| You're reading The Morning Dispatch, our flagship daily newsletter explaining all the news you need to know today in fewer than 10 minutes. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. | | Happy Wednesday! Attention legal eagles: On Friday, January 9, we will be live blogging the Supreme Court's possible announcement of opinions, beginning at 9:30 a.m. EST. | Quick Hits: Today's Top Stories | - White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday that the Trump administration was "discussing a range of options" for acquiring Greenland, describing the Danish territory as vital to U.S. national security. "Of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander-in-chief's disposal," she said. When asked yesterday if he approved the potential use of military action in Greenland, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters, "No, I don't think that's appropriate." News outlets reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a private meeting with congressional members, downplayed the likelihood of taking Greenland through military force, stating that the administration aimed to purchase the territory from the Danish government. European leaders—from France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Denmark—issued a joint statement, saying, "Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland." The governments of Canada and the Netherlands also backed the statement. A separate statement from the foreign ministers of Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark also affirmed "that matters concerning Denmark and Greenland are for Denmark and Greenland to decide alone." The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland have requested a meeting with Rubio.
- Protests continued across Iran yesterday, with Iranian security forces clashing with protesters who were staging a sit-in in Tehran's grand bazaar. Iran's currency reached a record low on Tuesday, with $1 now worth about 1.46 million rials. According to a network of Iran-oriented human rights groups, HRANA, 36 people have died in the protests, though news outlets have not yet independently verified that total. Iran's Defense Council—formed earlier this year in the aftermath of its 12-day war with Israel—warned that it would consider pre-emptive strikes if faced with "any aggression or continuation of hostile behavior," and castigated what it described as "interventionist statements." To learn more about the protests, read today's TMD piece.
- Ukrainian, U.S., European, and Canadian officials met in Paris on Tuesday where they committed to security guarantees for Ukraine should a peace deal come to fruition, under an agreement that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as "architecture of security." U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron announced they had agreed to station "military hubs" in Ukraine pending a peace arrangement with Russia, with Macron adding that France could deploy potentially thousands of soldiers to Ukraine. Officials said that any ceasefire monitoring would be led by the U.S., assisted by allies.
- Also in Paris: Following the second consecutive day of U.S.-mediated negotiations between Israeli and Syrian officials, the two countries agreed yesterday to establish a "joint fusion mechanism" to enable military de-escalation, diplomatic engagement, intelligence sharing, and economic ties. The Jerusalem Post reported that the deal also includes civilian cooperation in areas including medicine, energy, and agriculture. Israeli media outlets reported yesterday that Israel warned Syria that an intelligence report discovered that Iran was plotting to assassinate Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa. Fighting also broke out yesterday between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Syrian state-sanctioned media reported that the SDF killed a soldier and three civilians, including two women, though the SDF denied attacking civilians.
- President Donald Trump claimed yesterday evening that Venezuela's interim leadership would ship 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S, with oil prices falling following the announcement. Trump reportedlywill meet with American oil company executives at the White House as early as Thursday to discuss the handling of Venezuelan oil. In her first interview since the capture of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado praised Trump's actions and told Fox News host Sean Hannity that she intended to return to her country, adding that her movement would perform well in a prospective election. "What he has done, as I said, is historic, and it's a huge step toward a democratic transition," she said. She also described Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez—who, that same day, was procedurally sworn in as Maduro's successor—as "one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narco-trafficking." Venezuela's government issued a decree immediately following Maduro's seizure, ordering police to arrest anyone involved in the operation.
| Is This Iran's Tipping Point? | | Veiled Iranian protesters wave national flags, Palestinian flags, and flags of Lebanon's Hezbollah while participating in a pro-government rally in southern Tehran, Iran, on December 30, 2025. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | Tehran's Grand Bazaar, the city's commercial heart, has been shut down for more than a week, but it has hardly been quiet. On Tuesday, police in riot gear used tear gas and batons to disperse merchants who were protesting in front of their closed shops. Demonstrators clashed with police, chanting "dishonorable" and "freedom" as police attempted to herd them away. What began on December 28 as a strike by disgruntled electronics traders—angered by the plummeting value of the Iranian rial—has expanded into a nearly nationwide demonstration against the Iranian regime. Fruit and vegetable vendors joined the demonstrations on New Year's Day, chanting "Strike!" and "Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, my life for Iran!" in reference to Tehran's support for terrorist groups across the Middle East. Others across the country have shouted, "Down with the dictator! The republic has to go!" As of this morning, protests have taken place in 28 of Iran's 31 provinces, including Qom and Mashhad, generally considered bastions of regime loyalty. According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, at least 34 protesters have been killed and more than 2,076 have been arrested. Iran has weathered protests before—in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022—with hopeful observers asking each time whether this could be the end of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's reign. But the regime has never faced circumstances this dire: an economy it cannot fix and protesters it is unlikely to placate, and recent military humiliations by its enemies. "We should not expect the government to handle all of this alone," said President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday. "The government simply does not have that capacity." But, as with previous uprisings, no clear leader or strategy has emerged. Iranians demanding the regime's end may finally get what they want—or they may be outgunned and outwaited yet again. | | You are receiving the free, truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. To read the full newsletter—and unlock all of our stories, podcasts, and community benefits—join The Dispatch as a paying member. | | Today's Must-Read | | | | Kevin D. Williamson | Soon-to-be former Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz this week announced that he will not run for reelection amid reports of widespread corruption in his state's welfare programs. National correspondent Kevin D. Williamson writes about the former vice presidential candidate, once heralded as a Democratic savior. Walz—an "older dad type in a blaze orange vest" holding a 12-gauge shotgun—was paraded before Democratic voters as the answer to the party's shortcomings with rural voters who had flocked to Donald Trump. "Democrats offer rural voters a white man with a gun because they think—idiotically—that this is the sort of person rural voters are going to trust," Williamson writes. "But even the American voter is not so comprehensive a nitwit as to be unable to detect, at the extremes, when he is being patronized or condescended to—or misled." |
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| | Toeing the Company Line | | | Nick Catoggio | January 6 and the end of NATO. |
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| | | Jonah Goldberg | America is neither a free-market utopia nor a free-market dystopia. |
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| | | Charles Hilu | Even House and Senate leaders and intelligence committee heads weren't notified in advance of the mission that ousted Maduro. |
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| | | Jonah Goldberg | Why does nature create beauty? |
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| | | | In Other News | Today in America: | - Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who has represented California in the House since 2013, died after suffering a medical episode that required emergency surgery.
- GOP Rep. Jim Baird of Indiana and his wife, Danise, were hospitalized and treated for injuries sustained in a car accident. Both are expected to make a full recovery.
- The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled 4-1 that two abortion-restricting state laws violated the state constitution.
- Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia moved to call a special election on March 10 to fill the congressional seat vacated by now-former GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
- Lockheed Martin says it reached a seven-year deal with the Defense Department to increase production of Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missile interceptors from 600 annually to 2,000 each year.
| Around the World: | - Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar traveled to Somaliland, where he announced plans to open an Israeli Embassy. Less than two weeks ago, Israel became the first U.N. member nation to formally recognize Somaliland as a country.
- For the second-straight day, Israel launched air strikes in eastern and southern Lebanon targeting terrorist sites. Israel said that its forces killed two Hezbollah associates working to rehabilitate terrorist infrastructure.
- The German government criticized high-ranking Kremlin official Dmitry Medvedev, who, according to Russian state-sanctioned media, floated the idea of kidnapping German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, referring to him as an alleged "neo Nazi."
- Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar announced that the country will hold parliamentary elections on March 22.
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni plans to change her country's voting system from a first-past-the-post system to a modified proportional representation system, ahead of the country's 2027 election. This would help her Brothers of Italy party, and mark the country's fifth electoral system change since the 1990s.
| On the Money: | - New analysis forecasts the average national gas price to drop to $2.97 per gallon in 2026, the lowest price since 2020.
- Ford Motor Company announced that it sold 2.2 million vehicles in 2025, a 6 percent year-over-year increase and highest annual total since 2019.
- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied the Athletics Major League Baseball team from trademarking the "Las Vegas Athletics" or "Vegas Athletics" brand, ahead of the franchise's expected move to Nevada in 2028.
- Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, announced Tuesday that it had raised a further $20 billion. The company had planned to raise $15 billion at a $230 billion valuation.
| Worth Your Time: | - "Monetizing Regime Change" (The American Prospect)
- Heather Mac Donald lays out how the U.S. can pre-emptively counter terrorism and urban violence in the wake of the massacre at Australia's Bondi Beach. (City Journal)
- The mononymous Oz's observations on visiting Mexico. (Kvetch)
- Victor Kumar on how to save the student essay. (Open Questions)
- Danielle Friedman talks with Jeff Galloway, an 80-year-old former Olympic distance runner still committed to finishing another marathon. (The New York Times)
- Will Groff reports on the reemergence of line dancing in the American nightlife scene. (The Wall Street Journal)
| Presented Without Comment | The Hill: White House Unveils Jan. 6 Webpage Saying Democrats 'Staged the Real Insurrection,' Criticizing Capitol Police | Also Presented Without Comment | Kyiv Post: After Maduro's Capture, Russia Pleads for 'Respect for International Legal Norms' | Also Also Presented Without Comment | Dexerto: Man Sues Restaurant After Promotional TikTok Video Exposes His Secret Affair | Let Us Know | Have any thoughts or questions about today's newsletter? Become a member to unlock commenting privileges and access to a members-only email address. We read every submission, and answer questions in the following edition of TMD. | | | | Sent to: ignoble.experiment@arconati.usYou received this email because you signed up for The Dispatch. To stop receiving this type of email, unsubscribe here. Opt out from all emails here. © 2026 The Dispatch, PO Box 33337, Washington, DC 20033, United States |
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