With the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group and its carrier air wing in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, there are now more than 250 attack aircraft (A-10, F-15, F-16, F-18, F-35) in the Middle East with more than 100 additional attack aircraft spread out across Europe. This is in addition to more than 125 U.S. Air Force KC-135's and KC-46's spread across the region.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has stored highly enriched Uranium at its Isfahan nuclear facility. The revelation comes after an IAEA report was sent to member states and seen by Reuters. Uranium, up to 60% purity rate, close to weapons grade, is reportedly stored at the site. The site was struck during Operation Midnight Hammer last year, but the efficacy of the strikes, as it relates to destroying the complex, has been questioned by many analysts and lawmakers in the months since the strikes.

According to a release from the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), the UK has withdrawn its embassy staff from Iran, citing security risks as U.S.-Iran talks continue to merit little success and the U.S. force posture in CENTCOM area of responsibility continues to increase. The embassy continues to run remotely, according to the release.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to visit Israel on Monday and Tuesday to coordinate with Israel on the Trump Administration’s 20-point Gaza Peace Plan, Iran, and other issues in the Middle East.

Prior to departing the White House earlier today, U.S. President Donald J. Trump said that there will be additional U.S.-Iran talks today but emphasized his unhappiness with the nature of the Iranian negotiations framework, saying he doesn’t like how they negotiate. When asked about the potential of strikes on Iran, he gave an ambiguous answer, and added that the decision has yet to be made.

In an interesting statement to press outside of the White House earlier, U.S. President Donald J. Trump said that a “friendly takeover of Cuba” is a possibility. Without elaborating on the actual logistics of such a takeover, the president repeated his statement and added that it would be great for Cubans who greatly want to return to their country but can’t due to the current geopolitical dynamic between the U.S. and Cuba’s ruling regime.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. has filed a complaint seeking the forfeiture of the motor tanker Skipper, and it's 1.8M barrel cargo of Venezuelan crude oil, that was boarded and seized on December 10th in the Southern Caribbean for violating sanctions by the U.S. Coast Guard.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has posted to TruthSocial directing that all federal agencies "IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthorpic's technology" and goes on to say there will be a six month phase out period for agencies like the Department of Defense. His post also advises Anthropic to "get their act together" or he will use the "Full Power of the Presidencey to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow."

In a release, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has designated Iran as a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention. Iran has routinely detained Americans to use as bargaining chips for negotiations frameworks or to gain concessions from the U.S. in the past. Should Iran fail to stop using this underhanded tactic, the release says that “additional measures, including passport restrictions and geographic travel restrictions “to, through, or from Iran,” will be implemented.

Following President Trump's TruthSocial directive earlier today for all agencies to immediately cease using Anthropic, and their language model, Claude AI, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has declared Anthropic a "supply-chain risk to national security" effectively blacklisting the company from doing business with any government agency, or any contractor who does business with the U.S. Government.

The U.S. Government and Pentagon under Pete Hegseth has now effectively blacklisted Anthropic, as well as it’s language model Claude AI, which is currently being used as a backbone by several defense systems, while listing the company as a “supply chain risk,” a label not even placed on a majority of defense contractors or companies working for the Armed Forces of China and Russia. All because Anthropic refused to remove safeguards that would allow the Pentagon to develop weapons that fire without human involvement and commit mass domestic surveillance directed at Americans.

Speaking earlier today on CBS News’ Face the Nation, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi, who met Friday with Vice President JD Vance and other senior officials in Washington, said that recent talks are approaching an agreement which would see Iran give up all of its highly-enriched uranium, while the remainder is developed - under international oversight - into fuel for nuclear power plants. “I think that there is agreement now that this will be down blended to the lowest level possible, to a neutral level, a natural level, and converted into fuel, and that fuel will be irreversible,” Badr told CBS, with technical talks regarding this agreement to begin on Monday.

In a notable turn of events, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has announced that tonight, OpenAI has reached an agreement with the Department of War (DOW) to deploy their models on classified networks. This comes amidst the ongoing row between Anthropic, the developer of Claude AI, and the DOW regarding concerns over its model being employed for mass surveillance and the use of AI in the decision-making process on the use of force. Which, ironically, are the two key points that OpenAI has reportedly now rectified with the DOW. Altman also added that he has asked the DOW to offer similar terms to all AI companies, though it now remains unclear where Anthropic and Claude AI now sit in the current equation.