President Donald J. Trump spoke to reporters earlier outside the White House about his decision to not carry out military strikes against Iran.

Reporter: “Did Arab and Israeli officials convince you to not strike Iran?”

Trump: “Nobody convinced me, I convinced myself. You had, yesterday, scheduled, over 800 hangings. They didn't hang anyone. They cancelled the hangings. That had a big impact.”

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday issued several Notice-to-Airmen (NOTAM) for the airspace over Mexico, and parts of Central and South America, including Colombia, Ecuador and Panama, urging airlines to “exercise caution” over the region due to “military activities” and potential interference to navigation systems, with the NOTAMs going into effect on January 16, 2026, and lasting until March 17, 2026.

In addition to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, satellite imagery from Thursday, January 15, showed that Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia had also been evacuated of some military aircraft in recent days, including over a dozen U.S. Air Force and Saudi C-130 “Hercules” Cargo Aircraft. However, the number of aerial-refueling tankers at the base appears to have been bolstered, possibly by arrivals from Al Udeid, with 7 KC-46 Pegasus and 3 KC-135 Stratotankers seen on the tarmac at Prince Sultan.

Image credit provided to @GeoPoliticJosh on X.

European military personnel and equipment from Denmark, Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands have begun to arrive in Greenland as part of an “advance team” to coordinate the deployment of a full force to the island as part of Dutch exercise Arctic Sentry, which will see the defense of the island and the Arctic bolstered by aircraft, ships, and troops from allies in Europe.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has issued a statement directed at the Kurdish people, announcing his signing of a special decree aimed at the protection of Kurdish rights and privacies in Syria, while urging them to return to their lands in the north of the country and to lay down their arms against the Syrian Government.

Mazloum Abdi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has announced that paramilitary forces under the SDF will begin to withdraw from their defensive positions east of Aleppo at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 17, and redeploy to the east of the Euphrates River in Northern Syria.

Two Danish F-35A Lightning IIs, supported by an Airbus A330 Multirole Tanker Transport (MRTT) with the French Air Force, flew from Denmark to the Northern Atlantic earlier today in order to conduct a training in operating under the conditions of the Arctic off Greenland’s eastern coast near Kulusuk.

Early Friday morning, an Israeli CH-53 “Sea Stallion” Heavy-Lift Transport Helicopter suffered a sling-load failure while transporting a UH-60 Black Hawk near Gush Etzion in the West Bank, causing the UH-60 to slam into the ground just to the south of Jerusalem.

The UH-60 Black Hawk suffered significant damage as a result of today’s incident in the West Bank, with it likely to be declared a total loss by the Israeli Air Force. An investigation into the incident and its cause had been ordered by the Head of the Israeli Air Force, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar.

Text messaging services have reportedly begun to be restored across certain parts of Iran.

Footage showing another angle of today’s incident which resulted in the loss of an Israeli UH-60 Black Hawk to the south of Jerusalem in the West Bank, after a CH-53 “Sea Stallion” Heavy-Lift Transport Helicopter suffered a sling-load failure and dropped the UH-60.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an advisory Friday recommending that airlines do not fly through Iranian Airspace, stating that the recent potential for military action by the United States has caused air-defense forces in Iran to be placed on a heightened state of alert, increasing the likelihood of a possible misidentification within the Tehran Flight Information Region (OIIX).

U.S. Special Forces and other officials meeting with members of the Kurdish-led People's Defense Units (YPG) and Women's Protection Units (YPJ), paramilitary groups under the umbrella of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), earlier today in Dayr Hafir, to the east of Aleppo in Northern Syria.

U.S. Forces seen withdrawing from Dayr Hafir in Northern Syria earlier tonight, shortly before the announced withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from all positions near Aleppo, to the east of the Euphrates River.

According to the Washington-based non-governmental organization Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA), at least 52 prisoners were executed at 42 prisons in Iran between the dates of January 5 and January 14, most on murder and drug-related charges, however, Iranian authorities will regularly accuse and charge political prisoners with these crimes in order to justify their execution to those outside Iran.

Internet connectivity appears to be on the verge of being partially restored in Iran, after over a weeklong nationwide blackout, with Cloudflare reporting a surge in traffic just after 03:30 IRST on Saturday, January 17.

New details obtained by Iran International suggest that the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and several of its international proxy groups were behind the brutal crackdown against anti-regime protesters in Tehran on January 8 and 9, which witnesses on the ground claim killed upwards of 5,000. Allegedly involved in the massacre were fighters from multiple Iranian-backed paramilitary groups, including the Fatemiyoun Brigade in Afghanistan, Zainabiyoun Brigade in Pakistan, and Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

The National Guard Mission in Washington, D.C. which began last August and currently consists of 2,429 Soldiers and Airmen from the District of Columbia National Guard and eleven other states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia, has been extended through the end of 2026, two officials familiar with the matter tell CNN.

U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is planning a multipronged military operation, backed by the Turkish Armed Forces, against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the eastern part of the Aleppo Governorate of Northern Syria and potentially across the Euphrates River, according to two U.S. officials who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.

Elements of the Chasseurs Alpins, an elite mountain infantry unit of the French Army, arrived yesterday at Joint Arctic Command in Nuuk, Greenland, in order to coordinate the arrival of additional air, ground, and naval forces in the coming days from Denmark, France, and several other allied nations in Europe.

President Donald J. Trump has announced that he will impose a 10% tariff on all goods entering the United States from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom on February 1, until Denmark agrees to sell Greenland, also citing recent deployment of European military forces to Greenland and the Northern Atlantic, adding that the tariffs will increased to 25% on June 1, 2026 unless a deal is made regarding the purchase of Greenland.