 Defense &
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Defense &
National Security |
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New nuclear talks between US, Iran? |
U.S. and Iranian officials held indirect talks over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program in Oman as Tehran looks to find a diplomatic off-ramp to evade potential strikes threatened by President Trump. |
© Maxar Technologies via Associated Press |
Officials on both sides met at separate times with Oman's top diplomat, Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi. The two parties agreed to hold another round of talks, according to Esmaeil Baqaei, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the meetings were a "very good start" and that Tehran's "views and concerns were conveyed in a very good atmosphere." "Overall, it was a good start, but the continuation depends on consultations in the capitals," Araghchi said, noting that discussions only touched on Iran's nuclear program and that dialogue could continue only in the absence of threats from the U.S. Al-Busaidi described the talks as "very serious" and that it was "useful to clarify both Iranian and American thinking and identify areas for possible progress." "We aim to reconvene in due course, with the results to be considered carefully in Tehran and Washington," he wrote Friday morning on social platform X. The restart of talks comes months after Iran withdrew from scheduled talks with the U.S. last June following a deadly Israeli airstrike that targeted Tehran's nuclear scientists, ballistic missile sites, and one of the country's top enrichment facilities. The two countries were attempting to hash out an agreement to replace the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that President Trump pulled the U.S. out of during his first term. The renewed discussions also come as the U.S. has greatly increased its military firepower in the Middle East amid escalating tensions with Tehran over the regime's bloody crackdown on anti-regime protestors. Read the full report at thehill.com. |
Welcome to The Hill's Defense & National Security newsletter, I'm Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. |
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The U.S. on Friday called for a new, broader nuclear arms control treaty with China and Russia after it accused Beijing of conducting a secret nuclear test. "China has conducted nuclear explosive tests, including preparing for tests with designated yields in the hundreds of tons," Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Thomas DiNanno said in a Friday post on the social platform X. He claimed China … |
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The State Department announced it will initiate the delivery of an additional $6 million in supplies to Cuba as tensions between the two countries continue. The new round of supplies comes in response to a humanitarian crisis in Cuba partly driven by Hurricane Melissa, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, which battered Cuba in October ... |
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The U.S. military struck another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the Eastern Pacific Thursday. U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) shared a 12-second video of the strike to social platform X. The footage shows the vessel moving, before being struck by a "lethal kinetic strike" and catching on fire. Southcom said that Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out the strike at the direction of Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan. … |
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Democratic Sens. Andy Kim (N.J.) and Gary Peters (Mich.) released a report Thursday estimating that Washington's National Guard deployment is costing the federal government well more than $1 million per day. That means a price tag of some $330 million since deployments began in August, at about $1.65 million per day for the hundreds of National Guard members deployed in Washington, D.C. ... |
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Upcoming things we're watching on our beat: |
- The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on "Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security: ICE, CBP, and USCIS," Tuesday at 10 a.m.
- The House Foreign Affairs Committee will have a hearing on "Syria at a Crossroads: U.S. Policy Challenges Post-Assad," at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
- The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will host a conversation on "Strategic Attack: Maintaining the Air Force's Capacity to Deny enemy Sanctuaries," Tuesday at 10 a.m.
- Foreign Policy will hold a discussion on "Will the U.S. and Iran Escalate?" at 12 p.m. Tuesday.
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Branch out with a different read from The Hill: |
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Democratic senator raises 'deep concerns' over classified CIA activities |
Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), a senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to CIA Director John Ratcliffe expressing "deep concerns" about the intelligence agency's classified activities but did not provide any details on the matter. Wyden sent a public letter to Ratcliffe revealing … |
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News we've flagged from other outlets: |
- Navy secretary John Phelan listed as passenger on Jeffrey Epstein's private plane in 2006 (CNN)
- Musk's Starlink blocks Russian troops' internet access at Ukraine's request (The New York Times)
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Two key stories on The Hill right now: |
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A notable number of Republican lawmakers broke sharply with the White House on Friday after President Trump posted — and later deleted — a video on … Read more |
| Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) called for an investigation Thursday into Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson for attending the Grammy Awards, … Read more |
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Op-eds related to defense & national security submitted to The Hill: |
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