The Trump administration’s push to open Libyan oil as a Gulf-supply alternative during the war with Iran is struggling after an assassination, a central banker’s move to quit and a week of drone strikes and explosions that ran into Sunday. Assigning responsibility for the fresh wave of violence in the North African nation has been difficult.

A blast over the weekend at an electrical substation at the Zawiya oil complex cut power to Tripoli and officials are investigating that incident, as well as drone strikes over the last week that targeted energy infrastructure in western Libya, which the internationally recognized government in Tripoli controls. The eastern half of the country is controlled by a Benghazi-based warlord, Gen. Khalifa Haftar.

The same power plant hit Sunday was struck four days earlier by an explosive drone, cutting power and prompting General Electric to suspend work and withdraw its technical teams from the nearby plant Chevron and ExxonMobil are counting on as they enter the Libyan market.

Mr. Trump unleashed an expletive-laced threat toward Oman, a notably neutral Middle East sultanate that has long prided itself as a mediator between the U.S. and Iran. The president said during an appearance on Fox News that American forces will “bomb the s—- out of” Oman if it “gets in the way” of negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz.

The threat came after the latest talks between the U.S. and Iran over who controls the strategic oil shipping waterway continued to devolve over the weekend. A top Iranian official on Saturday rebuked Mr. Trump for publicly asserting a day earlier that the strait will become a U.S. territory after Tehran’s defeat in the war.

In a separate development, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, on Monday condemned Iran for carrying out attacks on the Kurdish region’s prime minister’s office and the residence of the region’s security agency chief as a reckless expansion of the regional war.

China’s recent test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile without adequate warning prompted the U.S. and 40 other nations to demand greater advance notice of such tests. A U.S.-led joint statement submitted to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament in Geneva last week noted recent missile testing in the Pacific — a reference to Beijing’s July 6 test in the western Pacific.

The statement called on “all countries, particularly nuclear-weapon States” to give the world “no less than 24 hours” advance notice ahead of any SLBM, intercontinental ballistic missile or space launch vehicle tests.

China’s test of what is believed to be a nuclear-capable JL-2 or JL-3 missile from a submarine began with just a few hours of warning time, U.S. officials said, and with no details on the flight path.

The Pentagon on Monday announced a $22.9 billion contract for Raytheon to increase production of Tomahawk cruise missiles, the standard-bearer for American long-range precision power projection.

A recent analysis by the Center for Strategic & International Studies assessed that more than 1,000 Tomahawks have been expended during the U.S. war with Iran. The analysis also noted U.S. allies want Tomahawks, with an existing order by Japan for 400 of the missiles reportedly delayed as Washington prioritizes refilling U.S. stockpiles.

The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile is designed to fly at extremely low altitudes and high-subsonic speeds. They are controlled over an evasive route by mission-tailored guidance systems. The first operational use of the Tomahawk was during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Since then, more than 2,300 have been fired in combat.

The Russians are “working to use the cryptocurrency stablecoin to create an infrastructure that will let it trade with international partners everywhere without the United States being able to impose economic penalties,” Tim Constantine writes in a column for The Times.

Mr. Constantine, host of “The Capitol Hill Show,” outlines how U.S. sanctions on Russia depend on the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication system (SWIFT), which the traditional banking industry uses to transfer funds internationally.

Russia’s PSB Bank said the annual flow of SWIFT is about $150 trillion, while the volume of stablecoins reached $33 trillion in 2025. “The rub is that an overwhelming portion of the worldwide stablecoin infrastructure is ultimately still tied to the USD,” writes Mr. Constantine, who notes the head of PSB Bank has said it’s only a matter of time before that changes.

• Aug. 17 — Beyond Pyongyang: Regional Development, Modernization and Inequality in North Korea, Stimson Center

• Aug. 18 — The Hormuz Implications for Energy Policymaking: Japan and South Korea, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Aug. 19 — Golden Dome: Early Assessment and Open Questions, Brookings Institution 

• Aug. 25-26 — Counter UAS Summit, Institute for Defense and Government Advancement

• Aug. 27 — 2026 Navy Summit, Potomac Officers Club

• Aug. 27 — Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy on the Modern Battlefield, Atlantic Council