U.S., Iran each claim control of Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham passes away, Zelensky to meet with European leaders to gain support in war with Russia, and search for missing soldier continues.
1. The United States and Iran each asserted Monday they controlled the Strait of Hormuz after a weekend of attacks stretching across the wider Middle East, further threatening any diplomacy to end the war. The attacks, sparked by Iran striking a container ship Sunday in the strait off the coast of Oman, again underlined that the waterway that once saw a fifth of the world’s traded crude oil and natural gas pass through it remained the key issue in negotiations. The narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf has seen shipping disrupted since the start of the war as Iran has maintained a chokehold on it by attacking commercial vessels around it, intimidating shippers. Iran and the U.S. are nearly halfway through the 60-day interim deal period that was supposed to set up talks for a permanent end to the war. Instead, it has devolved into a series of attacks over the strait and its future, worrying world leaders the Iran war could fully resume. “A return to full-scale hostilities would have catastrophic consequences,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.
2. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a retired Air Force colonel, has died at age 71 after a brief and unexpected illness, his office said in a post to social media. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” read the early Sunday statement. A later statement from Graham’s office said the Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia’s preliminary findings are that the senator died of aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. That is an aorta rupture stemming from hardening of the arteries. Graham, a longtime U.S. senator from South Carolina, had for decades been a leading Republican Party voice for a more active U.S. role in global affairs, often backing the use of the military overseas.
3. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due in Paris on Monday for talks with two dozen European leaders helping Kyiv fight Russia’s invasion, with the war now in its fifth year. European foreign ministers were also meeting separately in Brussels where they were expected to discuss Ukraine’s needs and Russia’s threats to the continent. Both Kyiv and its European backers are keen to press home Ukraine’s recent successes and compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the fighting, although Moscow has shown no willingness to compromise despite a yearlong peace effort by the Trump administration. Ukraine’s advances in drone technology have in recent months given it an edge, analysts and Western officials say. Its strikes on supply routes behind the front line have robbed the Russian army of momentum on the battlefield and made its progress slow and costly, they say.
4. The family of a missing U.S. Army specialist is speaking out amid a desperate search for their loved one. The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) said Spc. Sayveon Anderson was last seen at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on June 29, according to NBC affiliate WRAL. Pamela Anderson, Sayveon’s mom, said she last spoke with her 25-year-old son on June 27, NBC affiliate WVIR and ABC affiliate WTVD reported. The mom told WTVD she received a direct message from her son via Instagram the next morning, but has not heard from him since. “This is not like my son,” she said. “My son will call me. He would at least text me or answer my texts.”
5. Marine Corps capabilities and tactics are evolving alongside those of the Japanese military as they face increasing threats in the Pacific region, the Marines’ top general in Okinawa said as he prepares to relinquish command. Lt. Gen. Roger Turner, commander of the III Marine Expeditionary Force, counts among his achievements a strengthened U.S.-Japan alliance as he prepares to pass the command to his successor, Turner told local media during an exit interview at his headquarters Monday. Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson is scheduled to take charge of III MEF during a ceremony on Wednesday at Camp Foster. Turner on Aug. 11 takes command of Marine Corps Forces Pacific and Fleet Marine Force Pacific from Lt. Gen. James Glynn at Camp H.M. Smith in Hawaii, according to III MEF spokesman Maj. Jordan Fox.
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