FDD Morning Brief

Headlines

• We’ve got another flotilla on the way to Israel. Just what we all needed, right?
• A Hezbollah drone attack wounded four Israeli civilians in northern Israel.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday that Netanyahu secretly visited the United Arab Emirates during the war with Iran to meet with Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.
• Fatah, the Palestinian Authority’s dominant faction, is on day two of a three-day conference to elect members to its Central Committee and Revolutionary Council, which is essentially the party’s parliament.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer hosts a special SITREP featuring FDD experts David Daoud and Craig Singleton.

They examine the takeaways from the U.S.-China summit, the deadlock over Hezbollah's disarmament in the Israel-Lebanon talks, and what Washington can achieve on both fronts.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Headlines:

• The UAE and Saudi Arabia both struck Iran during the latest round of conflict.
• Operation Economic Fury continues apace.
• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Qatar’s Minister of State for Defense Affairs in Doha.
• Israel’s Iron Dome and Arrow defense systems have been working overtime but, after weeks — if not months — of speculation, the chair of Israel’s Rafael defense firm asserted that the country is not short of missile interceptors.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Andrew Fox of the Henry Jackson Society.

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Headlines:

• Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan met with a group of Hamas officials in Ankara over the weekend.
• The New York Times reported over the weekend that Russia is shipping drone components to Iran through the Caspian Sea, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
• The Wall Street Journal ran an exclusive on Saturday detailing how the Israelis set up a secret military post in Iraq that hosted special forces and served as a logistical hub for the Israeli Air Force.
• With elections slated for the fall, a heated political debate is erupting in Israel over Hamas and the October 7 attack.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, founder and director of the Realign for Palestine project at the Atlantic Council.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Headlines:

• The Iranian regime and the United States traded fire in the Strait of Hormuz last night.
• The Trump administration issued another batch of sanctions as part of Operation Economic Fury.
• Reports yesterday suggested that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait blocked the United States from using their bases and their airspace after President Trump announced Project Freedom.
• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claims he met with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei — but it’s unclear if and when that meeting took place.
• An Israeli strike in Gaza killed the son of Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Norman Roule, former National Intelligence Manager for Iran at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and current Non-Resident Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Headlines:

• Reports broke suggesting that U.S. intelligence indicates Iran would need about nine months to a year to build a nuclear bomb.
• The United States, in partnership with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar proposed a UN Security Resolution to defend freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
• The United Arab Emirates came under attack on Monday and again yesterday. These were the first attacks on the UAE since the ceasefire took hold last month.

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FDD Senior Research Analyst Natalie Ecanow fills in for Jonathan Schanzer, providing timely situational updates and analysis ahead of a conversation between guest interviewer Cliff May, FDD Founder and President, and Eugene Kontorovich, Executive Director of George Mason University Scalia Law School’s Center for the Middle East and International Law.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Headlines:

• Hezbollah has been deploying a new category of drone that the IDF has struggled to counter.
• OPEC+, the broader alliance of oil-producing nations that includes OPEC members and additional producers like Russia, met on Sunday and agreed to bump up oil production by 188,000 barrels a day starting in June.
• U.S.-Iran negotiations hit another wall this past weekend.

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FDD Turkey Program Director Sinan Ciddi fills in for Jonathan Schanzer, providing timely situational updates and analysis ahead of a conversation with FDD Senior Research Analyst Ahmad Sharawi.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Headlines:

• The Global Sumud Flotilla is back — this time without Greta Thunberg.
• Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei released a written statement yesterday to mark National Persian Gulf Day. 
• Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems reportedly signed a letter of intent with Volkswagen to acquire one of VW’s factories in western Germany.

FDD Senior Research Analyst Natalie Ecanow fills in for Jonathan Schanzer, providing timely situational updates and analysis ahead of a conversation with FDD Research Fellow Max Meizlish.

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Headlines:

• The United Arab Emirates announced that it’s leaving the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC.
• Tensions are brewing between Israel and Ukraine over allegations that Israeli authorities are allowing vessels carrying “stolen” grain to dock at Haifa port.
• Earlier this week, Israeli journalist Amit Segal posted a few paragraphs on X explaining that, according to his sources, Qatar is cutting off Hamas. No more money, no more hosting.

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FDD Senior Research Analyst Natalie Ecanow fills in for Jonathan Schanzer, providing timely situational updates and analysis ahead of a conversation between Jon and FDD Senior Advisor Richard Goldberg.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Headlines:

• An attempt on the life of the president of the United States on Saturday night.
• The talks scheduled between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States over the weekend didn’t happen. 
• A serious exchange of hostilities over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah over there in the Land of the Cedars.
• Security services in Israel busted a Hamas financing cell in the West Bank and Gaza.
• The political pair of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid are teaming up again for another run in Israel. 

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Roy K. Altman, federal judge and author of the upcoming book, Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law.

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Headlines:

• Israeli authorities charged two IDF Air Force mechanics with spying on behalf of Iran.
• France is getting feistier, threatening to impose sanctions on Israel if Jerusalem doesn’t change course in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
• President Trump attended a meeting between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors at the White House yesterday.
• A couple of announcements out of Washington relating to those nasty Iraqi militias. First, a 10 million dollar bounty on Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji of the group known as Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, or KSS.
• The city of Islamabad is reportedly still on a high security alert, as the Pakistani government continues to prepare for another round of talks between the United States and Iran.

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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD's Hussain Abdul-Hussain.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief