Tuesday morning news: August 13, 2024

U.S. sends help as Israel braces for Iran attack » U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine and an aircraft carrier to the Middle East as Israel braces for a possible attack from Iran.

The strike would be in retaliation for recent assassinations of top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby warns it could come as early as this week.

KIRBY: It is difficult to assert, ascertain, at this particular time, if there is an attack by Iran and/or its proxies, what that could look like. But we have to be prepared for what could be a significant set of attacks. Which is why, again, we have increased our force posture and capabilities in the region, even in just the last few days.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military says it takes any statement by the country’s enemies seriously.

HAGARI: [Speaking in Hebrew]

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari adds Israel’s defenses are at peak preparedness. But he says the military has not yet outlined any safety precautions for the public.

Gaza war ceasefire talks latest » Cease-fire talks to pause the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza are scheduled for Thursday. But the question is: Will Hamas show up?

It’s threatening not to, unless mediators agree to implement points of agreement worked out last month.

The Biden Administration is hopeful Israel and Hamas will both come to the negotiating table, saying it’s time for the fighting to end and the hostages to be released.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel…

PATEL: We believe that there has been headway made. But we need to finalize this agreement, continue to close and bridge some gaps, but we believe that an agreement is possible.

If the talks happen, they’ll be in Cairo and negotiators will return to a framework laid out by the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar earlier this year.

Iran sending Russia hundreds of ballistic missiles » Iran is preparing to send hundreds of ballistic missiles to help Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Reuters, which broke the story, reports dozens of Russian military personnel are in Iran getting trained on how to use the satellite-guided weapons.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says…

JEAN-PIERRE: The White House has repeatedly warned of a deepening security partnership between Russia and Iran since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. We’ve also warned both parties about further strengthening this partnership.

The new shipment of missiles would expand Russia’s ability to strike close-range targets.

The Biden Administration says the U.S., its NATO allies, and its G7 partners are prepared to deliver a swift and severe response if Iran goes ahead with this move calling it a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Trump says Iran hacked campaign » The Trump campaign says Iran has stolen some of its sensitive documents in a cyberattack.

New York Times national security journalist David Sanger says…

SANGER: What we’ve got is some disparate pieces of information that may add up to that, but may not.

Trump’s campaign says Iran stole its documents to disrupt the presidential election.

The FBI is investigating the claim, which comes after a Microsoft report highlighted attempted foreign interference in this year’s election, specifically mentioning Iranian activity.

Iran denies any involvement, but it does have a history of cyberattacks, and it’s threatened retaliation against Trump over a 2020 drone strike that took out a top Iranian military leader.

Trump-Musk live chat on X » Speaking of the former president, he sat down for a live interview with Elon Musk last night on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.

The start was delayed by what Musk said was a DDOS, or Distributed Denial of Service attack which targets a server or network by flooding it with fraudulent internet traffic.

But once it was up and running, the two men spanned a wide range of topics: from illegal immigration to Trump surviving last month’s assassination attempt.

TRUMP: It's very much – I say – an act of God. It's a miracle that it happened. And I'm honored by it. I'm honored by it.

Trump says he plans to go back to the town where the attempt happened -Butler. Pennsylvania- for another rally in October.

School reimbursement » A federal court in Maine has reinforced a previous ruling keeping some religious schools from qualifying for state tuition reimbursements. WORLD’s Christina Grube reports.

CHRISTINA GRUBE: The state of Maine runs a voucher program, reimbursing families in rural communities tuition to attend a nearby private school, rather than launching state run schools for isolated communities.

State law dictates that schools must either allow all religious expression or none at all in order to qualify for the voucher program.

The law also gives the state’s Human Rights Commission the final word on how schools teach topics like gender and marriage.

A Catholic school sued the state last year, saying the requirements to qualify for reimbursement discriminate against religious schools, potentially forcing private schools to teach ideals against their religion.

The school asked for a temporary pause to the law’s enforcement which the court rejected last week.

The ruling noted that while the law did have serious constitutional issues, the court still rejected the claim, believing the case would ultimately have no merit.

For WORLD, I’m Christina Grube.

I’m Mark Mellinger.

Straight ahead: Flight delays in space. Plus, Georgia voters looking for a change in leadership.

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