| As Iran warns of imminent retaliation and Israel shows no sign of letting up in its assault on the Islamic Republic, investors remain on edge and major US cities — including New York, Washington and Los Angeles — are tightening security. Even with Iranian allies Russia and China staying on the sidelines and Tehran’s armed proxies weakened, Iran still has ways to inflict pain, including potentially taking the unprecedented step of closing the Strait of Hormuz, which Bloomberg Economics estimates could send the price of crude to $130 a barrel. Japan’s biggest banks are considering evacuating employees and their families from financial hubs in the Middle East. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has started to pull the families of staff out of locations including Dubai, and will consider evacuating workers if they need to accompany them, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is looking to bring back staff from locations including Qatar and the UAE. While Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been set back, the program hasn’t been completely destroyed and the attacks could push Tehran to end international monitoring and consider forging ahead with the development of a bomb. The head of the UN’s atomic watchdog called for a return to diplomacy while warning that the global framework for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons is “on the line.”  Damage at the Fordow nuclear facility yesterday after the US strikes. Source: Maxar Technologies Trump’s unilateral decision to strike Iran notably sidelined Congress just as he needs Republican lawmakers to unite around one thing he can’t do without them: Pass his legislative agenda. Senate Republicans are still planning to move ahead this week with votes on Trump’s massive tax and spending bill, although they do not yet have the support it needs to pass the Senate. Spain obtained an exemption from NATO’s defense-spending target of 5% of GDP after days of diplomatic wrangling that drew scorn from Trump, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez saying Madrid plans to raise expenditure to 2.1%, “nothing more, nothing less.” The European Union and Canada are expected to sign a security and defense partnership in Brussels today, with Prime Minister Mark Carney aiming to participate in the bloc’s €150 billion joint military procurement loan fund. Thai leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra looks poised to ride out a political crisis engulfing her government, with a cabinet expansion to keep her coalition intact and a tougher stance in a simmering border dispute with Cambodia.  Paetongtarn Shinawatra Photographer: Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party suffered its worst-ever result in a Tokyo metropolitan election, losing its spot as the biggest political force on the assembly less than a month before voters nationally deliver a verdict on Shigeru Ishiba’s premiership. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara unexpectedly postponed his decision on whether to run for a fourth term in October elections. Tanzanian police have arrested two local YouTubers as President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s government intensifies a crackdown on dissent ahead of elections. | 
