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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hopes for a peace deal with the Taliban "before September 1,” as he spoke to reporters in Kabul during an unannounced visit to the Afghan capital on June 25. Pompeo met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other high-level Afghan officials as well as General Scott Miller, who leads NATO's Resolute Support Mission and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan.

Iran and the United States have traded insults, with Tehran accusing Washington of "lying" about its willingness to hold talks to steer the two nations away from military conflict, a statement President Donald Trump called “very ignorant and insulting.”

"The U.S. is prepared to wipe out areas of Iran if the country decides to attack ‘anything American,' President Donald Trump threatened Tuesday morning on Twitter."

"Experts said that the operation signals U.S. government leaders are becoming increasingly comfortable with cyberwarfare as a tool in the arsenal and, in some cases, now view cyber operations as a half-step removed from a kinetic conflict."

"The UN says tens of thousands of Islamic State fighters and family members being held in Iraq and Syria must be tried or released."

A major who served in Afghanistan with the Coldstream Guards, Mr Hennessy-Barrett wondered if the counterinsurgency techniques adopted by the British army in Taliban strongholds could somehow be repurposed to make the poor richer.

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed what he described as "hard-hitting" new financial sanctions on Iran Monday, specifically targeting the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"Iran’s navy chief warned the United States on Monday that Iranian forces could shoot down more surveillance drones if they violate the country’s airspace, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks with Arab allies in the Persian Gulf."

"Homeland Security is looking for innovative robots that can navigate underground tunnels and communicate with headquarters."

"The U.S. plans to impose major new sanctions on Iran, signaling it won’t ease pressure despite a diplomatic push by European leaders to persuade Washington and Tehran to show restraint."

Via Yahoo News - "... U.S. Cyber Command launched a retaliatory digital strike against an Iranian spy group that supported last week’s limpet mine attacks on commercial ships, according to two former intelligence officials."

"... It’s the start of a four-year effort, known as Project Metropolis, that leaders say will transform the way Marines train for urban battles. The effort is being led by the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, based in Quantico, Virgina. It comes after service leaders identified a troubling problem following nearly two decades of war in the Middle East: adversaries have been studying their tactics and weaknesses, and now they know how to exploit them."

Senior government and opposition leaders in Afghanistan have warned that armed hostilities in the country will continue if ongoing negotiations between the United States and the Taliban fail to jump-start a sustainable intra-Afghan peace dialogue.

President Trump sought to lower tensions with Iran on Saturday, extending an olive branch to “start all over” with nuclear talks and even thanking Tehran for its “wise” decision not to shoot down a U.S. military plane with personnel on board.

"‘These people want to push us into war... It’s disgusting,’ president told confidant."

"President Trump approved an offensive cyber strike that disabled Iranian computer systems used to control rocket and missile launches, even as he backed away from a conventional military attack in response to its shoot-down Thursday of an unmanned U.S. surveillance drone, according to people familiar with the matter."

"The United States and an international task force have threatened Iran with financial penalties, accusing it of violating international guidelines designed to block money-laundering and funding of terror groups."

"Britain's Middle East minister travels to Tehran Sunday for talks with Iranian officials. Britain's Foreign Office said Andrew Murrison will call for "urgent de-escalation in the region." Murrison will also discuss Iran's threat to cease complying with the nuclear deal that the United States pulled out of last year."

"The plans had been drawn, the targets set, and a single word from the commander in chief would have activated the U.S. military to strike a foreign adversary. But President Trump was having second thoughts."

"U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he intends to nominate Army Secretary Mark Esper to be secretary of defense, the White House said in a statement."

"President Trump stepped away from the precipice of an immediate military conflict with Iran on Friday, calling off a strike in response to Iran’s downing of a U.S. surveillance drone."

"President Trump said Friday morning that the United States military had been 'cocked and loaded' for a strike against Iran on Thursday night, but that he called it off with 10 minutes to spare when a general told him that 150 people would probably die in the attack."

"The Afghan government is calling for a cease-fire to facilitate intra-Afghan dialogue, but the Taliban has yet to agree."

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction has released its sixth lessons learned report. Continue on for the key points and a link to the full report.

"The Trump administration has portrayed Iran’s recent moves, including its threat to resume stockpiling low-enriched uranium in violation of the nuclear agreement, as proof that Iran is an implacable rogue state, bent on acquiring nuclear weapons, that can be contained only through the threat of military force."