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President Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran "hard" after Tehran fired missiles at US troops in Jordan and stopped three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, shattering a week-old pause.

This comes as the Senate advanced a Russia sanctions bill renamed for Lindsey Graham, and as Russia issued an international wanted notice for Telegram's founder.

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1️⃣ 🇺🇸🇷🇺 Senate advances Russia sanctions bill in Graham's name: Senators voted 86 to 12 to advance a sweeping sanctions bill renamed after Lindsey Graham, hours after the funeral of the senator who had spent more than a year pushing it. It would sanction Russian leaders, the energy sector and the shadow fleet, and use tariffs against the biggest buyers of Russian energy, though House Democrats object to the wider tariff powers it grants President Donald Trump.

2️⃣ 🇷🇺 Russia issues wanted notice for Telegram's Durov: Russia's security services issued an international wanted notice for Telegram founder Pavel Durov over "complicity in terrorism," accusing him of failing to remove channels the FSB says Ukrainian intelligence used to recruit saboteurs. The FSB said 46 users of a dating chatbot, aged 12 to 22, have been detained since July 2025, and Telegram's official account responded by posting an image of Durov making a rude gesture.

3️⃣ 🌏 Asia scrambles for oil as Red Sea blockade bites: Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines are racing to secure supplies after the Houthi blockade of Saudi shipping through Bab al-Mandab compounded Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz in March. War risk premiums for tankers have doubled in a week, and Chinese refiners have stepped up purchases of sanctioned Russian crude to cover the shortfall.

4️⃣ 🇺🇸🇨🇦 Trump says he doesn't care about the North American trade deal: President Donald Trump told Fox News he does not want the continental trade agreement updated, saying "Mexico and Canada need us, we don't need them." Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc returned to Washington seeking a breakthrough before 50% tariffs on some Canadian goods take effect on 19 August.

5️⃣ 🇵🇪 Keiko Fujimori sworn in as Peru's president: Keiko Fujimori took office after winning June's runoff by fewer than 50,000 votes, becoming Peru's ninth president in a decade and confirming South America's shift towards the conservative wing. She pledged an "iron fist" on crime and a megaprison modelled on El Salvador's Cecot, while opposition lawmakers protested outside parliament holding photos of those killed in the 2022 and 2023 demonstrations.

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Major Story

🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump vows to hit Iran hard as strikes shatter the pause

President Donald Trump said "we'll be hitting them hard" after Iran launched a wave of missiles at US troops in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, days after he abruptly suspended a 13-day bombing campaign.

The US military said it intercepted multiple ballistic missiles in an "attempted surprise attack on US forces based in the Middle East," with five interceptions reported over Jordan, while the IRGC said it had targeted a US airbase and Central Command centre.

Joint US and Saudi strikes in Iraq killed at least 20 members of the Popular Mobilisation Forces and wounded 32, according to the group, in the first major US military action in the region since the pause.

The IRGC separately said it "struck and stopped" three oil tankers in Hormuz that ignored its warnings, and Iran rejected an Omani proposal to jointly manage traffic through the strait.

US oil futures jumped more than 4% to above $82 a barrel as the attacks landed while Trump was meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

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Other News

1️⃣ 🇺🇸 Senate confirms Jay Clayton as spy chief: The Senate voted 51 to 47 to install Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence, replacing acting chief Bill Pulte, a housing official whose appointment had alarmed both parties. Committee vice-chair Mark Warner said he came away from the confirmation hearing with "serious reservations" about whether Clayton would stand up to political pressure.

2️⃣ 🇺🇸 Fauci invokes the Fifth at Covid origins hearing: Anthony Fauci refused to answer questions at a Senate hearing on the origins of Covid-19, saying Senator Rand Paul's "obvious obsession" with prosecuting him was the sole reason for the summons. Paul had released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci's pandemic-era writings, which show him open to both natural origins and a lab leak before growing convinced the virus evolved naturally.

3️⃣ 🇨🇾🇺🇳 Guterres pushes to revive Cyprus talks: UN Secretary-General António Guterres said resolving Cyprus's 52-year division is "absolutely crucial" as a factor of stability in what he called a dangerously unstable region. He said he is prepared to convene the five-plus-one group of Cypriot leaders and the foreign ministers of Greece, Turkey and Britain, though Turkey still insists on a two-state arrangement.

4️⃣ 🇮🇱🇺🇦 Netanyahu and Zelenskyy speak for first time in three years: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shook hands and spoke before Lindsey Graham's funeral in Washington, their first in-person exchange since September 2023. The two explored arranging a formal meeting in Washington but did not go ahead with it, while Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar invited his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha to visit Israel.

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