Fdd's overnight brief

Iran

An Iranian protester was sentenced to death for setting fire to a government building, the country’s judiciary said Sunday, the first known use of capital punishment by authorities seeking to suppress nearly two-month-old antigovernment demonstrations. – Wall Street Journal 

Demonstrators in southeastern Iran clashed with security forces as they gathered to mourn the deaths of dozens of people during the antigovernment protests that have swept across the country, in one of the most serious challenges to the clerical establishment in decades. – Wall Street Journal 

This is what justice looks like in Iran, where the trials of protesters, bystanders and chroniclers of the current uprising have begun. There is little expectation of due process in a judicial system dominated by the security services and stacked against the accused. – Washington Post

Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, with both leaders placing emphasis on deepening political, trade and economic cooperation, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday. – Reuters

Iran has agreed to a visit by the U.N. nuclear watchdog this month to start giving answers the agency and its 35-nation board have long called for on the origin of uranium particles found at three sites, an IAEA report on Thursday seen by Reuters said. – Reuters

Two more French citizens are being held in Iran, taking the total of its nationals detained there to seven, France’s foreign minister said in remarks published on Saturday, a further sign of deteriorating ties between the two countries. – Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, with both leaders placing emphasis on deepening political, trade and economic cooperation, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday. – Reuters

An Italian woman travel blogger arrested in Iran in late September has been released and is on the way home, the office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday. – Reuters

A German-Iranian woman held for rights activism in Iran has been sent back to prison after being granted medical leave four months ago, her daughter said on Sunday. – Agence France-Presse

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards targeted on Monday what the semi-official Fars news agency reported as “terrorist groups” in Iraq’s Kurdistan region with missile and drone strikes. The Revolutionary Guards have launched attacks on Iranian Kurdish militant opposition bases in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq since the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16. – Reuters

The protests sweeping Iran have sounded the death knell for a once vibrant reform movement, revealing a big divide with Iranians in the streets demanding an end to theocratic rule. The reformists, who emerged as an influential force in the 1990s urging more political and social freedoms, have distanced themselves from the main demand of Iranians protesting since a young woman died in morality police custody on Sept. 16. – Reuters

Thousands of Iranians protested in the restive southeast on Friday to mark a Sept. 30 crackdown by security forces known as “Bloody Friday” as the country’s clerical rulers battled persistent nationwide unrest. – Reuters

The United States, Britain, France and Germany want the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s board to pass a resolution calling it “essential and urgent” for Iran to explain uranium traces found at three undeclared sites, their text seen by Reuters showed. – Reuters

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz strongly criticized the Iranian government Saturday for its bloody crackdown on protests in the country said Germany stands “shoulder to shoulder with the Iranian people.” – Associated Press

The U.N.’s top human rights body is poised to hold a special session on Iran in the wake of the government’s deadly crackdowns on protesters, threats against journalists and other alleged human rights violations in the Islamic republic. – Associated Press

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday ratified a prisoner exchange treaty with Belgium, official media said, after criticism in the European country that it could free a bomb-plot mastermind. – Agence France-Presse

Iran on Sunday criticised a recent meeting between the French president and opponents of the Islamic republic, calling Emmanuel Macron’s comments after the encounter “regrettable and shameful”. – Agence France-Presse

Iran’s judiciary has charged more than 750 people in three provinces for participating in “recent riots”, local media reported, amid nationwide protests since the death of Mahsa Amini. – Agence France-Presse

The brother of hunger-striking Iranian dissident Hossein Ronaghi says his brother’s condition has “worsened” and he has been transferred to the hospital of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, where his detention “on false pretenses” continues. – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

“The Iran deal is dead” is a Washington meme, but just how dead is the zombie? Once considered the top diplomatic aspiration of President Biden’s national security team, is the deal again showing faint signs of life? – New York Sun

The European Union Council is set to consider further sanctions against Iran due to the regime’s ongoing crackdown on protests following the death of Mahsa Amini. – Jerusalem Post

An Iranian archer denied on Saturday that she had shown solidarity with  nationwide anti-regime protests when her hijab fell from her head at an awards ceremony in Tehran, claiming the covering had slipped due to “wind and a lot of stress.” – Times of Israel

Kian Tajbakhsh writes: The protesters have thrown down a moral as well as a civic challenge that calls on all Iranians to start a new conversation about what, collectively, they can and should envision for their future—a future in which all Iranians can feel at home. – Wall Street Journal

Ian Buruma writes: After the Islamic revolution, there was no more excuse to bar religious women from universities. And now, headscarf or no headscarf, believers or unbelievers, women are demanding political rights, for themselves and for everyone else. The clerics may temporarily stifle the demands of this new generation of Iranians with violence and terror. But this can only be a recipe for many more revolts to come. – Bloomberg

Eli Lake writes: Mr. Netanyahu has already made clear that he wants Israel’s most important ally to develop a plan to deter militarily Iran from inching toward a nuclear weapon. Absent such assurance, well, Israel has already proven it has the means to hack Iran’s enrichment facilities, kill its scientists, and steal its atomic blueprints — without American assistance. – New York Sun

Seth J. Frantzman writes: From Tehran’s perspective, the high-level visits of Israeli officials to Bahrain and Azerbaijan represent a major regional shift. Iran knew that these two countries had warm ties with Israel, but recent months have brought more rhetoric from Iran against Baku, Manama and Riyadh. – Jerusalem Post

Zvi Bar’el writes: The “feminine” protest in Iran is being pegged as a sectoral or gender-based phenomenon, which, despite the support it gets around the world, is still perceived in Iran as a nuisance that can be handled with a bit more force – and a lot more oppression. Accusing demonstrators of treason and connections to foreign “colonial” powers is meant to undermine the legitimacy of the protesters and their demands. – Haaretz

Abolghasem Bayyenat writes: While mitigating Iran’s concerns, such a formula would also shield Washington and its European allies from criticism that they have prematurely closed the investigations or infringed on the IAEA’s autonomy in dealing with this issue. Regardless of what form a compromise solution takes, no efforts should be spared toward achieving it given the stakes involved. By removing one of the main obstacles to resurrecting the Iran nuclear deal, Washington and Tehran will defuse a simmering military conflict in the Middle East. – The National Interest 

Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu was awarded a mandate Sunday to launch his political comeback and begin assembling a government that is predicted to be the most right-wing in Israel’s history and is already eliciting concerns from Washington. – Washington Post

The Israeli military said Thursday that it is considering filing charges against two soldiers over the death earlier this year of a 78-year-old Palestinian-American, Omar Assad, who died after being detained by Israeli soldiers at an impromptu West Bank checkpoint. – Wall Street Journal 

A key U.N. committee approved a draft resolution Friday calling on the International Court of Justice to urgently issue its opinion on the legal consequences of denying the Palestinian people the right to self-determination as a result of Israel’s actions since the 1967 Mideast war. – Associated Press

Turning a huge park in Gaza City into a sea of yellow flags, tens of thousands of Palestinians on Thursday commemorated the anniversary of the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat — a rare public show of support for the Fatah faction in the heartland of its Islamist rival Hamas. – Associated Press

A man was shot and killed Monday morning at a bus stop near the central Israel city of Ra’anana, after an Israel Defense Forces soldier mistook him for a Palestinian terrorist, in a rare occurrence. – Times of Israel

Israeli tourists in Istanbul were advised Sunday to remain in their hotel rooms and not explore the Turkish city, following a bombing on a popular pedestrian street that left six dead and dozens wounded. – Times of Israel

Two women were arrested Saturday when pro-Palestinian protestors squirted tomato ketchup over a statute of former British prime minister Lord Arthur Balfour in the Houses of Parliament in London. – Times of Israel

Against the background of the hijab riots, the Israeli Foreign Ministry launched a campaign to express support for Iranian women. The videos and content he posted on the networks received 85 million exposures. The ministry’s Instagram page in Persian has more than a million followers, 93% of them from Iran. – Ynet

The Israeli government has tasked its domestic drone providers to develop longer range, higher-speed armed UAVs, as Jerusalem considers its potential options for strikes against Iran in the future, defense sources tell Breaking Defense. – Breaking Defense

Editorial: The well-organized heist of IDF weapons from military bases must be stopped. The IDF, which is responsible for protecting the country’s borders, must prove that it can protect its own bases. – Jerusalem Post

Carol Daniel Kasbari writes: Israel’s supporters in the U.S. will need to watch these and other contentious Israeli government policies particularly closely now. Indeed, the outcome of the Nov. 1 elections will likely have an effect on a variety of issues but none more so than the volatile and violent situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially East Jerusalem, where Ben-Gvir constantly contests the status quo at the Haram al-Sharif or Temple Mount and campaigns for the expansion of Jewish rights and the assertion of Israeli sovereignty over the site. – Middle East Institute

Syria

Israeli airstrikes killed two Syrian soldiers and wounded three others when they slammed into an airbase in the province of Homs, a Syrian army statement said. – Associated Press

When a Russian plane arrived in Iran with €140m in cash and a booty of captured western weapons, an exchange for Iranian drones, it marked a new phase in a seven-year alliance between two unlikely bedfellows. The delivery of cash and weapons was reportedly made in August, after Russia received its first deliveries of drones to support its war in Ukraine. – The Guardian 

Gregory Waters writes: While these may be difficult policies to pursue, ignoring the true underlying causes of today’s “frozen Syria” and their fragility all but guarantees future escalations. Rather than grow complacent over the general quiet, Western countries should re-examine the breadth of options they now have for creative policymaking to further stabilize the regions outside of regime control and improve the lives of millions of Syrians. – Middle East Institute 

Lebanon

Lebanon extradited a man said to be a grandnephew of Saddam Hussein to Iraq, where he is accused of involvement in a massacre by the ISIS extremist group, a security source said Saturday. – Agence France-Presse

Gabriel Mitchell writes: The Israel-Lebanon agreement suggests that the right balance of timing, compatible interests, and an invested mediator can yield a breakthrough. Resolving maritime disputes is not only about extracting resources, but also about removing sources of conflict and gradually developing trust between aggrieved parties […] The blueprint provided by Israel and Lebanon is as good a starting point as it gets. – War on the Rocks

Arthur Koll writes: The increased role of the United States and France in the Lebanese arena is also a positive development and is preferable to leaving Lebanon under the sole grip of Hezbollah and Iran, which led that country to misery. And who knows, now that the precedent of a maritime border agreement has been set and the ice has been broken, perhaps there is increased potential for a future agreement on the land border between Israel and Lebanon. That, however, still seems far away. – The National Interest 

Middle East & North Africa

U.S. intelligence officials have compiled a classified report detailing extensive efforts to manipulate the American political system by the United Arab Emirates, an influential, oil-rich nation in the Persian Gulf long considered a close and trusted partner. – Washington Post

President Biden’s brief stopover at the U.N. climate conference known as COP27 on Friday included “intensive consultations” on the case of Alaa Abdel Fattah, the British Egyptian political prisoner on a hunger and water strike in an Egyptian prison. – Washington Post

The late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s great-nephew has no links with the Islamic State group but was sent back to Iraq as part of a political deal with Lebanese authorities, his lawyer said Sunday. – Associated Press

Yemen’s Houthi group is piling on pressure to extract economic gains in U.N.-led talks for an extended truce deal with attacks on oil ports in government-held areas, which officials say have disrupted crude exports, choking state revenues. – Reuters

Bahrainis headed to the polls Saturday but a ban on opposition candidates meant the election will bring no meaningful change despite a record number of people vying for seats, rights groups said. – Agence France-Presse

China

President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping launched into a high-stakes meeting here on Monday, the first in-person exchange between them as their nations’ leaders and at a time of extreme tensions between the global powers. – Washington Post

Security concerns related to Chinese investments in overseas ports are mounting as the country’s firms acquire more stakes at shipping hubs around the world and geopolitical tensions rise. – Wall Street Journal 

It has been nearly five years since police here told Henry Cai, a U.S. citizen from California, that he couldn’t leave China. Just before Christmas 2017, he was stopped at the airport at the end of a business trip. Mr. Cai later learned somebody was trying to force him to pay an outstanding debt of several million dollars owed by a Beijing company where he was a director and shareholder. – Wall Street Journal 

President Biden was triumphant on Sunday after Democrats cemented control of the Senate and said the result meant he was going into his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bali, Indonesia, on Monday “stronger.” – Washington Post

President Biden intends to use his Monday meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Bali to establish a “floor” for the relationship. China, too, has signaled it wants to put ties back on track after several years of fierce disagreements over trade, technology and human rights. But for Beijing, doing so is not about agreeing to disagree or working out how to avoid the worst-case scenario of outright conflict. – Washington Post

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday his country will maintain open communication lines and seek no conflict with China, ahead of what are expected to be tense talks on a range of geopolitical issues at the G20 summit in Indonesia this week. – Reuters

Strengthening trade ties and regional security will be priorities in an upcoming visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia, Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel Al-Jubeir said on Saturday. – Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden will warn Chinese President Xi Jinping at a meeting on Monday that North Korea’s continued pursuit of weapons development will lead to an enhanced U.S. military presence in the region, the White House said. – Reuters

The head of the International Monetary Fund warned of risks to the global economy from the rivalry between China and the United States, while describing tariffs put on Chinese imports under then-President Donald Trump as counterproductive. – Reuters

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang emphasised the “irresponsibility” of nuclear threats during a summit in Cambodia, suggesting Beijing is uncomfortable with strategic partner Russia’s nuclear rhetoric, a senior U.S. official said on Monday. – Reuters

US President Joe Biden meets China’s Xi Jinping in Bali on Monday hoping to set “guardrails” for relations between the countries, as the world’s 20 largest economies hold their first major post-pandemic summit. – Agence France-Presse

Hong Kong’s government reacted with fury on Monday after a popular democracy protest song was played instead of the Chinese national anthem for the city’s team at a rugby sevens tournament in South Korea. – Agence France-Presse

China issued sweeping directives to rescue its property sector, adding to a major recalibration of its pandemic response in the strongest signs yet that President Xi Jinping is turning his attention toward shoring up the world’s second-largest economy. – Bloomberg 

China has named former SARS firefighter Yin Li the new Communist Party leader of Beijing, as President Xi Jinping begins recalibrating the Covid Zero policy that’s slowed the world’s second largest economy. – Bloomberg

Editorial: Biden should tell Xi that if China doesn’t like something the U.S. is doing, it should tell the U.S. that. And that the U.S. will listen in respect for the value of dialogue and diplomacy. But Biden should inform Xi that even in areas where cooperation is preferable and possible, listening is not the same as following Beijing’s orders. He should make clear that the U.S. has the resolve and means to act in the defense of its national interests. – Washington Examiner

Phelim Kine and Jonathan Lemire write: At this point, the fact the meeting is happening at all is being sold as a win. But the face-to-face is just as likely to highlight the growing gulf between two countries that used to believe they could cooperate at least on global crises and trade. Despite four phone calls and one virtual meeting over the past two years, Biden and Xi seem further apart than ever. – Politico

Minxin Pei writes: As Xi sits down with US President Joe Biden in Indonesia on Monday, he should seize this opportunity to build a floor beneath US-China relations. Diplomacy, not muscle-flexing, will make China more secure without the immense economic costs that decoupling would impose. – Bloomberg

Daniel F. Runde writes:  With U.S. leadership and a handful of lenders, the “Heavily Indebted Poor Country” (HIPC) process was pulled together to allow for debt forgiveness. There was an explicit assumption that these same countries would not borrow monies again in the same way. In less than 25 years, we find ourselves in a similar but more complex place. As then, only a political solution is possible. – The Hill

Christopher K. Johnson writes: Xi is not looking for a rapprochement, but he might like some breathing room. Early rumblings that Biden and Xi could hold a lengthy meeting with the trappings of traditional modern summits, where both sides use the gathering to announce commercial deals and other deliverable results, certainly suggested as much. The real question is whether Biden wants to—or can—seize Beijing’s apparent interest in a détente to pump the brakes on the relationship’s downward spiral. – Foreign Affairs

Michael Cunningham writes: Washington should recognize that other countries are more susceptible to Chinese economic coercion than the United States and take greater risks when publicly opposing Beijing. Other nations’ willingness to go along will depend in part on their perception of how firmly the United States is standing behind them. – The National Interest 

Asia

U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday thanked Cambodia’s prime minister and chair of the ASEAN regional bloc for his critical remarks about the war in Ukraine, and said he was looking forward to democracy returning to army-ruled Myanmar. – Reuters

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Saturday her mission in life was to ensure the island continued to belong to its people and that Taiwan’s existence was a provocation to no one, in a fiery pre-election rebuff to China. – Reuters

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, Japan’s top government spokesman said, for talks that come as tensions in Asia have risen over Taiwan and North Korea. – Reuters

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday hailed a “positive” meeting with Chinese premier Li Keqiang — the first in-person encounter between leaders of the two countries since 2019. – Agence France-Presse

U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and discussed their security pact and issues surrounding the Taiwan Strait, the White House said. The AUKUS security pact between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia is seen as an effort by the Western allies to push back against China’s growing power and influence, particularly its military buildup, pressure on Taiwan and deployments in the contested South China Sea. – Reuters

China is continuously, and increasingly, taking actions that infringe on Japan’s sovereignty, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said, Jiji Press reported on Sunday. Kishida’s remarks came during a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, the news agency added. – Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday raised concerns with the leader of Cambodia about Chinese activities at it Ream Naval Base, stressing the importance of full transparency, the White House said. – Reuters

Japanese Prime Minister told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Saturday he hoped the two countries could strive toward building a “constructive and stable” relationship, Japan’s foreign ministry said on Saturday. – Reuters

President Joe Biden promised Saturday that the United States would work with a strategically vital coalition of southeast Asian nations, telling leaders that “we’re going to build a better future that we all want to see” in the region where U.S. rival China is also working to expand its influence. – Associated Press

A showdown between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin isn’t happening, but fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing tensions between China and the West will be at the fore when leaders of the world’s biggest economies gather in tropical Bali this week. – Associated Press

Indonesia’s president vowed Sunday not to let Southeast Asia become the front lines of a new Cold War amid increasing tensions between the United States and China, saying as his country took over the chairmanship of the influential Association of Southeast Asian Nations that it would not become “a proxy to any powers.” – Associated Press

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his government’s new push to diversify commercial ties in Asia shouldn’t lead to a decoupling from China. – Bloomberg 

Shots were fired between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces along the border between the two countries on Friday and Saturday, according to the countries’ defense ministries. – Jerusalem Post

Editorial: Much is at stake at Monday’s meeting with Mr. Xi. Mr. Biden can’t afford to show weakness on the U.S. commitment to Taiwan’s defense, which needs to be backed up immediately with U.S. and allied military assets. But Mr. Biden is harming his own policy, and U.S. interests, by lacking a credible economic strategy with Taiwan and the rest of the Asia-Pacific. – Wall Street Journal 

Michael Rubin writes: Some in Washington may say Taiwan is not a core interest, but they are naive to believe that Taiwan would be Xi’s only victim. More people live inside a circle encompassing China and India than live outside it. If the economic ramifications of Russia’s Ukraine invasion were a gust of wind, China’s attack on Taiwan will unleash a hurricane. Richard is right. Wishful thinking is not a substitute for preparation. – Washington Examiner

Africa

As cholera races across Haiti, propelled in part by an escalating security crisis, the United Nations is mulling a request from Haiti’s government for “a specialized armed force” from abroad to quell the gang violence that has hindered the response and brought the nation of 11 million to the precipice of anarchy. – Washington Post

Sudan’s leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Sunday issued another stern warning to Islamists and other political factions against any interference in the military, amid talks with civilian parties to form a non-partisan government. – Reuters

The Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces on Saturday signed an agreement laying out the roadmap for implementation of a peace deal that both sides reached in South Africa this month. – Reuters

South Africa said on Sunday it will push for the African Union to get a seat at the G20, as leaders from the world’s top economies gather in Indonesia next week. – Agence France-Presse

Troops in the DR Congo clashed with M23 rebels north of the key eastern city of Goma on Sunday, officials said, in the latest violence to hit the troubled region. – Agence France-Presse

United States

Across America, investigators are increasingly being hired by a new kind of client — authoritarian governments like Iran and China attempting to surveil, harass, threaten and even repatriate dissidents living lawfully in the United States, law enforcement officials said. – New York Times

Democrats took a victory lap on Sunday after retaining control of the U.S. Senate, defying Republican hopes for a “red wave” in the midterm elections, and turned their attention to Georgia where a run-off contest could strengthen their hand in Congress. – Reuters

Niall Ferguson writes: If ever there has been a time since the end of Cold War I for American politicians to find common ground in the name of national security, this is surely it. With our mounting national debt and our increasingly anachronistic military capabilities, we are in no way prepared to cope with simultaneous challenges to American primacy in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. – Bloomberg

Eli Lake writes: To begin with, the FBI is the one institution in government that is supposed to investigate leaks of classified information. This gives the Bureau extraordinary power over other parts of the national-security state. This means that every now and again, powerful generals such as David Petraeus or James Cartwright will be pursued by the bureau’s anti-leak team. But FBI leakers are themselves almost never punished. – Commentary Magazine

Defense

The Biden administration is ratcheting up air defense for Ukraine with an influx of surface-to-air missile systems and other ammunition designed to give Kyiv what Pentagon officials are calling a “net” of interlacing capabilities to protect against Russian bombardment on civilian areas. – Washington Post

Six people were killed after two historic military planes collided and crashed to the ground Saturday afternoon during a Dallas air show, officials said. – Military.com

The Pentagon has quietly cut procurement of its new AC-130J Ghostrider special operations gunships, downsizing the fleet from 37 to 30. – Defense News

The Air Force Research Laboratory chose Colorado-based Advanced Space to build a spacecraft that will observe, detect and track objects around the moon. – Defense News

Editorial: The House and Senate defense authorization bills both include money for the missile. The White House says it “strongly opposes” such funding, and one reason is that the cruise missile “would not be delivered before the 2030s.” This is an argument for speeding up the program, not killing it. The sea missile illustrates a larger problem: The Biden Administration is talking loudly about the threat from China and Russia, but the rhetoric isn’t backed by investment in military power. As a strategy, that’s dangerous. – Wall Street Journal 

John Bolton writes: Today, rogue state capabilities are more sophisticated, Russian rhetoric is becoming more belligerent, and China’s nuclear arsenal is growing rapidly. In response we must urgently increase our homeland missile defenses across the board, which will also have the collateral benefit of aiding our allies. The technology we develop to protect ourselves can be deployed to defend them too. Today’s threat environment leaves no room for further delay and failure. Homeland missile defense should command top priority in our national security strategy. – Wall Street Journal 

Tom Rogan writes: Unless there are concerns with regard to a specific foreign trip, former U.S. officials should request foreign government security or private security from organizers of a private event hosting them. This would provide a significant and immediate reduction in the strain on the DSS workforce. The top line, however, is clear. The DSS needs relief. Failure to provide that relief risks catastrophic consequences. – Washington Examiner 

Michael Clarke writes: In this context, the NPR’s emphasis on the closer integration of nuclear and conventional capabilities, and the greater synchronization of their “planning, exercises, and operations” could, on the positive side of the ledger, create greater uncertainty in Beijing about its capacity for escalation control—and thus perhaps induce greater caution in its behavior by signaling that the United States may be prepared to escalate from conventional-to-nuclear threats or capabilities to deter any Chinese move on Taiwan. – The National Interest 

Caleb Larson writes: Though China and Taiwan were not mentioned, the statement noted that the “Higgins is forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.” “U.S. 7th Fleet is the largest numbered fleet in the world, and with the help of 35 other maritime-nation allies and partners, the U.S. Navy has operated in the Indo-Pacific region for more than 70 years, providing credible, ready forces to help preserve peace and prevent conflict.” – The National Interest