the US war with Iran or voted to end it. Abdul El-Sayed defeated Republican former Representative Mike Rogers in Michigan to become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. Before the election, he called for a war powers resolution to stop “the folly of this stupid war.” At an October debate, El-Sayed was asked whether Israel or Iran poses the greater threat to America, and he called the question a “ridiculous hypothetical.” He has also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed the US into the war.

ISRAEL - Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Saturday night that he was giving opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot the first opportunity to form a governing coalition following elections on October 27. Eisenkot, a former military chief, ran as the main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leading a bloc of parties seeking to oust Israel’s longest-serving premier. Neither Eisenkot nor Netanyahu won a clear majority in the vote. But in marathon discussions with the president this week, representatives from most of Israel’s main parties recommended Eisenkot be tasked with assembling a new government. The announcement, which had been expected on Sunday, came shortly after Netanyahu called for a “national unity government” in a video statement and warned against “hastily swearing in a government with terrorist supporters” – an apparent reference to the Arab-led parties.

USA - Undersea telecom cables are critical civilian infrastructure and are increasingly under threat. The wars in Ukraine and Iran have shown how civilian infrastructure can become easy targets. On Friday, the Financial Times, citing maritime intelligence firm Windward, reported that several Iran-linked vessels slowed or lingered over cable routes in the Gulf of Oman as cable-cutting threats rise. For Gulf-allied states, the challenge is both to protect the cables from sabotage and to keep data centers humming amid Iranian drone threats. There must be a solution to cable sabotage that could bring parts of the internet down for days, if not weeks, and that solution might be Elon Musk's Starlink. Musk told Ron: "Starlink version 4 will have 10x the capability of V3 (which itself is 10x better than V2), especially with the long-distance laser links. Our next-gen laser links will be 10-terabits per second. 100x better. And we'll put 10 of them on." "100 lasers per satellite, each operating above 10 Tb/s, with over 100k satellites should be able to outcompete undersea cables," adding, "Speed of light in space is ~40% faster than cable and the path is direct, instead of following the outline of land masses."

UK - Worried Brits are splurging £700 on emergency food kits that can keep a person fed for six weeks, amid growing fears of blackouts, cyberattacks and other future crises. Retailers say sales of long-life food packs and water filtration equipment have skyrocketed in recent weeks following renewed interest in household preparedness. Some of the kits contain enough freeze-dried meals to feed a person for weeks, while others are designed to provide months of emergency food with a shelf life of up to 25 years. The trend follows calls for households to be better prepared for possible disruptions to infrastructure, power supplies and essential services. Meanwhile, Laura Gardener, co-founder of Base Camp Food, said demand has reached levels the company has never experienced before. The business was originally set up to supply freeze-dried food to adventurers heading to destinations such as Antarctica or crossing oceans by yacht. But in recent weeks, survival food has become its fastest-growing category.

USA - Donald Trump blamed the soon-to-be-in-power Democrat Party after the market took a $2.5 trillion hit just one day after a blue tsunami drowned Republicans in the midterm elections. The nationwide Democratic victories triggered financial carnage for Wall Street, as their control of the Senate raises the possibility that states may pause construction of more data centers across America. Trump warned that this was the voters' fault for dispatching with his party in a Truth Social post Thursday. 'The Stock Market crashed today because the Dumocrats had a big Tuesday — So sad to see, you only have yourselves to blame!' he wrote. The President more explicitly blamed the downturn on the Democrats in a separate post to his Truth Social page. 'The Stock Market suffered one of the Worst Days in History based on the results of the Election,' Trump said. 'Do not fear, however, we will soon, one way or the other, be BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE.'

TURKEY - Turkey's parliament on Thursday ratified the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, a defense pact between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, clearing the way for Ankara to send military support to Riyadh amid attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi terrorists against the kingdom. Under the agreement, signed by the three regional powers in August and sent to parliament for approval last month, an attack on one party constitutes an attack on all. A ruling party lawmaker told Reuters last month that Turkey would also submit a mandate to parliament allowing military personnel to be deployed to Saudi Arabia under the pact.

UK - Buckingham Palace is “fully open” to Commonwealth realms removing the King as head of state, with a senior aide saying: “We have absolutely no difficulty with that.” The King’s first tour of the Caribbean as monarch, which ended on Wednesday, was overshadowed by calls for slavery reparations and republican sentiment. After Charles spoke of the “monstrous injustice” of the slave trade and expressed his “profound personal sorrow”, a communiqué issued by the Commonwealth heads of government meeting welcomed the UK’s agreement to enter into a “good-faith dialogue with affected parties addressing the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans and its historical harms”. Amid calls for reparatory justice from Caribbean realms, there is also a growing debate about removing Charles as sovereign.