U.S. strikes Iranian air defenses and mine-laying sites.
Today's events
Iran strikes.
Central Command struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air-defense, radar, maritime, mine-laying and communications sites across Iran, following attempted Guard Corps attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and on American service members.1Sep 1 · CENTCOMPacific package.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau announced over $150 million for Pacific Island states in Palau, including $60 million for fuel storage and grid stability and $50 million toward a Cook Islands port.2Sep 1 · StateImport disclosure.
Customs and Border Protection opened rulemaking to require importers to identify every party in a shipment's supply chain and hand over foreign export filings, targeting goods transshipped to evade U.S. duties.3Sep 2 · Fed. Reg.China agent case.
A federal court sentenced Thomas Pauken II, an American citizen living in China, to two years for acting as an agent of the Chinese government, recruiting intelligence assets for at least $100,000 in payments.4Sep 1 · DOJHamas crypto.
The Justice Department and FBI seized about $560,000 in cryptocurrency bound for Hamas's Al Qassam Brigades and took over the group's fundraising websites and servers, including AlQassam.ps.5Sep 1 · DOJLake America.
Executive Order 14422 renames Lake Ontario as Lake America and gives the Interior Secretary 30 days to record the change with the Board on Geographic Names; the lake borders Canada.6Sep 2 · Fed. Reg.Refinery waivers.
The Environmental Protection Agency granted full biofuel-blending exemptions to 18 small refineries and partial ones to 11, denying three and rejecting two as ineligible, out of 34 petitions for 2025.7Sep 2 · EPAWar Department AI.
The War Department added Grok for Government and ChatGPT Mil to its GenAI.mil platform alongside Google's Gemini, on a service built to scale to more than three million department personnel for unclassified work.8Sep 1 · DODMars network.
NASA awarded Blue Origin a firm-fixed-price contract worth up to $700 million to build and operate a Mars telecommunications orbiter, due for delivery by the end of 2028 and operational by 2030.9Sep 1 · NASA
This week
Venezuela oil stake.
The Department of War took a 35% equity stake in the parent of North American Blue Energy Partners, holder of 100-year concessions on 17 Venezuelan fields, the White House said September 1. The White House put the fields’ proven reserves at 65 billion barrels and described the agreement as securing U.S. majority control of them. The stake sits alongside the week’s other resource actions: the Iran blockade, the grid emergency, and the Army reactor awards. Carried in the September 1 daily.1Sep 1 · WHGrid emergency.
Executive Order 14420, signed August 26, declared a national emergency over foreign-made bulk-power equipment and barred its purchase or installation where the Energy Secretary finds sabotage or supply risk. A companion order, 14421, was filed for publication two days later. The declarations sit alongside the week’s other power items: the Army’s award of up to $2.2 billion for microreactors at five posts, and federal data showing domestically produced uranium supplied 7% of deliveries to U.S. reactors.3Aug 26 · WHState-hacking platforms seized.
Court-authorized seizures on August 26 shut down QScan and QTRouter, hacking platforms run by the Nanjing contractor QTFY for China’s Ministry of State Security. Victims included NASA, the Federal Reserve, the Energy Department and the U.S. Senate. It was one of three China-related enforcement actions in the week, alongside a two-year sentence for an American who recruited intelligence assets for Beijing and final dumping duties on Chinese trailers.4Aug 26 · DOJAmazon ad surcharge.
The Federal Trade Commission and 22 states sued Amazon on August 31, alleging an undisclosed surcharge added to its search-advertising auctions from 2019 cost more than a million brands and sellers tens of billions of dollars. The suit came days after the Justice Department secured a record $250 million premerger-filing penalty from KKR for evading antitrust review on 16 deals.6Aug 31 · FTCDrug pricing agreements.
Nine more manufacturers, including Israel’s Teva, India’s Sun Pharma and Japan’s Astellas, signed most-favored-nation pricing agreements, the White House said August 31. The total reached 26 companies covering 89% of the U.S. branded market, with $19.6 billion pledged toward American plants. The plant pledges sit alongside the week’s other onshoring moves: a Justice Department filing backing an Oklahoma aluminum smelter and a rewrite of federal shipyard loan rules.7Aug 31 · WH
Allied Governments
Ukraine interceptors.
NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska asked European Union defence ministers meeting in Ireland to fund more air-defence interceptors for Ukraine through the alliance's prioritised requirements list, and to draw on national stocks.aSep 2 · NATOLeipzig attack.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Britain stands in full solidarity with Germany after Russia's attack in Leipzig, and endorsed the measures Berlin took in response to the attribution.bSep 1 · UK No.10Ebola funding.
Britain committed more than £50 million further to contain the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Ebola outbreak, raising its total to £78 million as the epidemic tracks toward the deadliest on record.cSep 1 · UK FCDO
Voices
“More than 50,000 U.S. service members are currently operating across the Middle East and remain vigilant, lethal, and prepared to continue executing operations directed by the Commander in Chief.”
U.S. Central Command release · Sep 11
“The United States is a Pacific nation and has long stood with our Pacific friends and neighbors to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”
State Department media note, Palau · Sep 12
“CBP seeks to more effectively detect and interdict illicit importations, especially those that are illegally transshipped to evade compliance with U.S. customs and trade laws.”
Customs and Border Protection, advance notice of proposed rulemaking · Sep 23
“Pauken betrayed his country for money. The National Security Division is committed to holding accountable anyone who aids or abets Chinese espionage efforts.”
AAG John A. Eisenberg, DOJ National Security Division · Sep 14
“Your networks are not secure, your crypto is vulnerable, and we will not stop until your ability to wage war is defeated.”
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, District of Columbia · Sep 15
“The United States is the greatest protector of the Great Lakes, including the body of water currently known as Lake Ontario.”
Executive Order 14422 · Sep 26
Sources
- U.S. Central Command, “CENTCOM Completes Strikes on IRGC Targets in Iran,” September 1, 2026. centcom.mil/media/public-releases/…/strikes-on-irgc-targets
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Promoting Pacific Prosperity: U.S. Engagement at the Pacific Islands Forum,” September 1, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/pacific-islands-forum
- Federal Register, “Heightened Import Disclosures for Supply Chain Visibility” (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, advance notice of proposed rulemaking), September 2, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/heightened-import-disclosures
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “American Citizen who Worked as an Agent for the PRC Sentenced to Two Years in Prison,” September 1, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/prc-agent-sentenced
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “Justice Department Continues to Disrupt Hamas Terrorist Financing Schemes Through Seizures of Cryptocurrency and Internet Infrastructure,” September 1, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/hamas-financing-seizures
- Federal Register, “Honoring the American History of the Great Lakes and Renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America” (Executive Order 14422 of August 27, 2026), published September 2, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/eo-14422-lake-america
- Environmental Protection Agency, “Notice of August 31, 2026 Decisions on Petitions for Small Refinery Exemptions Under the Renewable Fuel Standard Program,” September 2, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/small-refinery-exemptions
- U.S. Department of War, “ChatGPT, Grok Added to War Department's AI System Options,” September 1, 2026. war.gov/news/news-stories/…/chatgpt-grok-genai-mil
- NASA, “NASA Selects Blue Origin as Mars Telecommunications Network Provider,” September 1, 2026. nasa.gov/news-release/…/mars-telecommunications-network
- NATO, “NATO Deputy Secretary General participates in talks with EU Defence Ministers in Ireland,” September 2, 2026. nato.int/news-and-events/…/dsg-eu-defence-ministers
- UK Prime Minister's Office, “Prime Minister Andy Burnham's statement in response to the German attribution,” September 1, 2026. gov.uk/government/news/…/statement-on-german-attribution
- UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, “UK accelerates support for efforts to stop Ebola outbreak at source,” September 1, 2026. gov.uk/government/news/…/ebola-outbreak-support