AS IT HAPPENED: ‘No more!’: Trump’s threat to closest ally

The father of a US Navy sailor deployed on the USS Abraham Lincoln has been arrested in Florida by ICE agents.

Luis Manuel Aviles, 48, was detained last Saturday as his son was entering his ninth month serving on the aircraft carrier, reports Associated Press.

The vessel set a US military record for uninterrupted time at sea deployed to the Middle East, stirring concerns about supply shortages and deteriorating mental health among crew.

Luis, originally from Nicaragua, has spent 19 years in the United States and holds a work permit, his family said.

His arrest comes as the Trump administration rolls back immigration protections for military families to pursue its mass deportation agenda, detaining at least dozens of parents and spouses of active-duty US troops.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Border Patrol agents arrested Luis Aviles in Key West and that he will remain in ICE custody while the government seeks to deport him.

“Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws,” the department said, adding that the Trump administration “does not pick and choose which laws to enforce.”

Luis’ son, Joshua Aviles, said he has been working 12-hour work shifts for more than 250 days without a break on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned in an opinion piece that an “economic D-Day is coming for Iran”.

Writing in the Financial Times, he gave little detail as the US seeks to pressure Iran to restart talks.

“At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary.”

“The world should understand that our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone.”

Bessent also echoed remarks last week by Donald Trump pledging to impose “tremendous economic consequences” on countries doing business with Iran.

Unrest in the Middle East and other parts of the world continue to put pressure on Australian diesel prices.

The warning comes today in an investor update from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Persian Gulf diesel exports have yet to recover in the same way as crude oil compared with pre‑war levels due to the longer restart time for refineries in the region, says economist Vivek Dhar.

Analysis by Bloomberg shows about 40 per cent of the region’s refining capacity has been impacted by drone and missile strikes. Also, the pipeline bypasses offering alternative export channels to the Strait of Hormuz are transporting crude oil only.

Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries have also sidelined a key source of global diesel and pushed Russia to ban diesel exports until September 1.

“Singapore gasoil spot prices, which is the main benchmark for Australian diesel prices, has seen price volatility skew more to the upside,” wrote Dhar.

Donald Trump assistant Natalie Harp flooded her Twitter feed with posts demonstrating extraordinary devotion to the president during the Capital riots on January 6, 2021.

A review by CNN of Harp’s now-removed account on X, previously the Twitter social media platform, found that Harp posted more than 150 tweets that day. 

She urged Republicans to “FIGHT FOR TRUMP” as he began his speech near the White House.

Harp echoed the president’s talking points that the election was stolen, and amplified rhetoric of his allies, who also sought to undermine the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s election victory.

Harp, then 29, praised pro-Trump demonstrators gathered nearby as “patriots” and challenged legislators to show “a fraction of the courage & passion” of the crowd, declaring: “today we STOP THE STEAL!”

And after a pro-Trump mob forced its way into the US Capitol, Harp shared tweets insisting the rioters were “not Trump supporters,” and circulated false reports that the left-wing movement Antifa had infiltrated the mob.

Harp, known in the White House as the human printer, follows the president around with a portable printer to show him favourable news headlines and memes he would like.

Another flashpoint in the Middle East has emerged in recent days - and it could bring the world’s largest military alliance into play, or end it.

Last week, Israel launched a missiles at a Syrian air base in the country’s north-west, saying it was in response to Turkish military activity at the site.

Defence Minister Israel Katz claimed, without offering further detail, that there was “clear intelligence” Turkey planned to use the base to “harm Israel”.

Turkey has also been working to aid Syria’s military rebuild under its new government.

But US ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said the US had concluded Turkey was not targeting Israel and warned against the consequences of further such attacks.

“When they (the Turkish military) see these jets coming towards the border and they don’t know what the purpose, direction or intention is, they start to say ‘We’re going to have to scramble our own’,” Barrack told the Associated Press.

The stricken air base is about 80km from the Turkish border.

“The unintended consequence of a mistake could be really consequential,” Barrack said.

The elephant in the room is that Turkey is a NATO state, and the alliance - which includes key Israel backer the US - is bound to commit to collective defence.

However, as US President Donald Trump discovered to his frustration when he demanded NATO support the US war on Iran, that mutual defence clause doesn’t apply to military adventurism, an umbrella which may also rhetorically cover Turkish activities in Syria.

Barrack’s warning, however, raise the grim spectre of possibility that if tensions over Syria don’t calm down, the US could be forced to choose between allies.

Israel and Syria are conducting US-mediated talks this week.

The Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee overnight approved a provision in a draft law allowing the country to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

The clause allows fees to be charged for navigation and environmental services, fuel supplies in special cases, insurance, security and other services provided in the strait, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Control of the strait, the waterway through which 25 per cent of global oil supplies transits through, has been a key stumbling block in US-Iran talks.

The Trump administration has insisted the Iranian regime must not be permitted to charge transit fees.

Oil prices dipped slightly overnight with Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropping 0.6 per cent to $US93 a barrel.

Donald Trump’s new plan to crush the Iranian economy comes with risks, and demands a level of patience the president almost never shows.

Trump last week promised to unleash an “Economic D-Day” against the Iranian regime on social media.

In a later social media post, he pledged to crack down on any country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran.

But many analysts are skeptical the regime in Tehran, known for inflicting intense repression and economic duress on civilians, will back down.

“Those who think that Iran will collapse under the pressure, I think they are mistaken, despite the economic situation,” Daniel Citrinowicz, who served in Israel Defense Intelligence, told CNN.

He said ramping up the economic pressure could impose severe costs on Iran, but may take months to make an impact.

The new chief of Iran’s leading security body has warned the regime will regard any country’s support for new American economic measures against the Islamic Republic as an “act of war”.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to announce on Monday (US Eastern Time) the new measures after the Trump administration vowed to unleash an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare.

The hard-line leader of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, issued his latest warning on X, with the comments quickly shared by state media.

“If (Trump) wants to do something, we will retaliate in a seismic manner,” he said last weekend.

Rezaei said Iran would target other oil-shipping routes from the Persian Gulf, alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz.

A top American banking official is warning the Federal Reserve’s 2 per cent inflation target is likely to remain out of reach due to continued fighting with Iran.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis president Neel Kashkari told CBS overnight Americans may have to wait longer before prices for essentials, such as fuel and groceries, begin to fall.

“The longer (the Iran war) goes on, the less confident I am that inflation is going to return to target,” Kashkari said.

Consumers have seen price hikes since the US and Israel first struck Iran on February 28. A sharp decline in oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has triggered higher oil prices, forcing price hikes at US service stations.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is one of 12 regional reserve banks in the US central banking system.