Tabz - Alternative Media

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — NEW: A U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, according to NYT. ➡️ Both crew members were safely rescued. ➡️ The cause remains unclear, and officials are investigating whether the helicopter was brought down by Iranian fire, suffered a mechanical failure, or encountered another issue.

🇺🇸🇮🇱⚡️ — Republican Rep. Thomas Massie marked the 59th anniversary of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty with a House floor speech honoring survivors who were in attendance.

Massie cited former officials who questioned the “mistaken identity” explanation, suggested the attack was intentional, and called for a new congressional investigation while survivors are still alive. He also urged Congress to pass a resolution recognizing the attack, the survivors, and their service. Israel has long maintained that the 1967 attack was accidental and later compensated the United States.

🇺🇸🇮🇱⚡️ — President Trump to BBC:

If I tell Netanyahu to do something, he does it.

🇨🇳⚡️ — China’s trade growth accelerated in May, with exports rising more than 19% year-on-year, surpassing expectations and marking the strongest increase in three months. ➡️ According to China’s customs data, stronger demand for artificial intelligence-related hardware helped offset disruptions caused by the Iran War. ➡️ Exports grew faster than April’s 14.1% increase and exceeded economists’ forecasts of 15%, while imports also expanded at a quicker pace.

🇺🇸🇻🇪⚡️ — A delegation of Trump administration officials is set to travel to Venezuela in the coming days to seek further changes to the country’s oil laws as part of efforts to attract greater international investment in the energy sector, POLITICO reports.

While recent reforms to the hydrocarbon law were viewed positively, U.S. officials and industry representatives believe additional changes are needed to draw the large-scale investment required to revive the country’s oil industry. The delegation is expected to include representatives from the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council and the State Department.

🇵🇭⚡️ — More than 17,000 families, or about 77,000 people, have been affected by the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck offshore near Sarangani in southern Mindanao on Monday. ➡️ The death toll has risen to 37, while authorities continue damage assessments and relief operations across the affected areas.

🇺🇸🇨🇳🇯🇵⚡️ — The Trump administration has urged China to resume exports of rare earth materials to Japan amid concerns about potential disruptions to global supply chains, according to Nikkei.

🇯🇵🇰🇷⚡️ — Japan and South Korea conducted their first joint naval exercise in nearly nine years on Sunday, carrying out a search-and-rescue drill in waters west of the Goto Islands.

The exercise involved Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force deploying the Kongo destroyer and an SH-60K helicopter alongside South Korea’s Cheon Ja Bong landing ship. It marked the first such drill since 2017, after exercises were suspended following a 2018 dispute involving a South Korean naval vessel locking fire-control radar onto a Japanese patrol aircraft. Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi described the resumption of joint training as the start of a “new chapter” in defense cooperation between the two countries.

🇰🇵🇨🇳⚡️ — WATCH: Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un watched a "special artistic performance" at the Pyongyang Gymnasium.

🇺🇸⚡️ — President Trump:

I rebuilt the military in my first term, and we're using it a little bit in my second term. I could say my third term, if you want to know the truth, but I don't want the results of the second term, because that second term under the Biden administration was a horror show for our country.

🇺🇦❌🇷🇺 — Ukrainian forces conducted a successful drone strike on June 7, disabling a Russian locomotive that was hauling a military logistics train near Pantusov in Russia's Bryansk region.

🇺🇸⚡️ — The White House's official X account:

🇺🇸⚡️ — Nippon Steel plans to invest between $2 billion and $2.5 billion over the next three years to replace aging steel-rolling equipment at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works near Pittsburgh, WSJ reports.

The investment follows President Trump's approval of Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U.S. Steel, which was conditioned on $11 billion in investments across the company’s U.S. operations. The project will replace the Mon Valley hot-strip mill, which dates to 1938, and is expected to create up to 6,000 jobs, generate as much as $1.7 billion in economic activity, and increase annual sheet-steel production capacity from 2.2 million to 3.5 million tons. Company executives said the upgrades will allow the facility to produce higher-value steel for automotive and pipeline applications, while helping secure the long-term future of one of the region’s oldest steelmaking operations. Construction is expected to begin later this year and take about three years to complete.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️ — The Pentagon has added several major Chinese companies, including Alibaba, BYD, and Baidu, to its list of companies aiding the Chinese military, making them ineligible for U.S. defense contracts.

🇻🇪🇺🇸⚡️ — Chargé d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela John Barrett:

Venezuela's oil exports have reached 1.25 million barrels per day, the highest level in seven years and a result of Secretary Rubio's and President Trump's three-phase plan. The ongoing collaboration between the interim authorities and private investors is driving economic recovery and greater prosperity for both the American and Venezuelan people.

🇺🇸⚡️ — President Trump was booed loudly at NYC's Madison Square Garden when shown on camera during the national anthem at the NBA Finals.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — Vice President JD Vance on Iran talks:

Everybody's always trying to play everybody. One of the most important things to whether this ultimate settlement is a success is not what the Iranians write on the paper, but whether they actually comply with some of the requirements of the settlement that we come up to. I don't assume that anybody's acting in good faith. Let's be honest, the Iranians don't want this war to continue. It's not in their best interest. I think they're coming to the table, putting some real things on the table. We're, of course, going to verify it. If we get to this deal, it's going to be a home run, a win for the American people.

🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇷⚡️ — Vice President JD Vance:

The Israelis and the United States have a lot of shared interests, but we also have some situations where our interests diverge. I think where President Trump has been very clear here is that while Israel obviously has some objectives that it has, the U.S. main objective in Iran is to ensure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. Over the last year and a half, we've created the space necessary where the president believes, and I think that he's right, that we can get a long-term settlement to Iran's nuclear deal. Israel may like that. They may not like that. But fundamentally, we think this is in the best interest of the United States of America. We're going to keep on pursuing it because that's what President Trump was elected to do.

🇺🇸⚡️ — President Trump has arrived at the NBA Finals at NYC's Madison Square Garden.

🇹🇼🇫🇷🇨🇳⚡️ — Taiwan's air force has been seeking to acquire between 50 and 60 Dassault Rafale F4 fighters for nearly a year and has also expressed interest in joining the future Rafale F5 program, but discussions have stalled, according to Avions Légendaires.

The proposed deal has stalled not because of opposition from Dassault Aviation or Taiwan but due to political concerns in Paris. The French government is reluctant to move forward with the sale out of concern for its diplomatic relationship with China. Taiwan previously purchased 60 Mirage 2000-5 fighters from France in the 1990s, but those aircraft are now aging, driving Taipei's search for a modern replacement.