🇺🇸🇮🇷🇹🇷⚡️ — The Iranian threat that prompted President Trump’s secret Air Force One swap last month emerged as he was heading into his last day at the NATO summit in Ankara, Türkiye, on July 8, NYT reports.

U.S. intelligence received multiple streams of information indicating a specific surface-to-air missile threat against Air Force One, regardless of which aircraft was carrying the president.

A person near the NATO summit was also spotted with a shoulder-fired missile, while Iranian operatives knew exactly where Trump was staying in Ankara, including the floor of the building.

🇪🇹⚡️ — The EDNF is deploying additional reinforcements, including armored vehicles, in the town of Gilgel Belles in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia following an offensive by the Gumuz Force Unity Front (GFUF) rebel force group, who briefly captured the city before being driven out.

📝The GFUF is an ethnic Gumuz rebel faction operating alongside other groups in the Benishangul-Gumuz region against the federal government due to ethnic tension and economic discrimination caused by the Ethiopian government.

🇺🇦🇰🇷⚡️ — South Korea says it will continue limiting its support for Ukraine to humanitarian assistance and has no plans to provide lethal weapons or air defence systems, despite requests from Ukrainian President Zelensky.

🇸🇦🇪🇬🇹🇷🇵🇰⚡️ — Saudi Arabia opposed Egypt joining the new defence pact with Türkiye and Pakistan despite Ankara pushing for Cairo’s inclusion, according to the Middle East Eye.

Riyadh has grown increasingly frustrated with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s government, questioning both Egypt’s reliability as a strategic partner and what its military could contribute to the alliance. Saudi concerns include Cairo’s close alignment with the UAE, its limited role during the Yemen conflict, and its response to the US-Israel war with Iran.

Saudi Arabia itself opposed Cairo’s participation “at least for now.” Riyadh views Türkiye and Pakistan as offering greater military value through their defence industries, weapons production, and combat capabilities.

Saudi officials could reconsider Egypt’s inclusion in the future if relations improve, while Kuwait is more interested in potentially joining the pact.

🇦🇿🇺🇸⚡️ — Azerbaijan is seeking U.S. assistance with advanced demining technologies as it works to clear large areas contaminated by landmines and unexploded ordnance following decades of conflict with Armenia, Axios reports.

Azerbaijan is among the world’s most mine-contaminated countries per capita and hopes to cooperate with Washington on new technologies and techniques to accelerate clearance efforts.

🇪🇹⚡️ — ETHIOPIAN CONFLICT SUMMARY:

The Ethiopian military (ENDF) has been actively fighting the AFNM since 2023, a coalition of ethnic Amhara FANO militias in the Amhara region who control a large part of the region.

The ENDF is fighting an insurgency against the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) separatist rebels in the Oromo region.

The Benishangul-Gumuz region's various rebel organizations that made peace with the federal government in 2022 are reemerging following a failed attempt to capture the town of Gilgel Belles.

The EDNF and the ethnic Tigray defense forces, the armed wing of the anti-federal TPLF, are both preparing for further confrontation in the Tigray region following the recent armed clash near the border with Eritrea.

🇨🇳🇹🇼⚡️ — Suspected Chinese hackers used publicly available AI tools to breach Taiwanese government systems in what researchers described as a first-of-its-kind autonomous cyberattack, according to FT.

Over four days in July, the system deployed up to eight AI agents simultaneously to map 21 government systems, identify vulnerabilities and automatically change tactics when attempts were blocked.

The operation compromised at least 85 government accounts and extracted more than 2,500 personnel records before expanding to Taiwan’s nuclear safety agency and at least seven energy companies.

🇮🇷🇧🇷 — Iran is set to join the BRICS-backed New Development Bank (NDB), Iranian Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said.

🇺🇦❌🇷🇺 — Two of Russia’s largest grain terminals at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk have suspended operations after being damaged in overnight Ukrainian drone strikes, Reuters reports.

The Novorossiysk Grain Terminal, which can export around 8.5 million tonnes annually, halted operations while damage assessments were underway. The nearby NKHP terminal, with an annual export capacity of roughly 7.1 million tonnes, was also damaged and suspended operations.

🇦🇪🇮🇶⚡️ — The UAE's ADNOC is offering to shuttle Iraqi crude through the Strait of Hormuz using the same “dark transit” methods it has used to move Emirati oil through the waterway, Bloomberg reports.

The strategy involves tankers making short shuttle voyages, often with their transponders switched off, before transferring Basrah and other Iraqi crude to vessels outside the Persian Gulf for onward delivery to Asian refiners.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran and Washington are not discussing an extension of the ceasefire, adding that from Iran’s perspective there was never a formal start date and therefore nothing to extend.

The Iranian source accused the U.S. of violating the MoU just 48 hours after it was reached and said current negotiations instead focus on Washington returning to the agreement and establishing a timeframe for fulfilling its commitments.

🇾🇪❌🇾🇪 — The Houthis (Ansarallah) targeted the port of Mokha, PLC-controlled Yemen, with ballistic missiles earlier today.

🇾🇪❌🇾🇪 — Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces are carrying out attacks against Houthi positions on the Marib and Taiz fronts, according to Saudi Al Hadath.

Government forces are using drones to strike Houthi positions, vehicles, and fortifications in Taiz, while artillery has targeted Houthi sites along the Marib front.

🇲🇲⚡️ — The PDF and the KIA anti-Junta rebels released a compilation of joint FPV attacks against the Tatmadaw in the Kachin region.

🇺🇸⚡️ — Four major U.S. human rights organizations have sued the Trump administration over its campaign against the International Criminal Court, arguing that sanctions targeting the court are unconstitutional.

Human Rights Watch, the Open Society Institute, the American Friends Service Committee and the Center for Constitutional Rights say the sanctions prevent them from cooperating with the ICC on cases involving genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

The lawsuit seeks to overturn the sanctions regime, which was imposed against ICC judges, prosecutors, and others involved in investigations concerning U.S. and Israeli officials.

🇱🇻🇧🇾⚡️ — Latvia says it discovered a migrant-smuggling tunnel under the border with Belarus and announced "Operation ⁠Werewolf" that aims to combat networks that are helping a growing number of migrants cross the frontier illegally.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — President Trump is shifting toward a wait-and-see strategy on Iran, relying increasingly on economic sanctions and the U.S. naval blockade to pressure Tehran into negotiations after military threats and strikes failed to bring the war to an end, according to The Atlantic.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has argued that tightening sanctions could eventually force Iran to concede, while depleted U.S. missile-defense stockpiles have further limited Trump’s military options.

Bessent has also told Trump that the Strait of Hormuz could become largely irrelevant within two years, claiming as much as 70% of the energy currently passing through the waterway could eventually be redirected through underground pipelines.

For now, the administration is betting that sustained economic pressure can accomplish what military action and diplomacy have so far failed to achieve.