INTREP360 INTELLIGENCE REPORT

06.30.2026

June 30^th, 2026

Greetings!

Jon is celebrating his wedding anniversary today with his wife today in the Dominican Republic and we decided it best to take a knee.

Often in this gig, our immediate families pay the price for our work during what should be family time because we are forced to scan our news feeds due to breaking news, peel away to do a TV or radio hit, or leave a family event early to pen a column or Substack.

Photo: Jon and Sonia celebrating their anniversary in the Dominican Republic on June 30^th, 2026.

We could not do this without them, so please understand our need to put them first during important family events.

Happy Anniversary Jon & Sonia!

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ICYMI #1

Earlier today, in our regular weekday foreign affairs column at The Washington Star, we argued that it is time for the 60-day Kabuki theater act playing out been the U.S. and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps come to an end.

The act is wearing thin and U.S. troops remain in harm’s way. Let Adm. Brad Cooper finish the job.

Photo credit: U.S. Central Command. The USS Boxer (foreground) and the USS Portland sail the Indian Ocean in formation on June 30^th, 2026.

You can read it here. It is not paywalled at our request.

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ICYMI #2

I appeared on Al Qahera News TV earlier today. It was a panel discussion that focused on the ongoing peace talks between the U.S. and Qatar. I stated that he was skeptical that the IRGC is serious about entering into a lasting peace agreement with the U.S.

I also pointed out that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s approach to Iran in Lebanon is very different than Vice President Vance’s tactic of extending a hand to the IRGC to ending the war in the Persian Gulf.

The guest from Beirut overestimated the IRGC’s negotiating hand and the state of its economy. The studio panelist in Cairo agreed with me: Iran’s economy has been badly damaged and weakened.

You can watch a clip of it here.

You can also watch the entire segment here.

The episode is in Arabic.

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Thank you for reading. We will see you tomorrow. Please subscribe, comment & share. We truly appreciate it!

Mark

Follow Jon on X at @JESweet2022 or on Bluesky at @JonSweet.bsky.social. Follow Mark on X at @MCTothSTL or on Bluesky at @MarkToth.bsky.social.