As Iranians gathered in Tehran at government-organized street rallies to profess their willingness to die as martyrs for their country, Trump told reporters at the White House, “There seems to be a very good chance that they can work something out. If we can do that without bombing the hell out of them, I’d be very happy.”

TRUMP WOULD ACCEPT 20-YEAR URANIUM ENRICHMENT BAN FOR IRAN

BLAME THE NERVOUS ALLIES: In an afternoon post on Truth Social, Trump announced that he was “holding off on a planned military attack” that he said was scheduled for today at the request of the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

“Serious negotiations are now taking place that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America,” Trump said, while adding he has ordered the Pentagon to “be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.”

The three Gulf allies are worried that if Trump resumes bombing, they will bear the brunt of Iran’s response. “One U.S. official said there’d been ‘a unified message from Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh. It was along the lines of ‘give negotiations a chance because if you hit Iran, we will all pay the price for it.’” reported Axios’s Barak David. “A second source with knowledge said Trump told some of his hawkish political allies the three Arab leaders told him ‘they don’t want their oil and energy facilities blown up’ due to Iranian retaliation.”

“I won’t predict what Donald Trump is going to do, but he did say that he’s going to be meeting with his national security team in the Situation Room,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), a member of the Intelligence committees, said on CNN. “We also know what appears to be the response to the latest from Iran on a proposed deal, which seems like, according to reports, right, more words and not a lot of substantive action on their nuclear program.”

WHAT’S TRUMP’S NEXT MOVE IN IRAN?

TRUMP: THE FAKE NEWS WON’T ADMIT WE WON: Trump continued to rail against any media reports that suggested that war is not going as planned and that even harder hardliners now lead Iran. 

In a rant on Truth Social, Trump complained that even “if their entire Military walks out of Tehran, weapons dropped and hands held high, each shouting ‘I surrender, I surrender’ while wildly waving the representative White Flag, and if their entire remaining Leadership signs all necessary ‘Documents of Surrender,’ and admit their defeat to the great power and force of the magnificent U.S.A., The Failing New York Times, The China Street Journal (WSJ!), Corrupt and now Irrelevant CNN, and all other members of the Fake News Media, will headline that Iran had a Masterful and Brilliant Victory.”

But it’s not just the news media that are skeptical of Trump’s ability to wrap up the war on his terms. Retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, Trump’s very first, albeit short-lived, national security adviser, posted on X his opinion that “It is now high time for America to extract ourselves from this very messy situation.”

“Declare Victory and Come Home!” Flynn said, writing that it “has become painfully obvious and more clear by the day,” that freedom fighters inside of Iran must step up to settle the internal situation themselves.

“Now is that moment to accept reality and find an exit,” Flynn wrote. “As I’ve said many times, you may not want war, but war wants you, and this current situation is precisely what I mean. Once you get sucked into the war vortex and those around you are saying we can win with just one more of this or a little more of that, are not facing the reality of the consequences of more war nor the sentiment of the American people.”

HEY AMERICA, WHAT PART OF ‘WE’RE WINNING,’ DON’T YOU GET?

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 Christopher Tremoglie. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. 

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSE

HAPPENING TODAY: EPIC FURY COMMANDER ON THE HILL: U.S. Central Commander Adm. Brad Cooper, who is overseeing the war in Iran, will face some tough questioning this morning when he testifies before the House Armed Services Committee on “security challenges” in the Greater Middle East at 10 a.m. Appearing with him will be U.S. Africa Commander Gen. Dagvin Anderson and Daniel Zimmerman, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs.

That’s just the first of three hearings today featuring senior Pentagon officials scheduled for this morning. At 10:30 a.m., Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and acting Army Chief Gen. Christopher LaNeve will testify on the Army budget before the Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee.

And at 11 a.m. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith testify on the Navy’s budget for the next fiscal year. 

MILITARY LEADERS SAY IRAN WAR COSTS COULD LEAD TO CUTS WITHOUT QUICK SUPPLEMENTAL

ZELENSKY: RUSSIA IN A WORLD OF HURT: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims his intelligence services have obtained internal Russian documents that show losses from the war much greater than they are admitting to the world and to the Russian people.

“Importantly, this is specifically a Russian internal assessment — one they are trying to conceal,” Zelensky posted on X. “The first major indicator is a reduction in active oil wells,” Zelensky said, noting that a single Russian oil company has already been forced to shut down around 400 wells.

“Given the specifics of Russian oil production, these are significant losses, as restarting wells in Russia is far more difficult than in other oil-producing countries,” Zelensky said, claiming the documents show an overall reduction in oil refining of at least 10% in the first few months of the year.

“The data on the banking crisis in Russia is also quite convincing: 11 financial institutions are preparing for full liquidation due to problems that cannot be resolved by other means, while another eight banks have accumulated critical issues that cannot be addressed without external resources,” Zelensky wrote. “This year’s federal budget deficit figures also look encouraging for us, standing at almost $80 billion by the fifth month of this year, alongside the bankruptcy of a significant number of Russian regional budgets.”

“We see that our Ukrainian long-range sanctions are truly effective, and we will continue to scale up this line of our active actions,” Zelensky said.

“Ukraine’s May 16 to 17 strike series proved that Russia is unable to effectively defend the Russian capital, a weakness that generated significant frustration in the Russian ultranationalist information space,” the Institute for the Study of War noted in a recent assessment. 

“Ukraine’s new domestically produced guided glide bomb will likely allow Ukrainian forces to expand their battlefield air interdiction campaign against Russian forces and assets in the near and operational rear,” the ISW said in a later assessment. 

UKRAINE TURNS UP THE HEAT ON MOSCOW

IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED: The New York Times is suing the Pentagon again, over press restrictions that overturned decades of precedent that allowed reporters covering the building to walk the halls and interact freely with military and civilian officials.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, argues the policy violates the First Amendment by requiring journalists to have an official escort at all times when visiting the Pentagon, which it said is “unconstitutional because it imposes unreasonable burdens on reporters.”

Nonsense, said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.

“The latest filing by the New York Times, while dressed up to look like a constitutional challenge, is nothing more than an attempt to remove the barriers to them getting their hands on classified information,” Parnell said in a post on X. “They want to roam the halls of the Pentagon freely and without an escort – a privilege that they do not have in any other federal building. The Department’s policy is completely lawful and narrowly designed to protect national security information from unlawful criminal disclosure.”

“No evidence ever has been presented of reporters obtaining classified information while roaming the halls of the Pentagon,” Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe posted on X. “Those halls, I would add, are unclassified spaces routinely visited by tourists, foreign military personnel, etc. Classified spaces at the Pentagon are locked — as one would expect.”

READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

THE RUNDOWN: 

Washington Examiner: Trump says ‘scheduled attack of Iran’ has been postponed at request of Saudi and UAE

Washington Examiner: Trump again vows to annihilate Iran if no deal reached: ‘Won’t be anything left’

Washington Examiner: Trump would accept 20-year uranium enrichment ban for Iran

Washington Examiner: Military leaders say Iran war costs could lead to cuts without quick supplemental

Washington Examiner: ‘We’re not happy’: Mike Rogers frustrated with canceled Poland deployment without committee consultation

Washington Examiner: US pauses participation in long-standing defense board with Canada

Washington Examiner: Trump would accept 20-year uranium enrichment ban for Iran

Washington Examiner: Iran’s capabilities ‘significantly degraded’ but still a threat to Strait of Hormuz

Washington Examiner: ‘Private citizen’ Hegseth stumps for Thomas Massie opponent Ed Gallrein ahead of primary

Washington Examiner: US has ‘flipped the cost curve’ in countering Iranian drones: Adm. Brad Cooper

Washington Examiner: Finland has ‘exactly the same position’ as Trump on NATO failures but pleads not to let Russia, China divide the West

Washington Examiner: DHS ditches Noem’s immigrant detention plans as Mullin eyes less ‘flashy’ direction

Washington Examiner: DEA warns fentanyl in US has become ‘more unpredictable and lethal’

Washington Examiner: All four pilots safe after ejecting from two F-18s that collided at air show

Washington Examiner: Trump vents at Thune over ballroom security funding setback

Washington Examiner: Ukraine turns up the heat on Moscow

Washington Examiner: Opinion: Ratcliffe and Rubio must force Cuba to admit Havana Syndrome truth

Washington Examiner: Opinion: Angela Merkel for Ukraine war mediator? Forget it

Wall Street Journal: Russia’s War Is Going Badly—on the Ground and in the Air

Business Insider: Ukraine Revealed Its First Glide Bomb, the Vyrivniuvach

AP: Trump’s tough-talk foreign policy is hitting a wall with Iran as it grips Strait of Hormuz

Bloomberg: Defense Watchdog Will Probe US Attacks on Boats in the Caribbean

New York Times: New York Times Sues Pentagon for a Second Time

The Economist: America’s submarine dominance is under threat

Breaking Defense: Multiyear Buys for F-35, F-15EX? Sen. Budd Hopeful Airpower bills added to NDAA

The War Zones: Two-Seat Variant of Russia’s Su-57 Felon Fighter Materializes

SpaceNews: Inside Golden Dome’s Push to Court Commercial Tech Firms and Investors

Air & Space Forces Magazine: Space Force Picks Northrop to Build Enhanced Jam-Resistent SATCOM Prototype

DefenseScoop: ‘Collaborative Autonomy’ Development Not Moving Fast Enough for SOCOM

Task & Purpose: SOCOM Wants to Move Fast on New Tech: ‘We’re Not Building Aircraft Carriers Here’

Air & Space Forces Magazine: New Air-to-Air Missile Photographed in Testing at Eglin

Defense News: US Air Force Looks to Convert Offshore Oil Rigs into Rocket Recovery Platforms

Air & Space Forces Magazine: Two Navy EA-18G Growlers Collide at Air Force Base Air Show

Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Raises Bar for Religious Waiver Requests, Reduces Chaplains’ Input

THE CALENDAR: 

TUESDAY | MAY 19 

9:30 a.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “European Strength and Transatlantic Ties: Shaping the Next Chapter,” with Jill Dougherty, adjunct professor, Georgetown University; Carrie Filipetti, executive director, Vandenberg Coalition; Lukasz Pawlowski, deputy director, Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of Strategy; and former Polish Ambassador to the U.S. Marek Magierowski, Atlantic Council nonresident senior fellow https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/warsaw-week-2026/

10 a.m. 2118 Rayburn —  House Armed Services Committee hearing: “U.S. Military Posture and National Security Challenges in the Greater Middle East and Africa,” with testimony from Gen. Dagvin Anderson, commander, U.S. Africa Command; Adm. Brad Cooper, commander, U.S. Central Command; and Daniel Zimmerman, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs http://www.armedservices.house.gov

10:30 a.m. 192 Dirksen — Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee hearing: “A Review of the President’s FY2027 Budget Request for the Army,” with testimony from Army Secretary Dan Driscoll; and Gen. Christopher LaNeve, acting chief of staff of the Army http://appropriations.senate.gov

11 a.m. G-50 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing: “The Posture of the Department of the Navy in review of the Defense Authorization Request for FY2027 and the Future Years Defense Program,” with testimony from Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith; Adm. Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations; and actingsSecretary of the Navy Hung Cao http://www.armed-services.senate.gov

11 a.m. 1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW — Cato Institute forum: “Should the U.S. Withdraw Troops from Germany?” with Liana Fix, senior fellow for Europe, Council on Foreign Relations; Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis, Defense Priorities; Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at Cato; and Katherine Thompson, senior fellow of defense and foreign policy studies at Cato https://www.cato.org/events/should-united-states-withdraw-troops-germany

11 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “Cold Peace: Engaging DPRK to Reduce Risk and Threat,” with former State Department Special Representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Yun; Sydney Seiler, CSIS Korea chair; and Adam Farrar, CSIS nonresident senior associate https://www.csis.org/events/impossible-state-live-podcast-cold-peace

12 p.m. — Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft virtual discussion: “Europe and the Iran War,” with Thomas Fasbender, head of geopolitics at the Berliner Zeitung; James Crabtree, visiting fellow of the European Council on Foreign Relations; Molly O’Neal, non-resident fellow of the Quincy Institute; and Anatol Lieven, director, Quincy Institute’s Eurasia Program and chair in American diplomatic history at the Quincy Institute https://quincyinst.org/events/europe-and-the-iran-war/

2 p.m. 2200 Rayburn — House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Intelligence Subcommittee hearing: “25 Years After September 11 – Lessons Learned from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction,” with testimony from John Sopko, former special inspector general for Afghanistan Reconstruction; and Joseph Windrem, former director, Lessons Learned Program in the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction http://foreignaffairs.house.gov

3 p.m. 222 Russell — Senate Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee hearing: “The Science and Technology Priorities in Review of the Defense Authorization Request for FY2027 and the Future Years Defense Program,” with testimony from Emil Michael, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and chief technology officer; Chris Manning, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for research and technology; Dave Tremper, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, test and evaluation; and Janet Wolfson, associate deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for technology, engineering, and product support http://www.armed-services.senate.gov

3:30 p.m. —  Carnegie Endowment for International Peace virtual discussion: “Is Europe in Danger of Becoming a U.S. or China Colony?” with Noah Barkin, Rhodium Group senior fellow; Rosa Balfour, director of Carnegie Europe; and Anu Bradford, nonresident scholar, the CEIP Europe Program https://carnegieendowment.org/europe/events