Early Sunday, the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and her escorts, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers; USS Spruance (DDG-111), USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112), and USS Frank E. Petersen, Jr. (DDG-121), began their transit westward into the Indian Ocean via the Strait of Malacca. Moving at roughly 20kn, the Lincoln Carrier Strike Group will reach the U.S. Central Command’s Area-of-Responsibility by January 25, likely moving into position in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Iran.

President Donald J. Trump is becoming increasingly critical of Canada in private conversations with his aides in regard to what he calls Canada's vulnerability to adversaries, such as China and Russia in the Arctic, similar reasons that the President has given for his demand to acquire Greenland, officials have told NBC News.

Newly released footage from the anti-regime protests in the Iranian capital of Tehran on Thursday, January 8, show security forces opening fire on crowds of protesters with live-ammunition, in a massacre which is alleged by sources on the ground to have been carried out by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“Over the past week, there has been a flurry of reports fueled by anonymous sources speculating about President Trump's thinking on Iran. The truth is, nobody knows what President Trump will do with respect to Iran beside the President himself,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios.

Two additional C-17A Globemaster IIIs with the U.S. Air Force are bound for Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan from RAF Lakenheath in England, supporting the deployment of F-15E Strike Eagles from the 494th Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Wing earlier today to the Middle East.

President Donald J. Trump has penned a deranged letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, citing the Nobel Committee’s decision to not award him the Nobel Peace Prize as the primary reason for him wanting to acquire Greenland from Denmark. According to PBS News, staff with the United States National Security Council (NSC) forwarded the letter to several European Ambassadors in Washington, with the full text of the letter stating:

Dear Ambassador:
 
President Trump has asked that the following message, shared with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, be forwarded to your [named head of government/state]

“Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT”

Two KC-135R Stratotankers with the 117th Air Refueling Wing of Alabama Air National Guard, stationed at Sumpter Smith Air National Guard Base in Birmingham, crossed the Atlantic earlier tonight bound for NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen in Germany.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has confirmed the existence of the letter from President Donald J. Trump.

The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and her Carrier Strike Group observed passing westward through the Strait of Malacca overnight Sunday, on their way to the Indian Ocean and eventually the Middle East.

Satellite imagery from earlier today, January 19, shows Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, which was packed with military aircraft last year prior to strikes against Iran, including 6 B-2 “Spirit” Long-Range Stealth Bombers and 4 B-52H “Stratofortress” Long-Range Strategic Bombers, still almost entirely devoid of aircraft, besides a single C-17A or possibly a KC-135R/T.

Speaking on Monday in front of the Knesset, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran against any attack against Israel, stating, “If Iran makes a mistake and attacks us, we will respond with a force that Iran has never experienced before. No one can predict what will happen in Iran, but one thing is clear: Iran will never return to what it once was.”

U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, has been disinvited from a traditional dog sled race on the Danish territory by the Greenland Dog Sledding Association (KNQK), in response to recent threats of tariffs by President Trump, according to Politico.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has announced that military aircraft will arrive soon at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, who along with aircraft operating from bases in Canada and the United States, will support various long-planned activities by NORAD in the Arctic. According to NORAD, these military activities have been coordinated with and build on “enduring defense cooperation” with both Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark.

Massive demonstrations tonight by Kurds in front of the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Northern Iraq, protesting what they see as inaction by the United States to the ongoing offensive by the Syrian Army against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Northeastern Syria.

Kurdish protesters have begun to climb the walls, fence, and guard houses around the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Northern Iraq.

Renault Group, the French multinational automobile manufacturer, is preparing to launch the production of long-range attack drones at its factories in Le Mans and Cléon, with cooperation from the aerospace and defense manufacturer Turgis et Gaillard Groupe.

Renault has stated that it intends to produce 600 drones per month, with employees and equipment being transferred from its automotive manufacturing lines in France.

Chorus, the name of the drone to be manufactured by Renault, are meant to be reverse engineered Russian/Iranian “Shahed-131/136 One-Way Attack Drones, which have been used in the tens if not hundreds of thousands in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Several dozen additional Soldiers with the Royal Danish Army, including Chief of the Danish Army Command, Maj. Gen. Peter H. Boysen, arrived in Greenland on Monday via multiple charter and military flights, in order to participate in Danish-led exercise Arctic Endurance in the Northern Atlantic.