Footage showing the impact of one of the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip at city of Ashkelon in southern Israel earlier tonight, which damaged several vehicles and resulted in at least three light injuries.

Prior to tomorrow’s meeting in Washington between U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Polymarket’s betting market currently predicts that Israel will be the country that Trump will most likely lower tariffs on first, with Israel sitting at 67% while the other closest country Vietnam, only sits at 15%.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just landed at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, D.C. prior to his meeting tomorrow at the White House with U.S. President Trump.

A senior Israeli official told Channel 14 earlier today, that Israel is preparing for the possibility that Iran makes a “mistake” and once again attacks Israel with hundreds of ballistic missiles, stating that “cooperation between us and the Americans in defense is going to another level - it is the best ever” while adding “Trump's deadline for the Iranians is about a month away - everything is on the table.”

Brent and WTI Crude Oil is currently crashing as markets open in Asia, with some economics experts predicting that tomorrow could be one of the worst days for the world market since the Stock Market Crash in October of 1987, known as Black Monday.

The Israeli Air Force carried out a precision-airstrike earlier on the central Gaza Strip, targeting a Hamas rocket launcher that fired 10 projectiles last night against the cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon in the south of Israel, thankfully not resulting in any serious injuries.

The Australian, Japanese, South Korean as well as other Markets in Asia and Oceania are in freefall right now, with Japan’s TOPIX down over 12% while Australia’s ASX is down 6%.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump was asked by a reporter earlier on Air Force One about last week’s tariffs and their effect on the global market, and if he sees a “threshold” for pain the market is willing to tolerate, to which he responds, “I think your question is so stupid. I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”

Amidst the global economic turmoil stemming from U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s widespread reciprocal tariffs, China’s stock market is now down ~10% after open.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick tonight to talk tariffs. According to the prime minister’s office, the meeting did go well (Barak Ravid). No announcements on a change in the tariffs imposed on Israel as of yet.

Israel’s top decision-maker is set to meet with U.S. President Donald J. Trump on Monday, and the meeting with U.S. trade and commerce representatives prior to said meeting clearly indicates the urgency of the matter for Israeli leadership.
More to come.

The transfer of air-defense assets and other military equipment to the Middle East continues tonight, with a U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster lll (RCH1878) and a C-5M Super Galaxy (RCH8030) both originating from Osan Air Base in South Korea, crossing Europe heading towards U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). While another C-5M arrived from the U.S. at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, before likely continuing on to the Middle East. Since March 25th, over 120 U.S. military logistics flights have arrived the region, including C-17s, C-5s, C-130s, KC-135s, and KC-46s.

According to several officials familiar with the ongoing planning, U.S. President Donald J. Trump has instructed senior officials to begin planning for a “grand military parade” in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 14 2025, which happens to be the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army as well as 79th birthday of President Trump. Initial planning has the parade stretching nearly four miles, from the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia to the White House in Washington; just like the route of the military parade during the National Victory Celebration on June 8, 1991, which celebrated the end of the Gulf War.

It’s not currently known what the parade will entail or what it will include, though it’s believed that it will likely be similar to the military parade planned in Washington by President Trump and officials at the Pentagon back in 2018, which the President got the idea for when he saw France’s Bastille Day celebration in Paris in 2017. That parade would have included thousands of servicemembers and wheeled military vehicles from the Army and Marine Corps, though no tanks and other tracked vehicles due to the damage their treads could cause to roads, as well as a large aerial-display by the Air Force and Navy. However, that parade was eventually scrapped after military officials said it would cost nearly $100 million and cause damage to roadways and other infrastructure around Capitol Hill.

Several Iranian-backed militias and paramilitary groups operating in Iraq under the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), including Kata'ib Hezbollah, al-Nujaba, Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada and Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, the group accused of attacking the Tower 22 base in Jordan back in January of 2024, killing 3 U.S. Soldiers and injuring 47 others, are considering disarming in order to avoid strikes by the United States, according to a number of senior commanders and Iraqi officials who spoke to Reuters.

Reports of their disarmament come following several warnings issued privately over the last few months by the Trump Administration to the Iraqi Government, stating that unless Baghdad acted to disband Iranian-backed militias operating in Iraq, then the U.S. military could target them with airstrikes. “Trump is ready to take the war with us to worse levels, we know that, and we want to avoid such a bad scenario,” said a commander of Kataib Hezbollah, adding that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had given them their blessing to take whatever actions were deemed necessary to avoid being drawn into a conflict with the United States and Israel.

Some militia groups have already evacuated their headquarters and reduced their military presences in major cities across Iraq, including Mosul and Anbar, due to concerns about strikes orders by Trump Administration. Shahbndar, a Shi'ite politician, said the Iraqi Government had not yet finalized a deal with militant leaders, with disarmament still under discussion. Options being considered include turning the groups into political parties and integrating them fully into the Iraqi Armed Forces.

Following the launch of several rockets last night from the Gaza Strip towards Ashdod and Ashkelon in the south of Israel, Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz has instructed the IDF to “continue with and expand” its operations against Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza. Katz added, “For every piece of shrapnel that hits a resident of Ashkelon, the Hamas murderers will pay a very heavy price.”

Only hours before markets open in the United States, U.S. President Trump calls for the “slow moving Fed” to cut interest rates, while adding that “there is NO INFLATION.”

President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen has said that the EU has offered “zero-for-zero” tariffs on industrial goods to the U.S., saying they are “prepared to negotiate.” Should the U.S. be unwilling to negotiate on tariffs, the EU Commission’s president said that “countermeasures” would be employed. Both Ursula von der Leyen and other top EU officials have declined to expand on what said countermeasures would entail outside of the “gradual” implementation of them.

However, other nations, most notably Vietnam, have reportedly offered such concessions and were shot down.

It should be noted that there is a noticeable lack of synchronization in the messaging coming from Trump administration officials and advisors on what nations need to do to avoid the new tariffs imposed.

According to Bloomberg editor Joe Weisenthal, the S&P 500 has just experienced its worst three-day performance since October 1987.

#HM #HMIntelligence

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has now announced that in retaliation to the Chinese retaliatory tariffs of 34% on U.S. goods, the U.S. will now impose an additional tariff of 50% on Chinese goods. China has until tomorrow, April 8, 2025, to rescind the tariffs, or the additional U.S. 50% tariffs will go into effect the next day, April 9, 2025.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff before his planned meeting with U.S. President Donald J. Trump (@BarakRavid).
The two decision-makers talked Gaza and negotiations surrounding the ongoing conflict in the local region.