The talks were constructive and covered possible paths toward settling the Ukraine conflict, presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said [...] Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Putin in Moscow on Saturday for talks focused on settling the Ukraine conflict. The meeting lasted over three hours and included both formal discussions and an informal exchange over lunch, according to Ushakov. “The conversation was substantive, constructive, extremely candid and trusting,” the presidential aide told reporters following the meeting. ● The Russian side provided a detailed assessment of the battlefield situation, expressing confidence that Moscow would achieve its objectives and reiterating that any lasting settlement must address what it considers the root causes of the conflict, Ushakov said. Putin also confirmed Moscow’s readiness to continue working with Washington to seek a political and diplomatic settlement.

■  Witkoff, Kushner arrive in Kiev for Ukraine peace talks after meeting Putin (The Cradle)

🚨The BIGGEST THREAT in the WORLD is NATO.

‼️Never Forget that Vladimir Putin Was Only Asking About:

🔴Don’t expand NATO eastward
🔴Respecting Minsk agreements
🔴Keep Ukraine neutral.

🚨Fact: NATO Cannot Exist Without an Enemy.

🚨It needs wars—for its budget, for weapons,… pic.twitter.com/NMG2RDVEIY

— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) July 5, 2026

The American military earlier struck three commercial vessels in retaliation for Tehran allegedly firing missiles at its warships | An Iranian crude oil tanker has sunk in the Gulf of Oman after being struck by American forces, US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said. It was one of three commercial vessels targeted by the US on Saturday after Iran launched ballistic missiles at two American warships. [...] The attack follows renewed US-Iran hostilities earlier this week. Washington launched strikes on Iran on Tuesday, prompting Tehran to retaliate against US facilities in the Gulf with missiles and drones.

■  Iran Strikes Three Tankers, American Vessels in Response to US Attacks (Sputnik)
■  IRGC unveils previously unreleased footage of decisive action against non-compliant vessels (Press TV)

■  Hegseth threatened to destroy Iran's oil fleet | According to the Pentagon chief, the Islamic Republic has neither the navy nor the air force capable of protecting its tankers. Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US would destroy all of Iran's oil tankers if it continued to attack American warships. ● "It's simple: if Iran fires at US ships, we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers. All they have to do is not fire at the US Navy," Hegseth wrote on X. ● The Pentagon chief believes Iran's tanker fleet is in a "defenseless position." He added that Iran has neither the navy nor the air force capable of protecting these vessels. ● Following Hegseth's statement, a spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces' central headquarters, Khatam al-Anbiya, warned the United States. He stated that future strikes would be "more serious than before." ● Earlier, US Central Command announced that it had struck three Iranian oil tankers, after which Iran struck six vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. (TASS.ru) (Google Translation)

The Iranian judiciary has released the initial findings of an investigation showing that weapons used in a US bombing attack earlier this week on a wedding ceremony in the south of the country were American-made. | The head of the Iranian judiciary's local branch in the southern province of Hormozgan said on Saturday that projectile fragments scattered around the site of a wedding ceremony on September 1 had been examined as part of the investigation, showing they were manufactured by US company Raytheon.

Ghahremani said investigators had carried out a meticulous examination of the inscriptions, barcodes, and other details engraved on the projectile remains, leaving no doubt that the munitions belong to the US military.

■  IRGC announces attack on child-killing US aircraft carrier and destroyer (Pars Today)
✅ “I Still Hear the Voices”: Wedding Guests Recall Horror of U.S. Bombing in Southern Iran (Peiman Salehi)

Bulgarian PM Rumen Radev has said the attempted sabotage in Leipzig was “reckless,” but so are Western deliveries of long-range arms to Kiev | Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev has refused to assign blame for last month’s drone incident in Germany squarely to Russia, citing “reckless” Western weapons deliveries to Kiev. ● Earlier this week, the German government said it had grounds to believe that Moscow was behind the incident, in which an explosive-laden UAV was found between Ukrainian Antonov cargo planes at Leipzig/Halle Airport on August 4. ● Berlin subsequently announced the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian House in Berlin, as well as tighter border controls for Russian citizens. Moscow responded by shutting down the Goethe Institute centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Ekaterinburg, which promote German language and culture.

📌 Bulgarian Prime Minister: How long will Russia tolerate Western aggression? (Elena Panina)
📌 Germany’s airport terror plot: a flight of fancy leading Europe to war (Strategic Culture Foundation) (Editorial)
✅ The Leipzig Incident Has All The Hallmarks Of A False Flag (Andrew Korybko)