Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Israel hits Russian-Iranian weapons smuggling route in the Caspian sea Plan to disarm Hamas in Gaza is detailed at U.N. United States said to have sent Iran a plan to end the Middle East war Iran says ‘non-hostile’ ships can sail through the Strait of Hormuz WSJ Editorial: The fog of diplomacy in Iran WSJ Editorial: Iran’s missile shots at Diego Garcia Lebanon expels Iranian envoy as rift with Tehran deepens Israel plans to control large parts of southern Lebanon, Defense Minister says Belarusian President Lukashenko to make visit to North Korea Taiwan says US has 'high' urgency in speeding up weapons deliveries Taliban releases American Dennis Coyle after more than a year of detention Russian oil shipment puts focus on Kremlin spy outpost in CubaIn The News
Israel
An Israeli strike on a naval outpost in the Caspian Sea targeted Russia’s support for Iran in the war, hitting a supply line that the countries have used to move ammunition, drones and other weaponry, people familiar with the matter said. – Wall Street Journal
As the United States and Israel struck Iran, and as Iranian retaliatory attacks rocked the Middle East, the United Nations Security Council met Tuesday to discuss progress on plans for peace in the Gaza Strip, which were adopted in November amid a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas. – New York Times
The Iran war has significantly delayed the passage of a cyber law that the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) has been pushing for nearly a decade, the current chief, Yossi Karadi, acknowledged on Tuesday. – Jerusalem Post
Twelve people, including six children and two elderly women, were evacuated to local hospitals after being treated for shrapnel injuries in Bnei Brak following a barrage of cluster munitions from Iran to central Israel. – Jerusalem Post
The State Attorney’s Office filed an indictment against two brothers from the Judean Foothills for conducting espionage on behalf of Iranian agents, Walla reported on Tuesday. – Jerusalem Post
The Knesset National Security Committee approved the outline of a bill to legislate the death penalty for terrorists in a vote late on Tuesday evening, ahead of its final second and third readings in the plenum. – Jerusalem Post
Some 12,845 Israeli compensation claims have been requested for damage caused by rockets, missiles, and drones during Operation Roaring Lion, according to a Tuesday Maariv report. – Jerusalem Post
The Board of Peace’s top Gaza envoy on Tuesday revealed the principles of the disarmament proposal submitted to Hamas earlier this month, urging the international community to pressure the Palestinian terror group to accept the offer in order to prevent another cycle of violence in the Gaza Strip. – Times of Israel
Israeli officials said the country will persist with strikes against Iran even as U.S. President Donald Trump claimed talks are underway to end the conflict, further unsettling energy and financial markets. – Military.Com
Iran
Iran’s combative Parliament speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, is emerging as an unlikely figure in Washington’s search for a deal to halt a widening Middle East war. Ghalibaf, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air-force commander and Tehran mayor, has denied any talks with the U.S. are under way. He has taunted President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and called the U.S.-Israeli air war with Iran a quagmire. – Wall Street Journal
The Pentagon has ordered about 2,000 soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to begin moving to the Middle East to give President Trump additional military options even as he weighs a new diplomatic initiative with Iran, two Defense Department officials said on Tuesday. – New York Times
The United States has sent Iran a 15-point plan to end the war in the Middle East, according to two officials briefed on the diplomacy, reflecting the Trump administration’s eagerness to find an offramp from the conflict as it grapples with its economic fallout. – New York Times
Iran has told the United Nations’ maritime organization that “non-hostile” ships may pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that has been effectively closed to tankers since the U.S.-Israeli military campaign began last month. – New York Times
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the war in Iran has already been won and regime change achieved as more than three weeks of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes have killed many of Iran’s senior leaders and destroyed much of its military capability. – Washington Post
The United States is negotiating with itself, an Iranian military spokesman said according to state media on Wednesday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said Tehran wants to make a deal to end the war in the Middle East. – Reuters
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Tuesday on parties to seize all opportunities to start peace talks as soon as possible in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi, according to a statement from Wang’s ministry. – Reuters
Iranian police arrested 466 people accused of online activities aimed at undermining national security, state media reported on Tuesday, in one of the biggest security sweeps since the start of the war with Israel and the United States. – Reuters
Iran named a former Revolutionary Guards commander and senior figure in the hardline political faction on Tuesday to replace the powerful head of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes last week. – Reuters
A U.N. Security Council resolution calling for countries to use “all necessary means” to keep the Strait of Hormuz open is facing some opposition for raising the possibility of U.N.-backed military action against Iran, according to three council diplomats. – Associated Press
Iran has growing concerns that ongoing negotiations with the United States may be an American ploy rather than a genuine attempt to reach a meaningful agreement, sources told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
In his eve of war prediction to the Israeli cabinet, Mossad Director David Barnea predicted the regime change in Iran is most likely to take a year, The Jerusalem Post has learned. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: The next step is to arrange a meeting, if Iran even wants one. The regime may feel time is on its side; the Strait of Hormuz is blocked and Mr. Trump backed down on Monday. But before you blink it will be Friday again, and with President Trump you never know what he’ll be saying then. He may not know himself. But we trust he knows that giving in to the regime now would leave an Iranian gun to the world’s head, a proven veto on energy flows. The world—read: China and Russia—might conclude he couldn’t tolerate the political pressure at home from high oil prices. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: The episode also is a reminder of the virtues of missile defense. U.S. systems like Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) and SM-3 have demonstrated their effectiveness, and now everybody wants more interceptors. It’s easy to forget that even shorter-range air defenses were conceived in controversy—derided by the American left as too expensive and provocative to enemies, as if America would somehow be safer if it remained defenseless. The war is demonstrating how wrong those critics were, and the same logic applies to homeland missile defense. Mr. Trump is right to pursue a Golden Dome shield that can reduce the odds of a successful attack from a determined power like Iran. The shots fired at Diego Garcia are a moment of clarity about America’s enemies. – Wall Street Journal
Francisco Martin-Rayo writes: Compounding all three is a risk that futures markets aren’t adequately pricing. When a different supply shock caused food prices to spike in 2022, Serbia, Hungary, India, Indonesia and Argentina all restricted key food exports within months of each other. Each decision was individually defensible as domestic policy. Collectively, they removed supply from global markets when the world needed it most. The conditions are ripe for this to happen again in 2026: Price signals are sharper, political pressure is higher, and governments have learned that export restrictions work as a short-term tool even when they are economically destructive over the longer term. That cascade isn’t in most procurement scenarios I come across. It should be. – Wall Street Journal
Ross Douthat writes: And Tehran’s willingness to threaten doomsday against its neighbors is more likely to increase its own long-term isolation than it is to encourage those neighbors to bandwagon with the Islamic republic. Which is not to say the de-escalation will be costless for the United States, or that an armistice short of regime change won’t represent a limited defeat for American power. But contrary to some doomsayers, America is strong enough and insulated enough to absorb a strategic disappointment. And letting President Trump spin that kind of disappointment as a grand success might be acceptable if the alternative isn’t the coup de main he plainly hoped for, but a land war in Asia conducted in the shadow of a global economic rout. – New York Times
Can Kasapoğlu writes: At the strategic level, Iran’s reach now extends well beyond Europe. Tehran’s long-range missile-development program has always carried an implicit terminal objective: placing the continental United States within credible strike range. For the Islamic Republic, a demonstrated range of 2,500 miles is not an endpoint, but a developmental midpoint. For the West, Iran’s attempted strike on Diego Garcia serves as a marker that Tehran is moving deliberately toward intercontinental capabilities. – Hudson Institute
Russia and Ukraine
Russian forces on Tuesday unleashed one of the largest daytime assaults on Ukraine since the war began, launching more than 550 drones and striking city centers across the country. – New York Times
A fire broke out at Russia’s Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, a major oil export hub, after a major Ukrainian drone attack, Russian officials said on Wednesday. – Reuters
A Russian daytime drone attack on Ukraine’s western city of Ivano-Frankivsk on Tuesday killed two people and injured four others, the regional governor said. – Reuters
The 17th century St. Andrew’s Church, part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, came under a Russian attack in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Tuesday, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. – Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the war in Iran “is emboldening” Russia as his country’s capital came under renewed barrage of air strikes. Moscow is providing intelligence to Tehran and “preparing for new conflicts in the coming years,” the president said in a post on X following a briefing with his team of negotiators on Tuesday. – Bloomberg
A flying object that crashed in southern Lithuania early on Monday was a stray Ukrainian drone intended for strikes in Russia, the country’s prime minister said. – Bloomberg
Hezbollah
While the fighting in the north continues and escalates, and tensions along the Lebanon border show no signs of abating, more and more testimonies point to a certain shift in internal discourse in Lebanon regarding Hezbollah. – Jerusalem Post
The IDF targeted on Tuesday fuel stations belonging to the company Al-Amana, which is one of Hezbollah’s main financial infrastructures supporting its terrorist activities, the military said in a statement. – Jerusalem Post
A woman was killed Tuesday evening in a Hezbollah rocket attack on the Galilee, as both Iran and its Lebanese terror proxy bombarded northern Israel. – Times of Israel
Editorial: Redrawing the border is something else. It would entangle Israel in a mission far larger than protecting Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and the Galilee. It would unify Lebanese opinion around Hezbollah while the group and its sponsors in Iran are under pressure. It would also turn a war that Israel can explain into one it would struggle to justify. Israel needs firmness on the northern front. It needs transparency, too. The country should finish this campaign with Hezbollah pushed back, deterrence restored, and the terms of 1701 enforced in fact. It should finish with disciplined goals and reject slogans about annexation that trade away strategic sense for applause on the fringe. – Jerusalem Post
Lebanon
Lebanon ordered the expulsion of Iran’s newly appointed ambassador on Tuesday, a rare rebuke of Tehran over its backing of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that fired rockets into Israel earlier this month and opened one of the most active fronts in the Middle East war. – New York Times
Israel’s defense minister said on Tuesday that the country’s military plans to expand the territory under its control in southern Lebanon, suggesting it was ramping up its ground offensive against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah. – New York Times
An Iranian missile was intercepted over Lebanese airspace for the first time on Tuesday, three senior Lebanese security sources said, with two of them saying a foreign naval vessel was responsible for the interception. – Jerusalem Post
Gulf States
Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has been pushing President Trump to continue the war against Iran, arguing that the U.S.-Israeli military campaign presents a “historic opportunity” to remake the Middle East, according to people briefed by American officials on the conversations. – New York Times
Qatar is not currently engaged in any mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran, the spokesman for the country’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, marking a shift in Qatar’s willingness to engage with Iran diplomatically. – New York Times
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed the ongoing conflict in the Middle East with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday evening, a Downing Street spokesperson said. – Reuters
U.N. Security Council members have begun negotiating resolutions to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz, including a Bahraini draft that would authorise the use of “all necessary means” — language France has warned will be difficult to adopt. – Reuters
Arman Mahmoudian writes: Whichever option—if any—the Arab states choose will be highly dependent on how the war ends. What is clear, however, is that once the fog of war lifts, they will have to rethink their military posture and alliances in light of the war. They will either double down on the current arrangement, seeking greater American protection, or move to change it. If such a change occurs, the direction of that shift will come to define the Gulf’s security partnerships for the next generation. – The National Interest
Middle East & North Africa
Iraq on Tuesday arrested four suspects it said were behind Monday’s rocket attack on a base in northeastern Syria, the Iraqi prime minister’s office said. – Reuters
Libya’s security authorities on Tuesday recovered two exploded projectiles from a damaged crude oil pipeline of Sharara oilfield, said the Tripoli-based interior ministry in a statement. – Reuters
Seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and 13 others wounded in an airstrike on a site belonging to Iraq’s Shi’ite Popular Mobilization Forces near an army medical centre in western Anbar, security sources and the defence ministry said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Andrew J. Tabler writes: The idea of Sharaa’s Syria acting as a proxy force against Hezbollah may be tempting in the abstract, particularly given Lebanon’s internal constraints. In practice, however, it is a high-risk proposition with limited upside. Syria is not militarily, politically, or economically positioned to undertake such a role at the moment, and encouraging it to do so could hamper the regional order the United States is trying to shape. A more effective approach is to work with Syria as it is, not as Washington might wish it to be: namely, a new government that is focused on rebuilding the shattered country, securing its borders, cautiously reengaging with regional partners, and avoiding entanglement in a widening war. – Washington Institute
Korean Peninsula
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Wednesday his country will invest in cutting-edge aircraft technologies for national defence, at an event celebrating the first delivery of homegrown fighter jet KF-21. – Reuters
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to irreversibly cement his country’s status as a nuclear power while maintaining a hard-line stance toward South Korea, which he called the “most hostile” state, state media said Tuesday. – Associated Press
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will make his first visit to North Korea, as the two sanctioned states look to build ties. The official visit, planned for March 25-26, comes at the invitation of leader Kim Jong Un, according to a statement on the Telegram channel for Lukashenko’s press pool, Pul Pervogo. – Bloomberg
South Korea is stepping up contingency planning for a worst-case Middle East scenario, with Prime Minister Kim Min-seok warning that the government must strengthen its preemptive response systems as the conflict shows signs of persisting. – Bloomberg
South Korea has begun rolling out its homegrown fighter jet, positioning the aircraft as a cheaper alternative to Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 as the war in Iran prompts Gulf nations to scramble to build up their defenses. – Bloomberg
China
The United States has “quite a high” sense of urgency in helping Taiwan strengthen its military capabilities and is working to help speed up delayed weapons deliveries, the island’s Defence Minister Wellington Koo said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Hong Kong police arrested a bookstore owner and three shopkeepers on Tuesday for allegedly selling “seditious” publications including a biography of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai, broadcaster TVB reported. – Reuters
The US is increasingly concerned at the emergence of “foreigner butchering” scams allegedly being run from China, adding another potential wrinkle to President Donald Trump’s planned meeting with Xi Jinping in the coming months. – Bloomberg
Joseph Bosco writes: That new policy would be a flashing green light for Beijing to make its move on Taiwan without fear of consequences from an intervening U.S., akin to Secretary of State Dean Acheson’s tragically misguided speech in 1950 that excluded South Korea and Taiwan from America’s “strategic perimeter” in Asia and virtually invited Kim Il-sung and Mao Tse-tung to invade South Korea. The recommended policy is the complete opposite of what some of us in the China policy community have long advocated: that the U.S. remove any doubt in the minds of Chinese leaders that the U.S. will defend Taiwan so that a miscalculation like that which precipitated the Korean War will not be repeated. – The Hill
Odd Arne Westad writes: As they take on these weighty issues, the leadership styles of Trump and Xi seem incompatible. Trump is impulsive and increasingly unsteady in terms of his overall aims. Xi, while a much better strategist and the most powerful Chinese leader since Deng Xiaoping, doesn’t diverge far from the script and seems incapable of the private, spontaneous appeals to arrangements that could be part of a reordering of U.S.-Chinese relations. If 1914 teaches anything, it is that great powers need at least a few clear reasons to step back from the brink. Finding those reasons will require more than either man has so far been willing to give. – Foreign Affairs
South Asia
Afghanistan’s Taliban government said it had released Dennis Coyle, a U.S. citizen detained in the country since early 2025. “Today, after more than a year of captivity in Afghanistan, Dennis Coyle is on his way home,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Coyle, who is from Colorado, was released to his family in Kabul on Tuesday. – Wall Street Journal
More than a thousand miles from the Iran war, Muslim residents in Indian-controlled Kashmir are collecting donations for Iranians: gold, cash, even utensils and livestock. – Associated Press
Indian refiners have bought about 60 million barrels of Russian oil for delivery next month, according to people familiar with the matter, easing supply concerns as the Middle East war chokes flows. – Bloomberg
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he discussed the Iran war on a call with President Donald Trump, including the conflict’s impact on the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for India’s energy imports. – Bloomberg
Jessica C. Liao and Zenel Garcia write: Ultimately, Southeast Asia’s fate rests on its own institutions. Without stronger governance, a firmer rule of law, and more effective regulation, the region will suffer. ASEAN’s strategic road map for economic integration and development over the next five years, published in 2025, lays out concrete steps for member states to strengthen institutions, enforce labor and environmental standards, and improve investment governance and transparency. But success hinges on the political will to face up to the challenge and implement these commitments. Only then can the region build a foundation from which it can finally take flight. – Foreign Affairs
Asia
New Zealand, home to 5.3 million people, plans to spend some $7 billion on its military in the next few years, on things like enhanced strike capabilities, new helicopters, antitank missiles, drones for air and sea surveillance, and much-needed upgrades to aging bases. It is also on a recruitment drive, aiming to reverse attrition after personnel left for higher-paying jobs elsewhere. – Wall Street Journal
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. of the Philippines declared a national energy emergency on Tuesday, saying that high oil prices caused by the war in the Middle East were threatening the country’s energy security. – New York Times
At a moment when the United States and China have grown menacing and some democratic leaders are calling for middle powers to band together, the European Union and Australia have agreed to a trade deal that was eight years in the making. – New York Times
Japan said Wednesday it conveyed regrets to China after authorities confirmed they arrested a Japanese army soldier on suspicion of trespass, a day after China protested over an alleged break-in at its embassy in Tokyo. – Associated Press
The Philippines declared a national energy emergency as the conflict in the Middle East threatens fuel supplies and the country’s economy. There is an “imminent danger of a critically low energy supply,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in an executive order late Tuesday. – Bloomberg
James Holmes writes: Taiwan should follow the Iranian lead, deemphasizing major platforms like fighter jets and capital ships while fielding a bevy of drones and stealthy missile corvettes. It should disperse these craft not just in major harbors, but in small fishing harbors scattered around the island’s rugged periphery. Deliberately mingling military with civilian shipping would give PLA intelligence officers detection and targeting nightmares. (It would also be worth reaching out to the Ukrainian armed forces for counsel, if indeed Taipei hasn’t done so already. Ukraine’s defenders exude ingenuity on their worst day.) It turns out there is plenty to learn from foes as well as friends. – The National Interest
Kaush Arha writes: Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has been forthright in stating that the Chinese hostile takeover of Taiwan would constitute a national security risk for Japan and necessitate a military response. The Japanese people have empowered her to fast-track Japan’s military and intelligence readiness, economic resilience, and security. History may regard Takaichi as the leader who ensured the collective military and economic security of a free and open Indo-Pacific. Her best option to achieve these goals is to partner with President Trump and institutionalize Indo-Pacific deterrence through IPTO and economic security through JAAI. Trump and Takaichi can make it happen and rightly claim that they ushered in a golden era for the wider region. – The National Interest
Europe
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen led her party to its worst election in more than 120 years on Tuesday, a vote that forces one of Europe’s most prominent leaders into difficult negotiations to secure a third term. – Wall Street Journal
The U.K. government will stick to its budget rules as it responds to the higher energy costs that have followed the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, treasury chief Rachel Reeves said Tuesday. – Wall Street Journal
A string of attacks on Jewish institutions and property across Europe in the last two weeks have investigators trying to determine whether Iran or its proxies are behind the incidents, which are unnerving Jewish communities. – New York Times
Poland is prioritising a European Union defence-funding programme, but is also part of technical working groups exploring other financing mechanisms, Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Czech and Slovak police have detained three people, including U.S. and Czech citizens, on terrorism charges following an arson attack on an arms producer’s facility claimed by a group that says the company develops weapons in cooperation with an Israeli firm. – Reuters
Cyprus has asked the UK to negotiate new security arrangements for Britain’s military bases on the island following Iranian drone attacks earlier this month, the Telegraph reported on Tuesday. – Reuters
German prosecutors said on Tuesday that two people had been arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia, gathering intelligence on an individual who was supplying drones and related components to Ukraine. – Reuters
A drone flew into Estonian airspace from Russia early on Wednesday morning and slammed into a chimney at a local power station, the Baltic country’s Internal Security Service told public broadcaster ERR. – Reuters
British police have arrested two men in connection with the arson attack on four Jewish community ambulances in north London earlier this week, authorities said on Wednesday. – Reuters
The Netherlands plans to place a rush order for an additional Patriot air-defense system for €940 million, or US$1.1 billion, to avoid losing its production slot and joining the tail end of a waiting list of international customers, which the Dutch government says could push delivery back to 2033. – Defense News
Africa
United Nations officials said on Tuesday that the death toll from a drone strike on a Sudanese hospital has risen to 70, including women, children and medics, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble. – Reuters
A rebel group in eastern Congo has detained civilians, including two journalists, in metal shipping containers without light or ventilation, an advocacy group said Tuesday. Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, said the Rwanda-backed M23, which controls parts of eastern Congo, used the containers in the city of Goma as makeshift detention cells under “inhumane” and “degrading” conditions. – Associated Press
Frederic Wehrey and Andrew S. Weiss writes: Russia has been able to establish a presence in the Sahel not because of its own strengths but because of the fragility of the states in the region. That very fragility, along with Russia’s limited capacity and ineptitude, has put severe constraints on what the Kremlin can hope to achieve, steadily raising the costs of its continued engagement. By exercising strategic patience and resisting the urge to outbid Moscow in a failing model, Washington can position itself to reenter the Sahel in ways that better promote both U.S. interests and a more lasting stability. – Foreign Affairs
The Americas
Violent crime in Caracas and other major Venezuelan cities is falling to the lowest levels seen in decades, giving the country a boost as it prepares to welcome more potential foreign investment following the U.S. capture of leader Nicolás Maduro and President Trump’s push to rejuvenate the oil industry here. – Wall Street Journal
Former President Jair Bolsonaro will serve prison time under house arrest after he is released from a hospital where he is being treated for pneumonia, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes decided on Tuesday. – Reuters
Colombia’s attorney general on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for the top leadership of the Segunda Marquetalia rebel group over the 2025 assassination of senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe. – Reuters
Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told Reuters on Tuesday that early interest in Venezuela’s oil sector is positive but she called for more transparency and contract security, including a new oil law, to further increase crude and gas output in the South American country. – Reuters
North America
A Russian oil tanker possibly bound for Cuba is highlighting a key U.S. security concern: the communist island’s ties to foreign adversaries who use Cuba to spy on the United States. – New York Times
As U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for change in Cuba’s leadership, speculation is mounting about who, if anyone, might replace Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel. – Associated Press
Cuba on Tuesday received a shipment of humanitarian aid from the Nuestra America Convoy, an international effort organized by global activists seeking to circumvent U.S. sanctions that severely restrict shipments of fuel and other goods to the island. – Reuters
One in four Haitians live in areas controlled by criminal gangs, according to a report by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday, which found armed groups continued to consolidate their control over swathes of the Caribbean island despite more aggressive policing. – Reuters
Jesse Brown writes: Although a new policy against racism might sound benign, many Jewish groups argue that in practice, APR can function as a form of discrimination and censorship. For example, a group of Toronto teachers had been given APR training by their union, in which they were told that it would be racist, and therefore forbidden, to ask why Arab countries don’t help Palestinians. To the claim that the phrase From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free carries genocidal implications toward Israel, the APR training suggests responding that “Palestinian chants and poetry exist to give Palestinians hope, and are not for others to define.” – The Atlantic
United States
Less than 24 hours after President Trump threw cold water on their efforts to cut a deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, Senate Republicans intensified their bid on Tuesday to find an offramp to the impasse amid staggeringly long lines at airports across the country. – New York Times
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat widely seen as a likely 2028 presidential candidate, said in a newly published interview that he regretted describing Israel as an apartheid state, just weeks after using the term. – New York Times
For the third time since President Trump began the war against Iran, Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an effort by Democrats to terminate the offensive until he wins congressional authorization. – New York Times
Leaders of a union representing Transportation Safety Administration workers blasted the Trump administration’s deployment of immigration enforcement agents to airports, which the government claims will help alleviate long security lines but the union calls a pointless distraction. – New York Times
Democrat Emily Gregory won a Florida special election on Tuesday, flipping a state legislative district that is home to Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach estate that President Donald Trump counts as his residence. – Associated Press
Editorial: Setting aside politics, pausing the gas tax subsidizes demand during a supply shock. And it deprives governments of revenue they depend on to maintain essential transportation infrastructure. There are better ways to cut taxes and help consumers than this. The United States is in a stronger position than most of its allies as the world’s biggest oil-producer and a net exporter of energy. This means Americans feel less pain than Europeans and Asians. Nevertheless, a protracted conflict risks pushing the global economy into a recession. That should be a consideration as the White House weighs how long to continue the war. – Washington Post
Cybersecurity
OpenAI is shutting down Sora, the video-generation technology the company unveiled in 2024, shocking entertainment executives with its ability to use artificial intelligence to quickly produce short videos that looked as if a Hollywood studio had made them. – New York Times
Hundreds of British families will test social media bans, curfews and app time limits to see how they impact children’s sleep, family life and schoolwork, the government said. Britain, like other governments, is considering restricting access to social media for children. Nothing is off the table, it has said, including following Australia in a complete ban for under-16s. – Reuters
A New Mexico jury on Tuesday found Meta Platforms (META.O) violated state law in a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general, who accused the company of misleading users about the safety of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp and of enabling child sexual exploitation on those platforms. – Reuters
The city of Baltimore sued Elon Musk’s xAI on Tuesday, claiming its Grok chatbot illegally generates nonconsensual sexually explicit images, including of children. – Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified on Tuesday that his longtime friend and former U.S. Congressman David Rivera did not tell him that he had a $50-million contract with a company owned by the Venezuelan state when he took a meeting about Venezuela with Rivera in 2017. – Reuters
The Treasury Department is soliciting public feedback on whether it should change a terrorism risk insurance program to address cyber-related losses. – Cyberscoop
A federal court in Indiana sentenced a Russian cybercriminal to 81 months in prison on charges related to his role as an initial access broker for ransomware groups. – Cyberscoop
The medical device firm Stryker said it is ramping production lines back up two weeks after alleged Iranian cyber actors wiped more than 200,000 company devices. – The Record
Parmy Olson writes: While Alphabet and Amazon at least have recurring cloud subscriptions to act as a financial cushion, Nvidia doesn’t have any such revenue stream. It just sells chips, which face the double whammy of being harder to manufacture in Taiwan in addition to a question mark over recent mega-deals with the Middle East. In November, the U.S. government approved Nvidia’s sale of 70,000 of its most advanced chips to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, a deal that now looks more uncertain. (Nvidia declined to comment). Energy and cash from the Gulf have helped fuel the AI boom. However strong the revenue growth is for its applications, the outlook for the underlying infrastructure looks ever more fragile the longer the war carries on. – Bloomberg
Defense
The Army judge in the U.S.S. Cole bombing case ordered the prosecution on Monday to do its “due diligence” in providing defense lawyers with any evidence the U.S. government might have “regarding Iran’s role” in the attack off Yemen 25 years ago. – New York Times
Lockheed Martin announced Tuesday that the U.S. defense giant successfully launched a Hellfire missile from its new Grizzly launcher — housed within a 10-foot cargo container. – Defense News
USS Gettysburg (CG-64) returned to Naval Station Norfolk, Va., on Monday after five months in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility. – USNI News
Destroyer USS Mustin (DDG-89) arrived Monday at its new forward-deployed homeport in Yokosuka, Japan, joining forward-deployed Destroyer Squadron 15. – USNI News