I - On Defense Podcast

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.

For review:
1. US President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the Iran war, trade, and US arms sales to Taiwan. 
2. If Iran does not accept US terms for a deal to end the war and address its nuclear program, the United States will “finish the job,” US President Donald Trump declared on Tuesday.
3. Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with the US said on Monday the Islamic Republic is “ready to deliver a well-deserved response to any aggression,” as US President Donald Trump reportedly considered restarting the war after negotiations with Tehran reached a dead end.
4. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Wednesday that he made a secretive visit to the United Arab Emirates and met with its leader, President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, during the US-Israeli war with Iran earlier this year.
5. The heads of Israel’s two main intelligence agencies separately visited the United Arab Emirates in recent months, including during the war with Iran, according to Wednesday reports.
The reported visits are the latest reported signs of increased cooperation between the two countries during the war.
6. Saudi Arabia launched numerous, unpublicized strikes on Iran in retaliation for attacks carried out in the kingdom during the war, two Western officials briefed on the matter and two Iranian officials said.
7. Russia will deploy its new Sarmat strategic nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile at the end of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after his forces tested it on Tuesday, describing the missile as “the most powerful in the world.” 
8. US Army has canceled the deployment of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division — more than 4,000 soldiers and associated equipment — to Poland.

For review:
1. US military intelligence-gathering flights are surging off the coast of Cuba, a CNN analysis of publicly available aviation data shows.
Since February 4, the US Navy and Air Force have conducted at least 25 such flights using manned aircraft and drones, most of them near the country’s two biggest cities, Havana and Santiago de Cuba, and some coming within 40 miles of the coast, according to FlightRadar24.
2. US President Donald Trump on Monday said the ceasefire with Iran was “on life support,” a day after he rejected the proposal submitted by Iran over the weekend for a permanent truce.
3. The United Arab Emirates carried out military strikes on Iran, making it the only other country to join the United States and Israel in its war against the Islamic Republic, according to a report on Monday.
During the US-Israel war on Iran, Tehran launched sustained attacks on the UAE, firing some 550 ballistic and cruise missiles and more than 2,200 drones, according to the Emirati defense ministry, making it the most targeted country in the region, including Israel.
4. The UK and France will on Tuesday host a multinational meeting of defense ministers on military plans to restore trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the British government said.
The announcement came hours after Iran warned London and Paris against sending warships to the region.
5. The EU has dismissed Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that the Kremlin-friendly former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder could serve as a European mediator in peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
6. A 10-ship Russian convoy transited Japan’s Tsushima Strait to enter the East China Sea over the weekend, according to Japan’s Joint Staff Office.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) spotted two Russian corvettes, a fleet oiler, a tugboat and six cargo ships around 5 p.m. Saturday sailing southwest 140 kilometers northeast of Tsushima.
7. Taiwan’s parliament has approved a proposed government boost to defense spending after a protracted standoff — although it pared back the proposed supplementary budget by a third, and limited spending to US defense systems. 
8. United States, Philippine, Japanese and Canadian forces combined land, sea and air platforms to sink two decommissioned ships off the western Northern Luzon coast during Balikitan 2026 last week, according to a Defense Department release.

For review:
1. President Trump Announces Russia & Ukraine Ceasefire and Priosner Exchange.
The ceasefire will begin on Saturday and run through Monday, President Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This ceasefire will include a suspension of all kinetic activity, and also a prisoner swap of 1,000 prisoners from each country."
2. NYT Report: Russia is sending drone components to Iran via Caspian Sea shipping, US officials told the NYT in a report published Saturday, turning the world’s largest lake into a key conduit for both covert and overt trade.
3. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff met today in Miami with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, as Doha assists in efforts to mediate a permanent ceasefire deal between Washington and Iran, a source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.
Qatar has been quietly operating as a go-between, while allowing Pakistan to play the main mediating role, the source says, confirming an earlier report.
4. Fresh “sporadic clashes” broke out Friday between Iranian and US naval forces in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state media, marking the latest flare-up despite a monthlong ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.
The fighting came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington expected a response from Tehran on Friday to its latest proposal.
5. Iran’s foreign ministry issued an unusual warning on Wednesday to the “rulers of Abu Dhabi,” the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
It accused the tiny oil-rich state of conspiring with the United States and Israel against Iran, and threatened “dangerous consequences” unless the Emirates pulled away from those countries.
6. Israel reportedly set up a secret military base in the Iraqi desert in February in order to support its aerial campaign against Iran.
7. The UK will deploy one of its warships to the Middle East as part of planning for a European-led mission to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz once there’s a stable ceasefire. 
France recently announced it had moved its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to the Red Sea in a move aimed at signaling that the coalition stood ready to secure the strait.