Return to abnormal

Israel, Iran, the BRICS, Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, and Argentina.

The Ruins of Persepolis, Alberto Pasini, 1856, oil on panel, private collection.

The five things you need to know today:

• ISRAEL. IRAN. Politics resumes much as it did before 13 June.

• THE BRICS. Lula’s gathering will miss the key protagonists.

• UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Having survived Trump, Europe and Zelensky now face Putin.

• ARMENIA. Pashinyan grows desperate as the region shifts around him.

• ARGENTINA. Milei’s policies risk becoming victim of their own success.

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ISRAEL. IRAN. Pardon the interruption

Politics resumes much as it did before 13 June.

Israel's hard-right finance minister threatened to quit Wednesday if aid reached Gaza. An ultra-Orthodox party leader said he no longer knew what Israel was fighting for. Iran voted to leave the IAEA as a crackdown on dissent intensified.

INTELLIGENCE. Benjamin Netanyahu is back to where he began when authorising his surprise attack on Iran. His claimed success in degrading Iran's nuclear program has given his Likud Party a bump, but polling suggests his coalition will still lose the next election. As Likud's old disputes with its Haredi and settler allies resume, Netanyahu is due to return to court. Donald Trump’s latest posts on the prime minister’s legal "witch hunt" are unlikely to help.

FOR BUSINESS. Oil prices rose Wednesday on lower inventories and a crystallising view that the region's security has not improved. With its nuclear capabilities likely degraded by a lesser degree than its nuclear incentives have risen, it's probably worse. Between attacks on Israel's judiciary and the “disgusting” media, Trump continues to suggest he will both ease sanctions and bomb Iran again. It’s the type of strategic incoherence that Tehran exploited last time.

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THE BRICS. Short of a load

Lula’s gathering will miss the key protagonists.

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin would not attend July’s BRICS summit, officials said Wednesday. Host Lula da Silva was dealt a blow after Brazil's congress overturned his financial transactions tax. Fitch warned of growing fiscal pressures.

INTELLIGENCE. Far from an expression of Brazil's place in a multipolar order,