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Trump’s Cabinet joins TikTok. What could go wrong?

2026-08-26T08:00:29.489Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/26/politics/tiktok-trump-cabinet-secretaries-videos

With rap music pulsating to the rhythm of jagged video edits, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins takes to TikTok.

Dressed in a suit, Collins does pushups with co-workers before the video quickly cuts to him appearing at other events and more pushups. At one point, he’s seen practicing his golf swing with his legs strapped down.

The approximately 30-second video, produced by the VA and posted to TikTok last month, is titled “SECVA reporting for duty.”

That same day, several other Cabinet-level agencies launched TikTok campaigns after the Justice Department deemed the app safe for federal employees to use.

The new campaigns appear to target younger generations that frequent TikTok, but some of the videos have drawn criticism over the Trump administration’s priorities. Many of the posts featuring Cabinet members — a decidedly middle-aged group — also have provided predictable fodder for late-night comedy writers. “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon mused: “Right now TikTok is, like, ‘Oh, no, are we the new Facebook?’”

Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that the administration “is transforming how Americans interact with their government by publishing engaging social media content and meeting people where they are — including on TikTok.”

Some videos are catchy and convey a message, like one posted by the Department of the Interior, warning parkgoers about “hot and bothered” bison during the animal’s breeding season. It shows a bison rolling around in the grass as Boyz II Men’s “I’ll Make Love to You” plays.

A video from the Small Business Administration features “Jimothy,” a raccoon with a spinal condition who has gone viral on social media, to promote shopping locally.

While that video hasn’t had much engagement, with fewer than 100 likes, a post from SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler got a lot more attention as she was roasted for walking jerkily through the agency’s hallways with an empty binder.

A video from the Treasury Department features Secretary Scott Bessent taking part in a common TikTok trend to the Nicki Minaj song “Beez in the Trap.” This time, however, the secretary is standing back-to-back with Minaj herself, supporter of President Donald Trump, as she sings: “Bitches say sht and they ain’t sayin’ nothin’. A hundred mother f*kers can’t tell me nothin’.” That post has nearly 70,000 likes.

On Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s page, he has lightning shooting out of his glowing eyes in one video. The rapid-fire sequence of visuals that follow include Rocky Balboa, Muhammad Ali, gymnasts, body builders and Kennedy himself doing pull-ups with a title that says, “America after becoming healthy again.”

Some TikTok content is more squarely about the government agency that’s posting it.

The Department of Transportation has posted nearly 40 TikTok videos since the campaign’s launch, including one seeking to recruit air traffic controllers from the gaming community. The slickly produced video has 4,600 likes and is aimed at a key agency priority — increasing staffing at the nation’s air traffic control towers.

But Collins’ video, which has more than 1,000 likes, has sparked some criticism both for its focus on the VA secretary himself and for the expletive-filled lyrics heard during the video.

“Roll that a round and round like a motherfkng wheel.”

“Shake that sht, this ain’t no motherf*king drill!”

The lyrics are from the 2003 song “Salt Shaker” by the Ying Yang Twins.

The video, while meant to promote the secretary’s work, has prompted a lot of water-cooler talk — not all positive, according to three sources inside the agency who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.

“We’re embarrassed,” said one high-level source.

Douglas Massey, a longtime attorney with the VA’s Board of Veterans’ Appeals and president of the local chapter of the union that represents about 320,000 VA workers, sent an email to Collins and three of his top aides denouncing the video. Massey’s branch of American Federation of Government Employees represents employees at the VA’s headquarters in Washington.

The TikTok video “appears to represent a shift away from Veteran-centered communications and toward promoting the public profile of the Secretary,” Massey wrote in the email, which he shared with CNN.

“The Department of Veterans Affairs exists to serve Veterans. Its communications should help Veterans understand and access the benefits, health care, and services they have earned. Instead, this video appeared to place the focus on the Secretary rather than on Veterans or the information they need,” he continued.

The union reposted Collins’ video on YouTube, calling it his “sizzle reel” and adding this message at the end: “The VA’s mission is to serve veterans. Not build personal brands.”

Massey and the high-level VA source told CNN that until earlier this year, the department’s social media arm focused most of its social media posts on guiding veterans to where they could get healthcare and benefits.

But recently, they said, the posts and videos are focused more on Collins.

The VA source said that much of the information on suicide prevention and mental health for veterans, previously a staple of the agency’s social media outreach, has been drastically reduced.

In his email to Collins, Massey also criticized the secretary, who is a former Air Force chaplain and civilian pastor, for being featured in a video with such bawdy lyrics.

“Frankly, as a conservative Southern Baptist pastor, I was surprised that an official VA video was paired with a song containing explicit sexual content,” Massey wrote.

In an email to CNN, VA press secretary Quinn Slaven said: “The post simply shows Sec. Collins performing two of the most important aspects of his job — listening to the concerns of Veterans and VA employees. What’s more, VA’s use of TikTok and other emerging forms of media has helped the department recruit more than 225,000 new VA health care enrollees in 2026 alone.”

Slaven also denied that VA has scaled back its social media outreach that addresses suicide prevention and mental health.

Kelly, the White House spokesperson, defended Collins from the union’s criticism, calling it “a ridiculously out-of-touch comment by an organization that must be decades behind the times.”

Trump recently claimed that he’s “number one” on TikTok “by far,” but in terms of both followers and likes, he’s not among the top accounts, according to the site Social Blade, which compiles publicly available information.

Trump’s Department of Justice and the Office of Management and Budget worked to rescind a ban preventing TikTok from being downloaded on government devices, following the sale of the US version of the app to a US-approved owner.

CNN’s Kendall Wright and Richa Sharma contributed to this report.

https://www.tiktok.com/@interior/video/7668062290788306190
https://www.tiktok.com/@sbagov/video/7665106217794080014
https://www.tiktok.com/@sbagov/video/7673494995348884749
https://www.tiktok.com/@ustreasury/video/7665126858782018846
https://www.tiktok.com/@seckennedy/video/7666864762449448222
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8WVgBmJ/

巴拿马运河“一位难求” 亚洲船东抢位拍出673万新元天价

2026年8月26日 17:28 / 联合早报

受厄尔尼诺引发的干旱影响，巴拿马运河将从9月起进一步限制每日通航船只数量。 （法新社）

（巴拿马城／圣萨尔瓦多综合电）全球航运需求上升，加上厄尔尼诺现象加剧干旱影响巴拿马运河通行能力，巴拿马运河近期上演前所未有的航运“抢位战”。有韩国船东不惜在官方拍卖中以创纪录的530万美元（约673万新元）天价，抢下9月1日的优先通行权。

彭博社引述知情人士报道，这场竞拍由巴拿马运河管理局本周主持，成功中标者为韩国能源企业SK Gas，旗下一艘油轮因此获准由南向北穿越运河。

这一中标金额不仅刷新了本月早些时候由另一家韩国船东创下的460万美元旧纪录，更远高于今年2月以前的约5万5000美元成交价中值。

巴拿马运河管理局星期二（8月25日）回应路透社询问时说，近期部分船只拍得的逾百万美元通行名额，反映的是全球贸易供应链暂时供不应求和市场短期波动，而非运河官方调涨通行费。

当局说：“竞拍成交价由多重因素决定，包括客户的紧急程度、商业优先级，以及整体的市场供需状况。”

伊朗战争扰乱全球贸易航线后，美洲通往亚洲的航运需求更多转向巴拿马运河。没有预订的船只目前最长须等候17天，一些船务公司为了避开延误和高额竞拍费用，已改道绕行非洲好望角。今年8月，约一半从美国前往亚洲的液化天然气运输船选择绕行好望角，使休斯敦至日本的航程从26天延长至45天。

巴拿马运河通航压力还受到气候因素的进一步影响。巴拿马运河船闸运作依赖加通湖和阿拉胡埃拉湖的淡水，但持续时间更长的厄尔尼诺现象导致降雨减少和水位下降。

为此，运河管理局已宣布，从9月4日起将每日通行上限降至34艘，9月15日起进一步降至32艘。在正常情况下，巴拿马运河每天大约可以通行40艘船。

巴拿马已宣布因厄尔尼诺进入紧急状态，洪都拉斯已有约八成国土处于警戒状态，萨尔瓦多则宣布最高级别红色警报，启动对受灾社区的监测和援助。

厄尔尼诺是赤道中东太平洋海面温度异常升高的气候现象，通常每两年至七年出现一次，会扰乱全球风向和降雨模式。今年这一轮预计将是近年来最强之一，正加剧中美洲干旱，导致巴拿马运河水位进一步下降。

Grocers issue warning over Mamdani’s taxpayer-backed stores: ‘We’re going to go after’ them

August 26, 2026 5:00am EDT / Fox News

Coalition led by Frank Garcia filed two lawsuits Monday and vows legal action against companies responding to the city’s RFP

By Morgan Phillips Fox News

Frank Garcia says immigrant-owned businesses are being pitted against one another and urges City Hall to back a private buying-group model instead.

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Private operators looking to run New York City’s planned government-owned grocery stores are being put on notice: Join Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s program, and grocers fighting the plan say they could face you in court.

“We’re going to go after any operator that’s in there,” Frank Garcia, who is leading a coalition of immigrant-owned grocers challenging the city’s plan, told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday.

“We’re hoping that no one puts the RFP.”

NEW YORK CITY IMMIGRANT BUSINESS OWNERS ARE PLANNING TO SUE MAMDANI OVER TAXPAYER-FUNDED SUPERMARKETS

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during an announcement on the Standing Up to ICE outreach program at the governor’s office in New York City, Aug. 12, 2026.(REUTERS/David Dee Delgado)

Garcia, chairman of the Multicultural Business Coalition, was referring to New York City’s request for proposals seeking private operators to run the five taxpayer-backed grocery stores Mamdani has proposed. Under the program, selected operators would receive city-backed space while agreeing to sell a core basket of groceries at prices 30% below typical New York City retail prices.

The Multicultural Business Coalition filed two lawsuits against the city Monday, arguing the taxpayer-backed stores would unfairly compete with minority- and immigrant-owned businesses already operating on thin margins. Garcia said the coalition now intends to extend that legal fight to private companies that sign on to operate the stores.

GROCERY BOSS WARNS MAMDANI’S CITY-RUN STORES PIT GOVERNMENT AGAINST ‘ITS OWN CITIZENS’

The threat comes as the city moves from pitching the concept to trying to find companies willing to run it.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation formally opened the operator RFP in July and is seeking up to five companies to operate the stores. Proposals are due Oct. 16.

Mamdani has said the five stores, one in each borough, are expected to open by 2029. The administration says shoppers would receive a fixed 30% discount on a basket that includes fresh produce, meat and seafood, along with staples such as milk, bread, cheese, pasta, rice and beans.

La Marqueta, a Latino marketplace in East Harlem, New York, is chosen as the site of the first city-owned grocery store announced by NYC Mayor Mamdani on April 14, 2026.(Newsday via Getty Images)

Existing grocers, however, argue they would be forced to compete against stores insulated from costs they have to shoulder themselves, particularly rent.

Mamdani has pushed back on claims that the municipal stores would put neighborhood bodegas out of business, pointing out that the city-backed locations would not sell products such as cigarettes, alcohol, lottery tickets or hot foods — revenue streams that can help sustain smaller neighborhood stores. The mayor has also pointed to public-market models such as Essex Market as evidence that subsidized markets and private businesses can coexist.

“I’m confident in both the legality of this – that it will stand up in court – and the importance of delivering it,” Mamdani said in a news conference on Monday.

Asked what he was doing for bodega owners who worry about losing business, Mamdani said: “What we can do is continue with our approach citywide of looking for ways to cut costs and cut the regulations that so many bodegueros, as well as grocery store owners, have to jump through in order to do their work. What we have already found through our OPEN Task Force is already the identification of more than 50 potential changes that target things from the current necessity of having two different licenses to sell hot food and cold, dairy frozen dessert. As well as the kinds of things that make it harder for bodegas to both sell items outside of the store and inside of the store.”

The mayor’s office declined to comment on Garcia’s claim that his coalition sought a meeting with Mamdani and did not respond to his threat of litigation against participating operators.

Garcia said his coalition sought a meeting with Mamdani before going to court but was rebuffed, alleging the mayor instead met with a group of Dominican business owners while leaving out other immigrant and minority-owned businesses that could be affected by the plan.

“He’s putting our minority businesses against minority businesses,” Garcia said.

Garcia repeatedly invoked the immigrant history of New York’s bodegas, describing businesses that have passed through generations of Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican and other immigrant entrepreneurs.

His coalition, he said, represents a broader cross-section of those businesses, including Latino, Korean and Arab store owners.

City officials have also wrestled with how to support existing grocers that fear they could lose business to the taxpayer-backed stores.

People shop for fruit at a grocery store in Manhattan on Dec. 13, 2025.(Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images)

Waverly Neer, a senior vice president at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) who leads the NYC Groceries initiative, recently said the agency was considering grants and other incentives that could accompany the municipal stores and support independent businesses in surrounding neighborhoods.

NYCEDC later said grants were not currently under consideration but that the agency was exploring other forms of assistance, including potential tax abatements, incentives and zoning benefits through existing city programs.

MAMDANI’S CITY GROCERY PLAN COULD LEAVE TAXPAYERS PAYING FOR EVERY BANANA

Garcia argues the city should put more of its resources behind businesses that already exist.

He said some immigrant-owned bodegas in his coalition have struggled to access affordable capital and turned instead to private lenders charging steep rates.

“A lot of these bodegas are paying 35% loans right now to predator lenders,” Garcia said.

His criticism was not reserved for Mamdani or Democrats.

Garcia said Republicans have also “hurt us,” pointing to federal restrictions affecting access to Small Business Administration-backed loans for green-card holders, while arguing elected officials across the political spectrum have failed immigrant entrepreneurs seeking affordable capital.

But Garcia saved his sharpest political criticism for Mamdani’s democratic socialist allies, saying the coalition intends to mobilize against the movement as its fight over the grocery stores expands.

“We are creating a path to go after the DSA,” Garcia said.

Garcia insisted the coalition is not simply asking the city to abandon its effort to bring down grocery prices.

Instead of creating new city-backed competitors, he said grocers have proposed forming a buying group that would allow independent stores to purchase goods directly from manufacturers, cutting out middlemen and lowering participating stores’ costs.

“We have other solutions,” Garcia said. “Work with us to create that.”

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Garcia said the coalition believes the city could use existing minority-business programs and its purchasing power to expand the model, allowing private neighborhood stores to lower prices without forcing them to compete against rent-free municipal stores.

“Why not work with us to create that?” Garcia said. “Work with the supermarket association.”

Hack of water sector supplier draws FBI scrutiny as Iran-linked cyber concerns grow

2026-08-26T10:02:31.556Z / Reuters

A person passes by the FBI seal on the wall of the FBI headquarters, days after the Trump administration launched a sweeping round of cuts at the Justice Department, in Washington, U.S., February 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary
• Companies

• Barracuda says it posted nearly 850,000 Micro-Comm files
• Micro-Comm discovered attack on July 31
• Company says no sensitive information obtained

Aug 26 (Reuters) – U.S. authorities are investigating a data breach at a small maker of water utility technology, highlighting infrastructure cybersecurity threats even ​though the Kansas firm was apparently not part of a suspected Iranian-affiliated campaign against water plants in Minnesota ‌and other states starting in July.

The company and the FBI confirmed the attack at Micro-Comm in Olathe, Kansas, which has not previously been reported. Responsibility was claimed by Barracuda, a relatively new ransomware group that says it is motivated by profit and is not government sponsored.

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The group posted ​on August 6 what it said was nearly 850,000 company files with roughly 644 gigabytes of data. Micro-Comm makes programmable ​logic controllers (PLCs), computer devices used to control machinery within critical infrastructure networks, in this case by wastewater ⁠processing facilities.

The Micro-Comm breach highlighted the complexity of securing local U.S. water systems and the vendors that support them from increasing cyberattacks on ​computer systems embedded in the nation’s critical infrastructure.

The breach occurred during a late July spate of hacks that targeted PLCs in Minnesota and ​at least six other states. Cybersecurity experts believe the attacks were part of a long-running Iranian-affiliated cyber campaign.

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

warned, opens new tab
July 30 that hackers were targeting PLCs from U.S.-based Rockwell Automation

(ROK.N), opens new tab
, France’s Schneider Electric

(SCHN.PA), opens new tab
and Germany’s Siemens

(SIEGn.DE), opens new tab
.

CISA said August 19 that hackers were ​using AI to ease their attacks on Siemens equipment. The company subsequently said it was working with CISA and its products are safe.

Dixon Land, ​a spokesperson for the FBI’s Kansas City field office, said in an email that the FBI was in contact with Micro-Comm about the hack and ‌coordinating ⁠with other law enforcement agencies. CISA referred questions to Micro-Comm.

Jim Cote, a co-owner of the company, said in an interview that the company discovered the breach on July 31.

Cote said the files released by the hackers did not contain sensitive information such as user passwords and credentials, which are stored by the customer, or data related to Micro-Comm’s ability to remotely access its devices.

The company told customers in ​an August 8 newsletter that ​it experienced a limited malware ⁠attack and any sensitive information in the files was encrypted. The company said the breach was “in no way related to water system hacks currently being reported on the news.”

Cote said the FBI told ​the company that the data breach was an opportunistic attack not specifically targeted at Micro-Comm, ​and the company ⁠recommended customers change passwords out of an abundance of caution.

Roughly 200 of the company’s SCADAview CSX systems, one of the company’s products, in use in U.S. states are accessible from the internet, according to internet-monitoring firm Censys.

A list of files gathered by cybercrime research platform

eCrime.ch, opens new tab
refers ⁠to specific ​government customers, including localities and a U.S. military facility, employee names and product ​information such as diagrams.

Tom Hegel, a senior threat researcher at cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, said the release of files did not mean any water system was operationally compromised, ​but the information could help hackers in the long term.

Reporting by AJ Vicens in Detroit; Editing by Chris Sanders and Cynthia Osterman

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

克宫：美中情局局长访俄未见普京

2026-08-26 18:25 / 联合早报

多家美媒8月25日报道，美国中情局局长拉特克利夫乘飞机从拉脱维亚首都里加启程，到俄罗斯访问。图为当天在里加附近降落的C-17运输机，相信就是拉特克利夫乘坐的飞机。 （路透社）

俄罗斯当局说，美国中央情报局（CIA）局长在访问莫斯科期间，并未与俄罗斯总统普京会晤，而是与俄方特勤部门进行接触。

法新社报道，克里姆林宫发言人佩斯科夫星期三（8月26日）在谈及美国中情局局长拉特克利夫访俄一事时说：“他与俄方情报机构之间有过接触，但没有与总统举行任何形式的会晤。”

佩斯科夫说，此次会谈是积极的进展，普京听取了简报。不过，佩斯科夫拒绝透露这次会谈是否提及俄乌战争。

多家美国媒体星期二（25日）称，一架美国空军运输机从拉脱维亚首都里加起飞，抵达莫斯科伏努科沃机场。美国哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）同日引述消息人士说，拉特克利夫当天到莫斯科与俄罗斯官员会晤。

佩斯科夫星期三早些时候证实拉特克利夫访俄。

克宫：美中情局局长访俄未见普京

2026年8月26日 18:25 / 联合早报

多家美媒8月25日报道，美国中情局局长拉特克利夫乘飞机从拉脱维亚首都里加启程，到俄罗斯访问。图为当天在里加附近降落的C-17运输机，相信就是拉特克利夫乘坐的飞机。 （路透社）

俄罗斯当局说，美国中央情报局（CIA）局长在访问莫斯科期间，并未与俄罗斯总统普京会晤，而是与俄方特勤部门进行接触。

法新社报道，克里姆林宫发言人佩斯科夫星期三（8月26日）在谈及美国中情局局长拉特克利夫访俄一事时说：“他与俄方情报机构之间有过接触，但没有与总统举行任何形式的会晤。”

佩斯科夫说，此次会谈是积极的进展，普京听取了简报。不过，佩斯科夫拒绝透露这次会谈是否提及俄乌战争。

多家美国媒体星期二（25日）称，一架美国空军运输机从拉脱维亚首都里加起飞，抵达莫斯科伏努科沃机场。美国哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）同日引述消息人士说，拉特克利夫当天到莫斯科与俄罗斯官员会晤。

佩斯科夫星期三早些时候证实拉特克利夫访俄。

Man arrested near US Capitol after driving from California with a guillotine in his truckbed

2026-08-26T11:37:41.593Z / CNN

By Aleena Fayaz, Kaanita Iyer

24 min ago

PUBLISHED Aug 26, 2026, 7:37 AM ET

A photo released by the US Capitol Police shows a guillotine that was seized in Washington, DC.

United States Capitol Police

US Capitol Police said Tuesday it arrested a man with a guillotine in the bed of his pickup truck near the Supreme Court.

Philan-Tam-Duy Le, 35, of Julian, California, was arrested for carrying a dangerous weapon, police said in a news release.

Shortly after 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Capitol Police spotted the pickup truck, “which was illegally parked” along the East Capitol Street, a small street that runs next to the Supreme Court and steps from the US Capitol building, according to the release. Capitol Police shared photos showing the massive guillotine.

Lawmakers were not at the Capitol when the man was arrested as Congress is in recess. But the arrest comes amid concerns around the rising threats of violence to members of Congress and the US government.

In 2025, Capitol Police responded to nearly 15,000 “concerning statements, behaviors, and communications directed against Members of Congress, their families, staff, and the Capitol Complex,” according to a January press release. This was a more than a 57% increase from 2024.

Police said Le drove from California to Washington, DC. They are going through his background to learn more about his motivation to come to the nation’s capital.

Last month, Capitol Police arrested a man at the north barricade of the Capitol who they said had a handgun, which is prohibited on Capitol grounds.

CNN has not been able to reach Le for comment. Le’s brother, Kelvin Le, told the Los Angeles Times that the guillotine was a “symbol of disapproval,” adding that Le was unhappy with Democrats and Republicans, and disliked both President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“I don’t think he’d hurt anyone,” said Kelvin Le, who told the LA Times he was surprised to learn of the arrest.

消息：沙特阿美9月在霍尔木兹海峡外增售原油

2026年8月26日 18:37 / 联合早报

航运数据显示，沙特阿美公司采取关闭追踪器的油轮转运方式，以便躲避霍尔木兹海峡的潜在袭击。 （路透社档案照片）

多名知情人士说，沙特国有石油公司沙特阿美已提出9月在霍尔木兹海峡外海域增售原油。

路透社报道，四名知情人士星期三（8月26日）透露这一消息。这些消息人士说，沙特阿美已连续第二周启动阿拉伯中质原油和阿拉伯重质原油的销售流程，货物会通过船对船的方式，在阿拉伯联合酋长国富查伊拉港或阿曼苏哈尔港进行转运。这两个港口都在霍尔木兹海峡外。

其中一名消息人士说，投标截止日期为星期三。

根据航运数据，沙特阿美公司采取关闭追踪器的油轮转运方式，以便躲避霍尔木兹海峡的潜在袭击。

沙特阿美8月初恢复拉斯坦努拉港（Ras Tanura）的原油装载作业。这个港口此前已暂停作业三周。

上周，沙特阿美向中国石油和中化集团出售至少400万桶重质原油。

航运数据显示，早前两艘载有400万桶沙特原油的超级油轮在苏哈尔港通过船对船转运装载货物后，正驶往中国；预计它们会在9月中旬先后抵达中国南部和东部港口。

消息：沙特阿美9月在霍尔木兹海峡外增售原油

2026年8月26日 18:37 / 联合早报

航运数据显示，沙特阿美公司采取关闭追踪器的油轮转运方式，以便躲避霍尔木兹海峡的潜在袭击。 （路透社档案照片）

多名知情人士说，沙特国有石油公司沙特阿美已提出9月在霍尔木兹海峡外海域增售原油。

路透社报道，四名知情人士星期三（8月26日）透露这一消息。这些消息人士说，沙特阿美已连续第二周启动阿拉伯中质原油和阿拉伯重质原油的销售流程，货物会通过船对船的方式，在阿拉伯联合酋长国富查伊拉港或阿曼苏哈尔港进行转运。这两个港口都在霍尔木兹海峡外。

其中一名消息人士说，投标截止日期为星期三。

根据航运数据，沙特阿美公司采取关闭追踪器的油轮转运方式，以便躲避霍尔木兹海峡的潜在袭击。

沙特阿美8月初恢复拉斯坦努拉港（Ras Tanura）的原油装载作业。这个港口此前已暂停作业三周。

上周，沙特阿美向中国石油和中化集团出售至少400万桶重质原油。

航运数据显示，早前两艘载有400万桶沙特原油的超级油轮在苏哈尔港通过船对船转运装载货物后，正驶往中国；预计它们会在9月中旬先后抵达中国南部和东部港口。

Trump needs to get tough on China to get tough on Iran’s economy. He’s been reluctant to do that

2026-08-26T09:00:29.630Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/26/politics/iran-sanctions-china

The Trump administration appears to have landed on a fallback strategy in the Iran war after military strikes and negotiations failed to deliver victory: threats of harsh economic sanctions.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called them the “toughest sanctions in history,” which will “collapse this regime.” He’s even called it an “economic D-Day” for Iran, comparing it to the historic invasion of Nazi-occupied France during World War II.

There’s just one problem: Making good on those tough words requires not just getting tough on Iran, but also getting tough on China, which is Tehran’s No. 1 trading partner.

And Trump and his administration have proved quite reluctant to do that.

When Bessent rolled out the economic strategy Monday, he didn’t name specific countries that would be punished — or lay out timelines — if they don’t cut ties. And the announcement notably did not include secondary sanctions on the large Chinese banks that facilitate Beijing’s purchases from Iran.

China buys as much as 90% of Iran’s oil. Economic analysts have told CNN that targeting these banks and Chinese companies would be crucial to exacting a major toll on Iran’s economy.

But not for the first time in recent days, Bessent punted on exactly what would be done on that front. He suggested messages were being sent — saying “no one is above the reach of US sanctions” — but didn’t detail what will happen with China.

“If they facilitate transactions and are part of the ecosystem that turns Iranian oil into money, into repression, they will be targeted,” Bessent said. “We find that the best way to engage with countries is through quiet diplomacy.”

He added: “So when the hammer of US Treasury actions falls upon them, they will have no one to blame but themselves.”

But you could be forgiven for thinking this might be lots of sound and fury signifying relatively little.

That’s because not only has the administration regularly backed off the threats it’s made in the Iran war, but it has a track record of treading gently around China, whose leader, Xi Jinping, is set to visit the White House next month.

While Trump has made a big show about getting tough on China over the years, he backed off his trade war with Beijing in October, agreeing to a one-year truce. That followed shortly after Beijing upped its leverage by restricting access to critical rare-earth minerals and halting purchases of American soybeans.

Trump last year also ignored federal law to help save the Chinese-owned video app TikTok, despite his first administration having labeled it a grave national security threat because of its ability to spy on Americans.

Fast forward to Trump’s visit to China in May, and rather than pressing Xi publicly on a potential invasion of Taiwan, Trump made some major Taiwan-related rhetorical concessions.

He also backed off his previous promises to get China to free Jimmy Lai, a former Hong Kong media tycoon who criticized the Chinese Community Party, as well as to ban Beijing from buying American farmland and to “aggressively” revoke Chinese student visas.

By July, Trump delivered a primetime address in which he claimed China effectively interfered in the 2020 US election (which is not what the evidence actually showed). But rather than punish China for this seemingly major purported provocation, Trump downplayed the need for retaliation.

The president seemed to prefer to use China to try to substantiate his still-baseless claims of stolen elections, without going to the trouble of holding the alleged thief accountable.

And even in the context of the Iran war, Trump has been gentle with China.

He has repeatedly shrugged off the idea that Beijing is helping Iran. And on his way back from China in May, he said he was considering lifting sanctions on Chinese companies that buy Iranian oil.

Trump at the time was trying to secure a deal with Iran. But it’s telling that he’s been willing to telegraph potential carrots involving China, even as his administration is reluctant to publicly threaten to use the stick against it. In the latter case, it prefers “quiet diplomacy.”

Also telling would seem to be Bessent’s comments Monday when CNN asked why the major secondary sanctions he previewed didn’t start immediately.

“Well, we are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behavior,” he said. “Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?”

The administration appears well aware that getting tough on Iran would entail going after China — a risk that it might decide isn’t worth it.

There’s an argument to be made that these topics are best addressed next month, during Xi’s state visit to Washington.

But such pomp and circumstance can drain Trump of his resolve to get tough (as seen during his May visit to China) — and that’s if he even wants to get tough on China right now.