A massive explosion has rocked Bandar Abbas, one of Iran’s key Gulf cities, leaving 1 dead and 14 injured as an eight-storey building suffers extensive damage to floors, vehicles and nearby shops. The mysterious blast comes amid rising tensions between Iran and the US, with Tehran pointing fingers at the United States, Israel, and Europe for allegedly “provoking” recent civil unrest. President Trump stated that Iran is now seeking a diplomatic deal under pressure while emphasizing that the US maintains a strong military presence in the Gulf as a warning signal. Meanwhile, the Iranian president has firmly rejected any negotiations over nuclear technology and missile defense capabilities, calling them non-negotiable. WATCH 

The US Defense Department has confirmed that Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok will begin operating inside the Pentagon network later this month, joining Google’s generative AI tools as part of a major military technology shift. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon plans to feed large volumes of military and intelligence data into AI systems to speed up analysis, decision-making, and battlefield readiness. The move signals a far more aggressive approach to artificial intelligence than previous administrations.