Reports of fighter jets heard over Eastern Iraq.

Heavy aircraft activity also heard by residents within the last half hour over Northern Israel and Southern Syria.

The Pentagon has ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and her Carrier Strike Group, consisting of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers; USS Spruance (DDG-111), USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112), and USS Frank E. Petersen, Jr. (DDG-121), to depart their current position in the South China Sea and steam towards the Middle East.

The Lincoln will take roughly a week to reach the U.S. Central Command’s Area-of-Responsibility in the Arabian Sea.

The U.K. Foreign Office has issued an advisory recommending against all but essential travel to Israel.

The Lufthansa Group, Germany’s flagship airline which also includes Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Discover, Eurowings, Swiss and ITA Airways, has announced that it will bypass the airspace over Iraq and Iran until further notice, “due to the current situation in the Middle East.” Additionally, Lufthansa stated that it would only operate daytime flights to Jordan beginning Thursday.

The U.S. Embassy in Doha has advised its personnel, as well as Americans in Qatar, to exercise increased caution and limit all non-essential travel to Al Udeid Air Base.

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has issued a security alert telling Americans in Israel to “review any travel plans in case of disruptions, and make appropriate decisions for themselves and their families,” citing ongoing regional tensions but with no mention of Iran.

A War Powers Resolution meant to limit President Donald J. Trump’s ability to carry out further hostile military action against Venezuela, was killed tonight in the Senate by a vote of 51-50, after Trump personally spoke to and successfully flipped the votes of Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana. Vice President JD Vance had to step in to break the tie 50-50, making it 51-50.

The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait has advised its personnel to exercise increased vigilance and to comply with a temporary halt to movement into facilities at Camp Arifjan, Camp Buehring, Ali Al Salem Air Base, and Camp Patriot.

UPDATE: The NOTAM issued for Iranian Airspace has now expired, with air traffic throughout and over the country now able to resume.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Monday, January 12, 2025, the christening of a new coordination cell at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to enhance integrated air and missile defense across the Middle East. Dubbed the Middle Eastern Air Defense – Combined Defense Operations Cell (MEAD-CDOC), the cell will be located within the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Al Udeid and be comprised of personnel from several regional partners alongside servicemembers from U.S. Air Force Central (AFCENT).

President Donald J. Trump has told his national security team that he would want any U.S. military action in Iran to deliver a “swift and decisive blow” to the regime and not spark a sustained war that dragged on for weeks or months, according to a U.S. official who spoke to NBC News.

“If he does something, he wants it to be definitive,” one of the people familiar with the discussions said, however so far, Trump’s advisers have not been able to guarantee to him that the regime would quickly collapse after a strike and there is concern that the U.S. may not have all the assets in the region it would need to guard against what administration officials expect would be an extremely aggressive response from Iran.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) had prepared military options for President Trump, which were presented to him in recent days and now have been refined to more align with his objectives regarding Iran, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the discussions who spoke with NBC News.

Al-Jazeera and several other outlets are reporting that the United States has called an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council regarding Iran, which could take place as early as Thursday at 3:00 P.M. in New York.

UPDATE 2: Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization has just issued another Notice-to-Airmen (NOTAM), extending the previous total closure of Iranian Airspace until 03:30 UTC, roughly two more hours, which will be 07:00 in Tehran.

President Donald J. Trump speaking Wednesday to Reuters expressed uncertainty over whether Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi, the Exiled Crown Prince of Iran, would be able to muster enough support within the country to eventually take over and topple the Islamic Regime. “He seems very nice, but I don't know how he'd play within his own country,” Trump said, “And we really aren't up to that point yet.”

President Donald J. Trump will have a closed-door lunch meeting tomorrow at 12:30 PM with Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado, inside the Private Dining Room at the White House.

After remarks from the White House on Wednesday afternoon by President Donald J. Trump, the Pentagon was ready to have troops return to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, said a U.S. military official, who described the President’s comments regarding Iran as “an off-ramp.” Long-range bombers in the United States had also been put on alert to conduct secondary strikes if needed, but that appeared to have been paused after the President spoke on Wednesday, another U.S. official told the New York Times.

Roughly half an hour after the departure of six U.S. Air Force KC-135R/T “Stratotanker” Aerial-Refueling Tankers from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar earlier today and only minutes after remarks were made from the White House by President Trump. Two C-17A Globemaster IIIs that were preparing to depart from Al Udeid for Greece, likely carrying non-essential personnel being evacuated from the base, were told to “return to the chalks” and to then “standby for further instructions,” with them never departing Al Udeid.

In the waning weeks of the Biden Administration in late 2024, the United States quietly purchased and acquired a device that officials believe may be connected to the debilitating condition known as Havana Syndrome, which more than 1,500 American officials, primarily diplomats and intelligence officials, have reported experiencing since 2016, according to multiple sources briefed on the matter who spoke with CBS News.

The Biden Administration tasked the acquisition of the device to the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations Division, using Pentagon funding that exceeded eight figures, according to two people familiar with the matter. The device is portable, backpack-sized, and contains components believed to have been produced in Russia.

Three of the people said the Pentagon has been testing the device, which emits pulsed, radio-frequency energy, for more than a year, but did not offer details on the nature of the tests. They said the department's investigators believe it may be capable of reproducing the effects described by victims of Havana Syndrome, a term derived from the cases first reported by U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers in Havana, Cuba, in 2016.

Victims of Havana Syndrome reported a spectrum of neurological symptoms, including severe headaches and head pressure, vertigo, nausea, and ringing or popping sensations in the ears. Many have described hearing an intensely high-pitched, painful sound that appeared to subside when they moved to another location. For some, the effects were so severe that they were ultimately forced to leave their jobs with the U.S. Government.