The UK Ministry of Defense has discovered that the Royal Navy’s new fleet of spy drones, being operated by elements of the Royal Marines since March, have been secretly transmitting information from the drone’s primary camera to China, according to an investigation from The Telegraph. Components of the camera on the K3 Scout, a 27-foot-long multirole uncrewed surface vessel (drone boat) built by Kraken Technology in the United Kingdom, were produced in and secretly transmitting data to a device in China. An investigation into the drones revealed that the cameras were transmitting “heartbeat communications” – data to confirm they were online and functioning normally – to an IP address in China.

According to a report by The Atlantic, citing a Republican official in Congress, one of the primary holds-ups in the Trump Administration’s decision to license the production of air defense launchers and missiles to Ukraine, particularly the PATRIOT Surface-to-Air Missile System, has been the system’s designers Raytheon and Lockheed. The official states that the two defense contractors “will officially frame their concerns around IP theft and tech transfer,” but “their real worry is that the Ukrainians will find a way to improve the PATRIOT and then produce them at scale faster and for much less money than what the existing production lines in the U.S. could do,” threatening manufacturers in the United States.

Iranian state media outlet IRNA is claiming that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) carried out a surprise attack on a U.S. Special Operations compound in the al-Tanf area of Syria, alleging that several helicopters and a radar system were destroyed and that "a large number of Americans" were killed or wounded. If confirmed, it would mark the first known Iranian attack on U.S. forces in Syria during the current war. It should be noted that IRNA serves as a state media outlet for the Iranian government, and casualty and battle damage claims made by Iranian state media and the IRGC have frequently proven to be exaggerated or inaccurate during past conflicts.

Following U.S. retaliatory strikes against select targets in Iran, both Bahrain and Kuwait are now dealing with renewed Iranian drone and missile attacks, with Kuwait’s General Staff saying just earlier that air defense systems are intercepting hostile targets.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced in a post this morning on TruthSocial that he will allow the Strait of Hormuz to remain open, with no further naval blockade, but that the ships will remain in place “should it be necessary to reinstitute the Blockade, which seems, at this point, highly unlikely.” The President adds that money and sanctions on Iran being released by the U.S. Treasury, estimated to initially be around $12 billion, will be “used for the purchase of food and medical supplies, exclusively from the United States, including Corn, Wheat, and Soybeans from our great American Farmers.”

Traffic visible via in the Strait of Hormuz shows at least 2 dozen vessels have transited over the last 24 hours, with all but one vessel visible using the Iranian traffic separation scheme. It is highly likely more transits occurred than are shown with vessels turning off their automatic identification system transponder for the transit.

The Voronezh Semiconductor Factory, which provides computer products to the Russian Defense Ministry for use in Kh-101 and Iskander-K cruise missiles as well as the Pantsir-S1 air-defense system, appears to have been entirely destroyed in this morning’s cruise missile attack by Ukraine.

Smoke pours from and fires burn inside the Voronezh Semiconductor Devices Factory–Assembly (VZPP-S) in Voronezh, Western Russia, following several earlier morning strikes Monday against the defense factory by cruise missiles launched from Ukraine.

The Head of Russian-occupied Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, announced earlier today that beginning at 9:00am, all fuel sales across the Crimean Peninsula, besides those used for government and military purposes, will be suspended indefinitely, following continued attacks against Russian fuel and logistics lines by Ukraine.

During an interview with an Italian broadcaster, U.S. President Donald J. Trump claimed that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni “begged” to take a photo with him during the G7 summit in France earlier this week. The comment has now sparked a new spate of political tension between the U.S. and Italy, as Prime Minister Meloni has publicly decried the comment, saying “neither I nor Italy ever beg.” Additionally, in response to the comment by President Trump, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that his planned trip to the U.S. between June 21-22 has now been canceled.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGC-N) has once again closed the Strait of Hormuz, warning all vessels to not attempt to cross, following Israel’s refusal to withdraw from and strikes this morning on Southern Lebanon, with the following message being broadcast on maritime frequencies near the Strait by the IRGC: “Since Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, the complete lifting of the naval blockade, and the withdrawal of American terrorist forces from the Persian Gulf and the region are among the main conditions of the agreement between Iran and the United States. The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until these conditions are met. All ships are requested, for the sake of their security and safety, not to approach the Strait of Hormuz. Any vessel that defies this directive will be targeted.”

President Donald J. Trump has posted to Truth Social announcing the death of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second in command of the Islamic State of the Levant (ISIS/ISIL) during an operation in the African country of Nigeria.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump told Fox News today and the press gaggle on Air Force One that China has committed to buying 200 of Boeing’s jets and additional General Electric engines. Per a comment by President Trump, disseminated by the New York Times, “It’s approximately 400, 450 engines, 200 planes and a promise of up to 750 if they do a good job.” While no commensurate statement has yet been made by official Chinese channels, per the New York Times, the sale would be the single biggest sale of Boeing aircraft to the East Asian country in a decade.

According to the New York Times, citing two Middle Eastern officials, the U.S. and Israel are preparing to possibly resume combat operations against Iran, possibly under a new name, as early as next week. Per the report, options for targeting include what one official called more aggressive strikes against both military and infrastructure targets. Additionally, another option on the table is to use special forces to go in and extract highly enriched uranium from inside Iran. However, per the report, this would need thousands of supporting troops and numerous other support elements to succeed and the risks of such an operation are extremely high.

Merchant vessel traffic in the area of the Strait of Hormuz continues to be largely absent. Over the last 24 hours, less than 5 vessels were visible transiting inbound or outbound and all were using the Iranian traffic separation scheme. A normal 24 hour period before the war with Iran saw approximately 130 ships transit per day moving 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas supply.

According to U.S. Central Command, since the start of the U.S. blockade of vessels traveling to and from Iranian ports, 75 vessels have been redirected and 4 vessels have been subjected to disabling fire to ensure compliance.

The second Baseline 10 and SPY-6 Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to enter the U.S. surface fleet, USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128) coming into Norfolk, Virginia today. Via: @AirAssets

Per a release from Deputy State Department Spokesperson Tommy Pigott, the next tranche of Israel-Lebanon talks will be held June 2-3. Additionally a security track of the talks will be held at the Pentagon on May 29, with delegations from both the Israeli and Lebanese militaries in attendance.

According to the U.S. Department of State, following the second and last day of intensive talks between the Israeli and Lebanese delegations, the nominal ceasefire has been extended another 45 days. (Photo is from the last round of talks)