Exclusive: Experts and former officials say accounts are running dry, and funding a war with no clear endgame is the main challenge
Donald Trump’s war on Iran has driven the US military into a severe financial crisis, with the US navy forced to transfer money from its payroll and other sources to cover the costs of combat, according to documents obtained by the Guardian, and interviews with navy officials, contractors and defense analysts.
The US-Israeli operation, which has depleted US munitions stockpiles and prompted retaliatory Iranian strikes that have wrecked strategic bases across the Middle East, is piling pressure on budgets across the military.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has been a key mediator in the conflict, even as his country has blamed Tehran for hundreds of missile and drone attacks.
Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, at a news conference in Egypt in August. His trip to Tehran comes at a moment of heightened tension between Iran and Qatar.
On Wednesday, Trump officially signed a proclamation on Wednesday that suspends higher tariffs on 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef imports for 90 days. This comes after backlash to the proposal – designed to lower grocery costs for Americans in the run-up to the November midterms.
Several Republicans – in states with sizable cattle farming industries – have criticized the policy, saying it is a short term solution that will stymie ranchers’ ability to rebuild their herds.
Four leading livestock and agricultural organizations also wrote a letter to the president on Wednesday urging him to reverse course.
“Flooding the market with discounted foreign beef is not the way to rebuild the American cattle herd, strengthen food security, or lower grocery bills in a lasting way,” the groups wrote.
Donald Trump will begin his day in Washington, before traveling to Houston, Texas where he’ll headline a Republican National Commitee (RNC) fundraiser, and help boost Ken Paxton — the state’s attorney general and Republican nominee for Senate.
A reminder that Paxton beat long serving Senator John Cornyn in the GOP primary earlier this year after receiving Trump’s endorsement. Paxton is set to face Democratic state lawmaker James Talarico in November.
Donald Trump has downplayed a visit to Moscow by the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, as “semi-routine” after he turned up in the Russian capital unannounced, triggering a wave of speculation about the reasons for his trip.
Ratcliffe was reported to have flown to Moscow on a government transport plane on Tuesday in a rare visit after taking off from the Andrews air force base in Maryland.
They should ask the question Reagan asked at the end of his debate against Jimmy Carter: ‘Are you better off now than you were before this presidency?’
The midterm elections are already upon us, and every Democrat and independent running against a Republican should ask voters the question Ronald Reagan asked on 28 October 1980, at the end of his televised debate against Jimmy Carter: “Are you better off now than you were before this presidency?”
Unless you’re very, very rich, the answer is obviously: “No, I’m worse off.”
Energy bills have increased three times faster than the rate of inflation while Trump has been president. The national average monthly utility bill reached $280 in early 2026, a 12% increase since the end of 2024, just before the second Trump administration took office.
Everyone can see that the Iran war has been a strategic disaster for the US, while a failing president pretends he is winning
Now is the twilight of Donald Trump’s supremacy. The US is still the richest and most heavily armed nation on Earth. That status is secure. The current president, contemptuous of law and indulged in lawlessness by a supine Congress, enjoys even greater power than the constitution allows.
With those advantages it takes a special talent for incompetence to look as thwarted and impotent as Trump does with more than two years of his second term still to run.
Bank Melli, Iran’s largest lender, already faces sanctions that severely limit its ability to operate abroad. Every foreign branch must be shut down, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
The prospect that the kingdom could enrich uranium has drawn opposition from Democrats and revived concerns about nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi energy minister, in Saudi Arabia last year. The two signed an agreement last month as part of a broader package of cooperation on civilian nuclear power.
The United States threatened sanctions for any country or entity that engages with Iran’s gold, digital assets, aviation, shipping and tech industries. Here’s why that matters.
President Trump’s “Economic D-Day” is intended to break the stalemate with Iran. But decades of sanctions have done little to change the country’s behavior.
US president has been obsessed with restricting the ability to vote by mail, despite using it himself. Plus, why we are still fascinated with Meg from the White Stripes
Good morning. The US supreme court has sided with Donald Trump in his effort to crack down on mail-in voting, though it is unclear whether or not his administration will be able to take action before the midterm elections in November. The court’s justices voted 6-3 along ideological lines to lift an injunction that a judge in Massachusetts had placed in June on an executive order issued by the president. But a second injunction remains in place, and the ruling leaves room for legal challenges.
Trump has repeatedly likened voting by mail to cheating, despite his own use of it and overwhelming evidence that the system is secure. In March he ordered the government to create a “state citizenship list” of eligible voters, requiring that mail-in ballots only be delivered to people on that list. He also directed the justice department to prioritise investigations and prosecutions of state and local election officials who issue ballots to people deemed ineligible to vote in federal elections.
What did the dissenting judges say? In a blistering dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that the decision “needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty into the upcoming midterm elections”.
How have rights organisations reacted? The president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Derrick Johnson, said: “Let this ruling be a reminder that democracy is never, ever guaranteed. We have to fight for it, we have to fight to keep it and we have to protect the rights we do have within it … they are trying to do everything they possibly can to make it difficult for you to vote.”
How has Canada reacted? The country’s prime minister, Mark Carney, told reporters that Trump’s announcement was largely expected. “It’s not a surprise for us that the US would take some form of reprisal to our response to their unjustified tariff,” he said. Carney has vowed to match the American tariffs “dollar for dollar”, and said Canada could not accept any proposed trade deal that would weaken French language protections.
Artemis Ghasemzadeh, who had escaped religious persecution, was deported to Panama under Trump’s immigration crackdown. Now, Canada has given her asylum.
Experts warn that a campaign aimed at avoiding military escalation could instead provoke it, as Iranian leaders vow retaliation across the oil-rich Gulf.
Artemis Ghasemzadeh, who had escaped religious persecution, was deported to Panama under Trump’s immigration crackdown. Now, Canada has given her asylum.
Scott Bessent, ministre américain des finances, a déclaré que Washington avait l’intention de «couper toutes les ressources économiques» du régime iranien.
Les nouvelles sanctions américaines visent cinq secteurs:
les actifs numériques
la technologie
l’or
l’aviation
le transport maritime
Bessent a affirmé que tous les pays qui ne participeraient pas aux sanctions américaines seraient aussi isolés que l’Iran.
Le gouvernement américain menace d’expulser les pays récalcitrants du système financier lié au dollar américain.
The U.S. has spent 20 years promising ‘crippling sanctions’ on Iran. But the latest effort comes with a reverse twist, after military action failed to accomplish President Trump’s goals.
In announcing Operation Economic Outcast, the Trump administration said on Monday that it would involve choking off every last transaction that funnels money to Tehran.
The sailor, Joshua Aviles, was on his way home from the Middle East aboard the beleaguered aircraft carrier when he learned his father had been detained.
Joshua Aviles, right, with his father, Luis Manuel Aviles, in 2025, shortly before Joshua shipped out for the Middle East aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States would “tighten the noose” around Iran by imposing sanctions on every source or facilitator of its revenue.
Analysts say Tehran could intensify the dispute militarily after the United States announced new efforts to squeeze Iran’s economy. One Iranian official vowed that “not a single drop of oil” would leave the gulf.
Motorists drive past an anti-American billboard in Tehran on Monday. President Trump has threatened Iran with “economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale.”
Donald Trump has threatened to increase tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, auto parts and steel to 50% today, after trade negotiations between Washington and Ottowa broke down last week.
On Truth Social, the president blasted Canada, and said the new duties will go into effect on 1 January 2027.
The move to call off the high-profile event was communicated in June, South Korea said. President Trump shortened another joint military exercise earlier this month.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that countries that continue to do business with Iran would face the “full might and force” of the U.S. government.
In recent weeks, the police have closed dozens of cafes, often citing laws that stipulate women must veil in public. Experts say the closures are part of an effort to control public space.
Investors will hope Kevin Warsh offers ‘comfort blanket’ at annual meeting of central banks amid bond market anxiety
The new US Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warsh, faces a critical test this week amid anxiety in government bond markets over inflation and Donald Trump’s tax and spending plans.
As the world’s most powerful central bank prepares for its annual Jackson Hole conference, analysts said bond traders would be looking for signals from Warsh over its commitment to fighting inflation.
Mohsen Rezaei, Iran’s new security chief, last month in Tehran. Though hostilities have largely ceased, the United States and Iran are locked in an economic standoff.
Abbas Araghchi says country is unbowed but president Masoud Pezeshkian admits its people face ‘many problems’
Iran’s foreign minister has dismissed the threat of a fresh round of US economic sanctions as a “desperate” ploy, even as its president acknowledged that the Iranian people are facing “many problems” amid Washington’s efforts to isolate and debilitate the country’s economy.
Last week, Donald Trump announced a new campaign to increase the pressure on the Iranian economy, calling it “the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country”. The US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, is expected to announce further punitive economic measures on Iran – which he has described as “the toughest sanctions in history” – on Monday.
As the president tries to extract the US from his Iran war quagmire, leadership in Tehran is only too happy to crush his midterm dreams
In the aftermath of his devastating election defeat, the US president remained haunted by regrets over Iran.
Months before Jimmy Carter lost the 1980 presidential election to Ronald Reagan, eight US servicemen died in a botched high-risk rescue mission that failed to secure the freedom of dozens of US hostages seized in Tehran.
President at rally in South Carolina makes comments on key strategic waterway and jokes about bombing Iran
Donald Trump called the strait of Hormuz “an American territory” on Friday, as the US continues its military blockade of Iran’s shipping and ports while Trump’s administration struggles to end its war with the country.
“We don’t even know if we won, because I view the strait of Hormuz as an American territory right now,” Trump said, addressing a crowd in South Carolina. He was campaigning for senator Darline Graham, who is running to permanently fill her late brother Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat.
In Tehran last month. Before the latest round of sanctions was announced, Iranians were already contending with sky-high inflation and other economic hardships.
State sought to stop system off coast of Santa Barbara from resuming operations after Trump ordered its reopening
An oil pipeline can continue to operate off the California coast after a judge gave it the green light this week, despite the opposition of state regulators and environmental groups.
The system off the coast of Santa Barbara resumed operations earlier this year for the first time in more than a decade after Donald Trump ordered Sable Offshore Corporation to reopen it, citing US energy needs during the war in Iran.
USS George Washington will replace warship families say suffers from shortages, plumbing problems and low morale
The USS George Washington aircraft carrier has arrived in the Middle East, where it is expected to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln from its record deployment amid concerns about poor living conditions and morale.
US Central Command announced on Thursday that the Washington arrived in the area on Wednesday, and posted an image of sailors working on the flight deck as the ship transited the Arabian Sea. No date has yet been announced for the Lincoln to return to the US.
The U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in San Diego in 2021. The carrier’s most recent deployment began on Nov. 21, and the thousands of sailors on board have spent almost the entirety of the time since at sea.
President Trump appeared to suggest that the United States would impose economic penalties on countries that do business with Iran, though he did not specify what actions he would take.
An FBI team seized electronic devices from former US representative Eric Swalwell at the San Francisco airport on Saturday, then raided his home in Washington, DC, the next day, CNN reported Thursday.
The raid is part of a federal investigation into the sexual assault allegations which ultimately drove the Bay Area Democrat to resign from office in April, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department subsequently opened criminal investigations on Swalwell.
For weeks, there has been no diplomatic progress, but also no full-scale fighting, as each side seems to believe it can hold out longer than the other.
A butcher in Tehran in July. The United States appears to be betting that putting Iran in a tighter economic stranglehold will succeed where military strikes have not.
On one side, you face the domination of the Islamic Republic; on the other, the imperialist forces that republic claims to stand against
August marks the anniversary of the 1988 mass executions in Iran, a horror that echoes in the country’s current surge in death sentences. It also marks the 19 August anniversary of the UK- and US-orchestrated coup against the prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953. Amid the current, indiscriminate waves of US-Israeli military assaults against Iran, this letter of solidarity denounces the repression of the Iranian people and their political prisoners by forces both at home and abroad.
Interest rates, now sitting at about 3.5-3.7%, expected to go up if inflation doesn’t come down to Fed’s 2% target
The US treasury is doubling its buyback of government debt in an effort to balance out the bond market as officials at the US Federal Reserve remain divided over how to deal with high inflation.
The yield rate on 10-year, 20-year and 30-year treasury notes all hit 20-year highs this week, with the 30-year treasury yield rising to its highest rate since 2007. The rapid rise was concerning news for borrowers as major loans, including mortgages, are backed by treasuries.
The Emirates has long been a major trading hub for Iran, and analysts say it has been key to Iranian efforts to evade international sanctions, which Emirati officials deny.
The president’s hostility to allies like Oman, Canada and South Korea, and his affection for adversaries like North Korea, may still shock some. But it comes as little surprise after a decade of upheaval.
Oil prices have risen again after the two-month window to negotiate a peace deal in the US-Israel war on Iran expired on Monday with no end to the conflict in sight.
Iran said on Monday that it would take a more aggressive stance if talks with the US failed, while Donald Trump demanded Tehran “put up the white flag of surrender” in an interview with Fox News.
USS Benfold lost power after ‘engineering casualty’ leaving sailors without galley services, toilets and air conditioning
A US guided-missile destroyer reportedly spent four days adrift and without power in the South China Sea in July, furthering concerns about strain being placed on deployed military members.
The USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer which had been sailing with the George Washington carrier strike group, was reported to have been towed to Subic Bay in the Philippines, according to the US Naval Institute News, an independent military publication.
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