Middle East

In the stillness between IED craters and ambush points, barefoot children in sunlit fields reminded us—without knowing—that peace still dared to exist.

As Ukraine mourns a fallen F-16 pilot, Trump burns the midnight oil pushing for peace in Gaza, and 140,000 Serbs flood Belgrade demanding change—one thing’s clear: the world isn’t sleeping, and neither are its people. Welcome to Sunday, June 29, 2025. Here is your SOFREP Morning Brief.

As Iran buries its war dead, Israel pounds Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the U.S. Air Force fast-tracks the A-10’s retirement, and Republicans hit a wall trying to deregulate gun suppressors—reminding us that whether it’s on the battlefield or Capitol Hill, the fight never really ends. Here is your SOFREP Saturday Evening Brief for June 28th, 2025.

President Trump’s blockbuster week saw him torch Iran sanctions after Khamenei’s victory lap, ink a rare earth-packed trade deal with China, and dodge a Senate bid to curb his war powers—all while reminding Washington who’s calling the shots. Welcome to Saturday, June 28, 2025. This is your SOFREP Morning Brief.

President Trump calls it a knockout blow, but early intelligence suggests Iran’s nuclear program may have only taken a standing eight count.

At 7,181 miles from the front lines, the United States must resist the temptation of ground entanglement and instead wield its influence through precision airpower, steadfast alliance, and diplomatic pressure that leaves Iran increasingly boxed in.

When the missiles came and the sky turned hostile, it wasn’t doctrine or diplomacy that held the line—it was a handful of twenty something Americans with steady hands and nerves of steel.

Beneath the corrugated shadows of the Taji Market, where farmers and fanatics shared the same dust, we moved—alert, measured, and unwilling to let the chaos define us.

To preserve peace, Israel must be given the freedom to fight—and the United States must stop pretending that diplomacy alone can stop a regime built on terror and lies.

If Hezbollah’s grip on Lebanon finally breaks, it won’t just redraw maps in the Middle East—it could rewrite the calculus of American security, from Beirut to your local gas pump.

Trump’s big, brash ceasefire rolled off the runway like a flaming shopping cart—loud, chaotic, and destined to explode before anyone could say “mission accomplished.”

Iran just lit the fuse in a powder keg it doesn’t have the hands to hold, and if one American dies, the response won’t be symbolic—it’ll be biblical.