Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Cease-fire teeters on its first day Iran tightens its grip on Hormuz despite cease-fire Iranian delegation to reach Islamabad Thursday, Iran's ambassador to Pakistan says WSJ Editorial: Trump declares premature victory in Iran WaPo Editorial: How to handle Iran talks IDF kills Hezbollah chief's secretary in Beirut, strikes crossings and weapons sites Iran struck Saudi Arabia oil pipeline just hours after ceasefire, source says North Korea’s surprise offering to the South: Presidential flattery China says Afghanistan and Pakistan agree to explore comprehensive solution in peace talks WSJ’s Sadanand Dhume: Pakistan has put itself back on the diplomatic map Trump team explores punishment for NATO countries that didn’t support Iran war Venezuela’s prisons are still full of military rebels despite U.S. pressureIn The News
Israel
A two-week cease-fire between the U.S. and Iran was on tenterhooks Wednesday, as Israel launched massive attacks on Lebanon and Iran threatened to reverse its plan to open the Strait of Hormuz to traffic. – Wall Street Journal
The IDF Home Front Command released an update to its guidelines on Wednesday, with major changes taking effect Thursday morning. Starting at 6 a.m. on Thursday, schools will open in most of the country, with limits on gatherings canceled. – Jerusalem Post
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failure in the Iran war during a press conference on Wednesday. “In a few hours, Netanyahu will appear before the State of Israel and tell them that the campaign was successful, a complete lie,” said Lapid. “Netanyahu reached the worst result; the regime in Iran was not defeated.” – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: The balance sheet tilts in Israel’s favor. That is true. Iran’s ability to threaten this country has diminished over the years. But Netanyahu’s own words Wednesday night suggest the government understands this is unfinished: “There are more objectives to complete, and we will achieve them, either by agreement or by resuming fighting. Our finger is on the trigger.” The war gave Israel an opening it has not had in a generation. Whether it amounts to anything lasting depends entirely on what comes next. – Jerusalem Post
Zvika Klein writes: Koteich’s summary was the sharpest I heard all day: “We did not reach this point to grant Iran a victory.” Iran walks into Islamabad weaker than at any point since 1988. If the negotiations result in Hormuz still being weaponized, everything that has been achieved over the past 39 days will depreciate quickly. Trump and Netanyahu did not tear down the Islamic Republic. They made it impossible to maintain. Whether the walls actually fall depends on what happens inside Iran, and on whether the diplomacy in Pakistan is prosecuted with the same nerve as the war. The operation was a success. The recovery is someone else’s fight. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
President Trump’s declaration of “total victory” in Iran left some close allies and several senior aides worried Wednesday that he is overstating what is a fragile cease-fire with Tehran, which remains capable of blocking ships in the Strait of Hormuz and attacking U.S. forces in the region. – Wall Street Journal
Iran told mediators it would limit the number of ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz to around a dozen a day and charge tolls under the cease-fire struck by President Trump, showing Tehran plans to tighten its grip on the world’s most important energy-shipping lane. – Wall Street Journal
In announcing a cease-fire with Iran, President Trump said Tuesday the U.S. had received a 10-point plan that was a “workable basis on which to negotiate.” On Wednesday, Iranian state media released what Iran said that proposal was—a list that appeared to reflect many of the nation’s longstanding demands. – Wall Street Journal
No oil or gas tankers have traversed the strait since the cease-fire was struck on Tuesday, according to data provided to The New York Times by Kpler, a global ship-tracking firm. Four bulk carriers — vessels that carry dry cargo — did make it through. – New York Times
An Iranian delegation will arrive in Pakistani capital Islamabad on Thursday night for talks to resolve conflict with the U.S. and Israel, Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan said on Thursday. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to retain military assets in the Middle East until a peace deal with Iran is reached and warned of a major escalation in fighting if it failed to comply, as oil prices rose on concerns over supply and restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz. – Reuters
The top U.S. general said on Wednesday U.S. troops stood ready to resume fighting if Tehran failed to strike a negotiated settlement as the Trump administration sought to portray the war as a decisive victory against Iran. – Reuters
Iranian authorities see the truce with the United States and Israel as a strategic victory, but they emerge battered and isolated with an economy in tatters, little prospect of rapid recovery and an impoverished, embittered population. – Reuters
Semiofficial news agencies in Iran published a chart Thursday suggesting the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war, in a message that may be intended to pressure the U.S. as uncertainty hangs over a days-old two-week ceasefire and further negotiations are expected in Pakistan. – Associated Press
With Iranian officials hailing the last-minute ceasefire as a triumph for the system that took power in the 1979 Islamic revolution, rights groups now fear emboldened authorities will launch a mass new domestic crackdown. “This feels like unfinished business. I think eventually it’s going to be war again,” said a Tehran resident, 40, a broker on the Iranian stock exchange, asking not to be named for fear of reprisals. – Agence France-Presse
Editorial: The unfortunate truth is that Mr. Trump put himself in this position. His inconsistent rhetoric on the war—claims of victory amid threats of unleashing “Hell” and an end to Iran’s “civilization”—raised global fears and undermined support at home and abroad. The next test for Mr. Trump will be whether he takes his two-week cease-fire deadline seriously. If he does, and Iran plays its usual games, then he really will have to “finish the job.” – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a Wednesday briefing at the Pentagon that 80 percent of Iran’s air defenses have been destroyed, including more than 450 ballistic missile storage sites and 800 warehouses of one-way attack drones […] This war killed dozens of Iran’s top leaders, but the regime remains intact. Their goal will be to string out negotiations as long as possible so they can regroup and rebuild. The desire to seek a settlement is understandable, but no deal is better than a bad one. – Washington Post
Jonathan Panikoff writes: For there to be a U.S. victory, the deal reached must encompass a resolution to Iran’s nuclear program and the remaining highly enriched uranium. It must also ensure freedom of navigation—without an Iranian toll on the Strait of Hormuz. If this outcome comes to fruition, then the U.S. will have gotten more than could have been achieved with diplomacy alone because the war addressed, for the medium term, Iran’s ballistic-missile capability, over which the regime was never previously willing to negotiate. If negotiations end with Iran still in control of the strait or of the highly enriched uranium stocks, then the war will have been a series of magnificent operational successes but a strategic failure. The nuclear threat will remain, and a new global economic danger will have been created. – Wall Street Journal
Holman W. Jenkins Jr writes: Lesson to be underlined: Just because the U.S. Navy can force the strait open doesn’t mean it needs to. China is a factor to noodle over. With an important summit looming, it seems possible Mr. Trump’s timing was partly to show off to Beijing the extent of U.S. destructive power and his willingness to use it. A final lesson is perhaps redundant. Substack and X (if you know where to look) are better sources for living-brain analysis of current events than much of the traditional press, where opinionating is performative and commercially formulaic. The reflexive need to strike pro- and anti-Trump notes often blots out everything that might be interesting to a curious and thinking reader. – Wall Street Journal
David Ignatius writes: Some Israeli strategists favor an alternative approach of encouraging separatist movements among Kurds, Baluchis, Azerbaijanis, Khuzestani Arabs and others. And Israel wants to continue pounding Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, despite growing American concern. Peace talks had been expected to start in Islamabad on Friday. Who might attend is a guessing game: Vice President JD Vance? Iranian speaker Ghalibaf? So are the items on the negotiating agenda. And most of all, so is the future status of the Strait of Hormuz, open when the war began and still effectively closed. – Washington Post
Daniel Byman writes: In the end, the ceasefire is less a resolution than a pause in a conflict whose underlying drivers remain not only intact but, in some cases, intensified. The nuclear issue is unresolved, Lebanon is destabilized, the risk of terrorism persists, and U.S. alliances have been strained—all while Israel and Iran retain strong incentives to continue a shadow war that periodically erupts into open violence. Even if large-scale fighting does not immediately resume, the United States faces a region marked by persistent instability, emboldened adversaries, wary allies, and a continuing cycle of escalation that will be difficult to control or conclude. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
Russia and Ukraine
Ukraine’s anti-monopoly committee has sent back an application for a $760 million purchase of a stake in Ukraine’s top drone and missile maker Fire Point by a UAE-based defence conglomerate, the agency told Reuters on Wednesday. – Reuters
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that Ukraine’s president had made “scandalous” comments about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as he echoed Budapest’s accusations that Kyiv was using energy supplies to try to influence elections there. – Reuters
The Kremlin on Wednesday welcomed a two-week ceasefire agreed between the United States and Iran, and said Russia hopes that the U.S. will now have the time and scope to resume three-way peace talks on Ukraine. – Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday he welcomed the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, adding that Kyiv was ready to “respond in kind” if Moscow ceased strikes. – Reuters
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Japanese ambassador to Moscow Akira Muto to lodge a protest over an investment agreement between Japan’s Terra Drone and a Ukrainian developer of unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a statement from the ministry. – Bloomberg
Ilya Timtchenko writes: Russia has traditionally viewed the U.S. as a strategic adversary, seeking its downfall, and has never fully accepted its defeat in the Cold War. But Russia is also at its weakest point since the full-scale invasion began. Ukraine is primed to deliver the U.S. a lasting Kremlin defeat like never before, and at no human cost to U.S. soldiers. Ukraine is a gold mine for democracy, being handed to the U.S. on a platter. It would be naive and short-sighted for us to ignore it. – The Hill
Michael Carvelli writes: The public record already says enough to act. A campaign can fail at the obstacle belt or the river line before the rest of the plan is ever tested. When that happens, the offensive does not reach the phase where the best fuel plan, the deepest magazine, or the largest reserve can matter. The practical lesson is straightforward: treat breaching and crossing capacity as explicit campaign variables. Wargame their loss rates, measure their redundancy, and test whether the exploitation concept survives disruption at the breach or crossing site. If it does not, then the plan’s culminating point may arrive far earlier than the logistics estimate suggests. – War on the Rocks
Hezbollah
While the Trump administration maintains the deal does not include the Tehran-backed terrorist movement Hezbollah, Iran is threatening to use that exclusion as a pressure point against the U.S., potentially collapsing the entire ceasefire. – Fox News
Sirens sounded in northern Israel on Wednesday afternoon after Hezbollah fired rockets from Lebanon, with additional sirens sounding later on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
The IDF said Thursday that it killed Ali Yusuf Harshi, a close aide to Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, in a strike in Beirut on Wednesday, as part of a broader wave of attacks on Hezbollah infrastructure across Lebanon. – Jerusalem Post
Hungary reportedly offered to share intelligence with Iran about Israel’s deadly 2024 pager attack targeting Hezbollah operatives, raising questions regarding Budapest’s geopolitical standing. – Times of Israel
Iraq
Iran-backed Iraqi militias conducted several drone attacks near the Diplomatic Support Center and Baghdad International Airport on Wednesday, the US Embassy in Baghdad said in a post on X/Twitter. – Jerusalem Post
Iraq’s civil aviation authority said it was reopening the country’s airspace on Wednesday following the announcement of a US-Iran ceasefire, after it was closed due to the Middle East war. – Agence France-Presse
David Schenker writes: Although Baghdad has sought better relations with Arab countries in recent years, PMF units have targeted at least three of them during this war, in some cases launching attacks from lands granted to certain militias by the government. Accordingly, Washington should press Arab states, particularly in the Gulf region, to withhold aid and foreign direct investment from Iraq until the government ends its support for these groups. – Washington Institute
Turkey
Turkey’s intelligence agency played a key role in diplomatic efforts leading to a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran, Turkish media reported on Wednesday, citing security sources. – Reuters
Turkish authorities have detained 10 people in connection with Tuesday’s gun attack near the Israeli consulate in Istanbul as the investigation widened, Turkish media reported on Wednesday. – Times of Israel
Turkey has given the green light to more batteries to buffer its electricity grid than any EU member state, a report has found, in a further sign of rich countries losing steam in the race to a clean economy. – The Guardian
Lebanon
Israeli forces pounded Beirut on Wednesday, killing scores of people in an aerial barrage that Israel described as its largest in more than a month of war in Lebanon, just after the United States and Iran announced a two-week ceasefire. – Washington Post
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Israel’s pounding of Lebanon was “deeply damaging” and said that conflict must end to prevent the U.S.-Iran ceasefire from being destabilised. – Reuters
Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday said Tehran’s negotiators thought the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreed to on Tuesday included Lebanon, but the U.S. had in fact not agreed to that. – Reuters
Italy summoned the Israeli ambassador on Wednesday to demand an explanation over shots fired at an Italian convoy in a U.N. mission in Lebanon, the foreign minister said, warning Israeli forces had “no authority to touch” Rome’s troops. – Reuters
“The situation is critical” in Lebanon, Macron warned Wednesday ahead of a meeting of the French defense council. “What we have witnessed with Israel’s strikes and occupation of southern Lebanon isn’t the right response,” he said. – Politico
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam declared Thursday a national day of mourning after Israeli strikes shook the country and killed some 182 people, according to a toll from the country’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. – Times of Israel
Gulf States
A tenuous cease-fire between the United States and Iran was being tested on Wednesday by heavy Israeli bombardment in Lebanon, which Israel and President Trump insisted was not part of the cease-fire deal, and by continued Iranian attacks on its Persian Gulf neighbors. – New York Times
Iran attacked Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline just hours after a ceasefire was agreed to pause the Iran war, an industry source told Reuters on Wednesday, hitting its only crude oil export route since hostilities began. – Reuters
The UAE says that Iran should pay for damage caused by its Gulf attacks, adding that it was seeking clarification on how the ceasefire will ensure Tehran ceases hostilities and reopens the Strait of Hormuz. – Times of Israel
Middle East & North Africa
Libya’s state-run National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced on Wednesday three new oil and gas discoveries with major energy companies from Italy, Spain and Algeria, the NOC said in separate statements. – Reuters
A Syrian man accused of crimes against humanity for allegedly torturing and raping prisoners when he was a member of a militia that backed the government of former president Bashar al-Assad told Dutch judges on Wednesday he did not beat inmates. – Reuters
Hanadi al-Khatib writes: Unless more clarity is provided and clear limits established, Decree No. 39 is likely to be viewed as a limited administrative step that does not equate to the transitional justice process Syrians need—namely, a process that helps them find a sense of closure on the issue of forced disappearances without erasing crimes or equating torturers with victims by homogenizing prisoners into a single category. The real test of Decree 39 will lie not only in the number of people released, but also in whether Syrians feel that justice has moved one step closer or retreated one step further. – Washington Institute
Korean Peninsula
At a rare Workers’ Party congress recently, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s rhetoric grew fiery when discussing his southern neighbors. The South, he said, was the “immutable principal enemy.” Pyongyang, if provoked, could very well produce Seoul’s “complete collapse.” – Wall Street Journal
North Korea tested a new cluster-bomb warhead on a ballistic missile and an electromagnetic weapon this week, state media KCNA reported on Thursday, in a move seen as part of efforts by Pyongyang to showcase its capacity to fight a modern war. – Reuters
South Korea’s presidential Blue House said on Wednesday that the government would do its best to ensure the country’s ships can pass through the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible based on conditions created under a two-week ceasefire agreed between the U.S. and Iran, local media reported. – Reuters
A Republic of Korea Navy attack boat docked in Guam on Tuesday, completed the first leg of what will be the longest voyage of a South Korean submarine to date. – USNI News
China
Two rows of storage tanks the height of 20-story buildings, filled with liquefied gas, help explain why China is better prepared than many countries to endure the interruption of gas supplies from the Middle East. – New York Times
Birds not missiles should fly in the skies, Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun said on Thursday in Shanghai in a plea for peace, as government lawmakers in Taipei expressed anger at her party for skipping crucial defence budget talks. – Reuters
Vietnam’s top leader To Lam will visit China next week, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said on Thursday, as ties between the two nations continue to warm. Reuters first reported on the Vietnamese state president and party chief’s planned visit to its much larger and economically significant neighbour from April 14 to 17. – Reuters
Two fully laden Chinese oil tankers are waiting near the Strait of Hormuz, putting them in a position to become the first such vessels to leave the Persian Gulf under a day-old US-Iran ceasefire, even as shipowners scrutinize the status of the narrow waterway. – Bloomberg
Karishma Vaswani writes: For countries navigating this shift, hedging will be the default strategy, but it’s not without risks. Greater cooperation among middle and smaller powers will be essential to avoid overdependence on any one actor. For Washington, the lesson is more direct: restore consistency, rebuild alliances and re-engage globally. There is little evidence the current administration will do any of that. So the space China is exploiting will only continue to grow. – Bloomberg
Zichen Wang writes: If and when Cheng meets with Xi, their dialogue will be difficult to fit into Washington’s hawkish framework. But at a time when conflicts in multiple parts of the world are intensifying, its significance speaks for itself. As Cheng said at a press briefing about her visit, “We want to prove to the people of Taiwan, and to the world, one thing: War between the two sides is not inevitable.” – Foreign Policy
South Asia
Millions of Indians queued to vote in local elections in two states on Thursday, kicking off four key contests this month amid a war in the Middle East that has triggered some fuel shortages, even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept domestic prices in check. – Reuters
Bangladesh on Wednesday sought to increase fuel purchases from India, as foreign minister Khalilur Rahman made the new government’s first ministerial visit to New Delhi, a further sign that strained relations between the two countries may be easing. – Reuters
The three crewmen on the Thai-flagged vessel that was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz last month have died, Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said at a press conference on Wednesday. – Reuters
China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed during peace talks in Urumqi to explore a comprehensive solution to the conflict that broke out between the two countries last October. – Reuters
India’s oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri will make an official visit to Qatar on April 9 and 10, authorities in New Delhi said on Thursday, as the world’s most populous country reels from disruptions to LPG supply. – Reuters
India has approved investment of over $4 billion for the construction of two hydro-electric projects along the Brahmaputra river in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh as demand for power rises, the government said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Sadanand Dhume writes: Mr. Khan played his cards poorly. He apparently thought his popularity could overcome the army’s institutional lock on Pakistan. Unlike Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, another Islamist-friendly populist, Mr. Khan failed to build a strong party that could challenge the generals. His decades of stoking anti-American sentiment on Pakistan’s streets made the U.S. much less inclined to champion his cause. He vastly overestimated the power of the Pakistani diaspora in U.S. politics. The saga isn’t over. Pakistan remains economically precarious and ethnically riven, and a defense pact Pakistan signed last year with Saudi Arabia could draw Islamabad directly into the Iran war should the conflict resume. But at least for now, it looks as if the cunning field marshal has decisively outplayed the flamboyant former cricketer. – Wall Street Journal
Asia
In Asia, Taiwan is increasing coast guard patrols and penalties for damaging cables, hoping to deter would-be saboteurs. Private cable operators are looking at routes that avoid contested waters such as the South China Sea, where Chinese vessels have clashed with Philippine ships and pressed territorial claims. The efforts underscore the challenge: There is no foolproof way to defend submarine cables. – Wall Street Journal
Myanmar’s parliament approved a list of 30 ministers to serve in the cabinet of junta chief Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday following his appointment as president last week, with the military still holding a dominant role. – Reuters
Taiwan’s parliament should pass a stalled special defence budget to send a signal to China and the world that it is serious about peace through strength, U.S. Senator Jim Banks said during a meeting with President Lai Ching-te in Taipei. – Reuters
Australia has agreed to underwrite two companies buying fuel at inflated prices, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warning Thursday that supply disruptions would “have a long tail” even if the Iran ceasefire holds. – Associated Press
Across much of the world, young people are turning away from military service. In Thailand, they’re lining up. – Bloomberg
David Fickling writes: It’s unquestionably the case that building secure energy for Taiwan is politically difficult. But that’s an explanation of failure, not an excuse for it. If Taiwan had kept its four largely completed nuclear plants in operation and added four more (as South Korea has done since 2012), then atomic power could be generating a third of its electricity. If it hadn’t let politics and protectionism stymie its offshore wind sector for years, and covered 50,000 hectares of disused farmland and plantations with solar, renewables could be providing another half. With less than 20% of its electricity dependent on imports, it would be truly resilient in the event of attack. – Bloomberg
Europe
The White House is considering a plan to punish some members of the NATO alliance that President Trump thinks were unhelpful to the U.S. and Israel during the Iran war, according to administration officials. – Wall Street Journal
Russia said on Wednesday that some political forces in the European Union were opposed to the re-election bid of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and were trying to help his opponents. – Reuters
After decades of construction, the world’s first facility for permanently disposing spent nuclear fuel is set to begin operations in Finland, becoming a final resting place for tons of dangerous radioactive waste. – Associated Press
The United Kingdom’s only warship deployed to the eastern Mediterranean during the Iran conflict has been forced into port over a “technical” issue, abruptly sidelining a key piece of Britain’s regional military presence as pressure mounts on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s handling of the crisis. – Fox News
Russia cannot be counted on as a reliable partner, the European Commission said Wednesday in response to a POLITICO report showing Hungary signed a pact with Moscow ahead of Sunday’s election. – Politico
The French government presented its updated military planning law Wednesday that earmarks an extra €36 billion for defense by 2030. – Politico
The French Navy tested launching and recovering a U.S. Navy Razorback Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) from a submerged French Suffren-class nuclear-powered attack submarine last month, validating the French submarine’s removable dry deck shelter can be used for underwater drone operations. – USNI News
Declan Ganley writes: Claiming Marie Byrd Land would continue that tradition at no financial cost to the U.S. Objections are predictable. Some will argue that any new claim violates the spirit of the Antarctic Treaty. Legally, that position is weak. Others will warn of diplomatic friction. Yet America’s allies with their own Antarctic claims have far more to gain from an organized Western framework than from leaving a vacuum for China and Russia to fill. There remains one large piece of unclaimed territory on earth. It already carries an American name. The U.S. should act before the window closes. – Wall Street Journal
Bálint Madlovics and Bálint Magyar write: But if Orban wins, he will want to prevent another close call. His criminal system will have no other choice but to entrench its power once and for all, securing impunity for the regime’s beneficiaries by further severing the country’s ties to the West and intensifying repression through a purge of those Orban deems “foreign agents”—including independent media, investigative journalists, and nongovernmental organizations. The vote on April 12 is Hungary’s best chance in 16 years to choose democracy over autocracy. It may not come again. – Foreign Affairs
Africa
Zimbabwe will introduce lithium concentrate export quotas and require commitments for more local processing as part of conditions to allow the resumption of mineral exports, the mines ministry has told producers. – Reuters
Voters in Benin will vote Sunday to elect a new president as outgoing leader Patrice Talon steps down after a decade in power with a mixed legacy of economic growth, but also a growing jihadi insurgency in the north and a clamp down on the opposition and critics. – Associated Press
Hundreds of workers, union members and opposition supporters marched in Senegal’s capital Dakar on Wednesday to protest what they say are broken government promises and a worsening cost-of-living, as the country is plagued by a severe debt crisis. – Associated Press
Gunmen attacked two villages in the north-central region of Nigeria, killing at least 20 people, residents said Wednesday. – Associated Press
The Americas
The government here has released hundreds of political prisoners since the U.S. captured the country’s strongman, Nicolás Maduro, and whipped his successors into alignment with Washington. One cadre remains locked up: military officers accused of rebellion. – Wall Street Journal
Panama’s top diplomat on Wednesday said a rise in inspections and detentions of Panama-flagged vessels in China stemmed from a Panama court ruling against Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison and asked China to respect its sovereign affairs. – Reuters
French national Julien Fevrier, who was detained in Venezuela for 15 months, was freed and is back in France, the French Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Ecuador’s foreign minister recalled the country’s ambassador to Colombia on Wednesday for consultations after comments earlier this week from Colombia’s president that Ecuador said constituted interference in Ecuadorean affairs. – Reuters
Evan Ellis writes: The Chilean Armed Forces are among the most professional and capable in the region. The Kast administration will likely strengthen its prestige within Chilean society, its contributions to Chilean national security, and its supporting institutional capabilities. In this transition, however, they will face important questions with respect to ensuring an adequate legal framework, training, equipment, and doctrine for their complex and expanded mission set. Their success in navigating this complex path will be vital for the security and prosperity of all Chileans, and for the United States as its partner. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
North America
Riding high in the polls, the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada came tantalizingly close to forming a parliamentary majority on Wednesday after another opposition lawmaker joined his Liberal Party. – New York Times
Haiti’s CEP electoral council said on Wednesday it was postponing a voter registration that should have begun on April 1, adding it would shortly announce new dates to register for the nation’s first presidential election in a decade. – Reuters
Mexico’s Senate confirmed Roberto Velasco, the current undersecretary for North America, to be the new foreign ministry, assuming the role at a pivotal moment for regional trade. – Reuters
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday announced plans to tap into unconventional natural gas deposits in an effort to lower her country’s reliance on foreign energy at a time when the Iran war is disrupting global energy markets. – Associated Press
A Guatemalan man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to a felony offense and acknowledged his involvement in an attempt to illegally smuggle migrants to the U.S. when a jampacked tractor-trailer truck crashed in Mexico in 2021, killing more than 50 migrants. – Associated Press
Hundreds of Cuban women gathered Tuesday in Havana to decry a U.S. energy embargo and other measures imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump that are strangling the Caribbean island. – Associated Press
United States
The Trump administration is expected to significantly scale back its plan to seek additional funding for the war in Iran ahead of what is likely to be a contentious fight over the request in Congress, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with the matter. – Washington Post
A U.S. court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal by former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and ordered a prior judgment to be vacated, a court document showed, following his pardon by U.S. President Donald Trump in December. Hernandez had previously been serving a 45-year sentence for conspiring to import tons of cocaine into the United States. – Reuters
The Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it will vote this month on a proposal to bar all Chinese labs from testing electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras and computers for use in the U.S., widening a previous action targeting Beijing. – Reuters
A federal judge on Wednesday halted a move by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to end legal protections granted to over 5,000 Ethiopians that have allowed them to live and work in the United States. – Reuters
President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened 50 percent tariffs on any country that supplies military weapons to Iran, though it’s not clear he has the legal authority to do so. – Politico
Cybersecurity
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Congress must pass a bill to create federal rules for digital assets, reiterating the push for rules that he says will ensure cryptocurrency development and investment remain anchored in the U.S. – Reuters
The people were lodging complaints about the government’s intensifying crackdown on the internet that has seen regular shutdowns of cellphone internet connections, blocked popular messaging apps and cut access to thousands of other websites and digital services. – Associated Press
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday he favors a national ban on online betting platforms, whose revenues in the South American nation are estimated at more than $4 billion per year, one of the biggest markets in the world. – Associated Press
Peng Xiao started the year riding high. G42, the Abu Dhabi technology conglomerate he runs, had just won approval to import thousands of the latest artificial intelligence chips and begun talks to buy many more. – Bloomberg
A federal appeals court declined for now Anthropic PBC’s request to pause a declaration by the Pentagon that the artificial intelligence company poses a risk to the US supply chain, even as plans for a broader government ban on its technology remain blocked by a California judge. – Bloomberg
Russia’s elite hacking group Fancy Bear is behind a large-scale campaign to spy on militaries and governments by hacking Wi-Fi routers, security agencies in the United States and Europe have said. – Politico
The Minnesota National Guard has been sent to Winona County after a cyberattack on Monday disrupted “vital emergency and critical services.” Minnesota governor Tim Walz issued an executive order on Tuesday, writing that the county experienced a cyberattack on critical systems that began on Monday. – The Record
The CIA late last year raised the status of its elite cyber espionage division, providing it more resources to analyze and disrupt digital threats, as well as amp up the agency’s own technological innovation efforts. – The Record
Editorial: All of this is akin to standing on a shoreline, yelling at the rising ocean tides. More than 700 data centers are under construction in the U.S., and thousands more are planned. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on these developments by big tech firms such as Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon, which was founded by Post owner Jeff Bezos. Even as domestic opponents throw sand into the gears of progress, China’s buildout will continue unabated. Obstructionism aids America’s adversaries. No one denies this technology will cause disruptions, but it also has the power to transform the economy, and therefore countless lives, for the better. The jurisdictions that embrace the future will win it. – Washington Post
Defense
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine struck different tones on Wednesday while describing the state of hostilities with Iran, with the secretary characterizing the conflict mostly in the past tense while the general appeared unwilling to use such absolute terms and left open the possibility that additional U.S. troops could be killed. – Washington Post
A U.S. Army veteran was charged on Wednesday with providing classified information to a journalist for a book that alleged drug trafficking, murder and corruption at a military base where she had worked, the Department of Justice said. – Reuters
Clayton Swope writes: If the Space Force is truly interested in integrating and using more commercial services, it should act before that happens. It should recognize that it may be the only customer for certain services—and that this is acceptable. It may be too late for the 2027 budget. But there will only be so many more chances before the market deteriorates and investors start to finally realize that the Space Force is not actually interested in budgeting for non-launch commercial services. Let 2027 be the last year of lukewarm interest in commercial space services. – Center for Strategic and International Studies