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The U.S. government has "plenty of money" to fund the war against Iran, but is requesting supplemental funding from Congress to ensure the military is well supplied in the future, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday. Bessent, speaking on NBC News' "Meet the Press" program, also ruled out pushing for any tax increases to fund the war. The U.S. military's request for $200 billion in additional funding for the Iran war faces stiff opposition in Congress, with Democrats and [Read more]

Iran will completely shut the strategic Strait of Hormuz if U.S. President Trump executes threats to target Iranian energy facilities, the country's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on Sunday. Trump on Saturday threatened to "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48-hours, suggesting a significant escalation barely a day after he talked about "winding down" the war, now in its fourth week. In their Sunday statement Iran's [Read more]

Iran said on Sunday it would strike the energy and water systems of its Gulf neighbours in retaliation if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through with a threat to hit Iran's electricity grid in 48 hours, escalating the three-week-old war. The prospect of tit-for-tat strikes on civilian infrastructure could deepen the regional crisis and rattle global markets when they reopen on Monday morning. Air raid sirens sounded across Israel from the early hours of Sunday, warning of incoming [Read more]

Oil prices look set to rise further on Monday, having closed before the weekend at their highest in nearly four years, after U.S. and Iranian threats to target energy facilities, analysts said on Sunday. U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, a significant escalation barely a day after he talked about "winding down" the war, now in its fourth week. Iran warned on Sunday it [Read more]

Critical infrastructure and energy facilities in the Middle East could be "irreversibly destroyed" should Iranian power plants be targeted, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said in comments posted on X on Sunday. His comments come after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Iranian power plants would be targeted if the Strait of Hormuz is not "fully open" within 48 hours. Qalibaf said regional infrastructure would become "legitimate targets" should Iran's facilities be hit, [Read more]

Cuba's national electric grid collapsed on Saturday for the second time in a week amid the U.S.-imposed oil blockade, officials announced, as the communist government struggles to keep the lights on for its 10 million people with decrepit infrastructure. "At 18:32 (2232 GMT), a total disconnection of the National Electric Power System occurred. We will continue to provide updates," the state utility Union Electrica said on social media. This incident marks the third major power outage this [Read more]

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday wrote that the U.S. would strike Iranian power plants if the Strait of Hormuz was not opened within 48 hours. Trump posted the threat on Truth Social. (Reporting & writing by Christian Martinez) [Read more]

Saudi Arabia informed Iran's military attache, his assistant and three members of the embassy staff that they must leave the kingdom within 24 hours after being declared persona non grata, the Saudi foreign ministry said on Saturday, citing what it described as continued Iranian attacks on Saudi territory. Saudi ⁠Arabia has come under attack by hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones since the start of U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, the vast majority of which have been intercepted, authorities [Read more]