Dan Sabbagh

Britain not ruling out future strikes on Iran missile sites, officials indicate ‘We just don’t know what will happen,’ western officials say, as UK bases prepare for arrival of US heavy bombers

Mission creep...

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Story

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Espionage arrests - relating to China - Met statement

Starmer could not have been clearer the UK views the US-Israel attack on Iran as illegal in his answer to Badenoch. British troops should only participate in operations with "a lawful basis" - he told MPs only defensive actions + allowing US to bomb Iranian missile sites from UK bases are legal

"I never tried to kill a leader of another country, ever..."

ישראל פתחה במתקפת מנע באיראן עדכונים שוטפים

Source: www.mako.co.il/news-world/2...

Israel Channel 12 reports that Israeli officials believe Khamenei is most likely killed...

Buffet breakfast and war...

Simons / NCSC emails

Just the emails:

www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...

The minister and the alleged smear campaign: key unanswered questions Josh Simons, who is at centre of scandal in which journalists were falsely linked to a ‘pro-Kremlin’ network, faces questions over candour of his statements

Read Josh Simons' correspondence with the National Cyber Security centre here. The Cabinet Office minister is accused of smear campaign in which he falsely linked journalists to a “pro-Kremlin” network when he was director of Labour Together --->

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Labour minister falsely linked journalists to ‘pro-Kremlin’ network in emails to GCHQ Exclusive: Josh Simons pressed intelligence officials to investigate reporters, in emails described as ‘McCarthyite smear’

Exclusive: Josh Simons claimed to be “surprised” and “furious” at a PR agency’s work to investigate journalists on his behalf. He had been personally involved in naming them to British intelligence officials and falsely linking them to pro-Russian propaganda. w/ @dansabbagh.bsky.social

foi on steroids

It's going to take ages surely...hundreds of docs and emails to consider...

Looks like the ISC's calls for the govt to justify every proposed redaction of documents will take time. A lot of Mandelson documents will meet the 'prejudicial to international relations test' never mind national security

Letter to the prime minister from parliament's intelligence & security committee - when will you send us the withheld Mandelson documents so we can decide whether to release them?

US shoots down Iranian drone flying towards aircraft carrier, navy says Shahed-139 drone approached USS Abraham Lincoln ‘with unclear intent’ as US warships headed towards Iran

So the Iranians know where the Lincoln aircraft carrier is. Curious choice to shoot this Shahed 139 down with an F-35C, was that the best option available to the US Navy??

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Trump makes concluding remarks. He says Gaza ceasefire push began because he is “a real estate person at heart, and it’s all about location, and I said, ‘look at this location, on the sea, look at this beautiful piece of property’”.

Spy stories - Letter to the Guardian today from a particularly important reader...

we can safely say that in the past it has been difficult for Beijing to grasp

Donate to SAVE US FROM THE MEGA EMBASSY! SUPPORT OUR LEGAL CHALLENGE, organized by Mark Nygate We are 100 families taking on the CCP - and we need your help. … Mark Nygate needs your support for SAVE US FROM THE MEGA EMBASSY! SUPPORT OUR LEGAL CHALLENGE

Crowd-funder to challenge Labour Chinese embassy decision raises £145k required. Judicial review application incoming in the next six weeks

www.gofundme.com/f/stop-the-m...

Has the Labour govt become an amoral sea of vagueness?

Exhibit A, last par

coalition of the willing - vague on ground forces

Not sure this is exactly a Nato Art 5 equivalent

"may include armed force"

but would it in practice?

Europe peace plan for Ukraine supported by leaders of

Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, UK plus EU

They ran out of petrol for the generator in the commentators box, so we are just watching Norris win on a F1 feed without added chat

Watching F1 finale in a bar in Kyiv. A snap power cut adds to the excitement, system now rebooting

‘What choice do we have?’: no end in sight for Ukraine’s war-weary frontline troops As peace hopes falter, infantry soldiers face more long deployments risking their lives against Russian attacks

Bohdan 41, and Ivan, 45, both Ukrainian machine gunners, spent 62 days at the front line, hiding from drones, mostly in a small basement after their first position was discovered. These are the people who really hold the line...

www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

Ukrainian Troops Battle Russia's Push Toward Pokrovsk As Russia intensifies its effort to encircle Pokrovsk, Ukrainian units on the strategic city’s edge are under nonstop attack. RFE/RL followed Ukrainian crews holding defensive lines as they assemble t...

Remarkable video report from Pokrovsk featuring drones w heavy bombs, in one case assembled and launched by a Ukrainian 18yo

www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-fr...

...murder or war crime?

Not subtle + legally questionable...