The Next 60 Days Could Make Or Break Trump’s Iran Deal

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB): European allies say they’ll be ready to help in Iran. Trump just has to show he has solid deal with next steps in Iran, including a complicated effort to remove mines from the Strait of Hormuz.

How Iran’s naval mines work. Following a deal to reopen the strategic waterway, scouring the Strait of Hormuz for mines could take weeks.

Iran to gain major financial relief under interim deal with U.S.

Read the 14-point draft memorandum.

Israel launches fresh strikes on Lebanon despite (or because of) Trump criticism.

Bizarre comment. President Trump vented his frustration with Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon, going as far to suggest that Syria would do better job fighting Hezbollah there.

U.S. says it defended ‘dark’ ships in Strait of Hormuz against regular threats since starting program to assist vessels moving through the waterway.

The betrayal of the Iranian people. On night of January 8, in city of Karaj, just northwest of Tehran, 17-year-old boy shot by security forces while protesting was murdered later in hospital by Iran’s same security services.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s the latest defense news from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

THE PDB – Not the President’s Daily Briefing, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

AI race won’t be won by best model — but by the fastest military. When Office of Director of National Intelligence released its annual threat assessment, AI featured prominently among complex array of challenges like quantum computing.

“Defining Autonomy: Why Software, Not Drones, Will Decide the Next War”: The drone is not the weapon. The software commanding it is.

Data from ‘half a million hours of Ukraine conflict drone footage’ now available to train AI. Startup ‘Enabled Intelligence’ is expanding its repository of curated datasets that government and commercial partners use for model training and deployments.

Understanding potential value and risks of arming indigenous groups in support of U.S. national objectives.

HOMELAND SECURITY

AI is taking background checks from ‘months to hours,’ clearance agency says. Nation’s largest counterintelligence unit aims to use AI tools to speed security clearance reviews for people and companies seeking to do sensitive government work.

DEFENSE POLITICS

Democrat and Republican Senators vow to fight ‘tooth and nail’ for troops’ right to repair their own equipment after authority was removed from last year’s defense policy bill.

Can Pentagon buy faster before next war arrives? Reasons DOD accepts flawed business cases are both structural and cultural in nature. Current process incentivizes ‘starting fast, awarding massive development contracts quickly, often in name of preserving the industrial base, and obligating funds rapidly to ensure budget is not ‘lost’ to another program. Success is often measured by activity (money spent), not by outcomes (capability delivered).”

CHINA THREAT

U.S. holds off blacklisting China’s DeepSeek and more than 100 firms deemed security risks, likely placing more U.S. goods and technology in adversaries’ hands.

G7 leaders roll out plan to cut reliance on China for minerals. The countries plan to coordinate on diversifying supply chains, stockpiling and tracking minerals throughout global supply chains.

Does China have a smart or dumb diplomacy? China recently raised eyebrows across Indo-Pacific by slapping unilateral sanctions on Philippine Defense Secretary and his immediate family, over his “erroneous remarks” against Beijing’s paramilitary activities in South China Sea.

RUSSIA THREAT/UKRAINE WAR

NATO has “really changed a lot in the last three to four years” since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced alliance to rethink how it learns, experiments, and operates.

Russian navy warship accused of firing warning shots at UK yacht in the English Channel.

Greenland has enough bases and permanent troops to support NATO operations and deter Russian threats said the Nordic country’s top military commander on the territory. This, as Denmark’s multi-billion-dollar push to strengthen defenses in Arctic remains in its early stages.

EUROPEAN DEFENSE

As Europe rearms, ‘wingman’ aircraft, the latest-generation defense weapon designed to accompany fighters, take center stage.

French automaker Renault teams up with Defense technology firm Thales to boost France’s drone production.

German defense giant Rheinmetall pitches shipping 20-foot container that can spit out swarms of attack drones to inundate battlefields with scores of loitering munitions.

KNDS is proposing main battle tank with French turret and gun mounted on hull of Germany’s Leopard 2 as intermediate solution to replace French Army’s aging Leclerc tanks, which are reaching end of their service life before next-generation tank arrives.

MBDA advances land version of its Naval Cruise Missile to offer European nations long-range strike option, with the pan-European missile maker presenting a truck-transportable launcher and plans for missile upgrade.

SPACE THREATS

How Air Force Weapons School’s space course has grown over 30 years.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

India says recent trials have demonstrated country’s ability to intercept ballistic missiles, placing it among select group of countries with those advanced capabilities.

Sudan’s army has curbed purchases of Iranian weapons, as North African nation strives to win U.S. support in future talks to end three-year civil war.

US MILITARY

2 Boeing employees among 8 killed in B-52H Stratofortress bomber crash at Air Force base in California while testing new radar systems.

Navy needs to reorganize and reimagine way it invests in autonomous systems if it plans to modernize its approach to warfare effectively, says government watchdog.

Corps stands up first ever Marine unmanned maintenance squadron.

Fewer Air Force tankers are available for aerial refueling missions than official figures suggest, says new report.

OpenAI poised in early July to unveil flagship chatbot model ChatGPT to defense civilian and military personnel through GenAI.mil, Pentagon’s enterprise-wide generative AI platform.

END of PDB

FOR MORE DETAILED, UNCENSORED, INTELLIGENCE, AND ANALYSIS FROM PAUL CRESPO, SUBSCRIBE TO HIS SUBSTACK.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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