The Gaza war has “allowed Iran to escape any punishment for its activities in the region,” according to former longtime U.S. intelligence official Norman Roule, who tells Threat Status that those activities include the backing of Houthi militants in Yemen, whose attacks in recent months “have touched global commerce.” In an appearance on the latest Threat Status podcast, Mr. Roule notes that Iran’s proxies in Iraq have also “touched U.S. lives, and Iran has paid no price for this.”

His comments came just before Iran attacked Israel with ballistic missiles and drones on Saturday. Fallout from the attack continues to swirl, with Israeli leaders vowing that it “will be met with a response” as Jerusalem appears poised to brush aside the Biden administration’s call for diplomacy and de-escalation. For their own part, Iranian officials have threatened “a much harsher response” than Saturday’s strikes if Israel “insists on harming Tehran’s interests.

The U.S. tech giant Microsoft is now playing a central role in great power AI wars between the United States and China, with a particular focus on influencing the future of artificial intelligence development and proliferation across the Middle East.

Microsoft said Tuesday that it will invest $1.5 billion in G42, a leading United Arab Emirates AI firm. The deal was first reported by The New York Times, which framed it as being “largely orchestrated by the Biden administration to box out China as Washington and Beijing battle over who will exercise technological influence in the Gulf region and beyond.”

The Microsoft-G42 deal, which follows U.S. efforts to blacklist Chinese companies seeking to acquire AI microchips for China’s military, reportedly features a requirement that G42 strip Chinese gear out of its own tech operations, including equipment from the Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

A group of GOP lawmakers attempted Monday to torpedo the re-upping of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Section 702 warrantless spying power with a vote to reconsider the bill’s passage but couldn’t muster the votes to prevail. The reauthorization now moves to the Senate, where it is likely to be passed before a Friday deadline, when a current extension of FISA 702 powers is set to expire.

The FISA developments come as internal strife remains heated among House Republicans over U.S. military aid for Ukraine. House Speaker Mike Johnson has put forward a proposal to pass separate measures this week to send aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. The Louisiana Republican brushed off concerns Monday about rank-and-file threats to his speakership over Ukraine funding. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, has been the most vocal about ejecting Mr. Johnson over allowing any vote on Ukraine aid.

Frustration is swirling on Capitol Hill following a top Defense Department official’s revelation that a suspected Iranian influence agent remained on the job at the Pentagon last week while U.S. national security officials were coordinating international efforts to defend Israel from a coming Iranian attack.

Sparks flew during a Senate hearing last week when Assistant Secretary of Defense Christopher Maier told lawmakers that Ariane Tabatabai remained at work in an office overseeing special operations and irregular warfare despite concerns from lawmakers over reports that she may have once operated at the behest of the Iranian regime. Suspicion among lawmakers about Ms. Tabatabai’s potential participation in a hidden effort directed by the Iranian regime first came to the fore last year when alleged details about her appeared in a trove of emails from Iranian diplomats spanning from 2003 to 2021 that were published by the U.K.-based Iran International and Semafor.

The publications reported that Ms. Tabatabai participated in a network of academics and researchers privately working with the Iranian foreign ministry. She also reportedly served between 2021 and 2022 as an adviser to Robert Malley, a Biden administration official subsequently put on leave from the State Department following the suspension of his security clearance. Threat Status conducted its own investigative reporting on alleged Iranian influence operations — and GOP outrage over them — in 2021.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago, fears have risen in neighboring Moldova that it could also be in Moscow’s crosshairs. Like Ukraine, Moldova is a former Soviet republic that has aligned itself with the West and aspires to join the European Union — and issues of corruption, media freedom and judicial independence are under a spotlight in the country.

The U.S. State Department reports that “Moldova has made countering corruption and building an accountable, independent justice system the core of the government’s work to strengthen democracy,” but that Moldova’s agenda “faces serious challenges from constrained budgets, limited human resources, malign influence by corrupt oligarchs and foreign governments, and negative effects of Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine.”

Analysts say Moldova may have marked a milestone this week with the establishment of the International Center for the Protection of Human Rights and Democracy. Founded by former European Court of Human Rights judge Stanislav Pavlovschi, the center could be poised to play a pivotal role in promoting and safeguarding the rule of law, democracy, and human rights. It’s holding an inaugural “Rule of Law Symposium” in New York on April 17-18 with the goal of addressing critical issues surrounding Moldova’s candidacy for European Union membership.

The scale of Iran’s ballistic missile and drone attack on Israel has helped change the conversation from criticism of Israel over its prosecution of the war against Hamas to one more focused on the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, writes columnist Tom Basile, who argues that the shift “provides Israel, the U.S., and the West a limited opportunity to deal a crushing blow to Iran, but it will take courage, which is in short supply.”

But, Mr. Basile argues, “now is not the time to attack Iran directly,” as the Islamic republic is a sovereign state and “must be treated in accordance with international law, even if its leaders refuse to abide by those conventions.” 

“It is, however, time to finally eliminate Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Iranian militias in Iraq, among other terrorists who have operated with impunity for decades,” he writes. “These organizations are soldiers for Iran, and the regime has bet correctly that the U.S. and the West wouldn’t have the stomach to take them out. It’s time to kill the killers.”