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Internal calls to end war get louder as Gulf neighbours plan alternative pipelines to cut reliance on waterwayIs the strait of Hormuz, recently cited by the office of the Iranian supreme leader as “the pillar of Iran’s new security order”, and as transformative as possessing a nuclear weapon, in reality becoming a fast-diminishing asset, leaving Iran increasingly vulnerable to the new planned US wave of economic sanctions?It is the key debate that is raging inside Iran, with many different conclusions being drawn for Tehran’s negotiating strategy. Those who warn the strait’s value as a chokehold on the world economy will erode, leaving the country without foreign exchange reserves, argue that Iran’s negotiators should seek a deal soon. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump has submitted a nuclear agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Congress for approval, a move that has the potential to radically reshape the balance of power in the Middle East, according to a new report. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing "an administration official," that the agreement includes a stipulation that Saudi Arabia recognize the State of Israel and sign the Abraham Accords. The Kingdom has not signed the accords because of Israel's resistance to Palestinian statehood. The Journal added that the agreement is expected to set off "intense debate" on Capitol Hill. "When Trump officials announced the 30-year accord last month, they said then that it would give U.S. companies a central role in developing Saudi Arabia’s nuclear infrastructure while excluding foreign competition," the report reads in part."But the deal has proved to be controversial because it would potentially open the door for uranium enrichment to take place on Saudi territory," it added. The deal was submitted at a time when Trump appears to be looking for a way out of the war against Iran. Trump has threatened to increase hostilities with the regime if it does not relent, but those threats have thus far yielded no returns. Meanwhile, public polling shows that more than three-quarters of Americans are against the war. Economic data has also pointed to the conflict for the ongoing economic challenges, which are also weighing on Trump's approval rating.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly slipped into Moscow on a secret trip Tuesday, marking the highest-level visit by a Trump administration official to Russia since January — even as the Kremlin insists no such meeting is happening at all.CBS News and Axios both reported Ratcliffe's presence in the Russian capital, citing sources familiar with the situation, though neither outlet identified who he was meeting or what was discussed. Meanwhile, according to Al Jazeera, flight-tracking data showed a U.S. military C-17 departing Riga, Latvia early Tuesday morning and landing in Moscow roughly 74 minutes later, before departing again later in the day.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov flatly denied anything was underway, saying, "No, there are no such plans." When pressed specifically about reports of the U.S. military plane landing in Moscow, Peskov claimed he had "no such information."But Axios reported that Washington gave Ukraine advance notice of the senior delegation's trip and asked Kyiv to hold off on strikes until the group left Russian territory.The visit comes as U.S.-brokered talks to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine remain stalled, though Moscow did free a former U.S. Marine detained since 2022 earlier this month, reportedly over health concerns.Ratcliffe has quietly played a central role in several high-profile prisoner swaps between Washington and Moscow since President Trump returned to office in January 2025, including the release of dual national Ksenia Karelina last year. If confirmed, his reported Moscow trip would be the first by a sitting CIA director since William Burns traveled there in 2021.The CIA declined to comment on the reports.

President Donald Trump spent Tuesday morning threatening Canada online while Ottawa put a nearly 100-page tariff schedule on the calendar he cannot stop.Four Canadian cabinet ministers announced the retaliatory tariffs in Ottawa on Tuesday, according to the New York Times. The duties cover about 700 American products and take effect Sept. 8.The rates range from 15 to 50 percent, matching the level Washington set for each product, according to CNBC. Prime Minister Mark Carney had promised a "dollar for dollar" response after talks collapsed Friday night, the Times reported.The schedule runs nearly 100 pages, Global News senior journalist Mackenzie Gray reported on X. It taxes fish, stoves, carpets, men's suits and fishing rods."Our preference was to find a deal that benefits both countries," Canadian trade minister Dominic LeBlanc told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday. "We still believe that's possible. But in the meantime, we're not waiting by the phone."Trump answered on Truth Social, where he suggested halting business with Ontario and repeatedly floated renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America," CNBC reported."I deal with many countries, and Canada is easily the most difficult and unreasonable," Trump wrote in one post.Trump warned Monday that he would double tariffs on Canadian cars and auto parts to 50 percent, but not until Jan. 1, 2027, Global News reported. Canada's deadline is two weeks away.Canada doubled its own tariffs on American steel and aluminum to 50 percent, the Times reported. Ottawa added $7.5 billion for businesses and workers harmed by the trade war, according to CNBC.Senior Canadian officials said the list was not built to punish particular American businesses or states, but to help Canadian industry, Gray reported.Trump has also complained that the United States runs a trade deficit with Canada. That gap exists largely because Americans buy Canadian crude oil, CNBC reported.His tariffs have excluded oil, natural gas, potash and many minerals, according to the Times.Polls taken before the tariffs took effect Saturday showed broad Canadian support for retaliation, the Times noted. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has pressed for it, while Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has urged restraint.Canada's economy is about one-twelfth the size of the American economy, according to the Times, and economists say the resulting price increases will hurt Canadian companies, too.

The Trump administration deported a father of two who helped them prosecute Mexican drug cartels and put him at extreme risk of torture, Maryland court records show. The man, identified only as John Doe, was the subject of a memorandum opinion filed Friday by U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher.Doe was granted Deferral of Removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 2024 after an immigration judge found he would likely be tortured if returned to Mexico, where he had testified against cartel-affiliated defendants on behalf of the Justice Department.Journalist Kyle Cheney wrote on social media Sunday that Doe "was illegally removed three times in recent weeks," including once to Mexico despite his CAT protection. Gallagher's opinion details a chaotic series of removals beginning in July, including one attempt to deport Doe to Guatemala, which refused to accept him and handed him to Mexican officials, who also declined to take him. Doe was deported to Mexico outright on Aug. 1 “without his phone or other personal belongings.”The opinion notes that Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director David Venturella and Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally moved to terminate Doe's CAT protection just days before his removal in a process the court called "extremely rare,” and with no explanation in the record for their involvement.Former immigration attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick wrote that Doe "put himself at enormous risk to turn on the cartels and testify against them, making him a target for a hideous death if they ever got their hands on him," adding that "the Trump admin deported him to Mexico anyway."Journalist Christy Somos described the pattern more broadly, writing that the administration is "just grabbing people and throwing them wherever – other countries, camps, in danger."Gallagher ordered Doe's immediate return and directed that he be detained within 200 miles of Baltimore, Maryland, if held further, with daily status reports required until he arrives.A man who aided US authorities by testifying against Mexican cartels was illegally removed *three times* in recent weeks — including to Mexico, where he had protection from deportation due to threat of torture/death.A judge in MD has ordered his return.https://t.co/McUyfk3yFL pic.twitter.com/7hlurhoRG4— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 23, 2026

Onlookers were left stunned Sunday as new details emerged regarding the now-collapsed U.S.-Canada trade negotiations, details that include a series of extraordinary demands from the Trump administration.Trade talks between Washington and Ottawa fell through Friday, leading both nations to vow to impose tariffs on each other. President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on a number of Canadian goods, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to match those tariffs “dollar for dollar.”As to why the talks fell through, a number of news outlets, along with Carney himself, have since revealed a series of “last-minute” demands proposed by the Trump administration that critics argued "encroached on Canadian sovereignty.”Carney claimed that Trump demanded “Canada change its French language.” Carney also claimed that the Trump administration “introduced language in the final hours of negotiations that would have restricted Canada’s ability to make trade deals with other countries,” the Associated Press reported Sunday.Accepting such terms, Carney said, would have reduced Canada to “the economic equivalent of the 51st state.”Luis Moreno, the former U.S. ambassador to Jamaica, called the Trump administration’s demands “utter and total insanity.” Arnaud Bertrand, a notable entrepreneur, described the Trump administration’s demands as “insane,” and called them “de-facto annexation.”Canadian physician and health commentator Kashif Pirzada also expressed shock, calling the Trump administration’s demands “basically colonization through the back door,” and author and military researcher Chris Owen argued there was no scenario in which Canada would even entertain such demands.“The US wanted Canada to automatically mirror US tariffs and break its own existing trade deals with its partners – in effect running Ottawa's trade policy from Washington,” Owen wrote Sunday in a social media post on X. “No country could have accepted that.”Utter and total insanity. WOW. https://t.co/NctaFqiEFV— Luis Moreno (@LuisMorenolg) August 23, 2026

President Donald Trump has received a stark warning from a ranking member of the House Budget Committee over a recent late-night social media attack. U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) appeared on MS NOW Sunday morning to condemn Trump's economic policies as he threatens the United States' northern neighbor with a trade war. "This is going to be massive overall in terms of both exports and imports," Boyle said. "At a time in which the American economy is really teetering on recession, this is the kind of thing that actually could push us over the edge."Trump's new 50 percent tariffs went into effect after trade talks fell apart on Friday, prompting Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney to argue the country was under attack."They asked too much and they offered too little," Carney said. "You're at war when you get attacked. We got attacked."A dollar-for-dollar retaliation — which would target exports such as steel, dairy appliances and agricultural equipment — is now slated to take place on Sept. 8. "These are the largest tariffs that we have faced in almost a century," said Boyle. "The last time tariffs were this large, of course, was the Great Depression."Boyle blamed both Trump and Republicans in Congress for the growing threat of recession — then made a telling slip of the tongue. "Why is a Republican majority in Congress just so weak that they're not willing to stand up for this president," said Boyle, then corrected himself on the "Freudian slip." "Or, stand up to this president," he said. "Instead, they're standing up for this president."

A vape distributor accused of illegally peddling nicotine products to kids has found a champion in Washington, D.C., a former ally of President Donald Trump's who is raking in millions as a lobbyist.His name is Roger Stone. Mother Jones reported Thursday that Stone has earned more than $4 million as a lobbyist for firms such as vape-distributor Ecto World under the new administration."Trump’s return to the White House has been a tremendous boon to Stone, who not long ago was claiming he had been nearly bankrupted by legal fees," Mother Jones reported. The report describes him as a "conspiracy theorist and political provocateur who was convicted of lying to Congress and witness tampering in the Trump–Russia investigation, sentenced to 40 months in prison, and subsequently pardoned by Trump."Stone’s lobbying firm Drake Ventures has signed up a slew of clients that include the cryptocurrency investor “Bitcoin Jesus,” indicted last year on federal fraud charges, and the military junta in Myanmar, reportedly paying Stone $50,000 a month.Crimes against humanity have spiked in the Junta since the military takeover in 2021, the report notes. As for Ecto World, it stands accused in New York of trying to get people hooked on nicotine. "New York State Attorney General Letitia James sued Ecto World and other vape companies for illegally distributing, marketing, and selling addictive candy- and fruit-flavored disposable nicotine products," the report states, "many produced in China, targeting sales to children and fueling the youth vaping epidemic."