U.S. authorizes export limits on critical minerals.
Today's events
Mineral export controls.
Trump signed a Presidential Determination finding recoverable critical minerals essential to national defense and granting the Commerce Secretary authority to restrict their export — black mass, end-of-life rare-earth magnets, and scrap.1Jul 30 · WHVoter-data declassification.
The White House Government Transparency Task Force published declassified intelligence findings that China and its proxies bought, stole, or hacked as many as 220 million Americans' voter-registration records.2Jul 30 · WHSecond-quarter growth.
Real gross domestic product rose at a 1.5 percent annual rate, down from 2.1 percent, while the price index for gross domestic purchases climbed 5.7 percent against 3.6 percent.3Jul 30 · BEAMahan Air network.
The United States sanctioned six entities and individuals in China, India, Russia, and Iran supporting the Revolutionary Guard's airline, plus a front company soliciting locations of American and Israeli equipment.4Jul 30 · StateWater-system controllers.
CISA reported a significant increase in actors targeting internet-exposed programmable logic controllers at water utilities, changing passwords and addresses to lock out operators and forcing boil-water notices.5Jul 30 · CISATerrorist removal court.
The Justice Department filed the first case ever brought in the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, seeking to deport an Afghan woman whose son and son-in-law plotted an Election Day shooting.6Jul 30 · DOJEgg-price benchmark.
The Antitrust Division and 17 state attorneys general sued Cal-Maine Foods, Hickman's Egg Ranch, and Versova for coordinating bids to inflate the Urner Barry quotations that set wholesale egg prices.7Jul 30 · DOJBolivia mission.
Seven governments, including the United States, closed a two-day mission to La Paz and Santa Cruz condemning seven weeks of road blockades aimed at overthrowing President Rodrigo Paz's elected government.8Jul 30 · StateEurope's fire season.
Satellite imagery showed a fire in Spain's Ávila province burning about 50,000 hectares, the country's largest on record; more than 90,000 hectares have burned across France this season.9Jul 31 · NASA
This week
Strikes reach Iranian soil.
Central Command struck dozens of Revolutionary Guard sites inside Iran on July 29, among them command centers, missile and drone plants and coastal defenses, after Iran's ballistic-missile salvo on U.S. bases was intercepted (July 30 brief). It followed U.S. and Saudi strikes on Iran-aligned militia sites in eastern Iraq a day earlier, themselves an answer to more than 30 drone attacks on U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure in 72 hours.1Jul 29 · CENTCOMSanctions follow the strikes.
State designated two Revolutionary Guard-backed Iranian firms on July 29 that charge ships for “insurance” against seizures Iran itself threatens, plus eight carriers hauling Iranian crude to China and the Emirates (July 30 brief). A day later it hit six targets in China, India, Russia and Iran supplying Mahan Air, the Guard's airline, and a front company soliciting the locations of American and Israeli equipment.2Jul 29–30 · State$76.6 billion for submarines.
The Department of War awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding a contract for five Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarines and nine Virginia-class attack boats on July 30, putting seven Columbia-class hulls under contract (July 30 brief). Three days earlier the Air Force's under secretary told an industry conference that nearly half the service's aircraft are more than forty years old and retirements outpace production.5Jul 30 · NavyPush to empty the war-crimes court.
The State Department welcomed Venezuela's withdrawal from the International Criminal Court on July 25, called the court neither credible, independent, nor legitimate, and urged every remaining member to quit the Rome Statute (July 26 brief). Hemispheric diplomacy filled much of the week: a U.S. delegation attended Peru's presidential inauguration on July 28, and seven governments closed a mission to Bolivia condemning seven weeks of road blockades against its elected government.7Jul 25 · State
Allied Governments
Submarine investment.
Britain committed £8.4 billion to the fourth production phase of its Dreadnought ballistic-missile submarines, including a £5.9 billion contract with BAE Systems at Barrow.aJul 30 · UK MoDHormuz mission.
Britain and France will keep preparing a multinational military mission to deploy in the Strait of Hormuz after a ceasefire, the Prime Minister told the Sultan of Oman.bJul 30 · UK No.10Horizon Europe.
Japan signed an agreement in Brussels associating it with Horizon Europe, the European Union's research and innovation funding programme, opening it to Japanese companies and universities.cJul 30 · Japan MoFA
Voices
“America's inadequate supply of [recoverable critical minerals] poses an increasing risk to our national defense and security.”
Presidential Determination on Recoverable Critical Minerals and Materials · July 301
“Adversaries could alter data to potentially prevent individual voters or groups of voters from voting, causing delays on election day or forcing voters to use provisional ballots.”
Declassified Intelligence Community documents, White House Government Transparency Task Force · July 302
“The United States will continue to expose and disrupt entities providing the IRGC with the tools and information it uses to threaten American personnel, our partners, and regional stability.”
State Dept. Spokesperson Tommy Pigott · July 304
“The allegations in this case show the matriarch of an ISIS-sympathizing family aiding in a plot to launch a mass casualty attack on American voters on Election Day.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche · July 306
“Threat actors targeting exposed PLCs have modified passwords to lock out operators and disconnected the PLCs by changing their IP addresses.”
CISA alert to the Water and Wastewater Systems Sector · July 305
“No product more quintessentially represents affordability than the price Americans pay for eggs.”
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward · July 307
Sources
- White House, “Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 101 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as Amended, on Recoverable Critical Minerals and Materials,” July 30, 2026. whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/…/recoverable-critical-minerals
- White House, “The White House Government Transparency Task Force Fact Sheet,” July 30, 2026. whitehouse.gov/releases/…/government-transparency-task-force
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, “GDP (Advance Estimate), 2nd Quarter 2026,” July 30, 2026. bea.gov/news/2026/…/gdp-advance-estimate-q2-2026
- U.S. Dept. of State, “United States Sanctioning Iran's Mahan Air Network and IRGC-Linked Front Company,” July 30, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/mahan-air-network
- CISA, “CISA Urges Water and Wastewater Systems Sector to Protect OT Against Activity Targeting PLCs,” July 30, 2026. cisa.gov/news-events/…/water-sector-plc-activity
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “Department of Justice Files First Case in U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court to Deport Afghan Alien Who Supported Her Family's Plans for Election-Day Shooting,” July 30, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/alien-terrorist-removal-court
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “Justice Department Requires Egg Producers to End Coordinated Benchmark Manipulation that Artificially Inflated Prices Across the Country,” July 30, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/egg-benchmark-manipulation
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Statement by Members of the High-Level Mission of OAS Member States to Bolivia,” July 30, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/high-level-mission-bolivia
- NASA Earth Observatory, “Destructive Fires Char Western Europe,” July 31, 2026. science.nasa.gov/earth/…/destructive-fires-western-europe
- UK Ministry of Defence, “Major £8.4bn investment advances UK nuclear deterrent and backs British industry,” July 30, 2026. gov.uk/government/news/…/dreadnought-investment
- UK Prime Minister's Office, “PM call with the Sultan of Oman: 30 July 2026,” July 30, 2026. gov.uk/government/news/…/pm-call-sultan-of-oman
- Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Signing of the Agreement for the Association of the Government of Japan to Horizon Europe,” July 30, 2026. mofa.go.jp/press/release/…/japan-horizon-europe