Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
‘They’re not easy’: Board of Peace envoy admits Hamas disarmament talks stalled Iran talks on shaky footing after U.S. seizure of ship in Strait of Hormuz The Free Press’s Eli Lake: Who really speaks for Iran? The killer robots are coming. The battlefield will never look the same. Russia has taken 1,700 square km of Ukraine this year, top general says Israel, Lebanon to hold second round of talks in Washington on Thursday JCFA VP Aviram Bellaishe: Hezbollah remains the central barrier in Israel-Lebanon negotiations South Korea's Lee says claim that minister leaked classified intel is 'absurd' Japan to sell more weapons abroad, breaking with postwar pacifism Mexico to investigate security role of 2 U.S. officials killed in crash Los Angeles woman arrested on Iranian arms trafficking charge Hudson Institute’s Patrick M. Cronin and Carnegie Mellon University’s David Glick: Why Japan and South Korea Are Key to Competing with China’s ShipbuildingIn The News
Israel
Israel on Monday said it had uncovered an Iranian network that had planned to attack a pipeline carrying crude oil from Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean as well as Israeli and Jewish targets in Azerbaijan. – Reuters
The Board of Peace’s lead envoy for Gaza admitted Monday that talks with Hamas on disarmament are going to take more time, even though the ultimatum he gave for the terror group to accept his proposal on handing over its weapons expired nine days earlier. – Times of Israel
The IDF’s Military Prosecution on Monday filed an indictment against a lieutenant who attempted to smuggle goods from Israel into the Gaza Strip. – Jerusalem Post
In an unprecedented display of informality for an occasion of its kind, President Javier Milei of Argentina was presented with Israel’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Honor, in a brief ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on Monday, only hours before Israel would sink into somber solidarity with its bereaved families at the onset of Remembrance Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror. – Jerusalem Post
The Assembly of Catholic Ordinances of the Holy Land, the preeminent Catholic authority in Jerusalem, condemned on Sunday the destruction of a statue of Jesus during an IDF operation in southern Lebanon. – Jerusalem Post
Moscow authorities detained and interrogated approximately 40 Israelis landing at the Russian capital’s Domodedovo Airport over involvement in the Iran war, Russian opposition outlet Mediazona reported on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: None of that closes itself. It will be closed by the same posture that drained the swamps, won the War of Independence, and absorbed a million Soviets in five years. Pessimism has never built anything in this country, and it is not going to rebuild it now. So, a small suggestion for the year ahead. By all means, mourn the ones who leave, but carry the new arrivals in on your shoulders. Understand the pessimist if you must, then go follow the optimist. Nobody else has ever moved this country forward. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
A second round of face-to-face peace talks between the United States and Iran, planned for this week in Pakistan, remain on shaky footing after Iranian officials threatened not to attend following the U.S. seizure of an Iranian-flagged vessel near the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend. – Washington Post
Only five ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Monday as traffic in the crucial waterway slowed to a near halt, according to data from Kpler, a firm that tracks maritime traffic. – New York Times
The Iranian-flagged container ship seized by U.S. forces in the Arabian Sea on Sunday was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2020, during President Trump’s first term in office. Treasury officials said at the time that they were targeting the 960-foot-long vessel, the Touska, over links to Iran’s financial entities and weapons programs. – New York Times
The U.S. Navy has turned back 27 ships trying to enter or exit Iranian ports since an American blockade outside the contested Strait of Hormuz began about a week ago, the military’s Central Command said on Monday. – New York Times
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that every rational and diplomatic path should be used to reduce tensions with the U.S., but added that vigilance and distrust in interactions with Washington were an “undeniable necessity”, according to the state news agency IRNA. – Reuters
President Donald Trump said on Monday he believed a nuclear deal the U.S. is currently negotiating with Iran will be better than a 2015 international agreement to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. – Reuters
President Donald Trump said on Monday that Israel did not persuade him to attack Iran, after news reports that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu influenced the U.S. president’s decision and criticism from right-wing commentators. – Reuters
Iran executed two men convicted of cooperating with Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and planning attacks inside the country, the judiciary’s news outlet Mizan reported on Sunday, a charge denied by the opposition group they were linked to. – Reuters
An Iranian citizen who was indicted more than a decade ago on charges that he shipped military sonar equipment from the U.S. to Iran in violation of American trade sanctions has been extradited to Seattle, the Justice Department said Monday. – Associated Press
As President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to decide whether to extend a two-week ceasefire between the countries approaches, attention is increasingly turning not to Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, but to a shadowy Revolutionary Guard commander with a long record of terror, repression and hardline ideology. – Fox News
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said that Iran would not accept negotiations beneath the shadow of threats, and is prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield in a post on his X/Twitter account early Tuesday morning. – Jerusalem Post
Iran’s Parliament Speaker, Mohammed-Bagher Ghalibaf, denounced political figures in Tehran who oppose holding ceasefire talks with the US, London-based anti-regime outlet Iran International reported on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
Eli Lake writes: The biggest challenge facing American negotiators this week as they head to Islamabad will not be wrangling over the removal of enriched uranium trapped beneath Iran’s destroyed nuclear facilities. It won’t be setting the terms for opening the Strait of Hormuz. And it won’t be trying to end the regime’s support for terrorist proxies in the Middle East. As important as all of those issues are, the primary question now for the team led by Vice President J.D. Vance is understanding exactly who is calling the shots in Tehran. – The Free Press
Mike Evans writes: I once asked King Abdullah of Jordan, during the height of the Syrian civil war, what determines who terrorists fight for. His answer was simple: “Money does.” Whoever pays them the most, they fight for. The same principle applies in Iran. There is no realistic scenario in which Iran’s military forces will continue to support the regime if they are not paid, especially when they know that the vast majority of the population opposes it. The poisoned chalice is not forced; it is chosen when there is no other option left. – Jerusalem Post
Dominic Tierney writes: Iran surely has a healthy respect for the United States’ battlefield acumen. During its six weeks of fighting, the American military displayed impressive tactical skill. But the U.S. bar for victory—the toppling of the Islamic Republic and the creation of a pro-American, democratic government (ideally as Iranians celebrated in the streets of Tehran)—was simply not achievable at a reasonable cost. The war was doomed from the start. – Foreign Affairs
James Holmes writes: The Strait of Hormuz could prove to be a fatal liability as well as a strategic advantage for Iran. The Iranian economy is utterly dependent on hydrocarbon exports across the sea. An effective US naval blockade would sever this economic lifeline, squelching the flow of resources Tehran needs for warmaking. In short, an effective blockade would pit Iran’s penchant for “resistance” against its ability to withstand economic distress. Can a layered blockade buck historical trendlines, and prove quick and decisive? That is the proposition America and Iran are putting to the test. – The National Interest
Russia and Ukraine
The robots charged into battle through a valley in eastern Ukraine, driving over grass toward a Russian position. Essentially little green wagons, they looked like something you might buy at a garden store to move bags of soil around. But each carried 66 pounds of explosives. – New York Times
Russia’s Federal Security Service said on Monday that it had detained a 57-year-old German woman with a bomb in her rucksack as part of what it cast as a false-flag operation directed by Ukrainian intelligence. – Reuters
A Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea port of Tuapse sparked a fire and killed at least one person, Russian officials said on Monday, only hours after a blaze was extinguished following a similar attack on April 16. – Reuters
Russian forces have taken 1,700 square km (656 square miles) of territory in Ukraine this year and are advancing on its so-called fortress belt in Donbas, Moscow’s top general said while inspecting his forces. – Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview broadcast on Monday that the damaged Druzhba pipeline carrying Russian oil to Eastern European countries would be restored to operation by the end of April. – Reuters
Lebanon
Israel on Monday told residents of south Lebanon to stay out of a belt of territory at the border and not to approach the area of the Litani River, entrenching its grip over southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah. – Reuters
Israeli and Lebanese representatives will hold talks in Washington on Thursday, a U.S. State Department spokesperson and an Israeli source speaking on the condition of anonymity told Reuters on Monday. – Reuters
Aviram Bellaishe writes: That is also the condition for peace. Not because peace with Lebanon is distant, but because it is possible: quiet borders, commerce, tourism, civil ties, and a more stable Middle East. For that to happen, however, southern Lebanon must return to the Lebanese state, and the decision on war and peace must rest with a government, not a militia. What opened on April 14 will become a real possibility for peace only if southern Lebanon returns to the Lebanese state. – Jerusalem Post
Gulf States
Ten years ago, a 30-year-old prince named Mohammed bin Salman announced sweeping plans to transform Saudi Arabia, declaring that he would end its “addiction” to oil. A cascade of changes have whirled through the conservative Islamic kingdom since then. – New York Times
A warning by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has crystallised fears among Gulf states that reopening the Strait of Hormuz may be the most Iran-U.S. talks can achieve, falling short of the broader de-escalation they regard as vital. – Reuters
Kuwait has declared force majeure on shipments of crude oil and refined products after a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz prevented some vessels from entering the Persian Gulf, hindering its ability to meet certain customer commitments, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing a document. – Reuters
Maria Fantappie and Vali Nasr write: Over the course of six weeks of war between Iran, Israel, and the United States, Saudi Arabia’s restraint has perplexed some onlookers. After all, the war almost immediately spilled into the Persian Gulf. Iran’s retaliatory attacks on infrastructure in Gulf countries—and then Tehran’s closure and Washington’s subsequent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz—ended a security paradigm that had dominated for decades and facilitated the astonishing rise of the Gulf’s economies. – Foreign Affairs
Middle East & North Africa
Iraq has reopened the Rabia border crossing with Syria after more than a decade to accelerate overland fuel oil exports and revive cross‑border trade amid disruption to Gulf shipping following the Iran war, Iraqi border officials said on Monday. – Reuters
The leaders of Iraq’s main Shi’ite Muslim political blocs picked government official Bassem al-Badry as their nominee for the post of prime minister in a meeting on Monday, two Iraqi Shi’ite officials said, though no official announcement was made. – Reuters
The European Commission has proposed a full resumption of its 1978 cooperation agreement with Syria, deepening its engagement ahead of formal talks with Syria’s authorities in May, confirming a Reuters report published on Friday. – Reuters
Syria is cracking down on terrorist plots and drug smuggling. In four recent incidents, Syria has shown that it can bust various terrorist and drug smuggling cells that threaten the nation and the region. – Jerusalem Post
Korean Peninsula
India and South Korea said on Monday that they would boost their economic ties by expanding cooperation in energy, critical minerals, shipbuilding, semiconductors and steel as they seek to double their trade to $50 billion by 2030. – Reuters
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has rejected as “absurd” claims that his minister overseeing relations with North Korea revealed classified information provided by the U.S. on Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities. – Reuters
South Korea’s newly appointed central bank governor, Shin Hyun-song, said on Tuesday the country’s monetary policy needed to be cautious and flexible amid heightened inflation and growth uncertainty due to the Middle East conflict. – Reuters
Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev arrived in North Korea for talks on cooperation between the two allies, the ministry’s spokeswoman Irina Volk said early on Tuesday. – Reuters
Jung H. Pak writes: In the past, Washington has offered sanctions relief, economic assistance, and humanitarian aid to engage Pyongyang and restrain its actions. Now, if the United States chooses to revive dialogue, it will have to be prepared to offer much more than that. Kim has new networks, new capabilities, and tacit acceptance that North Korea will remain a nuclear power. Washington must reckon with the new geostrategic landscape because however Kim chooses to advance his goals—through diplomatic or military means or a combination of both—what happens on the Korean Peninsula won’t stay on the Korean Peninsula. – Foreign Affairs
China
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for normal passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz to be maintained, in a phone call on Monday with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held as Beijing steps up efforts to help end the Iran war. – Reuters
The Chinese aircraft carrier the Liaoning sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Monday, the Taiwanese defence ministry said, in the first transit of the sensitive waterway by such a vessel since late last year. – Reuters
Chinese government officials are encouraging travelers to be wary and avoid entering the United States through Seattle, citing a pattern of continual harassment by U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel. – Associated Press
Beijing’s newest and largest aircraft carrier is expected to achieve full operational readiness this year, Chinese state media reported when highlighting the rapid progress of the country’s carrier program and naval aviation developments. – USNI News
Editorial: An emboldened China may feel it has the U.S. over a barrel. Xi and other Communist Party leaders are betting that their market is too important for American companies to flee, so it’s okay to use them as bargaining chips in trade talks. But hostage taking has limits. And once companies decide the China risk is greater than the reward, competitors like India and the countries of Southeast Asia are waiting, with more welcoming politics. The sooner that happens, the better. – Washington Post
Fareed Zakaria writes: China is using this moment to burnish its reputation but mostly to build its power. If the correlation of forces moves steadily in its favor, if the U.S. continues to squander its global influence, one day Beijing might well decide that, after all, it does want to take on the mantle of the world’s leading power. And at that point, it will be too late for Washington to do anything about it. – Washington Post
South Asia
Over the past year, a focused campaign to win Trump’s favor appears to have paid off. For months, Pakistan’s leaders wooed the Trump administration with flashy deals and public praise. – Washington Post
India’s crude oil imports fell 13% in March from pre-war levels in February, with half coming from Russia, after the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran halted Middle Eastern shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, shipping data showed. – Reuters
Pakistan has put a $1.5 billion deal to supply weapons and jets to Sudan on hold after Saudi Arabia asked for the agreement to be terminated and said it would not finance the purchase, two Pakistani security sources and a diplomatic source said. – Reuters
Farah N. Jan writes: The most common objection to Pakistan’s structural indispensability is that Pakistan’s current centrality is a product of personal chemistry between Munir and Trump and will evaporate when either man leaves the stage. The historical record does not support this. The broker role has outlasted every army chief and every American president who has engaged in it. It will outlast these two as well. Washington’s challenge is not to change that pattern but to stop being surprised by it. A state that can call Trump, Witkoff, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the same week and be taken seriously by all three is not a problem to be managed. It is a resource to be understood. The only variable is whether Washington will have developed, by then, a strategic framework capable of working with that reality rather than against it. – War on the Rocks
Asia
The Japanese government moved on Tuesday to allow the sale of more weapons abroad, in the latest shift away from pacifist policies imposed after World War II, as it grapples with rising security threats from China and a rapidly changing global order. – New York Times
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Tuesday said he received the support of National Party lawmakers after calling a confidence vote on his leadership, following days of speculation that some within the party were seeking to replace him. – Reuters
Philippine and U.S. forces will carry out maritime strike drills on a remote Philippine island near Taiwan during annual exercises that started on Monday, which Manila’s military chief said would test their readiness under “real‑world conditions”. – Reuters
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on Tuesday there has only been ‘marginal’ use of Philippine bases accessible to the U.S. military due to land issues. – Reuters
A 7.7 magnitude earthquake Monday off northern Japan sparked a short-lived tsunami alert and an advisory of a slightly higher risk of a possible megaquake for its coastal areas. – Associated Press
Europe
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting for his political life after revelations that Peter Mandelson, the veteran Labour grandee Starmer appointed as his ambassador to Washington, took up his post even after failing a classified security-vetting process because of his connections to Jeffrey Epstein. – Washington Post
Russia looked set to regain a degree of leverage inside the European Union after Bulgaria’s Kremlin-friendly former president Rumen Radev won a resounding majority in an election that will allow his party to unilaterally form a government. – Washington Post
Disruption to global oil supplies from the Iran war has added more than $100 to the price of long-haul flights from Europe, a cost likely to trigger higher ticket prices, campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) said. – Reuters
Britain will launch a package of measures on Tuesday to accelerate the growth of renewable power and reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuels which have soared in cost due to the conflict in Iran, the government said. – Reuters
Portugal is confident there will be no jet fuel shortages at the country’s airports in the coming months, despite concerns among European airlines ahead of the holiday travel season. – Reuters
The European Union will expand the criteria of its Iran sanctions to include those responsible for blocking the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely shut for nearly two months upending global energy and commodities markets, two EU diplomats said. – Reuters
Austria released on Monday the first batch of crude from its reserves under a coordinated plan agreed by International Energy Agency member countries last month to counter the impact of the Iran war. – Reuters
Romania’s ruling Social Democrats voted to withdraw their support for Liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan on Monday and called on him to resign, likely triggering months of instability that will jeopardise EU funds and the country’s credit rating. – Reuters
Slovenia’s outgoing prime minister, Robert Golob, on Monday said that his liberal Freedom Movement (GS), which narrowly won a parliamentary vote in March, would go into opposition after failing to secure a majority coalition, indicating that centre-right parties would form a government. – Reuters
British police said on Monday they had arrested two people over an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in north London over the weekend, as counter-terrorism officers probe possible links between a series of recent attacks on Jewish targets and Iran. – Reuters
Migrants in Spain on Monday began applying in person to legalize their status after the Southern European nation launched an amnesty measure that could affect hundreds of thousands of foreigners living and working in the country without authorization. – Associated Press
Hungarian election winner Péter Magyar on Monday announced the first round of his incoming government’s Cabinet members, including nominees for ministers of foreign affairs, finance and economy, following the first meeting of his party’s parliamentary group. – Associated Press
Hungarian Prime Minister-elect Péter Magyar said Monday that his government would be obligated to detain Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he enters Hungarian territory while still subject to an International Criminal Court warrant. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: A scandal of this magnitude might ordinarily create an opportunity for a reset. Lying to Parliament, if anyone proves Mr. Starmer did, usually is a resigning offense. But Labour is deeply divided between centrist and far-left factions that would struggle to coalesce behind a replacement. Mr. Starmer may find a way to limp on, even if Labour fares as poorly as expected in local elections next month. This is fascinating as political spectacle, but it’s no way to run a country. Mr. Starmer owes voters a clearer explanation of how the Mandelson mess happened. More important, he or someone else needs to offer at long last a convincing plan to revive British confidence and economic vitality. – Wall Street Journal
Africa
Nigerian airlines have temporarily suspended a planned nationwide shutdown of flight operations over crippling fuel prices after a government appeal to halt the action pending talks, the airlines said over the weekend. – Reuters
Chad plans to send 1,500 personnel to Haiti, its presidential office said in a letter to lawmakers distributed on Monday, as part of its contribution to a U.N.-backed security force that aims to be 5,500-strong by this summer. – Reuters
Ugandan and Congolese soldiers rescued at least 200 civilians in a raid on an Islamist militant camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last week, Uganda’s military said on Monday. – Reuters
Nigeria’s broadcast regulator has barred radio and television presenters from airing personal opinions, intimidating guests or broadcasting divisive political content, warning of sanctions ahead of the 2027 general elections. – Reuters
U.S. companies are showing “significant” interest in Democratic Republic of Congo mining assets, including the rebel-held Rubaya area, a State Department official said, adding that investments in that area will have to align with Washington-led peace efforts. – Reuters
Pope Leo XIV heads Tuesday to Equatorial Guinea for the final leg of his four-nation African journey, arriving in a country that presents perhaps the most diplomatically delicate challenge of this trip and his young papacy. – Associated Press
A high-profile paramilitary commander in Sudan has changed sides and joined the country’s army in a move welcomed by army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan shortly after the war entered its fourth year. – Associated Press
The Americas
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado expects to be back in her home country before the end of 2026 and is urging the United States to accelerate plans for elections. – Reuters
Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa on Monday said that a new energy minister would be named next week, while also swapping out the health minister. – Reuters
The U.S. government has asked Brazilian security attache Marcelo Ivo de Carvalho to leave the United States, the U.S. Embassy in the South American country said on Monday. – Reuters
Chile and the United States are to sign mining and security agreements on Monday, with the security deal including $1 million in funds from the U.S., the Chilean government said. – Reuters
Peru’s electoral tribunal on Monday set a deadline for officials to finish counting votes and name the candidates advancing to the second round in the nation’s highly contested presidential election. The tribunal said that Peru’s elections agency ONPE has until May 15 to publish full voting tallies and say which two candidates will participate in the second round. – Associated Press
Colombian rebels on Monday launched drone strikes that killed three soldiers and injured two others, authorities said, as the use of these weapons becomes increasingly common in the South American country. – Associated Press
North America
One Canadian tourist was shot dead and several other people were wounded, including U.S. nationals, officials said, when a man opened fire on Monday at one of Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations, the Teotihuacán pyramids just outside Mexico City. – New York Times
North American President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said on Monday that her government would investigate a deadly crash that killed four officials, including two Americans on Sunday, after their visit to illicit drug laboratories in the northern part of the country. – New York Times
Mexico’s economy minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Monday that formal negotiations to review the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact, known as the USMCA, are due to begin the week of May 25. – Reuters
Cuba’s government on Monday confirmed that it had recently met with U.S. officials on the island as tensions between the two sides remain high over the U.S. energy blockade of the Caribbean country. – Associated Press
United States
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned amid a tumultuous tenure marked by allegations of misconduct, becoming the third cabinet member to depart in the last two months. – Wall Street Journal
Federal prosecutors said a 44-year-old Los Angeles woman was arrested Saturday night at Los Angeles International Airport on suspicion of helping Iran traffic weapons to Sudan, which is in its fourth year of a bloody civil war. – Associated Press
A Chinese national was arrested at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport after federal authorities say he photographed sensitive military aircraft near Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska and planned to target another installation as he prepared to leave the country. – Fox News
William McGurn writes: And there you have the twisted logic of the Hate Trump chorus: Because they are more worried about Donald Trump getting credit for bringing down a murderous regime, they can’t look forward to the liberation of millions of people. “IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. He’s right, and his administration will be judged by whether this is the real end or just a temporary interlude. – Wall Street Journal
Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis (ret.) writes: Great-power competition is decided in the accumulation of alignments, relationships and credibility built or squandered over years. Winning in Tehran while losing in Brussels and Beijing is not a net victory. It is a strategic setback dressed in tactical success. President Trump has the instincts of a dealmaker. The moment to make the critical deals — with NATO, against the axis — is right now, before the victory speech becomes the last act rather than the opening of the next strategic chapter. Because Xi Jinping is not congratulating us. He is calculating. – Fox News
Cybersecurity
Tim Cook, the longtime leader of Apple, is stepping down after transforming the iPhone maker into a titan of the technology industry, handing the reins to a veteran engineer. – Wall Street Journal
Google’s investment in Indonesia’s ride-hailing company GoTo wasn’t in anyway connected to the country’s Education Ministry’s decision to procure Chromebooks for schools during COVID-19 pandemic, former Google executives testified in court on Monday. – Associated Press
A theft over the weekend of nearly $300 million worth of cryptocurrency has been attributed to hackers from North Korea, as the industry grapples with the fallout of a wide-ranging incident involving multiple prominent platforms. – The Record
Elena McGovern and Daniel Silverberg write: The cables carrying the AI revolution and Europe’s renewable energy transition share the same ocean floor and the same absence of protection. Governments and companies that recognize this will be best positioned to shape the standards, secure the routes and capture the contracts that a serious protection regime will require. The ones that don’t will find their ambitions severed at the seabed. – Washington Post
Defense
The U.S. Air Force secretary extended the life of the A-10 “Warthog” attack plane until 2030, sparing the aging but beloved close air support aircraft that has played an important role in Iran from an earlier retirement deadline of 2026. – Reuters
President Donald Trump said Monday that expanding domestic U.S. gas and petroleum production is essential to national defense, invoking the Defense Production Act to speed energy development. – Newsweek
The Marine Corps is prototyping artificial intelligence tools to inventory aviation supplies and predict aircraft maintenance issues, officials said, a burgeoning initiative the service hopes will help shed “outdated” ways of keeping its flying fleet ready. – Defensescoop
Patrick M. Cronin and David Glick write: The Trump administration has called for legislative reform as part of the American Maritime Action Plan, but the onus is on Congress, not the president, to act. Scaled cooperation requires scaled authority and sustained political discipline. A “trusted shipbuilding partner” framework with South Korea and Japan could streamline contracting, enable secure technology transfer, and align long-term production planning […] The combined industrial capacity of the United States, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and other capable partners can match Chinese output while creating a more distributed, resilient, and adaptive force. – The National Interest