Threat Status for Wednesday, May 7, 2025. Share this daily newsletter with your friends, who can sign up here. Send tips to National Security Editor Guy Taylor.
Vice President J.D. Vance said Russia is “asking for too much” to end its war against Ukraine, marking a shift in the Trump administration’s rhetoric toward Moscow.
… India carried out a wave of missile strikes against Pakistan Wednesday, putting the world on edge as tension between the two nuclear-armed powers hits heights not seen in years.
… A second F/A-18 fighter jet has fallen overboard from the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea.
… President Trump says he will halt the U.S. bombing campaign against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, adding they’ve contacted his administration and want to surrender.
… Sources say Israel, which is carrying out its own bombing campaign against the Houthis, was irked by the surprise announcement.
… Long-range Ukrainian drones continue to cause flight disruptions in Moscow as foreign leaders arrive ahead of World War II anniversary celebrations.
… A new poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research shows about half of Gazans support anti-Hamas demonstrations and almost all would leave the Gaza Strip if they could.
… And Mr. Trump reportedly plans to announce during his Saudi Arabia trip next week that the U.S. will now refer to the Persian Gulf as the “Arabian Gulf,” although the White House has not commented publicly on the matter.
India carried out a wave of missile attacks on targets inside Pakistan Wednesday, as tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations ratcheted up to levels not seen since 2019 when they teetered on the edge of war. India said its strikes were in retaliation for a massacre of Indian tourists in Kashmir that New Delhi has blamed on Pakistan.
Pakistani military officials said Wednesday that India’s missile strikes were an act of war, and Pakistani officials said they responded quickly by shooting down several Indian fighter jets. The situation is being watched closely by the U.S. and other powers, including China, which has a tense relationship with India and has pursued growing ties with Pakistan in recent years.
New Delhi briefed China Wednesday on the scope of the strikes, but also alerted Beijing that Indian forces are prepared to retaliate if Pakistan escalates the situation, according to the Times of India. Pakistani officials said six locations were struck in Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of more than two dozen people, including children.
Mr. Trump says the Iran-backed militant group has reached out to his administration to surrender. The president made the announcement Tuesday, although he declined to provide details when asked how the group, which is designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization, contacted the White House.
“They don’t want to fight anymore. They just don’t want to fight, and we will honor that, and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their word that they will not be blowing up ships anymore,” Mr. Trump said during a White House meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Uncertainty surrounds the development, however, as Israel’s military has shown no sign of halting its own campaign of strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in retaliation for attacks the militants have launched against Israel in recent months. A U.S. official said the Trump administration did not notify Israel of its agreement with the Houthis before Mr. Trump announced it. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Israel was irked by the unexpected news.
A second F/A-18 fighter jet has fallen overboard from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, where the warship has been an essential component of the U.S. bombing campaign against the Houthis. The fighter jet, which fell into the sea Tuesday after a failed landing attempt, was the second such incident in the past month.
The Pentagon has not released details, although a defense official familiar with Tuesday’s incident said the fighter jet’s pilot and its weapons systems officer were forced to eject. Both were later pulled from the sea by a rescue helicopter and sustained minor injuries.
The Truman has come under fire repeatedly from Houthi rockets since the U.S. began its bombing campaign earlier this year. Late last month, while making a hard turn to avoid rocket fire from Houthi militants, another F/A-18 jet careened overboard. Each jet costs the Navy more than $60 million to produce.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stressed in remarks at the annual Special Operations Forces Week gathering that homeland defense is his No. 1 priority, and he gave a nod to the ambitious Golden Dome missile shield that Mr. Trump has pledged to build. The shield is intended to protect the U.S. from ballistic and hypersonic missile threats from China, Iran, North Korea, Russia and other adversaries.
“Golden Dome for America is a part of that,” Mr. Hegseth said, referring to the broader mission to safeguard the homeland. National Security Correspondent Ben Wolfgang is reporting from SOF Week in Tampa, Florida, where the secretary’s appearance Tuesday underscored the importance of the gathering this year, with special operations forces set to play a central role in the power competitions of the 21st century, particularly with an increasingly powerful and provocative China.
Elite special operations forces are a core component of the nation’s ability to project power abroad and protect itself at home, Mr. Hegseth said in a fiery speech as he decried the “wokeness and weakness” that he said is being eliminated from the military under Mr. Trump.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hopes that concession after concession can persuade Mr. Trump to “embrace a warmed-over version of [then-President] Obama’s Iran nuclear deal,” according to Clifford D. May, who warns that Tehran already wants “concessions in exchange for continuing to talk.”
Mr. May, a contributor to Threat Status and founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, writes that the Obama-era deal was “fatally flawed” and notes that “Mr. Trump called it ‘a horrible one-sided deal that should never, ever have been made.’”
“On ‘Meet the Press’ [last] Sunday, Mr. Trump reiterated what he wants: ‘Total dismantlement [of Tehran’s nuclear weapons program]. That’s all I would accept,’” writes Mr. May. “That means no uranium enrichment or reprocessing and a halt to the regime’s development of missiles that can deliver nuclear warheads to American cities.”
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