OSINTdefender

Four officials tell Newsmax the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the embarked 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (11th MEU) is deploying ahead of schedule from the West Coast and is expected to sail direct through the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East, after the U.S. Navy was ordered by the Pentagon to surge additional fire power to the U.S. Central Command Area-of-Responsibility near Iran.

The Boxer Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), comprised of the USS Boxer (LHD-4), USS Comstock (LSD-45), and the USS Portland (LPD-27) with the embarked 11th Marine Expeditionary Group (MEU), is on its way to the Middle East after departing the U.S. west coast for deployment.

If Netanyahu is saying this, expect that the White House will soon begin or has already begun looking for an “off ramp” in the conflict against Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admits that while there are signs “cracks” appear to be forming in the Iranian Regime, it is possible that the regime will indeed survive the ongoing Iran War.

Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed during a press update earlier on the strike campaign against Iran, that Israel acted alone in carrying out yesterday’s strikes against the South Pars Gas Fields in Southern Iran, which resulted in mass retaliatory attacks by Iran against energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Netanyahu further stated that President Trump has asked Israel to hold off on future attacks against oil and gas facilities in Iran.

U.S. officials have detected unidentified drones above Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C. over the last two weeks, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth live, according to three people briefed on the situation who spoke to the Washington Post. Officials have not determined where they came from, two of the people said, though the military is monitoring potential threats more closely because of the heightened alert level due to the Iran War. Multiple drones were spotted over Fort McNair on a single night in the last 10 days, the official said, prompting increased security measures and a meeting on how to respond at the White House. The drone sightings prompted officials to weigh relocating Rubio and Hegseth, two of the people briefed said. The senior administration official said the secretaries haven’t moved. Their quarters on the base were publicly reported by multiple outlets in October.

Only weeks ago, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard were chasing sanctioned oil tankers affiliated with Russia and Iran across the world, intercepting, boarding, and at points seizing them for the United States. Now the Trump Administration is considering removing the sanctions levied on these same vessels, allowing them to continue making money for the regimes in Moscow and Tehran.

While taking questions earlier in the Oval Office alongside Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, President Trump was asked by a Japanese reporter why the United States did not inform allies - like Japan - prior to strikes against Iran, to which he responded: “Well, one thing you don't want to signal too much, you know. When we go in, we went in very hard, and we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise? Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Okay? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has release a statement, accompanied by video footage, which claims to show the targeting of an American F-35A/B Lightning ll with a surface-to-air missile in the skies over Iran. This claim by the IRGC follows reports that a F-35 was damaged and forced to make an “emergency landing” at an air base in the Middle East due to hostile fire over Iran.

After recently waiving sanctions on Russia oil in an attempt to stabilize skyrocketing oil prices resulting from the ongoing Iran War and the threats to the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News this morning that the Trump Administration may also waive sanctions soon on tankers belonging to and carrying oil for Iran.

An F-35A/B Lightning ll made an emergency landing at a U.S. air base in the Middle East this week, after it was struck by what is believed to be Iranian surface-to-air fire, according to two sources familiar with the matter who spoke to CNN. Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Spokesman for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), said the fifth-generation stealth jet was “flying a combat mission over Iran” when it was forced to make an emergency landing at a base in the Middle East. “The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition,” Hawkins added. “This incident is under investigation.”

The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan have released a joint statement expressing their readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure the safe passage of commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Reports of a possible ballistic missile impact and a fire now burning at the Haifa Oil Refinery in Northern Israel, following the latest missile attack by Iran.

The Israel Defense Force has now confirmed and published footage of multiple strikes last night against the Iranian Navy’s Northern Fleet on the Caspian Sea, with aircraft carrying out airstrikes on pierside and underway naval vessels, as well as shipbuilding and repair facilities and command-and-control centers in Bandar Anzali, Northern Iran. During the strikes, Israeli military aircraft struck and sunk several naval vessel, including the Iranian Moudge-class frigate IRIS Deylaman (78).

According to QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi, Iran’s attack on the Ras Laffan Indistrial City damaged facilities that produce 17% of Qatar’s LNG export capacity. The statement was made in an interview with Reuters. The damages are expected to take 2-3 years to repair fully.

Two correspondents, RT’s Steve Sweeney and a cameraman were wounded in an Israeli airstrike this morning on the Al-Qasmiya Bridge over the Litani River in Southern Lebanon.

Greek Minister of National Defense Nikos Dendias announced today that a Greek Patriot air defense battery in Saudi Arabia shot down two Iranian ballistic missiles that were targeting oil refineries in the country. Greece has had a presence in the Gulf nation since 2021 as a part of a bilateral defense pact, the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), between Saudi Arabia and Greece. According to a Reuters, citing a Greek MOND official, this is the first time that Greek military personnel have operated the system.

According to U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the U.S. has struck over 7,000 targets during ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli operations against Iran.