🇺🇸🇸🇦⚡- "Saudi Arabia and the United States are entering the final stage of the civilian nuclear agreement, amid joint efforts to finalize the wording related to future nuclear fuel cycle rights," - The Saudi Post.

🇺🇸🇨🇳🇸🇬⚡- China's Defense Minister Dong Jun is yet again expected to skip this year's Shangri-La Dialogue, SLD 2026, whereas Secretary of War Pete Hegseth will be present at the security forum.

🇰🇵⚡- "North Korea has conducted a test of a new multi-purpose missile launch system," - KCNA, North Korean state-run media.

🇯🇵🇨🇳⚡- Two Chinese Coast Guard vessels violated Japanese water-spaces near the Senkaku Islands, Japan, forcing a Japanese fishing vessel to withdraw from the waters.

🇺🇸🐊⚡️- President Trump doubles down on his endorsement of Congressman Byron Donalds for Governor of Florida.

🇺🇸⚡- The Heritage Foundation is set to elect multiple new members to its Board of Trustees tomorrow.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️- BREAKING: The U.S.-Iran deal is done, and the only thing remaining is the signing, according to Al Jazeera.

🇱🇧🇮🇱⚡️- Hezbollah launches rockets to Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel.

🇺🇸⚡️- Ken Paxton has won the nomination for Senate in Texas beating John Cornyn.

🇺🇸🇰🇪⚡️- President Trump is sending Americans who are exposed to Ebola to Kenya.

🇱🇧🇮🇱⚡️- Loud explosion sounds in Beirut were caused by sonic booms, not airstrikes, locals tell Rerum Novarum.

There are no strikes on Beirut or it's suburbs.

🇺🇸⚡️- Pam Bondi has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and has gone through treatment in recent weeks.

🇺🇸⚡️- Former President Joe Biden has sued the Justice Department, seeking to block the release of audio recordings from 2016-2017 of conversations with his biographer during the writing of his book "Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and ​Purpose".

🇺🇸⚡️- Pam Bondi, former Attorney General, has been appointed to Trump's artificial intelligence advisory committee. She will reportedly be in charge of coordinating between the White House and tech companies.

🇺🇸⚡️- "Tonight, ICE law enforcement officers were assaulted by anti-ICE rioters who sprayed law enforcement with an unknown chemical substance.

Two individuals were arrested for assaulting, resisting, and impeding federal officers.

Assaulting and obstructing ICE law enforcement is a crime and felony.

Anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." - Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of Homeland Security.

🇺🇸⚡️- "On May 26, at the direction of commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. One male narco-terrorist was killed during this action, and there were two survivors. Following the engagement, USSOUTHCOM immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors. No U.S. military forces were harmed." - U.S. Southern Command."

🇺🇸⚡️- Reuters reports that Starlink, Elon Musk's company that provides low-orbit satellite internet connections, has increased the cost of the Starlink connections used on the LUCAS one-way suicide drones by 5x per drone.

The Pentagon currently pays $5,000 per drone for the Starlink connection, but now, with the price increase, it has agreed to pay $25,000 per drone for the connection. The LUCAS drone is estimated to cost $30,000 per unit, but now that the Starlink terminals cost an extra $20,000, the drone's cost efficiency will take a large hit and could cause the Pentagon to reevaluate the design or platform.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the story, and Elon Musk has publicly stated previously that the LUCAS drone manufacturer was using the consumer-grade Starlink terminals, which is a violation of their contract that requires the military-grade version for weapons systems. Elon first commented on this when an image of the drone was released early during the Iran war, and he noticed the consumer grade terminal installed on the drone. If this is true, switching to the military-grade version is likely the cause of the large price increase.

🇺🇸 - The US House Armed Services Committee has already included a 10-year extension to the planned retirement of the B-1B Strategic bomber in the new defence budget, but is now also considering upgrades to make the B-1 nuclear capable again.

The B-1B was originally stripped of its nuclear capabilities to comply with the START I nuclear arms reduction treaty signed with Russia in 1991, where both sides agreed to reduce strategic nuclear weapons. Since the expiration of the New START Treaty in February this year, the US is no longer required to abide by the strategic nuclear arms reductions.

🇵🇸🇮🇱 - The IDF and Muhammad Awda's family have both confirmed the death of Muhammad Awda.

A Hamas source to al-Jazeera had also confirmed the successful Israeli assassination of the Qassem Brigades commander.

🇺🇸 - Amid tension between the US and Cuba, US naval vessels deployed to the Caribbean and its surrounding waters consist of two main groups: the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) carrier group, and the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) Amphibious Ready Group.

The USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7), which notably took part in the Maduro capture, has stayed in the region since, alongside the USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28). Between the group, approximately 4,500 marines and sailors make up the amphibious assault group that has MV-22B Ospreys as well as its own F-35B's as part of a package that specialises in amphibious assaults, like what would be required for Cuba. The USS Iwo Jima recently took part in the Venezuela diplomatic evacuation drills carried out by Marines from the group.

The USS Nimitz (CVN-68) carrier group, while in the region, is notably under-equipped to be a significant asset in an operation against Cuba. The Nimitz only has one destroyer escort, the USS Gridley (DDG-101), instead of the usual two or even three destroyer escorts normally seen for combat deployments, as the destroyers make up the majority of the carrier's defensive layer, as well as a large capacity for offensive guided missile capabilities. The Nimitz is also travelling with half of its usual 4 squadrons of Super Hornet aircraft, its main offensive aircraft, meaning the carrier group's offensive and defensive capabilities are significantly reduced. The USS Nimitz group also hasn't completed Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) to our knowledge, a multi-week training drill required for a carrier group to complete before being eligible for combat tasking. With the combination of no COMPTUEX certification and a limited carrier group footprint, the likelihood of the carrier groups' involvement in a near-future combat operation against Cuba is unlikely. The group would likely need to be reinforced first, then enter a multi-week COMPTUEX drill with its new reinforcements, which would take some time before it's ready and be noticed, or if the ship completed COMPTUEX secretly along its passage around South America, it would risk entering combat operations with limited offensive and defensive capabilities with a ship at the end of its life span.

The USS Nimitz, is scheduled to be decommissioned early next year, as the ship was stationed on the western side of the US (Bremerton, Washington), and being too large to pass through the Panama canal, it had to make a trip around south American on its way to the decommissioning port (Norfolk, Virginia), which is why its *officially* passing through the region, not as part of a specific deployment to the Caribbean.