I - On Defense Podcast

For review:
1.  Iran’s slain supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei was buried in the country’s holiest shrine, state media said early on Friday. 
The burial in Mashhad in northeast Iran follows a week of mass funeral processions, rallies and mourning.
2.  The United States is demanding that Iran publicly state it will stop attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and that all lanes in the strait will be open to shipping with no tolls, senior US officials say.
3. US President Donald Trump said Friday that the US has agreed to continue holding talks with Iran, but reiterated that the ceasefire with Tehran is over.
4. Iran fired missiles into Jordan as it targeted US military infrastructure across the Middle East after the American military carried out another wave of strikes on Iran, including attacks that Iran said hit near the perimeter area of the Bushehr nuclear plant.
5. A series of unclaimed airstrikes that hit Iran after the US said it finished its attacks have again raised questions of who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic.
6. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir all declared on Thursday that Israel would be ready to return to war with Iran at a moment’s notice.
7. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday dismissed objections from Israel and Greece concerning the possible US sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.
8. Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall have signed an agreement to co-produce the U.S. Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) at Rheinmetall’s Unterlüß site in northern Germany, marking the first time the ballistic missile is set to be manufactured outside the United States.
9. The United Kingdom announced today it planned to join the US Army’s Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) program after having set aside £190 million ($254 million) to buy the long-range munitions.

For review:
1. The United States launched fresh strikes on Iran late Wednesday and into early Thursday morning after striking Iranian targets a day earlier in response to attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
2. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday fumed at Iran following renewed military strikes overnight, saying he thought the US-Iran memorandum of understanding “is over,” calling Tehran’s leadership “scum” and adding: “We’re going to hit them hard tonight.”
3. Funeral processions for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were held Wednesday in the holy Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala with masses of mourners present.
4. Lebanon is demanding that Israel fulfill its pledge to withdraw from two “pilot zones” in the nation’s south and hand them over to the Lebanese military before it agrees to participate in the next round of direct talks, scheduled for next week in Rome, a Lebanese diplomatic source told AFP Wednesday.
5. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday informed his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa that he had decided to remove the country from the US list of designated state sponsors of terrorism.
6. President Trump said Wednesday he is undecided on whether to readmit Turkey into the U.S.’s F-35 fighter jet program after expelling the country during his first term. 
7. President Trump at NATO Summit in Turkey.
8. Cuba’s foreign minister accused the United States of committing an "act of war" by restricting fuel shipments to the island Tuesday, prompting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz to deliver a forceful response blaming Cuba’s communist government for years of blackouts, repression and economic collapse.

For review:
1. President Trump held separate calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, which is now in its fifth year. 
2. Norway wants China to use its ⁠ties to the Russian ⁠leadership to help bring about ⁠a negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraine, also for the sake of better relations with Europe, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Monday.
3. NATO Summit in Turkey 07-08 July 2026.
4. As US President Donald Trump heads to Turkey for a NATO summit, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday urged Washington not to sell advanced weaponry to Ankara, and in particular F-35 jets.
5. Iran’s top officials and brothers of the country’s new supreme leader emerged into public view Sunday to attend the funeral prayers for the late ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
6. The Hamas government in Gaza on Monday announced the resignation of the so-called “Emergency Committee” — the Hamas-led administration that governs the Strip — in preparation for the transfer of authority to the technocratic National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
7. Seoul and Jakarta are ironing out the transfer of a singular KF-21 fighter jet prototype, capping a decade-long back and forth over deal to manufacture the South Korean jets in Indonesia that once envisioned the handover as one of many.
8. The People’s Liberation Army Navy test fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile from the South China Sea to the Pacific Ocean on Monday.

For review:
1. Iran’s ambassador to China insists that new fees will be charged to ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz — an idea rejected by Washington — while assuring that “friendly” nations would receive special treatment.
2. Recent satellite imagery shows no signs that Iran has begun repairing key damage at its main nuclear facilities following US and Israeli strikes, though construction appears to be taking place at the Pickaxe Mountain tunnel complex adjacent to the Natanz Nuclear Facility, the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security says.
3. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump agreed to meet in the US in the near future during a phone call Friday, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
4. Iranian security officials have rejected Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s request to attend the burial of his slain father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, because they fear Israel will kill the son or track him back to his hiding spot, NYT Report.
5. US officials indirectly warned Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf during negotiations earlier this year that Israel might try to assassinate them.
6. Massive crowds gathered as Iran began a days-long funeral Saturday for the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with many calling for “revenge” and “death to Israel,” months after an airstrike killed him at the start of the war.
7. The United States has withdrawn most of the forces it deployed for a recent operation against Islamic State militants in Nigeria and is now providing intelligence support at Abuja’s request, the head of U.S. Africa Command said.
In May, U.S. and Nigerian forces conducted military operations in northeastern Nigeria that killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second-in-command of ISIS globally.

For review:
1. US-Saudi relations have significantly deteriorated in recent months amid anger in Riyadh over Washington’s decision to launch a war against Iran that has caused massive blowback for the rest of the region, to the extent that the US is reportedly considering pulling troops from the Gulf kingdom.
2. Funeral processions for Khamenei will begin on Saturday in Tehran and conclude on July 9 with his burial in his hometown of Mashhad, with additional ceremonies planned in Qom and Iraq in between.
 The ceremonies are expected to draw 15 to 20 million mourners, according to officials, which would make it the biggest state funeral in the country’s history.
3. Syria’s foreign minister said during a visit to Beirut on Thursday that Syria was open to meeting the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah “if interests require it,” Lebanon’s state news agency reported.
Asaad al-Shaibani met Lebanese government leaders, including President Joseph Aoun and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally. 
4. Israel has successfully completed a series of tests on an upgraded version of its Iron Dome aerial defense system, demonstrating new joint operational capabilities with the Iron Beam laser system, the Israeli ministry of defense said on Tuesday. 
This integration is a prerequisite for future operational deployments allowing commanders to dynamically toggle between missile and laser interceptions based on the nature of the incoming threat, system availability and cost-benefit calculations.
5. President Donald Trump will traveled for the first time on the new Air Force One aircraft Wednesday, according to the White House.