According to a release from U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), at the direction of SOUTHCOM Commander General Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a strike on a vessel of a designated terrorist organization operating in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Per the release, 2 narco-terrorists were killed in the strike and 1 survived. Following the strike, SOUTHCOM notified the U.S. Coast Guard to begin search and rescue.

A review of Automatic Identification System (AIS) data from MarineTraffic.com over the past 24 hours indicates 0 commercial vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically vital maritime chokepoints. Prior to the launch of Operation Epic Fury on February 28th, the average number of vessels transiting the Strait was 130.

The second Baseline 10 and SPY-6 Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to enter the U.S. surface fleet, Ted Stevens (DDG 128), left Huntington Ingalls Industries’ shipbuilding division in Pascagoula, Mississippi yesterday for Norfolk, Virginia. She will be commissioned as the USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128) in Alaska later this year.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has been silent on whether or not a response was received last night from Iran, choosing not to speak to reporters on the matter last night when he arrived back at the White House.

Russia’s Victory Day parade took place earlier today without a hitch but absent of armored vehicles and other mobile platforms.

Overnight, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center received a report of an attack on a bulk carrier in the Persian Gulf, 23nm from Doha, Qatar by an unknown projectile. There are no injuries but there was a small fire.

Kuwait's Ministry of Defense announced earlier today that it was responding to "a number of hostile drones in Kuwaiti airspace."

U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command (AMC) is hard at work this morning with 13 U.S. Air Force C-17A "Globemaster IIIs" and 2 U.S. Air Force C-5M "Super Galaxy" aircraft active over Europe and the Middle East.

In the last few hours, the Ministry of Defense of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) air defenses have engaged 2 drones.

According to a release from U.S. Central Command, since the beginning of the U.S. blockade of vessels traveling to and from Iranian ports, 61 vessels have been redirected back to Iranian ports or turned away from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and 4 vessels have “been disabled to ensure compliance.”

According to Reuters, citing a Pakistani official, Pakistani mediators have now received Irans’s response to the U.S. proposal, centered on a potential memorandum of understanding between the two countries.

In an interview with 60 Minutes, when asked if the war with Iran is over, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “I think it accomplished a great deal, but it’s not over,” saying that enriched material still remains there, enrichment sites must be degraded more, and Iranian proxies still remain intact. When asked how he “envisions” resolving the problem of enriched material, Prime Minister Netanyahu said “You go there and you take it out.”

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has made his first comments since the news broke that Iran sent their response to the U.S. proposal through Pakistani mediators. While nothing was said about the proposal by President Trump, we can garner that the proposal sent by Iran was likely unacceptable to the administration, as the president was highly critical of the “games” that Iran has played with past administrations to gain concessions.

According to a release from U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), the remains of one of the U.S. soldiers who went missing off the coast of Morocco during training exercise African Lion 26 have been recovered. First Lieutenant Lamont Key Jr. has been identified as one of the two missing soldiers, now that his remains have been recovered and identified. He was assigned to Charlie Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command. The other, yet unnamed soldier remains missing, following the accident where both went missing following unsuccessful rescue attempts when one soldier fell into the water and others jumped in to rescue them.

Per the release, “More than 1,000 U.S. and Moroccan military and civil personnel have been involved in the search operations.”

South Korea has continued increasing its defense ties with European countries, as South Korea and Estonia have signed another deal to export 3 Chunmoo multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS). The deal is part of an ongoing FMS framework between South Korea’s Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and Estonia’s Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (ECDI).

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially announced the invitation for U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s visit to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week. We’ll be providing a more in depth post covering the expected topics for discussion between the two principal decision-makers in a bit.

The Royal Navy announced today that HMS Dragon will be switching its tasking from defensive missions near Cyprus to a potential Strait of Hormuz mission, as European surface combatants, including the French Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group, continue to converge on the local region in preparation of a European naval mission aimed at securing safe passage for maritime trade through the contested strait.