I - On Defense Podcast

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 Times.
3. The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday said it hit Hezbollah sites in the terror group’s strongholds in south and east Lebanon overnight following evacuation warnings.
4. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on May 22, that peace negotiations regarding Ukraine are currently suspended, though Washington remains ready to resume its mediating role if future discussions prove constructive.
5. Poland will receive its first batch of F-35 stealth fighter jets under a deal signed with the United States.
6. On Thursday, President Trump said in a Truth Social post he was "pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland."
It wasn't clear whether the troops would be based in the country permanently or on a rotational basis.
7. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is casting new doubt on NATO's relevance to the United States after key allies recoiled from backing Washington’s “Operation Epic Fury.”
8. A drone wingman built by General Atomics has resumed flying roughly one month after crashing in the California desert shortly after takeoff. 
In a press release Thursday, the company said its YFQ-44A aircraft “returned to flight testing following a round of safety reviews and software enhancements.” 
The drone is being developed for the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) Program.

For review:
1. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that there were “good signs” for a deal to end the war with Iran, but that an agreement would be “unfeasible” if Tehran pursues its plan to toll ships in the Strait of Hormuz. 
2. WSJ Report: Israel has created a list of all Palestinians who took part in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks and is working to kill or arrest each one.
3. The Navy doesn’t have the bandwidth to escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Navy’s top officer- Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle.
4. Russia launched its largest nuclear exercises in years on Tuesday, mobilizing nearly 65,000 troops, over 200 missile launchers, 140 aircraft, 73 surface vessels and 13 submarines, including eight strategic nuclear submarines, in a three-day drill that runs through Thursday.
The exercises involve the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Pacific Fleets, Long-Range Aviation Command, and units from the Leningrad and Central Military Districts, according to the ministry statement. Live launches of ballistic and cruise missiles at ranges inside Russia are planned as part of the drills.
5. The remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper was the workhorse in the U.S. air campaign against Iran, Air Force leaders told Congress on May 20.
6. The carrier-based MQ-25A Stingray reached the milestone C authorization that the Pentagon requires for a program to enter the low-rate initial production stage of acquisition.

For review:
1. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez insisted Cuba "poses no threat" to the United States and doesn't have "aggressive plans or intentions against any country," after Axios reported that the island nation has hundreds of military drones and has been allegedly discussing plans to strike the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay and potentially Florida's Key West.
2. The Republic of Somaliland will open an embassy in Jerusalem, its first anywhere in the world, the state’s ambassador to Israel said Tuesday.
Currently, seven countries have embassies in Jerusalem — the US, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, and Fiji. 
3. US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he had called off a major attack against Iran, which he claimed was slated to take place on Tuesday after Gulf allies assured him that a deal with Tehran was now possible thanks to the renewal of “serious negotiations.”
4. The US State Department has cleared potential military support deals worth a combined $428.2 million for India’s Apache rotary-wing aircraft and M777A2 155mm howitzers.
5. The Trump administration is planning to tell NATO allies this week that it will shrink the pool of military capabilities that the U.S. would have available to assist the alliance’s European nations in a major crisis.
6.  NATO Supreme Allied Commander: Europe should “absolutely” expect additional United States troop withdrawals in the future as European NATO allies strengthen their capability to provide more of their own  conventional defense.

For review:
1. Cuba has posted a “family guide” on provincial websites on how to survive “potential enemy attacks,” as the communist-run island reels from US pressure and energy shortages.
The release of the document– comes days after the head of the CIA visited Cuba, an extraordinary step in contact between Washington and Havana. 
2. The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday confirmed killing Hamas military chief Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the terror group’s leader in Gaza, in a “precise strike” on Gaza City in the Strip’s north the previous day.
3. NYT Report:  Israel built two covert bases in Iraq to aid in its wars with Iran.
4. President Trump told Axios in a phone call that "the clock is ticking" for Iran and warned that if the Iranian regime doesn't come with a better offer for a deal "they are going to get hit much harder."
5. NYT Report: Israel and the United States are carrying out their most intense preparations yet to renew attacks on Iran, possibly as soon as next week.
6. Iranian state television said on Saturday that European countries were in talks with Tehran over transit of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
7. The UK has down-selected a group of four competitors to develop drone wingman aircraft capable of teaming with British Army Apache attack helicopters.
8. Four Navy pilots are safe after their EA-18G Growlers crashed during the Gunfighter Skies air show at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho on Sunday. The crash is under investigation.

For review:
1. CIA Director Ratcliffe met with counterparts from Cuba's Ministry of the Interior on Thursday during a high-level visit to the island nation amid "complex bilateral relations" between the long-time adversaries.
2. President Donald Trump says he has not yet decided whether a major sale of US arms to Taiwan can move forward following his three-day visit to China. 
3. Israel said that it had targeted Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip and the head of the terror group’s military wing, in an airstrike in Gaza City on Friday. 
 A senior Israeli security official told reporters that were “initial indications” that Haddad was killed.  The IDF has not yet officially commented on the strike.
4. US President Donald Trump counted “the military decimation of Iran” among his administration’s accomplishments in a social media post on Thursday, adding, “to be continued!”
The phrase, included in a lengthy Truth Social Post suggested he may resume the war against Iran after he returns from his trip to China on Friday. 
5. US President Donald Trump said Friday that he would accept a 20-year suspension of the uranium enrichment at the heart of Iran’s rogue nuclear program if Tehran gave a “real” guarantee, in an apparent shift from his previous demand that Iran permanently halt its program and his pledge to ensure Iran can never attain nuclear weapons.
6. US CENTCOM CDR Admiral Brad Cooper appears at SASC Hearing. 
Admiral Cooper:
- US has the military power to permanently reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
- Iran’s ability to threaten its neighbors and US interests has been dramatically reduced by US bombings, and Tehran’s defense industry has been set back by 90%.
- Iran was no longer able to transfer arms and other resources to its main allies in the region: Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and Hamas in Gaza. “Those transfer paths and methods have been cut off.”
7. The United States on Friday announced a 45-day extension of a porous ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, even as the Iran-backed terror group continued to clash with IDF soldiers and launch missiles and drones into Israeli territory.
8. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party on Thursday began a three-day conference to elect its highest leadership body for the first time in 10 years.