Iran — Oman Frames a Hormuz Corridor Deal as Rubio Tells Allies No New Strikes ‘For Now’#

Iran and Oman’s top diplomats agreed Tuesday on a framework for a “temporary joint navigation corridor” through the Strait of Hormuz alongside a joint mine-clearing project, Oman’s foreign ministry said after Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi met his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Tehran. Technical talks will continue to work out a permanent corridor, traffic management, and information-sharing arrangements. The announcement came a day after President Trump said on Truth Social that the US Navy had “removed and/or detonated” all mines from the strait’s international waters — the product of a months-long, low-key clearance operation using underwater drones that flagged more than 100 suspected mines planted by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard — while warning that any new mine-laying would be met with “zero tolerance.” Oil prices fell for a third straight day on the news, though the regional maritime security center overseeing shipping threats cautioned that danger areas remain active.

Separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told foreign counterparts that Washington doesn’t expect to launch new strikes on Iran “for the time being,” signaling a shift toward economic and maritime pressure — sanctions and the naval presence covered in August 25’s roundup — rather than further air operations, while leaving the door open to retaliatory strikes if Iran attacks first. China’s foreign ministry said Beijing is “firmly opposed” to the new US sanctions and would take unspecified steps to protect its own interests.

Sources: Axios — Trump announces all mines have been removed from the Strait of Hormuz · gCaptain — Iran and Oman Unveil Framework for Future Management of Strait of Hormuz · Al Jazeera — Iran, Oman discuss temporary shipping lane through Strait of Hormuz · CNN — Iran war latest: Oil prices fall on hopes of Iran-Oman deal to reopen Strait of Hormuz · Free Press Journal — ‘No New Strikes’: Rubio Tells Allies As US Shifts Focus To Iran Sanctions, Hormuz Pressure

Ukraine — Drones Hit Another Russian Refinery as Kherson’s Power Plant Takes a Direct Hit#

Ukraine’s Defense Forces struck the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez refinery in Kstovo, in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, overnight into August 26, touching off a fire at one of Russia’s largest refineries — rated at roughly 17 million tons of annual capacity — and adding another name to the string of refinery strikes that has already hit Afipsky five times this year, as covered in August 25’s roundup. Russian outlet Moscow Times reported the strikes forced at least a partial shutdown of refining operations.

Russia answered with its own infrastructure strike: an airstrike badly damaged Kherson’s combined heat and power plant, with Ukrainian utility Naftogaz reporting significant destruction just as the city heads into the colder months. Overnight drone strikes on Kherson also sparked fires at retail outlets and residential buildings, while Russian forces separately hit an airstrike on Sloviansk and struck gas-repair workers with an FPV drone in Derhachi, Kharkiv region, wounding one worker. The exchanges underline that both sides are still trading blows against each other’s energy infrastructure with no sign of a ceasefire on the table.

Sources: UNN — General Staff confirmed the strike on Lukoil’s large oil refinery in Kstovo · The Moscow Times — Deadly Ukrainian Strikes in Southern Russia Force Oil Refinery to Shut Down · UNN — In Kherson, Russians carried out an airstrike on a combined heat and power plant, causing significant destruction

U.S. Immigration — Trump Administration Preps Largest Mass Visa Revocation in US History#

The State Department is preparing to revoke up to 200,000 business and tourism visas held by people who entered the US as short-term visitors between 2016 and 2026 and later filed for asylum, officials confirmed — what would be the largest single mass visa revocation in American history. Spokesman Tommy Pigott said State is working with the Department of Homeland Security to identify B1/B2 visa holders who used a visitor visa as an on-ramp to an asylum claim; revocations will roll out continuously rather than all at once. Officials stressed that losing the visa doesn’t itself void a pending asylum case or trigger immediate deportation, but it would strip recipients of their business/tourism travel status and is expected to draw legal challenges given the scale involved.

Sources: NPR — Trump administration plans to revoke up to 200,000 visas, official says · Bloomberg — Trump Administration Set to Revoke Visas From 200,000 Foreigners · PBS NewsHour — U.S. set for largest mass visa revocation in history targeting up to 200,000 foreigners, officials say

U.S.-Canada Trade War — Ottawa Hits Back With Tariffs on $20B of American Goods#

Canada announced retaliatory tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of US goods — including steel, dairy, appliances, and farm equipment — set to take effect September 8, after trade talks with Washington collapsed last week. The move doubles Canadian tariffs on American steel and aluminum and adds new levies across about 700 other product categories; Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the countermeasures are designed to match US tariffs “dollar for dollar, rate for rate.” The escalation follows Trump’s move to impose 50% tariffs on many Canadian goods after talks broke down, with Ottawa saying Washington introduced “unreasonable” last-minute demands. Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged the retaliation “will raise costs and reduce choice for Canadians,” but said Canada wasn’t prepared to accept the US terms.

Sources: The Washington Post — Canada issues retaliatory tariffs up to 50 percent on US imports · CNBC — Canada unveils retaliatory tariffs on about $20 billion of U.S. goods · NPR — Canada strikes back at U.S. with retaliatory tariffs as trade war escalates

Tech & AI — Nvidia Puts Groq 3 LPX Into Full Production as Meta’s Instagram Chief Takes the Stand#

Nvidia said its Groq 3 LPX inference accelerator — built from its earlier Groq acqui-hire — has entered full production and now slots into the Vera Rubin NVL72 platform to accelerate “agentic” AI workloads that depend on fast, long-context token generation. In an Artificial Analysis benchmark on the open Gemma 4 31B model, Groq 3 LPX hit 3,400 output tokens per second on 100,000-token contexts, which Nvidia says is roughly 4x faster than the nearest rival platform; Nebius is the first cloud provider to adopt the chip, and SpaceXAI said it will use Nvidia’s new Vera CPUs, whose 88-core chiplet architecture was disclosed at Hot Chips 2026 last week, to power its next-generation agentic systems.

Separately, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri testified Tuesday in the child social-media-addiction trial underway in federal court in Oakland, where 29 US states are seeking civil penalties from Meta that could reach nearly $200 billion. Mosseri denied directing staff to withhold legally risky information — “I’m not trying to encourage my team to hide anything” — and said he wished a 2021 teen time-management feature had been fixed sooner given its low uptake. The trial, before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, is expected to run into September, with a jury issuing an advisory verdict before the judge rules on Meta’s liability.

Sources: NVIDIA Newsroom — NVIDIA Groq 3 LPX Now in Full Production With World-Class Speed for Agentic AI · SiliconANGLE — Nvidia’s dedicated inference accelerator Groq 3 LPX enters full production · CNBC — Instagram chief Mosseri testifies at Meta child social media addiction trial · NPR — Instagram head Adam Mosseri testifies in defense of Meta in child safety trial

Notable Death — Dolly Parton, Country Music Icon, Dies at 80#

Dolly Parton died Tuesday in Nashville after a brief battle with cancer, her family announced, ending a six-decade career that took her from a childhood of poverty in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to becoming one of the bestselling recording artists in history. She won 11 Grammy Awards, wrote and recorded era-defining hits including “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” and built a business empire spanning Dollywood, publishing, and philanthropy — including funding literacy programs and, more recently, contributing toward COVID-19 vaccine research. Tributes poured in from across the music and political worlds within hours of the announcement, which her nephew Bryan Seaver confirmed in a video statement.

Sources: NBC News — Dolly Parton, country music icon, dies at 80 · NPR — Dolly Parton, one of country music’s most singular performers, has died at age 80 · Variety — Dolly Parton, Queen of Country Music, Dies at 80