Pressure campaigns define the day: Washington escalates its sanctions drive on Iran and claims a major strike, Pacific and Taiwan Strait tensions expose US-China rivalry, and Germany's chancellor fights his own party's instincts days before a closely watched state vote.

Iran under pressure

  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US will sanction another Iran-linked bank this week and expects a new secondary-sanctions designation every week going forward, a shift from case-by-case action to a sustained campaign — more.
  • President Trump claims Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal, source of roughly 90 percent of the country's crude exports, has been "blown to smithereens," but Reuters reports no independent confirmation and Iranian state media has not corroborated it — more.

Asia and the Pacific

  • At least five Pacific Islands Forum leaders skip this year's summit, which AP News frames as overshadowed by US-China competition for regional influence — more.
  • Taiwan's defense ministry says Chinese military activity around the strait has turned "unpredictable," without giving sortie or incursion numbers — more.
  • Nepal's flash-flood death toll nearly doubles past 900 as mass burials begin, with more than 4,000 still missing along the Tibet border — more.

Germany and Brussels

  • Chancellor Friedrich Merz campaigns for Sunday's Sachsen-Anhalt election as his own CDU distances itself from him on the trail, with the AfD on course for a historic result — more.
  • The European Commission designates OpenAI's ChatGPT a "very large online search engine" under the DSA — a first for an AI chatbot — and names Reddit and Roblox "very large online platforms," all facing annual risk audits — more.
  • Hungary says it has completed all reform milestones and can claim its full €10 billion in recovery funds, while Romania permanently forfeits €770 million after missing a public-sector pay deadline — more.

Hybrid war watch

  • New research finds DDoS attacks on NATO states run as gamified psy-ops, Lithuania raises its threat assessment, and Italian reporting maps a summer of EU border crossings and drone incursions — while NATO still declines to call any of it an attack — more.