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CIA chief reportedly warns Russia against attacking Nato countries on visit to Moscow – US politics live
The Guardian·5 hours agoPolitics
Kremlin dismisses US media reports after meeting as ‘scare stories’, as Pentagon policy chief prepares to meet Nato secretary general Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. A trip by the CIA director to Moscow this week was to warn Russia against any attack on Nato member states, US media reported, after Donald Trump attempted to downplay the visit. Two dozen mainly Democratic‑led states filed a fresh lawsuit to block Donald Trump ’s executive order restricting mail voting in this year’s midterm elections.
UK’s small power plants face continued cyber risk after Iran-linked hack
The Guardian·6 hours agoSanctions
Government measures to improve resilience are not due until 2030 and July’s hack has not altered this timeline Hundreds of Britain’s smallest power plants could remain at a higher risk to state-sponsored cyber-attacks until the 2030s despite a successful Iran-linked hack last month, it has emerged. Officials this week briefed energy bosses on the breach, which is understood to have shut an unnamed small gas power plant for four days last month, and put the industry on alert over the growing cyber threat facing energy infrastructure. Continue reading...
Trump downplays Moscow visit by CIA director as ‘semi-routine’
The Guardian·21 hours agoSanctions
President denies visit was to gain support for Iran sanctions or due to fears that Putin plans to ‘test Nato resolve’ US politics live – latest updates Donald Trump has downplayed a visit to Moscow by the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, as “semi-routine” after he turned up in the Russian capital unannounced, triggering a wave of speculation about the reasons for his trip. Ratcliffe was reported to have flown to Moscow on a government transport plane on Tuesday in a rare visit after taking off from the Andrews air force base in Maryland. Continue reading...
With no friends left to burn, Trump is running out of diplomatic ammunition | Rafael Behr
The Guardian·1 day agoWar
Everyone can see that the Iran war has been a strategic disaster for the US, while a failing president pretends he is winning Now is the twilight of Donald Trump’s supremacy. The US is still the richest and most heavily armed nation on Earth. That status is secure.
Iran seeks to criminalise all contact with foreign media in latest ‘chilling’ crackdown
The Guardian·1 day agoHuman Rights
As photojournalist sentenced to 15 years, rights groups warn law would turn civic engagement into security crime Iran has taken the first step towards criminalising contact with foreign media, in a move human rights groups have said attempts to “sever the entire Iranian society from the rest of the world”. For journalists, researchers and even ordinary citizens, the proposed law being discussed by Iranian lawmakers this month could make speaking to international audiences and groups a potential criminal act and restrict coverage of events such as January’s mass anti-regime protests . Continue reading...
Iran faces strait of Hormuz paradox as strategic value of chokehold erodes
The Guardian·1 day agoSanctions
Internal calls to end war get louder as Gulf neighbours plan alternative pipelines to cut reliance on waterway Is the strait of Hormuz, recently cited by the office of the Iranian supreme leader as “the pillar of Iran’s new security order”, and as transformative as possessing a nuclear weapon, in reality becoming a fast-diminishing asset, leaving Iran increasingly vulnerable to the new planned US wave of economic sanctions? It is the key debate that is raging inside Iran, with many different conclusions being drawn for Tehran’s negotiating strategy. Those who warn the strait’s value as a chokehold on the world economy will erode, leaving the country without foreign exchange reserves, argue that Iran’s negotiators should seek a deal soon.
UK to warn citizens to stock up on food amid threat from climate crisis and hostile states
The Guardian·1 day agoGeneral
Government resilience campaign aims to ensure people can cope in a national disaster, in order to free resources for most vulnerable UK citizens will be told to stock up on tinned food and take steps to ensure they are prepared for national emergencies as part of a new government campaign to improve the nation’s resilience. The new campaign from the Cabinet Office will set out ways people can prepare for extreme weather events and potential attacks from hostile states, including stocking up on bottled water, sources told the Guardian. Continue reading...
‘Economic D-day’: how desperate is Trump to end Iran war? — The Latest
The Guardian·1 day agoSanctions
The White House has threatened sanctions on any country that trades with Iran in another bid to economically isolate the country, as US military efforts falter. Launching what he called Operation Economic Outcast, the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, compared it with D-day. China, Iran’s biggest trading partner, has already signalled that it will not cooperate with Trump’s attack on the Iranian economy.
‘Economic D-day’: How desperate is Trump to end Iran war? - The Latest
The Guardian·2 days agoSanctions
The White House has threatened sanctions on any country that trades with Iran in another bid to economically isolate the country, as US military efforts falter. Launching what he called Operation Economic Outcast, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, compared it with D-day. China, Iran’s biggest trading partner, has already signalled that it will not cooperate with Trump’s attack on the Iranian economy.
First Thing: Supreme court threatens midterms mail-in voting as it backs Trump plan
The Guardian·2 days agoPolitics
US president has been obsessed with restricting the ability to vote by mail, despite using it himself. Plus why we are still so fascinated with Meg from the White Stripes Good morning. The US supreme court has sided with Donald Trump in his effort to crack down on mail-in voting , though it is unclear whether or not his administration will be able to take action before the midterm elections in November.
China denounces US threat of sanctions over trade with Iran
The Guardian·2 days agoSanctions
Beijing says it will take ‘all necessary measures’ to protect its interests as US steps up efforts to isolate Tehran Explainer: could US sanctions threaten China-Iran ties? China has denounced the threat of US sanctions for its trade with Iran , saying any such measures would be illegal, and warned it will take “all necessary measures” to protect its national interests. Beijing’s rejection of the US threat of secondary sanctions for any country or entity continuing to trade with Tehran had been predicted.
China is the biggest buyer of Iran’s oil. Could US sanctions threaten those ties?
The Guardian·2 days agoSanctions
The US has put the world on notice to cease doing business with Iran, but experts say Washington is wary China could retaliate against any sanctions The US has unveiled an expansion of sanctions that it says will cut off Iran’s economic lifeline but stopped short of the most punishing measures, instead putting the world on notice to cease doing business with the Islamic republic. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent ⁠warned other countries would need to sever ⁠business ties with Iran or risk being forced out of the dollar-based financial system. He previously urged cooperation from China – the biggest buyer of Iranian oil for several years – although the US blockade of Iran’s ports, renewed in mid-July, has already cut much of the Iranian oil flows to China.
US threatens severe sanctions against countries with economic ties to Iran
The Guardian·2 days agoSanctions
Washington launches campaign to isolate Tehran but it is unclear whether it would apply sanctions to China The US has threatened to impose severe sanctions against any country or entity maintaining economic ties with Iran, hoping to achieve with economic measures what military means have so far failed to do. However, it is unclear how far the Trump administration is prepared to go in confronting China, Iran’s biggest trading partner, which has signalled its resistance to US economic pressure to cut off links with an ally. Continue reading...
Iran vows to retaliate against countries that cooperate with fresh US sanctions
The Guardian·3 days agoSanctions
Test of US rhetoric will rest on whether nations such as India, China and Russia view economic threats as credible Iran has vowed to retaliate against any country that cooperates with the US attempt to impose fresh sanctions against Iran in what the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has billed as “the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary”. In advance of the US announcement, the United Arab Emirates, Iran’s single biggest trading partner in the Middle East, announced it was ending all trade with Iran, a move Tehran believes was coordinated between Washington and Dubai. Continue reading...
Iran-linked hackers blamed for cyber-attack that shut down UK power plant
The Guardian·4 days agoWar
Incident marks apparent escalation by Tehran in its in retaliation against UK over allowing US to use British bases Hackers linked to Iran have been blamed for a cyber-attack that caused a British power plant to be temporarily shut down. The incident involved a small-scale energy generator, according to the UK government and at no point was there there risk to the wider energy system. Continue reading...
Iran’s new security chief says neighbours who join US economic war will be considered ‘enemies’
The Guardian·4 days agoSanctions
Hardliner Mohsen Rezaei also threatens American economic interests in first interview since appointment to supreme national security council The new leader of Iran’s top security body has warned its neighbours against joining new US efforts to squeeze Tehran’s economy, and threatened US commercial interests in the region, as Donald Trump doubled down on his fanciful view that the strait of Hormuz was a new US territory. Mohsen Rezaei, the hardline new leader of Iran’s supreme national security council, told state television that Iran would target oil-shipping routes out the Gulf – alternatives to the strait of Hormuz – if its neighbours joined what he called the “economic war” waged by the US. Those neighbours would be “considered an enemy” and “we will target their interests”, he said.
Persuasion, denial and bluster: Trump ‘stuck’ on Iran war ahead of elections
The Guardian·5 days agoPolitics
As the president tries to extract the US from his Iran war quagmire, leadership in Tehran is only too happy to crush his midterm dreams In the aftermath of his devastating election defeat, the US president remained haunted by regrets over Iran . Months before Jimmy Carter lost the 1980 presidential election to Ronald Reagan , eight US servicemen died in a botched high-risk rescue mission that failed to secure the freedom of dozens of US hostages seized in Tehran. Continue reading...
Trump says he views strait of Hormuz as ‘American territory’
The Guardian·5 days agoPolitics
President at rally in South Carolina makes comments on key strategic waterway and also jokes about bombing Iran Donald Trump called the strait of Hormuz “an American territory” on Friday, as the US continues its military blockade of Iran’s shipping and ports while Trump’s administration struggles to end its war with the country. “We don’t even know if we won, because I view the strait of Hormuz as an American territory right now,” Trump said, addressing a crowd in South Carolina. He was campaigning for senator Darline Graham, who is running to permanently fill her late brother Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat.
Democrats and Republican outraged over $40tn national debt – US politics live
The Guardian·1 week agoPolitics
Deficit has doubled over the past decade with spending growing under Trump and Biden US gross national debt tops $40tn for first time Sign up for the US Breaking News email Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. The US gross national debt reached $40tn for the first time on Wednesday, the highest in US history. Continue reading...
An open letter to Iran’s political prisoners, trapped ‘between two blades of a scissors’
The Guardian·1 week agoHuman Rights
On one side, you face the domination of the Islamic Republic; on the other, the imperialist forces that Republic claims to stand against August marks the anniversary of the 1988 mass executions in Iran, a horror that echoes in the country’s current surge in death sentences. It also marks the 19 August anniversary of the UK- and US-orchestrated coup against the prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953. Amid the current, indiscriminate waves of US-Israeli military assaults against Iran, this letter of solidarity denounces the repression of the Iranian people and their political prisoners by forces both at home and abroad.

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