Hungary's water authority monitoring data showed the Danube at Budapest plunged to a new historic low of 1 cm on the 8th (local time). The extreme low has severely disrupted river navigation, with exposed riverbed debris threatening traffic, and Hungary's only nuclear plant, Paks, briefly facing shutdown risk due to cooling-water constraints. Water specialists attribute the fall to extreme drought across the Danube basin; at the end of July the Budapest gauge read 27 cm, already below the prior

JP Morgan’s Geopolitical Center says market urgency has eased as more crude—with U.S. assistance—transits the Strait of Hormuz, temporarily capping oil prices. Washington believes it can wait for Iranian concessions because Iranian oil exports are near zero, the rial has depreciated roughly 50% vs USD since January, and inflation is near 90%, leaving Iran more pressured to return to talks. JP Morgan assigns a 55% probability to a mediated, face‑saving narrow agreement akin to prior memoranda, noting Iran and Oman are close to a joint management mechanism for the Strait; it assigns a 45% probability the U.S. delays until mid‑November elections to press for tougher terms, in which case Iran could resume missile and drone attacks on the Strait of Hormuz and regional U.S. bases to regain leverage.

Iran's president said the country consistently opposes war and views safeguarding the people's interests and regional security as dependent on avoiding conflict. He said Iran, having defended itself against aggression to date, will continue to resist fully until aggressors regret their actions and will always defend the rights of the Iranian nation.