I - On Defense Podcast

For review:
1. Raúl Castro, Cuba’s low-profile former president and revolutionary guerrilla, appeared in public for the first time since being indicted by the United States for his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft, official video released Saturday showed.
2. The United States and Iran exchanged fire overnight Friday amid a fragile ceasefire as American officials stepped up preparations for potential nuclear negotiations, including consultations this week with experts who could help determine the fate of Tehran’s enriched uranium stockpile.
The US military said it carried out strikes on Iranian radar sites in what it described as a defensive action after Iran launched four attack drones toward the Strait of Hormuz.
3. The United States will make Iranian assets available to Gulf allies to support rebuilding and repairs for future damage caused by Iran, a source familiar with the matter says.
The US will also consider using those assets to support repairs for past damages, the source says, adding that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has directed a team to assess costs for damage already inflicted on Gulf allies by Iran.
4. A plan developed by Israel and the Mossad intelligence agency to topple the Iranian regime could still succeed if given time, but it has not been carried out to completion due to the United States’ decision in April to halt the war against the Islamic Republic, a former senior Mossad official told Channel 12 on Saturday. In any event, he insisted, the regime will fall sooner or later.
5. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Iran Friday of using Lebanon as a “bargaining chip” in negotiations with the United States, and called on both Hezbollah and Israel to embrace diplomacy in a bid to end the fighting between them.
6. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he does not see any point in meeting Volodymyr Zelensky after the Ukrainian leader requested face-to-face talks over ending the war between the two nations.
7. In a rare moment of bipartisanship in the US Congress, the House tonight passed a package of Russian sanctions and military aid for Ukraine.
House members voted 226-195 to pass the Ukraine Support Act, which authorizes $8 billion in military finance loans to Ukraine and extends the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through 2027.
8. Russia could attack a NATO country within four years according to western intelligence assessments, UK PM warned on Friday.
9. The U.S. will sell Australia three in-service Virginia-class submarines, pivoting from the planned acquisition of one new and two in-service Virginias, the countries announced.

For review:
1. The United States imposed sanctions Thursday on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel in the latest move by the Trump administration.
2. A statement attributed to Iran’s supreme leader on Thursday said that the United States and Israel had been dealt a “decisive blow” in their war with the Islamic Republic, as the US sent mixed signals about whether the fighting could resume.
3. US President Donald Trump tells reporters that Washington does not need a deal with Iran to get enriched uranium from the country.
“We could get it right now. I don’t think they could stop us if we wanted, but there’s no reason to. It’s entombed,” he says.
4. Israel and Lebanon agreed on Wednesday to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah terrorists would be banned.
5. The Israeli Air Force and Israeli Navy carried out strikes in the Gaza Strip overnight into Thursday, killing top commanders in Hamas’s general security mechanism, the military announced.
6. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a face-to-face meeting between himself and Vladimir Putin in a renewed bid to end the war.
In an open letter to the Russian president, the Ukrainian leader said it would be "wrong to simply wait" until the war in Europe becomes the focus of the US's attention once more, adding peace could only come "through direct engagement between" Ukraine and Russia.
7. Republicans defeated an amendment to the FY27 Defense Policy Bill that would have stripped $1 billion in funds for the Trump-class Battleship during a House Armed Services Committee mark up of the bill today.
8. US Army SP Howitzer Modernization.

For review:
1.  Cuba on Tuesday defended a ​military-run conglomerate long the target of U.S. sanctions, saying the group of businesses known as GAESA has ‌contributed to the nation's economic and social development.
2. US forces successfully defeated multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, and conducted self-defense strikes on Qeshm Island in response to attempted attacks by Iran across the Middle East.
 Iran launched several ballistic missiles toward regional neighbors; however, all failed to hit their intended targets. 
3. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers on Tuesday that Iran has signaled a willingness to negotiate elements of its nuclear program that weren’t previously on the table, as US President Donald Trump denied talks had been cut off.
4. A new round of talks between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors was held in Washington on Tuesday, a day after US President Donald Trump said he had received commitments of de-escalation from both Jerusalem and Hezbollah.
5. Two of Iraq’s most powerful Iran-backed militias said on Tuesday they would begin handing in their weapons to the authorities, a major step in the new government’s effort to rein in militias that have long operated on their own even though they were nominally under state command.
6. South China Morning Post Report: President Trump Asked Xi Jinping to Push Russia Back to Negotiating Table.
7. U.S. officials are engaged in NATO-internal discussions about the possibility of deploying nuclear weapons to new countries within the alliance, a new report says, in what would be a remarkable proliferation in nuclear sharing.
8. Norway has become the ninth European country to sign up for French nuclear protection.

For review:
1. US SOUTHCOM X: SOUTHCOMCommander Gen. Francis L. Donovan (USMC) personally inspected all aspects of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay’s security posture, leading a comprehensive perimeter security assessment and discussing force protection, operational readiness, and measures to ensure the safety and security of service members, their families, and the joint force stationed at the installation with base officials. 
2. US President Donald Trump put off his decision on the memorandum of understanding with Iran after demanding his team secure more concessions on Iran’s nuclear program.
3. The US military stopped a merchant vessel trying to break through its blockade of Iranian ports by firing a missile into its engine room, the US Central Command said on Saturday.
The Gambia-flagged cargo ship Lian Star ignored more than 20 warnings from US forces overnight as it tried to enter an Iranian port, the military said. 
4. Bloomberg: An Iranian ballistic missile strike has targeted a major US military hub in Kuwait on Saturday, May 30, wounding multiple personnel and destroying high-value aviation assets.
According to intelligence and military sources, Iran deployed a Fateh-110 short-range ballistic missile targeting the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. 
5. CNN: Iran has salvaged entrances to dozens of missile facilities struck by the US and Israel in the recent war, a Sunday report said, as the Islamic Republic continues to rebuild its military infrastructure amid ceasefire talks with the US.
Citing satellite images, Iran has been able to dig out 50 of 69 tunnel entrances at 18 separate underground missile facilities across the country. It has also repaired other damaged areas of those bases, including key access roads that the US and Israel bombed during the war.
6. Israel captured the historic Beaufort Castle and the surrounding strategic ridge as it pushed deeper into Lebanon, the IDF announced on Sunday.
7. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addresses the Shangri-La dialouge on May 30, 2026. The head of the Pentagon called on U.S. Western Pacific allies to maintain military strength and called on China not to disrupt the regional equilibrium while praising the current state of affairs between Washington and Beijing.
8. Japan’s defense minister has pushed back against Chinese allegations that Japan’s push to broaden regional defense cooperation was “new militarism,” saying that Tokyo’s increased defense spending and broader regional footprint has been conducted in a transparent fashion with regional security in mind.

For review:
1. The head of the U.S. military's Southern Command met with top Cuban military officials Friday at the edge of the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay.
2. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Friday that troops of the IDF’s 36th Division have crossed Lebanon’s Litani River. 
PM Netanyahu:  “Our forces crossed the Litani, and they’ve advanced to the dominating terrain,” Netanyahu said on a visit to troops on the northern border. “We’re also operating in Beirut, and in the Beqaa, across the entire front, and hitting Hezbollah hard.”
3. The International Stabilization Force for Gaza was announced with great aplomb at the inaugural meeting of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in February.
Three months on, none of the five countries that pledged troops have made any significant contributions. Hamas has refused to disarm and Israel has seized more territory while continuing to strike terror targets.
4. US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was entering the White House Situation Room to make a “final determination” on a MOU to extend the ceasefire with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
5. The proportion of vessels not linked to Iranian ownership that are transiting the Strait of Hormuz has risen, according to data from maritime firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence shared Thursday.
6. The United Arab Emirates launched dozens of airstrikes in Iran in the first days of the US-Israeli war on Iran, and after the ceasefire in April was announced, according to a WSJ report published Friday.
7. Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Thursday that Europe cannot combine its strong backing for Ukraine with a neutral mediator role in future peace talks, as EU foreign ministers met informally in Lemesos, Cyprus.
8. NATO accused Moscow on Friday of reckless behavior and pledged to “defend every inch of Allied territory” after Romania said a Russian drone had crashed into an apartment block in the alliance member state during an attack on neighboring Ukraine.
Russia’s TASS news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying President Vladimir Putin had been informed about the incident.