I - On Defense Podcast

For review:
1. Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), its escorts and embarked Carrier Air Wing 8 have been tasked from their current position in the Caribbean to the Middle East to support a U.S. naval buildup in the region.
2. Asked Friday about potential regime change in Iran, US President Donald Trump said, “it seems like that would be the best thing that could happen,” as he confirmed sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East “in case we don’t make a deal” with the Islamic Republic.
3. US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to intensify the “maximum pressure policy” in order to force Iran to give up its nuclear program, including clamping down on the sale of Tehran’s oil to China, according to a Saturday report citing two US officials.
4. The US military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two US officials told Reuters, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen between the countries.
5. The Board of Peace’s High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov said at the Munich Security Conference on Friday that the Palestinian technocratic committee tasked with governing Gaza in place of Hamas cannot enter the Strip if violations of the ceasefire continue.
6. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to represent Israel at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting in Washington, DC next Thursday.
7. The leader of an anti-Hamas militia based in IDF-controlled areas of the southern Gaza Strip said recently that it is working on demolishing the terror group’s tunnels, a confirmation that further shows Israel’s support for the armed gang.
8. A wave of Israeli airstrikes in several areas of southern Lebanon this evening targeted Hezbollah weapon depots and rocket launchers, the military says.
9. The governments of Russia and Ukraine confirmed Friday that they would participate in a third round of U.S.-mediated peace talks next week, on Feb. 17 and 18 in Geneva. 
10. U.S. Secretary of State Rubio offered a reassuring message to America’s allies on Saturday, striking a less aggressive but still firm tone about the administration’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its priorities.
11. Co-development of the French-German-Spanish Next-Generation Fighter (NGF) is almost certainly headed for collapse, with negotiations between Airbus and Dassault halted on the next phase of the project amid a long-running industrial dispute over leadership and workshare, an industry source said today. 
12. As part of discussions between Belgium and US giant Lockheed Martin for a potential deal covering 11 additional F-35A fifth-generation fighter jets, Brussels is pushing hard for hefty domestic industrial returns, according to the country’s defense minister.

For review:
1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that US President Donald Trump believes the Iranians could be forced to accept “a good deal,” though the premier clarified that he is skeptical of the possibility.
2. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday derided a report by the Israel Hayom newspaper that the Islamic Republic had secretly executed thousands of people who participated in protests after telling Washington it would not do so.
3. An Iranian state-run TV channel on Thursday broadcast a hit list of seven Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appearing to threaten their assassination.
4. Wall Street Journal Report: President Trump Orders Second Carrier Strike Group to Prepare for Deployment.
“The order to deploy could be issued in a matter of hours,” the WSJ posited, citing anonymous officials. However, the order hasn’t been given and plans can change, it added.
5. Syrian government forces have taken control of a base in the east of the country that was run for years by U.S. troops as part of the war against the Islamic State group, the Syrian Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday.
The al-Tanf base sits on a strategic location close to the borders with Jordan and Iraq. 
In a statement, the Syrian Defense Ministry said the handover of the base took place in coordination with the U.S. military and Syrian forces are now “securing the base and its perimeters.”
6. Ukraine's partners pledged nearly $38 billion in new military aid at the 33rd meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein format on Feb. 12, Ukraine Defense Minister Fedorov said.
He added that most of the funding will go toward strengthening Ukraine's air defense systems and expanding its drone capabilities.
7. Russia may have lost about twice as many soldiers in Ukraine in December 2025 as the Soviet Union lost during the Soviet-Afghan War, a former British intelligence chief Sir Richard Moore (MI6) said on Feb. 10.
8. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 11 that Ukraine has accepted the U.S. invitation to hold a new round of peace talks next week.
"The American side has proposed a meeting in America, in Miami, next week. And we immediately confirmed it," President Zelenskyy said.
President Zelenskyy initially told Bloomberg that the negotiations would be hosted by the U.S. and will occur on Feb. 17 and Feb. 18. He later said there was a chance the meeting could be held in Abu Dhabi, and that Ukraine was willing to attend talks in any location.
The talks, however, depend on Russia's agreement to participate, something that Ukraine and the U.S. have not yet received.

For review:
1. On the eve of his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump said that the Israeli premier “wants a deal” with Iran, and that the current talks on Tehran’s nuclear program show promise.
2. Entrances to Iran's Isfahan Nuclear Site Purposely Buried in Preparation of US/Israeli Attack.
3. IDF Preparing for Gaza Offensive to Disarm Hamas.
Hinting at the military’s offensive plans, Defense Minister Israel Katz this month said that Israel was "determined to disarm Hamas, threatening to “dismantle” the terror group if it doesn’t agree to lay down its arms.
4. Indonesia is preparing for the potential deployment of 5,000 to 8,000 troops to Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, the country’s army chief of staff, Maruli Simanjuntak, said Monday following a security meeting with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta.
5. The Israel Defense Forces captured a “senior” member of the al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya terror organization during an overnight raid in southern Lebanon, and separately killed two Hezbollah operatives, the military said Monday.
According to the IDF, the al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya operative was nabbed late Sunday from a building in the Mount Dov area near the border by a special forces unit operating under the 210th “Bashan” Regional Division. 
6. Russia cannot launch an attack on NATO this year or next but is planning to increase its forces significantly along the alliance’s eastern flank, depending on the outcome of the war in Ukraine, a senior European intelligence official said.
7. NATO today announced a command restructuring plan that will see the US giving up leadership of two allied operational-level commands to European senior officers.
The US will hand over charge of Joint Force Command Norfolk to the United Kingdom and relinquish leadership of Joint Force Command Naples to Italy, a statement from the alliance said. The statement also noted that Joint Force Command Brunssum will now be led by Germany and Poland on a rotational format.

For review:
1. Iran: Dilution of Enriched Uranium for Sanctions Relief.
2. Israeli PM Netanyahu to Visit Washington D.C. on Wednesday. 
3. Ukraine and Sweden are discussing the prospect of arming Kyiv with Europe’s top air-to-air missile- the Meteor.
4. Ukraine and France took a step toward joint arms production on Feb. 9, as Ukrainian Defense Minister Fedorov and his French counterpart Catherine Vautrin signed a letter of intent in Kyiv, Ukraine's Defense Ministry announced.
During the meeting, the ministers discussed accelerating the delivery of French Mirage 2000 fighter jets, as well as a record shipment of Hammer air-to-ground bombs. 
Ukraine and France addressed the supply of long-range weapons, including SCALP missiles. 
5. US Warship (USS Cincinnati) Visits Cambodian Port.
6. Vietnam’s Ministry of Defense has reportedly signed a $250-million contract with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to locally produce the Spike Firefly loitering munition.
7. Rafael Systems Global Sustainment (RSGS) announced today it was selected for Phase I of the Army’s second Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) Increment 2 interceptor program, joining the pack with Lockheed Martin and the Boeing-Anduril team.

For review:
1. Iran rejected calls by the United States to halt uranium enrichment on its territory during talks in Oman on Friday.
A regional diplomat briefed by Tehran told Reuters Friday that while the Islamic Republic would not budge on its right to enrich uranium inside Iran, it was willing to discuss the “level and purity” of enrichment or a regional consortium.
2. The Israel Defense Forces said it struck a Hamas arms depot in Gaza City on Friday in response to an attack on troops a day earlier, after issuing an evacuation warning for a residential building for the first time since the start of the ceasefire.
3. The United Arab Emirates has drafted plans to build a compound to house thousands of displaced Palestinians in a part of south Gaza under Israeli military control, according to a map seen by Reuters and people briefed on the plans.
The planning map shows where the “UAE Temporary Emirates Housing Complex” would be constructed near Rafah.
4. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Friday that Lebanon’s army must be given the means to disarm the terror group Hezbollah and replace a United Nations peacekeeping force after its mandate ends this year.
“France’s vision for Lebanon is that of a strong, sovereign state holding a monopoly on arms,” Barrot told AFP.
5. Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev has been shot multiple times in Moscow by an unknown assailant, the Kremlin said on Feb 6.
In response to the shooting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed Kyiv for the assassination attempt, accusing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky of "provocations aimed at destabilizing the (peace) negotiation process."
Ukraine is yet to comment on the shooting.
6. US President Donald Trump inked a new executive order today, calling for national production interests to be taken into greater account when the US sells foreign nations weapons, creating a new list of platforms to push on the market, and prioritizing arms sales for countries who invest more in their own defense spending.  
7. Singapore is slated join the F-35 operator club once the first of its Lockheed Martin F-35B fighters enter service later this year, becoming the fourth Asia-Pacific nation to fly the fifth-generation fighter.
8. The U.S. Army has stood up a rotational force in the Philippines, according to recently released defense media.
While details regarding the rotational force’s formation date, capabilities and mission remains unclear, the force is headed by a lieutenant colonel and has assigned a liaison officer with Task Force-Philippines. 
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USNI News.