I - On Defense Podcast

I - On Defense
  • 4.4 (5)
  • Government
  • Updated Semiweekly

Probably the best defense commentary in the world. Top military and defense industry analysis in 45 minutes or less.

  1. 1d ago

    US Secretary of State: No Iran Tolls on Strait of Hormuz + Israeli Defence Minister: No IDF Withdrawal from S. Lebanon Security Zone + US Places New Sanctions on Cuban State Companies

    For review: 1.  The U.S. government on Tuesday hit Cuban state companies with new sanctions. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctions target five Cuban entities, including three linked to Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces.  2. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Washington would not accept Iranian tolls or fees on the Strait of Hormuz, as disputes over the vital waterway, nuclear inspections, and missiles exposed early strains in negotiations to end the Middle East war.  3. Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed Wednesday that the IDF will not withdraw from its southern Lebanon security zone, “even if there is an American demand,” while adding there was no such demand at this time.  4. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel needs to be “free” from military dependence on the United States and develop its own weapons-production capabilities, arguing that this is needed to support the ongoing fight with Iran and its terror proxies.  5.  A senior Islamic State leader was killed by an airstrike last week, Central Command announced on Wednesday,.  Ali Husayn al-Ulaywi was killed in a precision airstrike on June 19. 6.  U.S. President Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Group of Seven summit in France that he would consider letting Ukraine build its own Patriot interceptor missiles. 7.  The Missile Defense Agency today awarded Lockheed Martin a $35 billion undefined contract action (UCA) to quadruple production of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors over a seven-year period, the company and the Defense Department announced.

    15 min

  2. 3d ago

    US & Iran Start Talks in Burgenstock; Roadmap Established to Meet 60-Day Tineline + IDF Captures Hezbollah Subterranean Drone Base / Factory in S. Lebanon + Ukraine Gives Belarus Ultimatum to Remove Relay Equipment

    For review: 1. The United States and Iran began talks in Switzerland on Sunday after signing a preliminary agreement to end their war. American and Iranian representatives gathered alongside delegations from mediators Pakistan and Qatar at the luxury Swiss resort of Burgenstock. 2. Iran and the United States agree on a roadmap toward reaching a final deal to end the war within 60 days, mediators Pakistan and Qatar say in a joint statement on Monday. 3. Iran and the United States agree to set up a “de-confliction cell” with Lebanon to stop military operations there, Pakistan and Qatar, which are mediating the US-Iran negotiations in Switzerland, say in a joint statement. 4. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to keep Israeli troops in the south Lebanon security zone “for as long as necessary” to protect northern Israel from Hezbollah. 5. IDF Captures Hezbollah Subterranean Drone Base / Factory in S. Lebanon.  6. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday ruled out intervening militarily in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon, after US President Donald Trump again suggested Damascus could get involved. 7. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has given Belarus a one-week ultimatum to remove relay equipment on its territory that he says is helping Russia attack Ukraine, warning that Kyiv will otherwise intervene itself to halt the transmissions. 8. The U.S. Department of Defense is open to Poland’s offer to host a permanent U.S. military presence in Poland, Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Thursday after meeting U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Brussels. 9. The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) inked a pair of conditional loans totaling $1.2 billion this week within the rare earth elements sector, according to department announcements.

    24 min

  3. 6d ago

    Israel & Hezbollah Renew Uneasy Ceasefire + Report: IRGC Cells in Iraq Launched Attacks Against Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, & UAE + US Renames Combatant Command: Indo-PACOM Out; PACOM Name Restored

    For review: 1. A B-52 on a routine test mission crashed shortly after takeoff Monday (15 June)  in Southern California, killing all eight crew members on board. 2.  US Army aims to release proposal requests for its heavy variant of the ISV this fall, a senior service official told lawmakers, adding that the Army is attempting to field the capability as quickly as possible. The Army is seeking vehicles that can provide  60 kW of continuous high-voltage DC power, 15 kW of 28V DC power and 4.8 kW of 120V AC power.  3. After eight years as US Indo-Pacific Command, the Pentagon has announced it is restoring the original name to simply Pacific Command (PACOM). 4. KNDS, the French-German maker of the Leopard tank and the Caesar truck-mounted gun, pitched a new howitzer with a barrel longer than any NATO production artillery, which the company said gives the weapon a range of up to 60 kilometers (37 miles) with standard high-explosive shells. The 155mm howitzer, named Loras for long-range artillery system, is equipped with a 58 caliber gun tube, about 12% longer than the 52 caliber barrels that equip most recent European cannons. 5. President Trump on Friday unveiled the Boeing 747-8 that will serve as the new Air Force One, that the U.S. accepted as a gift from the Qatari government last year. 6. US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is traveling to Switzerland for the first round of talks with Iran on a potential nuclear deal, Axios reports, citing a US official. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is already in Switzerland, it adds. 7. Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire on Friday afternoon, a US official said, after another flare-up in southern Lebanon that saw four Israeli soldiers and dozens of Lebanese casualties. 8. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has set up secretive new cells in Iraq to carry out attacks on Gulf countries that host American forces, bypassing established militia networks to avoid detection, eight Iraqi sources told Reuters.

    26 min

  4. Jun 19

    Text of MOU + US CENTCOM Lifts Blockade Entering/Exiting Iranian Ports + Pentagon to Review US Force Presence in Europe + USAF CCA Update

    For review: 1. Cuban lawmakers unanimously approved sweeping reforms backed by the Communist ​Party and former leader Raul Castro that would privatize a vast swath of the country's socialist economy in a bid to survive punishing U.S. sanctions. The ‌measures, if implemented as passed, would represent the single largest change to Cuba's socialist model since former leader Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution and a major shift towards a market economy. 2. President Trump on Wednesday signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the U.S. and Iran ending the war between the two countries. 3. Iran will invite the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency to inspect its nuclear sites and begin work on identifying and uncovering the locations of Tehran’s enriched material, US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff tells US lawmakers in a private briefing. 4. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman warned Thursday that a continued IDF presence in southern Lebanon would mean the “annulment” of the memorandum of understanding it signed with the United States, as Israel doubled down on its plans to keep troops in the area amid its ongoing conflict with the Hezbollah terror group. 5. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told NATO Thursday the Pentagon will review its force presence in Europe within six months. “This will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,” Hegseth told a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. 6. USAF CCA Update.

    27 min

  5. Jun 17

    US & Iran MOU (Reaction/Analysis) + Documents Show Hamas 07 October Attack Designed to Ruin Israel-Saudi Arabia Normaization + Somaliland President Visits Jerusalem; Opens Embassy

    For review: 1. Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar opened Somaliland’s embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, the eighth top-level diplomatic mission in the capital. The United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, and Fiji also have embassies in Jerusalem, while other countries — including Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia — have embassy branches in Jerusalem. 2. The Hamas terror group carried out its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel partly in order to thwart the Jewish state’s rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, according to seized documents. 3. US & Iran MOU (Reaction/Analysis).

    34 min

  6. Jun 15

    US & Iran Reach Deal; Ceasefire Extended 60 Days; Formal Signing in Switzerland Planned for Friday

    For review: 1. Senior Hezbollah commander Ali Mussa Daqduq, mastermind of a January 2007 attack that killed five US troops in Iraq, was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon over the weekend, the IDF announced Sunday. 2. US & Iran Reach Deal; Ceasefire Extened 60 Days; Formal Signing in Switzerland Friday. 3. Ahmad Vahidi, the commander in chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, emerged as a key player during negotiations between the US and Iran, according to a Saturday profile in the Wall Street Journal, which found that the senior paramilitary leader pushed for a hard line in talks, advocating against any concessions to Washington. According to the report: Vahidi has “frequently overruled” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.  4. Israel was bracing for Iranian missile fire on Sunday after Tehran vowed that an Israeli Air Force strike on a Hezbollah target in Beirut’s southern suburbs earlier in the day would “not go unanswered.” The strike in the Lebanese capital’s Dahiyeh district came shortly after Hezbollah fired drones into Israeli territory. It was Israel’s first strike in a week in the Hezbollah stronghold, with the previous strike also a response to rocket fire on northern Israel. “The IDF has just struck Hezbollah terror targets in the Dahiyeh district of Beirut, in response to Hezbollah’s firing at Israeli territory,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement after the strike on the Hezbollah stronghold. 5. CNN Report: Iran has, in recent weeks, deliberately collapsed tunnels and mined entrances to its bombed Isfahan nuclear complex in a bid to stop the US from launching a raid to retrieve the Islamic Republic’s store of highly enriched uranium that is believed to be buried at the site.

    19 min

  7. Jun 13

    President Trump Halts Strikes on Iran; "Agreement Signing To Be Announced Shortly" + US Sanctions Cuba's State-Owned Oil Company

    For review: 1. The U.S. imposed sanctions Thursday on Cuba’s state-owned oil company, part of a Trump administration effort to restrict fuel supplies and increase pressure on the island’s Communist government. 2. US President Donald Trump called off strikes on Iran Thursday evening, claiming an agreement to end the war had been reached and would be signed shortly. He later said the document should “get done in the next few days,” possibly in time for a signing in Europe this weekend. 3. A US official said Friday that the emerging memorandum of understanding with Iran “leads to” Washington getting Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The official, who held a phone briefing with reporters on condition of anonymity, also said the draft agreement was “broad” and would include Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Iran’s proxy group Hezbollah.  He added that Iran’s loosening grip on the Strait of Hormuz has cost it leverage in the talks, and that he was “80 to 85 percent” sure the deal would happen.

    37 min

  8. Jun 11

    US Sends Second Round of Retaliation Strikes Against Iran for AH-64 Apache Shootdown + Iran Claims Response Strikes Against US Bases in Kuwait & Bahrain + Sec of War Visits US Troops in Guantanamo Bay

    For review: 1. US Defense Secretary on Wednesday said the future of Cuba is in the hands of President Trump and Havana’s leadership amid increased U.S. pressure on the communist-ruled island. “No matter what, the Department of War is going to be prepared and postured for any possible contingency,” Sec Hegseth told troops during a visit to the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 2. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said two U.S. Army aviators “got very lucky” after an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter was downed by Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, emphasizing that US retaliation is not over. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, the president declared, “We hit them hard yesterday and we’re going to hit them hard again today.” 3. US President Donald Trump said the US would be attacking Iran again on Wednesday, indicating that Tuesday night’s strikes against the regime were only the first part of Washington’s retaliation against the Islamic Republic for shooting down an American military helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. 4. US Central Command confirms it has launched fresh “self-defense strikes” on “multiple targets in Iran at the direction” of President Donald Trump. 5. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says that it struck bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to the latest US strikes. 6. The United States and Iran have honed in on four key points of negotiation during talks to permanently end the fighting that began with a joint US-Israeli offensive back in February, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. According to the newspaper, the deal will include agreements on an extended suspension of uranium enrichment by Iran; the dilution of Tehran’s existing stockpile of enriched uranium; the dismantling of Iranian nuclear sites; and the right for international nuclear watchdogs to conduct snap inspections in the Islamic Republic. 7. Iraq and the United Arab Emirates are fast-tracking plans to expand oil pipelines to replace the capacity lost by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as new data reveals their stark dependency on the Persian Gulf.  8. The Franco-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System (FCAS) has collapsed following the failure of industrial mediation between Dassault and Airbus on several issues, multiple reports said Monday. 9. The House Appropriations Committee released its $1 trillion defense spending bill for FY27.

    29 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.4
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Probably the best defense commentary in the world. Top military and defense industry analysis in 45 minutes or less.

Information

  • Creator
    I - On Defense
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    501
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 I - On Defense Podcast
  • Show Website
    I - On Defense Podcast

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