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New attacks on shipping as US-Iran talks hit fresh impasse
New attacks on shipping as US-Iran talks hit fresh impasse
A year after Trump welcomed Putin to Alaska, hopes for Ukraine peace have given way to a widening war
A year after Trump welcomed Putin to Alaska, hopes for Ukraine peace have given way to a widening war
A year after Trump welcomed Putin to Alaska, hopes for Ukraine peace have given way to a widening war
MOSCOW, Aug 12 — In the year since Donald Trump hosted Vladimir Putin on US soil for a summit designed to broker an end to Russia's offensive on Ukraine, the diplomatic initiative has fizzled out and the conflict has escalated. For months, Russian officials talked up the “spirit of Anchorage” — a supposed climate of detente, renewed dialogue with Washington and a framework for finding a way out of the deadliest European conflict since World War II. Now there are few traces of that atmosphere. US mediation efforts are at a standstill, both Russia and Ukraine are ramping up attacks and more civilians are being killed than at any point since the first months of the war. ‘Ending the war’ On August 15, 2025, Trump broke with the West's policy of isolating Putin, rolling out the red carpet as the Kremlin chief stepped off his plane at the Elmendorf-Richardson air base in Alaska. It remains unclear what was decided or discussed behind closed doors. Russia has always maintained some kind of understanding on a peace deal was struck — “a compromise proposal”, as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called it. Washington has rebuffed any talk of a deal being reached. “There was a proposal in Alaska, but there was no agreement. If there had been an agreement, we would have had an end of the war,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in June. Moscow had hoped the summit would lay the foundations for a “lasting peace” by addressing what it calls the “root causes” of the conflict, said political analyst Sergei Markov — designated a “foreign agent” but still close to the Russian authorities. For years — including right before launching its offensive in February 2022 — Russia has called for a new overarching security deal with the United States over Europe, Nato and arms control. The “compromise” Russia tabled in Alaska, Markov told AFP, was to limit its territorial claims on Ukraine to the eastern Donbas region in exchange for recognition of Russia's new borders by Washington and the lifting of sanctions. Disenchantment Those Russian demands were included in a 28-point document drafted by the United States — later cut down to 19 — after separate negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow. The document was never published officially and never came to fruition. US-brokered direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in early 2026 broke down, chiefly over the issue of territory. Ukraine refuses to cede land it still controls and wants an immediate ceasefire along the current front line, with territorial status to be decided during fuller peace talks. And since late February, Washington's attention has been consumed by the war on Iran. Trump has since issued fresh sanctions on Russia and the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement — New Start — has been allowed to lapse. Having once sensed a window of opportunity to press its demands and been at pains to praise Trump's efforts, Russia has lately allowed itself to publicly question Washington's commitment to diplomacy. “I don't even want to imagine that Alaska ... was conceived to gain time in order to strengthen Ukraine militarily,” Lavrov said in June. A meeting between Lavrov and Rubio in Manila in July — their first since September 2025 — lasted only around 30 minutes. “We'll have to find new suggestions and new ideas” that both “Russia and Ukraine can agree to,” Rubio said after that meeting. “That's going to require a lot of work,” he added. Escalation The two sides' conditions for peace are irreconcilable. Russia demands territory alongside political and military concessions that Ukraine rejects as capitulation. At the same time, both are convinced force can improve their negotiating position. “The Russian armed forces will continue their mission to liberate the Donbas and Novorossiya in line with the approved plan,” Russia's army chief Valery Gerasimov told Putin in a televised meeting in early July — referring to land stretching across eastern and southern Ukraine. Buoyed by European support, Kyiv is banking on its long-range strike campaign to tip Russia's economy and society over the edge. Its attacks triggered a nationwide fuel crisis over the summer, and have forced Moscow-installed authorities to put the annexed Crimean peninsula under a local “state of emergency”. Russia has upped its missile attacks on Kyiv, killing dozens there in recent weeks. It has also brought Ukrainian exports through the Black Sea to a standstill through a campaign of port and ship strikes. “The spirit of Anchorage has dissipated,” said Russian political analyst Fyodor Lukyanov — close to the ruling elite — in August. The result? “Brutal escalation.” — AFP
'Six killed in Red Sea attack by Houthis'
The United States and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis reported separate attacks on shipping on Tuesday as prospects for ending the five-month-old Iran war appeared to dim, with Tehran saying the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless Washington accepts its conditions. Oil prices gained and global shares retreated amid renewed pessimism about a quick end to the conflict. Brent crude futures climbed 1.4 percent to settle at US$88.91 per barrel and US crude rose 1.3 percent to US$83.20. Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, who said on July 20 they would impose a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, attacked a Saudi ship carrying military equipment in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Houthi-run news agency Saba reported. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of that attack, but Yemen's Transport Ministry said four crew members were killed in a suspected Houthi attack on a small cargo vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday. Two Yemeni rescuers from an anti-Houthi military group were also killed in the attack, Yemen's Coast Guard said. The fatalities aboard the Egyptian-owned vessel Tihamah would be the first deaths in a Houthi strike on shipping since the Iran war began. The US military, meanwhile, said a US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles to disable the steering gear of a Panama-flagged cargo ship after it ignored repeated warnings to stop violating a naval blockade on Iranian ports. Maritime sources told Reuters the ship was hit off Pakistan while sailing into the Gulf of Oman. Both Iran and the United States have stepped up rhetoric in the past two days. Iran's top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, said on Tuesday that the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route will remain closed unless the US accepts Iran's conditions to end the war – the release of Iran's frozen assets and an end to wars throughout the region, including in Lebanon and Gaza. That followed a new demand from US President Donald Trump on Monday that Iran should pay compensation for people killed in 50 years of wars, attacks and protests. Throughout the conflict, Trump has alternated between threats of escalation and claims that a peace deal is imminent. In an interview released late on Monday, he suggested the current uncertainty could last for a while, saying he might just "bop along." "I'm sort of negotiating," Trump told Real America's Voice. "They're very devious negotiators." The comments from Rezaei, appointed on Sunday as second-in-command of the body that coordinates Iran's security and foreign policy, were the strongest indication the Strait of Hormuz would not reopen to shipping anytime soon. The waterway handled a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flow before the war. "As long as America does not change its behaviour and does not accept Iran's conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened," Rezaei said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28. Iran struck US assets and infrastructure in countries including Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Raising the prospect of further escalation, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, an adviser to the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said on Iranian state TV on Tuesday that the corps was developing the ability to carry out operations "on enemy soil." "We need to be able to move the operations to the enemy's soil, whenever this is needed and ordered," he said. "This is the characteristic of the offensive doctrine that has to be attained." (Reuters) Edited by Cecil Wong
Why the elaborate ruse Trump used in Turkey isn't like other secret presidential trips
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidents have taken secret overseas trips in the past for security reasons, with schedules and logistics kept classified until after the fact to protect the commander in chief. But not like the one President Donald Trump took in July. After a NATO summit in Turkey, Trump stowed away in an airport catering container to slip into another plane while Air Force One — filled with White House officials, security and support staff, and reporters — was sent into the sky essentially as a decoy, just in case Iran made good on a credible threat of an attack. Upon stopping in Britain, Trump sneaked back aboard the presidential plane undetected and scoffed when asked about potential danger. “If I go, you go. Right?” he told reporters — gliding past the fact that if the plane had been shot down, the president wouldn't have been aboard. That Trump's whereabouts were concealed then, and for weeks afterward, is believed to be unprecedented — even in a modern world where security-related subterfuge is not uncommon. “We have absolutely seen the president fly on unmarked or decoy planes before, into Iraq, Afghanistan, other war-zone-like places,” said Garrett M. Graff, author of “Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself — While the Rest of Us Die.” “But this was an ongoing secret that I don’t think we’ve ever seen before.” The White House hasn't denied reports, but also isn't providing details The president's flight out of Turkey made headlines at the time because Trump had arrived aboard a luxury jet gifted by Qatar, which was not equipped with some of the same missile detection and countermeasure systems found on older presidential jets. He ended up traveling in a smaller government aircraft from Turkey to the United Kingdom. There, he sneaked back onto the decoy jet, descended from the aircraft and boarded the Qatari plane. The White House hasn't confirmed reporting on the extraordinary lengths officials took to protect Trump, which were first reported by The Washington Post, but administration officials haven't denied it. Instead, Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, relied on similar wording that he used during the trip itself. “As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats,” Cheung said in a statement Monday. Past presidents put themselves in dangerous areas Presidents have regularly tested the confines of their office, pushing their security advisers to visit war zones as a show of American presence and their own leadership. Usually, this happens in the form of trips that aren't announced until the president is deemed to be out of harm's way. What’s different this time is that Trump was covertly separated from the rest of his travelers — including the press pool meant to provide independent coverage of the president and his actions — and, instead of informing the public about what occurred once the risk had passed, the White House still hasn't fully revealed what took place. Graff said the presence of the White House press corps is as much about protecting “the presidency and democracy” as it is about covering the story. “This shows that the White House just fundamentally doesn’t understand how important that role is, for the press corps to be able to provide independent and transparent corroboration about the status and whereabouts of the president of the United States at any given moment,” he said. Officials have gone to great lengths to keep presidents safe on covert trips before. In 2023, a motorcade pulled away from the White House around 3:30 a.m. on a Sunday, and President Joe Biden later boarded an Air Force C-32, a modified Boeing 757 normally used for domestic trips to smaller airports, and flew to Poland. Biden then took a secret, 10-hour overnight train ride to Kyiv meant to show solidarity with Ukraine after Russia’s invasion. A press pool at the White House had been expecting a quiet Sunday for Biden in Washington. However, two journalists went to Ukraine with him and documented the trip, capturing images of Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy striding past a memorial to fallen soldiers in Ukraine’s capital as air raid sirens sounded. In Trump's first term, he made a secret trip to Afghanistan on Thanksgiving Day in 2019, when officials kept a separate press pool and decoy plane in Florida to maintain the illusion that the president was spending the holiday at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Instead, Trump and another group of reporters flew to the sprawling U.S. military base at Bagram, where the president spent more than three hours on the ground serving turkey to troops, giving a speech and meeting with Afghanistan's then-president, Ashraf Ghani, while journalists documented what was occurring. When President George W. Bush made his first trip to Iraq in 2003, news was not released until he was in the air on the way back to the United States. President Barack Obama made a furtive nighttime visit to Afghanistan in 2010, when he was meant to be spending the weekend at Camp David. Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon visited war zones in Vietnam. Other risky trips featured presidential subterfuge President Bill Clinton went secretly from India to Pakistan in 2000, attempting to calm tensions in the disputed Kashmir region. He was seen talking with officials in front of a military plane that he appeared to board. Instead, Clinton ducked around the front of the aircraft to another jet parked nearby. Both planes took off for Islamabad, as did a third jet painted with the familiar baby blue markings of Air Force One. Joe Lockhart, a White House press secretary for Clinton, noted that reporters knew the president was on one of the planes, “but not which one.” He said he and other officials had briefed the press pool ahead of time and “although they didn’t know all the details, it was made clear” that Clinton “was not going to travel on the plane they were on. “There was no attempt to hide anything, much less lie about it later,” Lockhart wrote on social media. Bush was visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida, during the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, and, after all commercial air traffic was grounded, officials wanted to move him to an undisclosed location. The full White House traveling press pool flew with Bush from Florida to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, where officials reduced the number of reporters and staff on the plane. Bush and the smaller traveling party next flew to Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base before eventually returning to Washington. Bush's location remained secret throughout the day. However, the White House did not suggest that the president was somewhere he was not — unlike when Trump was whisked out of Turkey. “You can imagine the different ways that this could have gone wrong, where, for a period of time, no one would have been able to independently corroborate the status of the U.S. president, or who was in charge of the U.S. government,” Graff said. “And that’s an incredibly dangerous moment for the world.”
Why the elaborate ruse Trump used in Turkey isn't like other secret presidential trips
Why the elaborate ruse Trump used in Turkey isn't like other secret presidential trips
War in Ukraine and emotional scars on Russian men - The Korea Times
War in Ukraine and emotional scars on Russian men - The Korea Times
War in Ukraine and emotional scars on Russian men - The Korea Times
A war leaves scars not only on those who are attacked, but also in many ways on people on the aggressor’s side. Russia’s war against Ukraine, launched in February 2022, has killed and wounded countless Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. But the war has also driven many Russian men to leave their country to avoid conscription. Some have ended up seeking refuge in Korea. In 2023, Koreans heard stories of Russian asylum seekers stranded for months at Incheon International Airport, unable to enter the country as they sought protection. A few months later, however, those stories disappeared from the news — and, I have to admit, from my mind. Then, in June, more than four years after the invasion began, I encountered a self-described Russian asylum seeker in Seoul. The man was Nima Tsybikov, 54, a Buryat ethnic minority in Russia whose hometown is located near the Mongolian border. He showed up at the newsroom and came up to me — my desk is fairly close to the main door — saying he wanted to talk to me about the war in Ukraine. As I listened to him that day and read his WhatsApp messages in the following days, it became clear that his story was a sad reminder that the war continues to separate families, even far from the battlefield. Tsybikov said he and his 23-year-old son arrived in Korea in 2024 via Mongolia and that both are seeking refugee status. His son fled Russia to avoid conscription. Tsybikov believes the Russian government has been particularly aggressive in recruiting men from ethnic minorities. One of his nephews — the son of a long-deceased cousin — went to fight in Ukraine after signing a contract while he was in prison. Tsybikov said he later learned that the young man had fought in Russia’s Kursk region, was wounded and returned home on medical leave after being hospitalized. He received 3 million rubles ($36,000) in compensation for his injury and is now back in a hospital somewhere in Russia. The father fears the same fate could await his son. Tsybikov was not subject to conscription, but that didn’t keep him safe. The fact that the Russian government targeted his ethnic community for recruitment had bothered him for a long time and made him increasingly vocal in his opposition to the war. He claimed the government had also recruited heavily from his community for previous conflicts, including the wars in Chechnya and Georgia and the conflict in Syria. He said he had openly criticized Russia’s invasion back home, telling relatives, friends and acquaintances that Russia was the aggressor and Ukraine was defending itself. Some listened quietly; others argued with him. Over time, he said, people became increasingly hostile and distant. After arriving in Korea, Tsybikov opened a YouTube account criticizing Russia’s actions in the war. He said his account was eventually blocked. “I believe that I could be harmed if I returned,” he said. For now, his hope of remaining permanently in Korea appears distant. The number of asylum applications among Russian nationals in Korea reached over 20,000 in 2025, according to the Ministry of Justice. Yet, none of the applicants has been granted refugee status. An activist helping asylum seekers told me that the Korean government may have chosen not to review cases involving Russians in order to avoid potential diplomatic tension with Russia. Tsybikov's son misses his family and their Buryat homeland. But for now, the father hopes his son can stay in Korea long enough to build a future that does not require him to fight in a war.
Trump Estimated in April That the Blockade Was Costing Iran $500 Million a Day. Tehran Now Wants Washington to Pay It Back.
Oman and Iran are negotiating over the Strait of Hormuz, but their talks will not lead to a proper reopening of the critical commercial waterway unless the United States agrees to Tehran’s requests, Iran said on Monday. Partial Hormuz Opening In Sight Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei noted that talks with Muscat were centered on commercial shipping routes. However, he stressed that this was a separate issue from the full reopening of the previously busy waterway. No U.S. Deal in Sight This news has largely undercut hopes that a swift deal could be achieved. One proposal would see vessels take designated routes. Iran would control entry while Oman would oversee exits from the region. Tolls would not be imposed, and the arrangement could be accompanied by a 60-day window for other peace talks. Washington continues to emphasize that any deal would require a return to the pre-war arrangement, in which commercial shipping could pass without any fees or approvals. Iran is demanding that the U.S. Navy end its blockade of Iranian ports. It also wants all American forces to withdraw from the Middle East, despite the fact that Iran’s own proxies operate across the region and the world, and have attacked the U.S. and its allies there. Tehran also wants the release of frozen Iranian assets along with compensation for war-related damage. Trump: Iran Must Compensate Slaughtered Protesters’ Families This week, Trump outlined how the U.S. would pursue compensation from Iran in any fresh negotiations. He specifically noted that the U.S. would be demanding compensation “for all of the people” that Iran has “killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” and that “compensation should be paid to the families” of protesters killed in Iran at the hands of its theocratic regime. Hormuz Crossings in Free Fall Traffic in Hormuz is at unusually low levels due to the standoff. Central Command announced that American forces had redirected some 55 commercial vessels away from Iranian ports as of Sunday, up from 35 just a week earlier. The Kpler intelligence firm has also confirmed that crossings dropped from 15 on Friday to 11 on Saturday and six on Sunday. Oil prices also rose again on Monday, with Brent crude currently trading at more than $84 a barrel. The strait usually carries approximately one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and a large share of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Iran also discussed legislation that would bar US, Israeli, and other “hostile” vessels from using the waterway and impose fines of up to 20 percent of a ship’s cargo value for any violations. Tehran Likely to Double Down Speaking at a press summit in Jerusalem last month, columnist Melanie Phillips slammed President Trump’s plans for a ceasefire, complaining that it had given Tehran the upper hand and showed that “everyone can now see America is not prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to defend itself.” This week, Mohsen Rezaei, an ex-commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was made secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, replacing Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr. The IRGC is listed as a foreign terrorist group by the U.S. government, and it extensively funds and trains terror proxies across the Middle East. Any agreement on Hormuz would need to be approved by the council and Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei himself. The appointment is unlikely to presage a milder approach toward Washington. Rezaei, whose track record means he commands much authority within Iran’s military establishment, has said that renewed American attacks could cause Tehran to escalate the war. Trump has claimed Iran has essentially lost this war and that the blockade is massively damaging its economy. However, he has also instructed his team to pursue a “low-key” approach to talks. Last week, CNN reported that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, privately told other officials that the country was seeking an “off-ramp” from the conflict. About the Author: Georgia Gilholy Georgia Gilholy is a journalist based in the United Kingdom who has been published in Newsweek, The Times of Israel, and the Spectator. Gilholy writes about international politics, culture, and education.
Trump Estimated in April That the Blockade Was Costing Iran $500 Million a Day. Tehran Now Wants Washington to Pay It Back.
Trump Estimated in April That the Blockade Was Costing Iran $500 Million a Day. Tehran Now Wants Washington to Pay It Back.
Trump Estimated in April That the Blockade Was Costing Iran $500 Million a Day. Tehran Now Wants Washington to Pay It Back.
Trump Estimated in April That the Blockade Was Costing Iran $500 Million a Day. Tehran Now Wants Washington to Pay It Back.
Ukraine has given peace proposals to U.S. in bid for new talks: Zelenskyy - National | Globalnews.ca
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Ukraine had handed proposals to U.S. negotiators for a plan to end the war with Moscow and suggested that Russia would use its parliamentary election next month as a pretext to declare a new mobilization. Zelenskyy’s announcement of fresh proposals for peace talks, largely stalled since the outbreak of the conflict with Iran, comes amid suggestions by both Russia and Ukraine that U.S. negotiators would soon pay a visit to their two countries. “We have conveyed our proposals to the American side,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. “And the United States can help strengthen our defense, first and foremost with air defense, and put pressure on Russia so that its plans are different — to prepare for an end to the war rather than prolonging it.” Zelenskyy offered no details on the proposals. U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were last in Moscow last January and have not yet visited Kyiv. Ukraine has repeatedly called for a ceasefire after nearly 4-1/2 years of fighting. Russia says it wants a settlement, but any solution must involve Ukraine fully ceding four regions Moscow claims as well as resolving the conflict’s “root causes.” Get daily National news Zelenskyy spoke after earlier accusing Russia of using North Korean-supplied ballistic missiles in an overnight attack on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, where a company said seven workers at its steel plant were killed and 21 injured. Three more people, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed by Russian drones and artillery in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, authorities said. Ukraine says Russia is scaling up its production of ballistic missiles, aiming to exploit Kyiv’s critical shortage of Patriot air defense interceptors that can stop them, and claims Moscow is preparing to recruit more troops for a new push on the front line that stretches 1,250 kilometers (775 miles) along eastern and southern Ukraine. “Every step Russia takes — increasing ballistic missile production, bringing in North Korean equipment, preparing for mobilization — all of this shows that Moscow is preparing not for peace, but for escalation,” Zelenskyy said on social media. In his latest remarks, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence had evidence that Russia would exploit its September “pseudo-election” — a reference to restrictions imposed on the polls — to proclaim a new mobilization to boost the numbers of fighting personnel. “They are preparing for mobilization in the autumn, immediately after the imitation of parliamentary elections,” Zelenskyy said as part of a plan to “create the appearance that Russians supposedly support the war.” “Then, following the so-called election, he plans an additional rapid mobilization of several hundred thousand Russians by the end of the year, plus another similar number next year.” The draft, he said, would be in addition to recruitment through the conclusion of contracts with servicemen. The Putin-backed United Russia Party and other broadly pro-Kremlin parties are set to retain their dominance in the Russian parliament after the vote. Russia’s Supreme Court on Monday barred the liberal Yabloko party, the only officially registered party that opposes Moscow’s war in Ukraine, from competing in the election. Russia declared a “partial mobilization” in 2022 after the launch in February of its full-scale invasion. Zelenskiy has previously suggested that Moscow would introduce a new mobilization. Russian officials have declined to discuss the issue. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, one of Russia’s most ardent hawks, said last month that Russia needed no new mobilization as 200,000 volunteers had signed contracts in the first half of 2026. “The Kremlin will not enter serious negotiations or make meaningful compromises on its demands as long as Putin believes that he has a viable military path to achieving his full objectives,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said in an analysis Monday. “Ukraine’s Patriot shortages offer Russia an opportunity to cause very serious damage to Ukraine over the coming winter and will therefore contribute to delaying meaningful negotiations and protracting the war,” it said. —With files from the Associated Press and Global News
Ukraine has given peace proposals to U.S. in bid for new talks: Zelenskyy - National | Globalnews.ca
Ukraine has given peace proposals to U.S. in bid for new talks: Zelenskyy - National | Globalnews.ca
Trump says he’s looking at a federal block of Mamdani’s ‘dangerous’ pied-a-terre tax
Trump says he’s looking at a federal block of Mamdani’s ‘dangerous’ pied-a-terre tax
Trump says he’s looking at a federal block of Mamdani’s ‘dangerous’ pied-a-terre tax
Trump says he’s looking into a federal block of Mamdani’s ‘dangerous’ pied-a-terre tax The new tax is expected to bring in $500 million annually for America's largest city President Donald Trump offered harsh criticism of New York on Tuesday, characterizing a planned surcharge on luxury second residences in his former home city as a "dangerous" leftist experiment that the federal government could challenge. According to U.S. media, the so-called "pied-a-terre" tax is already facing a state court challenge, where a Staten Island judge temporarily halted its rollout on Monday. City Hall did not immediately comment on Trump's social media post, though New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani stated Monday that the city will vigorously defend its stance in court. Trump and Mamdani have met twice in person, with their initial encounter proving surprisingly cordial despite major policy differences regarding immigration and support for Israel's war in Gaza. However, with progressive Democrats winning primaries prior to midterms projected to be difficult for Republicans, Trump has escalated attacks on Democrats, employing phrases like "Radical Left Jihadists" when addressing the administration of New York's first Muslim mayor in Tuesday's post. “ I am looking to see if the Federal Government has any legal right to avert this disaster,” Trump said in his statement. Trump called the pied-a-terre tax a "dangerous political 'experiment.'" "I am looking to see if the Federal Government has any legal right to avert this disaster," he said. The new tax is expected to bring in $500 million annually for America's largest city. The Mamdani administration was sued by three New Yorkers over his recently implemented tax on luxury second homes, accusing the mayor’s office of causing chaos. The suit does not challenge the underlying tax law. Instead, it accuses the mayor’s office of failing to follow state notice requirements and setting off a “panic” in late July by releasing a list of nearly 1 million properties that might be hit with pied-à-terre surcharge, then mailing about 17,000 notices to a smaller group of property owners. The lawsuit has ties to Mamdani’s political rivals. One of the plaintiffs is Rachel O’Brien, who is married to Republican City Councilmember Frank Morano, whose father is another plaintiff. Mastro, meanwhile, served as first deputy mayor under Adams and as Giuliani’s chief of staff. The city has defended its approach to the tax, which applies to homes worth more than $5 million and co-ops and condos worth more than $1 million that are not used as primary residences. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their repliesComments
China's Teapot Refiners Poised to Ramp Up Iranian Oil Buying
China's Teapot Refiners Poised to Ramp Up Iranian Oil Buying By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com China’s independent refiners are likely to return to buying higher volumes of Iran’s crude oil this month as stockpiles in Shandong, home to the independent Chinese refiners, have dropped to the lowest level this year after the biggest estimated monthly draw in a decade. For most of the Middle East conflict, now in its sixth month, China’s independent refiners, the so-called teapots, have drawn on their reserves and limited purchases and imports amid spiking international crude oil prices and what appears to have been an unofficial Chinese policy to slash crude imports. China could afford to slash imports as it was estimated to have amassed more than 1.3 billion barrels of crude oil stashed in all commercial and strategic reserves. However, current stockpiles at Shandong are estimated to have dropped to the lowest level in eight months at about 360 million barrels at the end of July, per data by Energy Aspects cited by Bloomberg. The drawdown in July was about 35 million barrels in July alone, the biggest decline in a month since Energy Aspects began estimating and compiling data in 2016. The independent Chinese refiners are therefore expected to increase imports of Iranian oil as of August, especially after millions of barrels of crude from Iran exited the Strait of Hormuz and are positioned to ship to Asia during the mid-June to early July window when the U.S. lifted its blockade aimed at preventing Iranian exports. Total Chinese crude oil imports rebounded in July from the decade-low in June, with a 22% jump from June to an average of 8.45 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, customs data showed last week. Thanks to this substantial supply cushion, China became instrumental in keeping a cap on global oil prices despite the turmoil in the Middle East, as the biggest importer of the commodity in the world could hit pause on imports for a while. However, analysts have warned that at some point China will return to international markets, and that would not be a good day for oil bears. Tyler Durden Tue, 08/11/2026 - 17:40
China's Teapot Refiners Poised to Ramp Up Iranian Oil Buying
China's Teapot Refiners Poised to Ramp Up Iranian Oil Buying
US military fires on cargo vessel it said sought to break Iran blockade
US military fires on cargo vessel it said sought to break Iran blockade CENTCOM says helicopter fired at engine room of Panama-flagged Vela Nova as US-Iran diplomacy remains stalled. The United States military has said it fired on a ship attempting to break its blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman. The attack on Tuesday comes amid a period of relative calm in the US-Israeli war with Iran, with attacks mostly paused since a 13-day escalation in July. That came after a ceasefire as part of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the US and Iran in June appeared to collapse. Recommended Storieslist of 3 items - list 1 of 3Trump took ‘secret flight’ from Turkiye to avoid Iran ‘threat’ - list 2 of 3Trump sends conflicting signals on Iran strategy - list 3 of 3Iran, US set new conditions during Hormuz talks: What does this mean? In a statement, US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees the Middle East, said a Navy helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles at the Panama-flagged Vela Nova cargo vessel. It said the vessel “attempted to transit the Gulf of Oman and violate the U.S. blockade against Iran by sailing toward an Iranian port”. The attack targeted the ship’s engine room and disabled its steering gear, CENTCOM said, alleging the crew “ignored repeated warnings from American forces”. It did not say if any crew members were wounded in the attack. In its statement on Tuesday, CENTCOM said US forces had disabled 55 commercial vessels throughout its blockade on Iranian ports, disabled three “non-compliant vessels”, and boarded two. The US reimposed its naval blockade of Iranian ports amid the recent return to fighting, with Iran again reasserting its control over the Strait of Hormuz. Both of those conditions had been lifted as part of the June MoU, which was meant to launch renewed negotiations on a more lasting peace, as well as the future of crippling sanctions on Iran and its nuclear programme. Efforts to return to an agreement have so far yielded little progress, with Trump on Monday appearing to up the ante as he called for reparations from Iran for “50 years” of damage. Tehran has previously called for reconstruction funding to be part of any deal, with the June MoU containing a preliminary plan for a $300bn fund. The conflict has been further complicated in the latest bout of fighting by attacks by the Yemen-based Houthis on ships in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, another key trade route in the region. Iran, for its part, has largely focused its diplomatic efforts on direct talks with Oman to determine new shipping lines in the Strait of Hormuz, an arterial waterway through which 20 percent of the world’s maritime fossil fuel trade transited prior to the war launched by the US and Israel on February 28. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency on Tuesday quoted Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, saying the Strait of Hormuz “will not be opened until the United States changes its behaviour and accepts Iran’s conditions”. He maintained that any agreement with Oman would be “separate” from the issue of the strait’s closure. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, meanwhile, arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with Iranian officials, in the latest effort towards wider mediation of the war.
US military fires on cargo vessel it said sought to break Iran blockade
US military fires on cargo vessel it said sought to break Iran blockade
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