Minerva's Owl

The early worm gets eaten.

[Rebeccah Heinrichs @RLHeinrichs]

The way to ending the war on terms that are good for the United States is by pressuring Russia.

[Minerva's Owl @Jim66639044]

@RealMarcusA11en @front_ukrainian @FBI Why do you assume they're random? They only have to mean something to me.

[Minerva's Owl @Jim66639044]

I'm pretty sure @elonmusk didn't have anything to do with the Starshield throttling. The US DoD is responsible for that system, and at least two Republican lawmakers are asking the IG to look into the matter. Otherwise, I agree that Ukraine has proven unrelenting even when faced with such challenges.

[NSTRIKE @NSTRIKE1231]

BREAKING | 🇺🇸🇺🇦‼️ Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick has threatened to cut funding to U.S. federal agencies involved in restricting Ukraine’s military access to Starlink, warning that Congress will respond if American authorities are found responsible.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Fitzpatrick said federal agencies implicated in limiting Ukraine’s military communications could face financial consequences. “If we leave Ukraine in the dark, there will be consequences. Mark my words,” he warned, adding that agencies would not receive funding if they failed to fulfill their responsibilities. Fitzpatrick indicated that congressional action would follow if the allegations surrounding Starlink restrictions were substantiated.

🔥 Fitzpatrick’s warning highlights growing tensions within Washington over decisions that could weaken Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities. Reliable satellite communications are essential for Ukrainian military coordination, and restrictions on their availability could create serious operational risks. His intervention also demonstrates that opposition to measures undermining Ukraine is not confined to Democrats, with Republican lawmakers increasingly willing to challenge decisions made under Trump’s administration.

See the latest updates with us: @NSTRIKE1231

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Russian-Iranian cooperation extends far beyond their confrontation with the United States. The two countries have long coordinated closely in waging hybrid warfare against the West as a whole.

Russia and Iran share intelligence. In July 2025, the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee reported on this cooperation. The committee linked it to improvements in Iran’s intelligence operations and its ability to counter Western intelligence services. Some of the information in the public version of the report remains classified.

Pro-Russian and Iran-linked hacking groups formed a coalition called Holy League on July 22, 2024. It consisted of around 70 groups, including NoName057(16), Cyber Army of Russia, and UserSec.

Holy League members attacked Spain following the arrests of individuals linked to the DDoSia project run by Russia's NoName057(16). According to ENISA, NoName057(16) later claimed responsibility for DDoS attacks against Israeli organizations as a gesture of gratitude to its partners. This is an example of an exchange of favors: coalition members attack each other's adversaries.

Holy League targeted French online resources following the arrest of Pavel Durov in August 2024 and during the December meeting between Presidents Zelenskyy, Macron, and Trump in Paris. CERT aDvens and ENISA documented these campaigns, including attacks against government websites and financial services. Radware also recorded an announced campaign against France on December 6 and threats against Germany on December 14.

In March 2025, the coalition reported coordinated attacks against public-facing websites belonging to the British Army, the Royal Navy, the nuclear safety regulator, and MI6. Abu Omar, a representative of Cyber Islamic Resistance, claimed that his group had received training from Badr, an Iraqi organization linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Researchers have linked the Russian coalition member Cyber Army of Russia Reborn to Sandworm, a group of military hackers.

The pro-Russian NoName057(16) and the pro-Iranian Cyber Islamic Resistance jointly attacked Israeli targets in March 2026 as part of OpIsrael. Flashpoint identified a defense company and municipal authorities among the targets.

Russian groups and Iran’s Handala synchronized their messaging about attacks on Israel’s energy infrastructure. According to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment reported by Reuters on April 7, 2026, Handala published warnings about attacks while Z-Pentest Alliance, NoName057(16), and DDoSia Project simultaneously posted access details for critical systems.

Russian-speaking cybercriminals offered Iranian groups access to compromised networks on the XSS and Exploit forums, Flashpoint reported in March 2026. Chainalysis separately identified a transfer of approximately $2,000 in Bitcoin from a Russian-speaking access broker to Keyvan Blagh, who is linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. Blagh also paid at least two bulletproof hosting providers.

The Iranian groups MuddyWater, Agrius, and Nimbus Manticore used WorkTitans servers to control malware and communicate with compromised systems. Check Point describes WorkTitans as the successor to Stark Industries, which was sanctioned by the EU in May 2025 over its links to Russian information operations. The seizure of approximately 800 servers in the Netherlands in May 2026 simultaneously disrupted several Iranian campaigns targeting the defense, aviation, and other sectors.

Iran’s IROST appears among the entities associated with the allocation of IP address space to Aeza, a Russian hosting provider linked to the Doppelganger operation targeting Western audiences. According to research published by Qurium on October 14, 2026, 12,544 IPv4 addresses were associated with IROST’s original allocations, accounting for 9.14% of the Aeza and NetCrafters infrastructure examined.

Iranian proxies have organized attacks in Europe alongside coordinated information campaigns. According to the U.S. Department of Justice indictment, Mohammad Baqer al-Saadi, an operative of Kataib Hezbollah and the IRGC, helped organize approximately 18 attacks and attempted attacks under the name HAYI, also known as IMCR. Prosecutors describe his video calls with operatives during attacks, including the arson attack on a London synagogue on April 18, 2026, as well as his role in preparing propaganda videos. He is also accused of attempting to organize attacks in the United States.

HAYI materials were distributed through four main Arabic-language Telegram channels. ICCT and DarkOwl linked two of them to sanctioned pro-Russian networks and the other two to Iraqi pro-Iranian groups. A report about the attack in Rotterdam appeared approximately 17 minutes after the incident, followed by a video 39 minutes later. Al Faqaar published materials before or at the same time as HAYI channels, while the videos featured Sabereen News branding.

Iranian accounts were sharing Russian content about U.S. elections and racial tensions as early as 2016-2017. A 2023 study published in Scientific Reports identified a subnetwork of 54 Russian and 329 Iranian accounts. Retweets of Russian sources by Iranian accounts accounted for 96.81% of interactions. A significant proportion of those sources belonged to the Internet Research Agency. The researchers describe a division of roles: Russian participants created the content, while Iranian participants amplified its reach.

Russian and Iranian state media are establishing regular exchanges of content. In August 2025, IRIB signed cooperation agreements with Ruptly, MIR, and BRICS TV and held talks with Rossiya Segodnya, Russian state television and radio broadcasters, and Zvezda. Iran Press linked these agreements to efforts to counter Western narratives, exchange information, and potentially produce content jointly.

The IRGC commissioned a Russian criminal network to assassinate journalist Masih Alinejad in New York for $500,000. According to U.S. Department of Justice documents, in July 2022, Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov gave the intended hitman, Khalid Mehdiyev, the journalist’s address and $30,000 as an advance payment. He purchased an AK-47-style rifle and ammunition. The assassination attempt was thwarted, and in October 2025, Amirov and Omarov were each sentenced to 25 years in prison.

A Russian espionage network smuggled a secure SINA laptop out of Austria that was intended for Iran. ORF published correspondence between Jan Marsalek and Orlin Roussev, the head of a Bulgarian espionage network, concerning the laptop’s transportation from Vienna to Moscow in 2022. Marsalek wrote: "Iran will be a happy buyer." A report published on May 20, 2026, about the conviction of their Austrian associate Egisto Ott also points to the device being resold to Iran.

Russia’s A7 network, established with the involvement of Promsvyazbank and Ilan Shor, processes payments for Iranian entities and their allies. In June 2026, TRM Labs and the Open Source Centre found that one A7 address had received more than $65 million in direct transfers from an address researchers attributed to the IRGC. A7’s total financial links to the IRGC, Hamas, the Houthis, Nobitex, and Iranian intermediaries amounted to $176.6 million.

Russia and Iran are actively cooperating, while China is steadily guiding them and providing technological assistance and financial channels. Meanwhile, President Trump does not believe that Russia and China are helping Iran: Moscow and Beijing have "too much to lose."

Perhaps what they are afraid of losing is precisely his confidence in that.

[Brit Hume @brithume]

Quote: "Russian forces indiscriminately bomb Ukraine’s cities, not because of Moscow’s lack of precision munitions but as a tactic. Its soldiers have massacred Ukrainian civilians. They deploy rape as a weapon of war."

[DavidEng 🇺🇸 @DavidEngineerX]

I’ve searched @realannapaulina posts for any negative statements about Putin or Russia. There are none. Zero. Warmonger Putin intentionally kills Ukraine civilians including women and children, yet gets a free pass with her.

She is weak, pathetic, a Putin shill for Trump. Sad.

[DavidEng 🇺🇸 @DavidEngineerX]

Starshield is run by the US military, not SpaceX. Trump has throttle Starshield that Ukraine uses. aiding warmonger Putin in his invasion of Ukraine. Trump is a traitor to American values.
Link to article in replies.

[Institute for the Study of War @TheStudyofWar]

MORE: Recent waves of Iranian attacks on vessels in and near the Strait of Hormuz indicate that Iran retains the ability to effectively target vessels in the strait, which suggests that Iran has either overcome previous operational constraints or is adapting to such constraints through new tactics or capabilities.⬇️

ISW-CTP assessed in early September 2026 that recent US efforts, including airstrikes on Iranian coastal radars, appeared to have some success in disrupting Iran’s ability to attack ships in the strait.

Iran’s employment of suboptimal methods to attempt to maintain Iranian control in the Strait of Hormuz — such as using shore-based rocket launchers instead of fast attack craft (FAC) to deploy mines and using FAC to physically identify vessels — suggested that recent US strikes had degraded Iran’s maritime surveillance and mine-laying capabilities.

A US military official noted to Reuters on October 13 that Iranian naval forces have continued to use small boats with spotters to identify targets and inform the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The US military official said that Iran pursued this method of target identification after the United States “destroyed” a significant part of Iranian radar capabilities. The US military official cited an example from the past seven to fourteen days in which the US military identified Iranian spotters calling in targets from a small vessel in the strait, which suggests that Iran may still be contending with somewhat degraded coastal radar systems.

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

The Insider: China supplies Russia with modems for long-range drones

The outlet found that Chinese company Xingkai Tech is willing to supply Russia with mesh modems for drones.

Journalists examined a modem found in a Gerbera drone and, posing as a Russian supplier, ordered 500 devices for a factory in Alabuga.

The company issued an invoice even though the journalists stated that the modems were intended for military production.

The modems are used in Geran and Gerbera drones. They allow the drones to exchange data and continue flying over long distances.

According to the outlet, Chinese banks are also helping process these transactions.

[The Hill @thehill]

Tillis calls on Pentagon IG to investigate Ukraine’s Starshield loss

https://t.co/PsX2eEzye9

[Minerva's Owl @Jim66639044]

@nypost https://t.co/jJ7CGHmE5i

You should amend your headline to include Putin, who was the first to defy Trump's "energy ceasefire."

[Naftogaz of Ukraine @NaftogazUkraine]

Last night, Russia struck a Naftogaz Group gas production facility in Poltava Region. During the attack, employees were in a shelter. No one was injured. The Group’s specialists are currently assessing the extent of the damage caused by the overnight attack.

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

⚡️BREAKING: Six Su-34 military aircraft destroyed at Borisoglebsk airfield

The strike was carried out by the Ukrainian Navy using Neptune missiles.

[Minerva's Owl @Jim66639044]

The information is not being withheld. Rather, Trump is dismissing the corresponding intelligence reports because he deems them to be irrelevant. The question then is, how can the intelligence reports be irrelevant when the president is giving US tax dollars to and otherwise rewarding Russia while it continues to provide intelligence and weaponry/military equipment to Iran, which it then uses to attack and kill US troops?

Trump is dismissing this intelligence at his own peril, because this could be seen as aiding an enemy that is actively targeting and killing US troops. I'm not a legal expert, but I'm pretty sure that could be construed as a high crime or misdemeanor. Even republican lawmakers can see that, and most of them would not dare to so openly betray US troops and US citizens.

Just some food for thought.

[UAVoyager🇺🇦 @CrimeanVoyager]

russian drones, with Trump’s blessing, are attacking Kyiv right now.

[🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 @front_ukrainian]

❗️Germany’s Chancellor Merz rejected the idea of transferring Russian assets frozen in the EU under U.S. control, stating that they should remain frozen in Europe, as this is a European matter to be decided by the Europeans themselves.

[MAKS 26 🇺🇦👀 @Maks_NAFO_FELLA]

🇺🇸🇺🇦🚀 Zelensky:

The question is: Can you give me missiles for Patriot?

Because when I don't attack them, because you asked me not to attack them, they will attack me.

It's fair if you give me something with which to defend myself. That's the minimum I'm asking for.

And when I'm asking this, your answer is blocking Starlink.

[The Economist @TheEconomist]

Vladimir Putin appears to have concluded that he cannot win the war in Ukraine on the battlefield. His strategy now is to grind Ukraine down. How scandalous that Donald Trump has become his best weapon https://t.co/L2lZcibP0D

Photo: AP

[Kyle Keegan @realKyleKeegan]

Mark my words. Any Republican politician who helps Trump throw Ukraine under the bus for Putin will be vilified by history in short order and then forever.

[Minerva's Owl @Jim66639044]

Errr... According to the Trump administration, the US attacked Iran to stop them from having nuclear weapons. Iran having nuclear weapons would be bad for everyone, not just Israel. The fact that the US went to war with Iran for any reason does not mean it is somehow okay for the Trump administration to give US tax dollars to any country giving Iran intelligence and weapons to kill US troops.