FDD Morning Brief

The Divided Nations | feat. Ben Cohen

Headlines: China has reportedly sent tons of dual-use components to Iran for use in missiles and drones. Iran is once again threatening to attack its neighbors, this time going after regional airports. Turkey agreed to withdraw from a military base in northern Iraq, handing control back to Baghdad. In exchange, Iraq committed to crack down on armed groups that Ankara considers a threat — namely, groups connected to the Kurdistan Workers Party, otherwise known as the PKK. I mentioned the Saudis just a few minutes ago. And those missiles that were shot down. As it turns out, it was the Greeks who shot down at least one ballistic missile and one drone over Saudi Arabia. And guess what? They did so using the American-made Patriot air defense system. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD Research Fellow Ben Cohen. Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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The Houthis' Saudi siege | feat. Edmund Fitton-Brown

Headlines: The UK has agreed to help Saudi Arabia fight the Houthis by providing aerial refueling services to Saudi planes for the next few weeks. The Trump administration is reportedly setting up a multi-billion dollar investment fund to help repair the energy infrastructure destroyed by Iran in the Persian Gulf. In an exclusive for The New York Times, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi laid out his plan to disarm Iran-backed Iraqi militias. Israeli troops conducted multiple counterterrorism operations in Judea and Samariah during the Yom Kippur holiday on Monday. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD Senior Fellow Edmund Fitton-Brown. Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

China steals America's AI edge | feat. Leah Siskind

Headlines: The State Department approved the potential sale of dozens of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia yesterday. French President Emmanuel Macron met with Jordan’s King Abdullah and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun yesterday as part of a broader effort to raise funds for the Lebanese Armed Forces, or “LAF.” The Trump administration sanctioned members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, denying them visas to attend the UN General Assembly in New York next week. Israel and Morocco agreed to upgrade diplomatic ties following a meeting between their foreign ministers on Wednesday. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD AI Fellow Leah Siskind. Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Tehran squeezes Riyadh | feat. Bernard Haykel

Headlines: Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi is in Beijing today to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. A Russian bank just got dinged by the US Treasury for laundering dirty Iranian money. Malaysia seized three shipping containers headed for Israel as they transited through a major Malaysian port. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD Senior Fellow Bernard Haykel. Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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The truth about America's munitions crisis | feat. Mark Cancian

Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP), fills in for Jonathan Schanzer, providing timely situational updates and analysis ahead of a conversation with Mark Cancian, senior adviser with the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

25 years after 9/11 | feat. Bruce Hoffman

Headlines: The Houthis seized the Yemeni port of Mokha yesterday, days after launching a combinedballistic missile and drone attack in Saudi Arabia. President Trump warned that the U.S. could strike Pickaxe Mountain — the deeply buried, hard-to-reach nuclear facility in central Iran near Natanz. Algeria severed diplomatic ties with the UAE, citing quote “provocative or hostile” actions. Iran’s Basij force is reportedly tightening its grip over the country under the direction of its returning commander, Hossein Taeb. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman of the Council on Foreign Relations. Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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The beauty queen of wartime Jerusalem | feat. Swell Ariel Or

Headlines: Yesterday, the Houthis attacked Saudi Arabia, setting oil facilities on fire and wounding at least 73 people. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has just sounded the alarm on Iran's nuclear program. Rafael Grossi says Tehran still won't cooperate with inspectors and has cut off access to all its declared nuclear sites. London has just announced that it is banning all trade with West Bank settlements. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Israeli actress Swell Ariel Or, star of Netflix's "The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem." Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

The FBI's war on terror financing | feat. Lara Burns

Headlines: Russia is helping Iran develop supersonic cruise missiles. Remember the Gaza flotilla? Well, it’s back. Leaders from the so-called “Freedom Flotilla Coalition” said the group is planning to set sail once again and arrive in Gaza by October. Declassified Canadian intelligence indicates that Ottawa awarded an Iranian agent over $2 million in government contracts. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Lara Burns, retired FBI Special Agent and head of terrorism research at the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University. Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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The ABCs of foreign funding in K-12 | feat. Brandy Shufutinsky

Headlines: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun petitioned Greece to help implement a future peace agreement with Israel, which would see the Lebanese Armed Forces, or “LAF,” disarm Hezbollah and deploy to areas of south Lebanon as Israel gradually withdraws from them. Israel will build a multi-tier air defense system to defend Greece against drones, ballistic missiles, and other aerial threats. The Houthi terrorist group in Yemen is deepening its ties with Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Brandy Shufutinsky, director of FDD’s Education and National Security Program. Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Israel's post-October 7 election | feat. Yohanan Plesner

Headlines: USAID, the US Agency for International Development,released a new report on Friday, confirming what we already knew — namely, that UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency, is infested with Hamas terrorists. A retired Shin Bet official named Adi Rotemhas come out of the shadows to confirm reports that Israel held direct talks with Hamas in 2024. Donald Trump announced a major oil deal with Venezuela just before the weekend. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute. Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

The Israel-Turkey collision course | feat. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak

Headlines: Kuwait and Pakistan signed a military cooperation agreement yesterday, building on a deal signed in 2023. The IDF is poised to surge troops into the West Bank as violence over there continues to escalate. Iranians this week rushed to stock up on fuel and food in anticipation of supply shortages. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with world-renowned Turkey scholar Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak. Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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Economic D-Day against Tehran | feat. Miad Maleki

Headlines: China blasted the United States after the Trump administration rolled out Operation Economic Outcast, its new pressure campaign to completely isolate Iran from the global economy. Let’s stick with Iran, shall we? Iran and Oman are considering establishing a joint shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz. Military officials from Uganda and Burundi visited Israel last week to discuss troop deployments to Gaza. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD Senior Fellow Miad Maleki. Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

The elusive exit from the Iran war | feat. Jonathan Tobin

Headlines: Some mixed messages out of Iran’s rump regime. We’ve got President Masoud Pezeshkian saying that a new MOU is the best way out of the war. He warned that the country’s economy is in a downward spiral. And he’s not wrong. Reports over the weekend suggest that the regime may now ban all contact with foreigners. Four kites out of Gaza drifted over Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The last time kites flew over the territory, they were either on fire or contained explosives. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Jonathan Tobin, editor-in-chief of the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS). Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief/

Syria's Russian reconstruction | feat. Anna Borshchevskaya

Headlines: The Trump Administration sanctioned the International Criminal Court’s president and top lawyer over their egregious, corrupt, politicized conduct. The United Arab Emirates suspended all trade and financial transactions with Iran after Tehran fired two ballistic missiles at the gulf country on Tuesday. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency began excavating a suspected secret nuclear site run by the former Assad regime in Syria. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Anna Borshchevskaya of the Washington Institute. Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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War and the Board of Peace | feat. Shira Efron

Headlines: The U.S. and Israel have agreed to establish two Gaza working groups: one related to Hamas disarmament and the other to public health in the Strip. Russia is reportedly replenishing Iran’s munition stockpiles by shipping drone parts, ammo, and even ballistic missile components to the regime via the Caspian Sea. President Trump threatened to bomb Oman if it obstructs the administration’s efforts to clinch a deal with Iran. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Shira Efron, distinguished Israel policy chair at the RAND Corporation. Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Toppling Tehran | feat. Emily Schrader

Headlines: The rump regime in Iran claims that the government of Qatar is holding three of its pilots that were shot down in the open stages of the most recent war. The Houthis are still at it in Yemen. The port city of Mocha, controlled by the good guys in southern Yemen, continues to get hammered with Houthi missiles. A Hamas delegation led by chief psychoKhalil al-Hayya began meeting with the Egyptian intelligence chief on Sunday. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Emily Schrader of Israel's ILTV News. Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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A university blooms in wartime Israel | feat. Daniel Chamowitz

Headlines: A tense situation is playing out in the West Bank village of Qusra. Israeli settlers, or perhaps not settlers but anarchists, depending upon who you talk to,have been besieging two Palestinian homes since Sunday, cutting their water and electricity. The IDF killed Hamas commander Jamal Mahmoud Abu Kamil in a targeted strike in Gaza City on Thursday. The Navy's swapping out its Middle East carrier — the USS George Washington will replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been enforcing the blockade of Iranian ports and has now been at sea over 250 days, and without a port call in 200. The Qatari propaganda outlet Al Jazeera quietly ended contracts for at least 24 of its Gaza-based staff. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with President Daniel Chamovitz of Israel Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Congress' MidEast mindset | feat. Laura Kelly

Headlines: U.S. forces fired on a Panama-flagged ship early Tuesday for running Washington's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, hitting its rudder after the crew ignored warnings. Last Thursday the leaders of India and Israel had a phone call. Some called it "out-of-the-blue." But the conversation between Modi and Netanyahu was decidedly not random. Former Hamas hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen took the stage to perform nine songs he wrote entirely in his head during 498 days in captivity. --- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Laura Kelly, foreign policy reporter for The Hill. Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

The impact of the Mecca pact | feat. Steven Cook

Headlines: The IDF and the Shin Bet have acknowledged that a special unit has been established to hunt down and kill every single Palestinian terrorist involved in the October 7 attacks. The Houthis are attacking south Yemen. Russian and Syrian officials met this weekend to iron out the fate of several Russian bases that were once bustling during the Bashar al-Assad era. The Weekend at Bernie’s shtick is still going, with Iran’s impotent president Masoud Pezeshkian claiming to have talked with absentee supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei. FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Steven A. Cook, Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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The deal with disarming Hamas | feat. Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib

Headlines: Mossad chief Roman Gofman has removed two of the agency's top officials over their role in a failed plan to topple Iran's regime. Speaking of the regime: Iran's execution campaign against January's protesters isn't winding down — it's expanding. A seventh round of Israel-Lebanon talks wrapped up yesterday in Rome, and the two sides are still claiming that progress is being made. But it’s far from perfect. America's missile stockpile is a problem. But turns out, this munitions problem is now Israel's problem too. -- FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, founder and director of the Realign for Palestine project at the Atlantic Council. Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

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