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Iran loses key economic lifeline in Middle East that Trump’s sanctions couldn’t reach as deadlock persists

August 19, 2026 10:55am EDT / Fox News

The UAE’s move severs one of Tehran’s most important commercial links, cutting off Iran’s imports valued at roughly $21B

By Morgan Phillips Fox News

US resumes blockade on Iranian ports as Trump reverses 20% toll plan

The United States resumes its naval blockade on Iranian ports, a move President Donald Trump details as a strategic shift from previous plans. Miad Maleki, a former senior U.S. Treasury official, discusses the economic and geopolitical implications of this decision. Trump emphasizes the importance of Gulf States contributing to security in the Strait of Hormuz.

The United Arab Emirates suspended all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran after accusing Tehran of firing ballistic missiles toward maritime traffic.

The action severs one of the Islamic Republic’s most important commercial and financial links and threatens to close off an economic route President Donald Trump’s sanctions have struggled to reach. It also further deepens Iran’s isolation amid its standoff with the U.S.

The UAE supplied 31% of Iran’s imports, valued at roughly $21 billion, in 2024, and was the destination for 13% of its exports, according to World Trade Organization trade data.

IRAN DEAL CLOCK HITS ZERO AS TRUMP DEMANDS ‘WHITE FLAG’ WITH NEW PRESSURE CAMPAIGN LOOMING

A vessel is anchored off the coast of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, on Aug. 3, 2026.(AFP via Getty Images)

Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former Treasury official, said the UAE is one of Tehran’s two key economic lifelines.

“The UAE and China are Iran’s two economic bloodlines. If UAE is serious about its economic embargo against Iran, then it’ll close the one the U.S. Navy couldn’t touch,” Malek wrote on X.

KEY CHINA-IRAN INFRASTRUCTURE EXPOSES CRITICAL HOLE IN TRUMP’S WAR STRATEGY

Maleki said Dubai has become Tehran’s gateway to global commerce, with third-country goods routed through the emirate to Iran. “Most of what Iran calls ‘imports from the UAE’ was never Emirati. Dubai has been basically Iran’s window to the world economy,” he said.

The UAE Foreign Ministry said the measures would remain in place “until further notice,” citing a regional escalation that it said undermined peace and security.

Emirati officials said two ballistic missiles launched from Iran fell into the sea and were targeting maritime navigation. Iran denied responsibility, with its foreign ministry deeming the accusation as “baseless.” Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the UAE’s claim ran counter to good-neighborliness and referred to what he called a history of “multiple false-flag operations” in the region.

Dubai has also served as an important conduit for Iranian financial networks facing U.S. sanctions.

An Emirates aircraft prepares for landing as a smoke plume rises from an ongoing fire near Dubai International Airport in Dubai on March 16, 2026. Flights were gradually resuming at Dubai airport on March 16, previously the world’s busiest for international flights, the airport operator said, after a “drone-related incident” sparked a fuel tank fire nearby, as Iran kept up its Gulf attacks(AFP via Getty Images)

Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Dubai-based exchange houses and trading fronts it said helped Iranian networks move hundreds of millions of dollars and recover revenue from oil sales.

The Treasury said this action advanced President Donald Trump’s maximum-pressure policy, though neither Washington nor Abu Dhabi has said the UAE’s new trade freeze was coordinated with the U.S. campaign.

IRAN FAILS TO STRIKE DEAL WITH US AS DEADLINE PASSES AND TRUMP CALLS FOR ‘WHITE FLAG OF SURRENDER’

The UAE’s move to suspend trade comes at a time when U.S.-Iran diplomacy has again broken down due to disputes over the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway that had carried roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas before the war started earlier this year.

A deadlock again emerged this week after Monday’s 60-day deadline came and went with no new deal on the table.

A UAE navy ship sails next to a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, March 11, 2026.(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Trump said Tuesday that no talks with Iran were underway or planned after a 60-day window for a broader agreement expired.

He also said the U.S. naval blockade remained in effect and insisted the strait was “open and operating,” while Iran maintained it would remain closed until Washington lifted oil sanctions, ended its blockade of Iranian ports and met other conditions.

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A day earlier, Trump posted a map on Truth Social labeling the Strait of Hormuz “NEW U.S. Territory,” escalating the dispute over control of the strategic waterway.

以军承认向加沙5岁女孩避难车开火 展开刑事调查

2026年8月19日 21:03 / 联合早报

以军星期二（8月18日）向加沙地带北部发动空袭，炸毁当地建筑，有人扒在一辆救护车门后，在废墟中穿行。 （路透社）

以色列军方首次公开承认曾向加沙北部载有一名5岁女童的车辆开火，并宣布就此案展开刑事调查。

综合外电报道，这起事件发生于2024年1月，彼时本轮以哈冲突已爆发约三个月。五岁女孩拉贾布（Hind Rajab）当时与七名亲戚乘车在加沙北部行驶，途中遭到以色列军方开火。

拉贾布原是车里唯一的幸存者，她坚持与巴勒斯坦医护人员通话，但一辆前去救援的救护车在接近时遭到枪击，拉贾布不久后也失联。

12天后，她的遗体在布满弹孔的汽车内被发现。

以色列军方曾否认参与这起杀戮事件，还说初步调查发现以军部队事发时不在车辆附近，也不在车辆射程之内。

然而，以色列国防军星期三（8月19日）改口承认向拉贾布所在的车辆开火，并宣布就此展开内部调查。不过，人权组织称此类调查很少能定罪。

以色列军方公布对五起涉及巴勒斯坦人死亡事件的调查决定，除了拉贾布之外，还包括2024年4月慈善机构“世界中央厨房”七名援助人员遇害一事。

以军说：“根据国际法和以色列国内法律，以色列国防军对战斗中发生的特殊事件展开调查。”

以色列人权组织“有法律”（Yesh Din）则说，针对以军士兵杀害巴勒斯坦人的刑事不当行为，很少能定罪。

Yesh Din发言人说：“与针对以军士兵和指挥官的犯罪投诉数量相比，几乎没有人被正式起诉。即使在极少数指挥官或士兵被定罪的案件中，他们受到的判决也与罪行严重程度不符，简直轻得离谱。”

拉贾布遇害事件被改编成电影，曾于今年6月在新加坡放映。

Shapiro on placing guardrails on AI data centers in Pennsylvania: “I don’t want developers running roughshod”

2026-08-19 10:14:00-0400 / CBS News

By

Updated on: August 19, 2026 / 10:32 AM EDT / CBS News

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro doesn’t want data center developers “running roughshod” in Pennsylvania communities, he said, explaining his decision to sign an executive order on Tuesday limiting data centers in the commonwealth, after he previously worked to bring AI data centers to Pennsylvania.

Appearing on “CBS Mornings” on Wednesday, Shapiro said that increasingly, he’s seeing developers take advantage of Pennsylvanians, a realization he said he reached through conversations with his constituents. That wasn’t the case, the Democratic governor said, when he helped secure a $20 billion investment from Amazon for two data centers in Pennsylvania last year.

“You know, I listened candidly,” Shapiro said on “CBS Mornings.” “I showed up in communities and heard the concerns of neighbors. I stood in the left-field line of Eddie Staback Park in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, and looked where a data center developer who was wreaking havoc on a community wanted to put their data center right where the parents would be sitting watching a ball game. I’m just about 7 miles away from a proposed project in a really densely populated area here in Montgomery County, where a developer is just thumbing his nose at the community, not listening to folks. These are not the kind of projects I want in Pennsylvania.”

Shapiro, who is considered to be a potential 2028 presidential candidate, insisted this isn’t about politics, but about the people of Pennsylvania. Voters throughout the country, according to recent CBS News/YouGov polling, are skeptical of data centers. Americans are far more likely to oppose new data centers in their area than support them, although the vast majority also admit they know only a little or nothing about them.

Data centers are facilities filled with networked computer servers, storage drives and other related equipment that process everything from email traffic to software. Demand for that kind of storage and processing power has skyrocketed with the rapid development of AI.

“I don’t want developers running roughshod across our communities,” Shapiro said. “That’s not what happened a year ago when I did work with Amazon to bring those two data centers here in Pennsylvania. But increasingly, developers see an opportunity to take advantage of Pennsylvanians. I won’t let it.”

Shapiro’s executive order takes into consideration the environmental, energy and community costs of new centers, establishing an intense review process for any new centers, requiring them to provide their own power, and requiring municipal approval.

“We’ve seen too many developers who are trying to bulldoze our community with these speculative deals that are never going to come into reality, and they’re wreaking havoc on our neighbors,” Shapiro said. “I don’t want them here in Pennsylvania. If you’ve got a serious proposal that enjoys the support of the local community, that protects our environment, that generates power, then we’re willing to talk to you and engage with you. And that is our plan here in the commonwealth now with the strictest requirements in the entire country.”

On the shifting political winds in the country, “CBS Mornings” host Gayle King asked Shapiro for his thoughts on the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, who have had some notable primary wins this cycle.

“Yeah, I think we have to see what happens in the general election,” Shapiro said. “But what’s also clear is there is a ton of passion in the electorate right now, and a desire to defeat Donald Trump’s chaos and cruelty and corruption, and people are showing up in record numbers. Our party is going to certainly have an ideological battle. It’s going to have a real debate over these ideas going forward. But the thing we’ve got to focus on is winning in these midterms and defeating Donald Trump and his enablers.”

Board approves $19.9 billion plan to overhaul Washington Dulles airport

2026-08-19 14:59:30 UTC / Reuters

People drop off and pick up travelers at the main terminal of Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, U.S., August 9, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper Purchase Licensing Rights

WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (Reuters) – The board that oversees Washington Dulles airport voted ​on Wednesday to ‌approve a $19.9 billion overhaul plan that includes $3.75 billion to ​build new underground ​tunnels and replace slow ⁠vehicles that transport passengers ​across the tarmac.

The $6.2 billion ​reconstruction of the main terminal at the primary international ​airport serving the Washington ​D.C. region is set to ‌begin ⁠in late 2027, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said. Building new tunnels ​to ​get ⁠rid of the “People Mover” vehicles and ​extend to a ​new ⁠concourse would begin in early 2029 and is ⁠set ​to be ​completed by 2034.

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Reporting by David Shepardson; ​Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Kennedy Center says it will add Trump’s name back to building in early September

2026-08-19T15:46:03.842Z / CNN

By Devan Cole

16 min ago

PUBLISHED Aug 19, 2026, 11:46 AM ET

Security keeps watch at the main entrance to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on a day when the center’s board voted to inscribe onto the building “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump”, in Washington, DC, on August 13, 2026.

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

The Kennedy Center plans to add President Donald Trump’s name back to the front of its building in early September, lawyers for the institution told a federal judge.

The revelation came in court filings submitted late Tuesday as part of a protracted legal fight over the fate of the historic preforming arts venue and memorial to the late President John F. Kennedy, which just last week voted, once again, to close its doors for a yearslong renovation and to add the president’s name to its marble façade.

The latest change would see the addition of an inscription below the Kennedy Center’s sign that says the venue was “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”

Another add to the front referencing Trump could come later if an endowment reaches $100 million, the board said. The center also plans to rename the physical site the building sits on in honor of Trump.

A federal judge had previously ruled that the center’s board violated the law when it added Trump’s name alongside that of Kennedy, the 35th president, and lawyers representing Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, who brought the legal challenge, plan to ask him to step in again to block this latest change. The center told the court in the filing that they won’t add Trump’s name back until September 8 at the earliest.

Is Trump’s name going back on the Kennedy Center?

2:55 • Source: CNN

Is Trump’s name going back on the Kennedy Center?

2:55

“This Court should not permit defendants to effectuate this latest gambit, in direct contravention of its earlier decision and in naked defiance of the law,” lawyers for Beatty told US District Judge Christopher Cooper, urging him to decide whether adding Trump’s name back to the building is lawful before September 8.

The lawyers blasted the center for its decision to “refuse to unequivocally commit to forestall effectuation” of the latest name change until Cooper has a chance to decide whether or not it’s legal.

The case is one of several questioning the legality of Trump’s efforts to leave a lasting mark on historic sites in and around Washington, DC, by renovating buildings or adding new memorials. The center’s board, which is stacked with individuals picked by the president, is trying to close the center for extensive renovations to the building, but critics contend that the plans were cooked up so the center wouldn’t continue to face slumping ticket sales and lackluster programming.

Earlier this summer, Trump’s name was removed from the front of the building after Cooper, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ruled the venue could only be named for Kennedy. Crews standing on scaffolding erected outside the building worked behind tarps to take down the letters spelling out “The Donald Trump and.”

But since then, the tarps have remained, obscuring the public’s view of the official name of the building.

The center had previously said that the tarps and scaffolding needed to remain up so workers could address damage to the part of the building where Trump’s name used to be. But in Tuesday’s filing, they said the scaffolding was still in place to help workers “investigate, and engineer structural repairs to the overhead soffit.”

CNN has obtained new images that show the Kennedy Center signage with President Donald Trump’s name removed, confirming a sworn court declaration from the arts center’s executive director Matt Floca that the president’s name is no longer affixed to the building. The images, first reported by the Washington Post, were provided to CNN by the activist organization “Hands Off the Arts.

Hands Off the Arts

Beatty’s lawyers say that explanation falls flat since “the soffits are some twenty feet or more above the scaffolding.” They’re asking Cooper to issue an order that would require the center to explain why the tarp should not be taken down in coming weeks.

“Defendants imply that they will erect more scaffolding around the rest of the Center, presumably to examine other portions of the roof,” they wrote. “But defendants tellingly have not done so for months, leaving only the Center’s iconic name obscured – a strong indication that this structure has nothing to do with the roof and is, instead, meant to defy a return to the status quo.”

CNN’s Sunlen Serfaty and Besty Klein contributed to this report.

金与正：美国仍是朝鲜国家安全最大威胁

2026年8月19日 21:47 / 姜贵瑛 首尔通讯员

金与正星期三（8月19日）发表谈话时指出，尽管朝美领导人之间“私人关系良好”，但朝鲜仍有必要遏制来自敌对势力的威胁。 （路透社档案照片）

朝鲜劳动党副部长、最高领导人金正恩的胞妹金与正说，美国仍是朝鲜国家安全面临的最大威胁，美方对朝敌对政策没有任何改变。

金与正星期三（8月19日）发表这番言论。她在谈话中说，完全不知晓朝美领导人之间曾有过任何沟通。她也强调，与其关注韩美联合军演规模或期限是否缩减，更应正视军演仍在进行的现实；即使缩短演习期限，也无法改变其“攻击性本质”。

金与正同时指出，尽管朝美领导人之间“私人关系良好”，但朝鲜仍有必要遏制来自敌对势力的威胁。

对于朝鲜可能向乌克兰战场增派兵力的说法，她斥为“无中生有”，并强调朝鲜将全面履行朝俄同盟条约规定的义务。

金与正：美国仍是朝鲜国家安全最大威胁

2026年8月19日 21:47 / 联合早报

金与正星期三（8月19日）发表谈话时指出，尽管朝美领导人之间“私人关系良好”，但朝鲜仍有必要遏制来自敌对势力的威胁。 （路透社档案照片）

朝鲜劳动党副部长、最高领导人金正恩的胞妹金与正说，美国仍是朝鲜国家安全面临的最大威胁，美方对朝敌对政策没有任何改变。

金与正星期三（8月19日）发表这番言论。她在谈话中说，完全不知晓朝美领导人之间曾有过任何沟通。她也强调，与其关注韩美联合军演规模或期限是否缩减，更应正视军演仍在进行的现实；即使缩短演习期限，也无法改变其“攻击性本质”。

金与正同时指出，尽管朝美领导人之间“私人关系良好”，但朝鲜仍有必要遏制来自敌对势力的威胁。

对于朝鲜可能向乌克兰战场增派兵力的说法，她斥为“无中生有”，并强调朝鲜将全面履行朝俄同盟条约规定的义务。

Army unit offers 4-day pass to play Grand Theft Auto VI as reenlistment incentive

August 19, 2026 / 11:36 AM EDT / CBS News

By Eleanor Watson, Jennifer Jacobs, James LaPorta

Some U.S. military members who are itching to play a video game they’ve anticipated for over a decade can trade a commitment for several more years of their life in uniform for a few days off to play Grand Theft Auto VI.

As an incentive to reenlist, a U.S. Army unit in Georgia is offering active duty soldiers a four-day pass to play the popular game when it’s released this fall, U.S. officials told CBS News.

Over the years, the Army has used various enlistment bonuses — college tuition, choice duty station assignments or access to special training programs where soldiers learn to jump from airplanes or rappel from helicopters to encourage soldiers to enlist or reenlist.

The recruitment incentive isn’t service-wide; it was proposed exclusively for one battalion. However, it is possible the program could be expanded.

Twenty soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia in the Army’s 9th Brigade Engineering Battalion, part of the 3rd Infantry Division, have already chosen this incentive as part of their reenlistment, an Army spokesperson told CBS News on Wednesday.

“The idea was to have a unique incentives program that connects to what Soldiers are interested in,” Lt. Col. Angel Tomko, a spokesperson for the 3rd Infantry Division, said in a statement. “The command team, in conjunction with the career counselor, wanted to get soldiers excited to reenlist.”

Anticipation for the next version of the game is strong in certain circles, especially action fans and open-world game enthusiasts.

blob:https://www.cbsnews.com/5efd9b37-1d45-43d3-b5a5-7ce2be010934

The game’s release on Nov. 19 is a major entertainment event for fans of the series’ action, storytelling and high production values. A trailer shows the game will again be set in a fictional Miami, with its first female lead. Rockstar Games’ last version, GTA V, launched in 2013.

The Army memo, which has circulated online, says any soldier who signs a reenlistment contract between Aug. 1, 2026 and Nov. 14 will be authorized for a special four-day pass designated to coincide with “the highly anticipated release of the video game Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6).”

About 130 soldiers are currently eligible for the incentive, Tomko said. Eligible soldiers must reenlist for a minimum of two years and up to six years.

Military.com first authenticated the U.S. Army letter.

The Army’s courtship of gamers is not a new military strategy. CBS News previously reported that after missing its recruiting goal in 2018 for the first time in more than a decade, the service began looking beyond the traditional recruiting station and cold-calling young Americans willing to join. Recruiters headed to gaming conventions and the U.S. Army launched an esports team, focused on the popular video game franchise Call of Duty and other multi-player games like Fortnite and League of Legends, to find potential recruits.

In 2019, CBS News’ Tony Dokoupil traveled to a sold-out gaming convention in San Antonio where Maj. Gen. Frank Muth, who at the time oversaw the army’s recruiting command, said he was looking for the next generation of American soldiers.

“Is there something about what it takes to be a gamer today and what you’re looking for for Army jobs that overlaps?” Dokoupil asked.

“Yes,” Muth said. “It’s the decision-making, it’s the ability to take in a lot of information quickly and to be able to make a decision … It’s about teamwork.”

“北溪”天然气管道爆炸案又一乌克兰籍嫌犯被捕

2026年8月19日 22:07 / 联合早报

2022年9月27日的航拍照片显示，丹麦博恩霍尔姆岛海域的“北溪-2”管道发生天然气泄漏。 （路透社档案照片）

德国联邦检察院说，一名乌克兰籍嫌疑人因涉嫌参与2022年“北溪”（Nord Stream）天然气管道爆炸事件，在克罗地亚被捕。

新华社报道，德国联邦检察院星期三（8月19日）发布消息称，德方当天在克罗地亚普拉市（Pula）通过当地警方逮捕乌克兰籍嫌疑人弗拉基米尔·Z（Vladimir Z）。

德方称，Z涉嫌参与制造爆炸、实施违宪的破坏活动以及损毁建筑物。

消息还说，这名嫌疑人属于已被起诉的乌克兰籍嫌疑人谢尔盖·K（Serhii K）所在团伙。这个团伙涉嫌于2022年9月在丹麦博恩霍尔姆岛附近海域放置多枚炸弹，炸毁“北溪”天然气管道。

K是前乌克兰军官，今年7月被检方指控代表乌克兰国家实体策划爆炸案。

德国联邦检察院说，Z将从克罗地亚被引渡至德国，并接受审判。

2022年9月26日，连接俄罗斯、德国以及其他欧洲国家的波罗的海海底输气管道“北溪-1”和“北溪-2”，经过丹麦和瑞典附近海域的部分发生剧烈爆炸，大量天然气泄漏。调查发现，四条管道中的三条发生泄漏，疑遭人为破坏。

“北溪”天然气管道爆炸案又一乌克兰籍嫌犯被捕

2026年8月19日 22:07 / 联合早报

2022年9月27日的航拍照片显示，丹麦博恩霍尔姆岛海域的“北溪-2”管道发生天然气泄漏。 （路透社档案照片）

德国联邦检察院说，一名乌克兰籍嫌疑人因涉嫌参与2022年“北溪”（Nord Stream）天然气管道爆炸事件，在克罗地亚被捕。

新华社报道，德国联邦检察院星期三（8月19日）发布消息称，德方当天在克罗地亚普拉市（Pula）通过当地警方逮捕乌克兰籍嫌疑人弗拉基米尔·Z（Vladimir Z）。

德方称，Z涉嫌参与制造爆炸、实施违宪的破坏活动以及损毁建筑物。

消息还说，这名嫌疑人属于已被起诉的乌克兰籍嫌疑人谢尔盖·K（Serhii K）所在团伙。这个团伙涉嫌于2022年9月在丹麦博恩霍尔姆岛附近海域放置多枚炸弹，炸毁“北溪”天然气管道。

K是前乌克兰军官，今年7月被检方指控代表乌克兰国家实体策划爆炸案。

“北溪”爆炸案一乌克兰籍嫌疑人被引渡至德国受审
驳回德国引渡申请 波兰法院释放北溪管道爆炸嫌疑人

德国联邦检察院说，Z将从克罗地亚被引渡至德国，并接受审判。

2022年9月26日，连接俄罗斯、德国以及其他欧洲国家的波罗的海海底输气管道“北溪-1”和“北溪-2”，经过丹麦和瑞典附近海域的部分发生剧烈爆炸，大量天然气泄漏。调查发现，四条管道中的三条发生泄漏，疑遭人为破坏。