Maintenance, operation and modernization of America’s nuclear forces are expected to rise to $946 billion through 2034, a 25% increase from estimates released in 2023, according to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO said in the new estimate now circulating online that nuclear forces account for 8.4% of the 10-year cost of the plans for national defense outlined in the White House’s fiscal 2025 budget submission. By comparison, nuclear forces accounted for 3.9% of the total defense funding in 2014. U.S. nuclear forces include ballistic missile (ICBM)-firing submarines; land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles; and long-range bomber aircraft — commonly called the nuclear triad — along with the warheads they carry.

“Over the next two decades, essentially all those systems will have to be refurbished or replaced with new systems if the United States is to continue fielding those capabilities,” the CBO said in its report. Pentagon Correspondent Mike Glenn reports that some of the increases are the result of higher costs for priority programs, such as the new Sentinel ICBM, along with modernizing missile silos and other structures, the Defense Department’s command and control and early warning systems, and the Energy Department’s production facilities.

Iran’s Interior Ministry said Tuesday that negligence and a flagrant disregard of safety regulations are to blame for a deadly explosion over the weekend at Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, the Islamic republic’s largest port.

The blast killed at least 70 people and injured more than 1,000 others. Firefighters have worked to extinguish the blaze over the past three days, with authorities saying it could take weeks before the area is back to normal.

International authorities have offered various explanations about the cause of the blast. Iranian officials have denied it was caused by the improper handling of sodium perchlorate, which is used as a fuel for ballistic missiles. A New York Times report cited an unnamed Iranian military source as saying the port was handling sodium perchlorate. Other independent investigative agencies have cited a history of military goods coming into the facility.

A U.S. Navy fighter jet was lost in the Red Sea on Monday after going overboard during an apparent mishap aboard the USS Harry S. Truman. The incident occurred amid the ongoing American military campaign against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, in which the aircraft carrier and its support ships are playing a central role.

One sailor sustained minor injuries when the F/A-18E Super Hornet and a tow tractor “were lost overboard,” according to a statement by the Navy. “Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is underway.”

Officials stressed that the carrier and its embarked air wing “remain fully mission capable.” U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said late Sunday that it has hit more than 800 Houthi targets in Yemen over just the past six weeks. Over the past 18 months, the Houthis have regularly targeted commercial and military ships in the Red Sea with anti-ship missiles and drones.

China’s mass surveillance state, censorship, forced labor camps in Xinjiang and the constant purging of dissenters are modern extensions of the Chinese Communist Party’s “internal war against the Chinese people,” writes Threat Status contributor Miles Yu, director of the Hudson Institute’s China Center.

“The CCP understands a simple principle: It’s much easier to rule if you can keep people angry at outsiders instead of you,” writes Mr. Yu. “Economic slowdown? Western sabotage. Popular discontent? CIA plots. Hong Kong protests? American ‘black hand.’ Uyghur resistance? Foreign infiltration.

“Meanwhile, the party’s real crimes — corruption, nepotism, jailing journalists, prevalent arbitrary prosecution and summary execution, land seizures, environmental disasters, repression — are swept under the rug with the magic words ‘foreign threat,’” he writes. “The irony is breathtaking. The CCP crushes the Chinese people and then accuses the world of oppressing China.”

A landmark trade negotiation that Vice President J.D. Vance announced after he met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 21 may well redefine the future of U.S.-India trade relations and global energy geopolitics, writes Vijay Jayaraj.

“The energy economics of this deal and its potential to reshape the global market for fossil fuels are fascinating,” writes Mr. Jayaraj, a science and research associate at the CO2 Coalition in Fairfax, Virginia. “In his announcement, Mr. Vance declared, ‘We want to sell more energy to India and also help it explore its resources, including offshore natural gas reserves and critical mineral supplies.’”

“The arrangement could propel India toward its long-standing goal of energy surplus,” writes Mr. Jayaraj. “This feat appeared daunting, perhaps impossible, against the nation’s projections for a massive increase in demand, the fastest-growing among major economies for the next two decades.”

• April 29-May 1 — RSAC 2025, RSA Conference 

• April 29-May 1 — Modern Day Marine Convention

• April 30 — Rebuilding America’s Maritime Industrial Base with Sens. Mark Kelly and Todd Young, Hudson Institute

• April 30 — The Hill & Valley Forum

• April 30 — Robins Air Force Base Tech Expo, NCSI

• May 5-8 — SOF Week 2025: The Asymmetric Strategic Option for a Volatile World, U.S. Special Operations Command & Global SOF Foundation