The D Brief: Assassination in Iran; US strike in Iraq; Army seeks new missile; Boeing names next CEO; And a bit more.

A suspected Israeli attack inside Iran’s capital city of Tehran killed the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, during a trip Wednesday to mark the inauguration of Iran’s president. Haniyeh was filmed at that inauguration, which featured participants chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” Less than 12 hours later, Haniyeh was dead. 

Haniyeh, 62, had served as chief negotiator for the Iran-backed terrorist group, and his death propels that fraught process into greater uncertainty, and could further prolong Israel’s nearly 10-month war against Hamas in Gaza.  

The means of attack isn’t clear just yet, but the Middle East Institute’s Charles Lister described it as “some form of IED attack, targeting [Haniyeh] and his bodyguard.” Iranian Fars news agency described it as the result of a “projectile from the air” that struck at about 2 in the morning. 

The death of Haniyeh comes just hours after the Israeli air force took credit for the killing of a top Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in an apartment building in southern Beirut Tuesday evening (purported video here). Two children were also killed in the Israeli strike, which reportedly involved three rockets launched from a drone at around 7:40 p.m. local. More than 70 others were wounded in the attack, according to the Times of Israel. 

Shukr’s killing is seen as a reprisal for a recent Hezbollah rocket attack that killed nearly a dozen children and teenagers in northern Israel’s Golan Heights on Saturday. (Shukr was also wanted by the U.S. for his alleged “central role” in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. and 58 French military personnel along with six civilians.)

Who are the remaining top Hamas leaders? The BBC rolled up six of the group’s leading figures, including the deceased Ismail Haniyeh, in a useful feature published Wednesday. 

Pentagon reax: “I don’t think [widening regional] war is inevitable,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters traveling with him during a trip to the Pacific region Wednesday. “I think there’s always room and opportunities for diplomacy, and I’d like to see parties pursue those opportunities,” he said. “And certainly what we’ve seen along the border with Israel over time, that’s been a concern of ours.” But, he continued, “We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that we keep things from trying to get to a broader conflict throughout the region.”

By the way: All these relatively quick attacks and counter attacks will make U.S. troops in the region “low-hanging fruit for Iran’s proxies amid any incoming Hezbollah-Israel tit-for-tat escalation,” Lister predicted Tuesday, before Haniyeh was killed in Tehran. 

New: The U.S. military attacked Iran-backed militants in Iraq Tuesday evening, striking Kataib Hezbollah fighters in Babil after U.S. officials say the militants were about to attack U.S. forces with a one-way attack drone, al-Monitor reports. The U.S. strike was the first of its kind since February, according to Reuters. 

Baghdad reax: “The coalition forces have committed a heinous crime and blatant aggression,” a spokesman for the Iraqi military said on social media. “Such serious and uncalculated transgressions can significantly undermine all efforts, mechanisms, and frameworks of joint security work to combat ISIS…[and] risk dragging Iraq and the entire region into dangerous conflicts and wars. Therefore, we hold the coalition forces fully responsible for these consequences following this flagrant aggression.”

Worth noting: Iraqi officials frequently speak or issue statements in this outraged tone when Iran-backed militias are attacked inside Iraq; but the U.S.-led coalition is still in demand, so Iraqi lawmakers have not yet expelled the coalition in the form of an actual, binding resolution (as opposed to the non-binding sort like what Iraq’s parliament passed in 2020 after the Trump administration assassinated the chief of Iran’s paramilitary forces outside the Baghdad airport).

About those ongoing U.S.-Iraq talks: “Iraq wants troops from the U.S.-led military coalition to begin withdrawing in September and to formally end the coalition’s work by September 2025, Iraqi sources have said, with some U.S. forces likely to remain in a newly negotiated advisory capacity,” Reuters writes. More, here. And the New York Times has much more on the background and history of Haniyeh, here. 

---

Welcome to this Wednesday edition of The D Brief, brought to you by Ben Watson with Bradley Peniston. Share your newsletter tips, reading recommendations, or feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1991, the U.S. and Soviet Union signed the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty to reduce both countries’ nuclear weapons stockpiles. “Reductions of nuclear weapons were completed by the deadline of December 5, 2001, seven years after entry into force, and maintained for another eight years,” when the treaty expired, the Arms Control Association recounts. 

Around the Defense Department

The Air Force is pausing its 6th-gen fighter program for “a few months” to scrutinize its design and operational concepts, Secretary Frank Kendall said Tuesday at the Air Force’s Life Cycle Industry Days conference. That’s likely to delay the service’s plans to pick a builder this year.

The Next Generation Air Dominance program will eventually move ahead, Kendall said, adding that it will likely be designed for a human pilot. D1’s Audrey Decker reports from Dayton, Ohio, here.

New: The Army wants a more powerful missile for its new medium-range air-defense system. Give me AMRAAM capability in the Sidewinder-firing  Indirect Fire Protection Capability System, Brig. Gen. Frank Lozano, who leads the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space, said at an event held by think tank CSIS. D1’s Sam Skove reports, here.

Update: A 24-year-old U.S. Army intel analyst just changed his plea to guilty four months after he was arrested in a six-count indictment that includes conspiring to disclose secrets and bribery of a public official. 

An unnamed co-conspirator, allegedly based in Hong Kong, asked the U.S. analyst for “documents detailing lessons that could be learned from Russia’s war with Ukraine and how those lessons could be applied to the U.S. helping Taiwan in the event of an attack,” the Associated Press reports. The soldier received at least 14 payments totaling $42,000 for passing along various documents, according to the indictment. More, here. 

Additional reading: 

There’s a new problem with Boeing’s KC-46 tanker. The good news is the Air Force says fuel-pump vibrations are easier to fix than other deficiencies. D1’s Decker has more, here.

But it’s more bad news for Boeing’s defense division, which lost $913 million in the second quarter, according to a company statement released ahead of its quarterly investors call today. That’s up from the division’s Q1 loss of $527 million, and represents the bulk of Boeing’s overall Q2 operating loss of $1.1 billion.

Boeing’s outgoing CEO: “Despite a challenging quarter, we are making substantial progress strengthening our quality management system and positioning our company for the future,” said Dave Calhoun, who is to step down at year’s end.

Boeing’s next CEO: It’ll be Kelly Ortberg, who was CEO of Rockwell Collins and retired from RTX in 2021, the company announced today. “This is Boeing’s best day in decades,” said Richard Aboulafia, the managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, a consulting firm.

And lastly: The U.S. says it will arm Ukraine’s F-16s with several advanced weapons, including AGM-88 HARM air-to-ground missiles, Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, small diameter bombs, advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, and AIM-9X short-range air-to-air missiles. The Wall Street Journal has more.  

Defense One