🇺🇸 ❌ 🇮🇷 ⚡️ — Iranian boats approached the American aircraft carrier today

🔴 The Revolutionary Guard is playing with the nerves of Pezhkian and Araqchi

@TPOnow

🇱🇾 ❗️ — Libyan media: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was killed at his residence in Zintan by four unidentified individuals.

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🇮🇷 ⚡️ — Reports indicate that a second Iranian drone was shot down by US forces.

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❗️ — The Gaddafi family:

"We have no confirmed information about who is responsible for the killing of Saif al-Islam."

@TPOnow

🇺🇸 ⚡️ — REPORT: American munitions makers are boosting production investment; the Defense Department merged advisory panels into the Science, Technology, and Innovation Board; active-duty troops will not deploy to Minnesota; Venezuela plan draws on Iraq lessons.

🔴 U.S. defense firms report demand signals that justify private capital into munitions capacity; Hanwha Defense USA will spend $1.3 billion at Pine Bluff Arsenal to make explosives, propellants, and munitions.

🔴 DOD combined the Defense Innovation Board and Defense Science Board into the Science, Technology, and Innovation Board to streamline work on hard tech challenges even as research budgets face cuts.

🔴 The U.S. military declined to send active-duty troops to Minnesota after months of pressure; reporting also highlights a Venezuela plan informed by past Iraq experience.

@TPOnow

🇺🇸 🇰🇷 🇩🇪 🇮🇱 — NEW: The US Army seeks to award a self-propelled howitzer contract by July and will release prototype proposal drafts soon.

🔴 Request for information went to industry in September; draft prototype proposal to be released later this month and a final in March.

🔴 Formal requirements call for domestic production, high armor, and ability to fire US ammunition; one contract to a single vendor via competitive technical evaluation.

🔴 Known bidders include Hanwha, Rheinmetall, Elbit America, Leonardo DRS teamed with KNDS, General Dynamics, and BAE Systems (US subsidiary).

@TPOnow

🇺🇸 🇮🇷 — BREAKING: The US shot down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone that "aggressively" approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.

🔴 The drone flew towards the carrier "with unclear intent" and was shot down by an F-35 US fighter jet.

🔴 White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the strike on Fox News and said talks with Iran later this week are still scheduled to take place.

🔴 Earlier, three pairs of Iranian gunboats and a Mohajer drone approached the US‑flagged tanker Stena Imperative in the Strait of Hormuz; the tanker was escorted by a US warship and the situation de‑escalated.

@TPOnow

🇺🇸 🇺🇦 ⚡️ — NEW: The Pentagon is asking 25 companies to demo their unmanned one-way attack drones at "the Gauntlet" as part of the Drone Dominance Program to help determine future prototype buys.

🔴 The Gauntlet runs from mid-February into March at Fort Benning, Ga., where military operators will fly and evaluate “low cost” drones.

🔴 Companies that make the cut will share orders expected to total $150 million and then have five months to deliver aerial weapons.

🔴 The DoD named 25 firms for the phase, including ANNO.AI, INC.; ASCENT AEROSYSTEMS INC; AUTERION GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS INC; DZYNE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC; EWING AEROSPACE LLC; FARAGE PRECISION, LLC; FIRESTORM LABS, INC.; GENERAL CHERRY CORP; GREENSIGHT INC.; GRIFFON AEROSPACE, INC.; HALO AERONAUTICS, LLC; KRATOS SRE, INC.; MODALAI, INC.; NAPATREE TECHNOLOGY LLC; NEROS, INC.; OKSI VENTURES, INC.; PALADIN DEFENSE SERVICES LLC; PERFORMANCE DRONE WORKS LLC; RESPONSIBLY LTD; SWARM DEFENSE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC; TEAL DRONES INC; UKRAINIAN DEFENSE DRONES TECH CORP; VECTOR DEFENSE, INC; W S DARLEY & CO; XTEND REALITY INC.

@TPOnow

🇩🇰 🇸🇪 🇮🇱 — BREAKING: Denmark sentences two Swedes to lengthy prison terms for 2024 attack on the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen

🔴 An 18-year-old got 12 years and a 21-year-old got 14 years after a Copenhagen court found them guilty of “terrorism” for throwing grenades at the Israeli embassy in October 2024.

🔴 Court said they acted in concert with unidentified accomplices from a Swedish criminal network; the younger man admitted membership of the Foxtrot criminal network and is also prosecuted in Sweden for shooting at the Israeli embassy in Stockholm.

🔴 Grenades damaged a neighbouring house’s terrace, no injuries; both convicted of attempted murder of the occupants, acquitted of endangering soldiers guarding the embassy, and will be expelled to Sweden after serving their sentences.

@TPOnow

🇮🇱 🇵🇸 ⚡️ — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rules out involving the Palestinian Authority in the governance of Gaza.

@TPOnow

🇺🇸 🇮🇷 🇹🇷 ⚡️ — NEW: White House says US-Iran talks "still scheduled" this week after an F-35C shot down an Iranian drone that approached the USS Abraham Lincoln

🔴 Karoline Leavitt said she "just spoke with special envoy (Steve) Witkoff," and the talks are "as of right now... still scheduled" for "later this week."

🔴 A source told AFP the meeting with Witkoff, a businessman whom President Donald Trump has appointed as his roving global conflict negotiator, will "probably" take place in Turkey.

🔴 Leavitt said President Donald Trump is keeping military options open, noting a large number of US warships in the region and that the F-35C shot down the drone after it "aggressively" drew near the USS Abraham Lincoln.

@TPOnow

🇷🇺 ⚡️ — Russian platforms for launching Geran suicide drones

🔴 Toyota Jeeps

@TPOnow

🇮🇱 🇱🇧 🇺🇳 ⚡️ — REPORT: UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) says IDF drones carried an "unidentified object" into a range that constituted an immediate threat, dropped a stun grenade about fifty metres from peacekeepers and violated the ceasefire

🔴 UNIFIL says peacekeepers took "defensive action," reported no injuries and the patrol was able to continue

🔴 UNIFIL informed the IDF and the Lebanese military of its operations near the border and reiterated the IDF must respect the Blue Line and ensure peacekeeper safety

🔴 UNIFIL also denounced earlier IDF aerial drops of non‑toxic chemical substances that forced cancellation of over a dozen activities; IDF has yet to comment

@TPOnow

🇮🇱 🇵🇸 ⚡️ — NEW: Israel Police and the Shin Bet arrested an "illegal" resident from the West Bank suspected of preparing explosives and planning attacks on IDF soldiers after hiding on a roof in Kafr Kassem.

🔴 The suspect was transferred for questioning by the Shin Bet.

🔴 N12 reported the suspect had "extensive knowledge in preparing explosives and various weapons" and was involved in other attacks against IDF soldiers.

🔴 A security source told N12 the arrest may have prevented a particularly serious incident and that the individual holds intelligence that could help foil future attacks.

@TPOnow

🇺🇸 🇳🇬 ⚡️ — BREAKING: General Dagvin R.M. Anderson says a small US team has been deployed to Nigeria after December airstrikes ordered by President Donald Trump.

🔴 Anderson, head of the US military's Africa Command AFRICOM, said the deployment followed agreement between the two countries and that the team "brings some unique capabilities from the United States."

🔴 A former US official said the team is heavily involved in intelligence gathering and enabling Nigerian forces to strike terrorist‑affiliated groups; Defense Minister Christopher Musa confirmed a team is working in Nigeria.

🔴 Reuters earlier reported US surveillance flights from Ghana since November; the US strike in Sokoto state was carried out in coordination with Nigerian authorities and killed multiple ISIS terrorists, while Nigeria denies systematic persecution of Christians.

@TPOnow

🇮🇷 🇯🇴 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 — NEW: Iranian MP Mojtaba Zarei called on Jordanians to seize the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base and take US soldiers captive after Tehran strikes the base.

🔴 Zarei, a member of Iran’s Foreign Policy Commission, posted the call in Farsi and Arabic, saying the base “has turned into the most important American base” and urging action “after the missiles strike this base.”

🔴 The Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, operated by the Royal Jordanian Air Force, has hosted US Air Force F‑15 Strike Eagles and Navy EA‑18G Growlers; Zarei linked it to operations countering Iranian missiles.

🔴 His comments come amid rising tensions and ahead of talks between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Istanbul; the Jordanian Armed Forces previously said it would intercept missiles that threaten its territory.

@TPOnow