🇺🇸🇻🇪⚡️ — North American Blue Energy Partners, led by businessman Alejandro Betancourt, plans to deploy more than 50 drilling rigs across its Venezuelan oil fields over the coming years in an effort to sharply increase production as part of the recently agreed U.S. oil deal, WSJ reports.

The company aims to have six rigs operating by the end of 2026, add another 12 in 2027, and deploy two additional rigs per month from 2028 onward, eventually reaching 52.

📍 🇺🇸 🇷🇺 NATO vs Russia 2026 Incidents Map
Version 1.1 - 31/AUG/2026

Locations of incidents that have taken place in 2026 so far.

📎 DefenceGeek

🇺🇸⚡️ — Fox News reports that Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned after raising concerns about Army transformation and military readiness.

Driscoll believed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was obstructing those efforts, particularly by firing generals who had been responsible for implementing the Army’s transformation plans.

🇪🇬🤝🇸🇩 Refurbishment is underway at East Oweinat Airbase in southwestern Egypt, near the Sudanese border, with new runway markings added and work continuing on the main apron

Multiple aircraft were also spotted at the base ahead of airstrikes on RSF convoys in Chad on 21 Aug.

🔗 AfriMEOSINT

🇮🇷⚔️🇺🇸 Pro-Iranian Arab media outlets published footage allegedly showing two U.S. UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters being transported on trailers in Jordan, likely from Muwaffaq al-Salti AB or Prince Hassan AB, possibly being moved out ahead of potential Iranian attacks.

The way they're being transported could also indicate serious issues preventing them from flying, possibly damage sustained in previous Iranian attacks.

🔗 @EGYOSINT

🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷📝 It's quite stunning really. Only a week ago, Scott Bessent said sanctions would make military action unnecessary.

6 days later, the US bombed Iran again. And now, Axios reveals that all along, the Pentagon was preparing a plan for “periodic” bombings of Iran to prevent it from suppressing traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

What does this tell us? First, the administration is apparently giving up on solving the issue militarily, economically, or diplomatically. Instead, permanent warfare is needed to manage the problem.

Make no mistake - to periodically bomb a country is to fight a forever war.

In fact, a US official is even quoted by Axios calling it “mow the lawn.” This is the Israeli strategy of never making peace, never winning the war, but just keep bombing the countries surrounding it to ensure they never gain the capacity to deter Israel. It’s what Israel has been doing in Gaza and Lebanon for years.

During previous administrations, Israel tried to sell war with Iran to the US and conceded that military strikes would not knock out Iran’s nuclear program, but would require “periodic” return to kinetic action to keep the program in check.

The US rejected the plan precisely because it didn’t want to be in a permanent state of war with Iran.

Now, Trump’s Secretary of War is pushing for it.

🔗 Trita Parsi