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.

President Donald J. Trump stated in a post this afternoon that he had a “very good call” Wednesday morning with the Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez. Trump states that many topics were discussed, including oil, minerals, trade, and national security, adding, “This partnership between the United States of America and Venezuela will be a spectacular one FOR ALL.”

Semi-regular air traffic has return to the airspace over Iran following last night’s Notice-to-Airmen (NOTAM) issued due to concerns of military strikes by United States, with all domestic and several international airlines already back to using Iranian Airspace, though a number of larger commercial airlines, including Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, are still bypassing Iran.

President Donald J. Trump quoted an article by Fox News this morning about the stayed execution of 26-year-old Erfan Soltani in Iran, stating, “FoxNews: ‘Iranian protester will no longer be sentenced to death after President Trump’s warnings. Likewise others.’ This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!”

Security Alert Level has been lowered at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, following yesterday’s state of heightened alert which resulted in the initial evacuation of non-essential personnel and military aircraft from the base, three sources briefed on the situation tell Reuters.

The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted and boarded its sixth sanctioned oil tanker early in the morning on Thursday.

President Donald J. Trump has informed Iran that he did not intend to attack and also asked Tehran to exercise restraint, according to Iran’s Envoy to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam, as reported by the Pakistani English-language media outlet Dawn.

Moghadam disclosed that he received the information about the Americans from Pakistan at about 01:00 PKT (20:00 GMT) on Wednesday, which indicated that Trump did not want war and asked Iran not to attack U.S. bases and interests in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar led a “long, frantic, diplomatic last-minute effort” over the last few days to try and talk President Donald J. Trump out of an attack on Iran, fearing “grave blowbacks in the region,” a senior Saudi official tells the Agence France-Presse (AFP).

U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) has announced and published footage of today’s interception, boarding, and seizure of the Guyana-flagged sanctioned crude oil tanker M/T Veronica in the Southern Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela, carried out by the U.S. Coast Guard with support from Marines and Sailors assigned to Joint Task Force-Southern Spear (JTF-SS). The operation to seize the tanker was launched from onboard the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), conducted jointly by the U.S. Department of Defense and Homeland Security.

Canada’s Foreign Ministry announces that they have just learned a Canadian national was killed by authorities during the recent anti-government demonstrations in Iran.

The Guyana-flagged sanctioned crude oil tanker M/T VERONICA, which was boarded and seized this morning in the Southern Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela by the United States, last week changed its name and registration to the Russian-flagged GALILEO, with a homeport of Taganrog on the Sea of Azov in the Black Sea.

Abolqasem Jarareh, a hardline lawmaker in the Iranian Parliament, along with Meysam Nadi and several other prominent figures in Iran, are alleging that Former President Hassan Rouhani and his Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif have been detained by authorities and placed on house arrest in Tehran.