The Republican-led House of Representatives has approved a $95 billion budget framework to fund the U.S. war on Iran, while pressuring states to adopt new restrictions on voting. The framework outlines $73 billion in additional funding for war and intelligence gathering, $12 billion in farm aid and $10 billion for a fund aimed at incentivizing states to adopt core components of the SAVE America Act, including a voter ID requirement for in-person voting. Millions of citizens who lack easy access to the bill’s required forms of documentation could be at risk of disenfranchisement. The House approved the framework by a vote of 216 to 214, with all Democrats present casting votes in opposition; three Democrats were absent or did not record a vote. This is Washington Congressmember Pramila Jayapal.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal: “Months after Hegseth claimed victory, Iran continued to strike American assets in the Middle East, kill American service members and close the Straits of Hormuz. The administration has clearly gotten us into a war that they have no clue how to get us out of. Americans deserve a clear strategy, not shifting explanations that change by the day. They deserve thoughtful diplomacy, not tweets like the one that the president just released today.”

Congresswoman Jayapal was referring to Trump’s Truth Social post reading, “From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded on social media, “Our defense doctrine is clear: eye for an eye. Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response.” The war of words came as the U.S. bombed Iran for a 12th consecutive night.

Iranian officials report a U.S. missile attack on a passenger terminal at a border crossing into Iraq killed two people and wounded 11 others. Separately, the U.S. struck sites across southern Iran, including Bushehr, Ahvaz, Jask, Andimeshk and Sirik.

Iran responded with fresh missile and drone attacks on Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, where U.S. forces are based. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced it had stopped three oil tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz. It said in a statement one of the ships exploded and caught fire, before the other two reversed course.

Meanwhile, in Yemen, ⁠Iran-allied Houthi fighters announced they attacked two ​Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea. A Saudi news agency later confirmed one ship was on fire. Oil prices climbed on the news, to nearly $100 a barrel.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is defending President Trump’s agreement to provide Saudi Arabia with a civilian nuclear program using U.S. technology. Rubio spoke on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in the Philippines.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “I’ll let the agreement speak for itself. Suffice it to say that any agreement that we’re going to make with any country in the world on civil nuclear energy is going to be one that will have safeguards in place to ensure that it can’t be turned into a weapons program. And one of the best safeguards is to make sure that American technology and American companies are the ones that are involved in doing it.”

The deal is likely worth tens of billions of dollars to U.S. nuclear energy companies like Westinghouse, whose reactors produce plutonium as a byproduct. Nonproliferation experts warn that waste could be reprocessed for use in nuclear warheads. James Acton of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote, “If true, this is tantamount to the United States’ giving up on nonproliferation.”

Here in New York, a federal judge has set a trial date of June 1 of next year for former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, a former member of Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly. Maduro and Flores were abducted by the U.S. military during a raid of their compound in Caracas in January. They appeared in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday, where they denied charges of drug trafficking. Meanwhile, demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse, protesting both for and against U.S. intervention in Venezuela.

Protester: “The United States does not have the interest of the Venezuelan people in mind. All it wants is the oil. It wants the natural resources. That’s all it’s interested in.”

More details are emerging about the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by ICE agents in Houston, Texas, on July 7. According to the written statements of two witnesses who were in the van when he was shot dead, two unmarked vehicles struck them from behind and the side, forcing their vehicle to come to a halt. Daniel Tirado Pantoja, a passenger in the back of the van, said, “Lorenzo had come to a full stop while the agents fired.” José Trinidad Rojas Pliego, who was also in the back of the van, confirmed the account, saying, “When Lorenzo stopped the van, the officer shot him anyway.” Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was an immigrant from Mexico who had lived in the United States for decades. He’s the father of three sons, who are all U.S. citizens.

The Miami Herald reports a 28-year-old Mexican national killed during an encounter with ICE last week was in the United States on a tourist visa and had arrived in Florida just two days before his death. Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán had traveled from Guanajuato, Mexico, to Atlanta in June to visit family and friends, before visiting Florida for a beach holiday. He was killed by a semi-truck while fleeing immigration officials, after they approached him at a gas station near St. Augustine. Coronilla Durán is among four ICE-related deaths that occurred in less than one week.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee Wednesday pressed ICE officials about body cameras, vehicle stops and training in the wake of ICE-related killings of immigrants. The public hearing came after ICE officials told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that there have been 56 complaints of excessive force against ICE officers; 32 were cleared, with just one ICE officer referred for disciplinary action. This is Democratic Congressmember Jamie Raskin.

Rep. Jamie Raskin: “Since the administration took office, more than 50 people have died in ICE custody. More have died in custody in 2025 than in any year in the last two decades. The rate of death in ICE custody is spiking because the conditions are simply worse than they’ve ever been before. ICE and DHS traffic in lawless violence, propaganda and disinformation to mask all the corruption and cruelty which are the daily bread of the system.”

In Madison, Wisconsin, protests erupted Wednesday after local police shot and killed a Black man less than two miles from the state Capitol. Police say they were responding to a report of a person allegedly checking parked vehicles, when they confronted the man on his bicycle who later fled the scene. After they tracked down the man, an armed struggle ensued when the man allegedly pulled out a knife and attacked an officer. Bystander video shows officers struggling with the man before he’s tasered, kicked and pressed to the ground. An officer then fires his gun at the man at close range. Urban Triage, a Madison-based Black community advocacy group, said, “Another Black man is dead on a Madison street, and our community watched him die before we even knew his name. That is the cruelty of state violence.”

In Italy, protests erupted after the death of a Moroccan-born man in police custody. Abderrahim Fakir, a 42-year-old immigrant business owner, was pinned to the ground by police, and his last moments were captured and circulated widely on social media. According to the footage, two officers hold Fakir down as he screams for help in Italian, while a third man holds his feet as Fakir is bound. Fakir continues screaming until he is unconscious. Police in Bologna said dozens of officers were injured and six vehicles were damaged after the protests, as demonstrators vandalized shop windows and set dumpsters on fire. This is Fakir’s niece.

Yossra Fakir: “We will continue to demand the truth for him and for our family, so that no one else ever has to go through what he went through. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.”

The Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee has subpoenaed BreakThrough News, demanding the independent online news outlet hand over internal communications and financial records. BreakThrough News says it’s being targeted over its coverage of U.S. mass deportations, ICE abuses, Cuba and Palestine solidarity and U.S. foreign policy. BreakThrough News has launched a fundraiser to pay for legal expenses. In a statement, it said, “For years, Republican lawmakers have painted a target on our backs, falsely claiming that our political views and reporting are part of some foreign plot.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that he does not have the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he arrives in the city to attend the U.N. General Assembly in September. Instead, Mamdani urged federal authorities to enforce an ICC arrest warrant for the Israeli leader. Here’s Mayor Mamdani.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani: “As I’ve said, I agree with the ICC that Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested and tried for his crimes, as I do for anyone else charged by the ICC. My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here. It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant. The federal government, however, does, and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant.”

Mayor Mamdani’s video on X has been viewed more than 80 million times.