Report: US War Department Considers Additional Troops for Middle East Deployment + Secretary of State Rubio: US Can Achieve War Objectives Without Ground Troops + Israel Strikes Arak Heavy Water Reactor; Uranium Extraction Facility; Steel Factories

For review:1. A U.S. F-15E fighter jet was shot down over Iran on Friday, and one crew member from the plane was later rescued by American forces, U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News.  The F-15E is flown by a two-member crew, and the search for the second crew member, a weapons system officer, is continuing, two U.S. officials said. An A-10 Warthog was part of the search and rescue mission when it took fire and was damaged. The Warthog pilot ejected over the Persian Gulf and was successfully recovered, according to the officials.2. Current mediation efforts led by regional countries, including Pakistan, to broker a ceasefire between the United States and Iran have reportedly reached a dead end.Iran has officially told mediators that it is unwilling to meet US officials in Islamabad in the coming days and considers US demands unacceptable.3. US President Donald Trump on Friday claimed that the United States can “easily” open the Strait of Hormuz with “a little more time,” and suggested that Iran’s power plants were next on his target list, as the US military shifted to striking civilian infrastructure.4. A senior Israeli military official said Friday that while the Israel Defense Forces aims to significantly weaken Hezbollah and remove the threat the terror group poses to residents of northern Israel, the prospect of fully disarming the group was unrealistic and not a “required goal” of the army’s ongoing ground offensive.The Israeli military later clarified in a statement that it was still committed to a “long-term objective” of disarming the terror group.5. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday accused Russia of escalating its attacks on Ukraine days before Easter as he spoke by phone with Pope Leo XIV during the latest aerial barrage by Moscow.  "At the very moment of our conversation, the Russians attacked Ukraine yet again," Zelensky said, adding that "the Russians have only intensified their strikes, turning what should have been silence in the skies into an Easter escalation." Ukraine's President Zelensky had said earlier that Kyiv was ready for a truce over the Easter holidays, but the Kremlin said it had not received any proposals. 6. In the coming weeks, the Pentagon is expected to release in-depth FY27 budget justification documents detailing how it wants to funnel $1.5 trillion to specific programs next year. The Department of the Navy, comprising the Navy and Marine Corps, gets the largest share of the planned spending in FY27, with $150 billion — $126 billion in the budget request and another $24 billion planned in reconciliation. The Department of the Air Force, which includes both the Air and Space Forces, gets $101.2 billion, with $83.4 billion in the budget request and $17.6 billion in reconciliation. And the Army brings up the rear, sitting at $60.5 billion total, of which $36 billion is from the budget request and $24 billion is from reconciliation. 

For review:1. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and take immediate retirement, sources familiar with the decision told CBS News. 2. The U.S. military is poised to double its A-10 presence in the Middle East, as the  close air support plane plays a key role in combating Iranian boats and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq as part of Operation Epic Fury against Iran.3. US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israel and the United States were close to completing their key objectives in the war against the Iranian regime and that the conflict would soon be over, without providing an exact timeline.4. A US military option to seize some 450 kilograms of highly enriched uranium would reportedly require flying in excavation equipment and building a runway for cargo planes to fly off with the radioactive material.US President Donald Trump was presented with the plan by his military over the past week, two people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.5.  Israel came under attack from Iran, Yemen’s Houthis and Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Thursday, as Tehran and its proxies increased their assaults amid the Passover holiday.6. An overnight Israeli Navy strike in Beirut killed the commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front.The strike in the Lebanese capital killed Hajj Yusuf Ismail Hashem, who took over the Southern Front from Ali Karaki in September 2024, after the latter was killed alongside Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike.7. A senior Houthi official warned that the Iran-backed terror group in Yemen could move to shutter the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if any Gulf countries join the US and Israeli strikes against Iran.The strait, a key shipping chokepoint and narrow passageway that controls sea traffic toward the Suez Canal, is located at the southern mouth of the Red Sea, between Houthi-controlled Yemen and Djibouti.8. About 40 countries discussed joint action to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to stop Iran holding “the global economy hostage,” Britain said Thursday, after US President Donald Trump said securing the waterway was for others to resolve.British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Iran’s “recklessness” in blockading the Persian Gulf waterway was “hitting our global economic security” as she chaired the virtual meeting, which included France, Germany, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and India, but not the US.9. The Trump administration plans to propose a $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal 2027, broken into a $1.15 trillion base budget request and an additional $350 billion from a forthcoming reconciliation bill, according to a spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget.It will mark the first time the base budget defense spending has hit the $1 trillion mark.

For review:1. The US Central Command confirms that CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper visited Israel this week and met with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.2. The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush deployed Tuesday and is slated to go to the Middle East along with three destroyers, two U.S. officials said. The carrier strike group consists of more than 6,000 Sailors.3. US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Iran does not have to agree to a deal to end the ongoing US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic, as he stated that the United States will probably wrap up the war in two or three weeks.4. China and Pakistan presented on Tuesday a new initiative for ending the war in Iran that includes an immediate ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.5. Gulf allies of the United States, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are urging US President Donald Trump to continue prosecuting the war against Iran, arguing that Tehran hasn’t been weakened enough by the monthlong US-Israeli bombing campaign, according to US, Gulf, and Israeli officials.6. The day after Spain announced it was closing off its airspace to US planes involved in the Iran war, senior US officials seemingly called into question a fundamental pillar of the NATO alliance: collective defense.7. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will ask US mediators to relay his offer of an Easter truce to Russia, halting attacks on the country’s energy facilities, amid an ongoing deadlock in peace talks.

For review:1. Hundreds of U.S. Special Operations Forces, including Navy SEALs and Army Rangers, are now in the Middle East, as well as thousands of Marines and Army paratroopers, according to sources familiar with the deployments.The NYT first reported the forces had arrived in the region. 2. US President Donald Trump said on Monday that progress was being made in “serious discussions” with Tehran about ending the war, but warned that the US would destroy Iranian energy sites and infrastructure if a deal is not reached in the near future.3. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the war on Iran has achieved more than half its aims, without putting a timeline on when it would end.4. A month into the war with Iran, the Israeli military has almost completed bombing all of the targets it defined for itself at the start of the conflict, and has now been ordered by Israel’s political leadership to shift to hitting “economic” targets of the Iranian regime.5. Israeli PM Netanyahu announced on Sunday that Israel would capture additional territory in southern Lebanon to expand a security zone on Israel’s northern border.6. Iran on Monday defied Lebanon's expulsion order for its ambassador by saying he would stay.Lebanese officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 7. The Japanese destroyer JS Chokai is now capable of launching U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles, making it the first Japanese warship that can strike targets beyond 1,000 kilometers.Japan committed to acquiring 400 Tomahawks last year to equip its eight Aegis destroyers as part of a larger standoff capability.8. Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has rolled out the first production KF-21 fighter jet, less than two years after construction on it began and four years after the first prototype aircraft made it maiden flight.The KF-21 is considered a 4.5 generation fighter jet and will be equipped with a mix of indigenous and Western sensors and weapons in service, including the KGGB precision glide bomb and European MBDA Meteor air-to-air missile.

For review:1. US President Trump said Friday “Cuba is next. President Trump did not specify what he planned to do with Cuba, telling the media to “disregard that statement” before repeating “Cuba’s next.”2.  US Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group & USMC 31st MEU Arrives CENTCOM AOR.3. Pakistan’s prime minister said he had a “detailed” call with Iran’s president on Saturday, as foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey prepared to meet in Islamabad for talks on the war in the Middle East. The US and Iran are not expected to be present.Top diplomats from Riyadh, Cairo and Ankara are due in the Pakistani capital Sunday and Monday,” the Pakistan foreign ministry said.4. Yemen’s Houthis launched a ballistic missile attack at southern Israel on Saturday morning, triggering sirens in Beersheba, in their first offensive action since the start of the war.5. The Israel Defense Forces assessed on Saturday that it would finish targeting nearly all of Iran’s key military industry sites in the coming days.6. Two soldiers were seriously wounded and seven others were moderately hurt during clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Friday and overnight into Saturday, Israel Defense Forces said, as the terror group continued to pound northern Israel with rocket and drone attacks.7. Last year represented the first time that all NATO countries met or exceeded the 2 percent benchmark on defense spending, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte revealed during a press conference on March 26, something he largely attributed to US President Donald Trump’s relentless pressure to end allies’ free-riding.8. The US State Department has approved a proposed sale to Japan of equipment and services to support its program to develop hypersonic weapons.The Foreign Military Sales (FMS) announcement on Wednesday flagged the possible sale to Japan in support of its indigenous Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectiles (HVGP) program, in a deal that would cost an estimated $340 million.9. Last year, Army Materiel Command's LTG Christopher Mohan told Breaking Defense the Army was considering jettisoning the mobile cache in the Indo-Pacific, known as APS-3, in favor of dispersing the equipment throughout the INDOPACOM theater.  The reasoning behind the potential decision derived from the Army “doubling down on the INDOPACOM from a theater standpoint,” he said then.LTG Mohan: “The idea is to put much of that ground based, and we started doing that in several countries overseas,” Mohan said in an interview. “The end state will be that we will have a much, much reduced APS afloat.”10. The Trump administration will send its fiscal 2027 budget request to Congress on April 3, an Office of Management and Budget spokesperson confirmed today.

For review:1. Ten U.S. service members were wounded Friday in an Iranian missile strike on Prince Sultan Airbase in Saudi Arabia, the Wall Street Journal reported. Friday’s strike reportedly damaged multiple U.S. refueling aircraft and involved Iranian drones.2. The Pentagon is considering sending up to 10,000 more ground troops to the Middle East to potentially support operations in Iran in a move aimed at giving President Donald Trump more military options,  The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. 3. US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he was postponing his deadline for Iran to agree to an American proposal to end the war, setting a new date of April 6. President Trump is reported to be considering ordering a ground operation in Iran to pressure Tehran into acquiescing to American terms to end the nearly monthlong war.4. The US expects the bombing campaign in Iran to conclude within weeks, not months, and Washington can meet all its objectives without using ground troops, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday.5. The Israeli Air Force on Friday bombed two of Iran’s largest steel factories, according to Iranian media and Israeli security sources, as well as two facilities linked to Iran’s nuclear program, in moves that sparked vows of retaliation from Tehran.The Fars news agency reported that Israeli strikes hit Khuzestan Steel near Ahvaz and Mobarakeh Steel in Isfahan, two major production facilities.6. From the Iran War, Pakistan has emerged as an unexpected mediator, offering to help bring Washington and Tehran to the negotiating table.Pakistani government officials have said that their public peace effort follows weeks of quiet diplomacy, though they have provided few details. 7. The Pentagon is weighing whether to redirect weapons originally meant for Ukraine to the Middle East, as the war in Iran strains supplies of some of the U.S. military’s most critical munitions, the Washington Post reported Thursday.8. Russia is in contact with the United ‌States about a new round of talks on a Ukraine peace settlement as soon as conditions allow, the Kremlin said on Thursday."We remain open, we are in contact ​with the Americans, and we are counting on holding the ​next round of talks as soon as circumstances permit," Kremlin ⁠spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

For review:1. The U.S. military is preparing to deploy at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East in the coming days, according to three people with knowledge of the plans.2. Chief of the US Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, says the American military has struck over 10,000 targets in Iran since the start of the war, as part of which it destroyed two-thirds of the regime’s military production facilities.3. Iran has been laying traps and moving additional military personnel and air defenses to Kharg Island in recent weeks in preparation for a possible US operation to take control of the island, according to multiple people familiar with US intelligence reporting on the issue.4. Iranian officials on Wednesday gave a cold reception to the current US proposal to reach a ceasefire, as the White House warned Tehran it would be hit harder than before if it did not accept the offer to end the conflict.5. Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem purportedly said Wednesday that negotiating with Israel under fire would amount to “surrender” for Lebanon, and urged the government to reverse its ban on the party’s military activities.Mr. Qassem called on the Lebanese people to embrace “national unity,” saying this could be achieved by the government reversing its decision to ban Hezbollah’s military activities.6. Lebanon’s foreign ministry said Tuesday it had withdrawn the accreditation of Iran’s ambassador, giving him until Sunday to leave the country.7. Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Israel will maintain control of a “security zone” in southern Lebanon, up to the Litani River, until the threat of Hezbollah is removed.8. Airstrikes in Iraq killed 15 members of Iraq’s umbrella group for Iran-backed Shiite militia on Tuesday, the deadliest attack on the group since the Iran war began.9. Recent Israeli airstrikes off the Iranian coast of the Caspian Sea targeted a key shipping route used by Iran and Russia for the exporting and importing of weapons, including those used by Moscow in its war on Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.10. The United States has tied its offer of security guarantees for a Ukraine peace deal to Kyiv’s giving up its entire eastern Donbas region to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.

For review:1. The United States is reportedly planning a weeks-long operation to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, an Israeli report claimed Sunday2. In a bombshell announcement, US President Donald Trump revealed early Monday that his administration was engaged in productive talks with Iran regarding a “complete and total resolution” of the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic.Trump’s initial statement, made on social media, came nearly two days after he had threatened to bomb Iran’s power plants unless it opened the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. On Monday, Trump said he had postponed those strikes for five days to allow for more negotiations.3. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday evening that any deal to end the hostilities between the US, Israel, and Iran would protect Jerusalem’s “vital interests,” in his first comments since US President Donald Trump announced earlier in the day that he was holding talks with Tehran about ending the war.4. Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, is taking a more central role, as Israeli and US strikes pick off the Islamic Republic’s political leadership, making him a critical figure at a decisive moment.5. The Israeli Air Force blew up a bridge over Lebanon’s Litani River on Sunday, accusing Hezbollah of using it to move operatives and weapons into the country’s south, as Israel warned that its fight against the Iran-backed terror group had “only just begun.”6. In partnership with France, Germany says it is working to a deadline next month aimed at resolving a long-running industrial dispute over the troubled New Generation Fighter (NGF) element of Europe’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS). 7. Polish Deputy State Assets Minister Konrad Gołota has announced that Poland is considering to join the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), aiming to involve its defense sector in the project to develop a sixth-generation fighter jet.8. Lockheed Martin Australia is seeking to sustain the Australian Army’s fleet of High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) vehicles in-country.The company is working with Rheinmetall Defence Australia to explore potential opportunities at the latter’s military vehicle production and sustainment facilities.9. Direct talks between US and Iran could be held in Islamabad as soon as this week. A Pakistani official and a second source tell Reuters that direct talks on ending the war could be held in Islamabad as soon as this week.

For review:1. The United States struck Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility on Saturday, several media reports claimed, Iranian media said US-Israeli forces attacked the Shahid Ahmadi-Roshan Natanz enrichment complex on Saturday morning. Technical experts found that no radioactive leaks had occurred, and nearby residents were not at risk.2. US President Donald Trump on Friday ruled out a ceasefire with Iran, as American officials said more US Marines were headed to the Middle East in a possible sign of a coming ground operation three weeks into the war.3.  US President Donald Trump threatens to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.4. The Pentagon is reportedly sending the Wasp class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer and the rest of its Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), loaded with elements of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). This follows reports last week that the America class amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and its ARG, carrying elements of the 31st MEU, had also begun moving from the Pacific toward the Middle to support ongoing operations against Iran.5. The Israeli Air Force recently struck an Iranian nuclear weapons research and development site in Tehran, the military announced on Saturday, as Israel and the United States continued their operations to eliminate the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.6. Iran was “unsuccessful” in targeting the joint UK-US Indian Ocean military base at Diego Garcia, a UK official source confirmed on Saturday, a day after the Wall Street Journal reported Tehran fired two ballistic missiles at the base but failed to hit it.The Iranian attack on the Diego Garcia air base — located about 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) from Iran — indicated Tehran has in its stockpile missiles that can travel much further than it had previously acknowledged.7. A British nuclear-powered submarine equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles has taken position in the Arabian Sea, giving Britain the capability to launch long-range strikes if regional conflict escalates, the Daily Mail reports.Reuters cannot immediately verify the report. The British Ministry of Defense does not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.8. Over 100 people were injured by Iranian strikes in the southern cities of Dimona and Arad on Saturday.Iranian state media said the strikes were targeting Israel’s nuclear research facility, located some 10 kilometers (six miles) outside of Dimona and 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) outside of Arad, in retaliation for an alleged US attack on Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility earlier in the day. 9. Hezbollah fired several rockets at northern Israel on Saturday, damaging a number of buildings and infrastructure, as the Israeli Air Force struck targets belonging to the terror group, and soldiers operating in south Lebanon killed gunmen in exchanges of fire.The army announced Saturday that its 162nd Division had completed preparations ahead of deployment in southern Lebanon.If the 162nd is deployed, it would bring the total number of IDF divisions operating in southern Lebanon to five.10. The disarmament proposal presented to Hamas by Gaza ceasefire mediators this month in Cairo envisions all armed groups in the Strip gradually handing over their weapons over the coming months, two Arab diplomats familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Friday.The proposal requires Hamas to — within 90 days — hand over its heavy weaponry, such as missiles and rocket launchers, in addition to maps of its tunnel network.

For review:1. The Israeli Air Force struck Iranian gas infrastructure in the country’s south on Wednesday. The strikes targeted Iran’s massive offshore South Pars natural gas field. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes on the gas facility, but an Israeli official confirmed the strike was carried out by the IAF.2. US President Donald Trump said early Thursday that he would not allow another Israeli attack on Iran’s South Pars natural gas field.3. US War Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said the US would again launch “the largest strike package yet” in the ongoing US-Israeli campaign in Iran, and said Israel’s recent strike on an Iranian gas field was a “warning.”“To date, we’ve struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure,” Secretary Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing. “ 4. Iran can no longer enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.“After 20 days, I can tell you — Iran today has no ability to enrich uranium, and no ability to produce ballistic missiles,” said PM Netanyahu.5. The Israel Defense Forces said it struck Hezbollah targets in response to the Iran-backed terror group’s rocker barrage on northern Israel overnight.The IDF also renewed its call for residents of Hezbollah’s southern Lebanon heartland to flee northward, and said it would bomb crossings used by Hezbollah to move troops and equipment south over the Litani River, which runs some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the Israeli border.6. Israel reopened the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Thursday, allowing a group of Palestinians wounded in the Israel-Hamas war to leave for treatment after a nearly three-week closure due to the war with Iran.7. The Pentagon plans to ask lawmakers for some $200 billion in supplemental funds to pay for operations in Iran and refill American munition stockpiles, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said today. 8. The U.S. Army has confirmed that its first operational Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon battery is only weeks from full fielding.