The Standeford Journal - News, Intel Analysis

TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. Central Command announced on Aug. 13 efforts to establish Task Force Falcon Strike, described as the first multi-domain, multinational attack drone task force.

MIDDLE EAST — On 10 August President Donald Trump announced that the United States Navy holds sole control of the Strait of Hormuz, describing the existing blockade as “infallible” and “a steel wall,” and reported that U.S. forces had mine-swept the entire waterway.

MIDDLE EAST — Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on August 8 that the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement signed the previous day by Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and Pakistan is technically the same as NATO’s Article 5 collective defense provision.

SOUTH KOREA — South Korean local authorities and military units recovered wooden-box landmines along the coast of Ganghwa County in Incheon between late July and early August, attributing the devices to displacement by monsoon rains in North Korea.

MIDDLE EAST — On August 7, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated multiple networks spanning several countries for enabling Iran’s rahbar banking system to move hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Treasury press release and a State Department statement by Spokesperson Thomas “Tommy” Pigott.