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News Roundup for January 30, 2026
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President Donald Trump's United States of America

Admiral Beez said:
Trump thinks a single aircraft carrier and three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers is a massive armada?
Click to expand...
One US carrier battle group is already nothing to laugh at if you are Iran. There may be a second one redeployed there if needed.
US has also been busy airlifting copious amounts of Patriot batteries to the middle east in the last 2 weeks. Open-source satellite images show they have beefed up air defenses all over their middle eastern bases with fresh Patriots, especially in Qatar. This is clear prep for missile strike retaliation from Iran.
Then there are all sorts of other assets they've repositioned there: a dozen F15's, Growlers, air refuelers, multirole aircraft from France, Germany, and UK.
Then there are US Air Force assets in Jordan.
Then there is the entire Israeli Air Force to tap into.
And that's before US deploys its strategic bombers to the theater right as they strike.

Here's a good overview:

 
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Full Metal Junkie said:
One US carrier battle group is already nothing to laugh at if you are Iran. There may be a second one redeployed there if needed.
US has also been busy airlifting copious amounts of Patriot batteries to the middle east in the last 2 weeks. Open-source satellite images show they have beefed up air defenses all over their middle eastern bases with fresh Patriots, especially in Qatar. This is clear prep for missile strike retaliation from Iran.
Then there is all sorts of other assets they've repositioned there: a dozen F15's, Growlers, air refuelers, multirole aircraft from France, Germany, and UK.
Then there are US Air Force assets in Jordan.
Then there is the entire Israeli Air Force to tap into.
And that's before US deploys its strategic bombers to the theater right before they strike.
Click to expand...

From military experience, a few points.

First think of all they have to do:

1) Degrade regime leadership and command and control
2) Secure nuclear and special material so that it doesn't leak to non-state actors.
3) Stop or minimize attacks on Iran's neighbours. Notably targets that could have an economic impact. Cities like Dubai. Saudi oil fields. Or even just oil tankers in the gulf hit with anti-ship cruise missiles. Etc.

All of this has to be done simultaneously while the Iranian people are actually taking down the regime. Which is already problematic because the 40 000 Iranians most likely to fight are dead. And if any of those three lines of task fail, the US will have big problems on their hands.

Think of what $120 oil does to the global economy if the Saudi oil fields are hit. Or what happens if some Al Qaed'esque group gets to a bombed Iranian nuke site before American special forces. Minimizing those risks and pulling off those three lines of tasks requires a lot of assets. And since countries in the region are skittish to give basing rights, it's that much worse. A portion of the fleet will be operating from Europe and tanking multiple times.

They've also not had a lot of prep time. They just moved in the Rivet Joint. In the case of Venezuela the RJ was flying for weeks off the coast. This is essential to develop an Electronic Order of Battle for the enemy and a pattern of life. Trump delaying this deployment added substantial risk. But now everyday they delay kicking off only makes the regime stronger.

So all of that has me questioning if this is truly a play for regime change in Iran. Or he wants to bluff big and get some kind of nuke deal and leave the Iranian people to their fate.
 
kEiThZ said:
From military experience, a few points.

First think of all they have to do:

1) Degrade regime leadership and command and control
2) Secure nuclear and special material so that it doesn't leak to non-state actors.
3) Stop or minimize attacks on Iran's neighbours. Notably targets that could have an economic impact. Cities like Dubai. Saudi oil fields. Or even just oil tankers in the gulf hit with anti-ship cruise missiles. Etc.

All of this has to be done simultaneously while the Iranian people are actually taking down the regime. Which is already problematic because the 40 000 Iranians most likely to fight are dead. And if any of those three lines of task fail, the US will have big problems on their hands.

Think of what $120 oil does to the global economy if the Saudi oil fields are hit. Or what happens if some Al Qaed'esque group gets to a bombed Iranian nuke site before American special forces. Minimizing those risks and pulling off those three lines of tasks requires a lot of assets. And since countries in the region are skittish to give basing rights, it's that much worse. A portion of the fleet will be operating from Europe and tanking multiple times.

They've also not had a lot of prep time. They just moved in the Rivet Joint. In the case of Venezuela the RJ was flying for weeks off the coast. This is essential to develop an Electronic Order of Battle for the enemy and a pattern of life. Trump delaying this deployment added substantial risk. But now everyday they delay kicking off only makes the regime stronger.

So all of that has me questioning if this is truly a play for regime change in Iran. Or he wants to bluff big and get some kind of nuke deal and leave the Iranian people to their fate.
Click to expand...

I don't make predictions, I just look at the facts. So I don't know if this is just a pressure tactic or a preparation for an air assault campaign. I don't know what their plan is for securing strategic assets (or if they even have a plan). But what we know for sure is that they are certainly building up military presence in the region to at least have an option for a crushing air strike campaign.

Fresh round of air asset redeployment towards Iran.

F-35s:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2016905564391968827

more Growlers:
https://www.itamilradar.com/2026/01...gnaling-renewed-middle-east-deployment-cycle/
 
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel will help protect U.S. delegations at the Winter Olympics in Italy, a U.S. embassy source said on Tuesday, confirming local media reports and prompting anger among some Italian politicians.
ICE and Border Patrol agents have come under heavy criticism in the United States over their enforcement of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown after two U.S. citizens were shot dead in separate incidents this month in the state of Minnesota.
The embassy source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said ICE's Homeland Security Investigations division would back up the U.S. State Department's security service at ⁠the February 6-22 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

The HSI agents will not carry out any immigration ‍enforcement activity while in Italy ⁠but will rather aim to "mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations," the source said, without elaborating.
"All security operations remain under Italian authority," the source added.
HSI has been present at major sport events in both the U.S. and abroad in the past, including previous Olympic Games, as part of international partnerships related to human trafficking and drug trafficking, one former ⁠official said.
Spokespeople for ICE did not immediately respond to questions about the operation in Italy. A State Department spokesperson said that, as in past Olympics, multiple federal agencies would be helping with security, including HSI.

Italian politicians call for ICE to be banned​

Despite assurances that there is nothing unusual about the HSI deployment, Italian politicians criticized the involvement of ICE in next month's Games, highlighting how the image of the United States has been tarnished in recent months.
"It seems sheer idiocy to me," Maurizio Lupi, leader of a small centrist ⁠party in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's governing coalition, told la Repubblica daily.
The left-leaning mayor of Milan, one of the cities co-hosting the Olympics, called ICE "a militia that kills."
Speaking to RTL 102.5 radio, Giuseppe Sala said: "It's clear that they're not welcome in Milan, there's no doubt about it."
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called for a measured response. "We're not talking about the (ICE people) who were ‍out on the streets of Minneapolis... It's not as if the [Nazi] SS are arriving," he told reporters at a Holocaust memorial event.
While many ICE agents in the ‍U.S. have been detailed to ⁠support routine immigration enforcement, HSI's mission is to focus on transnational crime.

But Italia Viva, a centrist opposition party led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, said agents affiliated with ICE did not represent Italian values and should be barred entry.
The hard-left USB trade union said it would hold an "ICE OUT" rally in central Milan on Feb. 6, to coincide with the opening ceremony.
 
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Screenshot 2026-01-29 192700.png
 
And Trump has "truthed" (or whatever they call a post on his site) that all Canadian planes are recertified...

www.threads.com

Jon Ostrower (@jonostrower) on Threads

The team from @theaircurrent is seeking more information on this statement from the President. A massive amount of the U.S. fleet of mainline, regional, helicopter and military aircraft are "made in Canada."
www.threads.com www.threads.com

1000042664.jpg


Edit add photo of Trump's post
 
I thought once the FAA certifies an aircraft type that Transport Canada usually follows soon after. In January 2024 the FAA granted the Gulfstream 700 and 800 conditional airworthiness certifications granting limited time exemption from fuel icing rules until December of this year. If Transport Canada did not follow granting similar conditional certification in line with the FAA than this is idiocy in the extreme and the head of transport Canada should be fired because by denying Gulfstream certification for over two years has now put our entire aviation industry in Trump's cross hairs and once Trump latches onto something he does not let go. Aerospace is Canada's most important manufacturing industry and about the only manufacturing left once all the auto plants close down. I remember when Carney last met with Trump in the Oval Office Trump's commerce secretary blurted out "why are we making cars in Canada". I can just hear Howard Lutnick saying to Trump "why are we making planes in Canada?"

Was Carney aware that this was an irritant for Gulfstream? He needs to be asked that question because if he was then he should never have allowed it to get to this situation. In Trump's first term he put 300% tariffs on the Bombardier C-Series jet which doomed sales in the US and Bombardier was forced to sell the program to Airbus for $1.
 
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EBT said:
I thought once the FAA certifies an aircraft type that Transport Canada usually follows soon after. In January 2024 the FAA granted the Gulfstream 700 and 800 conditional airworthiness certifications granting limited time exemption from fuel icing rules until December of this year. If Transport Canada did not follow granting similar conditional certification in line with the FAA than this is idiocy in the extreme and the head of transport Canada should be fired because by denying Gulfstream certification for over two years has now put our entire aviation industry in Trump's cross hairs and once Trump latches onto something he does not let go. Aerospace is Canada's most important manufacturing industry and about the only manufacturing left once all the auto plants close down. I remember when Carney last met with Trump in the Oval Office Trump's commerce secretary blurted out "why are we making cars in Canada". I can just hear Howard Lutnick saying to Trump "why are we making planes in Canada?"

Was Carney aware that this was an irritant for Gulfstream? He needs to be asked that question because if he was then he should never have allowed it to get to this situation. In Trump's first term he put 300% tariffs on the Bombardier C-Series jet which doomed sales in the US and Bombardier was forced to sell the program to Airbus for $1.
Click to expand...
Each country's certification is separate and should be apolitical. It's absolutely not Carney's job to certify or order certification of a jet. (I don't know the history of this Gulfstream issue)
 
PL1 said:
Each country's certification is separate and should be apolitical. It's absolutely not Carney's job to certify or order certification of a jet. (I don't know the history of this Gulfstream issue)
Click to expand...
There is no good reason for Transport Canada not to follow the lead of the FAA which is the most trusted and respected aviation authority in the world. The FAA awarded Gulfstream conditional airworthiness certification for the Gulfstream G700 and G800 in January 2024 long before Trump became president, so this is not political. Transport Canada should have followed the FAA lead soon after just as the FAA does with Canadian aircraft first certified by Transport Canada. I don't know who made the decision to withhold certification, but they should be fired because it is obvious this was not going to turn out good for Canada.

To those who say "this is all about safety" I have trust in the FAA. In the past the FAA has not been reluctant to ground American made aircraft over safety concerns. I remember in 1989 when the FAA grounded all Douglas DC-10's after the crash of American Airlines Flight 191in Chicago. More recently I recall the grounding of all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft that lasted almost two years during which time Boeing could not make deliveries. And in the last few months the FAA grounded all MD-11 aircraft after a UPS jet crashed after the separation of the left engine on take-off eerily similar to American Airlines Flight 191 so if the FAA was OK granting Gulfstream this provisional certification it should have been good enough for Transport Canada. Thanks to some bureaucrat in Ottawa Canada has another big mess on our hands with Trump.
 
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