The proposed “Trump class” of next-generation American naval ships under development would fill gaps and add new capabilities beyond those offered by the current Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, according to Rear Adm. Derek Trinque, the U.S. Navy’s director of surface warfare. 

“We were approaching the limit to what we could add to the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer,” Adm. Trinque told an audience Tuesday at the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium in Arlington, Virginia. “We needed something newer and bigger that could have more power, accept more weapons and project more power.”

In remarks offering details on Mr. Trump’s Golden Fleet plan, Adm. Trinque also said the new battleships will be able to serve as part of an aircraft carrier strike group or their own surface action group. Mr. Trump has cast the “Golden Fleet” as a way to kick-start the nation’s shipbuilding sector. “We haven’t built a battleship since 1993,” the president said last month. “These cutting-edge vessels will be some of the most lethal surface warfare ships.”

It hasn’t happened yet, but regional experts say the defection of high-profile officials from within Iran’s ruling power structure, switching sides to join the protests, would be the kind of development that could tip the scales in favor of regime change.

Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, a Washington think tank, says such a situation could unfold if “folks inside the regime will say: ‘Look, we can’t do this again, because we’ve killed so many more now we’ve created so much hatred for ourselves … The external pressure is growing. The Israelis are not going to give up. The Americans are not going to give up. What we have to do is change course.’”

Washington Times Foreign Affairs Reporter Vaughn Cockayne reports it’s unclear what would come next, given that the decentralized nature of the protests and the fear of becoming a target for state violence have stymied the emergence of a singular protest leader in the Islamic republic. At the same time, there are figures in the Iranian diaspora who are likely to emerge, including Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah. There is also the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, an Albanian-based outfit categorized as a terrorist organization by the ruling regime in Tehran.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a speech Monday at SpaceX’s Starbase launch site at the southernmost tip of Texas that the Pentagon will be tearing down roadblocks obstructing the rapid development of artificial intelligence and building a new system focused on delivering capabilities to warfighters as quickly as possible.

The speech was part of the secretary’s “Arsenal of Freedom” speaking tour, a series of talks to major defense-industrial sectors around the country. In separate remarks Monday, Mr. Hegseth insisted to an audience at a Lockheed Martin fighter jet factory in Texas that the company’s F-35s need to be equipped with the most advanced technology.

The inclusion of a visit to SpaceX during Mr. Hegseth’s Texas speaking tour signals the Trump administration sees the Elon Musk-headed company as a key partner in defense. SpaceX is responsible for $4 billion worth of contracts with NASA and is among the largest companies permitted to launch sensitive satellite technology into space. Administration officials are reportedly working with SpaceX to restore internet access through its Starlink technology over Iran amid protests in the Middle East nation.

The scheduled April meeting between Mr. Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will present a chance for the two to “candidly discuss the South China Sea and Taiwan and ensure there are guardrails to prevent conflict,” Joseph R. DeTrani writes in a Times op-ed.

“Quiet and effective diplomacy is needed to address these issues, and the meeting could establish the working groups and processes necessary to ensure the two nations don’t stumble into conflict,” writes Mr. DeTrani, a former associate director of national intelligence and opinion contributor to Threat Status.

“Also important: the transnational issues that require the attention of the U.S. and China,” he writes. “This shouldn’t be too difficult, given the history of cooperation between them, primarily in the 1980s and 1990s. Indeed, it was China’s Deng Xiaoping who approved cooperation with the U.S. on the collection and sharing of intelligence on the Soviet Union.”

“The extraction of Mr. Maduro — indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2020 on charges of ‘narco-terrorism’ and other crimes — should not be confused with ‘regime change,’” writes Clifford D. May, a Threat Status opinion contributor, in a Times op-ed.

“For now, at least, Mr. Maduro’s henchmen, the pillars of his regime, remain in power,” writes Mr. May, who offers deep-dive background on interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, a “stalwart Maduro loyalist,” and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who is “believed to closely cooperate with Tren de Aragua.

“I presume that any one of them would be thrilled to slit Mr. Trump’s throat with a butter knife,” writes Mr. May, the founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “At this moment, however, they appear to view appeasement as the better part of valor.”

• Jan. 14-15 — Surface Navy Association National Symposium, Surface Navy Association

• Jan. 15 — The Future of U.S. Foreign Assistance, Center for a New American Security

• Jan. 15 — 10 Conflicts to Watch in 2026, Chatham House

• Jan. 20 — The Future of Biosafety: Confronting Gain-of-Function Research, The Heritage Foundation

• Jan. 21 — Artificial General Intelligence: America’s Next National Security Frontier, Institute of World Politics

• Jan. 21 — What Happens in Geostationary Orbit Doesn’t Stay There, Royal United Services Institute