IRAN - Iranian state-owned outlet Press TV has released a new report quoting Major General Kowsari, a senior member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Commission, who stated: “The Parliament has reached the conclusion that the Strait of Hormuz should be closed, but the final decision in this regard lies with the Supreme National Security Council.” If Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approves the proposed closure of the critical maritime chokepoint — through which approximately 30% of global seaborne oil and 20% of LNG transit — Brent crude and natural gas futures will surge sharply this evening.

MIDDLE EAST - Iran would have no legal authority to order a halt to traffic through Hormuz, so would need to achieve this by force or the threat of force. If its navy tried to bar entry to the strait, it would likely be met with a strong response from the US Fifth Fleet and other Western navies patrolling the area. But it could cause severe disruption without a single Iranian warship leaving port. One option would be to harry shipping with small, fast patrol boats. Or it could launch drones and fire missiles toward ships from coastal or inland sites. That could make it too risky for commercial ships to venture through. Similar tactics have been employed successfully by the Houthi militia in Yemen to disrupt traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb strait leading into the Red Sea on the other side of the Arabian peninsula. The Houthis have mostly fired missiles and drones at ships after warning owners of vessels linked to the US, the UK and Israel that they will be attacked if they approach the area.

MIDDLE EAST - A US-led force in the Red Sea is seeking to protect shipping there. But the number of ships sailing through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden was still down about 70% in June compared with the average level of 2022 and 2023, according to Clarkson Research Services Ltd, a unit of the world’s largest shipbroker. This has forced vessel operators to reroute their traffic around the southern tip of Africa instead of going through the Suez Canal — a lengthier and more expensive journey for ships traveling between Asia and Europe. Closing the Strait of Hormuz would quickly hit Iran’s own economy as it would prevent it from exporting its petroleum. And it would antagonize China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil and a critical partner that’s used its veto power at the UN Security Council to shield Iran from Western-led sanctions or resolutions.

VATICAN - Pope Leo XIV has seemingly rebuked President Trump over his decision to launch missile strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. The US launched multiple strikes against Iranian targets on Saturday evening, with Trump urging Iranian leaders to come back to the negotiating table. Leo, who has held the papacy for less than two months, posted on the X platform on Sunday afternoon with a warning that “war does not solve problems.” “War does not solve problems; on the contrary, it amplifies them and inflicts deep wounds on the history of peoples, which take generations to heal,” he wrote. ”No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, or stolen futures.” ”May diplomacy silence the weapons! May nations chart their futures with works of peace, not with violence and bloodstained conflicts!”

VATICAN - The Pope also weighed in on the broader problems plaguing the Middle East: Alarming news continues to emerge from the Middle East, especially from Iran. Against this tragic backdrop, which includes Israel and Palestine, people’s daily suffering, especially in Gaza and the other territories, where the need for adequate humanitarian aid is becoming increasingly urgent, risks being forgotten. This is a cry that requires responsibility and reason, and it must not be drowned out by the din of weapons or the rhetoric that incites conflict. Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable chasm. There are no “distant” conflicts when human dignity is at stake.

IRAN - Tehran’s weapons programme has ben ‘obliterated’ says president as America enters the war. Donald Trump said Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities had been “obliterated” after US stealth jets launched a bombing raid overnight, bringing America directly into Israel’s war against Tehran. The US president authorised strikes on Iran’s three principal nuclear sites, including the underground Fordow plant, in the early hours of Sunday morning. “We have completed our very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and [Isfahan],” Mr Trump told the nation. In what is the most consequential decision of Mr Trump’s presidency so far, the assault is a massive escalation and risks opening a new era of instability in the Middle East. In response to the strikes, Iran’s official news channel warned on Sunday that every American – civilian or military personnel – in the region was now a “legitimate target”.

IRAN - Two paths are open to Iran — renew negotiations with the US over the republic’s nuclear programme, or retaliate with further warfare. Now that the much-debated question of American involvement in the Iran-Israel war has been answered, there are two roads left to travel: the renewal of negotiations between the US and Iran to reach a deal over the republic’s nuclear programme, the terms of which are well-known to both, or further warfare, leading to losses on both sides and potentially beyond their borders. The ball is now in Iran’s court, as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, will decide whether to agree to end its nuclear enrichment programme — something the Islamic has so far refused to do — or continue the fight and extend his missile salvo to American military bases around Iran.

USA - The war in Ukraine, tensions in the Middle East, tariffs, inflation and so on and so forth. It sometimes feels like there’s no end to bad news, and, especially in the age of doom scrolling, that can take a toll on people’s mental wellbeing. As a consequence, more and more people actively try to avoid the news or at least ration their exposure to it. As Statista's Felix Richter reports, according to the Reuters Institute’s latest Digital News Report, an average of 40 percent of respondents from 48 countries included in the survey said that they sometimes or often actively avoid the news, a significant increase from 29 percent in 2017, when the question was first asked. As the following chart shows, selective news avoidance, as the Reuters Institute calls it, became significantly more widespread across all markets in recent years, with more than four in 10 respondents from the United Kingdom and the US consciously reducing their news intake. The report finds that news avoidance is often linked with low trust in the news...

MIDDLE EAST - MSNBC issued an on-air correction on Morning Joe Friday after Middle East correspondent Matt Bradley falsely reported Palestinians had been killed in Gaza while waiting for aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). On Thursday, Bradley had been introducing a video package about “controversial aid sites” run by GHF in Gaza. It was the latest in a series of mainstream media efforts to discredit the organization, which is currently the main provider of food aid in Gaza, distributing 2 to 3 million meals a day. The United Nations and Hamas both oppose GHF because it undermines their role and power in Gaza. As Breitbart News has noted, such reports have been false: no deaths or injuries have ever taken place at GHF aid distribution sides."

USA - The United States on Friday reached $37 trillion in debt, less than a year after it surpassed $36 trillion. Multi-billionaire Elon Musk, who is considered the richest man in the world, warned that the benchmark was around the corner on Tuesday, and that the United States was hovering on the edge of going "de facto bankrupt" because the interest payments on the US debt account for 25% of all tax revenue. "If this continues, America goes de facto bankrupt and all tax revenue will go to paying interest on the national debt with nothing left for anything else," he posted to X. The benchmark comes after the US passed the $36 trillion debt threshold in November.

JAPAN - Japan is staring down a food shock. Not from imports. Not from war. From rice. The price of Japan’s most essential staple has more than doubled in the past year. Government data confirms a 101.7 percent year-over-year spike in May. That follows a 98.4 percent jump× in April and a 92.1 percent surge in March. This is not a blip. This is a trend. And it’s rewriting the country’s inflation story. Rice makes up just 0.6 percent of Japan’s official consumer price index. But that number is misleading. Because rice is not just a food item. It’s a multiplier. It feeds into processed foods, restaurant menus, school lunches, and household budgets. Economists now estimate that rice alone is contributing more than 0.6 percent to overall inflation. That’s a distortion. And it’s hitting every level of the economy. The causes are layered. A record heatwave in 2023 scorched yields. Stink bug infestations wiped out large portions of the crop. Panic buying followed earthquake warnings last August, draining retail shelves. Then came the wheat shortage, driven by the Russia–Ukraine war. Consumers pivoted to rice. Demand spiked. Supply didn’t. Prices took off.

USA - Not so long ago, bank runs meant crowds forming lines around blocks, hoping to withdraw savings before the doors shut. That image is out of date. Now, withdrawals happen with a tap on a smartphone. Whole fortunes can disappear from a bank’s balance sheet in seconds. Even just a hint of instability — whether true or not — can spark massive outflows, testing banks in ways never seen before. Customers can move billions if they have the accounts, causing instant liquidity crises. Rickards now asks: "Are we facing problems so huge that even the Fed may not be able to stem the tide? “Are we at the point where the crisis is so big it’s bigger than the Fed… people lose confidence in the dollar itself?” This isn’t just about banks or individual economies. This is about trust in the backbone of the financial world — the US dollar.

USA - Donald Trump is believed to have backed down from military action against Iran, paving the way for diplomatic talks, after realising that a nuclear strike may have been the only way to completely destroy the buried Fordow enrichment plant in Iran. The President is said to have told defence officials it would only make sense for the US to join Israel in striking Iran if its 'bunker buster' bombs are guaranteed to be able to destroy the key enrichment site, according to people familiar with the discussions. Officials were said to have been told that the US would have to soften the ground with conventional bombs before dropping a tactical nuclear weapon from a B2 Bomber to completely destroy the site, believed to be some 90 metres underground. Russia warned today that any use of tactical nuclear weapons in Iran would be 'catastrophic' amid fears it could spark wider conflict across the Middle East.

USA - The gun is locked and loaded. His finger is on the trigger. All Donald Trump has to decide now is when to pull it — and destroy Iran's nuclear weapons facilities, buried deep underground, with giant 'bunker buster' bombs only America is able to deliver. The prospect of yet another Middle East military venture, this time in cahoots with Israel, is causing some dismay in MAGA circles, which has a visceral dislike of foreign entanglements. After all, they elected Trump specifically to avoid another 'forever war'. But Trump has never wavered from his belief that under no circumstances can Iran be allowed to possess nuclear bombs — and that's a popular position with the MAGA base. If the destruction of Tehran's nuclear capabilities is enough of a humiliation for the Iranian regime — on top of all the other humiliations Israel is currently inflicting on it — to lead to its demise then MAGA is ready to cheer that on too.

ISRAEL - Israel killed “dozens” of Iran’s remaining military leaders, including wartime Chief of Staff Major-General Ali Shademani, on Monday by bombing the mountain hideout to which they had retreated, the Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday. The Post said: Shademani was assassinated at a secret compound in the mountains outside of Tehran along with dozens of other senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers who had fled from their main headquarters in Tehran, believing they would be safe. Instead, the IAF [Israeli Air Force] waited for them to move to the “secret” location and then killed them all at the same time. Fox News reported the new revelations first on Wednesday, and The Jerusalem Post independently verified the information from senior defense sources.