The Brief

Iran warned of a "faster, heavier, more painful" response a day after the United States said it had struck three Iranian oil tankers, an attack Washington described as retaliation for Tehran firing ballistic missiles at U.S. warships. Iranian officials said U.S. oil-and-gas companies would now be considered legitimate targets.

Security chief Mohsen Rezaei said Tehran plans to impose a restricted "exclusion zone" outside the Strait of Hormuz, where tanker traffic has fallen to about 10 ships a day, the lowest since May. Oil prices climbed to six-week highs and Qatar warned of an "industrial catastrophe" if the crisis drags on, while President Trump played down the conflict as "small potatoes."

Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon that began at dawn Sunday killed at least 12 people, including two children, according to Lebanese authorities. A strike on a residential building in Kfar Reman killed nine people, and two medics were killed in a drone attack.

The strikes came amid a new round of escalation between Israel and Hezbollah despite a U.S.-brokered truce reached more than two months ago, which Lebanon says is now in jeopardy.

Preliminary results gave the Alternative for Germany a decisive victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state election with almost 44% of the vote, more than doubling its previous share. It is the first of several regional elections in Germany this autumn.

The party fell about three seats short of the absolute majority it would need to govern alone, and its leaders urged mainstream parties to drop their longstanding refusal to enter coalitions with the AfD, arguing that "democracy demands" cooperation as it explores forming a government.

Nepal flew flags at half-mast for a national day of mourning, held on the 13th day after catastrophic Himalayan floods that killed more than 1,300 people in Nepal and Tibet — the final day of the traditional Hindu mourning period. About 5,000 people, including some foreigners, remain listed as missing, according to Nepal's disaster management agency.

As Nepal worked to identify its dead, questions mounted over China's handling of casualties on its side of the border, where tight media controls have left little known about the number of Chinese dead or missing from the same disaster.

Anak Krakatau, a volcanic island about 150km from Jakarta, began erupting late Friday, forcing airport closures that have been extended into the new week and left about 340,000 travelers stranded. By Sunday evening, the shutdown of eight airports had affected 170,000 passengers on 1,558 canceled flights, including 963 at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport.

No casualties were reported and no evacuation order was issued. The nearest settlement is more than 10 miles away, but authorities told people to stay at least 2 miles from the crater.

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday, a day after lengthy talks with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The envoys called the discussions substantive, but there was no announcement of a breakthrough.

Zelensky said he expects the fighting to continue into the winter, though the Kremlin said it was not ruling out further talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States. Both sides have escalated aerial attacks, and Kyiv has logged a record number of air-raid alerts as Russia mounts near round-the-clock drone and missile strikes.