Mr. Rubio says Iran must “walk away” from all nuclear enrichment and ballistic missile programs, taking a public hard line as negotiations between Washington and Tehran hit a roadblock this week. The secretary’s remarks Thursday came amid news that a delicate fourth round of direct U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, which had been slated to be held this weekend, were postponed. 

The fate of the talks hangs in the balance as the Trump administration attempts to ramp up economic and military pressure on Iran and the proxy militias it supports around the Middle East. Ahead of the announcement that this weekend’s talks had been postponed, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that Tehran will “pay the consequence” for supporting Houthi militants in Yemen. 

Mr. Trump, meanwhile, suggested he is moving toward a maximum economic pressure posture toward Iran, asserting that any nation or individual who buys Iranian oil will be barred from doing business with the United States. Sources tell Threat Status the president’s comments would be hard to back up, given that China remains a top buyer of Iranian crude.

The Army could eliminate as many as 40 headquarters-level slots for generals and push scores of desk-bound officers and sergeants back to field units as part of a wide-ranging reorganization effort that Mr. Hegseth has ordered for the nation’s largest military service.

Mr. Hegseth this week ordered the Army to streamline its force structure and transform “at an accelerated pace” by divesting itself of outdated and inefficient programs. On Thursday, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said his team will “ruthlessly prioritize” the needs of fighting forces contributing to the service’s lethality.

“The headquarters units across the entire Pentagon – but the Army, too – have grown way too large and they’ve grown way too bloated,” Mr. Driscoll told reporters. “The American soldier joins the Army to put on a helmet, get in their formations, and fight. We have stripped them of that and put them in a headquarters doing useless bureaucratic paperwork.”

U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan met with then-acting South Korean President Han Duck-soo this week to discuss shipbuilding cooperation and visited two major shipyards on the second leg of his Asia trip.

Mr. Trump has made clear his determination to rebuild American shipbuilding capacity and has noted that it may need to be done with allies. South Korea and Japan are the world’s second and third largest shipbuilders by volume, respectively, after China.

During the visit, Mr. Phalen visited HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the country’s largest shipbuilder, and Hanwha Ocean Co., part of the Hanwha Group of companies that includes Korea’s major arms exporter. Hanwha last year acquired Philly Shipyard in Pennsylvania. The Navy secretary visited Hyundai Heavy’s headquarters and a shipyard where Aegis destroyers are being built.

China has not taken over a disputed islet near a key Philippine island despite a provocative Chinese coast guard operation last month to plant a flag on the reef, according to a State Department official who spoke exclusively with Threat Status.

“China’s provocative flag unfurling is detrimental to preserving peace and stability in the region and is the latest example of its repeated escalatory and irresponsible actions in the South China Sea,” the official told National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz. “Contrary to media reports, China has not ‘seized’ Sandy Cay and the feature remains unoccupied.”

State media in Beijing recently said Chinese coast guard vessels carried out a “maritime control” activity in mid-April over what Beijing calls Tiexian Reef and the Philippines calls Sandy Cay.

Collecting information on China’s plans and intentions toward Taiwan is a “high-priority requirement for the U.S. intelligence community,” writes Daniel N. Hoffman, a retired CIA clandestine service officer and Threat Status contributor.

“China’s tactical interest in Ukraine offers an advantageous window to gauge the lessons Beijing is learning and, for the CIA in particular, based on reports from human sources, how the Chinese military might translate those lessons into practice,” writes Mr. Hoffman.

“For the Trump administration,” he writes, “the presence of Chinese and North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian soldiers with Iranian drones in the air striking Ukrainian civilian and infrastructure targets, there is an auspicious opportunity to drive a wedge between Russia and its axis of dictatorship allies by ensuring Mr. Putin gains no lasting military or economic advantage from his barbaric war on Ukraine.”

• May 7 — EmTech AI, MIT Technology Review

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

• May 7 — Revitalizing the Defense Industrial Base for the 21st Century, The Heritage Foundation

• May 13 — Golden Dome for America: From Inception to Implementation, Threat Status

• May 14 — The Spy and the State with Jeffrey Rogg, International Spy Museum

• June 2-4 — AI+ Expo, Special Competitive Studies Project