USA - Donald Trump stood in Riyadh in May 2025 and declared that the United States was finished with wars in the Middle East. A month later, American bombers flew thousands of miles to attack Iran’s nuclear sites. Eight months later, the US president joined Israel in provoking a full-scale war with the Islamic Republic that cascaded across the region, causing thousands of deaths, untold destruction and global economic upheaval. The US will probably be paying the price for Operation Epic Fury for years to come. The 108-day war dealt a wounding blow to American credibility on the world stage and has shaken global faith in the US as a provider of security. Mr Trump wanted to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees. Now, he finds himself negotiating a settlement with a regime uninterested in an immediate deal and bolstered by the conflict. The president’s infamous 2015 tweet – in which he called the first nuclear deal negotiated by Barack Obama “one of the most incompetent ever made” – has resurfaced to haunt him this week. “The US lost on virtually every point,” he wrote. “We just don’t win anymore!”

USA - In a stunning departure from decades of established US foreign policy, President Donald Trump revealed that a forthcoming peace agreement with Iran will likely allow the regime to retain its conventional ballistic missiles. Standing before reporters at the G7 meeting in France, the President argued that a complete ban is unrealistic because 'they got to have some.' 'What am I going to do? Am I going to let Saudi Arabia have missiles, but they can't have them?' Trump said during the briefing. 'Missiles aren't the problem. They hurt a little location, but they don't blow up the planet.' For months, Rubio centered his argument for military action against Iran on the necessity of neutralizing the nation's missile capabilities. He labeled the regime's unwillingness to negotiate regarding its arsenal a 'big problem' and an 'unsustainable threat,' asserting that Tehran maintained weaponry 'solely designed to attack America and attack Americans.' For generations, every American administration has maintained a strict 'red line' against Iran's ballistic missile capabilities.

MIDDLE EAST - Iran's top diplomat said Tuesday that the tentative deal to end the war with the United States would require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon — a condition Israel has already rejected and that could sink the agreement, leading to the resumption of all-out war. The deal, which is between the US and Iran, has not been made public, and officials have sometimes offered contradictory interpretations of what is in it. While Israel is not party to the agreement, it is part of the war: It joined the US in launching strikes on Iran on February 28, and has since fought the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon and seized large swaths of that country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel would remain in Lebanon "as long as necessary."

ISRAEL - A few months ago, Benjamin Netanyahu finally achieved a lifetime ambition: convincing a US president to adopt Israel’s long-held security doctrine. The polite name for it is “peace through strength”. The shorthand is “mowing the lawn”. It’s a policy that puts military solutions above diplomacy, and has been Israel’s strategy for dealing with its enemies ever since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, its last great diplomat, by a Jewish extremist in 1995. The logic, which you hear almost universally espoused across the country, goes like this: “The Middle East is not Europe or America. Here, people only respect strength. Diplomacy projects weakness and peace is a pipe dream. Martyrdom is their goal. So there is no alternative to keeping our enemies at bay with guns and bombs.” The American decision to include Lebanon in the MoU and include Israel as a party to the agreement without consulting it has caused anger in Israel. “We oppose the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Lebanon, despite all current and future pressures,” said Israel Katz, the country’s defence minister.

FINLAND - Finland has passed laws that lift a ban on nuclear weapons, in a huge blow to Vladimir Putin. The new legislation will allow nuclear arms to be imported, transported, supplied, and possessed on its territory as the Nordic nation confronts mounting security concerns over neighbouring Russia. The new law overturns a decade-old restriction dating back to the 1987 Nuclear Energy Act, which prohibited nuclear weapons from being brought onto Finnish soil. Under the new bill, which lawmakers voted by a margin of 125 to 61 on Wednesday, nuclear arms may now be moved freely in the name of national defence. Ministers said the move was necessary due to an increasingly 'unpredictable security environment' in the region.

TURKEY - Noah's Ark could finally be found after historic deal promises 'irrefutable proof'. A mysterious formation high in the mountains of eastern Turkey has long fueled speculation that it could be the final resting place of Noah's Ark. Now, researchers who believe they have identified signs of a massive man-made structure buried beneath the site, have received official approval to put their theory to the test. The team behind Noah's Ark Scans announced that its Turkish partner has secured government permits to conduct what it describes as the most comprehensive scientific investigation ever undertaken at the Durupinar Formation near Mount Ararat. The expedition will include non-destructive core drilling, advanced remote-sensing technology, next-generation imaging systems and an underground drone named 'Gopher' designed to map what lies beneath the surface. In a statement announcing the approval, the group said it hopes to provide the world with 'irrefutable proof' that the formation is the authentic resting place of Noah's Ark.

GERMANY - German fighting-age males are getting an early taste of the military escalation on the old continent. We have been reporting here on TGP how the Euro-Globalist ‘leaders’ in Europe have been pushing their countries through a military buildup not seen since the end of the Cold War. But it did take us by surprise just how fast Germany escalated their military service rules into draconian demands. It has now been reported that German men ‘of fighting age’ must now ask the Bundeswehr for permission to leave the country for more than three months.

ISRAEL - In the wake of the US and Iran announcing a Memorandum of Understanding to end the conflict between the two nations that includes a ceasefire in Lebanon, Israeli ministers have said Israel isn’t bound by the agreement. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed that the IDF will not withdraw from its so-called “security zones” in southern Lebanon, which include a major swathe of Lebanese territory, and will also continue the occupation in southwest Syria and Gaza. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I are leading a clear policy that determines that the IDF will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza, without any time limit, to protect, from there, the border and Israeli communities against jihadist elements,” Katz said. Netanyahu later put out his own statement reaffirming what Katz said, vowing that Israel will not withdraw from Lebanon, Syria, or Gaza.

MIDDLE EAST - Donald Trump, hungry for a victory, has found a way of opening the Hormuz chokepoint and reducing everything else that matters into a souk-like negotiation with the Iranians. They will probably play him for a fool. Who, then, has really won the Middle East war? Not Hamas, though the stragglers from this Iranian proxy still lead a troglodyte existence under the rubble of Gaza. Not Israel, which joined Trump in his war against Iran on the promise of ending Tehran’s nuclear programme. Not Hezbollah, which has exposed itself again as an Iranian puppet directly working against the interests of its host, Lebanon. And not, certainly not, the Iranian people, who have exchanged a cruel theocratic regime for a cruel garrison state.

MIDDLE EAST - The US-Iran de-escalation deal may bring oil tanker traffic back to something resembling the pre-war norm, but the global energy trade will never be the same. Oil prices will very likely fall — Goldman Sachs lowered its fourth-quarter Brent forecast from $90 to $80 per barrel on Monday. But with so much uncertainty ahead, no one believes oil prices are fully out of the woods yet: Assuming a real ceasefire actually holds, it will take time, possibly months, to clear out trapped tankers and bring in new empty ones, and to rebuild and restart damaged production and export facilities. There will also be demand for oil to refill heavily depleted reserves in the US and elsewhere. The Strait of Hormuz will never really be “open” in the same way again, either. Iran has proven, and maintains, its military capacity to shut it down with relative ease, and may emerge from these talks with the long-term ability to exact “fees” for transit.