I - On Defense Podcast

For review:
1. US Central Command (CENTCOM) says it has completed its 11th consecutive evening of air strikes against Iran to further degrade the country’s “ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz”.
2. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that his country was in a “full-scale war” with the United States and that Tehran should accept the repercussions of the conflict, even as mediators reportedly proposed a 10-day truce to deescalate the fighting.
3. US President Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that the US will be striking Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain “probably pretty soon,” amid reports that Tehran has moved nuclear centrifuges, and possibly even enriched uranium, to the secretive underground enrichment site.
4. Houthi Rebels on Monday announced they are imposing a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia  in retaliation for a blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on the Sanaa Airport. 
5. Israeli intelligence has reportedly assessed that Iran has moved thousands of nuclear centrifuges into a site in the Natanz area known as Pickaxe Mountain, burying them deep underground and making them harder to target in aerial strikes.
6. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday, where he declared that his country will permanently end hostilities with Israel and asked for backing in his efforts to disarm Hezbollah. 
7. Lebanese army troops began deploying in the southern Lebanese town of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh Tuesday after Israeli forces withdrew from the area, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) said in a statement, in line with a US-brokered plan for “pilot zones” in the south.
8. Two Hamas terrorists, including a commander, who invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, and were responsible for the abduction of hostages, were killed in separate recent airstrikes, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet announced on Tuesday.
9. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman warned Bulgaria on Tuesday against allowing the U.S. to use its territory for operations against Iran.
The Bulgarian government has said it will seek parliamentary approval to station up to eight U.S. tanker aircraft at an air base in the Balkan country, which is a member of NATO and the European Union.

For review:
1. US President Donald Trump says the latest military strikes on Iran are being carried out in honor of US servicemembers killed in recent days.
The US military launched a new wave of strikes targeting Iran early on Monday, the ninth consecutive night of attacks.
"The strikes will continue degrading Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz," the US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X.
As the US sent dozens of refueling jets back to Israel in anticipation of a possible further escalation, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported, citing an unnamed American official, that the US was also sending dozens of warplanes to the Middle East, bolstering its F-16 and F-35 fleets there.
2. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Sunday met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the start of his official visit to Washington, according to a US State Department readout.
The meeting, held at the State Department, discussed the US-Israel-Lebanon Trilateral Framework, the readout said.
3. Breaking Defense Interview with USAF Chief of Staff.
 In a one-on-one with Breaking Defense, Air Force Chief of Staff GEN Kenneth Wilsbach laid out his big concerns for the service.

For review:
1. China on Thursday voiced strong opposition to any potential US military action against Cuba after reports that the Pentagon was examining contingency plans for possible operations against the island.
2. The US military said it carried out the seventh night of strikes on Iran since President Donald Trump declared the temporary ceasefire agreement was "over".
In a statement shared on X, US Central Command wrote that its forces "hit surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities".
3. The US has reportedly notified Israel that it is sending dozens of additional refueling aircraft to Israel, as US President Donald Trump weighs launching another massive bombing offensive against Iran.
4. Iran has reportedly told its regional allies, including Hezbollah, to prepare for the possibility of a broader conflict amid military escalations with the United States, raising the prospect of Israel becoming directly involved in the fighting.
5. Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi rebels to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters on Thursday.
6. A Hamas company commander who held hostages during the war and served as the “right-hand man” of senior leaders in the terror group was killed in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip yesterday, the IDF and Shin Bet announced.
7. The Kremlin said on Thursday that there is no immediate prospect of resuming peace talks ​with Ukraine, though it said that Russia remains open to ‌the idea of negotiations.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was appreciative of Turkey's willingness to help peace efforts, but no new talks were expected for now.
8. Ukraine has agreed on a plan to acquire 16 Rafale fighter jets from France together with the accompanying weapon systems.
9. The Pentagon doesn’t have a unified strategy for investing in a key hypersonic missile capability for the Navy and the Army — and failing to figure one out could result in additional program delays and inefficient use of funds, a new watchdog report warns.

For review:
1. US Military planners have in recent weeks examined a range of options for possible action against the island, including an Army-led air assault involving thousands of U.S. soldiers to be carried out by the 101st Airborne Division, the only unit trained for such a task, according to multiple U.S. officials with knowledge of the discussions. 
2. US President Trump is leaning toward further expanding US military operations in Iran, according to reports Wednesday, after huddling with top aides in the White House Situation Room the previous night to discuss potentially launching a major offensive against Iran in the coming days.
3. The United States launched fresh waves of strikes on Iran on Wednesday afternoon and evening after reimposing a naval blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran threatened to shut off more regional energy exports.
4. Iran is signaling it could use Yemen’s Houthi allies to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea.
5. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to the United States on Saturday night, a senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.
6. Russia said on Wednesday that any multinational ​force sent by Ukraine's allies to ‌deploy there in the event of a peace deal would be unacceptable to Moscow, which would view ​it as a threat and a legitimate ​military target.
7. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Mykhailo Fedorov as the country’s minister of defense after just six months in office.
8. The Army could award contracts for its high-profile Common Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (CAML) program next month, according to Lt. Gen. Frank Lozano, the service’s portfolio acquisition executive for Fires.
The CAML program is set to serve as a replacement for the Army’s Typhon — its Mid-Range Capability (MRC) long-range launcher — as the service discovered the Typhon was a bit too large to operate on the battlefield.

For review:
1. United Nations Ambassador Mike Walz on Sunday said Cuba’s regime is “a national security threat,” as the Trump administration keeps its sights on the Caribbean island nation.
2. Yemen’s internationally recognized government said it struck Sanaa airport Monday, as the Houthis blamed the government’s Saudi backers for the attack, in the biggest escalation in years between authorities and the Iran-backed rebels.
3. US President Donald Trump said Monday he would probably soon order a strike on the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site, as he declared American military forces would hit Iran hard over the coming two days.
The President's remarks came as the US military confirmed launching strikes on Iran for a third consecutive night.
4.  Israel engaged in a multi-year effort to recruit and re-install as leader Iran’s former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, The New York Times reported Monday.
5. The U.S. will resume its blockade of Iranian ports, coasts and ships, according to a Monday announcement from U.S. Central Command, signaling an end to the 60-day ceasefire between Iran and Washington.
6. US forces used unmanned surface vessels (USVs) for the first time in combat operations — striking a submarine and ship maintenance facility in Iran on Sunday, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).