“We have no indication that anything has happened or will happen. But if it does, it will be met, obviously, with great force. We’ll have no choice,” Trump said before boarding Marine One. “We’ll see what happens. If they called, we would certainly negotiate. But that’s going to be up to them. I’d only want them to call if they’re ready. If they’re not ready, they don’t have to bother.”

Earlier in the day, Trump had tweeted: “The Fake News put out a typically false statement, without any knowledge that the United States was trying to set up a negotiation with Iran. This is a false report. … Iran will call us if and when they are ever ready. In the meantime, their economy continues to collapse – very sad for the Iranian people!“

‘CRAZY CONFUSED’ MESSAGES: In an interview with CNN, a senior Iranian official said Trump is “crazy” and his administration is “confused,” indicating Iran won’t be calling any time soon.

“In his mind, Trump thinks he has a gun to Iran’s head with sanctions and he is trying to shut down our economy,” Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s director of foreign affairs for the country’s parliament, told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen. “This is all in his imagination. Now he wants us to call him? This is a crazy president!”

GRAHAM ON BOARD: Sen. Lindsey Graham says he’s seen the intel and he’s convinced. “Just received a briefing from National Security Advisor Bolton about escalating tensions with Iran,” the South Carolina Republican tweeted yesterday morning. “It is clear that over the last several weeks Iran has attacked pipelines and ships of other nations and created threat streams against American interests in Iraq.”

COONS NOT BUYING IT: “I was able to see some printed materials late last week about Iran’s aggressive behavior in the region,” Sen. Chris Coons told CNN. “I will tell you I, frankly, learned nothing from that material that I didn’t learn from the news.”

Coons, who is backing former vice president Joe Biden’s presidential bid, accused Trump of “using Twitter to amp up the rhetoric,” increasing the potential for armed conflict. “He goes back and forth, back and forth. And as the world has seen, all it takes is a couple flattering comments, and he’ll reverse himself again.”

“This is unacceptable. Great powers can’t threaten or bluff,” the Delaware Democrat said.

Good Tuesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Kelly Jane Torrance (@kjtorrance). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.

HAPPENING TODAY: Today, the leaders of the three Freely Associated States are making the rounds in Washington, with visits to the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon.

As any schoolchild knows, the Pacific Freely Associated States include the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau — all islands once governed by the United States but now independent countries.

America has a “unique and special partnership” with the island nations dating back to World War II, a senior administration official told reporters in a conference call yesterday. “We have compacts of free association with those countries that are unlike any other documents between sovereign states,” the official said. “The compacts allow for the United States to provide for the security of the Freely Associated States, and it also allows the United States unrestricted access to their airspace and waters for defense purposes, and also gives the U.S. the ability to deny access to any other country to those waters.”

“President Trump is looking forward to discussing our shared security concerns, including countering the illegal and unregulated and unreported fishing; dealing with transnational crime and trafficking; and also working on the protection of all nations’ sovereignty as part of the free and open Indo-Pacific,” the official said.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan welcomes the three presidents, Tommy Remengesau of Palau, Hilda Heine of the Marshall Islands, and David Panuelo of Micronesia, at 10 a.m. before they head over to the State Department for lunch with Pompeo.

FAILURE TO LAUNCH: The House Appropriations Committee released its report of the markup of the FY 2020 defense budget, and it signals a fight over President Trump’s pet project, the creation of a “separate but equal” Space Force.

“While the Committee appreciates the intent of the proposal, the plan leaves many unanswered questions and lacks important details and supporting analysis to justify the proposed size, scope, cost, roles, and authorities for the new military service,” the report says, noting that the Pentagon can make space a higher priority without creating a new military service.

The committee, controlled by Democrats, said it “is not persuaded that the specific plan proposed justifies the additional overhead cost and disruption” and therefore “does not fully fund the request to establish the proposed Space Force.”

CLARENCE THOMAS REBUKES FELLOW JUSTICES: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas chided his colleagues yesterday for declining to hear a case challenging a rule that blocks service members from suing the government for medical malpractice, known as the Feres doctrine. A Coast Guard veteran filed a petition last year for the high court to hear his case after his wife bled to death in 2014 at Naval Hospital Bremerton in Washington state after giving birth.

“Such unfortunate repercussions — denial of relief to military personnel and distortions of other areas of law to compensate — will continue to ripple through our jurisprudence as long as the court refuses to consider Feres,” Thomas wrote in a dissent. Thomas also argued that the case establishing the Feres doctrine “was wrongly decided and heartily deserves the widespread, almost universal criticism it has received.”

BEHIND THE PARDON DEBATE: The Daily Beast reports that President Trump’s consideration of pardons for U.S. service members accused or convicted of war crimes is in large part due to lobbying by two people who have the president’s ear: Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth and Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., both combat veterans who have taken up the case of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL platoon leader set to stand trial next week on charges of shooting civilians, including a schoolgirl, and knifing to death a captured ISIS fighter.

“According to three people with knowledge of the situation, Hegseth had multiple private conversations on the topic with President Trump over the past four-and-a-half months, with Gallagher’s case among those he pushed,” the report said. “The Fox & Friends host repeatedly told Trump that the process had been ‘very unfair’ to Gallagher. … Hegseth pushed the president not only to publicly help Gallagher, but since at least March has specifically advised Trump to pardon him and the other men,” according to unnamed sources.

While Hegseth didn’t respond to the publication’s requests for comment, he did tweet out the story last night, with the hashtags “#FreeEddie #FreeMatt #FreeClint.”

FMR CMDR: PARDONS ‘IMMORAL’: The former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe warns that while Trump has the legal authority to issue pardons, “they are also immoral and anathema to military discipline, unit cohesion, and our forces’ professionalism.”

“If applied as reported, the pardons would damage the way the US military is perceived by our allies and partners around the world and give credence and reinforcement to our enemies. They would cause even more damage to civil-military relations in our republic and send a very bad message to all those who serve,’ writes retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling in an opinion piece for CNN, where he is a national security analyst.

And Waitman Wade Beorn, a Holocaust and genocide studies historian, weighed in with an op-ed in the Washington Post headlined “I led a platoon in Iraq. Trump is wrong to pardon war criminals.”

“When Trump champions war criminals as brave patriots who are simply victims of political correctness, he seems to push for a climate that condones unethical and criminal behavior. He appears to write off war crimes as the cost of doing business,” writes the West Point graduate.

“Compared with our opponents in the modern age, we have taken much more care to prosecute warfare in accordance with the laws of war. We have systems of military education that highlight our values and the law of armed conflict. And we have a military justice system that, while not perfect, prosecutes and condemns those service members who commit atrocities. In short, we have a foundation of military ethics that our combat leaders can stand on,” Beorn argues.

“Trump’s posture endangers our deployed men and women by betraying the trust of host nations that we will prosecute those rare individuals who commit crimes against their people.”

The Rundown

AP: Yemen rebels say their drone hit arms depot at Saudi airport

Wall Street Journal: Iran Says It Is Poised to Exceed Limits on Nuclear Stockpile

USNI News: Lincoln Strike Group and Kearsarge ARG Exercise Together Outside Persian Gulf

Daily Express: Iran threat: UK special forces join US strike group in Persian Gulf as tensions mount

AP: US aircraft carrier seen as barometer of tensions with Iran

Foreign Affairs: A Path to War With Iran

Washington Post: Entertainer elected to lead Ukraine starts with some serious messaging

Air Force Magazine: House Appropriators Scrutinize Air Force Fighter Plans

Bloomberg: F-35 Spare Parts Funding at Risk as Pentagon Seeks Data Rights

Popular Mechanics: China Now Has More Warships Than the U.S.

Reuters: Venezuela Opposition’s Envoy To U.S. Meets Pentagon, State Department Officials

AP: Hifter’s rule brings security to eastern Libya, at a cost

Military Times: Younger troops would be barred from buying tobacco products under new plan

Talk Media News: Pentagon offers up its version of ‘the check is in the mail’

Calendar

TUESDAY | MAY 21

8:05 a.m. 300 First St. S.E. Air Force Association discussion with Air National Guard Director Lt. Gen. Scott Rice. www.afa.org

10:30 a.m. 2359 Rayburn. House Appropriations Committee Markup of FY 2020 Defense Appropriations Bill. appropriations.house.gov

2:30 p.m. Hangar 3, Joint Base Andrews. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein presides over farewell for Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson.

2 p.m. 2118 Rayburn. House Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee on Military Personnel, and Veteran’s Affairs Committee joint hearing on “Military and Veteran Suicide: Understanding the Problem and Preparing for the Future.” Witnesses: Elizabeth Van Winkle, Department of Defense; Navy Capt. Mike Colston, M.D., director, mental health policy and oversight; Keita Franklin, national director of suicide prevention, Department of Veterans Affairs; and Michael Fischer, chief readjustment counseling officer, Department of Veterans Affairs.

2:45 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Hudson Institute discussion: “Ukraine’s Uncertain Future.” Speakers: State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker and Ben Judah, research fellow at Hudson. www.hudson.org

WEDNESDAY | MAY 22

9 a.m. 999 Ninth St. N.W. Center for American Progress 2019 Ideas Conference. Speakers include: Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.; Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan.; Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif.; Gov. Michelle Grisham, D-N.M.; Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, D-Wis.; former U.N. ambassador and national security adviser Susan Rice; and former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams. capideas.org

9 a.m. 4477 Aquia Creek Ln., Fairfax. George Mason University and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association hold the 2019 Critical Issues in Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) Symposium. Speakers include: David Sanger, author of The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age; Paul “Rusty” Thomas, program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Tactical Technology Office; and Oki Mek, chief product officer at the Health and Human Services Department’s Division of Acquisition. www.afcea.org/event

10 a.m. 2172 Rayburn. House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on “Searching for Solutions in Syria: The Trump Administration’s Strategy.” Witness: James Jeffrey, special representative for Syria engagement and special envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in the State Department. foreignaffairs.house.gov

10:15 a.m. Senate Foreign Relations Committee CLOSED hearing on “The Reconciliation Process in Afghanistan.” Witness: Zalmay Khalilzad, special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation in the State Department. foreign.senate.gov

2 p.m. 2167 Rayburn. House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee hearing on “Review of FY2020 Budget for the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Programs.” transportation.house.gov

2:45 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Hudson Institute discussion: “Under Pressure: The Trajectory of U.S.-Turkish Relations.” Speakers include: Svante Cornell, director of the American Foreign Policy Council’s Central Asia-Caucasus Institute; Alan Makovsky, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress; Lisel Hintz, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies; and Blaise Misztal, fellow at Hudson. www.hudson.org

THURSDAY | MAY 23

9 a.m. Pentagon Briefing Room. “Change of Office Ceremony” for Rear Adm. Charles W. Brown, who takes over as U.S. Navy Chief of Information, or CHINFO.

3 p.m. 51 Louisiana Ave N.W. The National Security Institute and the Federalist Society co-host a symposium examining two questions regarding Syria policy: “Does Congress Need to Weigh In?” and “Stay In, Get Out, or Triple Down?” Speakers include: Jennifer Daskal, associate professor of law at American University; retired Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap, executive director, Center on Law, Ethics and National Security; Jeremy Rabkin, professor of law, George Mason University; Norm Roule, former national intelligence manager for the Iran office of the DNI; and Dana Stroul, the Washington Institute. nationalsecurity.gmu.edu

FRIDAY | MAY 24

11 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Avenue N.E. Heritage Foundation event: How Actual F-35A Pilots Assess the Aircraft.” Featuring JV Venable, senior research fellow for defense policy, and Thomas Spoehr, director of the Center for National Defense. Livestreamed at www.heritage.org.

MONDAY | MAY 27

All day. Memorial Day federal holiday. Daily on Defense will not be published on this day as America honors the memory of those who have given their lives fighting the nation’s wars.

THURSDAY | MAY 30

1:30 p.m. 1152 15th Street N.W. Center for a New American Security “Fireside Chat” on the FY 2020 defense budget with David Norquist, performing the duties of the deputy secretary of defense. Moderated by Susanna Blume, senior fellow and deputy director, CNAS’s Defense Program. www.cnas.org/events