FDD Morning Brief

Headlines:

• At least two maritime vessels were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz overnight, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations.
• The Treasury Department issued a fresh batch of Iran sanctions, this time targeting Iranian missile and drone procurement networks.
• The UAE government dismantled an Iran-linked terrorist cell that was allegedly planning terrorist attacks and sabotage operations in the country.

--

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD Senior Fellow Bernard Haykel.

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

Headlines:

• The U.S. negotiation team is heading to Islamabad for round two of U.S.-Iran talks, and they’re opening under considerably worse conditions than round one.
• Egypt is working with Pakistan on lasting U.S.-Iran peace, says Egypt's Foreign Minister.
• Sudan enters its fourth year of war amid the world’s most severe humanitarian crisis.

--

FDD Research Analyst Mariam Wahba fills in for Jonathan Schanzer, providing timely situational updates and analysis ahead of a conversation with Ambassador Alberto Fernandez, vice president of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

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

Headlines:

• A ten-day ceasefire is now in effect in Lebanon.
• The Treasury Department issued a fresh batch of sanctions targeting a network of people, companies, and ships involved in illicitly smuggling Iranian oil.
• A group of U.S. senators sent a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche asking him to explain why the Trump administration dropped a criminal case against Turkey’s Halkbank.
• Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani, met with a pair of Kurdish leaders yesterday to discuss the integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces — or SDF — into Syria’s state forces.
• Word on the street is that there was meeting between the U.S. and Hamas in Cairo earlier this week.

--

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with H.R. McMaster, former National Security Advisor to the President of the United States and chairman of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power.

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

Headlines:

• Lebanon and Israel held direct talks for the first time in decades.
• The Trump administration is gearing up for its blockade of Iranian vessels in the Persian Gulf.
• There are plans for new ceasefire talks in Islamabad.
• The UK and France are planning to host virtual talks to iron out a strategy for securing the Strait of Hormuz.
• A defense cooperation memorandum of understanding between Italy and Israel that’s automatically renewed every five years since 2005 expired on Monday. Yesterday, Rome announced that it’s ending the agreement amidst the ongoing war in the Middle East.

--

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with David Adesnik.

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

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with FDD Senior Fellow Miad Maleki.

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

Headlines:

• The IDF said it eliminated Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem’s personal secretary in a strike near Beirut.
• Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that Beirut isn’t going to let any other government negotiate for a ceasefire on its behalf.
• The Trump administration is reportedly considering moving troops out of NATO countries after several of them hamstringed American efforts in Iran.
• Iran continues to strangle the Strait of Hormuz.

--

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer hosts a special SITREP episode of the FDD Morning Brief featuring FDD Senior Fellow Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Conricus and FDD CMPP Senior Director Bradley Bowman.

They examine the implications of the ceasefire and negotiations between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

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

Headlines:

• Yesterday, the IDF said it completed the deployment of ground troops to a so-called anti-tank line in south Lebanon.
• An American journalist kidnapped in Iraq last week is on her way home.
• A firefight broke out adjacent to the Israeli consulate in Istanbul yesterday.
• Massive explosion at the Panama Canal yesterday.

--

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with NUFDI Research Director Khosro Isfahani.

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

Today's headlines:

• The regime in Tehran somehow managed to shoot down an American F-15 fighter jet over the weekend.
• The aviators from that downed F-15 are both ok.
• Donald Trump’s Truth Social post yesterday seems to suggest that the April 6 deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz has been extended until tomorrow night.
• The internet blackout continues inside Iran. 
• The war in Lebanon continues. 
• Tough day in Israel yesterday, with a building in Haifa absorbing a direct hit from a ballistic missile, while cluster munitions also hit dozens of locations across central Israel. 
• Turkey is somehow getting its oil tankers out of the Strait of Hormuz. 

Featured FDD piece: "Islamist Turkey: A Base for Muslim Brotherhood Jihadism" - FDD Memo, Sinan Ciddi and William Doran

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Freedom House's Yana Gorokhovskaia.

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Today's headlines:

• Turkey is working with Iranian authorities to secure permission for 11 Turkish-owned ships to sail through the Strait of Hormuz.
• Israeli forces eliminated the commander of Hezbollah’s southern front.
• The International Energy Agency, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank are joining forces to coordinate a response to the ongoing war with Iran.

Featured FDD piece: "Islamist Turkey: A Base for Muslim Brotherhood Jihadism" - FDD Memo, Sinan Ciddi and William Doran

--

FDD Turkey Program Director Sinan Ciddi fills in for Jonathan Schanzer, providing timely situational updates and analysis ahead of a conversation with world-renowned Turkey scholar Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak.

Today's headlines:

• Trouble continues in the Strait of Hormuz.
• Kosovo announced that it plans to deploy troops to the U.S.-backed international stabilization force for Gaza.
• The Iranian ambassador is still in Lebanon, and the Lebanese government is still effectively beholden to Hezbollah.
• Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi wants President Trump to end the war.

--

FDD Research Analyst Mariam Wahba delivers headlines ahead of a conversation between FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer and "Oh My World!" host Hagar Chemali.

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief