| U.S. resumes strikes on Iran, hitting Larak Island. Iran retaliates, striking U.S. base in Jordan. Iranian president says U.S. is not “keeping commitments.” UAE says it intercepted an Iranian drone on Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump posts AI-generated video claiming Kharg Island attack; U.S. and Iran say no strike occurred. Tanker hits mines in Strait of Hormuz, now ablaze. Tanker struck by unknown projectile in Strait of Hormuz. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei calls to phase out the U.S. dollar from Iran’s economy. Oil prices spike after U.S. resumes strikes. U.S. distillate fuel stocks at record seasonal low. Israeli strikes on Gaza kill five on Monday, wound fishermen. Israel continues attacks on Gaza over the weekend. Israeli attacks on the occupied West Bank continue. Israel advances settlement expansion east of Jerusalem as Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir leads settler incursion into Al-Aqsa. Israeli settlers attack NBC crew, Palestinian woman. Israeli attacks hit three southern Lebanon districts despite “ceasefire.” Federal judge rules Trump administration unconstitutionally targets critics of Israel for deportation. U.S. deports dozens to Central African Republic, including Afghan protected from Taliban threats. ICE plans to purchase $2 million worth of “robot dogs.” Israel evacuates Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son from the U.S. over “significant threat.” Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed apologizes for comments about attack on synagogue. Trump administration proposes Yosemite land swap on behalf of developer. Pentagon secretly employs conservative influencers to promote War Secretary Pete Hegseth, attack critics. Ex-Ecuador president Lenín Moreno sentenced to 5 years for bribe scheme. Israel signs $3.5 billion air defense deal with Greece. South Africa submits dossier to ICJ on Israeli non-compliance in genocide case. Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez reveals details of U.S. oil deal. WSJ: Pentagon to take stake in Venezuelan oil venture. Russian strike hits transportation infrastructure in Danube grain hub. Ukraine’s former defense minister seeks U.S. money for new weapons fund. UN Security Council convenes emergency meeting on Haiti.This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap. We send it Monday–Friday. Upgrade to paid. Iran: U.S. resumes strikes on Iran, hitting Larak Island: U.S. forces struck Iran’s Larak Island on Sunday, killing two Iranians and wounding two others. U.S. President Donald Trump paused military action in late July, claiming he had shelved plans for the “biggest attack since World War II” following appeals from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, and saying talks with Iran were ongoing, amid reports at the time that U.S. Patriot interceptor stocks were depleted. U.S. forces claimed Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) troops were preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz from the island.A U.S. drone carried out the strike, according to Tasnim, an outlet affiliated with Iran’s IRGC.The strike was the first known U.S. attack on Iran since late July.Iran retaliates, striking U.S. base in Jordan: Iran said it fired ballistic missiles at two U.S. air bases in Jordan—the King Hussein (Mafraq) and Al-Azraq (Muwaffaq Salti) bases—with the IRGC claiming the strikes destroyed maintenance infrastructure and fighter jet deployment sites.Jordan said it intercepted eight missiles that entered its airspace, according to Al-Mamlaka TV.Trump told Fox News on Monday morning that the U.S. would respond to the Jordan attack, in which he claimed all but one of the missiles were intercepted. “We’re going to hit them hard,” he said.Iranian president says U.S. is not “keeping commitments”: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in response to the resumption of attacks that Iran “never welcomes war,” but that his U.S counterparts had not “fulfilled their commitments.”Pezeshkian made the remarks at a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. The two reportedly discussed maritime arrangements through the Strait of Hormuz, as well as cooperation at Iran’s Chabahar port, where India has invested more than $120 million. A waiver on U.S. sanctions at the port expired on Sunday.UAE says it intercepted an Iranian drone on Monday: The United Arab Emirates said on Monday that it had “dealt with” an Iranian drone that had been detected over its waters in a statement from its Defense Ministry.The Iranian army claimed it had targeted the Al Minhad air base in Dubai. The UAE then issued a second statement denying that the base had been hit, calling such allegations “false.”Trump posts AI-generated video claiming Kharg Island attack; U.S. and Iran say no strike occurred: A U.S. official denied Monday that forces had struck Iran’s main oil export hub on Kharg Island, Reuters reported, after Trump posted an AI-generated video purporting to show the island being attacked. “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens,” Trump wrote alongside the video on Truth Social.National Iranian Oil Company chief Hamid Bovard called Trump’s post “laughable,” and said conditions on the island were “calm and appropriate.”Trump later declared that Iran was “officially a Failed Nation” and “DEAD” in another Truth Social post.Tanker hits mines in Hormuz, now ablaze: An oil tanker caught fire after hitting two sea mines while attempting to take an “illegal” route through the Strait of Hormuz, the IRGC reported on Monday. The statement did not provide details on casualties or the extent of the damage.The U.S.-led Joint Maritime Information Center said Sunday there remains a “continued risk of drifting or uncharted mines” in and near the Strait of Hormuz’s main traffic lanes, with mine danger areas still active. The Joint Maritime Information Center recorded 65 U.S.-facilitated Hormuz transits from August 27–29, compared with a historical baseline of roughly 138 vessels per day.Tanker struck by unknown projectile in Strait of Hormuz: A tanker was struck on Saturday by an unknown projectile while transiting inbound through the Strait of Hormuz, about 12 nautical miles north of Khasab, Oman. No casualties or environmental impact were reported.The source of the projectile remains unknown. Iran has struck multiple vessels in the past month as the U.S. military seeks to continue the shuttle trade with dark transits going through the southern Omani route.Khamenei calls to phase out the U.S. dollar from Iran’s economy: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei called for gradually phasing the U.S. dollar out of Iran’s economy and building a self-reliant “resistance economy” centered on domestic production, in a written message issued Saturday.He urged the government to tackle inflation, unemployment, and price controls, and to direct investment toward essential sectors.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this past week issued additional sanctions against 60 new Iranian entities, aimed at completely severing Iran’s economic ties worldwide.Oil prices spike after U.S. resumes strikes: Oil prices rose more than $1 a barrel Monday, pushing the war past its sixth month, Reuters reported. Brent surged past the $90 threshold to an intraday high of $91.52 a barrel, with US WTI crude climbing to $86.79.Palestine: Killed and wounded in Gaza: Over the past 24 hours, two Palestinians were killed, and 10 were injured in attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,456 killed, with 174,496 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,320 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,385, while 815 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.Israeli strikes on Gaza kill five on Monday, wound fishermen: An Israeli strike on Gaza City on Monday killed three Palestinians in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, WAFA reported. A separate attack earlier on Monday killed two Palestinians west of Gaza City.Israeli warships fired on fishermen working off the coast of Gaza, injuring five.Israel continues attacks on Gaza over the weekend: Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians and wounded at least 18 across Gaza on Saturday.An Israeli drone struck a Palestinian delivery rider and his electric bicycle in southwestern Gaza City, killing the driver and wounding three others.Separately on Saturday, Israeli forces fired on Al-Masdar village, killing a Palestinian man, and Israeli tank and artillery fire hit eastern areas of Khan Younis, wounding two in Al-Mawasi. An Israeli quadcopter also dropped bombs near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia.On Sunday, an Israeli strike near a bakery in western Deir al-Balah killed a three-year-old Palestinian boy.Drop Site contributor Mohamed Ahmed reported from the site of the strike, speaking to the boy’s relatives. His voice breaking, one relative said the boy was born after seven years of waiting. “Oh, Taim. You wanted Pringles. Taim, I promised you I’d bring you Pringles.” Watch his dispatch here.Israeli attacks on the occupied West Bank continue:Ramallah: Israeli soldiers shot and injured four Palestinians in the village of Al-Mughayyir on Sunday, after a heavy raid on the city, during which Israeli soldiers deployed tear gas against the residents of the area. Separately, Israeli settlers forced a Palestinian family out of their home in the majority-Christian village of al-Taybeh on Monday, following a week of threats and attacks, WAFA reported. The settlers began circling the house in quad bikes last week, according to the owners, before attacking the house’s entrance, attempting to steal their belongings and cutting their internet cables and fences.Nablus: Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian home in Qusra, south of Nablus on Saturday, hurling stones and entering through a window as Israeli soldiers stood nearby without intervening, Haaretz reported. Israeli soldiers later arrested the Palestinian residents of the home. On Monday, Israeli settlers demolished a two-story Palestinian home in Nablus city, and Israeli forces detained a Palestinian man from the Balata refugee camp after a raid on a cafe in the area.East Jerusalem: Israeli forces raided the UNRWA Qalandiya Institute for Vocational Education for Refugees in Qalandiya once again on Monday, after a raid on the facility last Tuesday provoked international condemnation.Jericho: Israeli forces raided the Aqaba Jabr refugee camp on Monday, prompting “clashes,” according to WAFA. The soldiers reportedly fired stun grenades into the camp and pursued several Palestinian young men within.Jenin: Israeli settlers established a new settlement, “Noa,” on Palestinian land in the Jenin governorate, with Israeli ministers and Knesset members holding a ceremony at the site on Monday. Separately, in the town of Qabatiya, Israeli forces detained a Palestinian young man while he passed through a checkpoint, closing entrances into the village after doing so.Israel advances settlement expansion east of Jerusalem as Ben-Gvir leads settler incursion into Al-Aqsa: Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday under Israeli police protection, leading groups of settlers into the site, according to the Jerusalem Governorate. The Governorate condemned the incursion as a “dangerous escalation” and a violation of the historic and legal status quo at Al-Aqsa, warning of efforts to impose greater Israeli control over the mosque.Separately, Israeli authorities declared 370.28 dunams (91.5 acres) of land in Abu Dis and Arab al-Sawahra as “state property,” according to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission. The move advances plans for the Mishmar Yehuda settlement in occupied East Jerusalem; the total land claimed by Israelis for the project is now about 3,750 dunams (927 acres).Israeli settlers attack NBC crew, Palestinian woman: On Saturday, a group of masked settlers armed with clubs beat a team of NBC correspondents and Aida Ahmed Abdullah, a 51-year-old Palestinian woman they were interviewing, in the occupied West Bank village of Jaldu, near Nablus. The attack left the woman unconscious, NBC correspondent Matt Bradley reported.Abdullah was describing to the network how settlers had recently forced her family out of their home.Bradley was struck twice in the arm, and the team’s producer, cameraman, and driver all sustained injuries. The attack also heavily damaged the team’s broadcast equipment.Lebanon: Israeli attacks hit three southern Lebanon districts despite “ceasefire”: Israeli forces carried out attacks across three districts of southern Lebanon overnight and on Monday despite the ceasefire.In Marjayoun, a series of powerful, successive Israeli explosions caused part of a mountain in Qantara to collapse, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Footage shows extensive damage to the side of the mountain.In Nabatieh, the Israeli military carried out a large explosion in the town of Arnoun, near the northern edge of Beaufort Castle.In Tyre (Sour), Israeli forces shelled Mansouri and Buyout Al-Sayyad overnight and into the early morning hours.On Sunday, Israeli forces carried out strikes on Douha Kfar Rumman, near Nabatieh, and al-Qantara in the Marjayoun district, Lebanese media reported. Israeli forces also fired phosphorus munitions around Kfar Tibnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa. Airstrikes in at least five locations, artillery shelling across 10, and a drone strike near Nabatieh al-Fawqa were reported on Saturday by journalist Courtney Bonneau. U.S. News Federal judge rules Trump administration unconstitutionally targets critics of Israel for deportation: Judge Noël Wise ruled in San Jose that the Trump administration is unconstitutionally silencing noncitizen critics of Israel’s Gaza war and others through its threats of deportation.Wise’s Friday ruling follows a suit brought by The Stanford Daily, which had argued the policy chilled international students from speaking out against the genocide. Noncitizens at the paper had quit, withheld articles, refused assignments, requested articles be taken down, and asked for anonymity out of fear of deportation.Wise wrote that “the government has offered a chilling message regarding protected speech—speak out against Israel or in support of Palestinians, and we will revoke your visa and deport you. U.S. deports dozens to Central African Republic, including Afghan protected from Taliban threats: The United States deported dozens of people to the Central African Republic on Saturday, including a group of 12 Afghans, eight Iranians, and several from Nepal and Nicaragua, according to the immigrants’ rights group Human Rights First.The flight marks the second such deportation to the country since June.Among those deported was an Afghan man in his early twenties who had been granted protection against deportation to Afghanistan by a U.S. judge over fears of Taliban persecution, according to his lawyer. The man’s family faced Taliban threats due to his brothers’ collaboration with the U.S. military.ICE plans to purchase $2 million worth of “robot dogs”: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to spend up to $2 million on “robot dogs,” according to a federal procurement notice reported by ABC News. Manufactured by Boston Dynamics, the robots will support “law enforcement operations,” according to the notice. The news comes after ICE’s decision earlier this month to purchase gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks.Israel evacuates Netanyahu’s son from U.S. over “significant threat”: Israel’s Shin Bet security agency confirmed it evacuated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s oldest son, Yair Netanyahu, from the United States due to a “significant threat” against him. The agency did not elaborate on the nature or source of the threat.Yair, who moved to Miami in 2023 and remained abroad for much of Israel’s wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, has often served as an unofficial adviser to his father.El-Sayed apologizes for comments about attack on synagogue: Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, apologized Saturday to the state’s Jewish Democratic Caucus for a March statement about an attack on Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township that included the phrase “hurt people hurt people,” saying “if my statement caused pain, I’m sorry.”Despite mounting pressure from pro-Israel groups and Democratic officials, El-Sayed declined to disavow streamer Hasan Piker, who campaigned with him during the primary: “I am not interested in a conversation about a social-media person in California.”Trump administration proposes Yosemite land swap on behalf of developer: The Trump administration proposed transferring a small parcel of land inside Yosemite National Park’s western boundary to a company controlled by real estate firm Kingsbarn Realty Capital, whose CEO Jeff Pori donated more than $4,000 to Trump’s 2024 campaign, in exchange for the firm purchasing equivalent-value land elsewhere in California for the Park Service, according to The New York Times.Kingsbarn wants the swap to build a road enabling access to two 40-acre parcels it bought near the park in 2024 for an “upscale” development of cabins and commercial buildings, a representative of the company told the Times.Pentagon secretly employs conservative influencers to promote Hegseth, attack critics: The Pentagon has quietly installed several conservative military veterans with large online followings into government roles, including retired colonels Rob Maness, Kurt Schlichter, and Thomas Anderson, without disclosing their assignments, according to The Washington Post.Maness, Schlichter, and Anderson have published columns and social media posts defending Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and attacking military critics without disclosing their Pentagon ties.Maness and Schlichter, who have over 135,000 and nearly 620,000 X followers, respectively, hold active “.civ” government email addresses assigned to the office of Undersecretary of Defense Anthony Tata, though a Pentagon spokesman declined to say whether any are paid or to detail their roles. |
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