1. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development says it faces a €500 million shortfall for emergency repairs to the Chernobyl reactor in Ukraine. It warned that international funding is needed to avert a potential environmental disaster after damage from Russian attacks. (Source: politico.eu)
2. Eurointelligence:
Recent threats from Iran to widen the geographical scope of their targets in the face of possible renewed US attacks could put Europe in the line of fire. The regime has been openly discussing strikes against American military bases in European countries and suggesting that another round of fighting could extend well beyond the Middle East.
The latest threats come after an order by supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Saturday that instructed the armed forces to be prepared to retaliate without geographical restrictions. He publicly reinforced this on Wednesday in his statement that renewed aggression would prompt a response with a much broader scale. Other political figures have followed his lead, with one parliamentarian explicitly threatening missile strikes against US bases in Germany and Italy if they were used to attack Iran, and another listing Britain, Germany, Italy, and Portugal as potential targets. The state-affiliated newspaper Hamshahri also published a map of Europe marked with red pins suggesting potential military targets. (Source: eurointelligence.com)
3. Bomb threats forced airliners to make unplanned landings across Europe on Thursday morning, the latest in a series of threats targeting flights in Europe. Aer Lingus flight EI402 from Dublin to Rome landed safely at Evreux airport, 100 kilometers west of Paris, after being diverted as a security precaution, the Irish airline said in a statement. Belgian media reported that an airliner forced to land at Brussels' Zaventem airport belonged to the Polish airline LOT. A Finnair plane from Helsinki was safely escorted to its scheduled landing in Rome by the Italian air force, a source close to the matter said. Bulgarian officials reported three aircraft making emergency landings because of bomb threats. Airplanes flying from Copenhagen and Madrid landed in Sofia, the interior minister said, according to broadcaster bTV. A third aircraft, from London, landed in Plovdiv, local media said. (Source: reuters.com)
4. Russia agreed to supply Iran with 90 launchers for the advanced guided missiles widely used by its forces in Ukraine, a sign of Moscow’s military support for Tehran despite the demands of its own sputtering war effort. A production schedule for 2024 and 2025 from a major Russian defence manufacturer, seen by the FT, details an export order for the helicopter-mounted launchers to a buyer identified by a code name used in Russian defence documents to refer to Iran. The order, which has not been previously reported, shows how the two allies have strengthened their military ties since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. (Source: ft.com)
5. After Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea and seized territory commanding the strategic Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint, the kingdom reached out to the group to see what it would take to arrive at a negotiated halt to the hostilities. The answer it got back: $51 billion. The Houthis said that was the sum needed to cover the cost of years of Saudi strikes and a long blockade, people briefed on the discussions said. Other figures have come up since, the people said, but the message was clear: The price of an exit would be in the tens of billions of dollars. For good measure, the Houthis would want the kingdom to officially recognize the militants as the rulers of Yemen, effectively accepting an Iranian-armed adversary on its southern border. (Source: wsj.com)
6. TWZ:
A new report from the think tank founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt quantifies the grim realities of the U.S. defense industrial base’s dependence on China for critical rare earth minerals. It also details which weapons systems might face the most impact if that delicate supply relationship breaks down.
