NEW - American Red Cross declares second-ever national blood supply crisis, urges immediate blood donations, as summer stocks reportedly hit a four-year low.
NEW: Actions by the Russian Federation indicate preparations for another large-scale missile attack against Ukraine tonight.
Russia has concentrated 8 Tu-95MS strategic bombers and up to 6 Tu-160 strategic bombers ahead of a potential combat mission. Ballistic missiles are also expected to be part of any large-scale strike, alongside Geran drones, and ballistic missiles.
If all of the strategic bombers take off and participate, Russia could launch up to 80 Kh-101 cruise missiles, in addition to drones, ballistic missiles, and other air-launched weapons.
Over the past months, Russia has repeatedly set new records for the number of ballistic missiles launched during individual attacks on Kyiv, combining them with large waves of drones and cruise missiles in an effort to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses.
Russia is also exploiting the conflict in the Middle East, which has placed additional strain on the production and delivery of Patriot air-defense interceptors, increasing pressure on Ukraine's already limited air-defense resources.
If tonight follows the same pattern, Ukraine could face another extremely difficult night.
I will provide updates if the strategic bombers begin taking off or if further developments emerge.
Iran's army commander-in-chief Amir Hatami: the military will defend the Islamic Republic, Iran's territory and its independence against aggressors "until its last breathe.
Gas storage vessels at Egypt’s Damietta port may have been hit by drones, two security sources told Reuters. Maritime security firm Ambrey said a U.S.-owned, Marshall Islands-flagged LNG floating storage facility was struck by at least one UAV.
🚨🇮🇷 The IRGC says it "struck and stopped" three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
-Per Tasnim, Iran's semi-official IRGC-tied outlet, the Guard says three tankers "that continued to move along an unsafe and illegal route, ignoring our warnings, were struck and stopped"
-The warning attached: any vessel following "illegal interference or orders" from the U.S. in the strait "will not go unanswered"
-No vessel names, flags, or independent confirmation yet, and no UKMTO advisory has surfaced
It comes after the IRGC formally claimed the missile salvo on Jordan
Source: Tasnim / Writer: Daniel
🇷🇺🇺🇦 Footage shows the warehouse on fire after the Ukrainian drone attack in Saint Petersburg early this morning.
A second drone appears to have hit while it was already burning.
This is the northernmost Wildberries target yet in a week-long wave of strikes that has already taken out a significant share of the company’s logistics capacity across Russia.
Writer: Lucas
Ukraine’s strike campaign against the Russian online retailer Wildberries - which provides direct logistical support to the Russian Armed Forces - is continuing, with one-way attack drones striking and setting ablaze a distribution warehouse this morning in the city of St. Petersburg, over 500 miles from the northern border with Ukraine.
🚨🇬🇧 🇮🇷 Iran has threatened to strike the American bomber base in ENGLAND, and Britain says its forces are ready.
-The IRGC, via Tasnim, declared RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire a "legitimate target," saying any base used to launch attacks on Iranian territory qualifies
-Its claim is that the U.S. resumed B-1 strike missions from Fairford, which CNN cannot independently verify, though Axios reported a B-1 hit IRGC targets in Iran on Tuesday
-The UK's answer:
"Our Armed Forces are ready to keep the United Kingdom safe from any kind of attacks, whether it's on our soil or from abroad"
-Fairford has been the forward base for American strategic bombers all war, hosting B-1 Lancers since early March and B-52s after them
-Distance makes the threat doubtful: Tehran sits about 2,800 miles away, and the two missiles Iran fired toward Diego Garcia in March never reached it
Iran almost certainly cannot hit Gloucestershire, and that isn't really the point.
Naming a NATO ally's soil forces London into a public defense of hosting the bombers, and every European capital that lends a runway now has to weigh what that costs at home.
Source: CNN / Writer: Daniel
Oil just crossed $100 and the market is screaming shortage
Something snapped in the oil market this week.
Buyers are now paying about eleven dollars MORE for a barrel delivered in September than one in December, a flip that only happens when somebody needs the fuel right now and doubts it will be there later.
Chris Martenson has tracked these signals for two decades, and he points past crude to what people actually burn.
Jet fuel in Rotterdam hit roughly $158 a barrel this week.
Diesel sat near $148.
American diesel and heating oil just printed their highest prices ever recorded.
Then came the move nobody could paper over.
Overnight trading, usually dead hours with thin volume, ran daytime-sized numbers as Brent punched through $100 and Treasury yields climbed right alongside it.
Traffic through Hormuz has collapsed to four or eight ships a day, down from 125 or more.
Saudi Arabia is rerouting crude to bypass its own backup route.
Empty tanks cannot be talked down, and the arithmetic runs out by September.
@chrismartenson
For the first time, the U.S. Army has deployed the 'Dark Eagle' Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon to Guam during Exercise Valiant Shield 2026.
From Guam, much of China's eastern seaboard, including key military targets, fall within the missile's reported range, giving the U.S. Army a survivable, forward-based conventional strike capability able to hold high-value targets at risk from U.S. territory.
🚨🇮🇷 🇺🇸 Tonight's strike map spans 14 Iranian cities.
-Explosions were reported in Khondab, Khorramabad, Borujerd, Andimeshk, Ahvaz, Khorramshahr, Taft, Anarak, Omidiyeh, Firuzabad, Bandar Abbas, Suza on southern Qeshm Island, Jask, and Konarak
-Air defense activity was noted in and around Tehran
-Khondab sits beside Iran's heavy-water reactor complex, and Jask is the oil terminal Iran built specifically to export without crossing Hormuz
-The counts are approximate and unofficial, drawn from public reports, with rural strikes likely still unrecorded
Source: @TabzLIVE / Writer: Daniel