Mr. Trump said during his joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that the U.S. could “take over” the Gaza Strip and remove Palestinians from the area without ruling out the possibility of sending American troops to the region, saying the coastal region could become “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

The statements sparked swift and sharp backlash from regional and world leaders from Saudi Arabia, to Germany and China, amid unanswered questions about where Gaza’s 2.2 million residents would be relocated and what would happen to those who don’t want to leave.

Mr. Trump decried Gaza as a “hellhole,” saying it was that way before Israel began bombing the enclave following the Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023. But he pledged that under the “a long-term ownership position” by the U.S., the region could be turned into an economic powerhouse that would rival some of the world’s greatest entertainment resorts.

Iran successfully tested a Russian-made long-range air defense system Wednesday, amid speculation on the nation’s defensive capabilities following Israel’s strike in October. Iranian state media reported that Iran’s domestically produced Bavar-373 system worked in tandem with the Russian-made S-300, shooting down a theoretical enemy drone firing missiles.

The exercise simulated a large-scale drone attack, with Iran’s defense systems relying on its visual monitoring systems to detect low-altitude targets. The tests come just months after Israel’s retaliatory October strikes, during which Israeli warplanes attacked Iranian missile facilities and other defensive sites near Tehran. Israel said at the time that the strikes had crippled Iran’s defensive capabilities.

Wednesday’s tests came a day after Mr. Trump held talks in Washington with Mr. Netanyahu, the first meeting between the two since the president took office.

Mr. Trump’s selection of Michael Ellis as deputy director at the CIA underscores the president’s desire to depoliticize America’s intelligence agencies and push more aggressive operations against U.S. adversaries.

Mr. Ellis served on the White House National Security Council during the president’s first term and was previously an aide to former Rep. Devin Nunes on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He has firsthand experience with the politics of plum positions inside America’s 18 intelligence agencies, having been installed as a top lawyer at the National Security Agency in the final year of the Trump presidency. He was sidelined upon President Biden taking office.

Mr. Ellis’ resume has sparked clashes with some of Mr. Trump’s detractors, including for his current role as general counsel of Rumble, the video platform rivaling YouTube that is popular among conservatives, and with Mr. Nunes, CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group. Mr. Trump said on his Truth Social platform Monday that Mr. Ellis will “help our fantastic CIA Director, John Ratcliffe, fix the CIA, and make it, once again, the Greatest Intelligence Agency in the World.” Mr. Ellis’ appointment does not require a Senate review and his arrival at the agency is expected soon.

Iraqi President Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid writes in an op-ed for The Washington Times that his country’s “foreign policy is based on dialogue and cooperation, not division,” asserting that “Iraq refuses to be a proxy in regional or global power struggles.”

“I am often asked about the influence of other countries in Iraq’s affairs, and I feel compelled to remind the world that Iraq is a sovereign and independent country,” writes Mr. Rashid. “Nobody tells us what to do. While we seek good relations with all our neighbors, including all neighboring countries, we do so based on mutual respect and noninterference.”

“Our foreign policy,” he writes, “is guided by our people’s interests and vision for regional stability, not external pressures or ambitions.”

Threat Status opinion contributor Clifford D. May homes in on the battle against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, writing that Mr. Trump should “do the job that President Biden was not bold enough to do” by “sink[ing] ships attempting to deliver weapons to the Houthis and — this is long overdue — put holes in the hull of the Iranian ship that has been providing the Houthis with targeting intelligence.”

“Moscow also has reportedly been providing targeting data. So, Moscow, too, should suffer serious consequences,” writes Mr. May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank. “If the Houthis are not soon defeated, the image of American weakness will be reinforced and — even more significantly — a precedent will be set.”

• Feb. 6 — Hearing: “Made in China 2025 — Who is Winning?” U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission

• Feb. 6 — Juche and North Korean Special Operations Forces, Institute of World Politics

• Feb. 6 — Biopower: Securing American Leadership in Biotechnology, Center for a New American Security

• Feb. 7 — China and Russia: Strategic Dynamics, MITRE

• Feb. 10 — The U.S.-India Partnership under Trump 2.0, Observer Research Foundation America

• Feb. 11 — China’s Power: Up for Debate 2025, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Feb. 11 —  Hearing: China’s Strategic Port Investments in the Western Hemisphere and the Implications for U.S. Homeland Security, House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security

• Feb. 11 — America in the Middle East: A Conversation with Ambassador David M. Satterfield, University of Texas at Austin’s Intelligence Studies Project

• Feb. 12 — U.S., South Korean, and Japanese Approaches to Economic Security, Brookings Institution