Quote:The super wealthy are paying as much as $350,000 to flee the Middle East on private jets as missiles continue to pummel the region.
Rich elites living in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been frantically reaching out to private security companies for an exit route ever since the US and Israel targeted Iran in coordinated attacks over the weekend, Semafor reported.
Some are willing to cough up hundreds of thousands of dollars to be driven 10 hours to Saudi Arabia where they can then charter private planes to Europe.
“Saudi Arabia is the only real option for people who want to get out of the region right now,” Ameerh Naran, chief executive of private jet brokerage Vimana Private, said.
Among those trying to escape are senior executives at global finance firms and rich folks in the region on vacation.
“We’ve been approached by a mixture of clients including families, individuals, and corporations that want to get out of the region either because their fear for their safety, or for business reasons they just need to be able to travel,” Ian McCaul, who works at the UK-based security firm Alma Risk, said.
The sudden demand for an escape route has sent the cost of private jet charters to Europe soaring to as much as $350,000, according to the firms.
Dubai — which has become a hive of foreign ultra-wealthy businessmen, entrepreneurs and influencers in recent years – was among the Gulf areas struck after Iran launched its retaliatory strikes on Saturday.
Footage emerged of Dubai’s luxury Fairmont The Palm hotel engulfed in flames after UAE forces intercepted an Iranian air attack.
Debris from the intercepted attack reportedly crashed down near the front of the luxury hotel.
Quote:One of the world’s largest oil refineries was hit by an Iranian drone in Saudi Arabia on Monday, prompting officials to shut it down as a huge ball of fire tore through.
Harrowing video captured the massive fire burning at the Saudi oil giant, Aramco, in Ras Tanura as thick smoke billowed into the sky following a wave of attacks on major regional oil infrastructure across the Middle East.
The Saudi Defense Ministry confirmed that two drones targeting the facility had been intercepted and destroyed. There were no injuries reported in the attack.
Aramco quickly shuttered the refinery as a precautionary measure, Saudi state media reported.
Despite the temporary closure, an unnamed Energy Ministry official insisted that supplies of petroleum and its derivatives to local markets had not been disrupted as a result of the attack.
The plant — one of the largest in the world — produces approximately 550,000 barrels per day and is vital to the kingdom’s energy sector.
Earlier in the day, reports emerged of falling debris at Kuwait’s Ahmadi oil refinery after drones were shot down there – injuring at least two workers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s government said an energy facility belonging to QatarEnergy had also been attacked by two Iranian drones as authorities worked to assess the damage.
“It’s a really worrying signal,” Jorge Leon, who is head of geopolitical analysis at energy firm Rystad Energy, told AFP.
“So far, we haven’t seen energy infrastructure being targeted.”
“The longer this disruption goes on for the higher oil and gas prices we will see in the coming days and weeks,” he added.
Quote:Iranian officials told their US counterparts during crunch talks last month that the Islamic Republic possessed enough enriched fuel to build 11 nuclear bombs, President Trump’s special envoy claimed Monday night.
“Both the Iranian negotiators said to us directly with, you know, no shame, that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% [enriched uranium],” Steve Witkoff told Fox News host Sean Hannity, “and they’re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the beginning of their negotiating stance.”
Witkoff and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner engaged in three rounds of indirect talks beginning in Oman Feb. 6 and concluding in Geneva, Switzerland Feb. 26 in what turned out to be a last-ditch effort to prevent US military action against Iran.
“Jared and I opened up with the Iranian negotiators telling us they had the inalienable right to enrich all their nuclear fuel that they possessed. That’s how they opened up,” Witkoff recounted.
“We, of course, responded that the president feels we have the inalienable right to stop you dead in your tracks,” he continued.
“They then went on to say that beyond the inalienable right to enrich, that that was going to be their starting point. And Jared and I just sort of looked at ourselves flummoxed and said, ‘Well, we’re really in for it now.'”
Witkoff, 68, made worldwide headlines ahead of the Geneva talks when he claimed Iran was “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material.”
The special envoy expanded on those remarks Monday: “I know this: They have 10,000, roughly, kilograms of fissionable material. That’s broken up into roughly 460 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium, another 1,000 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium …They manufacture their own centrifuges to enrich this material. So, there’s almost no stopping them. They have an endless supply of it.
“The 60% material, Sean, can be brought to 90%, that’s weapons-grade, in roughly one week, maybe 10 days at the outside. The 20% can be brought to weapons-grade inside of three to four weeks.”
“They were proud of it,” Witkoff went on. “They were proud that they had evaded all sorts of oversight protocols to get to a place where they could deliver 11 nuclear bombs.”
Witkoff also claimed that he and Kushner, on behalf of the US, offered to provide Iran nuclear fuel for the next decade on the condition it was not used for any weapons program.
“They rejected that, which told us at that very moment that they had no — no notion of doing anything other than retaining enrichment for the purpose of weaponizing.”
With the US-Israeli war against Iran entering a fourth day, Witkoff described Tehran’s negotiating position as “silly,” but added: “They thought they could strong-arm us.”
Quote:The Israeli Air Force struck a top Iranian meeting on Wednesday where Tehran’s senior clerics had gathered to select a replacement for slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, according to multiple reports.
The Assembly of Experts, a body made up of 88 members, was allegedly together in the city of Qom when an airstrike hit their building overnight, the Times of Israel reported.
The strike came just as the mullahs were counting the votes to appoint the next supreme leader, according to FOX News’ chief foreign correspondent.
Following the attack, Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency claimed that the building was an old structure that was no longer used by the assembly for its meetings.
Hours after the strike occurred, the assembly allegedly named Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, as his successor, Iran International reported.
Mojtaba was notably among the 40 top lieutenants targeted during the first 48 hours of the war, with conflicting reports on whether or not he survived.
Mojtaba is known for a staunch adherence to his father’s hardline conservatism, and has close ties to Iran’s notoriously brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military body, according to CNN.
It remains unclear how many members of the assembly, if any, were inside the building and casting a ballot when the building was hit.
Viral images from Qom allegedly show the building that housed the Iranian leaders, with the structure left in complete ruins following the blast.
The bombing ultimately left the building “flattened,” but no injuries or deaths have yet been reported as a result of the strike, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Iran’s leadership was plunged into chaos following Khamenei’s death on Saturday, with the country’s constitution tasking the Assembly of Experts to name a new successor.
While there is no strict deadline for a successor to be chosen, the Iranian constitution dictates that the assembly act in the shortest time possible.
Quote:Iranian state media showed off a fleet of drones lined up inside an underground bunker as part of a chilling propaganda video.
Footage released by the semi-official Fars News Agency shows the unmanned fleet sitting on rocket launchers and on truck beds, while dramatic music plays in the background.
Drones lined either side of an aisle leading down a brightly lit tunnel with a variety of Iranian flags.
Cheaper Shahed drones, which cost only a few thousands of dollars to make, are thought to be the drones showcased in the clip, according to the Daily Mail.
Iran has launched the drones across the Middle East as part of retaliatory strikes against the US and Israel following Operations Epic Fury and Lion Roar.
The strikes targeted US military bases in several neighboring countries, including Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.
Six US service members were killed in an Iranian drone strike that targeted Kuwait’s Port Shuaiba, where soldiers assigned to the Army Reserve’s 103rd Sustainment Command were stationed.
Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Florida, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Nebraska, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of Minnesota, and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of Iowa, died in the attack.
The Iranian military was decimated by the initial strikes in the joint operation Saturday after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 other senior officials were killed inside a fortified compound in the heart of Tehran.
Despite the large loss of leadership, Iran has continued launching the drones and missiles, with a majority of weapons being intercepted and shot down by neighboring countries’ air defenses.
Quote:The CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces in hopes of prompting an uprising in Iran in the coming days, according to a report.
The Trump administration has been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish leaders in Iraq about how to get them military support as tensions escalate in the Middle East, multiple sources told CNN.
Iranian Kurdish opposition forces will take part in the ground operation slated to occur in Western Iran in the coming days, a senior Iranian Kurdish official told the outlet.
“We believe we have a big chance now,” the source said.
The militias have been eyeing an opening since the start of the war and are expecting support from the US and Israel, the source added.
Thousands of forces of Iranian Kurdish armed groups are operating along the Iraq-Iran border. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been striking Kurdish groups, announcing on Tuesday that it had launched dozens of drones at them, the outlet reported.
President Trump spoke with Mustafa Hijri, the President of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, which was targeted by the IRGC, on Tuesday, a senior official said.
Axios first reported that Trump had also called Iraqi Kurdish leaders on Sunday to discuss the US’s military operation in Iran and to assess whether they could work together.
A person familiar with the discussions between the Kurdish groups and the US told the outlet that the strategy would be for Kurdish armed forces to battle Iranian security forces, to make it easier for unarmed Iranians to take to the streets.
The Kurds could also deplete the Iranian regime’s military resources, with other possible strategic ideas centering on whether the opposition group could capture territory in northern Iran to create a buffer zone for Israel, a US official added.
The son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was reportedly elected to replace him, four days after Khamenei and dozens of his top henchmen were assassinated in a US and Israeli-led military campaign on Saturday.
Quote:Thousands of Kurdish fighters launched a ground offensive inside Iran on Wednesday, according to reports — following claims that Israel and the US were hoping that the armed ethnic minority group could help overthrow the Islamist regime.
The Kurdish forces are operating along the Iran-Iraq border, where its major militias are based, with the goal of applying pressure to Iran’s scrambling security forces, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The ground offensive seeks to divert Iran’s military and security resources, which would open the way for an uprising inside the country, sources told the outlet.
It remains unclear whether the well trained Kurdish militias in the self-governed region if Iraqi Kurdistan will get involved.
Some US intel reports suggested that Iraqi Kurds were also involved in the operation, though Aziz Ahmad, a top official in the Kurdish region of Iraq denied Kurdish fighters had crossed the border into Iran.
On Wednesday, the president of the Kurdish region of Iraq talked to Iran’s foreign minister and pledged “cooperation.”
The deployment comes after all six of the major political factions representing Kurds in Iran joined a new coalition on Wednesday aimed at forming of an autonomous territory within the country, the groups’ leadership announced.
With more than 35 million people spread across the Middle East, the Kurds are perhaps the largest stateless ethnic group in the world.
The Kurdish people predominately live in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran, with more than 8 million living in Iran, about 10% of the total population.
The Kurds, however, have long faced oppression at the hands of Tehran, which has spent decades trying to erase Kurdish culture.
“The Kurdish groups see what’s happening now as an opportunity in Iran to unite and stand for self determination,” Hewa Khalid, a Kurdish studies expert at Indiana University, told The Post.
“The future depends on who comes to lead Iran and how they respond to the demand of the Kurds. We could see a Kurdistan operating within Iran, or you could see the next Yugoslavia,” Khalid warned, referencing the violent division of the former Soviet state.
The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan is reportedly leading the way, with the militias speaking with the Trump administration in recent days on whether, and how, to attack Iran’s security forces amid the ongoing war, officials told Reuters.
Quote:Thousands of Kurdish fighters reportedly crossed Iraq’s border with Iran on Wednesday as part of a ground offensive against the Iranian regime.
US and Israeli officials confirmed the military campaign, according to Fox News and The Jerusalem Post.
A top official in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq vehemently denied that “Iraqi” Kurds were involved in the offensive.
“Not a single Iraqi Kurd has crossed the border. This is patently false,” Aziz Ahmad, the deputy chief of staff to the prime minister of Kurdistan, wrote on X.
Iranian Kurdish groups, operating from territory along the Iraq-Iran border, are involved in the ground incursion, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The groups maintain thousands of fighters, according to the outlet, and had been preparing in recent days for a ground offensive aimed at pressuring Iranian security forces and dispersing them across the country.
The incursion may have actually started earlier this week.
Quote:The US has struck nearly 2,000 Iranian targets in the first 100 hours of Operation Epic Fury as military officials vowed to continue striking the regime “from seabed to space and cyberspace.”
More than 50,000 American troops have been deployed as part of the “largest military buildup” in the Middle East in a generation, according to US Navy Adm. Brad Cooper.
“By order of the president of the United States and secretary of war, our military in the Middle East has undertaken an unprecedented operation to eliminate Iran’s ability to threaten Americans as they’ve been doing nearly half a century,” Cooper said in a video posted to X on Tuesday.
The US has deployed more than 50,000 troops along with 200 fighter jets, two aircraft carriers and an undisclosed number of bombers since “Operation Epic Fury” started on Saturday.
“These forces bring a massive amount of firepower, representing the largest buildup by the US in the Middle East in a generation,” Cooper said.
“Many of you may remember the shock and awe of the strikes of 2003. The first 24 hours of this operation were literally doubled the scale, and we continue with 24/7 strikes into Iran from seabed to space and cyberspace,” he added.
Nearly 2,000 Iranian targets were struck in the first 100 hours of the joint operation with Israel, with the US firing over 2,000 munitions.
Cooper said the US has “severely diminished” Iranian air defenses and destroyed hundreds of ballistic missiles, launchers and drones.
“In simple terms, we’re shooting all the things that can shoot at us,” he said.
American forces have utilized their various bombers, including the B-2s, B-1s and B-52s, with operations “deep inside Iran.”
At least 17 Iranian ships and a submarine were struck by the US.
“We are also sinking the Iranian Navy, the entire navy, thus far” Cooper said.
No Iranian-flagged ships have been located in the waters of the Middle East after the operation was launched.
“We will not stop, we will continue to conduct dynamic targeting operations. We’re hunting Iran’s last remaining mobile ballistic missile launchers, to eliminate what, I would characterize, is their lingering launch capabilities,” Cooper said.
Quote:Israel threatened to eliminate Iran’s next regime leader selected to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei if the successor continues his ideology — as the supreme leader’s son emerged as the favored front-runner.
“Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people — will be an unequivocal target for elimination,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Wednesday.
“It does not matter what his name is or the place where he hides. The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to prepare and act by all means to carry out the mission as an integral part of the objectives,” Katz said of Israel’s Operation “Lion Roar,” the military operation working alongside the US’s Operation Epic Fury.
Katz’s message comes after reports surfaced that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was being eyed to succeed his father by the powerful group of Iranian top mullahs.
Israeli media and Iranian opposition channels reported Tuesday that Mojtaba had already been selected, though Iranian state media have not confirmed anything.
“We will continue to act with full force, together with our American partners, to crush the regime’s capabilities and create the conditions for the Iranian people to overthrow it and replace it,” Katz said.
Khamenei and roughly 40 senior Iranian officials including the minister of defense, head of intelligence, and the supreme leader’s adviser for security affairs and secretary of the Defense Council were killed in the early hours of the joint US-Israel operation Saturday.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officials had all convened for a high-profile meeting inside Khamenei’s fortified compound in Tehran when Israeli fighter jets swooped in Saturday in a broad-daylight attack, turning the building into rubble.
After Khamenei’s death, Iran was being ruled by a three-person transitional council consisting of two of the supreme leader’s top lieutenants and President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The council will rule over the Middle Eastern nation until the 88-member Assembly of Experts elects the new leader.
The younger Khamenei was initially believed to have been killed in the strike, but reports of his name being passed around to succeed his father indicate he is alive.
Motjaba — the ayatollah’s second-oldest son — has been known for his staunch adherence to his father’s hardline conservatism and has close ties to Iran’s notoriously brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to CNN.
He never held an official position under his dad’s regime but was sanctioned by the US in 2019.
Quote:An American submarine sank an Iranian warship named the Soleimani in the Indian Ocean overnight — the first such US attack on a member of an enemy fleet since World War II, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday.
The “quiet death” strike on Iran’s prized vessel, the IRIS Shahid Soleimani, unfolded late Tuesday off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, Hegseth said, telling reporters during a Pentagon briefing that the ship “thought it was safe in international waters.”
“Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II,” Hegseth added. “Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department, we are fighting to win.”
The Pentagon released video of the strike soon after Hegseth spoke.
“The Iranian navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” the secretary added. “Combat ineffective, decimated, destroyed, defeated. Pick your adjective.”
A single Mark 48 torpedo was used in the strike, according to Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Sri Lanka’s navy has confirmed it responded to signals that the ship was in distress and sinking late Tuesday.
The vessel had already sunk by the time the island nation’s ships reached the location — leaving behind oil patches and life rafts, according to navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath.
“We found people floating on the water,” he said.
At least 32 people were rescued and taken to a nearby hospital as search and rescue operations continued, the officials said, adding that others had died without giving a precise number.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told the country’s lawmakers that 180 people were on board the Iranian vessel at the time of the strike.
The ship, which was listed as taking part in a naval drill held in the Bay of Bengal Feb. 18-25, was equipped to carry one helicopter and was armed with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes.
Quote:US and Israeli forces took out the Iranian official behind a plot to assassinate President Trump in the final days of the 2024 election campaign, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth revealed Wednesday.
Hegseth did not identify the individual, but Israeli media named him as Rahman Mokadam, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) special operations division.
“The leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon during a morning debrief on Operation Epic Fury.
“Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh.”
According to federal prosecutors, the IRGC tasked Afghan national Farhad Shakeri in September 2024 to “focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating” Trump.
When Shakeri told his unidentified IRGC handler that the Trump plot would “cost a ‘huge’ amount of money,” court documents said, the Iranian responded: “We already spent a lot of money … [s]o the money’s not an issue.”
US officials say Iran has been pursuing assassination plots against Trump as vengeance for the death of Qasem Soleimani, head of the country’s elite Quds Force, who was killed in a drone strike ordered by the president in 2020.
Back in 2022, a chilling video animation was posted on then-Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website showing what appeared to be a drone or bomber looming over Trump while he was out playing golf.
“Revenge is Definite,” appeared on the screen at the end of the video.
Khamenei, who ruled Iran with an iron fist since 1989, was killed in strikes Feb. 28, alongside dozens of other top Iranian officials.
“They tried twice,” Trump later boasted to ABC News’ Jonathan Karl. “Well, I got him first.”
In a phone conversation with an FBI agent, Shakeri, who did time in US prisons for robbery, said the Iranian official told him on Oct. 7, 2024, to have a plan in place to kill Trump “within seven days.”
If Shakeri did not meet his deadline, the contact allegedly said the hit on Trump would be postponed until after the election, because Tehran officials believed that the Republican nominee would lose “and, afterward, it would be easier to assassinate [him].”
Quote:Senate Republicans voted to block a Democrat-led resolution on Wednesday that would rein in President Trump’s military authority against Iran — just days after the US and Israel struck Tehran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of other high-ranking officials.
The Senate voted 47-53 against the resolution, introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) in January and backed by Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), that would compel the president “to remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran” and seek congressional approval for further hostilities.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the only Democrat to vote against the measure, and Paul was the only Republican to vote in support of it.
The resolution allows for the US to defend its personnel or facilities and continue “assisting Israel” in similar non-offensive operations. It reaffirms: “Congress has the sole power to declare war.”
“I do think it’s really important to put every member of Congress on the record about this,” Kaine told reporters ahead of the vote. “If you don’t have the guts to vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ on a war vote, how dare you send our sons and daughters into war where they risk their lives?”
Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, any US lawmaker can force a vote to withdraw the nation’s military from a conflict or halt airstrikes between 60 and 90 days.
“Senate Republicans once again failed to hold Trump accountable. Today’s vote sends us down a dangerous path into a potentially endless war,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) fumed on X after the vote.
“The American people don’t want this war. Trump has no plan,” Kim argued.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) countered that Trump properly notified Congress of the Iran operation and has earned the trust of lawmakers.
“Barack Obama dropped 26,000 bombs in at least 7 countries in 2016 without a word from Congress,” Mullin wrote on X, ahead of the vote. “I won’t hamstring President Trump. Unlike many before him, [Trump] is the ‘peace through strength’ President.
“He has earned our trust just 4.5 days into this mission.”
The vote comes as the House is also deliberating over other war powers resolutions — including one led by New Jersey Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer that would either give the president enough time to remove US forces or give Congress the chance to authorize the military conflict.
An alternative resolution slated for a House vote Thursday from Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) would be more risky and force a quick withdrawal “when we have thousands of troops in the region,” according to former Biden administration senior diplomatic adviser Amos Hochstein.
“Even when you disagree with the president about the war,” Hochstein told The Post Wednesday, “you have to recognize where you are right now. … You can’t just shut off operations.”
Jonathan Schanzer Wrote:The US military and the Israeli Defense Forces continue unleashing their might on the Iranian regime — and precise intelligence, overwhelming firepower and a bit of good luck could soon usher the downfall of the Islamic Republic.
Many are asking about the day after, specifically, about who will rule Iran when the regime finally buckles.
It’s a fair question, but it’s too soon to know: The leaders of the Iranian opposition know that it’s not yet safe to announce themselves.
The regime is still in control, and its brutality is by now well understood.
Just ask the families of the estimated 40,000 protesters murdered in the streets in recent weeks.
A better question is this: Which regional powers may try to fill the vacuum after Iran’s dictatorship falls?
Tehran has for years projected power by proxy across the Middle East, sponsoring terrorist groups like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq, and other malign actors across the region.
Should the regime collapse, other aspiring regional powers will seek to fill the void.
And while many countries may think regional leadership is theirs to inherit, there is one powerful player to watch: the Republic of Turkey.
The country has the second-largest army in NATO.
It has a growing drone industry and a government-tied military contractor, SADAT, that is training and arming militias across the Muslim world.
Concurrently, Ankara has been cultivating terrorist proxies in the Middle East for years.
The Turks are key patrons of Hamas, dating back nearly two decades, and are now trying to ensure their participation in the Gaza peace effort — despite opposition from the Israelis, who are wary of Ankara’s intentions.
But the Turks are deployed elsewhere, too.
Ankara is now supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It’s the primary patron of the new Syrian regime, led by former al-Qaeda leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, making Syria a forward base with key military and intelligence platforms.
That’s to say nothing of Turkey’s longstanding military deployments in Northern Iraq, Somalia, Qatar and more.
In short, Ankara has blanketed the region, leaving it well positioned to fill the void left by the Islamic Republic.
And Turkey’s financial backers in Qatar, a tiny country that controls roughly 12% of the world’s energy, are likely to bankroll this effort.
The alliance of these two Sunni states can be summed up rather simply: They seek to resurrect the influence and ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, the radical Islamist movement that has inspired generations of terrorists.
Their efforts date back to the Arab Spring of 2011, when chaos erupted across the Middle East.
Turkey and Qatar were then the dominant supporters of the Islamist opposition factions that aimed to topple regimes across the region.
In Libya, for example, rebels raised the Qatari flag upon ousting Moammar Khadafy.
In Egypt, after the Sisi regime crushed the Brotherhood, Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan became a foremost global advocate for the movement.
Quote:Iranian weapon debris, blown to pieces or mechanically crippled, keeps dropping from the Middle East sky.
For that, we can thank heat-seeking satellites, military-grade malware and radar-jamming software, all made in America.
New technology laser weaponry has also been deployed against Iran as part of Operation Epic Fury, The Post has learned.
A US Navy destroyer vessel off the coast of the Middle East nation is fitted with the new weapon, which appears to be the High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system, videos released by US Central Command show.
The laser is a state-of-the-art device with a steerable head, able to concentrate a “intense, tightly focused beam” of energy and take out drones, according to keen-eyed military watchers.
Similarly, videos of the skies over the Israel-Lebanon border showed rockets being launched, only to explode seconds later. That has been widely, but unofficially, credited to the Israeli military’s new Iron Beam weapon, an advanced laser able to disable rockets and defend territory.
Neither the US Navy nor the Israeli military has confirmed or denied the use of lasers in Epic Fury, which began Feb. 28. However, the Navy said at the beginning of February it had taken out four drones in a test of HELIOS.
During the first 72 hours of battle, 1,700 targets were struck by US forces. Over 200 of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers have been destroyed, about half of those the nation possessed. Additionally, dozens more of the launchers have been made inoperable. Hundreds of missiles have been destroyed, foiling them from doing their damage.
The US’s precision strikes against missile silos, nuclear facilities and leaders have been hailed a huge success, with minimal losses on US and Israeli sides.
Those strikes have been made possible by devices operated higher off the ground than previously — from space.
The US Space Force, established in 2019, is critical for air and sea forces to know where and when to attack, when to take cover, and the locations of enemy missiles.
They do it “with satellites that have infrared sensors for finding where rockets are being fired,” Brent David Ziarnick, former professor in the Space Force program at Johns Hopkins University and retired officer in the US Air Force, told The Post.
“They can spot the missiles and pinpoint where the launchers are. The missiles can be intercepted and destroyed [often with Patriot Missiles]. Field forces get notified that an attack is coming, so they can go to shelters or bunkers.”
Space Force’s infrared beams track the missiles the second they launch, via the heat they create. According to ABC News, hundreds of Iranian missiles have been destroyed with this technology.
Incredibly, despite the fighting taking place in the Middle East, most of Space Force’s work is centered in the US.
Crews work inside radar domes, called Radomes. Resembling giant golf balls, they receive information in the sky in real time, calculate the trajectory of missiles and, therefore, likely destination and act accordingly.
Quote:The US tested a doomsday ballistic missile off the California coast Tuesday night — as war raged in the Middle East.
The Minuteman III ballistic missile — which is capable of carrying nuclear warheads 20 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima — launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Santa Barbara at 11 p.m.
The unarmed rocket, known as GT 254, hit its intended target near the Marshall Islands in the west-central Pacific Ocean, according to the US Space Force.
The missile was fired to “verify the effectiveness, readiness and accuracy,” according to the Air Force Global Strike Command.
“[It] allowed us to assess the performance of individual components of the missile system,”Lt. Col. Karrie Wray, commander of the 576th Flight Test Squadron said in a press release.
“By continually assessing varying mission profiles, we are able to enhance the performance of the entire [Intercontinental Ballistic Missile] fleet, ensuring the maximum level of readiness for the land-based leg of the nation’s nuclear triad.”
The test launch comes just days after the US and Israel launched an attack on Iran, killing the nation’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at his compound in Tehran — setting off a war in the region.
President Trump later vowed to step up strikes on Iran, warning, “The big one is coming.”
The Air Force Global Strike Command said Tuesday’s test-launch was routine and scheduled years in advance.
The Minuteman III missile is one part of America’s nuclear triad, which include the ability to launch world-destroying weapons from the land, sea and air.
The missiles are stored in silos scattered across the American west — and designed to deter nuclear armageddon, but ensuring that the US will be able to strike back if it is ever hit with an atomic attack.
A Minuteman III missile was also launched in November after President Trump called for restarting the nuclear weapons tests.
The missile can travel 6,000 miles at speeds of more than 15,000 mph and strike anywhere in the world.
Quote:Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the Trump administration’s Operation Epic Fury as an attempt to “neuter” Iran’s military power inside and beyond its borders, including its apparent ties to Hezbollah.
Joining “Special Report” Wednesday, Rice praised U.S.-Israeli joint strikes against Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while emphasizing the operation does not mark the beginning of a new war.
“Iran has been at war with us for at least 47 years,” she explained. “If you ask people about Iraq, what was the source of many of our casualties in Iraq, you’ll get estimates as high as 75 or 80% of them were due to Iranian-made roadside bombs.”
Rice, who served as national security advisor and secretary of state under former President George W. Bush during 9/11 and the Iraq War, said Iran has expanded military capability through its reach to international terrorist groups.
“They also have developed the military capability to reach outside the boundaries of Iran, including Hezbollah and Hamas, which they both arm and equip,” Rice said.
Six American service members have been killed, and 20 Iranian ships have been struck or sunk during Operation Epic Fury, which has utilized more than 50,000 troops, 200 fighters and two aircraft carriers, according to CENTCOM.
The Trump administration’s coordinated strikes with Israel follow failed diplomatic efforts to negotiate Iran’s nuclear program, which Iran refused to abandon.
“To say that this regime was not a threat … it’s ahistorical,” Rice said. “They have been a threat for a long time.”
One goal of Operation Epic Fury, she said, is to strip Iran of its military capabilities and ability to coordinate with proxy groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
“If you can render Iran essentially incapable of military action against us and against our allies, that’s worthy,” Rice told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier. “And I think what they’re trying to do is to neuter Iran as a military power in the region.”
Quote:A Pakistani man charged with plotting to kill US politicians claimed that Iranian spies recruited him to target Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden in bombshell testimony Wednesday.
Accused terrorist Asif Merchant, 47, coolly claimed on the stand that he was forced into the half-baked plot to save his family.
“I had no other options. My family was threatened,” Merchant told jurors in Brooklyn federal court, where he’s charged with bizarrely paying two undercover FBI agents posing as hitmen just $5,000 to carry out the murder scheme.
Merchant, a Pakistan native who said he was a former banker with a failed banana export business, testified that his Iranian spy handler ordered him in April 2024 to go to the US and “maybe to have somebody murdered” — before giving him three potential targets.
“He did not tell me exactly who it is, but he named three people to me: Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Nikki Haley,” the accused plotter, sporting a salt-and-pepper combover and wearing a gray sweater over a blue button-down shirt, matter-of-factly explained.
Trump and Biden were the leading candidates in the 2024 presidential election at the time, and Haley, the former South Carolina governor, had dropped out of the race a month earlier.
Merchant, who pleaded not guilty to terrorism and murder-for-hire charges after his August 2024 arrest, claimed that he’d volunteered to work with Iranian spies in late 2022 or early 2023, helping the regime launder money to evade US sanctions.
His handler, who he named as Mehrdad Yousef, ordered him to carry out the assassination plot as well as steal unidentified documents, he testified.
Merchant claimed that he only agreed to do so because Yousef, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, had put “pressure” on his Iranian relatives.
Merchant, who has a separate wife and three kids in Pakistan, did not describe any specific threats to his Iran-based wife and daughter.
But he claimed Yousef had made an unannounced visit outside his home and had displayed a weapon during their meetings.
“My family was under threat, and I had to do this,” he told the jury.
Quote:Authorities revealed mystery DNA on one of the gloves discovered near Nancy Guthrie’s Arizona home finally has a match — to an employee who works at a restaurant across the street.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who has faced criticism over his handling of the investigation, insisted in an interview with KVOA that officials had always suspected that might be the case after scores of random gloves were found near Guthrie’s million-dollar house in Tucson.
“There was some talk and discussion that it was police officers out in the field just discarding [the gloves], that is so far from the truth,” Nanos said.
“We knew that at that time, we believed wholeheartedly that those gloves belonged to a restaurant and guess what? The owner of the glove, we found working at a restaurant across the street.”
“It has nothing to do with the case,” he added.
The floundering sheriff admitted that other gloves found near the 84-year-old’s home after her Feb. 1 kidnapping could have a different DNA match.
“It’s a challenge because we know we have DNA, but now we have to deal with that mixture and how we’re going to separate it,” Nanos said.
A flurry of gloves found in close proximity to Guthrie’s home were seized as evidence as authorities scrambled to try and solve her bizarre disappearance.
It wasn’t immediately clear which gloves came back as a match to the restaurant employee.
The revelation came as the search for “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mom surpassed a month.
In the weeks since she was reported missing on Feb. 1 after failing to show up for church, investigators have come up empty handed.
Nanos, however, claimed Tuesday that authorities were “definitely closer” to tracking down the suspect or suspects – as the local sheriff continued to face a wave of scrutiny over his handling of the high-profile probe.
Quote:The CEO and founder of Ring doorbells is getting ripped online for positing that the Nancy Guthrie case would be “solved” if only there were more home surveillance cameras on the 84-year-old grandmother’s home.
“I do believe if they had more of it, if there was more cameras on the house, I think we might, you know, have solved” the case, Jamie Siminoff told Fortune on Tuesday.
“The video that they have,” he went on, “appears to be the best evidence they have of what happened.”
Siminoff also told the magazine that Guthrie’s case is “just another example of, like, how important it is to have video at your house.”
Keyboard warriors quickly took to Reddit to blast the entrepreneur behind the $1 billion brand.
“If only we had universal mass surveillance,” one person wrote.
“The CEO of a monitoring company is hoping more people BUY a monitoring product. Why are we surprised by this?” someone else said.
“Basically admitting that a universal privately owned panopticon makes you even more under the thumb of government.
“Why get a warrant when you could just buy the information from Ring?” wrote another sarcastic commenter.
The FBI released photos and video from Guthrie’s Nest camera on Feb. 10, showing a masked man tampering with the security device around the time she vanished on Feb. 1.
Then, new surveillance video obtained last week from one of Guthrie’s neighbors’ cameras captured several cars driving near her Tucson home the night authorities believe she was kidnapped.
But Nancy notably had not paid her Nest subscription, and the footage of her suspected kidnapper was feared lost during the first desperate days of the investigation.
The images were able to be obtained, however, after the FBI worked with Nest to dig the files out of the recesses of its servers.
Though they have been the biggest break in the case – the images seemed to unequivocally confirm that Nancy had been kidnapped – little has come of them, as no suspects have been identified or arrests made in the more than a month that since she vanished.
Several people were detained, but each was soon released after questioning.
Quote:Sen. Tim Sheehy sprang into action Wednesday, helping law enforcement officers subdue an “unhinged protestor” who began “fighting” at a hearing at the US Capitol Building, the Montana Republican explained.
Dramatic video of the incident shows the protester — later identified as Green Party Senate candidate Brian McGinnis — resisting multiple Capitol Police officers trying to remove him from a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, is seen jumping into the scrum and trying to yank the 44-year-old McGinnis, who was wearing a US Marine Corps uniform, out of the room.
The situation only calmed down after a loud snap was heard, which appeared to be the sound of the protester’s arm breaking inside the Hart Senate Office Building.
McGinnis, of North Carolina, had been refusing to let go of the door as Sheehy and officers tried removing him from the room, according to Capitol Police.
“Capitol Police were attempting to remove an unhinged protestor from the Armed Services hearing. He was fighting back. I decided to help out and deescalate the situation,” Sheehy wrote on X.
“This gentleman came to the Capitol looking for a confrontation, and he got one. I hope he gets the help he needs without causing further violence.”
McGinnis is facing three counts of Assault on a Police Officer, as well as three counts of Resisting Arrest, and Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding for the unlawful demonstration.
“This afternoon, an unruly man who started to illegally protest during a hearing, put everyone in a dangerous position by violently resisting and fighting our officer’s attempts to remove him from the room,” Capitol Police told The Post.
Three officers had to be treated for injuries, while McGinnis was also treated, according to Capitol Police.
McGinnis is not an active duty Marine but appeared to be screaming about the US military offensive against Iran.
Quote:In a shocking announcement, lawmaker Steve Daines (R-Mont.) revealed Wednesday that he will not seek reelection to a third term in the US Senate.
“Serving the people of Montana in the US House and US Senate the past 13 years has been the greatest honor of my professional career, and I am grateful to God for allowing me to serve,” Daines said in a video message posted on X.
“But after much careful thought, I have decided not to seek re-election.”
Daines, 64, is the sixth Republican senator to decide against running for reelection ahead of the critical November midterm elections, joining Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
First elected to the upper chamber in 2014, Daines served as the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee between 2023 and 2025, helping Republicans flip four Senate seats in the 2024 cycle.
President Trump described the Montana Republican as “one of our truly Great United States Senators,” in a Truth Social post after Daines’ announcement.
“He honorably served for 12 years in the Senate, and 2 in the House of Representatives. He did a job like few others are capable of doing but, sadly for our Country, Steve’s Term is up,” the president said, before endorsing Daines’ possible successor.
“[H]e has decided to leave the Senate and, ‘pass the torch’ to Kurt Alme, my TRUMP 45 and TRUMP 47 U.S. Attorney.”
The president argued that if Alme “didn’t have the highest level of aptitude and talent, Steve would have remained exactly where he is.”
“But, Kurt is exceptional,” Trump asserted, “and I will be giving him, based on Steve’s strongest recommendation, my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
Quote:This annoying travel habit won’t fly with United Airlines.
The major airline recently made clear that passengers who don’t use headphones while listening to electronic devices could get tossed off a flight – or even banned from traveling with the company.
The new rule was quietly added to United’s contract of carriage terms under its “refusal to transport” section late last month — a change first reported on by CBS News.
“Passengers who fail to use headphones while listening to audio or video content,” is one of the infractions that can get a flyer thrown off a flight, along with a litany of other long-established rules like assaulting staff or being barefoot, according to the contract.
United confirmed the Feb. 27 change in an email to The Post, noting the company’s effort to expand Starlink Wi-Fi access to its planes helped lead to the new rule.
“We’ve always encouraged customers to use headphones when listening to audio content — and our Wi-Fi rules already remind customers to use headphones,” a United spokesperson said.
“With the expansion of Starlink, it seemed like a good time to make that even clearer by adding it to the contract of carriage,” the rep added.
If travelers forget to pack headphones, the airline’s site states that crew members will provide free earbuds upon request.
“This is in line with how the vast majority of travelers comport themselves and would like others to comport themselves,” travel expert Scott Keyes told CBS News.
“It’s usually only a small number of folks on airplanes who are making noise by not using headphones, so this is a graceful way to handle those folks.”
The Baltimore mayor’s office spent more than $890,000 on lavish meals and parties — including crab feasts, catered “farewell” bashes and massive tabs at Ravens football games, according to a report Wednesday.
Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration blew taxpayer cash on over-the-top perks for staffers — including $52,589 on grub in the Mayoral Suite at Ravens and Orioles games — in a gross violation of the city’s “public funds” rules, according to baltimorebrew.com.
One of the elaborate meals was served at a $3,636 farewell “office party” for Scott’s former campaign manager Marvin James, which featured a $324 balloon arch, a $217 cake and a $2,600 catered spread with crab balls and grilled salmon in March 2025, according to the outlet.
James, however, didn’t actually leave City Hall and is still on the payroll as the mayor’s $190,000-plus-a-year senior adviser.
In total, the office spent $801,839 on meals and catering, $42,691 on floral arrangements and funeral services, and $45,646 “unreconciled” expenses between July 2022 and November 2025, according to the outlet.
The administration spent lavishly on food such as banana bread pudding, pizza, bottomless freshly popped popcorn and “a fresh fruit tray available to everyone in the mayor’s suite daily,” according to the outlet, which cited a report from Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming, the city’s waste and fraud watchdog.
It also forked over more than $10,000 for flowers, which city regulations state shouldn’t be purchased “for any reason,” the report states.
The investigation found other extravagant so-called “P-Card” — aka procurement card — expenses related to birthday celebrations, baby showers and flowers “for a selected few, including executive leadership,” according to the report.
At least 336 of the “P-card” transactions violated city rules, which require a waiver to use public funds “for any social functions or activities” without the express approval of the Bureau of Purchasing, Cumming notes in the report.
“[The watchdog] found that taxpayer funds were used for floral purchases for events, employee celebrations, recognition, baby arrivals, funerals bereavement and condolence,” the report states.
When the purchasing bureau denied the mayor’s office’s request to use taxpayer money to host an annual crab feast, the mayor’s office went to finance director Michael Mocksten, who approved the event, according to the report.
The administration has been trying over the past month to restrict Cumming’s access to city financial and personnel records — which would prevent her from exposing over-the-top spending, she told the outlet.
The mayor’s chief of staff, JD Merrill, defended the food and drink spending as “legitimate expenses that support efficient and necessary operations of city government,” according to the outlet.
Quote:An unfinished Vietnam War memorial in Orange County has been reduced to rubble after city officials found it would be cheaper to tear down the shoddily built monument than repair it.
Crews arrived this week to demolish the tribute after the project’s brainchild pleaded guilty to bribery for funneling money to a nonprofit that he paid $1 million to erect the memorial in Fountain Valley’s Mile Square.
County Supervisor Andrew Do, who was sentenced to five years in prison for the crime last year, forked over the cash for the monument’s completion, but no records turned up showing how the money was spent, KTLA reported.
The result was cracked and crumbling granite slabs that would have required up to $460,000 to fix and add engravings to, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“When I saw this, it’s a disgrace,” Do’s successor, Supervisor Janet Nguyen, told KTLA. “It’s so heartbreaking to see that this is how we honor our veterans. This is not who we are.”
Official decided the most cost-effective approach would be to demolish the memorial — to the tune of $30,000 taxpayer money — and start again.
“We’re going to replace it,” Nguyen said at a November press conference. “We gotta do it right because we owe it to these veterans.”
Quote:California will face economic collapse under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “misguided” climate policy — with crippling job losses and sky-high gas prices, Chevron warned in a doomsday letter to the lefty governor on Wednesday.
The oil giant’s bleak outlook in the letter to Newsom and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) came amid calls to block proposed amendments to the Cap-and-Invest program, which places a strict limit on greenhouse emissions that decreases each year.
Chevron argues that the carbon-cutting program will “cripple the survivability” of the state’s remaining refineries, with devastating effects on the Golden State and its residents.
“The proposed regulation will cripple the survivability of the state’s remaining refineries, which will result in California losing the entire industry to this misguided program,” read the letter from Chevron President Andy Walz, obtained by the California Globe.
“This regulation will increase transportation and aviation fuel prices for consumers. It will risk significant job losses, including many high-paying union jobs, while reducing funding for essential public services. It will upend California’s fuels market and threaten critical energy and national security assets,” the letter from Chevron continued.
Chevron said the oil and gas industry supports more than 530,000 jobs across the Golden State alone, and contributes approximately $64 billion each year in state, local, and federal tax revenues that help fund education, healthcare, and essential infrastructure.
California’s Cap-and-Invest program limits aggregate greenhouse gas emissions from major polluters, which account for roughly 80% of the Golden State’s pollution.
It requires the companies to buy allowances for each ton of carbon dioxide emitted. Each year, fewer allowances are created. Revenue from the program funds climate-friendly initiatives, such as public transport projects and public health projects, according to CARB.
Similar pilot schemes in Spain and Australia have faced stiff opposition, but Newsom and the CARB have continued the money-making operation.
The governor extended the program — which was set to expire after 2030 — through 2045 in September.
Coming after Valero began shutting down its Benicia refinery last month, Chevron has warned that the state cannot survive another refinery shutdown.
Quote:Kamala Harris’ taxpayer-funded security will be stripped in November if Steve Hilton wins the gubernatorial race, the Republican has vowed.
The former vice president sparked outrage when it emerged on Tuesday she was having California Highway Patrol cops follow her around on her book tour.
Harris got Joe Biden to sign an order for her federal government security to continue through July this year, but Trump ended it in September. The state of California then stepped in and granted her protection.
Hilton told the Post if he wins the race for governor later this year it will again be taken from her, branding it a “corrupt freebie.”
He said: “The Kamala Harris book tour is obviously part of her presidential campaign. Her donors – if she has any – should be paying for her security, not Californians who already pay the highest taxes in the country for the worst results.
“This is yet another example of the Democrat political machine siphoning off taxpayer cash into their bottomless money pit of waste, fraud and abuse. We are sick of it. As governor I will immediately cancel this corrupt Kamala freebie.
“Our brave CHP officers have enough on their plate dealing with the Democrats’ crime wave without having to traipse around after a failed and rejected machine politician who can’t bear to be out of the limelight.”
Dozens of officers have been yanked off the streets since September to shadow the failed presidential candidate as she travels across the country and overseas to tout the memoir.
The union representing CHP officers told the Post it had been made aware of the protection but had no idea of the details surrounding it.
A spokesman said in a statement: “The California Association Highway Patrolmen is aware of the recent interest in former Vice President Kamala Harris and her California Highway Patrol protection detail, involving our union members.
“Because the CAHP is unaware of the exact amount of resources (numbers of union members working the protection), including the cost, we are not qualified to provide an opinion regarding staffing or budget stress (if at all) this has created.”
Quote:Two young girls whose butchered bodies were found stuffed inside suitcases at an Ohio park were half-sisters, a medical examiner revealed Wednesday.
A dog-walker stumbled across the “juvenile black females,” who are believed to be between the ages of 8 and 14 years old, when his testy pooch refused to move off of a mound of dirt near a playground in Cleveland on Monday evening.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office did not reveal a firm cause of death in the suspect homicide Wednesday, but it did confirm the victims were half-sisters, Cleveland 19 reported.
The brutalized bodies, which were concealed in suitcases and buried in shallow graves, were there for “some time,” Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said.
“It is traumatic for everyone,” Todd told the outlet. “It is traumatic for those who live in the area to know that this was right there at their doorstep.”
Todd said they are diligently parsing through statewide databases and missing children reports with assistance from “state, federal and local partners” as police work to identify the young victims.
Cleveland local Phillip Donaldson came across the mutilated bodies around 6 p.m. Monday when his dog dragged him to the edge of the park and incessantly pawed at the ground.
When Donaldson dredged up the first suitcase, he shockingly found “somebody’s head in it” — before frantically calling 911.
It is unclear if Donaldson also discovered the second suitcase, where the other victim’s remains were hidden.
The suitcases were buried near the Ginn Academy, the only all-boys’ public high school in Ohio.
Quote:Famed Bay Area personal injury attorney Anh Phoong has accused California’s parole division of causing the death of Hanako Abe, a 27-year-old San Francisco woman who was killed by parolee Troy McAlister on New Year’s Eve 2020 — in a new legal filing that cites a whistleblower email from a person inside the state agency.
Phoong filed a wrongful death claim Wednesday — a precursor to a lawsuit — alleging that the Department Of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s parole division ignored a Dec. 29 plea from the Daly City Police Department to help locate McAlister, who was suspected of committing a violent carjacking while out on parole.
“This tragedy was not random,” said Phoong in a statement.
“Parole received repeated warnings that McAlister was committing violent crimes while out on parole.”
McAlister had been arrested at least four times while on parole in 2020 and, on Dec. 29, allegedly robbed a woman near a fast food restaurant in Daly City.
Daly City police asked parole agent Roberto Vasquez to help locate and arrest McAllster for felony carjacking and brandishing a firearm against a girlfriend.
Vasquez reportedly had access to McAlister’s “GPS coordinates, known residences of record and ankle monitor data” but ignored the request for assistance.
Two days later, while allegedly high on methamphetamines, McAlister drove intoxicated and struck and killed Abe and another woman, Elizabeth Pratt — sparking a firestorm over why he was free despite multiple arrests.
“Everyone is wondering why are we doing this, it’s been so long. The family, my client, they lost a daughter and all they want from this, they want answers,” Phoong told The Post.
“In the last several years, there’s always been speculation about why did this happen. Why? Did the police not do their job? Did the DA? Who was it? Was it parole?” she continued.
Phoong’s claim alleges that parole agents Vasquez, Rhoderick Reyes and Tom Porter failed to supervise McAlister during what was his third stint on parole.
Quote:A Russian drone hit an empty passenger train in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region early on Wednesday, injuring a railway worker, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.
He added that there was also an attempted Russian drone attack on a train operating between the eastern-central city of Dnipro and Kovel in the northwest late on Tuesday, but it was stopped by railway workers and the drone hit a few meters away from the locomotive.
Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukrainian national railways, said that Russia had intensified drone attacks on railway infrastructure, and that rolling stock was among the main targets.
It reported that 18 strikes had been recorded since the start of March, damaging 41 facilities.
Locomotives, freight cars and specialized equipment used to repair infrastructure have also been targeted, the operator said, and railway depots and bridges had also come under attack this month.
A Russian drone attack on a commuter train in Dnipropetrovsk region killed one person and wounded seven more people on Monday.
Quote:French President Emmanuel Macron announced Monday that France will expand its nuclear arsenal and, for the first time, allow the temporary deployment of its nuclear‑armed aircraft to allied countries, a shift he said is intended to strengthen Europe’s strategic independence amid growing global instability.
Speaking at a military base at L’Île Longue in northwestern France, which hosts the country’s ballistic missile submarines, Macron framed the decision as a response to long‑term security challenges rather than recent events. The speech had been planned well before the latest outbreak of war involving Iran between the U.S. and Israel, French officials said.
France has been the European Union’s (EU) only nuclear power since Britain formally exited the bloc in 2020, leaving Paris with a unique role in continental defense debates.
... France’s Nuclear Weapons and European Security
Macron used the address to outline how France’s nuclear deterrent could play a broader role in Europe’s security architecture, as leaders across the continent express concern about renewed tensions with the U.S. under President Donald Trump and Russia’s ongoing full‑scale invasion of Ukraine.
“To be free, one needs to be feared,” Macron said, describing nuclear deterrence as a central pillar of national and European defense.
He said France’s updated posture could include “the temporary deployment of elements of our strategic air forces to allied countries,” a step never before taken by Paris. Macron emphasized, however, France would not share decision‑making authority over the potential use of nuclear weapons with any other nation.
Under France’s constitution, the president alone serves as commander‑in‑chief and retains exclusive authority over the nuclear arsenal.
Talks With European Allies on Nuclear Deterrence
Macron said discussions on deterrence cooperation have already begun with Britain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark. Those talks include participation by partner nations in deterrence exercises and the involvement of allied conventional forces in France’s nuclear‑related activities.
He said such cooperation would stop short of nuclear sharing, a model used by the U.S. within NATO, and would not alter France’s sovereign control over its weapons.
European leaders welcomed the announcement, describing it as a step toward deeper defense coordination rather than a replacement for NATO.
In a joint statement, Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said France and Germany would begin deeper integration in deterrence efforts starting this year, including German participation in French nuclear exercises and joint visits to strategic military sites.
Quote:Foreign nations such as Mexico and China have “weaponized” mass migration to infiltrate the US to become “political kingmakers,” author Peter Schweizer said in the latest episode of “Pod Force One.”
Schweizer, the best-selling author of “The Invisible Coup,” explained that while many Americans can easily see the economic and social effects of the unprecedented surge in US immigration that took place under former President Joe Biden, “the political networks” that recent arrivals have “embedded inside the United States” are not as apparent.
“The reality is that this is not the migration of 120 years ago when the Irish came or even 50 years ago when Mexican-Americans came,” Schweizer told “Pod Force One” host Miranda Devine.
“This is weaponized migration that has a political purpose and a political direction and is organized.”
Schweizer noted that several Mexican officials have publicly remarked on how migrants from south of the US border are “reclaiming” territory for Mexico inside America.
“We already know that the Mexican population in the United States reaches 39.9 million,” a top aide to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in December 2024, according to Schweizer.
“We Mexicans are reclaiming our territory,” the official said.
Mexican Sen. Felix Salgado also boasted, “Mexicans are in our territory: California, Nevada, Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Wyoming,” according to Schweizer, citing a report from “just a couple years ago.”
We’re going to take back the territory that was stolen from us,” Salgado said.
Schweizer acknowledged that on the surface, the idea of Mexico seizing US territory “sounds ridiculous.”
But the Mexican government has “erected a political infrastructure in the United States that is geared towards organizing” Mexican migrants “to serve Mexico’s interests in very specific ways,” he insisted.
He claimed that the Mexican government has surreptitiously been “meddling in our domestic politics,” such as by organizing anti-ICE protests within the US.
“They probably don’t literally expect these states to become Mexican states, but they do want to become political kingmakers within our borders – and they are already trying,” he said.
The Chinese government has meanwhile been taking advantage of birthright citizenship in the US, according to Schweizer.
“[T]here are literally thousands of Chinese companies that Chinese elites pay maybe $80,000, $100,000 to fly their pregnant wives or girlfriends to the United States,” the author said. “They give birth here. As soon as the child is able to travel on an airplane again, they fly back to China.
“But they carry with them a birth certificate and the ability to declare themselves an American citizen at any time.”
Schweizer warned that the US government has not been keeping track of how many people have done this – but the Chinese government has and, “The numbers are eye-popping.
Quote:Global shipping has ground to a near halt in the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf since the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran on Saturday.
Iran has declared the waterway effectively closed, stranding more than 100 vessels in the strait, through which roughly a quarter of the world’s seaborne energy passes each day. Oil prices hit a 14-month high of $82 Monday and remain elevated as the conflict widens, with Tehran's retaliatory strikes expanding to hit oil refineries in Gulf neighbors hosting U.S. bases.
“With no quick de-escalation in sight, the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed and Iran showing a willingness to target energy infrastructure in the region, upside risks remain and they grow the longer the conflict drags on,” IG Australia market analyst Tony Sycamore said, per Reuters.
The region with the most exposure to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz is Asia, which sources more than 46 percent of its seaborne crude from the Middle East, particularly China and India.
China, a longtime ally of the Islamic Republic, said the U.S.-Israeli offensive violated international law and has called on all sides to halt the fighting, warning of global knock-on effects.
"Energy policy is vital to the global economy and ensuring unfettered supply is the responsibility of all," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters Monday. "China will do what is necessary to ensure its energy security."
The following list is based on official data from China's General Administration of Customs (GAC), with the exception of Iran. Newsweek reached out to the Chinese, Iranian and Malaysian foreign ministries by email with requests for comment.
China's Top Sources of Oil
1. Russia - 18 percent
2. Saudia Arabia - 14 percent
3. Iran* - 13 percent (est., Kpler)
4. Malaysia** - 11 percent
5. Iraq - 11 percent
6. Brazil - 8 percent
7. United Arab Emirates - 7 percent
8. Oman - 6 percent
9. Angola - 5 percent
10. Kuwait - 3 percent
*Although Beijing has reported no Iranian oil imports since 2022, it is widely believed to be a top buyer, with much of that oil being shipped through unregistered ships of the so-called "shadow fleet." China accounted for an estimated 80 percent of Iran’s crude exports last year, according to Brussels-based analytics firm Kpler.
** Malaysia’s position on the list reflects its role as a transshipment hub for relabeled Iranian crude bound for China. Neither China nor Malaysia recognizes the U.S.' unilateral sanctions as legitimate.
Quote:Beijing's conspicuously restrained response to the United States and Israel's devastation of Iran's leadership and military capabilities has sparked debate over the impact on China's credibility among allies.
Some claim, just as they did after the U.S. capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, that this inaction has exposed impotence in the face of its U.S. rival’s global power-projection capabilities—and the limits of Beijing’s efforts to make inroads into Washington’s influence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
China has accused the U.S. and Israel of violating international law over the attacks, launched despite negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, and the assassination of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But observers note a lack of support beyond public protests.
This has dealt lasting damage to China’s image as a great power and dependable partner, some China watchers say. “China, as well as Russia, is proving to be a feckless friend for its authoritarian allies,” former U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns wrote in an X post.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Embassy in Iran via email for comment.
Asset, Not Ally
Yet this interpretation amounts to viewing the Chinese Communist Party’s calculus through a U.S. lens, Evan A. Feigenbaum, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in an analysis published Monday.
“Too many Western strategists expect China to behave like the United States — and then when China does not behave like the United States, they conclude that it is a strategic failure rather than a deliberate choice, and that a chastened China has been put back on its heels," Feigenbaum said.
Bailing out the now-assassinated Khamenei or Maduro would not have served China’s core security interests, namely, its own region, Feigenbaum argues. To use the term “ally” with regard to Iran suggests a level of commitment that differs markedly from U.S. treaty alliances with security partners such as Japan. China has no formal defense obligations to any partner, save North Korea.
Rather, China is focused on achieving military dominance in the Pacific and on breaking the “first island chain” of chokepoints that the Pentagon would rely on in a great-power conflict.
Meanwhile, Beijing has profited from strong ties with Iran while diversifying its global interests. Iran is but one of several major oil producers, and China is the top trading partner with more than 120 countries, Feigenbaum said.
The toppling of the regime is likewise not the strategic blow some analysts suggest, according to Ryan Hass, director of the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center.
“[Iran] is not the pillar of some grand strategy,” he said in a video commentary. “That said, if the U.S. gets bogged down in Iran, Beijing will celebrate. It will reduce pressure upon China by the U.S.”
Quote:U.S. and Ecuadorian forces launched joint operations Tuesday targeting suspected narco-terrorists in Ecuador, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said.
SOUTHCOM said it was taking "decisive action" against designated terrorist organizations, though it was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties.
"On March 3, Ecuadorian and U.S. military forces launched operations against Designated Terrorist Organizations in Ecuador," SOUTHCOM posted on X. "The operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narco-terrorism."
SOUTHCOM added: "Together, we are taking decisive action to confront narco-terrorists who have long inflicted terror, violence, and corruption on citizens throughout the hemisphere."
SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan praised Ecuador’s military for joining the U.S. in the operations.
"We commend the men and women of the Ecuadorian armed forces for their unwavering commitment to this fight, demonstrating courage and resolve through continued actions against narco-terrorists in their country," he said.
The U.S. Embassy in Ecuador said Tuesday the United States "successfully concluded a joint operation" with Europol and Ecuadorian authorities dismantling the Hernán Ruilova Barzola transnational drug trafficking organization, which it said is linked to the Los Lobos cartel.
The announcement follows a series of U.S. strikes targeting suspected drug-trafficking operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
Last week, U.S. forces struck a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean tied to designated terrorist organizations, killing three suspected traffickers.
That strike came after SOUTHCOM said last month it had carried out three strikes in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean, killing 11.
Overall, the U.S. has conducted at least 43 strikes on alleged drug-smuggling vessels, killing 150 people in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
A well-known Iranian-American activist who has survived several assassination attempts blasted Kamala Harris after the former vice president criticized President Donald Trump over the deadly US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
“Who are you?” asked Masih Alinejad, delivering the stinging rebuke while speaking with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo.
“I am tired of seeing some politicians here in America, especially Democrats, making this about their own politics, scoring political points like Kamala Harris,” she lashed out.
“Suddenly, she kept quiet about the massacre. Suddenly, she found the voice condemning the targeted military strike against the killers. So when ordinary people get massacred, you don’t have any problem?”
Over the weekend, Harris issued a statement describing the attack as “a war the American people do not want” after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in his fortified compound along with 40 top security and regime officials.
“Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice,” Harris said.
“This is a dangerous and unnecessary gamble with American lives that also jeopardizes stability in the region and our standing in the world. What we are witnessing is not strength. It is recklessness dressed up as resolve.”
Alinejad posted a clip of her Fox News appearance to her more than 816,000 followers on X, doubling down on her comments condemning Harris.
“No, honestly. Who are you? A Democrat who built a career talking about women’s rights, yet stayed silent when more than 30,000 people were massacred,” she wrote. “Now suddenly you’ve found your voice?”
Named by BBC Persian and Iran Wire as one of Iran’s 50 most influential women, Alinejad narrowly escaped a chilling murder attempt at her New York home in 2022.
Authorities foiled the hitman’s plan, arresting him near Alinejad’s Brooklyn home after he ran a stop sign. The suspect had made several errors and ultimately confessed, “I was there to kill the journalist.”
Alinejad, known for her outspoken criticism of the Iranian regime and its treatment of women, has survived multiple assassination attempts since fleeing the country after the contested 2009 elections.
Quote:Iranian drones hit an airport in Azerbaijan and a nearby school on Thursday, injuring two people, according to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
“This attack against the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan constitutes a violation of the norms and principles of international law and serves to increase tensions in the region,” the ministry wrote in a statement.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said it demanded explanations from Iran and has summoned its ambassador in Baku to provide clarifications.
An Iranian drone exploded near a secondary school in the village of Shakarabad in Azerbaijan’s Babak District in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, according to Azeri outlet Report.
The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is an exclave of Azerbaijan, bordering on Iran’s northwestern tip and Armenia.
Azerbaijan is a close ally of Israel and possesses one of the Caspian basin’s largest and most modern armies. It has attempted to maintain constructive relations with its neighbor Iran while pursuing a close military cooperation with Israel, Turkey, and NATO member countries.
“We demand that the Islamic Republic of Iran clarify the issue within a short period of time, provide an explanation, and take the necessary urgent measures to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future,” the foreign ministry in Baku said.
In addition to Israel, Iran has hit targets in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates since the war began on Saturday.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that a British Royal Air Force base in Cyprus was also targeted, though on Wednesday, the U.K. Defence Ministry said that “a Shahed-like drone which targeted RAF Akrotiri at midnight on 2nd March was not launched from Iran.”
Cypriot officials said the drone may have been launched from Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Hezbollah, a terrorist group that is an Iranian proxy, and which on Monday began attacking Israel in solidarity with Iran.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told his parliament on Thursday that his country, Spain, France, and the Netherlands will send naval assets to Cyprus following the incident, France24 reported.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Wednesday warned that the continued Iranian attacks against Arab countries constitute a mistake, urging Tehran to halt its operations immediately.
Quote:Iranian bombers came within two minutes of striking the largest base housing US troops in the Middle East before the Qatari air force shot down the aircraft, according to a new report.
The SU-24 planes from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had targeted al-Udeid Air Base — which is home to around 10,000 US service personnel — on Monday until they were intercepted by a Qatari F-15 jet and the military’s warplanes, CNN reported.
One source told the outlet that the SU-24 planes were “carrying bombs and guided munitions.”
The Iranian planes dropped to an altitude of around 80 feet in a bid to avoid detection before Qatar responded by deploying its fleet after classifying the planes as “hostile,” that source said.
The SU-24s were downed in Qatar’s waters and a search for the crews was launched.
The operation marked the first time Qatar’s air force had engaged in air-to-air combat.
“Qatari fighters for the first time have shot down two Iranian bombers on route to their location,” Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.
Qatar also intercepted seven ballistic missiles and five drones fired by Iran.
“The threat was addressed immediately upon detection, in accordance with the operational plan, as all missiles were shot down before reaching their targets,” the Qatar government said.
Iran hasn’t commented on the downing of two of its planes.
Quote:The US will “bitterly regret the precedent it has set” after an American submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship in an attack that left more than 80 sailors dead, the Islamic Republic’s foreign minister warned — while an ayatollah called for President Trump’s blood.
“The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores. Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning,” Abbas Aragchi wrote on X on Thursday.
“Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set.”
Iranian Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli called for the “shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump’s blood” in the wake of the deadly naval attack.
“We are now on the verge of a great test, and we must be careful to fully preserve this unity, to fully preserve this alliance,” Amoli said in a message aired on Iranian state television on Thursday.
“The Imam of the time says, ‘Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders.’”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the ship “thought it was safe in international waters” before it was struck by a Mark 48 torpedo, which costs an estimated $4.2 million.
“Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo — Quiet Death,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth said the strike was the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II, when the USS Torsk sank a Japanese enemy vessel just one day before Japan’s surrender in August 1945.
“Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department, we are fighting to win.”
Video released by the Pentagon appeared to show the vessel being hit by a huge explosion, which ripped apart its rear. The impact of the blast caused the ship to lift and begin sinking from the stern.
Thomas Shugart, of the Center for a New American Security, explained that the torpedo — which he described as one of the most lethal anti-ship weapons in the US’ inventory — would create a “vapor bubble” under the vessel, causing it to split in half.
“This torpedo detonated underneath the stern of the Iranian ship and lifted it up out of the water, and so it sank in a matter of minutes,” he told Fox News Digital.
Sri Lanka’s navy recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 people on Wednesday.
Buddhika Sampath, a Sri Lankan navy spokesperson, said there were no signs of the vessel when rescue crews arrived, “only some oil patches and life rafts.”
Quote:Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed an attack Thursday on an American oil tanker in the northern reaches of the Persian Gulf.
The statement read on Iranian state television did not elaborate, but may be linked to an attack off the coast of Kuwait earlier in the day in which a tanker was targeted, according to a report from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center.
Quote:KYIV — The United States has asked Ukraine to share its battlefield expertise in countering Iranian-made drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday.
Zelenksy said he gave instructions to “provide the necessary means and ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists” who can help protect the US in the war against Iran.
“Ukraine helps partners who help ensure our security and protect the lives of our people,” he said.
The expertise could help the US and partner nations save not just lives but millions of dollars, as Ukraine has developed cheaper alternatives to shooting down the drones instead of relying on $4 million Patriot interceptor missiles, Kyiv officials said.
Asked about the development by The Post on Thursday, President Trump praised cooperation among allied countries responding to the threat.
“We’re having a lot of success. We have a lot of great champions,” Trump said of partner nations helping counter attacks linked to Iran. “We have a lot of winners.”
Countries in the Middle East have been facing strikes from Iranian “Shahed” drones — the same type widely used by Russia against Ukrainian cities since the start of the full-scale invasion.
“We received signals from partners in the Middle East. There have been strikes by Iranian ‘shaheds’ on civilians in those countries,” Zelensky also said in a post to X. “They are seeking our expertise.”
It was an Iranian drone strike that killed six US soldiers in Kuwait on March 1, as the US military was unable to intercept it in time.
Ukraine has spent years building up defenses against the long-range one-way attack drones, developing interceptor drones and other tactics to bring them down more cheaply than traditional air defense missiles.
In the post, which used remarks he made to Rai Italia, Zelensky said Kyiv would be open to sharing that experience.
“If their representatives come, we will provide the expertise,” he said, adding that requests have also come from European partners and the United States to share lessons learned from Ukraine’s defense against drone barrages.
Asked about Zelensky’s offer, Trump also told Reuters on Thursday he would “take any assistance from any country.”
Maj. Gen. Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy chief of Ukraine’s defense intelligence, told The Post in Kyiv on Monday that Kyiv’s approach is multi-pronged — a necessity for the complex threats of modern warfare.
“We have the expertise to know when and from which direction the Shaheds are launched, and the routes they fly,” he said. “We use different types of air defense systems in cooperation — mobile groups, missiles, anti-air defense systems and radio electronic warfare.”
Skibitskyi predicted that Kyiv would most likely provide Ukrainian troops to train partner militaries on how to address the threat.
Quote:The Canadian and Australian prime ministers on Thursday called for a de-escalation of the Iran war but added the Iranians must never gain a nuclear weapon.
Canada’s Mark Carney and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese discussed the war during their meeting in Australia’s capital, Canberra.
The meeting came after news that a US submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean and Turkey said NATO defenses intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran before it entered Turkey’s airspace.
“We want to see a broader de-escalation of these hostilities with a broader group of countries than just the direct belligerents involved,” Carney said at a press conference with Albanese.
“We stress that that cannot be achieved unless we’re in a position that Iran’s ability to acquire a nuclear weapon, develop a nuclear weapon, and to export terrorism, is ended. So that process must lead to those outcomes,” Carney added.
He said the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which were “showing tremendous restraint,” should become involved in the de-escalation process.
Albanese said: “The world wants to see a de-escalation and wants to see Iran cease to spread the destinations of its attacks.”
“We’re seeing Gulf states, that have not been involved, attacked across the board, including the attacks on civilian and tourist areas as well. But we also want to see the objectives achieved. I want to see the possibility of Iran getting a nuclear weapon removed once and for all,” Albanese said.
Questioned by a reporter, Carney could not rule out the Canadian military ever becoming involved in the conflict.
“You’ve asked a fundamental hypothetical in a conflict that can spread very broadly,” Carney said.
“So one can never categorically rule out participation. We will stand by our allies when it makes sense,” he added.
Carney is in Australia on a trade-focused, three-nation visit that began in India last week. He addressed the Australian Parliament on Thursday and will fly to Japan on Friday.
Quote:Dramatic video shows 50 fighter jets destroying slain Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s secret underground bunker in Tehran early Friday — just days after he was killed without being able to crawl into his hideout.
Roughly 100 bombs were dropped in a wave of devastating blasts at the compound where the unsuspecting supreme leader and dozens of his top henchmen were wiped out last Saturday.
Those blasts came as Israeli forces also targeted a series of headquarters of Hezbollah in Lebanon Friday, officials said.
The Iranian underground bunker, which is said to have spanned multiple streets, was still being utilized by senior Iranian officials in the wake of Khamenei’s assassination, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Aerial footage released by the Israeli military shows the moment the bunker — described as “one of the Iranian leadership’s most important military command centers” — was obliterated in the strike.
“The underground bunker was built beneath the compound and was a secure emergency asset for managing the war by the leader, who was eliminated before he managed to use it,” the military said, according to the Times of Israel.
The site — located directly under Khamenei’s closely guarded headquarters — had “many entry points and rooms for gatherings of senior members of the Iranian terror regime.”
The compound is the same location where Israeli fighter jets launched the opening strike of the war — dubbed “Operation Epic Fury” — a week ago.
Israel used a powerful ballistic missile to turn Khamenei’s building into rubble — killing the despotic cleric, dozens of officials and several members of his family.
Quote:President Trump said late Thursday that a US ground invasion of Iran would be a “waste of time” because the Islamic Republic has already “lost everything” — after Tehran’s foreign minister said the regime was “waiting” for American and Israeli forces.
Trump called Abbas Araghchi’s claim a “wasted comment” in a phone interview with NBC News.
“It’s a waste of time,” the president said. “They’ve lost everything. They’ve lost their navy. They’ve lost everything they can lose.”
Earlier Thursday, CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper revealed that more than 30 Iranian warships have been sunk or destroyed since the US launched Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28 — including the Shahid Soleimani-class IRIS Shahid Sayyad Shirazi and the frigate IRIS Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka, with the latter operation killing at least 87 sailors.
The US also attacked a drone carrier — IRIS Shahid Bagheri — and set the vessel ablaze, according to footage released by CENTCOM Thursday evening.
Cooper added that B-2 bombers had dropped dozens of 2,000-pound bombs on buried ballistic missile launchers and that US forces had hit Tehran’s version of Space Command.
“The US military is in the process of dismantling Iran’s missile production capability for the future,” Cooper said. “We’re not just hitting what they have. We’re destroying their ability to rebuild.”
Israel’s military launched “a broad-scale wave of strikes” on Friday against Tehran and Beirut, while ground forces clashed with Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon after the Islamic Republic fired drones and missiles into Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
In a separate interview with NBC Thursday, Aragchi said he was “confident” that Iran’s army would repel any ground invasion.
“We are waiting for them,” he said. “Because we are confident that we can confront them, and that would be a big disaster for them.”
Iran has the largest active-duty military of any Middle Eastern nation, with an estimated 600,000 personnel mobilized.
Also Thursday night, Trump said he had some candidates in mind to run Iran following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war.
“We want to go in and clean out everything,” Trump told NBC News. “We don’t want someone who would rebuild over a 10-year period. We want them to have a good leader. We have some people who I think would do a good job.”
The president added that his administration was “watching” preferred candidates — whom Trump did not identify — to ensure they make it through the war alive.
Quote:An American bomber that can carry 24 missiles and reach speeds up to 900 mph landed at a UK base Friday — days after President Trump warned Iran this week that “the big one” could be imminent.
The B-1 Lancer reached RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, according to the BBC, after it was reported earlier in the week that a fleet of mighty US military aircraft was slated to arrive at that military site and Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands.
The bomber’s presence comes after the British government initially rejected the Trump administration’s request to carry out strikes from the bases. Prime Minister Keir Starmer later reversed course.
The US fleet, including B-2 stealth bombers, was expected to reach the UK in a “matter of days,” the Telegraph reported Wednesday.
Starmer granted permission to use the sites for limited defensive purposes after Iran started shooting indiscriminately at allies in the Middle East, the outlet reported Friday.
Nicknamed “the Bone,” the B-1 Lancer is manned by four crew members and is the fastest bomber in the US Air Force, according to the BBC. It also boasts advanced radar and GPS systems to hone in on targets, as well as decoy apparatus and electronic jammers.
“Carrying the largest conventional payload of both guided and unguided weapons in the Air Force inventory, the multi-mission B-1 is the backbone of America’s long-range bomber force,” the Air Force says on its website.
“It can rapidly deliver massive quantities of precision and non-precision weapons against any adversary, anywhere in the world, at any time.”
Trump threatened Iran on Monday that “the big one is coming” as he vowed to ramp up strikes on the Islamic Republic after war broke out last weekend.
“We haven’t even started hitting them hard,” Trump said. “The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also said Thursday that firepower over Tehran was “about to surge dramatically” with the help of the UK bases, the Telegraph reported.
“When we say more to come, it’s more fighter squadrons, it’s more capabilities, it’s more defensive capabilities,” he said. “And it’s more bomber pulses more frequently.”
Meanwhile, Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said in a televised statement Friday that the joint US-Israeli bombing campaign has “additional surprises ahead which I do not intend to disclose.”
But he noted the next phase in the war that reached its 7th day would “further dismantle the regime and its military capabilities”.
The B-2 stealth bombers, which targeted Iranian ballistic missile sites at the start of the conflict, cost about $2 billion each and are known as the world’s priciest aircraft, Fox News reported.
Quote:BEIRUT/WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM — Israel pounded Beirut on Friday after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of the entire southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, a major expansion of the war against Iran it began a week ago alongside the United States.
Israel also launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying 50 of its warplanes had struck a bunker beneath the Tehran compound of slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, still being used by Iran’s leadership after he was killed on the war’s first day.
In one of the first signals since the war began of any possible diplomatic initiative to end it, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on X: “Some countries have begun mediation efforts.” He did not identify the countries or provide further details.
“Let’s be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region, but we have not the slightest hesitation in defending the dignity and authority of our country. Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict,” he added.
Under Iran’s system, the president is subordinate to the supreme leader, but Pezeshkian is now serving on a panel that has assumed Khamenei’s duties.
In an apparent escalation of his own war aims, President Trump demanded the right to help choose Khamenei’s successor.
Israel extends bombing to Lebanon
Israel has extended its bombing to Lebanon to root out Hezbollah, the Shi’ite militia allied to Iran that has been a dominant faction in Lebanese politics since the 1980s. Hezbollah fired on Israel this week to avenge the death of Khamenei.
Explosions lit up the night sky over Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The Israeli military said it carried out 26 waves of strikes overnight against Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage.
Quote:CNN was accused of pushing out “pro-Iran regime propaganda” by the Trump administration on Thursday after a reporter for the network said it appeared daily life was continuing despite the ongoing war.
Senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen said during a segment that all the shelves in shops are stocked, “even with fresh things,” as he casually held a cup of coffee.
“Fuel seems readily available, and you just don’t see any degree of panic anywhere,” he said.
Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson slammed Pleitgen’s report while sharing a 30-second clip of the segment.
“CNN appears to now be doing straight-up pro-Iran regime propaganda because someone gave this guy a coffee…” he wrote on X.
Pleitgen shot back at Johnson that he bought the cup of joe.
CNN is currently the only American media outlet in Iran – though the network noted it’s with permission from the Iranian government.
The State Department said in a statement to an NPR reporter that “we encourage media outlets to verify information with official US government sources before publication,” when asked why it considered CNN’s report propaganda.
CNN pushed back on the Trump official’s statement Friday, with a spokesperson stressing, “The role of journalism is to bear witness to events as they occur, to report out to audiences factually what a reporter is seeing, without agenda and with context.”
“Being able to do this from on the ground inside Iran during this conflict is of particular importance. Fred Pleitgen is providing valuable insight for CNN’s audiences, adding to our wider reporting that features multiple perspectives from civilians, opposition voices, as well as officials, alongside raw photos and video capturing what Iran is like today,” the CNN spokesperson said.
“Each report also provides full transparent disclosure that the team is reporting from inside Iran with government permission.”
In CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter’s newsletter, he called the criticism “unfair.”
Quote:Far-left “Squad” Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) were among dozens of House Democrats this week that voted against reaffirming Iran as the “largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
The resolution, introduced by Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), passed in a 372-53 vote Thursday, with only Democrats opposing the nonbinding measure – which also declared that Iran “provides substantial financial and military support to groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.”
Lefty Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Al Green (D-Texas), along with New York’s Yvette Clarke and Nydia Velázquez, were among the lawmakers joining Ocasio-Cortez and Omar in voting against the resolution.
The White House noted that “State Departments of both parties have declared since 1984” that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism.
“Just 3 years ago, a resolution condemning the terrorist Iranian regime passed the House by a vote of 420-1,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X. “Now 53 House Democrats just refused to reaffirm that Iran remains the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.
“Trump Derangement Syndrome is melting their brains.”
Mast’s resolution further stated that Iran “poses a direct and persistent threat to the United States and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American citizens.”
“Iranian-backed proxy militias are responsible for the deaths of at least 603 US service members in Iraq – roughly one in every six American combat fatalities,” the measure continued, adding that the regime has “amassed a large stockpile of enriched uranium and continues to block access to undeclared sites in Iran affiliated with their ‘big, ambitious nuclear weapons program.’”
Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) indicated that she voted against the measure because of her opposition to President Trump’s military operation against Iran.
“Iran is obviously a state sponsor of terrorism. There’s no debate on that,” Jacobs wrote on X. “The issue is that Republicans are using this to claim that Iran is harboring Al Qaeda (sound familiar?) and is a direct and persistent threat to the US so they can legally justify this reckless war.”
Quote:London police said Friday that four men have been arrested on suspicion of aiding Iran by spying on the Jewish community.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said the suspects — one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian nationals — were taken into custody on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service.
The men, who were arrested at addresses in and around north London shortly after 1 a.m., are suspected of spying on locations and individuals.
Police said the men arrested are aged 22, 40, 52 and 55 and that searches are ongoing at the addresses as well as other properties nearby.
Six other men were also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and have been taken into custody, the force said.
“We understand the public may be concerned, in particular the Jewish community, and as always, I would ask them to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us,” said Commander Helen Flanagan, who is in charge of counterterrorism policing in London.
The arrests come as the US and Israel continue to strike Iran, which has kept up retaliatory strikes on Israel, US bases and across the region.
Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump announced Thursday that he is firing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in the first cabinet shakeup of his second term — naming Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) as his nominee to fill the role.
Trump announced the move after two major flubs by Noem in her testimony before Congress this week. She failed to outright deny an affair with a subordinate. And she told Congress that the president approved $220 million in ads featuring herself, including one of her on horseback at Mount Rushmore. Trump accused her of lying before canning her.
“I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“The current Secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!), will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida. I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland.’”
Trump dedicated the remainder of his statement to praising Mullin.
Noem, 54, faced withering bipartisan grilling by senators Tuesday and by the House on Wednesday.
Neither appearance went well for her.
The former South Dakota governor stunningly declined to deny having “sexual relations” with her top aide, Corey Lewandowski, couldn’t say if he received any ad proceeds and denied that he approved contracts — despite significant evidence that he had.
The shocking questions about her sex life came as her husband, Bryon, made a rare public appearance to support her during her testimony. He had left the hearing by the time Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) bluntly asked Noem: “Have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?”
“I am shocked that we’re going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today,” Noem said in response. “I would tell you is that he is a special government employee who works for the White House. There are thousands of them in the federal government.”
Another lawmaker gave her chance to directly deny the allegation but Noem responded: “I think the ridiculousness of this and the tabloids that you are quoting and referencing are insane.”
Quote:Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been accused of gaslighting residents while “protecting” violent gangbangers — after the feds took down several members of the city’s largest gang in a daring, heavily-armed raid near MacArthur Park on Thursday.
The embattled leader previously blasted a federal operation in July, which saw immigration agents descend on the troubled park to root out MS-13 gangbangers and open-air drug markets, calling it “outrageous” and “un-American.”
She also insisted at the time that MacArthur Park, which has long been plagued by gang activity, homelessness and drug addicts overdosing on fentanyl, was a beloved children’s sanctuary.
“Minutes before, there were more than 20 kids playing — then, the MILITARY comes through,” Bass ranted on X, posting a time-lapse video of the agents marching across an empty soccer field inside the park.
The resurfaced comments irked many fed-up Angelenos — after the FBI helmed a multi-agency raid that nabbed 12 members and associates of the notorious 18th Street gang on Thursday.
The gang is a major player in the drug epidemic gripping LA. It is a top trafficker of methamphetamine and fentanyl, with a special focus of their operations in MacArthur Park.
Gloria Romero, former State Senate Majority Leader and current candidate for California Lieutenant Governor, swiftly called out Bass.
“Didn’t @MayorOfLA claim they were just picnicking? Anyone with eyes could see the total destruction, corruption, trafficking that was going on there. Thanks to @billessayli maybe we might be able to picnic there one day,” she sniped on X.
“Why didn’t you take care of this problem, @MayorOfLA? Another failure,” Kent Moyer, the CEO of private security company The World Protection Group, also seethed.
“You publicly promoted MacArthur Park as a safe, family-friendly place for the community — yet gangs were controlling the area. Angelenos deserve leadership that confronts reality and protects our neighborhoods, not photo ops and empty assurances.”
Quote:Former President Joe Biden told mourners at Rev. Jesse Jackson’s memorial service Friday that he is “a hell of a lot smarter than most of you,” a pointed remark that stood out during his tribute to the late civil rights leader.
Biden made the comment while recounting how he was mocked as a child for his stutter and how speech impediments are often mistaken for a lack of intelligence.
“If I told you I had a cleft palate or clubfoot, none of you would have laughed,” Biden said.
“But it’s OK to laugh at stuttering. … It’s the one place where people think you’re stupid.
“Oh, really? I’m a h— of a lot smarter than most of you,” he added, before quickly pivoting back to his broader point.
“But all kidding aside, it makes you feel really small.”
Biden made the remark during a memorial service in Chicago that brought together prominent Democratic leaders and civil rights figures to honor Jackson’s decades-long political influence.
Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton attended the service along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Kamala Harris and Rev. Al Sharpton.
The event was held at the 10,000-seat House of Hope arena, where hundreds gathered to celebrate Jackson’s life and legacy.
Jackson, who died at age 84, rose to prominence as a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement.
He later founded the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and mounted two Democratic presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988 that expanded Black voter participation and reshaped the party’s electoral coalition.
Throughout the service, speakers praised Jackson’s ability to build political alliances and elevate issues affecting marginalized communities.
Biden, who has frequently spoken about working to overcome his childhood stutter, framed his remarks around resilience and the lasting impact of being ridiculed as a young person.
Quote:Desperate FBI agents returned to Nancy Guthrie’s neighborhood Thursday to question neighbors about problems with their internet — as the sheriff is said to have cut manpower focused on the shocking kidnapping case.
Agents were seen “talking to several different neighbors” Thursday, NewsNation’s Brian Entin said as he filmed some going door to door.
They also reportedly searched a house immediately west of Guthrie’s, talking to neighbors while looking in the garage, Entin reported.
Investigators asked locals whether they had any internet issues the night Guthrie went missing, NBC News reported Friday.
Agents told some neighbors that others in the area reported glitches in their connectivity that night.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said the FBI and his team had looked into whether the suspect had a WiFi jammer on him the night he kidnapped the 84-year-old matriarch.
While the FBI returned to the area, the manpower devoted to the high-profile case has already been scaled back 33 days into the search, a local police leader told the outlet.
“Everybody wishes that we had some hot leads, that the whole department’s working, trying to run down to solve this quickly,” said Sgt. Aaron Cross, president of the Pima County Deputies Organization.
“So the fact that we’re reducing the amount of manpower working it, I mean, it’s hard to say what kind of sign that signals.”
Guthrie, the mom of “TODAY” host Savannah Guthrie, was last seen Jan. 31 when she was dropped off at her home in the Catalina Hills neighborhood of Tucson following a family dinner.
Last month, police released surveillance footage of her alleged captor — but have so far failed to identify a suspect.
Quote:An Oklahoma mom and her 13-year-old daughter were tragically killed when a horrific tornado ripped through the region Thursday night, devastated family members confirmed.
Jodie and Lexi Owens were found dead inside their van after a raging twister struck their vehicle while they were driving near State Highway 60 and County Road 2430 in Fairview around 10 p.m., according to a GoFundMe launched by their loved ones and multiple reports.
The 47-year-old mom of eight was on the phone with her kids warning them to take cover when the call suddenly dropped — and she was later reported missing, her grief-stricken family said in the fundraiser.
Harrowing footage captured by News 9 showed the mangled vehicle in a deserted field after the deadly storm apparently hurled it off the highway.
“Severe weather struck Major County last night and tragically claimed the lives of a mother and daughter,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement on X Friday morning.
“I am praying for the family as they grieve this tragic loss, as well as those impacted by the storms. More weather risks are expected across Oklahoma this weekend. Please stay weather aware and follow guidance from local officials to keep your family safe.”
Authorities are investigating the cause of their deaths, KOCO reported.
At least four tornadoes tore through western Oklahoma Thursday night, the National Weather Service reported, with storm chasers capturing terrifying footage of one monster twister barreling through the area.
Quote:The Department of Homeland Security blasted Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger after a criminal illegal migrant with over 30 arrests was accused of stabbing a mother in the Washington, D.C.-area and now could be released from custody.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, was recently arrested for allegedly stabbing a 41-year-old woman to death at a bus stop in Fairfax County, Virginia, in late February. He was charged with murder, but Spanberger's office reportedly indicated she would not honor a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer. A governor's spokesperson told WJLA that DHS would need to take an extra step and seek a signed judicial warrant from a local judge instead in order to ensure that Jalloh is deported.
"Sanctuary [Gov. Abigail Spanberger] is fighting to protect a MURDERER over American citizens," DHS posted to X. "This monster is responsible for fatally stabbing Stephanie Minter."
"ICE does NOT need judicial warrants to make arrests," the post continued. "The heroes of ICE will continue to arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens across the Commonwealth while Governor Spanberger RELEASES them from jails into Virginia communities to commit more crimes and create more victims."
Jalloh, an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone in West Africa, was arrested at a liquor store the day after allegedly murdering Stephanie Minter at a bus stop. An employee of the store called 911 accusing Jalloh of shoplifting.
DHS says Jalloh entered the country in 2012 and has more than a dozen arrests in northern Virginia alone, but he was released back to the streets on nearly every occasion.
DHS also says his criminal history "includes more than 30 arrests for charges of rape, malicious wounding, assault, drug possession, identity theft, trespassing, larceny, firing a weapon, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and pick pocketing."
In early February, Spanberger ended cooperation with state agencies and federal immigration authorities through an executive directive.
"I have serious concerns that chaotic federal law enforcement actions across the country are eroding years of trust built by our officers within the communities they serve," Spanberger said in a statement following the executive directive. "When state and local law enforcement are pulled away from investigating crimes and upholding our Virginia laws to do the job of federal agents, it weakens their ability to deepen trust within their communities."
"This contributes to a culture of fear and distrust that makes it harder for officers to do their jobs," Spanberger added.
Spanberger reversed an order, 287(g), which was issued by former GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin. It allowed local law enforcement officers to perform specified immigration officer functions under ICE’s direction and oversight, which includes preventing criminal illegal migrants from being released back into the community and identifying illegal migrants already locked up in local jails.
"If, for some reason, this monster gets released, [Spanberger] will not let ICE know when he's being released," Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday. "I would think in a different time and a different place that we could all actually agree that if somebody is here illegally, and they're being released from prison that we would let federal law enforcement know about it."
Quote:KYIV — Baby making has turned into a patriotic act in Ukraine.
Fighting back against massive population losses after four years of a Russian invasion, Ukrainian women are birthing little warrior babies in defiance of Vladimir Putin’s siege.
For 35-year-old Katerina Minder, that decision is existential. She’s having another baby during the war to resist the Russian invasion and continue the Ukrainian heritage.
“I think it’s my power,” Minder told the Post as she prepared for a C-section to deliver her second son on Monday. “It’s my help for my country. Yes, to keep life and to be Ukrainian. I am proud to be proud of it.”
The prolonged Russia-Ukraine war has accelerated a demographic collapse in the country. The death rate in 2025 outpaced the birth rate by about 3 to 1.
Millions have fled abroad, couples are separated, thousands have been killed and birth rates have plunged.
Before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine saw roughly 30,000 births per month, according to Kyiv School of Economics sociologist Tymofii Brik.
Now, that number has dropped to about 10,000 to 12,000 monthly, he told The Post — a staggering decline that underscores the long-term toll of the conflict.
Ukraine’s government recognizes the seriousness of the population losses, too.
Active-duty service members can now freeze their eggs and sperm for free to combat the wartime demographic crisis under a government program. This allows war fighters to prolong their fertility and permits their spouses to use frozen sperm and eggs even after their death to make babies.
In wartime, motherhood carries a heavier symbolism.
Mother Hanna Vanfundin said she decided to have a baby to “keep the Ukrainian population going.”
Having children has taken on added meaning amid fears that Putin’s war aims go beyond territory — but striking at Ukrainian identity itself, she said.
“Many people, not only militaries, but also civilian and adult and children, are dying because of war, so it’s very important for demography,” Vanfundin told The Post, while waiting in line at a refugee agency.
For these women, childbirth is not just a private milestone, but a declaration that Ukraine will endure.
Igor Sirenko, Minder’s doctor, said it was a great privilege to be an obstetrician in wartime. While some treat wounds, he brings life into the world.
But not every day is easy. Air alarms still spur expectant mothers into shelters, and there’s no real end to the conflict in site.
Quote:BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian authorities detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying large amounts of cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said Friday.
Ukraine accused Hungary’s pro-Russian government of taking the Ukrainians hostage and illegally seizing millions of dollars in cash.
“We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Friday. “Everyone who is responsible for taking and holding our citizens hostage will be held accountable.”
The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and Ukraine as part of regular services between state banks, Sybiha said.
The shipment apprehended by Hungary included 40 million US dollars as well as 35 million euros and 9 kilograms (19.8 pounds) of gold — worth around $1.5 million at current prices — according to a separate statement by Oschadbank.
Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Administration confirmed Friday that it had detained the Ukrainian citizens and seized the two armored cash-transport vehicles. It added that it was conducting criminal proceedings on suspicion of money laundering.
In a later statement, Hungary’s Government Information Center said the seven Ukrainians would be expelled from Hungarian territory on Friday. It said they included a former general of the Ukrainian Security Service, a former major of the Ukrainian Air Force and “individuals with military experience.”
The statement did not detail why, if the Ukrainians were suspected of money laundering, they would be released from custody and expelled.
The incident further inflamed rising tensions between Hungary and Ukraine, which are embroiled in a bitter feud over Hungary’s access to Russian oil through a pipeline that crosses Ukrainian territory.
Quote:KABUL — Pakistani and Afghan troops exchanged fire at dozens of points along their border Friday as the UN said their week-old conflict has forced the displacement of more than 100,000 people.
The South Asian nations show no signs of rapprochement in their worst fighting in years, adding to the volatility in a region also contending with US and Israeli strikes on Iran — a nation that borders both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Combat has included Pakistani airstrikes on Taliban government installations, such as the Bagram air base north of the Afghan capital, Kabul.
Homes shelled during Ramadan meals
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense said Taliban forces struck Pakistani military installations in more than two dozen locations along the 2,600-km (1,600-mile) border, destroying 14 posts and shooting down a drone.
It said seven Afghan civilians and three Taliban fighters were killed in overnight fighting.
Pakistani security sources said they carried out ground and air operations against military targets including Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban and where its core leadership resides, and destroyed several Afghan border posts.
Dozens gathered in Kabul on Friday to protest Pakistan’s attacks on Afghan territory, chanting anti-Pakistan slogans, a witness said, while the Bakhter news agency said a large gathering in Laghman Province demonstrated against Pakistan’s recent attacks.
...
‘Nothing to talk about’
Several countries have offered to negotiate a truce, most recently Turkey, although the Iran war has diverted the attention of most Gulf states that had stepped forward.
Pakistani government spokesperson Mosharraf Zaidi said no negotiations were taking place to end the conflict.
“There is nothing to talk about. There will be no dialogue and no negotiations,” he told state-owned Pakistan TV. “Terrorism from Afghanistan has to end — that is Afghanistan’s problem. Pakistan’s responsibility is to protect its citizens.”
The conflict began last week with Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan that Islamabad said targeted militant strongholds. Afghanistan called the strikes a violation of sovereignty and announced retaliatory operations.
Islamabad has said Kabul provides safe haven to militants executing attacks on Pakistan from its soil. The Taliban have denied aiding such groups and said militancy in Pakistan is an internal problem.
Quote:A blackout left millions of people without power in Havana and the rest of western Cuba on Wednesday in the latest outage on an island struggling with dwindling oil reserves and a crumbling electric grid.
Government radio station Radio Rebelde quoted an energy official as saying that it could take at least 72 hours to restore operations at one of Cuba’s largest thermoelectric power plants, where a shutdown sparked the outage.
The government’s electric utility said on social platform X that the outage affected people from the western town of Pinar del Rio to the central town of Camaguey.
Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy wrote on X late Wednesday that the government was powering critical infrastructure in the affected region as two power plants came online. Such infrastructure includes hospitals and medical clinics.
“We are working to restore the National Electric System amid a complex energy situation,” he wrote earlier on X.
The US Embassy warned people to “prepare for significant disruptions” and conserve fuel, water, food and mobile phone batteries. “Cuba’s national power grid is increasingly unreliable, and scheduled and unscheduled power outages are prolonged and a daily occurrence across the country, including Havana,” it said on X.
‘We’ll have to eat bread again’
By late afternoon, the government said crews had restored power to 2.5% of Havana, or some 21,100 customers, noting that efforts were gradual and tied to what the system’s conditions would allow. It did not provide updated numbers by late Wednesday night.
“We trust in the experience and effort of the electrical workers to overcome this situation in the shortest possible time,” Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz wrote on X.
Quote:A top Justice Department prosecutor has launched an inquiry into Cuban government officials that could result in indictments against the Communist regime’s leaders, according to multiple reports.
The “working group” assembled by US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones, includes federal prosecutors and officials with the Treasury Department, State Department, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and other agencies, multiple outlets reported on Friday.
Quiñones’ aim is to build criminal cases against people inside the Cuban government, which could allow the Trump administration to forcibly remove some of the island’s top leaders in a manner similar to the operation that deposed Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in January.
It’s unclear which Cuban leaders or people linked to the regime Quiñones’ office is targeting.
“Federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime,” the DOJ said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The move comes as President Trump has suggested Cuba’s Communist dictatorship is in its death throes.
“Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon, by the way, unrelated, but Cuba is gonna fall too,” Trump told CNN host Dana Bash in a phone interview.
“They want to make a deal so badly. They want to make a deal, and so I’m going to put [Secretary of State] Marco [Rubio] over there and we’ll see how that works out. We’re really focused on this one [Iran] right now. We’ve got plenty of time, but Cuba’s ready — after 50 years,” the president added. “I’ve been watching it for 50 years, and it’s fallen right into my lap — because of me, it’s fallen — but it’s nevertheless fallen right into the lap. And we’re doing very well.”
Meanwhile, Cuban-American lawmakers have pushed Trump to seek an indictment against Raul Castro – the 94-year-old Cuban general, ex-president and brother of dead dictator Fidel Castro.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:Iranian state news agency Fars reported on Sunday evening that Ayatollah Seyed Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been elected as the country's new Supreme Leader.
Newsweek reached out to the White House by email on Sunday evening for comment.
The Context
Khamenei died in the first wave of strikes launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28 as part of Operation Epic Fury. An 88 person council adjourned over the following week to discuss and elect the new leader, with some analysts suggesting that the longer the process lasted, the more it indicated fractures in the Iranian regime.
Several major figures have been touted as potential candidates, including Khamenei's son Mojtaba and senior cleric Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, the latter of whom is part of the three-man council tasked with picking the next leader, along with Pezeshkian and Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, as established under Article 111 of Iran’s constitution.
On Sunday, Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency reported that the nation's Assembly of Experts, responsible for picking a new head of the regime, had elected a replacement after days of uncertainty over who would take over as the new Supreme Leader, with Mojtaba announced later in the day.
What To Know
Mojtaba, 56, is the second of Khamenei's son and was an early frontrunner to take the post - touted by many as his father's most likely successor long before the Operation Epic Fury - and many of the country's hard-liner clerics supporting his ascension.
The younger Khamenei does not have a huge public profile, but the regime has long been accused of paving the way for him to take over. His critics have long-expressed concerns over what they say has been behind-the-scenes involvement in major decisions, such as the 2005 and 2009 elections.
State TV read a statement saying he was selected based on “strong” votes and urging the nation to unite behind him, and showed people celebrating in public areas of Tehran.
The Revolutionary Guard issued a statement expressing support, and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah shared a portrait of the younger Khamenei on Telegram with the caption, “Leader of the blessed Islamic revolution.”
Quote:Iran has chosen its replacement for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed last weekend in coordinated strikes by the U.S. and Israel.
The new leader of the Islamic regime will be, as many expected, Khamenei’s son Mojtaba. However, it’s unclear how long he’ll hold the position, as U.S. President Donald Trump has already called him an “unacceptable” option.
Who Is Mojtaba Khamenei?
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was born in 1969 in Mashhad, about 10 years before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. After the fall of the Shah, his family moved to Tehran. He fought in the Iran-Iraq war, the Associated Press reported.
He became an increasingly influential figure as his father took power in 1989. The AP reported U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks had described him as "the power behind the robes" and "widely viewed within the regime as a capable and forceful leader and manager who may someday succeed to at least a share of national leadership."
Mojtaba was an early frontrunner to become Supreme Leader, having been touted by many as his father's most likely successor long before the U.S. and Israeli strikes. He had studied with religious clerics in Qom, creating relationships with religious leadership, The New York Times reported. Many of the country's hard-liner clerics have supported his ascension.
What Has President Trump Said About Mojtaba Khamenei?
On Sunday, Trump told ABC News about the new leader: “He’s going to have to get approval from us. If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long. We want to make sure that we don’t have to go back every 10 years, when you don’t have a president like me that’s not going to do it.”
Trump did not explicitly say the U.S. would remove Mojtaba Khamenei, but suggested any leader chosen without his administration's approval would face consequences.
Asked if he would approve someone with ties to the old regime, Trump said: "I would, in order to choose a good leader, I would, yeah, I would. There are numerous people that could qualify."
Trump also told Axios on Thursday, “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran...They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela.” He noted he was personally involved in leadership decisions there and intends to be similarly engaged with Iran.
He also told Reuters on Thursday: “We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future. We don’t have to go back every five years and do this again and again.”
Meanwhile, U.S. officials have said the goal of the operations against Iran has been to diminish the nation's nuclear program and Navy, not regime change.
When asked by reporters about who he would like to see rule Iran earlier this week, Trump said, "Most of the people we had in mind are dead."
Quote:President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday he believes the map of Iran will "probably not" look the same after the war ends.
When asked if he believes the map of Iran will "look the same after all this is done," Trump said initially, "I can't tell you," but quickly added, "Probably not."
Why It Matters
The war in Iran widened again on Thursday as Israeli evacuation orders sent residents scrambling in Beirut, European governments rushed additional military assets into the Middle East, and global markets braced for further instability. A week into the U.S.–Israeli bombing campaign, the war is spilling rapidly across borders, reshaping regional politics and alarming world leaders. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to work to evacuate citizens in the region.
U.S. officials have said the goal of the operations against Iran has been to diminish the country's nuclear program and Navy, not regime change. When asked by reporters about who he would like to see rule Iran on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said, "Most of the people we had in mind are dead."
However, Trump said he plans to play a direct role in choosing Iran’s next leader following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to an interview with Axios.
What To Know
Reporters peppered the president with dozens of questions about various aspects of the war, which has lasted for one week and included two major joint U.S.-Israel strikes. The initial strike on February 28 killed Khamenei, and both the U.S. and Israel claimed that the strikes killed dozens of top commanders and officials, effectively throwing any chain of succession into chaos.
When asked if he believes the map of Iran will "look the same after all this is done," Trump said initially, "I can't tell you," but quickly added, "Probably not."
Already, Iran is feeling the strain of its leadership crisis, especially after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized to neighboring countries for retaliatory strikes carried out against them over the past week.
Some parliament members severely criticized Pezeshkian for his apology, with one member calling the message "weak, unprofessional, and publicly unacceptable," while another slammed his fellow members for a "diversionary and toxic debate” over succession, writing on X that "the stench of the power struggle in wartime is nauseating."
What Happens After the Iran War Ends?
The question of "the day after" the conflict ends has remained - at best - vague, especially when Trump said he's not thinking about what comes next and has insisted that everyone should "forget about next."
"Forget about next," he replied to a question. "They are decimated for a 10-year period before they could build it back."
Former MI-6 chief John Sawyer earlier this week told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that he believes the conflict - which he deemed an "unnecessary war" - could lead to Iran fragmenting similarly to the fallout in Syria after Bashar al-Assad's ousting and, more famously, Afghanistan.
"I think just as dangerous is the possibility that the regime might corrode or collapse and lose control of parts of the country, and then you could have a situation like the one we faced in Syria for the last year or so, where the country fragments into several different parts and local administrations crop up often on an ethnic basis," Sawyer said.
"If the country dissolves into component parts... It'll be basically a failed state, an ungoverned state, and we've known from the last sort of 40 years what happens in failed states: It becomes a center for terrorism, for smuggling, for gun running, for drugs, for criminality of all sorts, and it does pose a threat to other countries," he continued.
"I think it's in America's interest, and it's certainly in the interest of Europe, that this deeply unpleasant regime in Tehran nonetheless be replaced by a regime which still has authority over the country, that you can hold it to account," he added.
One of the concerns that has arisen is whether Trump will arm and back the Kurds in Iran to help topple the remnants of the regime, but Trump told reporters on Saturday that he has ruled out any Kurdish involvement, saying: "I don't want the Kurds going in. I don't want to see the Kurds get hurt, get killed. We had a good relationship, then willing to go in, but we really, I've told them, I don't want them to go in," adding that the conflict is "complicated enough" without their involvement.
Quote:Americans in Iraq and Iran have been warned to avoid hotels and public places as the U.S. government cites heightened risks of terrorist attacks amid escalating regional conflict.
Why It Matters
The warnings come as the United States and Israel remain locked in an expanding military confrontation with Iran, raising fears of retaliatory attacks across the Middle East.
U.S. officials say Americans abroad could be targeted because of their nationality.
What To Know
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issued an updated security alert on March 6, urging U.S. citizens in Iraq to depart immediately if it is safe to do so, citing severe security risks and limited evacuation options.
The alert warned that terrorist groups and militias continue to pose a threat to Americans and U.S. interests across Iraq, including locations frequented by foreigners such as hotels, restaurants, and businesses.
Commercial flights out of Iraq were not operating at the time of the alert, according to the embassy, which advised Americans to consider overland routes to neighboring countries while acknowledging that border and airspace conditions could change without notice.
Americans who are unable to leave were told to shelter in place in secure locations, maintain supplies of food, water, and medication, and avoid large gatherings and public venues.
A separate security alert issued March 7 by the U.S. Virtual Embassy Iran warned that Americans in Iran face heightened risks of questioning, arrest, or detention and should be prepared to shelter in place if they cannot safely depart.
The Iran alert cautioned that displaying U.S. passports or showing connections to the United States could be sufficient grounds for detention by Iranian authorities, particularly for dual U.S.-Iranian nationals.
U.S. officials also warned that the Iranian government may restrict or prevent departures, adding that commercial flights were not operating from the country at the time of publication.
Both alerts stressed that the security environment remains volatile and subject to rapid change as military operations continue across the region.
Quote:A US service member wounded in an Iranian attack against US troops in Saudi Arabia has succumbed to their injuries — the seventh American soldier to have died during Operation Epic Fury.
The unidentified soldier was “seriously wounded” in the March 1 attack as Iran launched missiles and drones at US installations across the Middle East at the start of the conflict, according to CENTCOM.
“Last night, a U.S. service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East,” CENTCOM wrote on X on Sunday afternoon.
“The service member was seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 1.”
CENTCOM said it is withholding releasing the identity of the slain servicemember for 24 hours pending next-of-kin notification.
The news comes a day after NYPD Officer and decorated Army veteran Sorffly Davius died during a health crisis while deployed in Kuwait with the National Guard.
On Saturday, President Trump flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the bodies of six Army Reserve members were flown to after they died when an Iranian drone struck a US facility in Kuwait.
The president, wearing a white USA baseball cap as he stood next to first lady Melania Trump for the somber moment, saluted as soldiers carried the flag-draped caskets containing the remains of the fallen heroes.
“It’s a sad part of war,” the president later said aboard Air Force One. “It’s the bad part of war.”
Also taking part in the solemn event were Vice President JD Vance, second lady Usha Vance, Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, among others.
The six slain reservists were: Nicole Amor, 39; Cody Khork, 35; Declan Coady, 20; Robert Marzan, 54; Jeffrey O’Brien, 45; and Noah Tietjens, 42.
Last week the president warned there would “likely be more” US casualties in the conflict, posting on Truth Social on Friday that “there will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
Quote:Tehran was blanketed by thick black clouds following Israeli strikes on the capital’s oil facilities late Saturday — in what appears to be the first attack on Iran’s energy infrastructure since “Operation Epic Fury” began a week ago.
Iranians awoke to black rain water — saturated with oil — covering rooftops and streets in the murky liquid.
Eerie photos show Tehran shrouded in smoke and covered in black clouds hours after the Israeli military pummeled several fuel sites.
The Iranian Red Crescent humanitarian organization warned that the explosions seen overnight at Tehran’s oil depots released “significant quantities of toxic hydrocarbon compounds, sulfur, and nitrogen oxides” into the air.
“In the event of precipitation, the resulting rain is extremely dangerous and highly acidic,” officials warned, adding that exposure to the substance could lead to skin burns and severe lung damage.
The city became covered in oil following a series of airstrikes that hit four oil storage facilities and a production center in Tehran and Alborz, according to Iran’s Fars News Agency.
Harrowing video from the Saturday strikes showed pillars of fire soar up into the sky and lighting up the capital, with the bombs killing four tanker drivers, Fars reported.
The Israel Defense Forces took credit for the attack, noting that it was aimed at damaging “the military infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime.”
“The military forces of the Iranian terror regime make direct and frequent use of these fuel tanks to operate military infrastructure,” the IDF said in a statement.
Quote:Terrorism is being investigated in an explosion at the US embassy in Oslo early Sunday — as officials said it could have been a deliberate attack linked to the strikes in Iran.
“It’s natural to see this in the context of the current security situation and that this could be an attack deliberately targeting the US embassy,” Frode Larsen, head of the Oslo police investigation unit told reporters.
He later told public broadcaster NRK: “One of our hypotheses is that this is terrorism, but we are also exploring other options.”
The blast erupted in Oslo around 1 a.m. local time Sunday, hitting the entrance to the embassy’s consular section and causing minor damage, police incident commander Michael Delmer said.
No suspects have been identified so far, and police have yet to publicly state what the cause of the explosion was.
There were no deaths or injuries reported in the aftermath of the blast, with no additional explosives found near the embassy.
Sebastian Toerstad, an 18-year-old high school student who was driving by the embassy at the time of the explosion, said the building was covered by “a very thick layer of smoke on the street.”
“There was some damage to the entrance,” he told Reuters.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide slammed the attack on the US embassy as “an unacceptable act,” vowing that Oslo would capture the culprits.
“The security of diplomatic missions is very important to us,” he said in a statement.
Quote:The bloodthirsty Iranian regime has assembled multiple “kill teams” to assassinate President Donald Trump over at least the last five years.
Mullahs in the recently decimated hardline Islamist regime have issued numerous fatwas against Trump — religious orders inciting Muslims to kill him — and tried to orchestrate his death through US-based hitmen.
“They are absolutely killers, like the mafia. They have a list of the people they want dead and they have dispatched many of their spies to arrange to kill them,” Yigal Carmon, a retired Israel Defense Forces colonel who is an expert on terrorism told The Post.
Two plots, both from 2024, were foiled but give a shocking insight into the lengths the regime was prepared to go to before US armed forces started their assault on Iran Feb. 28 and killed Ayatollah Khamenei and his henchmen.
In one, a spy was ordered by the regime to recruit a “kill team” and come up with a plot to assassinate Trump while he was still on the campaign trail. He recruited two US-based hitmen, who were both later caught.
The spy, Farhad Shakeri, said he was directed by his Iranian handlers to come up with a plan for the assassination of Trump, on October 7, 2024, according to court papers.
Shakeri indicated to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official that it “would cost a ‘huge’ amount of money. In response, IRGC Official said ‘we have already spent a lot of money … so the money’s not an issue,’” according to the documents from the trials of the hitmen.
The papers explain Shakeri understood to mean that the IRGC had previously spent a “significant sum” on efforts to murder Trump and “was willing to continue spending a lot of money in its attempt to procure [Trump]’s assassination.”
He was also told he had only seven days to carry out the plot. According to his interview with the FBI, he was told if he couldn’t carry it out his IRGC handler said it would stop the plan until after the 2024 election as they had assessed “[Trump] would lose the election and, afterward, it would be easier to assassinate” him.
Shakeri spoke to the FBI by phone from Tehran, the Iranian capital, where he was based. Although born in Afghanistan, he had been taken to the US as a child and served 14 years in prison on various crimes before being deported. It is there he made his criminal connections which allowed him to eventually recruit hitmen for the regime.
Shakeri had already engaged two hitmen, his old prison buddy Carlisle “Pop” Rivera and a man named Jonathan Loadholt, both New Yorkers. They were initially promised $100,000 to assassinate a different person, an anti-Iranian regime activist. However, they were caught before carrying out their plan.
Both men were found guilty of murder-for-hire, with Rivera sentenced to 15 years in prison in January. Loadholt is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Shakeri was charged with murder-for-hire by the FBI in absentia, as he remained in Iran.
However, this week, US and Israeli forces said they took out the Tehran-based “mastermind” behind assassination attempts against Trump.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the death after the deadly strikes on Tehran, now widely believed to be Shakeri or his boss Rahman Mokadam, leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) special forces unit charged with killing Trump — or both of them.
As recently as January, a month before US and Israeli strikes on the country, Iran issued a threat against Trump, broadcasting a picture of the commander-in-chief during the 2024 Butler rally assassination attempt — with the words “This time it will not miss the target.”
US investigators told Trump months after that assassination attempt they could not rule out Iran’s role, and noted then multiple “kill teams” were plotting his demise, according to reports.
Iran has had Trump in its crosshairs since the US military killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020 on Trump’s orders.
Carmon explained the Iranians only work with their own nationals to plan and co-ordinate hits on enemies, saying “they do it with Iranians, not Americans,” but actually carrying out the hits can be done by any contract killer.
The second known plot against Trump was orchestrated by a Pakistani national was told he’d get up to $1 million if the hit was successful.
Asif Merchant came to the US to recruit a kill team and posed as a Pakistani clothing merchant, according to federal court documents.
He was convicted Mar. 6 of terrorism and murder-for-hire in Brooklyn federal court.
Merchant, who represented himself at trial, said the plot involved setting up a fake protest, hiring a local hit squad and stealing documents.
However, the “hitmen” he got turned out to be undercover FBI agents, according to court records.
“I was not wanting to do this so willingly,” Merchant said through an Urdu translator at his trial this week.
He claimed he was forced by IRGC leaders to go along with the plan to kill Trump and other US politicians, saying Iranian officials had threatened his family in Iran. He has another wife and family who are in Pakistan, according to court records.
Quote:Bahrain accused Iran of striking a desalination plant on Sunday, raising fears civilian infrastructure may become fair game in a nine-day-old war, as Iran’s president vowed to expand its attacks on American targets across the region in the face of intense US and Israeli airstrikes.
A late-night Israeli strike on an oil facility covered Iran’s capital, Tehran, in smoke on Sunday, while Israel renewed its attacks in Lebanon.
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with the campaign, which has rippled across the region and appears to have no end in sight.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian threatened on Sunday to step up attacks on American targets across the Middle East.
He appeared to be backtracking from conciliatory comments toward his Gulf neighbors on Saturday. Those comments, in which he apologized for attacks on their soil, were quickly contradicted by Iranian hard-liners.
In Lebanon, Israeli strikes pushed the death toll there to above 300 after Israel ordered large swaths of the country to evacuate ahead of an offensive aimed at stamping out the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The war, which erupted on Feb. 28 after joint US-Israeli strikes hit Iran, has so far killed at least 1,230 people in the Islamic Republic, more than 300 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials.
Six US troops have also been killed.
The conflict has since spread across the region, rattling global markets, disrupting air travel and leaving Iran’s leadership weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.
Iran’s president toughens tone
“When we are attacked, we have no choice but to respond. The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be,” Pezeshkian said in video comments Sunday. “Our Iran, our country, will not bow easily in the face of bullying, oppression or aggression — and it never has.”
The remarks, starkly different in tone, came a day after Pezeshkian said Iran regretted regional concerns caused by Iranian strikes and urged neighboring states not to take part in US and Israeli attacks against Iran.
Quote:Australian protestors have laid siege to a tour bus transporting Iranian female soccer players as calls grow for the government to protect the women.
Around 50 protestors, some brandishing Iranian Lion flags surrounded the bus as it left the stadium on the Gold Coast on Sunday night.
The Iranian Lion and Sun (Shir-o-Khorshid) flag, was used before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and is used by protesters as a symbol of resistance against the current regime.
The women’s team now faces the prospect of returning to Iran after suffering a 2-0 defeat against the Philippines.
The defeat ends their Women’s Asian Cup campaign, which was marked by controversy after they refused to sing the Iranian national anthem on Monday.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong declared Australia “stands in solidarity” with the Iranian women’s soccer team amid fears the women could be jailed or killed if they return to their country.
Thousands of Australians are urging the Albanese Government to act to protect the Lionesses players as they played their last game on the Gold Coast.
The women’s team saluted and mouthed the Iranian national anthem ahead of Saturday night’s match after an international furore over their failure to do so in an earlier match.
In a petition on Change.org, there are calls for urgent protection for the women who face an “impossible situation” – return to a war zone where they have been accused of being “traitors” or risk danger for their families at home if they stay.
“These concerns are immediate and serious. In their opening match, members of the team reportedly remained silent during the Iranian national anthem,’’ the petition states.
“Credible reporting has also raised concerns that regime-connected personnel are embedded with the delegation, that players are not allowed to move freely, and that their communications are restricted.”
The petition asks Australia to ensure that any player wishing to seek protection can do so safely, privately, and without interference from regime-associated officials or handlers.
That reminds me of an earlier article on soccer...
Quote:The president of Iran’s soccer federation says he does not know if the national team can play World Cup matches in the United States following the surprise US and Israeli bombardment of his country.
“What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Mehdi Taj told sports portal Varzesh3 as Iran traded strikes with Israel as part of a widening war prompted by the bombardment.
The US-Israeli strikes on Iran continued for a second day on Sunday after the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threw the future of the Islamic Republic into uncertainty and raised the risk of regional instability.
Iran has been drawn in Group G at the World Cup and is scheduled to play in Los Angeles – where it faces New Zealand and Belgium on June 15 and 21, respectively – before it plays Egypt in Seattle on June 26.
The United States is hosting the tournament with Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
Fans from Iran were already banned from entering the US in the first iteration of the travel ban announced by the Trump administration.
FIFA did not immediately reply to an email from The Associated Press over the current situation regarding Iran’s participation in the World Cup.
Quote:Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday said that the U.S. could further relieve Russian sanctions as gas and oil prices soar following Iran's decision to shut off shipping access through the Strait of Hormuz.
Discussing India's need to cover a gap in its oil supply, Bessent told FOX Business host Larry Kudlow: "We have given them permission to accept the Russian oil. We may unsanction other Russian oil."
The White House in response to a Newsweek request for comment referred to the Treasury secretary's comments.
Why It Matters
India had committed to not buy Russia's oil as the U.S. attempted to apply pressure on Moscow to end its invasion of Ukraine. The U.S., in turn, planned to lower tariffs on Indian goods to 18 percent from 25 percent. Previously, India had increased its consumption of Russian oil, which had dropped in price as Western nations switched to alternative supplies to isolate and sanction Russia for its invasion.
Iran, however, closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli joint strikes, which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The closure has tilted the oil and gas markets, with supplies now strained and nations scrambling to determine a backup plan: Iraq's Ministry of Oil said Tuesday that it would stop production in a key oil field because of disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
The closure has also caused crude oil prices to surge worldwide, with Brent crude hitting $92 a barrel. President Donald Trump, on Friday, addressing concerns over a consequent rise in gas prices, said: "If they rise, they rise."
What To Know
The U.S. provided India with a 30-day waiver to buy Russia's oil, which is currently stranded at sea, in order to ease the demand on global oil supplies.
Bessent had described the waiver as a "deliberate short-term measure" to keep the global market from feeling further strain as supplies of oil and gas remain stranded on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has threatened to attack any vessels attempting to pass through the narrow chokepoint.
The BBC reported that millions of barrels are believed to be stranded on those tankers, and nearly half of India's crude oil and gas imports transit through the Strait.
Bessent, during his appearance on FOX Business, said: "The Indians had been very good actors. We had asked them to stop buying sanctioned Russian oil this fall: They did."
"They were going to substitute it with U.S. oil, but to ease the temporary gap of oil around the world, we have given them permission to accept the Russian oil," Bessent said. "We may unsanction other Russian oil.
"The other thing Treasury can do here, Larry, is there are hundreds of millions of sanctioned barrels of sanctioned crude on the water, and, in essence, by unsanctioning them, Treasury can create supply, and we are looking at that," Bessent added. "We're going to keep a cadence of announcing measures to bring relief to the market during this conflict."
Quote:A fiery night of intense Russian bombing across Ukraine saw at least 14 civilians, including two children, killed in the aftermath.
The city of Kharkiv was badly hit, with a ballistic missile striking a five-story residential building.
At least 11 people were killed in that attack, including a teacher and her 9-year-old son, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. Another 15 people were wounded.
Footage of the attack shows the top two floors of the apartment burnt out and crumbling, as firefighters battle an intense fire.
The Kremlin unleashed 480 drones and nearly 30 missiles across Ukraine overnight into Saturday, Ukraine’s Air Force reported.
“There must be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X. “Russia has not abandoned its attempts to destroy Ukraine’s residential and critical infrastructure.”
The offensive comes as latest estimates show the Kremlin is facing staggering losses in the four-year war.
More than 1.2 million troops have been killed and over 161,000 drones and 81,000 vehicles and fuel tanks destroyed, according to March 7 damage assessments from Ukraine’s military intelligence service.
Meanwhile, Kyiv struck a manufacturing plant in the Russian-occupied Donestk region, used for the storage, preparation and launch of Shahed-type drones.
The war-torn country also reasserted control over more territory in February than Russia captured, marking Ukraine’s first net territorial gains since the Kursk offensive. Ukraine has retaken several settlements in southern regions, the armed forces said.
Quote:President Donald Trump has cut Tucker Carlson out of the MAGA contingent following his criticism of the U.S.-Israeli military action against Iran.
"Tucker has lost his way," Trump told ABC News. "He's not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America First, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that."
The former Fox News host has long opposed American military involvement in the Middle East, and said in a statement to ABC News that the decision to attack Iran was "absolutely disgusting and evil."
Newsweek contacted a representative for Carlson for comment via email outside of normal working hours.
What To Know
On Monday, Carlson said on his podcast, The Tucker Carlson Show: "This is Israel's war. This is not the United States' war. This war's not being waged on behalf of American national security objectives — to make the United States safer or richer. This war isn't even about weapons of mass destruction, nukes."
Carlson added that there are times he gets "annoyed with Trump," and that this moment is "definitely included." But he said: "I'll always love him no matter what he says about me."
Response to Trump's remarks about Carlson have been mixed among Republicans. The former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X: "I SUPPORT TUCKER. Trump doesn't even know what MAGA is anymore."
"Trump is not America First, he's donor first. Tucker would beat Trump if he ran for President and Trump tried to violate the constitution and tried to run again for a third term," she said.
But Republican congressman Randy Fine wrote on X: "I agree with Donald Trump - Tucker Carlson is not MAGA."
What People Are Saying
Trump said in a video posted to Truth Social: "A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime."
Erik Prince, a Trump ally and former Navy SEAL, said on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast: "I don't think this was in America's interests. It's going to uncork a significant can of worms and chaos and destruction in Iran now."
House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote to X: "Today, Iran is facing the severe consequences of its evil actions. President Trump and the administration have made every effort to pursue peaceful and diplomatic solutions in response to the Iranian regime’s sustained nuclear ambitions and development, terrorism, and the murder of Americans—and even their own people."
Megyn Kelly, a conservative commentator and the host of The Megyn Kelly Show, said on Monday's episode of the podcast: "There's nothing unpatriotic or unsupportive of one's conservatism or general adherence to MAGA-type principles to say, 'I would like to be better convinced that this is worth the sacrifice of American blood and treasure.' That's where I am. That's where a lot of people are."
Quote:New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani broke his silence Sunday, calling the protest outside his official residence "rooted in bigotry and racism" and condemning the use of explosive devices that led to six arrests the day before.
"Yesterday, white supremacist Jake Lang organized a protest outside Gracie Mansion rooted in bigotry and racism," Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, wrote on X. "Such hate has no place in New York City. It is an affront to our city's values and the unity that defines who we are."
The Context
Amid the ongoing war between Iran, the United States and Israel, two people are in custody after suspicious devices were found outside Gracie Mansion, the official residence of Mamdani, during an anti-Islam demonstration Saturday morning, the New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed to Newsweek.
The protest was organized by Jake Lang, a conservative influencer pardoned for charges tied to the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. Images from the scene showed smoke and what appeared to be an unexploded homemade device lying in the street.
The devices were described as jars wrapped in black tape containing nuts, bolts, screws and a hobby fuse.
New York City Comptroller Mark D. Levine, citing information from NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, said the two individuals arrested for use of ignitable devices were part of a Lang's counter-protest—not Lang's group.
What To Know
The NYPD told Newsweek on Sunday that "officers were on scene for a scheduled demonstration in the vicinity of East End Avenue and 88th Street, within the confines of the 19 Precinct when they were alerted to two suspicious devices at the location."
The police department added that no one was injured and no property was damaged, adding that "two persons of interest were taken into custody and the investigation remains ongoing."
Meanwhile, Mamdani addressed the violence that followed Lang's demonstration that drew a counter-protest. Two counter-protesters, identified as Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, were arrested for deploying the ignitable devices. The NYPD later confirmed one device was a real improvised explosive device (IED).
A member of Lang's group was also arrested for using pepper spray on a counter-protester, bringing the total number of arrests to six. "The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are," the mayor wrote.
The NYPD Bomb Squad transported the devices for examination. It remains unclear whether they were functional explosives or hoax devices, as authorities have not yet determined whether they contained energetic material. Mamdani said his administration is closely monitoring the situation and that he remains in contact with Tisch.
Quote:The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has identified a suspicious device inside a vehicle on East End Avenue between 81st and 82nd Streets, prompting officers to freeze the surrounding area and begin evacuating nearby buildings, the department announced Sunday.
The discovery comes one day after an improvised explosive device was deployed outside Gracie Mansion—New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's primary residence—during an anti-Islam demonstration that ended in six arrests. The NYPD Bomb Squad is on scene assessing and working to remove the device.
Newsweek reached out to the NYPD and mayor's office via email on Sunday for comment.
The Context
Amid the ongoing war between Iran, the United States and Israel, two people are in custody after suspicious devices were found outside Gracie Mansion during an anti-Islam demonstration Saturday morning, the New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed to Newsweek.
The protest was organized by Jake Lang, a conservative influencer pardoned for charges tied to the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. Images from the scene showed smoke and what appeared to be an unexploded homemade device lying in the street.
The devices were described as jars wrapped in black tape containing nuts, bolts, screws and a hobby fuse.
New York City Comptroller Mark D. Levine, citing information from NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, said the two individuals arrested for use of ignitable devices were part of a Lang's counter-protest—not Lang's group.
What To Know
Saturday's incident began when Lang organized an anti-Islam demonstration outside Gracie Mansion.
A counter-protest formed at the scene, and two counter-protesters—Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, who law enforcement sources say traveled from Pennsylvania—were arrested after deploying ignitable devices. Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin reported, citing multiple law enforcement sources, the suspects shouted "Allahu Akbar" before throwing one of the devices.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed Sunday that the Bomb Squad's preliminary analysis determined one of the devices was a genuine improvised explosive device (IED) capable of causing "serious injury or death"—not a smoke bomb or hoax device. Further analysis is underway on a second device. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force separately confirmed that preliminary analysis identified one of the devices deployed by the suspects as an IED explosive, with testing on additional devices still ongoing. A member of Lang's group was also arrested for using pepper spray on a counter-protester, bringing total arrests to six.
The NYPD is conducting the investigation in coordination with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI through the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Mamdani addressed the violence Sunday, calling Lang's demonstration "rooted in bigotry and racism" while also condemning the use of explosives. "The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are," he wrote. His administration said he remains in direct contact with Tisch.
I dunno how Mamdani can claim they are racist when his own wife is quite antisemitic.
Quote:Ahead of the midterms this year, President Donald Trump has said he would not sign any other bills until the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is passed by the U.S. Senate.
The bill would reshape federal election rules by requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and has been criticized by Democrats as disenfranchising many voters.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday that the passage of the bill “must be done immediately” and “supersedes everything else.”
“I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed,” Trump added, regarding the legislation that passed in the House on Wednesday by a 218-213 vote before heading to the Senate where it faces opposition.
While Republicans hold a narrow majority in the Senate, some GOP senators have expressed concerns about imposing federal election mandates on states. The legislation so far does not have the 60 votes it needs to overcome a filibuster.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said Republicans in his party are discussing whether to move it forward, even as they rule out changing Senate filibuster rules.
Trump has pressed Thune to use a talking filibuster to pass the bill which would force Democrats to speak continuously on the Senate floor to delay a vote. Once Democrats cede the floor, Republicans could pass the measure with just 51 votes, without the need for a 60-vote majority.
In his Truth Social post, Trump praised conservative activist Scott Pressler appearing on Fox News' Fox & Friends “talking about using the filibuster, or Talking Filibuster, in order to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.”
Trump said he did not want a “watered down version” of the bill and that voters must show voter ID and proof of citizenship, adding, “NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY - ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL.”
On Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, wrote on X: "The SAVE Act is Jim Crow 2.0. It would disenfranchise tens of millions of people. If Trump is saying he won’t sign any bills until the SAVE Act is passed, then so be it: there will be total gridlock in the Senate. Senate Democrats will not help pass the SAVE Act under any circumstances."
Quote:Fears are growing that evidence linked to Jeffrey Epstein’s former New Mexico ranch could be compromised, a key state lawmaker told Newsweek, as delays and construction could risk undermining a reopened criminal investigation.
Why It Matters
Allegations tied to Epstein’s former New Mexico estate have lingered for years without a clear public accounting.
State officials say determining what evidence still exists — and why earlier investigations stalled — is critical for survivors and public trust.
The FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office told Newsweek, “We have no comment at this time” when approached.
What To Know
New Mexico State Representative Andrea Romero told Newsweek that the failure to secure Epstein’s sprawling 7,500‑plus‑acre property in 2019 has intensified concerns about whether potential evidence can still be preserved — particularly now that renovation work is underway.
Romero said New Mexico still has no public accounting of what the federal investigation into alleged activity at the ranch examined or why it was ultimately closed.
She said the decision to reopen a criminal investigation has now offered a “glimmer of hope” for survivors who testified years ago and were told nothing more could be done.
The estate, formerly known as Zorro Ranch, has since been purchased by Texas businessman and former GOP state senator Don Huffines, who has said he is converting it into a Christian retreat and has renamed it San Rafael Ranch, after the patron saint of healing, with construction “already underway.”
Huffines has also said publicly that he would cooperate with law enforcement if asked.
A spokesman for Huffines told Newsweek in a statement that authorities would be granted “full and complete cooperation” if approached.
Romero is a sponsor of New Mexico’s nonpartisan Epstein Truth Commission, a legislative panel tasked with establishing a public record of alleged abuse tied to the ranch.
“The fact that we have to do it at all is absurd,” Romero said. “We need to be able to trust our institutions.”
She said the lack of any clear federal accounting has left lawmakers and survivors trying to reconstruct events years after the fact.
Quote:A 30-year-old woman was arrested Sunday after allegedly firing several shots with a rifle at the Beverly Hills, Calif. mansion belonging to pop star Rihanna while the singer was allegedly inside her house.
Los Angeles police responded to the report of the shooting at 1:21 p.m. Sunday and quickly took the suspect into custody, a spokesperson told the California Post. One bullet reportedly pierced a wall of the home.
Photos from the scene showed yellow police tape outside the singer’s home. Los Angeles police officers were also seen closing off the street near the star’s property.
It is not apparent if Rihanna’s partner, rapper A$AP Rocky, and their three kids — RZA, 3, Riot Rose, 2, and 5-month-old Rocki Irish Mayers — were also in the house when the shots were fired.
Photos from the scene showed yellow police tape outside the singer’s home. Los Angeles police officers were also seen closing off the street near the star’s property.
No injuries were reported in the incident, according to Police Sgt. Jonathan de Vera, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department who spoke to the Los Angeles Times regarding the incident.
The LA Times also reported that the police dispatch for the incident noted “approximately 10 shots” being fired at the house, which came from a vehicle across the street from the residence.
The suspect then sped off in a white Tesla, heading south on Coldwater Canyon Drive, according to the dispatch audio.
A source close to Rihanna’s family told the Post, “they are all doing okay.” The singer has not yet publicly commented on the incident.
No other information, including motive for the shooting, is known at this time.
Quote:A suspected spy likely provided China with the intelligence it needed to anticipate and obstruct Philippine efforts to resupply a military outpost at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said Friday.
Newsweek reached out to the Philippine Coast Guard via email for comment.
Why It Matters
The Spratly Islands' Second Thomas Shoal, known as Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines and Ren’ai Reef in China, is uninhabited save for the rusting World War II–era warship BRP Sierra Madre, grounded on the feature in 1999 to stake the country’s claim.
China claims most of the South China Sea as its territory, including Scarborough Shoal, and between 2023 and mid-2024, Chinese maritime forces repeatedly intercepted Philippine supply missions, leading to sometimes dramatic clashes that left several Philippine injuries and raised concerns that a miscalculation could trigger the Philippines’ Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States.
What To Know
“The information that was leaked is related to supply operations [to the Sierra Madre],” Tarriela told The Philippine Star in an interview Friday.
The suspected informant, said to have links to a member of the Philippine Coast Guard, likely took advantage of a lapse in record-keeping to gain access to and transfer sensitive operational information to China, he added, without identifying either individual.
The statement comes just two days after reports, first published by Rappler, that the Philippines’ National Security Council had uncovered a network involving Chinese nationals recruiting Filipinos employed in defense or security agencies into “consultancies” that later sought classified information.
“The mere fact that a fellow Filipino was tempted to provide this kind of information at the cost of our legitimate operations in the West Philippine Sea — for me, a large amount of money was being paid,” Tarriella told the Star.
What People Are Saying
Cornelio Valencia Jr., spokesperson for the Philippine National Security Council, said in a statement: “For reasons of national security, we cannot discuss identities, methods, or timelines so as not to jeopardize on-going operations. Nonetheless, necessary actions have been taken against the individuals concerned — all Filipino nationals — who have all confessed their complicity in espionage activities and are cooperating with authorities.”
Quote:China’s leadership has pledged to roll out new policies to encourage "positive attitudes toward marriage and childbearing" amid mounting concern over the country’s rapidly aging population.
The plan will include a slate of measures to expand child care support, promote employment, and address the growing needs of the country’s "silver economy."
Why It Matters
An estimated two-thirds of the world’s population now lives in countries with fertility rates below the level needed to sustain population growth. China has one of the world’s lowest, with a total fertility rate of around 1.0, and births fell by 17 percent in 2025. Authorities introduced a raft of new measures last year, but many analysts say deeper reforms will be needed.
Adding to the demographic challenge, a shrinking workforce has to support record numbers of retirees, adding pressure on China’s modest social safety nets.
Newsweek has reached out to China’s Foreign Ministry by email with a request for comment.
What To Know
Authorities will increase support for child care services, childbirth costs and other pro-natal policies to "build a fertility-friendly society," according to a government report unveiled Thursday as China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress, convened its annual weeklong meeting.
Officials also pledged to expand the middle class and reform the social security system so coverage becomes more universal, standardized and equitable across rural and urban areas. The government said it would improve employment quality and capacity, including expanded vocational training and stronger worker protections.
China has set its target urban unemployment rate at "around 5.5 percent" after posting 5.3 percent last year. Since the end of the country’s strict anti-COVID measures in late 2022, youth unemployment has remained elevated, with jobless rates of 15 percent or more among those aged 16 to 24.
To address population aging, the government said it would strengthen development of elderly care services and related industries to ensure "a rich and fulfilling life for the elderly."
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
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I dunno how Mamdani can claim they are racist when his own wife is quite antisemitic.
