Today's Headlines and Commentary

This morning, the second round of punitive U.S. sanctions on Iran went into effect. Multiple European countries, including the UK, France and Germany, are planning to work around these sanctions by way of a “special purpose vehicle” that works as a bartering system without explicit financial purchases, says the New York Times. However, no European country has agreed to host the vehicle yet.

On Monday, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said that Iran would “break” the new U.S. oil sanctions and resist the pressure campaign that Washington is levying on Tehran, reports the Washington Post.

Maj. Brent Taylor of the Utah National Guard, and the mayor of North Ogden, Utah, was killed on Saturday while on his fourth deployment to Afghanistan. Maj. Taylor was part of a team sent to train an Afghan Army commando battalion, and was killed in an insider attack, reports the Times.

North Korea has threatened to restart the development of its nuclear program unless the U.S. lifts sanctions on the country, says the Post.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday in an address in Shanghai that China would cut tariffs, open up sectors such as healthcare to foreign investment, and increase imports over the next 15 years, reports the Post.

The Trump administration has implemented sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela as part of a campaign to put economic pressure on a trio of countries—Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua—that national security adviser John Bolton called the “troika of tyranny”, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Armed militia groups and “border vigilantes” in the U.S. are heading to the southern border in anticipation of the migrant caravan coming northward, says the Post.

A senior Turkish official said on Monday that a week after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an expert team was sent by Riyadh to help cover up the killing under the guise of aiding the investigation, reports the Times.

ICYMI: Last Weekend on Lawfare

On its anniversary, Matthew Waxman assessed effects of the 1791 “St. Clair’s Defeat” on executive and legislative use of military power in the early republic.

Chris Meserole explored how artificial intelligence and the technological arms race could produce a new security dilemma, as well as ways to mitigate that risk.

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