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 w...

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,” ca...

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, N...

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 app...

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...

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 w...

For review: 1. US & Iran have agreed to halt attacks on each other and to meet again on Tuesday in Doha to discuss the issues of the Strait of Hormuz. 2. The Israel-Lebanon framework agreement, signed last week, explicitly preserves the Israel Defense Force’s full freedom to act against threats in the southern Lebanon security zone, an official familiar with its contents told The Times of Isra...

For review: 1. US Central Command (CENTCOM) says its forces conducted strikes against Iran earlier this evening in response to an attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz. 2. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it attacked US sites in the Gulf region in retaliation to American strikes in Iran, according to state television. 3. The United States is considering...

For review: 1.  The U.S. government on Tuesday hit Cuban state companies with new sanctions. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctions target five Cuban entities, including three linked to Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces.  2. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Washington would not acc...

For review: 1. The United States and Iran began talks in Switzerland on Sunday after signing a preliminary agreement to end their war. American and Iranian representatives gathered alongside delegations from mediators Pakistan and Qatar at the luxury Swiss resort of Burgenstock. 2. Iran and the United States agree on a roadmap toward reaching a final deal to end the war within 60 days, mediators P...

For review: 1. A B-52 on a routine test mission crashed shortly after takeoff Monday (15 June)  in Southern California, killing all eight crew members on board. 2.  US Army aims to release proposal requests for its heavy variant of the ISV this fall, a senior service official told lawmakers, adding that the Army is attempting to field the capability as quickly as possible. The Army is seeking vehi...

For review: 1. Cuban lawmakers unanimously approved sweeping reforms backed by the Communist ​Party and former leader Raul Castro that would privatize a vast swath of the country's socialist economy in a bid to survive punishing U.S. sanctions. The ‌measures, if implemented as passed, would represent the single largest change to Cuba's socialist model since former leader Fidel Castro&apo...

For review: 1. Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar opened Somaliland’s embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, the eighth top-level diplomatic mission in the capital. The United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, and Fiji also have embassies in Jerusalem, while other countries — including Hungary, the Czech Republic, and...

For review: 1. Senior Hezbollah commander Ali Mussa Daqduq, mastermind of a January 2007 attack that killed five US troops in Iraq, was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon over the weekend, the IDF announced Sunday. 2. US & Iran Reach Deal; Ceasefire Extened 60 Days; Formal Signing in Switzerland Friday. 3. Ahmad Vahidi, the commander in chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard...

For review: 1. The U.S. imposed sanctions Thursday on Cuba’s state-owned oil company, part of a Trump administration effort to restrict fuel supplies and increase pressure on the island’s Communist government. 2. US President Donald Trump called off strikes on Iran Thursday evening, claiming an agreement to end the war had been reached and would be signed shortly. He later said the document should...

For review: 1. US Defense Secretary on Wednesday said the future of Cuba is in the hands of President Trump and Havana’s leadership amid increased U.S. pressure on the communist-ruled island. “No matter what, the Department of War is going to be prepared and postured for any possible contingency,” Sec Hegseth told troops during a visit to the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 2. Presiden...

For review: 1. Israel on Sunday carried out airstrikes in Beirut, with the military saying it targeted a Hezbollah headquarters in the group’s stronghold of Dahiyeh, a large suburb just south of the Lebanese capital. Iran threatened to retaliate, saying, “Watch the sky of the occupied territories tonight.” 2. Iran fired a volley of missiles at northern Israel Sunday night, catapulting the region b...

For review: 1. Raúl Castro, Cuba’s low-profile former president and revolutionary guerrilla, appeared in public for the first time since being indicted by the United States for his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft, official video released Saturday showed. 2. The United States and Iran exchanged fire overnight Friday amid a fragile ceasefire as American officials stepped up...

For review: 1. The United States imposed sanctions Thursday on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel in the latest move by the Trump administration. 2. A statement attributed to Iran’s supreme leader on Thursday said that the United States and Israel had been dealt a “decisive blow” in their war with the Islamic Republic, as the US sent mixed signals about whether the fighting could resume. 3. US Pres...

For review: 1.  Cuba on Tuesday defended a ​military-run conglomerate long the target of U.S. sanctions, saying the group of businesses known as GAESA has ‌contributed to the nation's economic and social development. 2. US forces successfully defeated multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, and conducted self-defense strikes on Qeshm Island in response to attempted attacks by Iran acr...

For review: 1. US SOUTHCOM X: SOUTHCOMCommander Gen. Francis L. Donovan (USMC) personally inspected all aspects of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay’s security posture, leading a comprehensive perimeter security assessment and discussing force protection, operational readiness, and measures to ensure the safety and security of service members, their families, and the joint force stationed at the instal...

For review: 1. The head of the U.S. military's Southern Command met with top Cuban military officials Friday at the edge of the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay. 2. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Friday that troops of the IDF’s 36th Division have crossed Lebanon’s Litani River.  PM Netanyahu:  “Our forces crossed the Litani, and they’ve advanced to the dominating ter...

For review: 1.  The Pentagon has spent months positioning the troops and weapons needed for the U.S. to launch a military attack on Cuba — all it needs is a final go-ahead from the President. 2. The US military carried out new strikes overnight Wednesday-Thursday in Iran, targeting a military site that officials believed posed a threat to US forces and commercial maritime traffic in the Strait of...

For review: 1. Latest on US - Iran Negotiations and Deal. 2. Israel Ramping Up Strikes Against Hezbollah

For review: 1. The U.S deployed the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its accompanying strike group into Caribbean waters this week. 2. US President Donald Trump declared on Saturday that the US and Iran were finalizing a deal to end the war. Iran has agreed to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium as part of an agreement with the US to end the war, two US officials tell the New York Time...