🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — What is Pickaxe Mountain, the site Trump keeps threatening to bomb?

Trump says he'll hit it "pretty soon, and very heavily," and that there's "not a thing they can do about it." He means Pickaxe Mountain, known in Iran as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, one of the most protected sites in the country, buried an estimated 100 meters beneath a mountain south of Natanz. Iran began digging it in 2020, and nuclear expert David Albright says it's large enough to hold both an enrichment plant and weaponization work, which is exactly why Trump doesn't want it left standing as Iran signals it's rebuilding.

This is why it's different from the coastal strikes of the past 11 nights. Hitting Pickaxe wouldn't be about Hormuz, it would strike at Iran's nuclear future, and Tehran has drawn a hard line: its Khatam al-Anbiya command warns that any strike means "an explosion of war in the region," with every US and allied target fair game.

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🇺🇸❌🇮🇷 — BREAKING: Rubio says the U.S. will continue striking Iran for as long as it attempts to control the Strait of Hormuz, adding that Tehran is "not serious" about diplomacy.

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🇺🇸❌🇮🇷 — A drone was shot down over Tehran after IRGC air defense systems were activated, Fars News Agency says.

➡️ Explosions heard across Tehran overnight are believed to be linked to this incident.

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🇮🇷❌🇰🇼🇺🇸 — NEW: Iran claims a new wave of drone strikes targeting US Army ammunition storage and logistical sites at Camp Doha in Kuwait, Tasnim News Agency reports.

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🇺🇸❌🇮🇷 — An explosion was heard in Sirik approximately one hour ago, with smoke still rising from the area.

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🇷🇺❌🇺🇦 — Russian Southern Group forces struck fleeing Ukrainian troops sheltering in Alekseyevo-Druzhkovka after their withdrawal from Konstantinovka.

➡️ Drone teams located small groups of Ukrainian fighters hiding in abandoned buildings in the area.
➡️ Up to ten AFU personnel were neutralised in their shelters via two precise strikes.

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🇫🇷🇮🇱⚡️ — A French agent-scout who recruited models and had ties to Epstein has been found dead, prosecutors said.

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🇾🇪🇾🇪🇸🇦⚡️ — NEW: Asian refiners are rerouting Saudi crude shipments through the Suez Canal and around Africa following Houthi threats of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, adding up to four weeks of transit time and raising freight costs significantly, Reuters reports.

➡️ Two oil tankers carrying Saudi crude to Asia reversed course in the Red Sea on Tuesday after Houthi blockade threats; vessel crossings via the Strait of Hormuz also declined further.

➡️ Liberia-flagged tanker *Rodos*, loaded at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Yanbu and bound for India, was tracking west toward the Suez Canal as of Tuesday.

➡️ South Korean refiner Hyundai Oilbank is seeking a Very Large Crude Carrier to load at Yanbu with the option of routing via the Suez Canal and Egypt's SUMED pipeline to South Korea.

➡️ Saudi crude and products transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait hit a record of over 4 million barrels per day last month, making the disruption particularly acute for Riyadh.

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🇷🇺⚡️ — Russian Urals crude oil exceeded $75.

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🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — Support for the Iran war is slipping among Trump's MAGA base, a new Politico poll shows.

➡️ The share of MAGA voters who consider the war worth the economic cost dropped from 50% in May to 37% in July.
➡️ More MAGA voters now say the US should stay involved only if costs don't rise further, or end the war altogether.
➡️ Rising gas prices, US military casualties, and broader economic concerns appear to be driving the decline.

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🇮🇷🇺🇸⚡️ — The IRGC claims its strikes on the King Faisal and Prince Hassan Air Bases destroyed multiple U.S. drones and inflicted significant damage on military infrastructure.

According to the group, an F-15 preparation hangar was hit, while a drone preparation hangar housing eight brand-new MQ-9A unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), still in their packaging and not yet assembled for service, was completely destroyed. Two additional drones positioned outside the hangar were also said to have sustained heavy damage.

The IRGC further claims to have struck a helicopter maintenance hangar, severely damaging two heavy U.S. helicopters, as well as accommodation facilities, reportedly killing and injuring several personnel.

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🇮🇷❌🇯🇴🇺🇸 — EXCLUSIVE: footage shows US soldiers at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base taking cover as IRGC strikes hit the base.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸⚡️ — Lavrov reported that he will meet with Rubio tomorrow.

▶️ The Moscow Exchange index began to rise following this news.

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🇷🇺❌🇺🇦 — Russian Tsentr Group artillery destroyed Ukrainian fortified positions, dugouts, and a UAV command post using Msta-S self-propelled guns in the Dobropolye direction.

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🇮🇷❌🇰🇼🇺🇸 — An FPS-117 early warning radar at Ahmad Al-Jaber Airbase in Kuwait has been destroyed.

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🇮🇷❌🇧🇭🇺🇸 — The IRGC is conducting a strike on Bahrain.