The first half of the Trump administration's new Iran sanctions strategy will kick in on Monday, restoring sanctions on any entity trading with Iran in gold, steel, aluminum, coal and other minerals and metals. The Trump administration will also restore sanctions on the Iranian automotive industry and on the issuing of Iranian debt or "significant" trade in Iranian currency.
Why this matters: Trump is moving ahead with his Iranian version of "maximum pressure" — though the end game, beyond a hope of unprecedented behavior change or regime collapse, remains unclear. These sanctions represent the first substantive move by the Trump administration after its May 8 withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
In the Cold War, the U.S. and Russia deterred any major attack by the other with existentially dangerous arsenals of nuclear-tipped missiles. Now, Russia has what it views as a potent new deterrent, experts say — cyber implants in the U.S. electric grid.
What's going on: Over the last year, Russian hackers have infiltrated power stations and other points on the U.S. grid — and now are inside hundreds, empowering them to create chaos with massive blackouts, U.S. officials say.
Few have successfully challenged Starbucks anywhere in the world. But now there is Luckin Coffee, a brazenly cool, VC-funded startup in China that, in an astonishing nine months, has swollen to more than 650 locations, a $1 billion valuation, and lots of buzz.
The quick take: We are talking a breakneck coffee war. Chic is Starbucks' greatest asset everywhere, but it is facing a determined rival in the homegrown Luckin, which wants to transform the uppity $5 latte into a more chill, mass-market product.
Iran received five airplanes from French-Italian manufacturer ATR on Sunday — one day before some of the sanctions stemming from the United States' withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal are set to resume, reports CNBC.
The big picture: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently rejected a European appeal for sanctions exemptions for firms doing business with Iran, including ATR, meaning this shipment could be one of the last benefits that Iran sees under the nuclear deal. Sanctions on automobiles and precious metals will begin tomorrow, while sanctions on the energy, shipping and financial sectors are due to be restored on November 4.
Liam Fox, the U.K.'s international trade secretary, warned in an interview Sunday that there was a 60% chance that the U.K. would fail to reach an agreement with the European Union before it departs from the bloc in March, reports the AP.
Why it matters: It puts Prime Minister Theresa May in an unenviable position, as she's torn between a Europe unwilling to compromise on the U.K.'s position in its single market and her Conservative Party, which is increasingly pushing for a "hard," more complete version of Brexit from its right flank. Whatever compromise she ultimately reaches — or doesn't — could mean fresh elections or even a second referendum.
Officials from the U.S. spoke with members of the North Korean delegation on Saturday at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference in Indonesia, and delivered a letter from President Trump to Kim Jong-un, the Washington Post reports.
The big picture: It's unclear what the letter said, or what progress has been made towards denuclearization since President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's summit earlier this year. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday there's still "a ways to go" before complete denuclearization, but North Korean officials criticized the U.S. the next day for continuing sanctions despite their commitment to denuclearize.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned countries — specifically Russia — of violating international sanctions against North Korea, saying offenses would be taken "very seriously" by the U.S.
The big picture: North Korea hasn't yet denuclearized, which was the primary goal of Kim Jong-un and President Trump's June summit. Speaking at the 51st ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, Pompeo said he is "optimistic" that North Korea will ultimately denuclearize, but other countries, like Russia and China, violating sanctions against them, could lift the pressure pushing North Korea to rid its nuclear arsenal.
All 18 people aboard a Russian helicopter on Saturday were killed after it crashed in Siberia, just after takeoff, the Associated Press reports.
The details: The Mi-8 helicopter crashed into a "load being carried by another helicopter" which had taken off at the same location, according to the AP. This isn't the first of it's kind — in February, 71 people were killed in a regional jet crash shortly after takeoff from a Moscow airport.
For the past month, Axios has been interviewing people trusted with the nation’s most sensitive secrets. We wanted to know, in this time of acute geopolitical stress, which global threat worried them most, and which threats they thought weren’t getting the attention they deserved.
When we asked America’s foremost intelligence experts what keeps them up at night, one response came up over and over again: the risk of a crippling cyberattack.
The big picture: Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said this week that the U.S. is in "crisis mode," comparing the danger of a massive attack to a Category 5 hurricane looming on the horizon. Intelligence chiefs from the last three administrations agree, and told Axios there is no graver threat to the United States.
Russian aggression and the rise of China are among the biggest foreign policy concerns Americans face. In many countries, though, the world power seen as most threatening is the United States.
The big picture: Views of the U.S. and its leadership are in sharp decline around the world — particularly among America's closest allies.
Several countries have the military and cyber tools to harm America. Some may even have the will to use them.
But as former acting CIA director John McLaughlin puts it, "China is the one country that is clearly challenging the United States for global supremacy... Its challenge ranges across a wide field of power dynamics — from cyber to economics, to science and the military."
James Clapper, director of national intelligence under President Obama, says Russia is "the most pressing near-term threat to the U.S., for two reasons: its aggressive information operations campaign to undermine our basic system, and the modernization of its strategic nuclear arsenal."
Clapper told Axios in a recent interview that Russia is "bent on undermining our system any way they can," and will be as long as Vladimir Putin remains in power.
One year after President Trump's threats of "fire and fury," none of the experts we consulted cited North Korea as the top threat to national security.
Yes, but: While the imminent prospect of a missile exchange has subsided, things may not stay quiet for long. Bruce Klingner, the CIA's former deputy division chief for Korea, says the best estimates are that North Korea has 30 or more nuclear weapons and hundreds of missiles, plus biological and chemical weapons.
The Pentagon gave Fox News a first look at military-issued items returned among the 55 boxes of remains brought back from North Korea this week. Dog tags, mess kits, helmets, canteens and boots are among the items being reviewed in addition to human remains.
