USA - President Trump has made it official with a late in the day Friday Truth Social Post, announcing a deal has been struck with Venezuela for a US majority stake in more than 65 billion barrels of oil reserves, after six months of administration scrambling to control the Strait of Hormuz crisis. On Truth Social he called it the biggest oil deal in world history which comes "at no cost to" US taxpayers and which more than doubles the US oil reserve. "This Transaction will greatly strengthen the already growing relationship between Venezuela and the United States," Trump wrote in the post. Trump said the Venezuela deal should bring down prices at the pump. The average price of a gallon of gas in the US reached around $4.09 on Friday, a 27% increase year over year, according to AAA.

USA - Brent crude futures initially jumped overnight after The Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump has no interest in reviving the memorandum of understanding (interim peace deal) reached with Iran in June. The war-risk premium in Brent has since faded in New York premarket trading amid mounting developments this week that major Gulf producers, including Kuwait and Qatar, are increasing tanker flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Emerging diplomatic traction between Oman and Iran has also further reduced the perceived risk of a prolonged disruption. Reinforcing this week's developments, new data from Daan Struyven, Goldman's co-head of Global Commodities Research and head of oil research, show that Persian Gulf oil exports have recovered to more than two-thirds of prewar levels.

USA - President Donald Trump declared victory Thursday regarding the Strait of Hormuz, saying that it’s fully open, leaving Iran with very little bargaining power in its conflict with the United States. “That sucker is open. The Iranian response is very mild. They don’t want us to go back at them. That’s the whole ball game. The rest doesn’t matter,” Trump told Axios during a phone interview. The vital shipping waterway has been a major issue for the US since the start of the war back in February, as Iranian disruptions and closures have caused fuel and gas prices to spike. In addition, Iran laid mines throughout the strait, while constantly creating uncertainty among global markets by rejecting peace deals that were thought to be finalized.

IRAN - Iran is attacking US forces in Jordan on Sunday following US strikes on Iranian missile launchers, which happened on Larak Island, according to several reports. Fox News reported that most of the incoming missiles have been shot down. Earlier on Sunday, US forces launched strikes on Iranian missile launchers on Larak Island, which were reportedly planning to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.

IRAN - A senior Iranian cleric closely aligned with the country’s Supreme Leader has issued one of the regime’s most explicit calls yet for nuclear weapons, declaring that building and launching an atomic bomb is the sole remaining option for Iran. According to a report from World Israel News, the remarks by Mohammad Bagher Kharrazi underscore a worldview in which nuclear arms are treated not merely as a shield but as a tool of annihilation. “The only way to save the country… is building an atomic bomb and firing it,” Kharrazi said. “No other way is left for us…. We should create a tsunami whose waves hit the American coasts.” The statement, published August 29, 2026, leaves little room for ambiguity about the regime’s intentions.

USA - Ferocious tropical storm on track to become first ‘major hurricane’ to hit California in decades. Tropical Storm Karina is rapidly strengthening in the eastern Pacific, and it appears on track to become a hurricane over the weekend, drawing intense attention as some long-range models suggest an exceptionally rare impact in California. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of about 50 mph early Friday while moving northwest over open water well south-southwest of the Baja California Peninsula. The National Hurricane Center said further strengthening is expected as Karina moves across warm Pacific waters, with the system forecast to become a hurricane over the weekend. Karina was centered more than 800 miles from the southern tip of Baja California early Friday and moving northwest at roughly 13 mph.

GERMANY - Germany’s defence minister has called for the AfD to be banned, marking the most direct intervention yet by a senior government minister against the Right-wing populist party. Boris Pistorius called for the “initiation of a prohibition proceeding as soon as possible” against parts of the Alternative for Germany (AfD). His intervention comes a week before a crucial election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the AfD is predicted to win an outright majority. Mr Pistorius, routinely ranked as Germany’s most popular politician in opinion polls, said the AfD in much of former East Germany was “völkisch” (“folk” or “popular”) and espoused values incompatible with the German constitution. He distinguished, however, between the party’s völkisch wing and a “German nationalist” faction, which he said advocated “highly dangerous” policies such as leaving the EU but was not undemocratic. Germany is unusual among Western democracies in having constitutional provisions allowing political parties to be banned if they seek to undermine the fundamental principles of the constitution.

USA - The United States has threatened to oppose Britain’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands if Andy Burnham does not increase defence spending, The Telegraph can reveal. The proposal is among measures being drawn up by senior defence officials at the Pentagon as an incentive to hit NATO’s 5 per cent spending pledge. The discourse from Washington will concern Mr Burnham and John Healey, his Chancellor, whose first Budget will fail to commit to spending 3 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030. When he quit as defence secretary in June, Mr Healey claimed that Sir Keir was “unable” and the Treasury “unwilling” to spend the money needed to defend the country. However, government sources told the Financial Times that the Chancellor would not make any commitments relating to the 3 per cent figure in his Budget on October 28.

MIDDLE EAST - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei released a written statement on Sunday urging Gulf rulers to "identify their real enemy and understand the plans to confront it." Khamenei's message, issued in commemoration of the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad, also called for "unity among Muslims" and mutual defense against their enemies. "The Muslims’ unity in the face of the world’s disbelief is a Quranic strategy and a basic teaching of the pure Islam of Prophet Muhammad, not a superficial or transient matter," Khamenei wrote in his statement. Last Tuesday, Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi published a message saying that "Iran’s commitment to peace and stability is matched by steadfast diplomacy with our neighbors." Later on Friday, the Iranian FM said that he had met Qatar's Foreign Minister, adding that "putting diplomacy back on track isn't impossible." "It hinges on US understanding of one simple fact: pressure doesn't work. The US should build trust, speak respectfully, acknowledge our rights, and uphold commitments," Araghchi claimed.

ISRAEL - The Knesset will be asked over the coming month, meeting in special recess session, to vote on expansion of the defense budget for urgent IDF weapons procurement from NIS 70 billion to NIS 90 billion (a rise from $20 billion to $25 billion). This will push the annual defense budget to NIS 184 billion (approximately $61 billion). Israel’s long-term military buildup plan has grown by about NIS 50 billion ($17 billion) in just one year. And over the next decade, the military budget is expected to double yet still. There is currently no identified full funding source for these enormous defense expenses. Ultimately, Israel will have to cut the budget of other ministries and impose new taxes. There is no choice. The war with Iran and its proxies is far from over. In fact, 2027 is shaping up as a year of continued military conflict on all fronts – against Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Only God knows what kind of instability Israel may yet have to overcome on its eastern border, and the West Bank is unsettled too. Turkey is threatening Israel as well.