President Donald Trump on Monday labeled Iran a “Failed Nation,” arguing that the country has been weakened economically and militarily as renewed conflict with the U.S. intensifies scrutiny of Tehran’s remaining leverage.

“Iran is officially a Failed Nation. IT IS DEAD!” Trump wrote Monday morning on Truth Social. “They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they have no currency, they are not paying their soldiers or police.”

Trump further asserted that inflation in Iran had climbed to 300% and accused the country’s leaders of being “in total disarray and incapable of properly representing the country.”

The remarks come as Iran faces mounting strain from multiple fronts, including renewed U.S. military action, tougher sanctions and a sharp decline in oil exports. Together, those pressures are fueling new questions about how much economic hardship Tehran can withstand while continuing to challenge Washington.

Official Iranian data cited by Reuters put annual inflation at 66% in July, while the IMF projects average consumer-price inflation of 68.9% in 2026.

Trump’s post came amid the sharpest U.S.-Iran military escalation in weeks. U.S. forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island Sunday after Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz, according to a U.S. official. Iran retaliated by launching ballistic missiles toward U.S. bases in Jordan, while Jordan said it intercepted eight missiles that entered its airspace.

The renewed confrontation comes as Washington ratchets up economic pressure.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters Sunday that the administration expects to roll out additional secondary sanctions as frequently as every week, initially focusing on banks and potentially cutting financial institutions that continue facilitating Iranian transactions out of the U.S. dollar-based financial system.

Iran’s own leaders are acknowledging growing economic strain.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran’s exports and imports have fallen nearly 35% because of U.S. sanctions and the naval blockade, while annual inflation reached 66% in July, Reuters reported Aug. 29. The IMF projects Iran’s economy will contract 5.4% this year.

Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who previously served as associate director of Treasury’s Office of Global Targeting at the Office of Foreign Assets Control, told News Media that the Islamic Republic may be nearing an economic breaking point. FDD says Maleki previously helped oversee U.S. sanctions programs and served as chief and senior sanctions coordinator for Iran and the Middle East.

“I think where we stand today, it’s very clear — we see very clear signs, indications of what I would call an economy that is on the verge of collapse, if it hasn’t already collapsed yet,” Maleki said.

Maleki argued that the critical pressure point is Iran’s ability to turn oil exports into usable revenue.

He estimates Tehran needs roughly 1 million barrels of oil exports per day to sustain itself, about 1.5 million to avoid hyperinflation and approximately 2 million to support development. Maleki said Iranian exports have fallen dramatically and Tehran is increasingly struggling to repatriate revenue from the oil it can sell.

Kpler data cited by Reuters showed Chinese imports of Iranian crude falling from an average 1.4 million barrels per day in 2025 to a provisional 534,000 barrels per day so far in August.

Maleki said Tehran is increasingly relying on money creation rather than cutting politically sensitive salaries and pensions. But there are limits.

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“They can keep printing money, but they can’t really print the type of commodities that they need, such as gasoline, such as wheat,” he said.

The pressure, however, may create a dangerous paradox.

Iran analyst Danny Citrinowicz, a fellow at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, told News Media that the maritime blockade, wartime losses and wider economic pressure are hurting Tehran, but argued Washington should not assume economic pain will lead to capitulation.

Citrinowicz said continued pressure could instead increase Tehran’s incentive to escalate if Iranian leaders conclude the status quo is worse than renewed confrontation. He said Iran could attempt to target “U.S. economic assets in the Gulf,” ports or U.S. vessels involved in enforcing the blockade, even as its missile-production capabilities have been degraded.

Maleki agreed Iran would likely attempt to escalate, but questioned how much leverage Tehran still possesses.

“They’re going to try to escalate,” Maleki said, pointing to the attacks of the last 24 hours. But he argued that further escalation would increasingly affect Gulf states Iran has relied upon for trade, sanctions evasion and diplomacy — potentially bringing even greater economic and diplomatic pressure.

Asked whether Iran was losing its leverage, Maleki responded: “Absolutely.”

He argued Tehran has emerged weakened from internal unrest and the external war and is increasingly isolated domestically and internationally.

What Maleki is watching next is not necessarily missed government payrolls, but shortages that could trigger another wave of domestic unrest.

“What I’m looking for is shortages of items such as gasoline,” Maleki said. “Right now they’re fighting a war inside Iran that is way more challenging to the regime than it is from external forces that they’re facing.”

Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained severely disrupted Monday, while Brent crude climbed more than 2% to above $90 as markets reacted to the renewed U.S.-Iran exchanges. Reuters reported Aug. 31 that Gulf oil flows have recovered from their wartime lows but remain below pre-war levels.

Maleki said he expects Iranians to return to the streets and argued Western governments should prepare now to help them communicate and organize if Tehran again shuts down internet access.

“What we need to do is to contain this regime, cut off this economic lifeline, empower the Iranian people, be prepared next time Iranians are back on the street [and] take actions to stop this regime from slaughtering Iranians,” Maleki said.

“Those are the right policies — put the pressure on, be prepared to push back on the Iranian regime every time it escalates,” he added. “At this point, they are the weakest they’ve been since 1979. Every time they try to escalate, they become weaker.”

Reuters contributed to this story.

Sick and disoriented sea lions are turning up on beaches across California, prompting officials to issue a stark warning: keep your distance. Experts say the poisoned animals may behave unpredictably and could become aggressive if approached.

Specialists with The Marine Mammal Center say the sea lions appear to be suffering neurological damage linked to domoic acid, a powerful neurotoxin. It is the same condition blamed for last year’s reports of unusually “demonic” behavior and attacks involving affected marine mammals.

Domoic acid can build up in the ocean during harmful algal blooms, then move through the food chain when small fish such as sardines and anchovies become contaminated. Sea lions that feed on those fish can experience damage to areas of the brain tied to memory, navigation and behavior.

During the final week of August, dozens of sea lions were spotted along beaches near the San Francisco Bay Area showing alarming symptoms, including seizures, twitching, unusual movements, lethargy and apparent confusion.

Some of the affected sea lions have died from domoic acid poisoning. The toxin can also pose a risk to humans who consume contaminated shellfish or certain types of seafood.

Michael Milstein, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said: ‘It is a very insidious and brutal disease that occurs both during cold water years due to strong upwelling in offshore wind here along the California coast, as well as during warmer water years.’

Wildlife officials have not reported any incidents where the disoriented sea lions attacked beachgoers this year, which became a common occurrence during cases of domoic acid poisoning in 2025.

Concerningly, experts could not fully explain why incidents were spiking so late in summer, leading to more than 100 cases of sick sea lions washing up on US beaches in 2026 so far, compared to just 70 to 90 in an average year.

The Marine Mammal Center, an animal hospital based in the Bay Area, has urged the public to stay at least 150 feet away from any sea lions that appear on shore.

‘All wildlife can be unpredictable, but sick animals are particularly stressed and disoriented,’ the group said in a statement.

The hospital added that its hotline for reporting marine animals in distress has been flooded with hundreds of calls due to wildlife being affected by toxic algae blooms in the Pacific.

‘Our Dispatch team receives more than 350 calls to our hotline on their busiest days. If left untreated, domoic acid can cause marine mammals to have seizures and heart failure,’ the center revealed.

The current hotspot has been at the Monterey Peninsula and nearby Central California Coast, near Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.

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Flare-ups of the toxin began to appear earlier in the summer, but Marine Mammal Center spokesperson Giancarlo Rulli said cases are now strangely picking back up near the end of the season.

‘The fact that we are about to turn the page on August into September and just the unknowns right now of how these flare-ups have kind of popped up, surged, dissipated, and then popped back up again is a real concern,’ Rulli told SFGATE.

One potential cause for the late-season sicknesses and deaths is the emergence of a record-setting El Niño, which meteorologists have confirmed is making sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific hotter than at any other point in recorded history.

NOAA has said that strong winds off California push surface water aside and pull cold, nutrient-rich water up from the deep ocean in a process called upwelling.

Those nutrients help algae grow quickly in the sunlight. This year’s warmer El Niño water then helps certain algae, including an organism called Pseudo-nitzschia, multiply into large blooms that release the toxin domoic acid.

The toxin can poison fish, shellfish, sea lions that eat them and people who eat contaminated seafood.

Although sea lions have been documented attacking people while suffering from the brain-destroying illness, being bitten by a sea lion is not a common way for humans to be infected with the toxin. Touching a sea lion also does not lead to infections.

A case of amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) is the likeliest way someone would become infected, mainly through eating contaminated mussels, clams, oysters, scallops, crab guts and sardines or anchovies.

Cooking or freezing seafood does not destroy the toxin and the California Department of Public Health has warned that infections can be fatal for people who consume high amounts of domoic acid.

The California coast is now home to approximately 250,000 sea lions, compared to just 1,500 in the 1920s.

Videos taken by beachgoers earlier in July captured at least one incident where multiple sea lions chased dozens of people along the shore in San Diego, but it is not known if the animals were suffering from domoic acid contamination.

‘The toxin will naturally flush from an animal’s system over time, but sea lions repeatedly exposed to the toxin will suffer longer-lasting and more serious effects,’ the Marine Mammal Center said.

Every NFL team had multiple chances to draft Brock Purdy in 2022, and all 32 passed on him again and again.

San Francisco finally took the Iowa State quarterback with the 262nd and final selection in the seventh round, giving him the familiar “Mr. Irrelevant” label. That pick has aged far differently than the nickname suggests, with Purdy now standing as one of the 49ers’ most important players as their starting quarterback.

During an appearance on former NFL coach Jason Garrett’s “Coach 2 Coach Podcast,” Purdy was asked which qualities matter most at quarterback. “I think someone who knows who they are… You’re gonna face so much playing the position of quarterback, good and bad. And a guy who knows who they are, who’s a competitor… I feel like those are the guys that have lasted long,” Purdy said.

Garrett also asked Purdy what he believes NFL evaluators overlooked before the draft. Purdy pointed to the typical measurables and highlight traits that often shape quarterback evaluations. “I don’t know if it was the height. ‘If he’s short, and can he run really fast?’ Or Does he have an extremely strong arm? What’s the trait? I don’t know if my college tape necessarily showed all those flashy things that some of these high draft picks show.”

“But something that they missed was probably the experience that I had.

“The situational football, the way that I process the game, the way that I lead the locker room. If you asked my teammates at Iowa State, who I was, and as a leader of men, maybe that’s something that was overlooked. But I really do believe those are the things that translated into the NFL. And once I got my opportunity, then I feel like I have those traits,” he added.

Purdy has proven that he has those traits in spades. And San Francisco will need his leadership and experience if they’re to reach their goal of winning a Super Bowl this season.

Residents of Ceuta, Spain’s North African enclave, destroyed and set fire to improvised migrant shelters as anger mounted over a large-scale influx from nearby Morocco. The unrest came as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez accused networks with Russian and Israeli links of helping amplify disinformation that, he said, worsened the crisis.

Groups of demonstrators waving Spanish flags headed toward migrant encampments along the beach last week, tearing down shelters and igniting fires while police tried to prevent clashes between protesters and migrants, Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE and the EFE news agency reported. As they moved toward the shoreline areas where migrants had been sleeping, protesters shouted “Invasores, expulsión” — “Invaders, expulsion” — EFE reported on Aug. 27.

The following day, hundreds of local residents again filled the streets, marching in the direction of the Trampolín and Benítez beach zones where migrants had set up camp, while repeating the same slogan, according to EFE.

The violence followed an extraordinary surge on July 30 and 31, when more than 72,000 migrants crossed irregularly from Morocco into Ceuta, one of the European Union’s two land frontiers with Africa. At least 100 people died while attempting the crossing, Ceuta authorities said, according to Reuters on Aug. 31. By Monday, about 5,000 migrants were still in the enclave.

Sánchez on Monday directly linked the mass crossing to what he described as a foreign-backed disinformation campaign.

Spanish authorities have said misleading videos and posts circulating on Instagram, TikTok and other social-media platforms falsely suggested that migrants who reached Ceuta by sea would be permitted to remain in Spain.

Sánchez told radio station SER that research by the European Union’s diplomatic service, the European External Action Service, indicated Russian and Israeli networks had participated in spreading the disinformation alongside far-right networks, Reuters reported Aug. 31.

He argued that Russia and Israel had seized on the crisis to attack Madrid because of disagreements with his government over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

However, Sánchez provided no further details about the evidence supporting the accusation, according to the reports.

Both governments rejected his claims.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused Sánchez of “lying shamelessly” and said in a post on X that the Spanish leader was attempting to divert attention from domestic policy failures.

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov separately rejected Spain’s accusation that Russia was connected to the Ceuta migration crisis.

Sánchez also rejected allegations that Morocco’s government deliberately facilitated the border surge, telling SER, “When people talk and speculate about the participation of Moroccan authorities, I deny this outright,” according to Reuters. Spanish opposition parties and some human-rights organizations have accused Rabat of allowing the crossings, an allegation Morocco denies.

The disinformation surrounding the Ceuta crossing had been building well before Sánchez publicly accused Russian and Israeli-linked networks. News Media reported Aug. 4 that an open-source investigation by Golden Owl Intelligence traced weeks of activity across TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp that circulated misleading interpretations of Spanish immigration law, along with information about routes, meeting points and recommended crossing times.

The campaign intensified after Spain’s Supreme Court issued a July 8 ruling restricting the immediate return of migrants intercepted at sea near Ceuta and Melilla. Simplified accounts of the ruling, combined with confusion over Spain’s separate plan to regularize hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants, were circulated online as evidence that migrants reaching Spanish territory would be allowed to stay.

Zineb Riboua, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute, said at the time that Islamist movements were also seeking to exploit the crisis politically. Riboua argued that Islamist voices in Morocco and Spain were amplifying the unrest and portraying Europe as an attractive destination while using Morocco’s ties with Israel and the U.S. to attack the Moroccan government. In a July 31 analysis, Riboua wrote that Islamist activists had spent years encouraging young Moroccans to believe their country offered them little future and depicting Europe as a place where prosperity and opportunity were easily available.

The crisis has also spread beyond Spain. Italy on Monday extended for another 15 days its suspension of Schengen free-movement arrangements with Spain, a step first imposed July 31 in response to the mass influx into Ceuta.

Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, warned News Media at the outset of the crisis that Ceuta could become “a key turning point in the unraveling of the European Union.” “Once you unravel Schengen — which I think is inevitable — this breaks down the entire European project,” Gardiner said.

Reuters contributed to this story.

Morning commuters on the 405 Freeway were met with a startling scene Tuesday after a trash truck caught fire and spilled a large mound of burning garbage onto the roadway.

The fire was reported at about 6:00 a.m. on the connector ramp from the southbound 405 Freeway to the southbound 110 Freeway in Gardena.

According to the California Highway Patrol, the vehicle, described as a red storage truck, became engulfed in flames, forcing the driver to unload the smoldering debris onto the right shoulder.

Firefighters quickly responded to the freeway fire, where heavy smoke could be seen rising above the interchange, KTLA reported.

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Officials closed the southbound 405-to-southbound 110 transition ramp while crews worked to extinguish the blaze and clear the scene, but the other ramps at the busy freeway interchange remained open.

Thousands of motorists have reported a frightening problem to U.S. auto-safety officials: sunroofs that suddenly burst, crack or shower glass, in many cases while the vehicle is moving.

Federal records show nearly 500 such complaints have been filed so far this year, putting 2026 on pace to become the worst year yet for reported sunroof and moonroof failures.

The accounts entered into the government’s safety database describe incidents that are often alarming and, in some cases, potentially dangerous.

In one report, the sunroof of a Kia minivan blew apart as it traveled along a Wisconsin highway. In another, the moonroof on a GMC SUV shattered, sending glass down onto seats used by children. A Mercedes-Benz owner said the rupture was preceded by a noise that sounded like a “gunshot.”

That sudden, explosive sound appears again and again in complaints to regulators, with drivers saying their sunroofs or moonroofs fractured with no clear warning or obvious impact.

Experts say there can be a range of causes, from road debris that drivers may never notice hitting the glass to extreme heat and sudden temperature changes that can cause the glass to expand rapidly.

In some cases, design or manufacturing defects may also be to blame, and the problem is not limited to one automaker or a handful of models.

A Wall Street Journal analysis of federal safety data found reports involving 17 different manufacturers and more than 200 models over the past three years.

Nearly one in five complaints involved vehicles from the 2025 or 2026 model years, according to the analysis – with incidents involving exploding or shattered sunroofs reported roughly once a day.

Despite the frequency, the problem has rarely prompted recalls.

Federal safety regulators have said factors other than safety defects, including road debris, are often responsible for the glass failures, making it difficult to determine whether a broader defect is responsible.

A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesperson (NHTSA) said the agency has investigated sunroof breakages and continues to monitor the issue, but has not identified any verified crashes or serious injuries caused by shattering sunroofs.

The agency said automakers can use tempered or laminated glass under federal safety standards, with most manufacturers opting for tempered glass, which is designed to break into small, gravel-like pieces. 

Reports of injuries have so far been limited to minor scratches, often suffered while removing broken glass.

‘Breaking sunroofs can be startling and costly,’ NHTSA said, adding that it will continue to track the issue and encourages vehicle owners to report safety problems to the agency.

The popularity of motor-driven sunroofs soared in the 1980s among luxury vehicles. 

However, now they are equipped on more than 50 percent of vehicles produced for the US market – a staggering 35 percent increase from a decade prior, according to industry-research firm Omdia.

These sunroofs either have fixed coverings that retract or are a singular piece of glass, often called ‘moonroofs’.

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David Bennett, automotive director for roadside assistance organization AAA, told the WSJ that sunroofs have grown larger in recent years, leaving more glass exposed to damage from road debris.

He said additional stress can build up when vehicles travel over uneven roads or are exposed to the elements for long periods, potentially increasing the risk of the glass breaking.

The NHTSA has investigated sunroof failures before.

In 2013, the agency opened an investigation into Kia Sorento SUVs after receiving numerous reports of sunroofs shattering unexpectedly.

The investigation lasted seven years and eventually expanded to more than a dozen other automakers, uncovering more than 4,000 reports of sunroof fractures.

NHTSA ultimately concluded in 2021 that there was not enough evidence to establish a safety-related defect.

Instead, the agency pointed to possible causes including tiny rocks kicked up by other vehicles. 

Such impacts can cause ‘imperceptible’ damage to the glass that may eventually lead to it breaking.

Federal rules allow automakers to use either tempered or laminated glass for sunroofs. Tempered glass is designed to break into small, gravel-like pieces, while laminated glass remains attached to a plastic layer when shattered.

Most manufacturers have traditionally opted for tempered glass, according to NHTSA, although major suppliers have increasingly moved toward laminated glass and other materials designed to reduce the risk of breakage.

But complaints have continued.

Since 2021, NHTSA has received nearly 2,800 reports of sunroofs unexpectedly exploding, including more than 500 involving newer vehicles.

Among the models most frequently cited in recent years are Toyota’s RAV4, Hyundai’s Palisade, Kia’s Telluride and Honda’s CR-V.

A Honda spokesperson told the Daily Mail the company has not seen a significant trend in CR-V glass complaints that can be attributed to a vehicle defect.

They noted that more than 2 million CR-Vs have been sold in the US since 2021, and 95 percent of CR-Vs sold this year came with a moonroof as standard equipment. The company said that means comparing raw complaint numbers may not accurately reflect the actual rate of glass breakage.

The automaker also said high-speed road debris can damage automotive glass without drivers noticing, meaning there may be no obvious impact point after the glass shatters. The spokesperson added that most vehicle and glass damage is not caused by defects and said consumers should generally work with their insurance providers to cover repairs. 

Hyundai also said it has commissioned multiple studies into sunroof breakages but has found no inherent defect. The automaker said the only confirmed cause of damage to its sunroof glass has been impacts from foreign objects.

The company told the Daily Mail it has not identified any other safety-related defects or issued additional sunroof recalls, but continues to monitor the issue and will take action if a defect is found.

A Kia spokesperson pointed to the NHTSA’s sunroof investigation that was closed in 2021, telling the Daily Mail the investigation showed a ‘safety-related defect did not exist.’ 

‘Kia continuously monitors its field data and has not identified a defect involving its sunroof-equipped Telluride vehicles,’ the spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

Toyota didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.