Today’s Headlines and Commentary

The British navy seized a tanker off the coast of Gibraltar suspected of carrying Iranian oil to a refinery in Syria in violation of EU sanctions, the BBC reports. The Spanish government plans to lodge a formal complaint with the U.K., alleging that the operation violates Spanish sovereignty over the waters surrounding Gibraltar, the Guardian writes. The Iranian government called the action a “form of piracy” and suggested that it might seize a British ship unless the Iranian tanker is released, the BBC separately notes.

The Sudanese Military Transition Council and a coalition of opposition and protest groups reached a power-sharing agreement following months of protests after the ouster in April of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Under the agreement, the country will hold elections following an approximately three-year period of shared rule between the military and civilian groups, Reuters reports.

Talks between NATO allies and the Russian government about the latter’s compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty have ended without any progress being made, the Associated Press writes. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that “we didn’t see any sign of Russia being willing to come back into compliance.” The treaty is set to expire on August 2 if Russia does not destroy the relevant missiles.

The government of Venezuela released 22 prisoners—including judge Maria Afiuni, journalist Braulio Jatar, and 20 students—in what the U.N. high commissioner for human rights said “signif[ies] the beginning of positive engagement on the country’s many human rights issues,” according to Reuters.

The U.S. government filed a motion asking the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to dismiss Huawei’s lawsuit claiming that the American blacklist of its products was illegal, Reuters says.

ICYMI: The Last Two Days on Lawfare

On Wednesday, Scott Anderson parsed the State Department’s letter on the use of force against Iran.

Andrew Patterson analyzed a federal court’s ruling that the government must provide bond hearings for some asylum seekers apprehended crossing the border irregularly.

Rachel Brown and Preston Lim shared the most recent installation of SinoTech, in which they discuss U.S.-China trade negotiations resuming, the Commerce Department’s adding five Chinese supercomputing companies to the entity list, and more.

On Thursday, Mikhaila Fogel drew lessons for Congress on how to conduct the upcoming hearing with Robert Mueller from a recent dramatization of the Mueller report.

Quinta Jurecic shared the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s declination to stay a lower court's preliminary injunction of President Trump's reallocation of funds for his border wall.

Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.