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The Senate voted 50-48 to rebuke the Iran war.聽Both chambers of Congress have now passed a resolution to remove U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran. The concurrent resolution is symbolic, as it was passed in a way that does not require the president鈥檚 signature. Four Republican senators joined Democrats in voting to pass the measure. Democrats have been forcing similar votes for months, but all have failed in the Senate until now.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Louisiana prisoner cannot sue prison officials.聽In a 6-3 decision, the justices held that a Rastafari inmate cannot sue Louisiana prison guards after they forcibly shaved his head. The prisoner, Damon Landor, sued several individual guards under a federal law requiring state prison systems that accept federal funds to provide extra protection for inmates鈥� religious exercise. The officials are only liable under the law if they 鈥渧oluntarily and knowingly鈥� consent to answer such lawsuits, which in this case they did not, the high court decided.

The Trump administration announced a boost for nuclear power. In its latest effort to encourage development of nuclear power plants, the administration unveiled a $17.5 billion federal loan program聽on Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 American Nuclear Supply Chain Loans plan to help energy companies buy the expensive parts needed to build up to 10 new large nuclear reactors, accelerating the timeline up to three years.聽

Alleged antifa affiliate receives 100-year prison sentence. As the Trump administration broadens what it calls terrorism, Benjamin Song was convicted of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer on Tuesday following an attack on an immigrant detention site in Texas last year. Other defendants, convicted of crimes that included providing material support to terrorists, also received decadeslong prison terms. The Justice Department called this the first antifa-related sentencing since President Donald Trump ordered the designation of the group as a domestic terrorist organization last year. Critics say the designation endangers free speech. Antifa is more of a network than an organization.聽

Global confidence in the U.S. as a reliable partner has plummeted. A 36-country survey by the Pew Research Center found steep declines in perceptions of the United States as a global leader and stable, model democracy. Marked by strong rejection of President Donald Trump, the survey shows particularly sharp drops in positive views among traditional allies such as Canada. The share of Germans considering the U.S. a reliable partner fell from 83% four years ago to 39%. Mr. Trump received his highest ratings in the Philippines, Israel, and Nigeria, and the lowest in Mexico, Sweden, Turkey, and the occupied West Bank.

Far-left Democrats backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani won House primaries in New York. Mr. Mamdani鈥檚 most polarizing pick, Darializa Avila Chevalier, defeated five-term U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Ms. Chevalier is a democratic socialist who helped organize pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. Comptroller Brad Lander and Claire Valdez also won.

Iran鈥檚 soccer team will be allowed earlier entry back into the U.S. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that it will allow the Iranian squad competing in the 2026 World Cup tournament to enter the country two days ahead of Iran鈥檚 next match in Seattle on Friday against Egypt. For its first two games of the World Cup, U.S. officials only let Iran鈥檚 team into the United States one day before kickoff. After Friday鈥檚 game, Iran鈥檚 players and staff will still be required to return to their base in Tijuana, Mexico.

- Compiled by Monitor writers around the world

As Israelis prepare for fall elections, Gadi Eisenkot is surging in polls to edge out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The retired general鈥檚 security credentials and perceived integrity appear to resonate with voters exhausted by war and division.

Wealthier nations in Asia have seen their average birth rates fall dramatically over time. Now, middle-income Asian countries are seeing the birth rate drop as well.

Both parties have been enacting state-level bans on using SNAP benefits for soda and candy. On Monday, a federal judge said the new rules violate federal laws governing the food program.

Teachers who are seeing inflation consume recent salary gains are turning to jobs outside the classroom to supplement their pay. The largest teachers union says that when inflation is factored in,聽public school teachers are making less than they did a decade ago.

In a world overwhelmed by cellphones, laptops, and other screens, there is a growing space for the old school and analog 鈥� from landline phones to Walkmans and typewriters.

The off-again, on-again hostilities and opening of the Strait of Hormuz are prompting more creative and proactive thinking about global diplomacy and global markets. Governments are using the lulls to rev up stalled economic activities. And the key fossil fuel-producing nations of the Gulf are working quickly to establish alternative infrastructures of cooperation 鈥� as well as of concrete and steel.

Already, Iraq 鈥� which has had tense relations with Syria for years 鈥� has been exporting its oil overland via tanker trucks to Syrian ports. And many Gulf states have pivoted to importing tons of timber, cement, and agricultural and consumer goods through those same ports. There are efforts to collaborate on new pipelines, storage facilities, and even a multicountry rail project. As the Monitor reported last week, these moves are 鈥渁lready reshaping regional trade and cementing new Mideast alliances鈥� among countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Syria.聽

Diplomacy and dealmaking are gradually replacing decades of sectarian differences and political power plays, as Arab nations 鈥� small and large 鈥� reconfigure their regional role and relationships. This process, according to Chatham House, the London-based think tank, could ultimately lead to 鈥渁 unified, proactive ... Gulf architecture鈥� that reduces vulnerability to the decisions of other nations.聽

Other analysts view this moment 鈥� in the aftermath of the war launched by the United States and Israel on Iran, and its spillover attacks in the Gulf 鈥� as an opportunity to establish a 鈥淲estphalia-type鈥� compact. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia, which ended decades of war among Spanish, Dutch, and German rulers, established lasting norms around national sovereignty, balance of power, and interstate alliances.

Like Europe did, the Middle East today is realizing it can help prevent conflict 鈥渢hrough its own internal alliances,鈥� according to War on the Rocks, an online platform focused on defense and foreign affairs. 鈥淭he alignments we witness today are ... the region鈥檚 effort to find its own center of gravity.鈥�

Amid ongoing and uncertain global realignments, any moves toward greater regional stability and interconnectedness offer hope for economic and peace dividends. In April, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that if the ceasefire holds, the war in the Gulf will reduce global growth rates only slightly, from an expected 3.4% to 3.1%. On the plus side, it cited new trade partnerships, regional agreements, and a greater impetus for renewables in import-dependent nations as a way to 鈥渋mprove energy security, and support the climate transition.鈥�

Or, as the World Economic Forum put it this month, the conflict has catalyzed 鈥渁 profound shift in how we conceive of the energy transition. What was once framed primarily as a climate imperative is now equally a matter of strategic sovereignty.鈥�

Refreshed views of international relations as well as natural and national resources can spur diplomatic and technical innovations that help avert or better navigate future conflicts.

While the world might 鈥渂ecome more multipolar, it need not become more fragmented,鈥� according to the IMF. In fact, as the eight-decade-old institution points out, the IMF itself was 鈥渇orged in the aftermath of war and great destruction, to advance economic and financial cooperation and integration for the benefit of all. Today, those principles are more vital than ever.鈥�