IAEA said the cause of a recent nearly two-hour loss of offsite power at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant remains unclear.

An Israeli official told Channel 12 tensions with Iran have reached a peak and are on the brink of erupting; Israel has raised its alert level. The official said President Trump is “closer than ever” to ordering a major strike on Iran but has not decided on the scale or on whether Israel would join initial operations. White House options reportedly favor large, targeted strikes on Iranian energy facilities intended to weaken the regime; the official said such strikes could be executed quickly and would not necessarily trigger a global energy-price shock but would hit facilities with major domestic impact. It is unclear whether Trump will choose that option or keep a blockade in place until the midterm elections—the question is timing, not whether to act.

Since June, measures to attract overseas capital have brought in more than $40bn, bolstering the Reserve Bank of India’s foreign-exchange buffer, the RBI said. As of July 31, FCNR(B) deposits totalled $36.72bn; together with other overseas borrowings the sum is about $41bn. The RBI conducted roughly $7bn of FX sales on July 24 to defend the rupee, its largest direct intervention in months. Middle East tensions had pushed oil above $100/bbl and pressured the rupee; oil has since eased to around $90/bbl. The RBI governor said this week that recent rupee weakness reflects geopolitical tensions, dollar strength and EM volatility, not a deterioration in India’s economic fundamentals.