🇮🇷🇺🇸⚡️ — Iran's IRGC Navy announced it captured an American MQM-170 reconnaissance and decoy drone west of the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC electronic warfare unit detected the aircraft, took control of its guidance systems and landed it intact.

The IRGC said the drone was conducting reconnaissance of Iranian air defense positions along the Persian Gulf coastline and the Strait of Hormuz.

Data recovered from the drone indicated that it had launched from a country on the southern coast of the Persian Gulf.

🇮🇷⚡️ — Iran's IRGC Navy announced three oil tankers struck naval mines while attempting to pass through an unauthorized southern route of the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours, triggering explosions and fires that left the vessels abandoned off the strait's southern coast.

The IRGC said the tankers had disabled their radar and navigation systems and ignored repeated warnings before entering the mined waters.

🇰🇷🇷🇺 FT: Europe concerned about South Korea’s rapprochement with Russia amid the war in Ukraine

Under President Lee Jae-myung, Seoul is gradually restoring diplomatic and economic ties with Moscow, despite Russia’s war against Ukraine and its open military cooperation with North Korea.

In July and August, South Korea supplied Russia with more than 176,000 tonnes of fuel, primarily diesel.

According to the Financial Times, some of the shipments were carried on sanctioned tankers. Closed-door talks between representatives of the two countries are also taking place.

Song Young-gil, who was previously awarded Russia’s Order of Friendship by Putin, has become an adviser to the president on peace diplomacy.

Meanwhile, relations between Seoul and Kiev have deteriorated. Following a dispute over the publication of information about two North Korean prisoners of war, South Korea recalled its ambassador from Ukraine and reduced its diplomatic presence.

European diplomats fear that Seoul is preparing to resume business with Moscow after the war.

South Korean authorities, however, deny directly exporting fuel to Russia.

🔗 https://unwall.app/www.ft.com/content/91f45684-1e10-4aa1-b1d5-019fc41ff1c5

🇺🇸❌🇪🇺 EU loan to Airbus threatens trade truce with US, Trump trade official warns

Jamieson Greer says the European Investment Bank’s historic loan to the aerospace group risks ‘violating’ the US-EU aircraft deal

Donald Trump’s top trade adviser has warned that the EU’s record-breaking loan to aerospace company Airbus could upend the delicate trade truce agreed by Washington and Brussels, risking the return of a transatlantic trade war.

US trade representative Jamieson Greer accused the European Investment Bank of failing to share details about the $3.4bn loan the bloc made to Airbus in June, despite “ongoing requests”, and said he was concerned the money would introduce market distortions that could be a “violation to the terms of our hard-won . . . deal”.

“I had sincerely hoped that trade-distorting European subsidies to Airbus were a thing of the past,” said Greer. “For decades, France, Germany and Spain have aggressively supported Airbus, their national champion aircraft manufacturer, to gain an unfair advantage over US aerospace workers and business.”

A deal on state subsidies to Airbus and its US rival Boeing was reached in 2021 under former US president Joe Biden, ending one of the developed world’s longest-running trade disputes. The 17-year-long conflict led the US and EU to put tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s goods.

The 2021 deal took the form of a five-year accord, but neither side reimposed the tariffs this past summer. The EU had referred to the truce as “indefinitely extended” as part of the broader trade deal to avert the highest levels of Trump’s tariffs.

But the June EIB loan, the largest in the lender’s history, added to a growing list of gripes about the EU from US trade officials, who are angry with European efforts to tax and regulate technology companies, as well as its corporate sustainability and supply-chain regulations.

A European Commission spokesperson said on Tuesday that the EIB loan was a “standard loan on market terms” and that it was fully in line with the transatlantic deal struck in 2021. The spokesperson added that the EU’s goal remained to “ensure transparency, predictability and stability for transatlantic businesses in the aircraft sector”.

Airbus said the EIB loan was a “standard corporate financing facility” that was “necessary to manage the complexity of a high-value global production system and supply chain”.

“We are actively engaging with the relevant authorities and are happy to share more information about the loan with governments,” it said in a statement.

Brussels is keen to tamp down trade tensions while diversifying its supply chains and also wants to keep the US engaged in Ukraine.

The US and EU had reached a deal in Turnberry, Scotland, last year to avert the worst levels of Trump’s so-called liberation day tariffs.

Following the US Supreme Court ruling against most of Trump’s tariffs earlier this year, duties on the majority of EU goods have remained at 10 per cent, although cars and car parts have been hit with a 15 per cent levy, and steel and aluminium with 50 per cent.

Still, the trade truce is delicate, especially as European policymakers are seeking to reduce their dependence on American technology amid concerns about the unpredictability of Trump.

🔗 https://unwall.app/www.ft.com/content/f989f4aa-a986-4ced-ba51-fa85f396f06d

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦🇧🇬 Footage showing an unmanned maritime drone approaching the Liberian-flagged container ship CONTSHIP JET (IMO 9348625) from the starboard side, preparing to attack, has emerged.

The video was published by Bulgarian maritime outlet Maritime bg.

The vessel was struck by three maritime drones and sank overnight in the Black Sea off Bulgaria’s coast. All 18 crew members were rescued.

🔗 GeoInsider (@InsiderGeo)

🇧🇬❌🇷🇴 Bulgaria's PM blames Romania for provoking Russia into attacking commercial ships in the Black Sea

Radev stopped short of identifying Russia as the party responsible for the attacks, while implying that Bucharest’s accusations against Moscow had contributed to the escalation.

“I just want to mention the case of Romania. Romania came forward and said, ‘We have no evidence, but we know very well that Russia is responsible for these attacks and we condemn them categorically.’ What happened? Two ships, one of them just a few days ago, were hit and sunk in the most defiant way possible in Romanian territorial waters,” Radev said, according to Euronews Romania.

The Bulgarian prime minister also referred to his own position towards Moscow, claiming that he was the only head of government among Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey to have summoned the Russian ambassador to express his views, according to trud.bg, as quoted by Profit.ro.

“When I make accusations, I must have clear evidence before doing so. I cannot act on the basis of slogans,” Radev said.

The Romanian MFA handed over a protest note to the Russian ambassador in Bucharest over the many drone incursions into the country the past year. A few months ago, Romanian president, Nicușor Dan, expelled some of the Russian embassy's staff over a drone explosion that injured two people in the border city of Galați but did not even issue a protest note to Kiev when the latter detonated a unmanned surface vehicle (USV) self-detonated inside the port of Constanța while chasing an oil tanker carrying Kazakh oil because the oil tanker departed from the port of Novorossiysk the main export route for Kazakh and Central Asian oil to Romania and Europe.

Romania has long enforced a double standard for violations of its sovereignty, expelling Russian diplomats and issuing strongly worded letters to Moscow but ignoring every similar action committed by Kiev.

Politicians in Bucharest unlike those in Bulgaria still firmly believe in the "ironclad" security guarantees given to them by Western officials, a belief which has been put to the test by recent attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea which is directly harming Romania's trade. Russia won't forgive Romania for the support and aid it sent to Kiev.

🔗 https://www.romania-insider.com/society/bulgarias-pm-blames-romania-provoking-russia

🇮🇷🤝🇨🇳 Iran-China train exports have increased 10x times after the U.S. imposed the naval blockade

The first container train carrying exports from Iran’s Qom departed for China.

Simultaneously, 460 tons of sodium hypochlorite from Iran’s Semnan were transported to Turkey by train, further expanding Iran's railway export routes.

With increased maritime restrictions, rail freight transport from China to Iran has increased tenfold, and the arrival of Chinese trains, which used to be every 3 to 4 days, has now reached one train per day.

🔗 https://t.me/farsna/471374

👊 🇦🇲 🏛 A brawl broke out in Armenia’s parliament earlier today between lawmakers from the ruling Civil Contract party and the opposition resulting in the suspension of the session. The incident was broadcast live and shows lawmakers wrestling and throwing punches. Local media report an ambulance arrived at the building and an opposition lawmaker from the Strong Armenia faction was seen bleeding from the nose. Security staff separated the sides, and the clashes continued in the corridors. No official injury report has been released.

The confrontation began during a speech by Civil Contract MP Taron Chakhoyan, who accused opposition members and associates of former president Robert Kocharyan of corruption and clashed verbally with Narek Karapetyan, head of the Strong Armenia faction.

Azernews reports a similar clash took place in early October.

📎 OSINTdefender

🚢💥🇮🇷 The IRGC-linked Fars News Agency published a short clip of what they claim is an oil tanker in flames after hitting a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz.

Coupled with a previous report also posted by Fars, this would be the 4th commercial ship to hit a mine in the Hormuz in the last 30+ hours although Fars provided video evidence for two of these incidents.

@CIG_telegram

🇺🇸 U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, the Pentagon’s top military planner, over allegations of leaking classified information about the Iran and Ukraine wars to the media.

Sylvia is the second official removed from the position in a year, with no replacement announced.

A Pentagon official said Sylvia failed three polygraph tests and the case was referred to the Justice Department, though two other sources disputed the allegations.

Sylvia had been coordinating U.S. military planning for Iran. This means the Joint Staff that serves the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine is without its chief planner on the eve of possible resumption of strikes against Iran.

Source: CBS News

📝 Carolina Lion: Scapegoating for failed operations or clearing out opposition to restarting the war with Iran. Take your pick.

🔗 Clash Report

🇷🇺 Russia's Duma budget committee backs 2027 budget with 2.2% of GDP deficit

The State Duma's budget and taxes committee recommended adopting Russia's 2027-2029 federal budget in the first reading on October 29. It called the plan balanced and realistic while warning of revenue risks, Vedomosti reported, citing the committee's report.

The draft puts 2027 federal revenue at RUB43.3 trillion ($535bn) and spending at RUB48.7 trillion ($602bn), a deficit of 2.2% of GDP that is planned to narrow to 1.9% in 2029. Non-oil and gas revenues make up more than 83% of the total, and the plan does not draw on the National Wealth Fund to cover the deficit.

The committee, chaired by Andrei Makarov, sees external uncertainty as the main risk, with a chance that oil and gas revenues fall short. At home it flags tighter monetary conditions, which could hit investment and consumer spending and so revenue, as well as higher-than-forecast inflation, weak productivity growth and a rising debt burden.

Lawmakers and the Accounts Chamber consider the government's inflation forecast too optimistic. It does not fully match the path of the key rate and the above-forecast indexation of utility and transport tariffs, which could stop inflation returning to target in 2027 as the government plans. The ministry forecasts Urals crude at $53 a barrel in 2027, falling to $51/b in 2029, while the Bank of Russia expects a drop to $50/b.

The 2026 oil price assumption of $61.2/b may be too low, the committee noted. The Accounts Chamber has said that hitting it would require prices to fall to $36.3/b in the fourth quarter, which is unlikely even if the Middle East conflict is settled.

🔗 https://www.intellinews.com/russia-s-duma-budget-committee-backs-2027-budget-with-2-2-of-gdp-deficit-480025/