President Trump Postpones Plan for Iran Attack; Options Remain on the Table + US Announces Phase 2 of Gaza Peace Plan + Armor Not Dead: US Army Shows M1E3 Tank Prototype at Detroit Auto Show; A Working Platform to Test Ideas

For review:

1. US Forces seize 6th sanctioned tanker in Caribbean Sea.

2. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday.

3. US President Donald Trump reportedly informed Iran that he won’t be ordering a strike on the country over its deadly crackdown on protesters after the leaders of four Arab countries convinced him to hold off.

4. US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday announced the launch of phase two of President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the war in Gaza, including the establishment of a new technocratic Palestinian administration for the Strip.

5. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy responded Thursday to President Trump that Ukraine was stalling a peace deal in the country’s ongoing war with Russia, saying his country will “never be a stumbling block for peace.”

The President told Reuters this week that he believes Russian President Putin is “ready to make a deal,” but “Ukraine is less ready.” The President specifically named Zelensky as the person holding up the negotiations. 

6. Moscow agrees with U.S. President Donald Trump’s view that Ukraine is holding up a peace deal to end the almost four years of fighting, a Kremlin official said Thursday.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “Yes, we can agree with it, it’s indeed so.”

7. Ukrainian military resistance, with France alone providing two-thirds of Ukraine's intelligence capabilities in the war against Russia.

This was stated by French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, January 15, in his New Year's address to the army at the Istres airbase near Marseille, according to a Ukrinform correspondent.

8. The White House meeting to discuss Greenland lasted about an hour. Participating in the meeting were: U.S. Vice President JD Vance, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenland’s Vivian Motzfeldt.

Denmark’s Rasmussen described the conversation as “frank but constructive,” 

The U.S., Denmark and Greenland agreed to establish a high-level working group to try to determine a way forward for the self-governing Danish territory.

9. Armor Not Dead: US Army Shows M1E3 Tank Prototype at Detroit Auto Show; A Working Platform to Test Ideas.