US Strikes Iran Oil Tankers, Israeli Settlements Sanctions, Smithsonian Head Retires

CENTCOM says it destroyed five Iranian oil carriers and gave crews notice to abandon them before bombing. Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it targeted U.S. vessels, oil tankers, and ten ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz with U.S. help. Jordan says it intercepted all but two of Iran's twenty missiles targeting U.S. troops at an airbase, with no deaths recorded.

Iran released visuals of a captured U.S. underwater naval drone, which an official account described as one of America's most mysterious underwater toys.

The U.S. strategy in the region is unclear, and there is little discussion around the future of the U.S. footprint.

Permanently pulling back troops could signal weakness to Iran, Russia, and China.

Arab allies are broadening their defense ties with other countries and waiting for the U.S. to show its path forward.

The Pentagon under Secretary Pete Hegseth is not being forthcoming about damage to U.S. bases from the war. The Trump administration asked satellite companies to censor their images over the Gulf.

Sailors will not be going back to the Bahrain base anytime soon to pick up personal belongings.

The lack of transparency is hugely damaging for precedent and hinders Congress from evaluating military performance.

Britain's foreign minister called the ban necessary to stop settlement expansion and accused settler terrorists of ethnic cleansing.

The UK statements about Israel's conduct in the West Bank are outrageous lies, morally distorted, and anti-Semitic.

Israel retaliated by closing the British consulate in East Jerusalem and expelling British representatives.

The Palestinian Authority's president welcomed the sanctions in the West Bank.

The sanctions will have an impact, but he doubts Israel will make changes because the government does not respect international law.

The UN says there have been more than three thousand attacks by settlers in the West Bank since October 2023.

The trading ban will likely not affect Israel economically because West Bank exports to the UK are mostly agricultural and very low.

Sanctions could be damaging if the entire European Union joined, but that is not the case right now.

None of the leading Israeli election candidates are discussing settlement expansion, rising West Bank violence, or a two-state solution.

Lonnie Bunch says he is retiring because it is time to write, think, and spend time with his grandchildren after 38 years.

He is retiring because he is old, has accomplished much, and wants time to write, think, and be with his grandkids.

Bunch has denied any insinuation that his leaving had to do with pressures from the president.

Trump issued an executive order in 2025 criticizing exhibits that degrade shared American values, and a July report criticized the National Museum of American History for extreme political activism. The Department of the Interior said executive departments cannot support the Smithsonian under the current leadership. Bunch's retirement statement said he was leaving with mixed emotions.

Bunch was the first African American and first historian to lead the Smithsonian. He got the ball rolling on two new museums focused on women's history and American Latino history. Bunch said one of his big goals was to help Americans embrace ambiguity and see America as a complicated place.

He did not expect the African American museum to become a pilgrimage site so soon or attract such large crowds.