National security analysts are raising alarms about the possibility of Iran initiating military actions as early as this fall. The potential targets include various high-value assets, a strategic move aimed at undermining the increasing economic sanctions enforced by the U.S.

These concerns were further amplified by reports that two vessels managed by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) were hit while navigating the Strait of Hormuz. This incident, confirmed by the state-run WAM news agency from the United Arab Emirates, adds another layer of complexity to the ongoing tensions.

Despite the attack, ADNOC assured that no injuries occurred, and the situation remained under control, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry has strongly condemned these Iranian strikes.

In response to the mounting tensions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Thursday that the U.S. is on the verge of implementing unprecedented economic measures against Iran. These upcoming actions indicate an escalation in the economic standoff, promising to further complicate the already tense geopolitical landscape.

“Watch this ⁠space for more announcements ​coming next week because we ​are going to apply measures like we have never been seen in ​the history of economic ​isolation on a country,” Bessent said in ‌an ⁠interview on Newsmax.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told News Media Tehran is likely to step up military pressure as Washington intensifies sanctions.

“Come early fall, what we can expect is for them to kinetically push back against Trump’s economic policy,” Taleblu said. “If the president is re-embracing economic pressure as a management approach, just like we saw in 2019, then the regime will use kinetic pressure to try to find a way to break out of that economic containment.”

Ben Taleblu said shrinking oil revenues and the U.S. naval blockade could also drive Tehran to expand its target list across the region.

“This means they would embrace the kinetic tool, and that’s how they would get out of the economic containment regime that the U.S. seems to be defaulting to want to put on them,” Taleblu added. 

“I would say more attacks on ships, potentially more attacks on U.S. bases, potentially more attacks on Arab infrastructure in the Persian Gulf. And certainly the regime would create a tiered list of targets of what is of immediate value versus what has greater economic value versus what might lead to the U.S. directly or indirectly responding.”

The warnings come amid a deadlock in talks between Washington and Tehran.

So far, there have been no discussions about extending the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement, a senior Iranian source told Reuters Aug. 12.

Tehran has insisted Washington return to the pact and set a definitive timeline to meet its obligations.

The interim memorandum of understanding, signed in June, called for the “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts.”

The agreement later unraveled, with Trump declaring July 7 the pact was “over.”

Under the framework, both sides had an extendable 60-day window to negotiate a final agreement addressing key security concerns, including Iran’s nuclear program.

That deadline is Aug. 17, with control of the Strait of Hormuz remaining a major sticking point.

Hossein Taeb, the newly appointed head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, said Thursday the Strait of Hormuz remains “under Iran’s control and management.”

His comments conflicted with Trump’s assertion a day earlier that the U.S. held “total control” over the vital waterway.

“The regime is relying on tried and true tactics here, which is, you know, a knife in the back and a handshake in the front to many of America’s traditional Gulf partners,” Taleblu said. 

“It looks like Iranian escalation, Iranian diplomatic pressure, Iranian diplomatic finesse is trying to back the Trump administration into the MOU again.

“The regime definitely does not want to grant the Trump administration the optics of victory, and to that end, they’re quite keen to hold on to the Strait of Hormuz.”

Taleblu said Trump has described the sanctions-driven strategy as a “low-key” approach.

“These are high-impact tools,” he concluded. “I think part of the escalation that we saw in the summer of 2019 — part of that past could be a prologue.”

Bradley Beal’s inaugural season with the Los Angeles Clippers was short-lived, but he’s set for a comeback with the team.

The seasoned NBA star, a three-time All-Star, has inked a deal to stay in Los Angeles, agreeing to a two-year contract worth $13.2 million. Notably, the agreement includes a player option for the second year, as reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania.

This decision follows Beal’s earlier choice to opt out of his $5.62 million player option over the offseason, a move that surprised many given his limited playing time during the previous season with the Clippers.

Beal’s 2025-26 season was cut short after just six appearances due to a hip injury. During those games, he averaged 8.2 points and 1.7 assists over 20.2 minutes each game, marking the briefest statistical showing in his 14-year professional basketball career.

The scant gameplay fell short of expectations, quite unlike the explosive player who once dazzled Washington fans with an average of 31.3 points per game, or even the version that managed 17.0 points during his concluding season with Phoenix.

The Clippers are betting there is still something useful left.

Beal returns to a roster undergoing significant change. Los Angeles has added Darius Garland and No. 5 overall pick Keaton Wagler to its backcourt mix, while Kawhi Leonard’s future remains unresolved amid the NBA’s investigation into alleged salary-cap circumvention involving Leonard and the Clippers.

That uncertainty makes Beal’s return a relatively low-cost attempt to stabilize the backcourt.

If healthy, the 33-year-old could compete for starting minutes alongside Garland while providing another ball-handler and scorer. His availability remains the larger question, however, as Beal has not played more than 60 regular-season games since 2018-19.

After getting only six games from their investment last season, the Clippers are willing to try again.

This time, both sides will be hoping Beal’s second season in Los Angeles lasts considerably longer than his first.

The son of Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, Tyler Boebert, aged 21, is reportedly poised to accept a plea agreement concerning charges of child abuse. This deal would result in a sentence of just 30 days in jail.

Tyler Boebert was originally facing allegations of misdemeanor child abuse without causing injury. The charges stem from an incident in February where he allegedly left his two-year-old son unsupervised at his mother’s residence in Windsor, Colorado.

According to court documents acquired by TMZ, he has decided to plead guilty to the charges of child abuse and negligence without injury, following a plea offer from the Weld County District Attorney’s Office.

Under the terms of the agreement, the DA’s office has recommended that Boebert serve no more than 30 days in jail, followed by a year of supervised probation.

In addition, prosecutors are advocating for the judge to require Boebert to participate in a parenting education program as part of his sentence.

Tyler, one of Boebert’s four children, was slapped with the charges after his son Josiah was found wandering away from the family’s house, which is located close to a lake.

Colorado Representative Boebert told 9News at the time that there’s ‘no excuse’ for her son’s actions and that she’s ‘very frustrated this happened.’

‘A kind woman quickly and safely secured him, and authorities were called as a precaution,’ Boebert added at the time.

It marked the second time Tyler was hit with charges for leaving the child unattended, after his young son, Josiah, once again managed to get out of his grandmother’s house in July 2025.

Tyler was charged at the time with criminal negligence where no death or injury occurred, according to documents from the Windsor Police Department.

Tyler had his son, Josiah, in June 2023 when he was still a teenager, making Boebert a grandmother at the age of 36.

The Republican previously said in a statement to the Daily Mail: ‘Tyler has been doing a great job getting his life on track as a father and citizen over the past year.’

But the 21-year-old is also facing three separate counts of sexual exploitation of a child, including a video charge, according to Colorado court records entered on August 6.

Those charges allegedly stem from a 43-second video he is accused of recording involving himself and a 17-year-old girl – footage authorities are now describing as child sexual abuse material, according to People.

The video was allegedly filmed on February 1, 2024, when Boebert was 18 and the girl was 17, People reported.

According to an affidavit, the girl reported the video to police the following day after her ex-boyfriend received a copy. Her mother later told authorities that the video had been posted to Instagram, according to NBC News.

Tyler was further slapped with two counts of ‘contributing to the delinquency of a minor.’

Boebert spoke out after her son was arrested earlier this month.

She told the Daily Mail: ‘I love my son. We take these allegations very seriously and pray for everyone affected during this challenging time.’

Tyler has since been released on a $10,000 bond. He is now scheduled to appear in Garfield County District Court on August 19.

He has not yet entered a plea in the case, first reported by American Muckrakers.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Congresswoman Boebert’s office and the Weld County District Attorney’s Office for comment on the reported plea deal. 

A United Airlines flight destined for San Diego faced delays on Thursday when a live bullet was unexpectedly discovered before the plane’s departure from Denver. The incident resulted in all passengers being asked to leave the aircraft while security conducted a thorough sweep.

United Flight 1302 was moments away from taking off at Denver International Airport when this unexpected find was made during standard pre-flight checks. The discovery, reported by FOX31 Denver, which coincidentally had one of its news team members on board, halted preparations just as the aircraft was ready to head to the runway.

“The unfortunate news is that we’ve discovered a live round on board,” stated an airline representative. “This poses a significant security concern, requiring all passengers to leave the aircraft immediately.”

Passengers were instructed to disembark the Boeing 737-900, taking their carry-on luggage with them, as security teams undertook an intensive search of the plane.

“We need everybody to deplane the aircraft with your carry-on bags. We’re going to have to carry out a security sweep of the aircraft after the plane is empty,” the speaker said. “We apologize for this.”

The crew said at the time that it did not know how the bullet got aboard the aircraft or where it came from, according to FOX31.

United Airlines confirmed the incident in a statement to News Media.

“United flight 1302 from Denver to San Diego underwent a security sweep after a bullet was discovered on board prior to the flight’s departure,” a spokesperson wrote. “Security personnel cleared the aircraft, which later departed for San Diego.”

United said the Boeing 737-900 was carrying 178 passengers and six crew members. The airline directed additional questions about the incident to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Flight 1302 had been scheduled to depart Denver at about 1:25 p.m. It took off at about 3:41 p.m., more than two hours after its scheduled departure, according to FOX31.

It was not immediately clear who the bullet belonged to or how it ended up on the aircraft.

News Media reached out to TSA and Denver International Airport for additional information.

California is bracing for potential water scarcity as negotiations among the states reliant on the Colorado River teeter on the edge of failure. A lack of consensus could spell trouble for this vital water source.

This vital river meanders over 1,450 miles from the snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains, slicing through the majestic Grand Canyon before reaching its destination at the Gulf of California. Its waters are siphoned off by seven states to such an extent that it often fails to complete its natural journey to the sea.

In Southern California, the Colorado River is more than just a majestic waterway; it is a lifeblood, supplying roughly one-third of the region’s water needs.

Over the past 25 years, the river basin has endured a prolonged dry spell. Adding to the concern, the water levels at Lake Powell and Lake Mead—the river’s two major reservoirs—are plummeting to alarmingly low thresholds.

Given these challenging conditions, it’s crucial for the seven states to forge a new water-sharing agreement soon to ensure sustainable management of this treasured river.

The federal government says it will impose cuts if there’s no deal. 

But it can’t do much to the Upper Basin states — Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. It can only impose cuts on the Lower Basin states — Nevada, Arizona, and California.

The Trump administration recently agreed to a two-year compromise in which the three lower states agreed to small water cuts. California will reduce its take by 12%.

The federal government will come back in two years and see if that is working. It could extend that compromise every two years, for up to ten years.

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But if conditions don’t improve, bigger water cuts are coming for California. And that could affect everyone, especially if there’s another drought.

California is not short of water. But it is short of good water management. 

Start with the basics: California has a Mediterranean climate: warm and dry, with seasonal rainfall and snow in the winter. 

Some parts of the state are lush and green — the west-facing, windward slopes of the coastal range and the interior Sierra Nevada. 

That is where redwoods and towering sequoias grow. It’s also where tourists ski in the winter.

The eastern or leeward side of the mountains are dry almost year-round, There, the only natural water sources are the underground aquifer, which can be tapped with wells; or rivers like the Colorado.

Sometimes California has “too much” water. In years with abundant winter rain and snow, parts of the the narrow, dry plain between the mountain ranges — the Central Valley — can flood. The state 

The history of California since large-scale settlement began has been about managing these erratic supplies of water so there are enough reserves in the dry years, and flood mitigation in wet ones.

Another challenge has been to move water to where the people are. 

San Francisco is surrounded on three sides by the salty Pacific Ocean. LA has has few water sources other than rain, underground aquifers, and rivers that run dry most of the time, then flood during storms.

So, over time, California has built water infrastructure — often at some environmental cost. 

San Francisco relies on the O’Shaughnessy Dam at Hetch Hetchy, which destroyed a majestic ravine near Yosemite, but keeps a city of more than 800,000 people alive.

LA essentially stole its water from the Owens Valley more than a century ago, channeling it into an aqueduct that allowed the city to grow dramatically. 

The project to divert the Colorado River to the farms of the Imperial Valley accidentally broke a levee revived a large, prehistoric inland lake, the Salton Sea.

And the New Deal brought the state and federal water projects, with systems of dams and aqueducts to collect water from wetter Northern California and send it to the dry south, and to farms on the leeward side of the Central Valley.

California hasn’t built a major new dam in half a century. In that time, the state’s population has doubled. That means there is less water to go around.

In drought years, farmers are forced to use wells, at great cost. That has caused many farms to go out of business — and has caused the ground to subside, in places.

There are new, innovative ideas about how to increase the water supply.

One is desalination, an energy-intense process of removing the salt from sea water to make it usable and drinkable..

Some municipal water agencies are using similar technology to purify wastewater, returning it to the system cleaner than before.

Environmentalists oppose desalination, partly because it uses so much energy. They would rather see California cut down on water consumption, and focus on long-term climate change solutions

But California’s water needs are only going to grow — and the Colorado River will run dry long before electric vehicles can cool the planet (if they ever do).

We need to invest in the infrastructure to store, and create, more water.

This year, we are facing a “wet” El Niño weather pattern, so people won’t be thinking about it.

But droughts are inevitable. And if the Colorado River stops flowing, it will be too late to make a difference. We need to build more water infrastructure — now, and on a big scale.

Joel Pollak is Opinion editor at the California Post.