Top national security officials have told President Trump the military is ready for potential strikes on Iran as soon as Saturday, but the timeline for any action is likely to extend beyond this weekend, sources familiar with the discussions told CBS News.
President Trump has not yet made a final decision about whether to strike, with conversations described as fluid and ongoing, as the White House weighs the risks of escalation and the political and military consequences of restraint towards Iran.
President Trump has not yet made a final decision about whether to strike, with conversations described as fluid and ongoing, as the White House weighs the risks of escalation and the political and military consequences of restraint towards Iran.
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The Defender Dome
Top national security officials have told President Trump the military is ready for potential strikes on Iran as soon as Saturday, but the timeline for any action is likely to extend beyond this weekend, sources familiar with the discussions told CBS News.โฆ
Over the next three days, the Pentagon is moving some personnel temporarily out of the Middle East - primarily to Europe or back to the United States - ahead of potential action or counterattacks by Iran if President Trump were to move ahead with ordering an operation, multiple officials told CBS News.
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Yet another Bombardier E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN), BACN01, has departed Robins Air Force Base, Georgia and appears to be preparing to cross the Atlantic, placing an unprecedented number of the E-11As operated by the U.S. Air Force, 6 of 8, in Europe and the Middle East.
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The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including alleged hate speech and terrorist propaganda, to be hosted on โfreedom.gov,โ in a move Washington views as a way to counter censorship, three sources familiar with the plan told Reuters.
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While the United States prepares for possibly its largest and most complex conflict since the Invasion of Iraq in 2003, involving the deployment of thousands of Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers, and other Servicemembers from their homes, to locations across Europe and the Middle East, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spent a day this weekend hanging from trees and doing cold plunges with the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz.
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President Donald J. Trump has received several briefings on his military options against Iran should he choose to strike, all of them designed to maximize damage to Iranโs regime and its regional proxies across the Middle East. Options presented to President Trump include a campaign to kill scores of Iranian political and military leaders, with the goal of overthrowing the government, as well as an air attack that would be limited to striking targets including nuclear and ballistic-missile facilities, both would involve a potentially weeks-long operation, U.S. and foreign officials tell the Wall Street Journal.
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The Defender Dome
President Donald J. Trump has received several briefings on his military options against Iran should he choose to strike, all of them designed to maximize damage to Iranโs regime and its regional proxies across the Middle East. Options presented to Presidentโฆ
The Trump Administration is still unsure what might come after a large-scale bombing campaign, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio telling lawmakers in January that the United States has no clarity on who would assume power if an operation resulted in the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Many analysts believe the leader or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would likely take control of Iran.
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The Commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Gen. Francis L. Donovan, made an unannounced visit Wednesday to Venezuela, accompanied by Amb. Laura F. Dogu, Chargรฉ d'Affaires to Venezuela, and Joseph M. Humire, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and the Americas, meeting with interim authorities and Marines overseeing the facilities of the United States Embassy in Caracas.
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Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been found guilty of โleading an insurrectionโ for which he will serve life in prison, despite the death penalty being requested by prosecutors, following a failed attempt at martial law by Yeol and senior members of the military in December 2024.
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Two U.S. Air Force E-3 Advanced Early Warning & Control aircraft are eastbound across the Mediterranean Sea on their way to the Middle East. Their arrival will bring the total number of E-3s deployed in the region to 6. Three have already arrived at Muwaffaq Al Salti Air Base, Jordan and one arrived at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.
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A U.S. Air Force KC-46A Pegasus with call sign ROMA11 is on course for an Atlantic crossing, It is joined by 6 F-22 Raptors from the 1st Fighter Wing based at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. This is the third attempt at a crossing with the previous two attempts being aborted due to issues with the KC-46A.
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A U.S. Navy C-2 Greyhound assigned to Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40 (VRC-40) aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) has departed Naval Station Rota, Spain to the southwest, indicating that the Ford Carrier Strike Group is still in relatively the same position as its last automated identification system (AIS) position 19 hours ago off the coast of Morocco.
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The Defender Dome
In a post earlier on Truth Social about the United Kingdomโs plan to turn over the Chagos Islands - which contains Diego Garcia - to Mauritius, President Donald J. Trump stated: โShould Iran decide not to make a Deal, it may be necessary for the United Statesโฆ
The Times reports that the United Kingdom is currently blocking the Trump Administration's use of RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England and Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia on the British overseas territory in the Indian Ocean for an attack on Iran. This report follows President Trump's post to Truth Social yesterday stating that Iran may potentially attack the United Kingdom.
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Former Prince Andrew, now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was arrested Thursday by Thames Valley Police during a raid on his Sandringham Estate for suspected misconduct in public office for his relationship with convicted sex offender and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, a relationship which has been more clearly revealed since the release of the Epstein Files.
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