Daily Strike — Morning Edition

Covering the roughly 13 hours from 11:00 UTC Tuesday to midnight UTC entering Wednesday, the desk’s biggest developments run through Beijing: a senator’s push to probe missing F-35 parts in China, and a fresh AEI tracker on the broader US-China-Taiwan friction line, alongside a major Strategic Petroleum Reserve move.

Top Stories

Sen. Tom Cotton is pressing the Pentagon to investigate reports that F-35 components went missing and turned up in China, according to the Washington Examiner. The report does not specify which components were involved or how they left the program’s custody. We have a full article on the request up this morning.

Separately, the American Enterprise Institute published its latest China and Taiwan tracker Tuesday, cataloging ongoing developments across the US-China-Taiwan relationship. The tracker’s specific contents beyond the headline were not detailed in the summary available to this desk.

The US will loan up to 40 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the final batch under a global deal, Reuters reported.

Markets

The SPR loan of up to 40 million barrels, described by Reuters as the last batch under a global deal, is the notable energy-market data point in this window. No specific oil benchmark price levels were available to this desk in the window covered, so we are not citing figures without a primary source in hand. The SPR move is worth watching for any effect on crude prices given ongoing Strait of Hormuz tensions this desk has covered this week.

Secondary Fronts

• President Trump said “friend” Kim Jong Un’s North Korea stands apart from Iran on nuclear weapons, according to reporting cited by Yahoo — a variation on the North Korea comparison Trump made Monday.
• The Atlantic reports Trump backs a plan to ease Russia sanctions in exchange for political prisoners without waiting for the Ukraine war to end, per Meduza’s summary, which would build on reporting this desk covered Monday on the same question. This account has not been independently confirmed beyond the cited summary.
• China granted a singer a rare exemption from censorship rules over an unapproved tribute song, the AP reported.
• Russia’s 2027 military budget has hit a record level, which the Kyiv Independent characterized as confirming Moscow has no interest in ending the war, per Kyiv Independent reporting, a characterization that reflects the outlet’s own framing rather than an official Russian statement of intent.
• North Korea said South Korea will “pay a price” for shifting blame over a mine blast, according to state media cited by Reuters. The underlying details of the mine blast itself were not specified in the summary available to this desk.

What to Watch Tomorrow

1. Whether the Pentagon confirms or declines Cotton’s request for a formal investigation into the missing F-35 components.
2. Any additional detail from AEI or other outlets on the specific developments covered in Tuesday’s China and Taiwan tracker.
3. Whether oil markets react to the confirmed 40-million-barrel SPR loan as the final batch under the global deal is delivered.

What We’re Tracking, Not Yet Published

• The specific F-35 components Cotton’s office says went missing, and the timeframe involved, pending a fuller Pentagon or congressional readout.
• The full contents of AEI’s September 29 China and Taiwan update beyond the headline summary available to us.
• Whether North Korea’s warning to South Korea over the mine blast produces any further military or diplomatic signal.

Tip the Desk

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— The America Strikes desk