July 13, 2026 · The strait slams shut, the Senate's loudest hawk goes quiet, and a barrel nobody wants to price

A brutal weekend. Iran's Revolutionary Guard attacked a Cyprus-flagged container ship in the Strait of Hormuz — a crew member is missing — then declared the world's most important oil chokepoint closed. The US answered with its heaviest strikes in months, roughly 140 targets, while insisting the strait is still open and Iran doesn't control it. And in Washington, Senator Lindsey Graham — the Senate's most relentless Iran hawk — died Saturday night at 71, just as the war he spent a career demanding came roaring back. Plus: China and Russia wrap joint drills off Qingdao as Typhoon Bavi displaces millions; the Pentagon is out of cash; Beijing moves to lock down its own AI; the Justice Department subpoenas four New York Times reporters; Ukraine can't stop the ballistic missiles; and the Pentagon's fourth UFO drop includes a silent something over a nuclear-weapons plant. Sourced; the analysis is Anna Dudley's.