Early Edition: August 6, 2026

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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:

IRAN WAR

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said yesterday that Iran and Oman are close to finalizing an agreement on an acceptable route for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, adding that “the geographic coordinates of the route…have been agreed upon.” A senior Iranian source and two regional sources told Reuters that the proposed deal would give Tehran control over ships entering the Strait. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told Iran’s state news agency that the arrangement ⁠was “designed in such a way that commercial ships will pass through Iranian territorial waters, both on the inbound and outbound legs.” Iranian and Omani negotiators told AP News that the finalized deal is awaiting approval from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. Yeganeh Torbati and Sanam Mahoozi report for the New York Times; Elena Becatoros, Samy Magdy, and Darlene Superville report; Parisa Hafezi and Timour Azhari report. 

Iran warned Gulf states that any new U.S. attack on its territory would trigger retaliation against critical energy infrastructure across the region, according to five sources. The warning was delivered through a flurry of high-level diplomatic contacts after Trump threatened on July 28 to strike Iran’s energy network, the sources said. Parisa Hafezi and Samia Nakhoul report for Reuters.

IRAN WAR – LEBANON 

An explosion in southern Lebanon yesterday killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded four, the Israeli military said today. Israel launched strikes in response to what it described as Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire and issued a call for residents of the village of Mansouri to flee. Hezbollah did not comment on the explosion. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an Israeli strike in the town of Tebnine killed one person and wounded 12. The latest escalation came as Israeli and Lebanese negotiators met in Rome to discuss the implementation of a June 26 U.S.-brokered deal. Abby Sewell and Koral Saeed report for AP News. 

IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS 

President Trump confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Camp David last week over why he had not been properly informed about extreme munitions shortages that now threaten to limit military options with Iran, two sources told the Washington Post. The shortages, particularly in long-range guided missiles and air-defense interceptors, were part of the reason that Trump pulled back from launching additional massive strikes against Iran in recent days, one source said. Tara Copp, Natalie Allison, and Noah Robertson report. 

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday that allies have supplied just a third of the air defense missiles to Ukraine in 2026 compared to 2025. Zelenskyy also warned that Moscow is seeking to accelerate its ballistic missile production ahead of winter, when it is expected to renew its campaign against Ukraine’s energy sector. Yuliia Dysa reports for Reuters.  

Reuters reports that residents of Zaporizhzhia say Russia has intensified attacks in recent weeks using glide bombs and first-person-view drones. “Even half a year ago it was still scary, of course, and there were strikes. But it wasn’t like this. Now it’s just a safari,” one resident said. Ukrainians have adopted the term “safari” to describe drones “hunting down” civilians or vehicles in the street. Ukrainian officials argue the strikes are intended to spread fear as Russian ground advances in the region have stalled. Dan Peleschuk and Serhiy Chalyi report. 

OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS 

On Tuesday night, German authorities found an explosive-laden drone at Leipzig/Halle Airport in the cargo area where the Ukrainian carrier Antonov Airlines keeps its planes. What appeared to be a second drone collided with a plane in the air after the airport closed its runways, according to the authorities. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called the incident a “hybrid attack scenario,” but said it remained unclear where the drone had come from. Christopher F. Schuetze reports for the New York Times. 

Amid increasing unrest in Kashmir, Pakistan has begun a sweeping new crackdown on reporters. Two Pakistani journalists covering the protests in Kashmir were detained on Aug. 1 and taken to an undisclosed location, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Several other journalists said they have been summoned to court for their reporting in the region under a law criminalizing “false and fake information.” The Pakistani government has also imposed new restrictions requiring all journalists working for foreign media outlets to obtain permission to travel outside Pakistan’s three major cities. Elian Peltier reports for the New York Times.

Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said yesterday in an audio address that she would return to Bangladesh in December, despite facing a death sentence over a violent crackdown on protestors in 2024, and called for a ban on her Awami League party to be lifted. Bangladesh said it was “outraged” by her open engagement with the media in New Delhi, where “she and her henchmen launched venomous vitriol against the State of Bangladesh and her people.” Sheikh Saaiq and Juhas Alam report for AP News; Reuters reports.

TECH DEVELOPMENTS 

Before they escaped a closed test and launched a cyberattack on Hugging Face, some of OpenAI’s most advanced AI agents secretly began sharing tips on how to cheat their way through an internal hacking evaluation, two of the company’s researchers said yesterday. Dana Nickel and John Sakellariadis report for POLITICO.  

U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS  

The CIA has established a Cuba task force, setting in motion plans for a more concerted campaign to pressure the Cuban government to make the economic, political, and leadership changes demanded by Trump, sources told the New York Times. The task force includes case officers who recruit and manage spies, intelligence analysts, officers who conduct cyberoperations, and officers who specialize in covert influence operations, the sources said. Adam Entous reports.  

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband met yesterday in Washington and discussed the importance of Europe taking a greater role in its security, the State Department said in a statement. A British official said they also reaffirmed the strength of the relationship between the two allies, including their shared commitment to NATO. The official added that the meeting was productive and warm. Reuters reports.  

FBI Director Kash Patel told Reuters that he has forged new law enforcement partnerships with China and Russia over the past year in hopes of gaining allies in combating transnational crime, including fentanyl, cyber fraud, and child sexual exploitation. “They are both new and dynamic relationships, and ⁠we are extremely mindful of their adversarial approach on many matters,” Patel said. “They are not going to stop, but if we can go and have wins for America, then we must engage.” Jana Winter reports.

U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS 

Federal officials recently started threatening to seek criminal charges against two elected county sheriffs who have declined to give immigration agents broad access to inmates subject to deportation, according to documents reviewed by the New York Times. The warnings have been conveyed in a series of letters hand-delivered in early July to Sheriff Dawanna Witt of Hennepin County, Minn., and Sheriff Tom Dart of Cook County, Ill. Ernesto Londono and Hamed Aleaziz report.

Southwest Airlines has blocked ICE agents from boarding planes in order to make an arrest at least six times in the past few weeks, a source said. Top ICE leaders have told officers that they should attempt arrests at TSA checkpoints when possible, but believe the directive has not been followed consistently at airports, other sources said. The shift in tactics comes as ICE leaders face growing pressure to meet a quota of about 2,000 arrests per day. Andrew Tangel, Michelle Hackman, and Alison Sider report for the Wall Street Journal. 

The Trump administration has detained more than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty U.S. troops, and at least six have been deported, as it rolls back immigration protections for military families, an AP News investigation has found. Jack Brook, Safiyah Riddle, and Aaron Kessler report. 

A federal judge yesterday took the final step in allowing the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for 350,000 Haitians. The Supreme Court’s ruling means TPS “is no longer in effect,” the judge wrote in her new order yesterday. However, she said she would allow attorneys to continue seeking discovery and litigating their underlying claims that the Trump administration terminated TPS because of their clients’ race. David Nakamura, Maria Sacchetti, and Arelis R. Hernandez report for the Washington Post.  

U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS   

The Senate Homeland Security Committee is scheduled to vote today on whether to hold Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the scientist who led the country’s Covid response, in contempt of Congress for declining to answer questions during a hearing last week. Another panel investigating Dr. Fauci, the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations, has obtained a copy of his iPhone used during his time as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Wall Street Journal reports. Jan Hoffman reports for the New York Times; Liz Essley Whyte and Sabrina Siddiqui report. 

The FBI opened an investigation into whether Trump was acting as a Russian asset after he fired former FBI Director James Comey in 2017, newly declassified memos show. The investigation was closed in 2019 after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry found no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. The documents were released yesterday as part of the Trump administration’s effort to publicize what it describes as past government weaponization. Rebecca Falconer reports for Axios.  

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS 

Trump has spoken repeatedly with Kevin Warsh since he became the chairman of the Federal Reserve, according to sources. Trump has sought Warsh’s counsel on a range of issues, including how the war in Iran and the rapid rise of AI are affecting the economy, some sources said. One source said Trump has not broached the topic of interest rates since Warsh was confirmed by the Senate. Brian Schwartz, Philip Wegmann, and Nick Timiraos report for the Wall Street Journal.  

A new “Trump class” of warships that Trump says will anchor a “golden fleet” for the Navy is expected to cost at least 50 percent more than estimated earlier, according to a government report released yesterday. John Ismay reports for the New York Times.  

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

New Mexico’s Attorney General Raúl Torrez yesterday filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department over its refusal to share unredacted documents from its files on Jeffrey Epstein, arguing that the Trump administration is obstructing the state’s criminal investigation. Reis Thebault reports for the New York Times.  

A federal judge held the Department of Homeland Security in contempt following the agency’s delay in complying with an order to release digital copies of communication on the cellphones of more than 800 immigration agents sought in a lawsuit alleging racial profiling and misconduct during Los Angeles immigration raids, according to an order unsealed on Tuesday. Ashleigh Fields reports for The Hill.  

Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.

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