I - On Defense Podcast

For review:
1. The Saudi and Syrian defense ministries signed a military cooperation agreement on Wednesday, as relations between the two countries continue to deepen.
The pact was signed during Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to Riyadh, where he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the second time in a month.
2. Turkish legislators have ratified a defense cooperation agreement among Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as Riyadh seeks increased regional support in its conflict with Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen. 
3. President Trump met with his national security team Thursday to discuss whether to resume military operations against Iran, senior officials confirmed to Fox News.
4. US President Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday that the United States would cease providing nearly $4 billion in annual military aid to Israel by the end of this year, rather than nearly two years from now, sent shockwaves through the Israeli defense establishment.
5. US First Lady Melania Trump expressed hope that the humanitarian ceasefire in Oleshky would inspire progress toward a “more enduring” peace, as she hosted representatives from Russia and Ukraine at the White House on Thursday.
6. North Korea leader Kim Jong Un inspected the ongoing construction of a new warship that is larger than the country’s 5,000-ton destroyers on Monday during a visit to North Korea’s Nampho Shipyard, state media reported Wednesday.
The under-construction warship is believed to be a 10,000-ton cruiser.

For review:
1. Yemen’s top diplomat says the Houthi rebels are not willing to strike a peace deal with the internationally recognized government to end the country’s yearslong civil war.
Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba speaks to The Associated Press in Paris, where she met with French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot.
“The problem is that the Houthis aren’t willing, and they will not be ready for peace,” al-Zouba tells AP.
2. The Houthis have launched multiple cross-border raids into Saudi Arabia in recent months, in an expansion of the conflict beyond Yemen a western and Arab official with direct knowledge of the raids told Middle East Eye.
3. The US carried out strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, an American official said late Monday.
The strikes, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, appeared to be limited and were not a resumption of major combat operations, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Another official said the strikes were defensive measures against Iranians “using surface-to-air missiles against US assets.”
4. The Trump administration on Monday signaled a negotiated deal with Iran was possible after Tehran offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, albeit under strict conditions.
5. Russia on Tuesday confirmed that peace talks with Ukraine and the U.S. will go ahead next week in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, while also signaling that a meeting between Presidents Trump, Putin, and Xi Jinping to end the conflict was on the table. 
Putin aide Vladimir ​Medinsky will serve ⁠as Moscow’s chief negotiator ​at the talks in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10-11, Kremlin spokesman ​Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call, according to Reuters. 
6. Australian military officials have been furtive about how they will use Anduril-developed Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous underwater vehicles – or XLAUVs. 
In an official unveiling at Anduril Australia’s manufacturing center in Sydney on Oct. 19, three Ghost Shark payloads were revealed.
One entailed sea mines, another was a swarm of Altius-600 loitering munitions, and the third was logistics supply caches.

For review:
1. Saudi air defenses intercepted at least two suspected Houthi drones on Saturday morning, according to the spokesman for the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition.
2. Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Saturday reportedly warned the United States and Israel against returning to war, according to a written statement, following threats from Tehran’s foes of a possible resumption of strikes, which a report said could come as early as November 4, the day after the US midterms.
3. US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly spoke on Saturday morning over the phone as the United States laid plans to resume strikes on Iran.
The Wall Street Journal reported the call, citing people familiar with the conversation, as Trump told reporters in Palm Beach later in the day that the US wanted to destroy up to two more targets in Iran.
4. Iran on Sunday said that any renewed war with the United States or Israel could last longer than the previous round of fighting, warning that US President Donald Trump would not be able to dictate its end.
5. A multi-day ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Oleshky ended late Sunday with no violations reported by either side.
The truce, announced by US first lady Melania Trump to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries and civilian evacuations, took effect Tuesday and was extended beyond Oleshky, in the Kherson region, to provide safe passage for humanitarian convoys.
6. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Oct. 30 denied that Moscow seeks to arrange a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky instead of a face-to-face meeting.
7. German tank maker KNDS and Norway’s Ritek have begun producing Leopard 2A8 tanks in Norway, adding a land-based industrial foothold to a security partnership spanning submarines, missiles and military operations in Europe’s north. 
8. Hanwha Philly Shipyard has won a $269 million contract to build the Marine Corps’ Landing Ship Medium, according to a Friday announcement from the program’s vessel construction manager.

For review:
1. Pakistan’s military is “cautiously optimistic” about its mediation between Iran and the United States, its spokesman said on Friday.
Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir— has been to Tehran twice this month, most recently on Monday alongside Saudi and Turkish officials.
Qatari mediators returned Friday to Tehran, a source briefed on the talks told Reuters, after US Vice President JD Vance contacted Mohsen Rezaei, the hardline head of Iran’s National Security Council, whom Washington reportedly sees as the best-placed official to head off renewed fighting.
2. The US military’s top commander overseeing the Middle East met President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday to present military options concerning Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials and others with direct knowledge of the meeting.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine also joined the meeting, at which US Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper presented the options, according to the report.
3. As Israel continues to target Hamas operatives in Gaza, the Shin Bet security agency reportedly has been calling members of the terror group ahead of strikes, offering them a choice: Leave their homes and be killed alone, or be killed along with their family members.
4. The State Department announced today that it has approved the potential sale of 500 Patriot missiles to Ukraine.
5. Switzerland narrowed down the choice of the country’s second future long-range air defense system to either Israel’s Barak MX system or the French-Italian SAMP/T NG, while also sticking to plans to buy the United States’ Patriot air-defense system.
6. Nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine (K-553), assigned to the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet, launched a RSM-56 Bulava SLBM from the sea of Okhotsk  in northwest Russia.

For review:
1. The Houthis reported 12 killed in strikes Thursday on residential areas of western Yemen, which they blamed on Saudi Arabia, while explosions later rocked Riyadh.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said on Thursday it had intercepted two ballistic missiles launched by the group toward the Saudi capital, soon after fresh explosions were reported there.
2. The United States has informed several unspecified Gulf Arab countries to be ready for a short yet intensive military offensive against Iran following the American midterm elections on November 3, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday evening.
3. US Vice President JD Vance has contacted Iran’s security chief in a bid to revive peace talks that could head off a renewed American assault on the Islamic Republic.
 VP Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the WSJ reported, in a move that one of the newspaper’s sources said was directed by US President Donald Trump.
4. Russia’s next round of trilateral talks with Ukraine and the US could take place in Abu Dhabi after Nov. 4, but Moscow has yet to confirm a date and will not invite European representatives, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
5. The leaders of Norway and Finland held a rare call Tuesday with Russian president Vladimir Putin to discuss Ukraine.
6. The United Kingdom plans to reach 3 percent GDP spending on defense by 2030, Chancellor John Healey announced today. In addition, he said that next year’s spending review would spell out exactly how the UK plans to hit the NATO commitment of spending 3.5 percent GDP on defense by 2035, and how the UK will be at 3 percent by 2030.