Former Israeli ambassador to the US Alon Pinkas said Iran is geopolitically exponentially stronger by mid-June 2026 than on Feb. 28, the day the war began, and that the conflict has altered the regional balance. He warned Iran has "upended the strategic balance," citing attacks on Gulf states and what he described as a wedge inserted between Israel and the US. Pinkas said how the postwar power balance between Iran and Israel evolves is uncertain, but it will "certainly be different from February

Russia’s defence ministry said overnight its air-defence systems intercepted and destroyed 123 Ukrainian drones across multiple areas including Moscow region and Belgorod region. The ministry said Russian forces responded with long‑range precision‑guided weapons and attack drones, striking military‑industrial facilities and military airfields in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk. The Ukrainian Air Force said Russian forces launched a large‑scale strike from 18:00 on June 14 to the early hours of June 15, recording 681 incoming targets — including six Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles, dozens of other missiles and 611 drones — and that by 08:00 Ukrainian forces had shot down or electronically suppressed 632 targets.

TD Securities senior Asia economist Alex Loo and FX strategist Howard Du say in a note that if the dollar/yen uptrend continues after this week’s central bank meetings, the probability of Japanese intervention is high. They cite the real effective exchange rate as evidence of clear yen weakness and say limited volatility does not rule out renewed FX intervention. TD flags USD/JPY 162 as the next possible intervention threshold but adds that, given the dollar’s broad gains, Japan’s Financial Services Agency may wait until about 165 before acting.