I - On Defense Podcast

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.

For review:
1. Talks between Cuba and the U.S. are at a standstill, despite the island recently approving a series of free-market reforms, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez announced Tuesday.
2. Attackers shot dead two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at their home in the western city of Paveh, near the border with Iraq’s Kurdistan region, state media reported Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the shooting. 
3. Top US envoys Steve Witkoff and ‌Jared Kushner were in Doha on Tuesday for meetings with Qatari mediators to discuss negotiations with Iran, but Qatar and Iran said there would be no high-level meeting between Washington and Tehran on Tuesday or in the coming days.
4. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told IDF troops in the southern Lebanon security zone on Tuesday that the military would remain in the area for the foreseeable future, crediting the soldiers’ work for the recent agreement between Israel, Lebanon, and the US that demands Hezbollah’s disarmament to enable an Israeli withdrawal.
5. The Israel Defense Forces’ Military Intelligence Directorate and Southern Command submitted a warning last week to Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir that Hamas’s military wing is preparing for renewed war with Israel, the Kan public broadcaster reported Sunday.
6. Russian President Putin has admitted that there was no deal with President Trump to end the war in Ukraine, after Kremlin officials insisted such an agreement was made between the two leaders last August in Alaska.
7. China called on Ukraine and Russia to resume peace talks “as soon as possible” and reiterated its support for an immediate ceasefire during a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, June 30.
8. Outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that British defense spending will reach close to £80 billion ($105 billion) annually by 2029.
9. Based in Townsville in northern Queensland, the Australian Army’s 3rd Brigade is undergoing a massive transformation, as the heavy armored formation absorbs whole new fleets of vehicles.
10. Russia and China conducted joint bomber patrol flights on Saturday for the first time this year, prompting Japan and South Korea to scramble fighter aircraft.