—❗️🇸🇦/🇾🇪 Southern Taizz front, Yemen, latest map update:

Ansarallah (the Houthis) have managed to capture Jabal Rasin and Al-Damdam in the direction of Al-Turbah and the Taizz–Aden road.

Ansarallah have also captured Al-Aswad, Al-Aghbirah, Manan, Al-Dharifah, and Uqbah Al-Mansourah on the border between the Taizz–Lahij Governorates.

They have consolidated their hold over Al-Akkad (Bireen direction) and Al-Ajram (towards Safiya junction), squeezing towards the Taizz–Aden road on all sides from the west.

In my estimation (which is rather conservative) it will take a maximum of another 1-2 weeks before the last road into Taizz is cut off by Ansarallah, fully encircling the city.

@Middle_East_Spectator

—❗️🇮🇷/🇺🇸/🇮🇶 NEW: Iraq has caved to U.S. pressure and will ban newly sanctioned Iranian airlines from landing or taking off in Iraq, starting tomorrow – AFP

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇸🇦/🇾🇪 NEW: Flights are on holding pattern at Riyadh Airport, Saudi Arabia

A Yemeni missile attack may be incoming.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇺🇳/🇺🇸 NEW: Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, has arrived in New York for the UNGA

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇺🇸 NEW: After banning most major news outlets, the White House announces ‘Trump TV’, a state-run channel to cover all of President Trump’s statements & appearances

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇺🇸 WATCH: President Trump gives remarks from the White House, but there is no audio because the press pool is boycotting him

The Newsmax host notes this is an example of Trump’s attacks on the press ‘backfiring just a little bit’.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇺🇸/🇺🇳 NEW: Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, has departed Tehran to New York to attend UNGA

His plane made a brief stop in Algiers to refuel.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇺🇸/🇮🇷/🇺🇳 NEW: In a joint statement at the UN General Assembly, the G7 (UK, Canada, ‌France, ⁠Germany, Italy, Japan & U.S.) called upon Iran to stop arming the Houthis with missiles

Iran said no.

@Middle_East_Spectator

—❗️🇮🇷 NEW: The first handwritten note by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, has been released to the public

It is dated August 1st, 2026, addressed to IRGC Aerospace Commander Brigadier General Majid Mousavi, and confirms that Seyyed Mojtaba is in active correspondence with all relevant authorities and military officials.

The text is as follows:

‘In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

To the brave and Mujahid brother, Brigadier General Seyyed Majid Mousavi—may God protect and support him.

After greetings and salutations:

1). Praise be to God: The report you submitted—a copy of which I had already received—is heartening and gratifying. You have written very little about your own efforts and those of your unsung, self-sacrificing comrades; such is one of the characteristic behaviors of the pious ones.

The outcome—by Divine Wisdom—stemming from this quality is, God willing, affection and esteem that the Almighty (Glory be to Him and Exalted be He) bestows upon the sincere, along with manifold blessings and manifest victories.

2). Regarding the [ballistic missile] supply chain, I hope efforts continue and that reports on the matter are conveyed to me on a regular basis.

3). Safeguarding your own precious life and the lives of all the brothers is my emphatic request. I hope that, through the blessed prayers of our Master (may God hasten his noble reappearance), all affairs will be set right.’

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇺🇸/🇮🇷/🇺🇳 NEW: Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, asked the U.S. State Department for a special security detail while in NYC

The request was granted.

@Middle_East_Spectator

Won’t cover any UN speeches except Pezeshkian and maybe Netanyahu.

Trump’s speech was a load of horseshit, as usual.

— 🇮🇷/🇪🇺 NEW: Iran’s FM Abbas Araqchi met with Kaja Kallas, the EU’s Minister of Foreign Affairs

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇺🇸/🇮🇷/🇺🇳 MS NOW: ‘Trump touts being a peacemaker while asking if he should annihilate Iran’

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—❗️🇮🇷/🇦🇿 NEW: After U.S. pressure, Azerbaijan officially suspends Iran Air flights

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇹🇷 NEW: Turkish Airlines, Anadolujet, and Pegasus have suspended all flights to and from Iran until March 2027 due to the war

@Middle_East_Spectator