U.S.-Iran MOU expires without agreement; Israeli strikes kill 11 in Lebanon; DNC votes to abolish ICE

People carry a lifeless body pulled from the rubble after an Israeli airstrike on Deir Al-Zahrani in Lebanon on August 15, 2026. Photo by Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images. Monday, August 17, 2026 – Sixty-day negotiating period for U.S.-Iran Islamabad agreement ends without final deal. U.S. President Donald Trump tells Iran to “put up the white flag of surrender,” threatens to bomb Oman. Iran reaffirms that Oman deal is separate from full Hormuz reopening. Iran says Qatar is holding Iranian pilots as POWs. Drones target Kurdistan Prime Minister’s office, Intelligence Chief’s residence. Ansarallah says it struck Mokha and Marib. Yemen’s Saudi-backed government says it carried out 181 military operations in 24 hours. Israel continues its assault on Gaza. Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank. Jared Kushner meets with Hamas leadership in Cairo. Regional powers condemn Israel for rejecting the Gaza roadmap. Over 70 Palestinian families face eviction in Lydd. Palestinian Red Crescent evacuates 74 people from Gaza. Palestinian paramedic released by Israel after more than two months. At least 10 Palestinian women prisoners contract scabies in Israel’s Damon Prison. Israeli Supreme Court considers case of detained Palestinian journalist. Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill 11 amid supposed ceasefire. Lebanese leaders condemn Saturday attacks; Hezbollah vows response. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says Israel is pushing to end UNIFIL presence as Israeli military activity surges in southern Lebanon. Democratic National Committee votes to back abolishing ICE. Trump orders reduction of joint military exercises with South Korea. Attorney General Todd Blanche declines to pledge Department of Justice independence from Trump on prosecutions. Supreme Court again rejects Trump’s bid to overturn E. Jean Carroll verdict. UAE trained mercenaries in Sudan. Fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile State displaces thousands as RSF advances. Russia jails opposition party chairman for 11 years over anti-war comments. Taiwan plans record defense spending amid growing Chinese pressure. Somali troops claim to retake Baidoa from opposition forces. India claims to foil Pakistan-backed militant plot. Syrian detainee dies in government custody amid torture allegations. British prime minister exchanged messages with an impersonator posing as Trump aide. This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday Subscribe Iran Sixty-day negotiating period for U.S.-Iran Islamabad agreement ends without final deal: The 60-day period set out for negotiations following the U.S.-Iran Islamabad memorandum of understanding ended Monday without a final agreement or a joint announcement of an extension. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday there was no 60-day deadline in the Islamabad memorandum, adding that Tehran does not formulate its policies under pressure or ultimatums, the Islamic Republic’s News Agency reported. He said the memorandum provided for 60 days of talks on sanctions relief and the nuclear issue, with the possibility of an extension if no agreement was reached. However, according to Baghaei, those talks never began because the U.S. breached the memorandum weeks after it was signed. “We did not start any negotiations at all, and the U.S. violated the understanding from the very beginning; as a result, the issue of a 60-day deadline became entirely moot,” Baghaei said. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran has reportedly given Washington “a few weeks” to fully implement the memorandum and “will not wait indefinitely” for the U.S. naval blockade to end, warning that Iran would be prepared to escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider region if diplomacy fails. Trump tells Iran to “put up the white flag of surrender,” threatens to bomb Oman: U.S. President Donald Trump called on Iran to “put up the white flag of surrender” and threatened to bomb Oman, which is currently in talks with Tehran regarding the administration of the Strait, if it obstructs U.S. efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump told Fox News Monday. Asked about U.S. weapons stockpiles in the Middle East, he claimed, “What we have used so far is peanuts.” Trump said he was under no pressure to end the conflict. “I have no time schedule…I’m not in a hurry,” adding, “The midterms have nothing to do with my thinking.” Iran reaffirms that Oman deal is separate from full Hormuz reopening: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that an “understanding” has been reached in negotiations with Oman on a transit route through the Strait of Hormuz. Baghaei said the talks have proceeded slowly, “but we had planned, and still plan, to finalize the understanding in the form of a package: the map plus a joint statement.” The talks with Oman, Araghchi said, focus narrowly on mapping new navigation lanes for ships, since the previous routes are no longer operational. Whether the Strait actually reopens, he said, “will depend on the fulfillment of other conditions to which the United States must adhere.” Iran says Qatar holding Iranian pilots as POWs: Iran formally accused Qatar of holding three Iranian military pilots as prisoners of war for about six months and asked the Red Cross to intervene on Saturday. In a letter to ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Bagherzadeh, who heads Iran’s committee for missing personnel, said the pilots were shot down over Qatar during a March 2 mission against an “enemy military base.” Bagherzadeh said Qatar has denied the prisoners contact with their families and urged the ICRC to visit them and help secure their release. Qatar denied these accusations, with a Foreign Ministry spokesperson saying that the pilots entered Qatari airspace and ignored radio warnings before being shot down. Qatar claims rescue teams recovered the remains of one pilot, repatriated in July, and Tehran never answered an April invitation to review the Qatari search operation for the other two. Drones target Kurdistan Prime Minister’s office, Intelligence Chief’s residence: Two explosive-laden drones targeted the office of Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and the residence of the head of the region’s intelligence agency on Monday, Asharq Al-Awsat reported. Barzani said the Kurdistan Region’s Counter-Terrorism Directorate determined that the attacks were carried out using “Iranian drones,” calling them “a dangerous escalation and a direct threat to the security and stability of the region.” Yemen Ansarallah says it struck Mokha and Marib: Yemen’s Ansarallah said on Sunday that it had struck Saudi-backed military forces in the Red Sea port of Mokha and in Marib, the country’s oil-rich province, with ballistic missiles and drones, according to the Ansarallah-affiliated Saba news agency. Operations at Mokha were suspended on Sunday, with the port’s director saying that strikes had killed seven people and caused an estimated $16 million in damage. Ansarallah’s spokesperson also claimed a missile attack on a “Saudi military vessel and four escort ships” off Mokha in the Red Sea on Monday. Yemen’s Saudi-backed government says it carried out 181 military operations in 24 hours: The armed forces of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government said they used drones, artillery, and rocket launchers in 181 operations against Ansarallah from Saturday to Sunday, according to military spokesman Col. Majed al-Nuzaili. Al-Nuzaili claimed the strikes killed and wounded dozens of Ansarallah fighters and destroyed equipment and weapons depots along front lines stretching from the Red Sea coast to the Saada and Marib areas. Palestine Killed and wounded in Gaza: Over the past 48 hours, two Palestinians were killed and 18 were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Three bodies were also recovered from beneath the rubble. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,399 killed, with 174,310 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,265 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,198, while 813 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble. Israel continues its assault on Gaza: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in Deir Al-Balah, striking him as he walked through Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday evening, and wounded four others in strikes that day. Israeli artillery also shelled densely populated areas of Khan Younis on Saturday, causing additional injuries and displacement. Forces opened fire toward Bureij and Jabalia refugee camps, bombarded Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, and demolished homes and residential buildings in Al-Tuffah neighborhood and Rafah. An Israeli airstrike on a Khan Younis tent encampment wounded at least 5 Palestinians on Sunday, while a separate strike on an apartment in Nuseirat wounded several others. Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank: Hebron: Mohammed Al-Mutawwar, 27, an intensive care nurse at Dura Governmental Hospital, was shot in the back during a Friday evening attack on the town of Sa’ir by Israeli settlers, according to the Palestinian Nursing and Midwifery Association. The bullet severed his spinal cord, causing permanent paralysis, the association said. A young woman was also shot in the back and head during the attack, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Israeli settlers under military protection attacked the Al-Ras area of Hebron city early Sunday, shooting two Palestinians and beating eight others, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. A 60-year-old man was shot in the back and hand; a 46-year-old man was shot and then detained by Israeli forces. A 66-year-old woman was among those beaten. In the village of Massafer Yatta, Israeli settlers broke into a Palestinian home, besieged the family, vandalized the yard, and then held a celebration on the family’s balcony, Israeli lawmaker Ofer Casif said on Sunday. Jenin: Israeli forces on Monday arrested two Palestinian farmers in Faqqu’a after armed settlers detained them while they were picking prickly pears on their land near a newly established outpost. Qalqilya: Residents of Azzun protested the continued closure of the town’s main northern entrance, sealed by Israeli forces since October 7, 2023, restricting movement and hurting local businesses. Nablus: Israeli settlers, backed by the army, on Monday continued for a ninth consecutive day to besiege three families’ homes in Qusra amid attempts to seize them. Israeli forces have also blocked access roads, forced residents from two homes and turned 16 others into military posts. In Beit Dajan, Israeli forces on Monday demolished a residential structure and two agricultural structures and filled in a water well. Bethlehem: About 10 Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian doctor Majed Dwayat with stones and sticks in Jannatah, east of Bethlehem, breaking his hand and smashing his car’s windows, WAFA reported on Sunday. Kushner meets with Hamas leadership in Cairo: President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and “Board of Peace” member Jared Kushner met Hamas leaders in Egypt on Sunday to press the group to disarm and relinquish authority in Gaza, Axios reported. The Hamas delegation, led by political leader and chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya and including several senior leaders, attended talks with Kushner, Trump’s board envoy Nickolay Mladenov, and Egyptian, Qatari, and Turkish mediators, according to Reuters. Tony Blair was also at the talks, according to Axios. A source familiar with the meeting told Axios that the talks sought “concrete, verifiable steps” toward Hamas decommissioning its weapons and military infrastructure, transferring governing authority to a Palestinian technocratic administration, and permitting an international force to deploy—commitments the group has already agreed to and repeatedly reaffirmed. At an earlier meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad, Al-Hayya stressed Hamas is ready to implement the agreement “as soon as Israel announces its commitment to it.” Kushner and Mladenov met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. Regional powers condemn Israel for rejecting Gaza roadmap: Eight Muslim-majority countries issued a joint statement on Sunday condemning Israel for rejecting the roadmap saying, “Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza.” The statement signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Indonesia, and Pakistan, called on the Board of Peace and the U.S. to take “immediate and concrete measures” to keep any party from obstructing the plan’s implementation. Over 70 Palestinian families face eviction in Lydd: Israel has ordered the eviction of more than 70 Palestinian families in the city of Lydd in Israel, according to Wafa. Israeli authorities issued the orders under the pretext of