President Donald Trump said Monday the U.S. would “bomb the shit out of” Oman if the Gulf nation “gets in the way” of Washington’s push to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. For those keeping track at home, that's a sitting American president threatening a Gulf partner—one that has spent decades as the region’s quiet go-between—in a Fox News interview relayed by reporter Trey Yingst. No audio or transcript has surfaced in the reporting, and Oman hasn’t responded publicly.

The timing is the tell. Hours before the threat, Iran said it had reached an understanding with Oman on a transit route map for the strait. Asked in the Oval Office whether he'd extend the 60-day U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding signed June 18, Trump answered with one word: No. He said he’s “not in a hurry.”

He also claimed a direct backchannel to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard … but the IRGC denied it. Sources also conflict on exactly when Trump declared the ceasefire finished (the BBC puts it at July 8, CNBC says mid-July) which is its own kind of answer about how this war is being run.

Of course, the economics don’t really care about the messaging. Roughly 20% of the world’s oil normally moves through Hormuz. Kpler data show three ships transited Sunday, against a five-day average of 12 and about 130 a day before the war began Feb. 28. That’s a chokepoint that has effectively stopped functioning. Trump separately ordered joint exercises with South Korea scaled back, NBC News reported, though the scope hasn’t been detailed.

So the memorandum lapses, the mediator is being threatened and the strait stays closed. Watch whether Oman says anything at all. Its silence has been the most useful diplomatic tool in the Gulf for years, and it may be the only one left.

Luigi Mangione's state murder trial was set to start next month. But now it's off the calendar indefinitely. Justice Gregory Carro scrapped the Sept. 8 date after defense lawyers moved to toss the case on double jeopardy grounds—a fight that could gut New York's prosecution entirely.

The trigger? Mangione pleaded guilty Friday in Manhattan federal court to two stalking charges and admitted shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024. His lawyers argue the state can't now try him for the same conduct. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has until Oct. 9 to respond, with a hearing set for Dec. 10, NBC News reported.

That's eight days before his federal sentencing on Dec. 18, where prosecutors will seek life imprisonment. Guidelines call for 24 to 30 years. The state case carries its own life exposure, though accounts differ on the exact range. No one knows how long Carro will take— and whichever way he rules, it gets appealed.

Around this time every year, the FBI releases its national crime statistics analysis, known as the Uniform Crime Report, which offers policymakers and the public a fairly comprehensive review of criminal trends across the United States. And 2025 had the largest year-to-year decrease since the federal government began tracking nationwide crime rates in 1936.

Last year’s murder rate of 4.1 killings per 100,000 residents is the lowest the country has seen since the mid-1950s, the agency said. The unveiling of this year’s report, though, was unconventional. Instead of the announcement originating from the FBI or the Justice Department, it came from President Donald Trump.

The president said that “every single number” in the report was the lowest in recorded history, which is not the case. While the president made sweeping, exaggerated claims, crime analysts agree that 2025 was a remarkable year and both the violent crime and murder rates have decreased annually since spiking in 2022.