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A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
IRAN WAR
President Trump directed the U.S. military not to conduct new strikes in Iran on Friday, breaking a nearly two-week streak in daily attacks, two sources said. “We’re talking to [the Iranians] right now. I think they’re getting more and more serious as the days go by. We’re locked and loaded and ready to go, but we’re talking to them,” Trump told reporters. Two sources told Axios that Trump’s decision came after a meeting with his top advisers, in which Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, recommended stopping the bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz because it had reached the limit of its effectiveness. Cooper reportedly said a possible next step would be to resume major combat operations to finish the 20% of targets the U.S. military designated but did not strike during Operation Epic Fury. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
The private deliberations on Friday also focused on the Pentagon’s shrinking inventory of Patriot interceptors and other air defenses, Trump administration officials said. One senior official told the New York Times that resuming major combat operations with Iran was unlikely to drive Iran back to the negotiating table. The official said the strikes have had the opposite effect of what was intended, keeping Iran cohesive and allowing Iranian leaders to focus attention on an external threat. Eric Schmitt and Jonathan Swan report.
Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz said yesterday that Trump is giving ongoing talks with Iran “some space” as he considers whether to escalate attacks. Waltz also pushed back on reports that Trump’s decision to pause strikes and back away from escalation was driven in part by concerns about depleted U.S. munitions. Sammy Westfall and Suzan Haidamous report for the Washington Post.
Iran will halt its own attacks as long as the United States does the same, a senior Iranian official told Reuters yesterday. Since the Pentagon suspended strikes late on Friday, Iran also held fire over the weekend. The Iranian official added that Tehran did not hold much hope that Trump’s decision to pause strikes represented a major shift in the U.S. negotiating position. Parisa Hafezi, Phil Stewart, and Raphael Satter report.
Iranian state-affiliated media reported yesterday that an oil tanker exploded after hitting a mine in the Strait of Hormuz. Sammy Westfall and Suzan Haidamous report for the Washington Post.
U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is more interested than his father and predecessor in pursuing a nuclear weapon, according to officials briefed on the assessments. U.S. officials caution that most of the intelligence on Mojtaba Khamenei’s views comes from before the war. Julian E. Barnes reports for the New York Times.
The United States and the United Kingdom are planning to convene a high-level meeting in London this week that will focus on a potential international coalition to protect maritime shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, two European diplomats and two other sources said. A White House official confirmed the U.S. and U.K. want to convene the conference this week. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
IRAN WAR – YEMEN
Ship traffic through Bab-el-Mandeb fell yesterday after the Houthis attacked Saudi oil installations along the Red Sea Coast, shipping data from Kpler showed today. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group struck sites belonging to Saudi state oil company Aramco in the cities of Jizan and Yanbu on Saturday. Eleven commodity vessels passed through the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Sunday, the lowest level in months, according to the shipping data. Florence Tan reports for Reuters; Lefteris Papadimas and Idrees Ali report for Reuters.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
The Pentagon yesterday changed the way it reports casualties in the Iran war, moving deaths and injuries since July 7 to a separate “overseas operations casualties” page. This means that a full accounting of the overall casualties since the war began requires adding numbers from separate web pages. Helene Cooper reports for the New York Times.
Bahrain and Kuwait secretly sent jets to attack sites inside Iran earlier this month, their first such direct retaliation against Tehran, sources said. The United Arab Emirates – which attacked Iran multiple times early in the war – provided intelligence on targets and defensive cover for the strikes, the sources added. Kuwait’s ambassador to the United States denied that Kuwait had struck Iran. Summer Said and Shelby Holliday report for the Wall Street Journal.
Trump switched his aircraft when leaving the NATO summit in Turkey earlier this month after what officials judge to be a credible threat that Iranian proxy forces were targeting him and Air Force One, multiple sources said. The intelligence did not indicate that the new Qatari-donated jet was specifically being targeted; rather, the concern was that any aircraft carrying the president could be attacked, leading the Secret Service to recommend an immediate switch to the older Air Force One, which has more advanced defensive systems. Tyler Pager, Julian E. Barnes, and Maggie Haberman report for the New York Times.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Tuesday, a White House official confirmed to Axios. Zelenskyy will be in Washington for Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral, ABC reported, citing a Ukrainian official. Andrew Pantazi reports.
Russia considers it premature to comment on reports that the United States and Ukraine are discussing a possible halt to aerial attacks as part of efforts to end the war, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday. Reuters reports.
Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Russia wanted to bring a further 30,000 North Korean troops to join its war effort against Ukraine. “Preparations have been under way in Russia’s Voronezh region since June to receive them,” Zelenskyy added. Reuters reports.
Ukraine wants a prototype for a European anti-ballistic system, codenamed Freyja, to be ready within the first half of next year, Davyd Aloian, deputy secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, said. Aloian added that an international steering committee tasked with estimating the research and development costs was due to convene for the first time soon. Yuliia Dysa reports for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet yesterday approved the legal framework that would allow a multinational security force to enter Gaza as proposed under Trump’s ceasefire plan, an Israeli official said. The official added that the mission will include 200 members from “friendly countries such as Uganda and Morocco,” deploying to areas not under Israeli control. It remains unclear when the forces would deploy. Reuters reports.
An Israeli airstrike yesterday killed a senior Hamas security official and an associate as they drove through central Gaza, medics and police officials said. Reuters reports.
WEST BANK VIOLENCE
The Israeli military detained over 70 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank over the weekend, following violence that resulted in the deaths of four Palestinian villagers and two Israeli soldiers. Palestinians described aggressive searches that included an armed raid of a hospital in the city of Nablus. An Israeli military statement did not mention the hospital, but it said over 300 locations were searched and what it described as affiliates of the Hamas militant group, arms traffickers, “terrorists” and others were detained. AP News reports.
Two mosques in the occupied West Bank were set on fire on Saturday in an apparent Israeli settler attack, officials said yesterday. Melanie Lidman reports for AP News.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin resigned on Friday, citing ill health. The move comes amid growing political pressure and speculation over the planned return of Shahabuddin’s old ally, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in 2024 and later convicted in absentia of crimes against humanity. Max Kim and Saif Hasnat report for the New York Times.
Member states of the International Criminal Court on Friday voted to dismiss Karim Khan as chief prosecutor following allegations of sexual misconduct. Sources told Reuters that 82 of the court’s 125 member states voted in favour of Khan’s removal. Reuters reports.
Belgian authorities said on Saturday that a Canadian intern at NATO’s military headquarters had been arrested on suspicion of spying for another country. The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s office said the woman was “of Chinese origin” and was arrested on Friday. Francesca Regalado reports for the New York Times.
Flávio Bolsonaro, eldest son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, on Saturday formally launched his presidential campaign, showcasing support from Argentine President Javier Milei, an AI-generated message from his jailed father and a video address from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Luciano Novaes Magalhaes reports for Reuters.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Brazil has denied visas to two senior State Department officials who planned to cast doubt on the fairness and integrity of Brazil’s electoral system ahead of the October election, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. Brazilian officials said the U.S. officials’ visa applications stated that they planned to hold “meetings with authorities involved in the electoral process.” Marina Dias, Terrence McCoy, and Samantha Schmidt report for the Washington Post.
A new report from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft says Israel has shifted its U.S. influence strategy from relying primarily on pro-Israel advocacy groups such as AIPAC to spending heavily on registered foreign lobbying, PR firms, influencers, digital advertising and AI-related messaging. Jacob Wendler reports for POLITICO.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
A coalition of tech companies on Friday urged the Trump administration to preserve access to open-weight AI models, warning in a letter that restricting the technology would undermine competition and drive more users towards Chinese AI systems. Katherine Long reports for POLITICO.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
ICE has made plans to ramp up operations to deport Haitian migrants, as hundreds of thousands of Haitians prepare for the termination of their Temporary Protected Status, according to two agency sources and documents obtained by CBS News. The plans include arresting migrants in Ohio and quickly putting them on deportation flights to Haiti, with documents suggesting that operations could start as early as this week. Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports.
The Trump administration is reviewing its process for vetting ICE officers after reports that the agent reportedly involved in the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán in Maine on July 13 had a history of violent outbursts, White House Border Czar Tom Homan said yesterday. Homan did not confirm that David Brouillette shot Durán, but he said that the Department of Homeland Security is investigating whether the vetting process failed. Marian Alfaro reports for the Washington Post.
The small bags found inside the van being driven by Lorenzo Salgado Aurajo, who was killed by an ICE agent in Houston this month, did not contain drugs, the Harris County district attorney’s office confirmed on Friday. Madeleine Rubin reports for the New York Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Trump on Friday ordered signs to be installed outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to warn visitors about “inaccurate information” presented in the museum. Riya Misra reports for POLITICO.
The Trump administration said last week it had signed a $292 million contract to provide up to 2,000 housing units for National Guard troops deployed in Washington, D.C. The contract with Placemakr would allow some of the 4,755 troops deployed in the capital to move into housing in apartment-style units from short-term housing at hotels. Chris Cameron reports for the New York Times.
The Trump administration acknowledged this month that it had terminated nearly $7.5 billion in clean energy grants last October “based solely” on whether projects were located in states that voted for Kamala Harris and had Democratic Senate representation, according to a court filing. Tony Romm and Brad Plumer report for the New York Times.
A New York Times investigation reports that Trump’s push to rapidly put the donated Qatari Boeing 747 into service as Air Force One led to hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs and the omission or delay of some security and safety features, with the aircraft later requiring further upgrades. Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Maggie Haberman report.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal appeals court on Saturday upheld a lower court ruling blocking key parts of Trump’s executive order to restrict voting by mail. The court said that Trump’s order “directs unprecedented levels of involvement by federal officials in how states administer elections.” Adam Sella reports for the New York Times.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.
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