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June 17, 2025 Tehran Is Fabricating Data Leaks About Israeli Pilots An alleged hack-and-leak that claims to reveal the names — along with other biographical and professional data — of about 40 Israeli Air Force (IAF) pilots has spread on social media since June 14.... June 17, 2025 U.S. Military Surges Combat Power to the Middle East The Pentagon is surging additional combat power to the Middle East and Europe as the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict shows no signs of cooling down. The USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group (CSG) is reportedly... June 17, 2025 Egyptian Media Turns Israeli Operation Against Iran Into Anti-Israel Messaging Tool Egyptian media has painted a picture of Israel’s Operation Rising Lion that bears little resemblance to reality. While American media have reported on Israel’s military gains, Tehran’s limited... June 16, 2025 China Sides With Tehran but Wields Little Influence in Iran-Israel War Beijing condemned Israel’s sweeping strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites shortly after they began as a violation of “Iran’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity,” according... June 16, 2025 U.S. Should Not Mistake Oman for a Neutral Mediator Oman is not hesitating to show its sympathy for Iran. The country’s sultan, Haitham bin Tarik, called Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on June 16 to offer condolences and tell Pezeshkian that Oman... June 16, 2025 Europe Hesitates To Condemn Iran, While U.S. Stands by Israel The upcoming G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada, could add a new layer of friction between the United States and Europe. In contrast to President Donald Trump’s unwavering support for Israel in the war,... June 16, 2025 U.S. Forces in the Middle East: Under Attack and Defending Israel U.S. forces are under attack in the Middle East. U.S. officials stated on June 14 that three drones had been launched at Al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq, where U.S. troops are stationed. The drones were almost certainly fired by Iranian-backed proxies and were intercepted before hitting their targets. The attack comes amid renewed threats from Tehran, which has vowed to continue strikes against Israel and said it would attack U.S. bases as the U.S. military helps defend the Jewish state from Iran’s long-range missile and drone barrages. June 15, 2025 Israel May Need U.S. Help to Take Out Key Iranian Nuclear Site Before Disaster Strikes Iran is relocating its enriched uranium stocks for protection against Israeli strikes and will not tell the UN’s nuclear watchdog where, the nation’s deputy foreign minister said Saturday. The move... June 13, 2025 UNIFIL Was Intended to Be a Temporary Force, and It Has Now Outlived Its Utility After nearly five decades, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon’s (UNIFIL) mission may be ending. Israel supports the Trump administration’s decision not to extend the force’s mandate, according... June 12, 2025 New Report Shows How China Uses AI to Augment its Online Intelligence Operations By Max Lesser Artificial intelligence (AI) empowers China to conduct operations that blur the line between collecting sensitive information and influencing public opinion, and a June 10 report by... June 12, 2025 U.S. Treasury Sanctions ‘Sham Overseas Charity Networks Funding Hamas and the PFLP’ The U.S. Treasury just sanctioned fraudulent charities supporting key Palestinian terrorist groups. On June 10, Treasury designated five entities for funding Hamas: Al Weam Charitable Society, Filistin... June 11, 2025 U.S. Authorities Charge Chinese Nationals With Smuggling Biological Samples The U.S. government has uncovered efforts by Chinese researchers to smuggle biological samples into the United States. June 11, 2025 Israel Unveils New Proof of Qatar and Hamas’s Close Collaboration Despite longstanding evidence to the contrary, Qatar has long maintained that it is not a “sponsor of Hamas,” claiming that no “aid has ever been delivered to Hamas’s political or military wing.”... June 10, 2025 President Trump Issues Executive Orders to Counter China’s Drone Industry The Trump administration is ramping up its efforts to counter the threat posed by China’s drone industry. On June 6, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders to codify a process for screening... June 10, 2025 China-Russia Defense Cooperation Showcases Rising Axis of Aggressors Despite its stated neutrality in the war in Ukraine, China continues to fuel Russia’s war machine. In late May, Oleh Ivashchenko, head of the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service, shared new details... June 9, 2025 Lebanon Is Conceding to Hezbollah’s Post-War Reconstruction Demands Hezbollah has rejected calls to disarm, and now, Lebanon is conceding its best — if not only — leverage. On June 3, Lebanese television station Al Jadeedrevealed that President Joseph Aoun appointed... June 9, 2025 South African MPs Seek to Criminalize Speech Defending Israel From Apartheid Allegations A major South African political party seeks to punish key defenders of Israel. Pretoria’s Al Jama-ah party submitted a legal claim on June 2 arguing that members of parliament engaged in unlawful support... June 6, 2025 U.S. Takes Aim at Enablers of Mexican Cartel Oil Smuggling U.S. law enforcement is cracking down on Mexican cartels — but not in the way you think. In late May, the United States charged members of a Utah family with 1) conspiracy to materially support Mexico’s... June 5, 2025 Rocket Attacks on Israel Underscore Continuing Threat from Syria Anti-Israel terrorism may again have found a home in Syria. Rockets struck Israel from Syrian territory on June 3 the first time since President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster. The projectiles hit the Golan... June 3, 2025 China Races Ahead in Biotech Trials. Is the U.S. Stuck in Second Place? Fentanyl fears have played a significant role in U.S.-Chinese trade disputes, but soon legal drugs could be a greater threat from China. On May 29, Axios reported that China had surpassed the United States... June 2, 2025 Turkey and Qatar Are Buying Into Syria. The US Should Be Wary of Their Motives With Washington’s blessing, Qatar and Turkey are cementing their role in post-Assad Syria. On May 29, Syria signed a $7 billion memorandum of understanding with the United States, Qatar, and Turkey to... May 30, 2025 Trump Sets Terms as Russia Offers to Talk — Again After months of delay and posturing, Russia has responded to President Donald Trump’s two-week ultimatum for progress on peace talks with Ukraine. The Kremlin has agreed, once again, to meet with counterparts... May 29, 2025 Escalating Science and Tech Rivalry, State Department Announces Plans to Revoke Chinese Student Visas Rising tensions between the United States and China can no longer be siloed from campus. On May 28, the State Department announced its intention to “work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively... May 29, 2025 ‘Accelerated Cooperation’ Between U.S. Adversaries: New Report Warns America’s authoritarian adversaries are growing bolder as they expedite and increase their security cooperation. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released the 2025 Worldwide Threat Assessment (WWTA)... May 29, 2025 U.S. Support for Iran’s Labor Strikes Is Long Overdue Iran’s workers are uniting in defiance. What began as a call to strike by the Truckers and Drivers Union on May 21 has now grown into a week-long protest spanning more than 40 cities across the country.... May 29, 2025 Syria and Israel Are Finally Talking Syria and Israel are talking — and this time, it is face to face. The two longtime adversaries, who have had little official contact over the decades, are reportedly engaged in dialogue to calm tensions... May 28, 2025 Following Pause in Trade Talks With the U.S., China Reportedly Prepares New Industrial Policy After a decade of accelerated industrialization, China is preparing to go for another round. On May 26, Bloomberg reported that Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping is currently considering relaunching... May 21, 2025 FDD and TeamT5 Reveal That ‘Smiao Network’ Chinese Recruiting Scheme Expands to Target Taiwan Beijing is using the same online recruiting scheme to target both the United States and Taiwan. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) exposed a likely Chinese intelligence operation earlier this... May 20, 2025 Trump Tells Syria to Expel Foreign Fighters, But Sharaa Gives Them Army Divisions “Tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria,” President Donald Trump told interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa in Riyadh on May 14 — just after lifting all U.S. sanctions on Syria. Yet on May 18, Syria’s... May 16, 2025 Trump Administration Discards Proposed Framework for Preventing Diversion of AI Tech to China The Trump administration is scrapping its predecessor’s proposed approach to keeping cutting-edge U.S. chips out of Chinese hands but did not propose a clear-cut alternative. On May 13, the Bureau of... May 14, 2025 From Wanted to Welcomed: Trump Meets Syria’s Ahmad al-Sharaa “I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” said President Donald Trump on May 13 during a speech at an investment forum in Riyadh at... May 14, 2025 Hamas ‘Arrow Unit’ Unveils Its Machinery of Repression in Gaza It was a macabre spectacle. A middle-aged man knocked to the ground, his agonized screams growing louder as unidentified assailants beat him on the soles of his feet with a blunt instrument. Throughout... May 13, 2025 ‘Neither Side Wanted a Decoupling’: U.S. and China Announce Joint Pause on Tariffs Amid Ongoing Negotiations China and the United States have embraced a frosty truce in their burgeoning trade war. On May 12, following a two-day summit in Geneva, Washington and Beijing issued a joint statement announcing a 90-day... May 9, 2025 Any Iranian Enrichment Gives Tehran a Path to Nuclear Weapons Washington has restated its red lines on Iran. On May 7, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance reiterated the administration’s demand that Iran peacefully dismantle its nuclear weapons program, including uranium enrichment as well as its plutonium reprocessing capabilities — key processes that make fuel for atomic arms — or face military action. May 8, 2025 Houthis Pledge to Keep Targeting Israel Despite Ceasefire With U.S. Donald Trump declared that Yemen’s Houthi rebels “have capitulated,” while a top Houthi official said Washington’s agreement to a May 6 ceasefire is “an expression of helplessness and failure.”... May 7, 2025 New Report Finds Beijing Has Successfully Achieved ‘Made in China 2025’ Policy Goals, Catching Up to the U.S. With summer arriving, Beijing has received its latest report card. On April 5, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued an analysis on the state of Made in China 2025 (MIC25) — Beijing’s premier industrial... May 6, 2025 Trump Can’t Have ‘Peace Through Strength’ on a Biden Defense Budget It will be difficult for President Trump to implement his ‘Peace Through Strength’ foreign policy with a Biden defense budget. The Trump administration requested a $892.6 billion base defense budget... May 5, 2025 New Executive Order Demands Transparency in Foreign Funding of U.S. Higher Education A new executive order from President Donald Trump takes aim at billions of dollars of foreign funding flowing into American universities, with the goal of “protect[ing] the marketplace of ideas from... May 2, 2025 Seeking to Expand Its Lead in Fusion Technology, China Accelerates Construction on New Reactor Project China is racing ahead to expand its global lead in fusion technology. On April 29, IEEE Spectrum reported that construction had accelerated on a likely fusion research facility in Mianyang, Sichuan, with... April 30, 2025 It’s Summer Break in Yemen, and the Children Are off to Houthi Boot Camp The Houthis launched their 2025 children’s summer camps in April, even as the group faces U.S. retaliation for its attacks on Red Sea shipping and Israeli civilian targets. These camps have become a... April 30, 2025 Syria’s Fragile Truce With the Kurds Is Falling Apart The agreement between the interim government in Syria and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), signed just two months ago, is already on the brink of collapse. If it breaks down completely,... April 29, 2025 The Message Trump Should Deliver in Qatar “You saved my life,” former Israeli-American hostage Keith Siegel told President Trump at a recent dinner. “You got 33 of us home alive,” Siegel noted, adding, “we will get, with your help, all... April 29, 2025 Chinese Coast Guard Forces Land on Sandy Cay, Escalating Tensions With the Philippines China is stepping up its campaign to dominate key territory in the South China Sea. On April 24, the Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party-owned media outlet, reported that the China Coast Guard (CCG)... April 25, 2025 On Crimea and Russia Sanctions Relief, Congress Has Leverage President Donald Trump is pressuring Ukraine to accept a peace framework granting Russia significant concessions, including sanctions relief and formal U.S. recognition of Moscow’s illegal annexation... April 24, 2025 Bolstering Defense Ties, Vietnam Reportedly Agrees to Purchase American F-16s Almost exactly 50 years after the evacuation of Saigon, American air power has returned to Vietnam. On April 22, 19FortyFive, a defense news outlet, reported that Vietnam had reached an agreement with... April 24, 2025 Jordan Drops the Hammer on the Muslim Brotherhood “The Muslim Brotherhood and all its activities are banned.” With that declaration, Jordanian Interior Minister Mazen al-Farayya broke with decades of restraint toward the influential Islamist movement.... April 24, 2025 New Sanctions Against the Houthis Take Aim at the Terrorist Group’s Banking Sector The Trump administration is following through on the promise of a whole-of-government approach to stopping Houthi terrorism. While U.S. Central Command forces have been continuously striking the group... April 23, 2025 Treasury Report Highlights Role of Financial Transactions in America’s Fentanyl Crisis The Trump administration is intensifying its efforts to resolve America’s fentanyl crisis. On April 9, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released a financial trend analysis of data linked to suspicious... April 21, 2025 Maximum Pressure on Tehran Regime in Motion as Trump Builds Negotiating Leverage Sanctions don’t impede negotiations; they help set the terms. The Treasury Department sanctioned the China-based Shandong Shengxing Chemical Co. oil refinery on April 16 for purchasing some $800 million... April 21, 2025 Probing DeepSeek’s Success, House Select Committee on China Opens Investigation into Nvidia The United States is expanding its efforts to stymie the rise of China’s technology sector. On April 16, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) opened an investigation into Nvidia’s...

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