Report: Direct Talks Between US & Iran Could Happen This Week In Islamabad + President Trump Postpones Military Strikes on Iranian Power Plants & Infrastruture for Five-Day Period + IDF Destroys Fifth Bridge Over Litani River + FCAS & GCAP Update

For review:

1. The United States is reportedly planning a weeks-long operation to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, an Israeli report claimed Sunday

2. In a bombshell announcement, US President Donald Trump revealed early Monday that his administration was engaged in productive talks with Iran regarding a “complete and total resolution” of the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic.

Trump’s initial statement, made on social media, came nearly two days after he had threatened to bomb Iran’s power plants unless it opened the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. 

On Monday, Trump said he had postponed those strikes for five days to allow for more negotiations.

3. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday evening that any deal to end the hostilities between the US, Israel, and Iran would protect Jerusalem’s “vital interests,” in his first comments since US President Donald Trump announced earlier in the day that he was holding talks with Tehran about ending the war.

4. Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, is taking a more central role, as Israeli and US strikes pick off the Islamic Republic’s political leadership, making him a critical figure at a decisive moment.

5. The Israeli Air Force blew up a bridge over Lebanon’s Litani River on Sunday, accusing Hezbollah of using it to move operatives and weapons into the country’s south, as Israel warned that its fight against the Iran-backed terror group had “only just begun.”

6. In partnership with France, Germany says it is working to a deadline next month aimed at resolving a long-running industrial dispute over the troubled New Generation Fighter (NGF) element of Europe’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS). 

7. Polish Deputy State Assets Minister Konrad Gołota has announced that Poland is considering to join the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), aiming to involve its defense sector in the project to develop a sixth-generation fighter jet.

8. Lockheed Martin Australia is seeking to sustain the Australian Army’s fleet of High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) vehicles in-country.

The company is working with Rheinmetall Defence Australia to explore potential opportunities at the latter’s military vehicle production and sustainment facilities.

9. Direct talks between US and Iran could be held in Islamabad as soon as this week. A Pakistani official and a second source tell Reuters that direct talks on ending the war could be held in Islamabad as soon as this week.