Pressure campaigns define the day: Washington's Iran sanctions are pulling in China and Saudi Arabia, while Europe tries to keep tightening on Russia without a unified answer to a widening shadow war.

Iran sanctions pull in Beijing and Riyadh

  • China moves from rejecting a US ultimatum to explicitly threatening retaliation after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's 60-entity sanctions package, which Trump called an 'economic D-Day'; Iran has vowed retaliation too (more).
  • Trump sends a classified US-Saudi civilian nuclear pact to Congress, conditioned on Saudi normalisation with Israel; experts warn of proliferation risk given the deal's undisclosed terms (more).
  • Oman brokers a temporary Hormuz shipping corridor between Iran and the US, but Tehran publicly insists the strait stays closed until its war with Washington ends (more).

Europe confronts Russia, on sanctions and in the shadows

  • Brussels prepares its largest-ever Russia sanctions package; sanctions expert Tom Keatinge calls the cumulative effect a 'slow puncture', with loopholes Europe still hasn't closed (more).
  • Hungary's government formally declares Russia a threat, reversing Viktor Orbán's longstanding pro-Moscow line — though it doesn't automatically unlock Hungary's vetoes on EU sanctions, Ukraine funding or accession (more).
  • Analysis: a drone attack near Leipzig, a third drone at a German airport, a Latvian escalation warning and Sweden's seizure of a Russian tycoon's island show Europe still has no unified response to Russia's hybrid pressure (more).

Also worth a glance

  • China orders citizens out of Eswatini, Taiwan's last remaining ally in Africa, in a move that fits Beijing's campaign to isolate Taipei diplomatically (more).
  • Flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border kill at least 22 and leave hundreds missing, including over 300 foreign tourists (more).