Show notes
For review:
1. The U.S. Air Force on Tuesday awarded Boeing a sole-source contract for newvGBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs , to replace the munitions used in last June’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
2. Iran launched live-fire naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.
The drill, called "Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz," was led by the naval forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) under the supervision of IRGC Commander in Chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour.
3.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had told U.S. President Donald Trump to make four key demands of Iran in any deal to avert military strikes against the Islamic regime in Tehran.
- All enriched uranium must leave Iran.
- Iran to have no enrichment capability.
- Limits on the range of Iranian ballistic missiles (Range of 300km and under).
- Dismantle support/infrastructure for Iranian militia proxies in the Region.
4. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation left for the Swiss city after the first round of indirect talks took place in Oman last week. Oman will mediate the talks in Geneva, the IRNA state-run news agency reported on its Telegram channel.
Mr. Araghchi is also expected to meet with his Swiss and Omani counterparts, as well as the director general of the U.N.’s atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
5. A Republican senator seen as close to US President Donald Trump suggested Monday that an American decision on potential military action against Iran was “weeks, not months” away and opined that it would be a “strategic victory” for the Islamic Republic if its supreme leader isn’t toppled amid the current standoff.
6. Lebanon’s government says its army will have a four-month extendable period to implement phase two of the military’s plan to disarm Hezbollah in south Lebanon.
Phase two covers an area north of the Litani river.
7. The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday evening said that it carried out an airstrike targeting members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in eastern Lebanon, close to the Syrian border.
8. A Ukrainian delegation was heading to Geneva on Monday for another round of U.S.-brokered talks with Russian officials,
There was no anticipation of any significant progress on ending the war at the Tuesday-Wednesday meeting in Switzerland as both sides appear to be sticking to their negotiating positions on key issues.
9. US Secretary of State Rubio sharply criticized the UN for having “virtually no role” in resolving conflicts, and called for global institutions to be reformed.
“The United Nations still has tremendous potential to be a tool for good in the world,” he told the Munich conference.
“But we cannot ignore that, today, on the most pressing matters before us, it has no answers and has played virtually no role,” he said.
10. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has announced his country is in talks with the United States to buy an additional four F-16 fighter jets on top of the 14 copies already ordered.
11. Estonia’s arms procurement agency has signed a contract with France and KNDS for the acquisition of 12 additional Caesar self-propelled howitzers.
The newly ordered systems are scheduled for delivery later this year.
12. The Pentagon, along with the Department of Energy, on Sunday airlifted a small nuclear reactor, the first such transportation as the Trump administration looks to quickly deploy nuclear power across the U.S.
The Ward 250 is a 5 megawatt nuclear reactor that could potentially power roughly 5,000 homes, according to the Pentagon.
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