NEWS w/ @anna_c_kramer: Trump aides are privately pressing US firms to take shipments Russian diesel currently crossing the Atlantic, sources say Firms do not want to say yes, seeing major legal & reputational risks Ukrainians warn against accepting “blood money” washingtonsun.com/whitehouse…

A massacre in the Dnipro passenger railway station today. A guided Russian drone targeted a crowded platform, killing at least 13 people and injuring many others, as per city officials. But diesel. But Russia wants peace. But don’t you dare hit their refineries.

Very important statement by @iaeaorg DG @rafaelmgrossi on Iran's nuclear program here, with 2 critical points worth zooming in on for policymakers as they weigh the costs and benefits of more strikes or staying the course against the balance sheet of the past on counterproliferation measures against Iran: 1) While the military "win" of the 12-Day War in the counterproliferation space was ending Iranian enrichment at declared facilities and targeting the regime's weaponization sites and scientists, the trade off was the loss of IAEA access at targeted nuclear facilities, implementation of the CSA, and the inability to comment on diversion of nuclear material. Grossi below 👇 "Maintaining continuity of knowledge is crucial in any verification and monitoring process. Iran has not provided the requested information and access so that the IAEA can verify previously declared nuclear material at Iran’s facilities under safeguards, both those that have been affected by military attacks and those that have not... as of today the IAEA has not been able to verify that there has been no diversion of nuclear material required to be safeguarded under Iran’s CSA. This can and must be rectified." & 2) Amid all the talk of Pickaxe, does anyone remember Isfahan? Not the tunnels for storage of enriched uranium in canisters, but the plan for a new enrichment plant the regime talked about last June. The IAEA was supposed to go to this new facility in Isfahan on June 13, 2025, but the war started earlier that day. The status of the facility remains unknown, but it is assessed that the location is at/near the bigger Isfahan nuclear complex (technically, the NITC). One day before the start of the 12-Day War, Iran told the IAEA that facility will be at the Nuclear Reactors Fuel Company (NRFC). During the 12-Day War, both Israel and the U.S. struck different portions of the broader Isfahan complex. It is unclear if either did so again in the 40-Day War in 2026. Grossi below👇 "Information on and access to the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant, declared by Iran immediately before the military attacks of June 2025, is necessary so that our inspectors can verify the status of the facility for safeguards purposes, and whether it contains nuclear material. Iran had agreed, back in 2025, to allow our inspectors to access this facility. The commencement of the attacks prevented our inspectors from going to the site and since then Iran has not accepted the Agency’s repeated requests for access."

The U.S. has told several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military campaign after the U.S. midterm elections, people briefed on the conversations said. on.wsj.com/4yHXmSL

New: Sources from three countries confirm that the Trump Administration has advocated Viktor Orbán for UN Secretary-General. The US has encouraged Orbán to enter the race, even bringing him the initial idea of a joint U.S.-Russia-China candidacy. WSJ: wsj.com/opinion/viktor-orban…

Hal Steinbrenner says Aaron Boone "managed a good season" and "the bottom line is the players didn't live up to their end of the bargain in the playoffs"

"Under President Trump, the United States has made the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations a national imperative, and we have hunted these networks with every tool of American power. " We call on all Member States to take action with us. Read our #UNTOC2026 statement here: vienna.usmission.gov/13th-se… @State_IO @StateINL

A technical matter may have led to airstrikes in Ukraine that were not detected, Rubio tells us. "Our understanding is that to the extent that happened on the 13th and on the 18th, it was a technical matter. It was not the result of any sort of U.S. directive not to provide advance warning of a strike," @SecRubio said in gaggle in India. "We are providing the same warnings to them now that we always have." Rubio said perhaps there was an internal issue "in terms of them being able to take the information that was being provided and systemize it and react to it. That's possible. We're looking at it."

Yup. We're not out of the woods on Graham tariffs. Trump kept the tariff provisions legally on the table as something he can use to tariff, e.g. India or Europe, post-midterms.... (It was clear from the beginning there would be no actual Russia *sanctions*, so 0 surprise there)

Think you can coach a game better than an NFL Head Coach? Prove it with my new app. Nfl2mindrill.com