Iran

• Two tankers on fire in Hormuz after using “unauthorised route,” IRGC says: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Crops (IRGC) said on Tuesday that two oil tankers caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz after using what it said was an “unauthorised route.”
  • In a statement, the IRGC said, “One of these vessels, a supertanker, hit a naval mine and exploded, and the second tanker, which was under the protection of the US aggressor’s fighter jets and was attempting to secretly pass through the illegal route, had an accident and was stopped in its place with a terrible fire.”
• Trump says Iran war “militarily is effectively over”: President Donald Trump said on Monday that the Iran war is “militarily effectively over,” while signaling that the U.S. blockade would continue. Trump’s announcement follows talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Washington, DC.
  • Speaking at a news conference, Trump said “Iran militarily is effectively over. We’re just keeping it the status quo, and we’re doing that really at the behest of countries that are their neighbors.” He added, “We just had, just in case, another aircraft carrier. We have many. Sailing over and just arriving in the Middle East, so we have three. And they’re all locked and loaded, and hopefully we don’t have to use them.”
  • In a phone interview with C-SPAN on Monday, Trump also claimed that Iran wanted to reach an agreement with Washington. “They want to make a deal. They don’t say that, you know, publicly,” he said. “In speaking with Qatar—as you know, the prime minister was in the Oval Office today—in speaking to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait … they’d rather do it this way rather than another hit, which would be approximately five times bigger than the first hit.”
  • Iranian Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Mohsen Rezaei denied Trump’s claims that Iran was seeking a deal. “The war on Iran has already wrecked the U.S. government. But Washington flails like a desperate gambler. FOLD YOUR HAND. STOP manufacturing FAKE NEWS about imaginary talks. Stop denying the West Asian NEW ORDER,” Rezaei wrote in a post on X.
• GCC establishes military HQ in Kuwait: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states approved the establishment of an advanced headquarters for their unified military command in Kuwait and the deployment of forces to the facility, GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi said in a statement.
  • “These directives reflect a firm Gulf commitment to safeguarding the security and sovereignty of the GCC states and strengthening their ability to confront common threats,” Albudaiwi added.
• France accuses IRGC of October cyberattacks on refrigerators and freezers: On Monday, France accused Iran of orchestrating cyberattacks that knocked out hundreds of commercial refrigerators and freezers at French supermarkets in October. French officials said that there would be “consequences” for the attack. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that he summoned the Iranian ambassador and threatened further European Union sanctions against Iran. On October 11, a series of hacks targeted 700 commercial sites in France, sparking at least 15 fires. A second series of hacks this month hit more than 100 European establishments, including French blood-bank refrigerators.

Palestine

• Three killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza on Tuesday: Two Palestinians were killed, including a child, and several people were wounded in an Israeli air strike on a shelter in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported. Separately, a Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire in Khan Younis.
  • Over the past 24 hours, Israeli attacks killed one Palestinian and injured 16 others across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. One body was also recovered from under the rubble.
  • The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023, has risen to 74,645 killed and 175,978 injured. Since October 11, 2025, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,614 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 5,849, while 850 bodies have been recovered.
• Israeli settlers and soldiers simultaneously raid Beita, in occupied West Bank: On Monday, dozens of Israeli settlers stormed an industrial zone in Beita, south of Nablus, and set fire to three bulldozers, several other vehicles, and equipment belonging to stone-cutting workshops, WAFA reported. Israeli forces raided the town simultaneously.
  • Settlers have repeatedly attacked Beita’s industrial zone, burning facilities and vehicles and opening fire on Palestinians.
  • Settler attacks across the occupied West Bank more than doubled in October to 1,369, with 353 in the Nablus governorate alone, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.
• Settlers attack Palestinian farmers: Israeli settlers blocked Palestinian farmers from reaching their olive groves near Silwad, east of Ramallah, on Monday.
  • Settlers also attacked farmers picking olives near the town’s cemetery and forced them off their land, WAFA reported.
• Al Jazeera: UK grants contracts to companies linked to Israeli settlements: The United Kingdom has awarded 10.7 million pounds (around $14.4 million) in new public contracts to companies with links to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, despite the British government’s recent pledge to punish companies that profit from settlement activity, an Al Jazeera investigation found. The contracts were publicized following UK sanctions on Israeli settlements in September. At the time, the UK government said it would take action against companies aiding settlement expansion.
• Petition for public inquiry into UK complicity in Gaza genocide passes 100,000 signatures, triggering parliamentary consideration: A petition on the UK Parliament’s website that calls for a public investigation into British government complicity in the Gaza genocide passed 100,000 signatures on Monday, requiring Parliament to formally consider the measure. The petition specifically demands that the inquiry empower investigators to question government ministers and officials, and to uncover “the sale, supply, or use of weapons, surveillance aircraft, and Royal Air Force bases” in support of the genocide. The petition was launched by Jennifer Forbes, a member of Your Party, the left-wing party headed in Parliament by Jeremy Corbyn. In 2024, an Al Jazeera investigation found that the UK created an air bridge supporting Israel’s war, and that UK firms supplied jet parts to the Israeli military.

Yemen

• Saudi airstrikes on Sana’a kill one person: A Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a gas station in Sana’a on Tuesday, killing one person and injuring three others, according to the spokesperson for the health ministry in Sana’a.
  • Another Saudi-coalition airstrike targeted an oil company building in the capital, injuring at least six people, causing “extensive damage” to nearby homes and shops.
  • Ansarallah said that Saudi-led strikes targeted sites in several governorates on Monday and Tuesday, including Hodeidah and Saada.
• Yemeni rights group: Over 30 killed in Ansarallah attacks in Taiz over three days: At least 33 civilians have been killed and 58 others wounded in attacks by Ansarallah in the governorate of Taiz over the past 73 hours, the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms said on Monday.
  • The rights group documented 133 violations against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including 216 projectiles fired at residential areas.
  • The group also blamed Ansarallah for an attack on a market in Al-Waziiya district on Friday, which it said killed at least 30 people and wounded 45 others. Ansarallah blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack.
• Saudi pipeline targeted: Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline in the Medina region was “targeted” on Monday, sparking a “limited fire” that was quickly extinguished, the Saudi Energy Ministry said. There were no casualties, and oil operations continued. The ministry did not say who carried out the attack, and no group claimed responsibility for it as of Monday night.
  • Separately, satellite images on November 8 show “possible signs of damage” at Pumping Station 8 along the pipeline, according to the satellite-imagery firm Soar Atlas. The roughly 1,200 km pipeline carries about 4 million barrels a day to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

Lebanon

• Israel attacks Lebanon, again violating so-called ceasefire: Israeli fighter jets attacked the town of Qantara on Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera. Footage shows smoke billowing at the scene. Israeli forces also fired toward the outskirts of the town of Chaqra, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. The towns of al-Mansouri and Majdal Zoun were also targeted by Israeli artillery.

U.S. News

• Trump social-media strategist accused of unregistered Qatar work: Derek Utley, a co-founder of the digital strategy firm X Strategies, filed a lawsuit in Florida on Monday accusing his former partner, Alex Bruesewitz, of accepting $500,000 from “individuals associated with Qatar,” arguing that he violated federal law by failing to disclose the payments. Bruesewitz, who continues to run X Strategies after an acrimonious split with Utley, worked as an aide on President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and continues to work on behalf of Republican causes and candidates. He is a senior adviser to President Trump’s primary leadership PAC, Never Surrender. In that work, he runs the popular social-media accounts @TrumpWarRoom and @TeamTrump. Through a lawyer, Bruesewitz denied the claims in Utley’s complaint.
• Democrat Scott Colom maintains lead in Mississippi Senate race: Mississippi’s Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom remains ahead of incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, leading by 2,574 votes, according to a Monday tally from the Associated Press. Mississippi election officials have until Tuesday to count provisional (affidavit) ballots and receive postmarked absentee ballots, and all 82 counties have until Friday to certify their results. Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said that about 2,800 absentee ballots still need to be counted, most of which are from the Democrat-leaning counties of Hinds and Holmes. Mississippi does not have a mechanism for an automatic vote recount, meaning that a losing candidate must file a lawsuit to gain one.
• California voters reject proposed “billionaire tax”: California voters rejected Proposition 40, a ballot proposition that would have imposed a one-time 5% tax on residents whose net worth exceeds $1 billion, the AP reported on Monday. If it had passed, the taxed money would have supplemented the $100 billion that California is projected to lose as a result of federal healthcare cuts over the next five years. Organized opposition to the proposition was widespread. Google co-founder Sergey Brin donated more than $100 million to a PAC opposed to the proposition. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a possible 2028 presidential candidate, opposed it, as did Planned Parenthood and the California Medical Association. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) campaigned for it. The “Yes on 40” campaign said that it may return the measure to the ballot in 2028.
• Supreme Court clears the way for border construction in Texas’ Big Bend region: The Supreme Court lifted a federal judge’s recent halt on construction in Texas’ Big Bend region on Monday, allowing the Trump administration to move forward with its planned expansion of border security and surveillance measures along a roughly 500-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border. A legal challenge to the project is still wending its way through the courts. Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson noted her dissent to Monday’s decision. The plaintiffs in the ongoing case against the project include an environmental group, local preservationists, a river guide, and a landowner. The Trump administration previously dropped plans for a wall inside Big Bend National Park, opting instead for the construction of patrol roads, vehicle barriers, and surveillance infrastructure.
• Senate facilitates data-center permitting in first legislation advanced since midterms: The Senate voted to formally take up a bill on Monday that would streamline environmental permitting for data centers. The legislation would shorten approval timelines for large, energy-intensive projects, while requiring owners of data centers to pay for the energy they use. The bill was negotiated before the election by Republican Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (W. Va.) and Mike Lee (Utah), and Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich (N.M.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.). Trump expressed support for the bill in a post on social media on Sunday. Environmental groups like the Sierra Club and National Wildlife Federation have strongly opposed its passage.
• Another ranking DOJ attorney resigns: Brett Shumate, the head of the Justice Department’s civil division, resigned on Monday. The civil division represents the government in most litigation, defending federal policies and presidential actions, and handling fraud and immigration enforcement cases. Shumate is the latest DOJ departure since the midterms. Other DOJ officials who have recently resigned include Civil Rights Division chief Harmeet Dhillon, National Security Division head John Eisenberg, and veteran litigator Henry Whitaker, an aide to Attorney General Todd Blanche.
• Despite increasing Dem discontent, Jeffries says he is “confident” he will be elected House speaker: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) told reporters on Monday that he is “confident” he will be elected speaker of the House in January. He added that the Democratic Caucus will meet next Wednesday to choose its leader. To win the election for speaker, he will need to reach 218 votes. Democrats are expected to hold 254 seats in the next Congress. Reps.-elect Darializa Avila Chevalier (D-N.Y.) and Melat Kiros (D-Colo.) have expressed reluctance to support Jeffries. Chevalier said that she would prefer a speaker who will fight for “working-class people [and] Medicare for All.” Kiros said that she would not vote for a speaker who accepts corporate PAC money, as Jeffries does. Other incoming Democratic representatives, including Richard Ojeda (N.C.) and Katy Padilla Stout (Texas), declined to endorse Jeffries. A public petition urging Jeffries to step aside has reached over 1 million signatures.
• Sen. Chris Van Hollen says hasn’t ruled out challenging Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader: Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen said on Monday that the party “shouldn’t have a coronation” for majority leader, and that he “hasn’t shut the door” to a possible run for the position. Sen. Chuck Schumer, leader of the Democratic Senate Caucus since 2017, is widely expected to win enough support to become Senate majority leader in a closed-door vote in early December. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who met with Van Hollen on Monday and hasn’t ruled out her own run for the leadership role, said that she won’t vote for a candidate who cannot articulate “a plan” for Democrats, especially for the first 100 days of the new Congress.
• Palestinian socialist Ahmed Moor announces 2028 primary challenge to Sen. John Fetterman: Ahmed Moor, a 42-year-old Palestinian American writer and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, announced that he will challenge Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) in the 2028 primary. Fetterman is among Israel’s most vociferous defenders in the Democratic Party, and he votes in alignment with the Trump agenda more frequently than any other Democratic legislator. Moor said that he is “not really running against Fetterman” but “for good government” and “the rule of law.”
• TAP: Trump administration looks to install former subprime autolender in key regulatory role: The White House is attempting to appoint Christopher Mufarrige to the vacant Republican commissioner’s seat on the Federal Trade Commission, The American Prospect reported. His nomination could be announced during a hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Tuesday. Mufarrige ran a “buy here, pay here” used-car business in Texas called CNJ Auto Finance for three years in the late 2000s. Such businesses have been criticized for predatory tactics like imposing high interest rates on consumers who have poor credit, targeting consumers who publicly file for bankruptcy, and rapidly repossessing vehicles if consumers default on their loans. Mufarrige’s firm was unsuccessfully sued twice, once for taking vehicles without proper payment and another time for failure to pay property taxes. TAP’s full report is available here.

Other International News

• Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta ends operations after pressure from authorities: The Russian investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta held its last editorial meeting on Monday and closed its Moscow newsroom. It announced in October that it was being forced to shut down after the government designated it a “foreign agent,” and cut its access to the Russian banking system. Authorities arrested an editor at the paper, Oleg Roldugin, in April, and last month they searched the home of editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov and questioned him. UN rights chief Volker Türk called Russia’s crackdown on the publication “yet another devastating blow for remaining independent media” in the country. Novaya Gazeta was co-founded by Mikhail Gorbachev and funded with money from his Nobel Peace Prize. The paper was one of the few outlets that openly criticized Russia’s war in Ukraine.
• France raises minimum wage 1.6% in attempt to quell protests: France will raise the minimum wage by 1.6% on December 1, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced on Monday, expediting an increase that was scheduled for January 2027. The increase raises the monthly minimum wage by 24 euros ($27), from 1,477.93 euros ($1,656) to 1,502 euros ($1,683). Lecornu told reporters this was “the second-largest rise in 20 years” and “not merely symbolic.” It falls short of trade unions’ demands, however. The French Democratic Confederation of Labour wants a raise of at least 100 euros, and the General Confederation of Labour has demanded a raise of about 150 euros. CGT head Sophie Binet called Monday’s raise “crumbs.”
• Hungarian police arrest brother of Viktor Orbán: Hungarian police arrested Viktor Orbán’s younger brother Aron on Monday, on suspicion of “people smuggling” and other offenses, according to a press report shared by Prime Minister Peter Magyar. Viktor Orbán wrote on X that he was “the real target” of the arrest. A 2025 investigation by the news site Telex linked Aron Orbán and others to an alleged scheme involving visas for foreign guest workers. Magyar, who won the premiership in a landslide election in April, promised to investigate his predecessor’s alleged corruption and abuse of power.
• 2,500+ people flee Darfur for Chad: A harvest failure, insufficient rainfall, and the ongoing civil war have forced 2,510 people to flee Darfur for Chad, the Sudan Tribune reported. Adam Rijal, a spokesperson for the General Coordination of Displaced Persons and Refugees, said that living conditions in Darfur are rapidly deteriorating. He said that the region desperately needs a surge in all kinds of aid—food, water, and medicine.
• Gunmen kill guard and 10 relatives, abduct 13 in northwest Nigeria: Gunmen killed a local security volunteer and 10 of his relatives in an attack in Nigeria’s northwestern Zamfara state over the weekend, torching his house and abducting a further 13 relatives, Reuters reported. A police official said that the security guard, a member of a government-backed vigilante group, had helped state security forces fend off gang incursions in the area, leading the “bandits” to consider him “an obstacle to their activities.” Security forces have been deployed to secure the hostages’ release. Armed gangs have long raided villages in northwestern Nigeria, killing residents, abducting people for ransom, and looting homes.
• South African police arrest nine foreign nationals suspected of trying to join Russia’s war on Ukraine: South African police arrested nine young men, ages 20 to 26, at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport on Sunday night, accusing them of seeking to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine. The arrests follow an investigation involving Interpol and local agencies. South Africa’s Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act bars mercenary activity, recruitment, and training. The arrests come amid concern that Africans, Asians, and South Americans are being lured to Russia with civilian job offers and forced into combat in Ukraine.
• Paraguay expands probe of collapsed bank Ueno, agents raid bank office: Paraguayan prosecutors raided the digital bank Ueno’s brokerage arm on Monday. The raid is part of a widening probe into Ueno, a huge bank whose collapse led to the resignation of Santiago Peña from the presidency last week. Following the raid, prosecutors shared images of ripped-up documents, including fragments of what appeared to be due-diligence reports and emails.
  • Separately, Paraguay’s Congress approved President Pedro Alliana’s nomination of economist Jorge Schreiner to replace former central bank chief Carlos Carvallo on Tuesday. It also named the former banking regulator Fernando Rivarola, who warned the public about Ueno in a July report, to the board of the central bank. Like the former president Peña, Carvallo has business ties to Ueno. Both men were recently charged with breach of trust and administration and are in pretrial detention.
• Exxon Mobil reaches preliminary, nonbinding deal with Venezuela: ExxonMobil announced on Monday that it drafted a memorandum of understanding with Venezuela. The agreement is nonbinding, which allows Exxon to hedge its bets. The company said that “any future investment would require stable policies, clear regulations, strong investment protections and competitive returns.” The deal is a symbolic win for Trump and a reversal of Exxon Mobil’s position in January, when CEO Darren Woods called Venezuela “uninvestable.” Venezuela has twice seized Exxon’s assets in the country.
• Taiwan accuses China of “area denial” drills in Western Pacific: On Tuesday, Taiwanese Defense Minister Wellington Koo accused China of conducting “area denial” drills in the Western Pacific. Koo told reporters that China used its Liaoning carrier group and other naval formations in the process. “Anti-access area denial” is a military tactic designed to deter outside forces from intervening in conflict. Last week, Taiwan’s security chief Joseph Wu said that more than 100 Chinese naval and Coast Guard ships were operating in the South China Sea and in the Pacific, and the defense ministry reported a large rise in Chinese aircraft in the area. China did not respond to Tuesday’s accusations, though its defense ministry said last month that the Liaoning carrier group’s trainings are scheduled annually and are not aimed at any country.