News of the World

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MIDDLE EAST WAR

Iran executes 19-year-old champion wrestler Saleh Mohammadi, two others in horrific public hangings

Iran executed a 19-year-old champion wrestler in a public hanging Thursday along with two other people who were arrested during the brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters in January.

Saleh Mohammadi, a rising star from Qom, was allegedly tortured to confess to the capital crime of waging war against God, with the teen executed without a fair trial, according to human rights groups.

“His execution was a blatant political murder, part of the Islamic Republic’s pattern of targeting athletes to crush dissent and terrorize society,” Nima Far, a human rights activist and Iranian combat athlete, told Fox News.

Mohammadi, along with fellow protesters Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi, were accused of killing two police officers “with knives and swords” during the January protests, according to Iranian state media.

Despite appeals from the US, the protesters were found guilty and executed by Tehran.

Following mass arrests during the January protests, President Trump said he was reassured by Tehran that the executions would not take place, claiming to have saved the lives of some 800 demonstrators.

“We’ve been told that the killing in Iran is stopping — it’s stopped — it’s stopping,” Trump said at the time. “There’s no plan for executions, or an execution, or executions — so I’ve been told that on good authority.”

Tehran, however, denied the president’s claims and rushed through the defendants’ trials after the US and Israel waged war on Iran. 

Amnesty International slammed the executions, alleging that the men were denied “adequate defence and forced to make ‘confessions.’”

The humanitarian group said the trio were pushed through “fast-tracked proceedings that bore no resemblance to a meaningful trial.”

Far said Thursday’s execution was a haunting repetition of the 2020 execution of champion wrestler Navid Afkari, who was convicted of killing an Iranian security guard during a 2018 protest.

Far called on the International Olympic Committee and United World Wrestling organizations to take action against Iran over its brutality against athletes.

“Iran must be banned from international competitions until it halts executions of protesters and athletes, releases those jailed in sham trials, and ends retaliation against competitors who speak out or defect,” Far said.

Iran executes man accused of spying for Israel’s Mossad as war rages

Iran claimed it has executed a man for allegedly spying for Israel in what is the first such killing since the regime’s war against the US and Israel began.

Kourosh Keyvani, who was arrested during the 12-day war last June, allegedly sent images and details about sensitive locations to Mossad intelligence officers, according to the Mizan Online website.

“The death sentence of a spy for the Zionist regime, who had been providing images and information, about the country’s sensitive locations to Mossad officers was carried out this morning,” Tehran said.

Keyvani received training in Tel Aviv, and six European countries, which have not been named. Israel has not commented on the execution, the Times of Israel reported.

Iran is known for conducting sham trials that lead to the executions of suspected spies and protesters.

Last year, authorities passed a law that made spying for Israel or the US a death penalty offense.

“All deliberate assistance is condemned as corruption on Earth,” the law stated, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

The execution comes as the clerical regime launched retaliatory attacks on Wednesday over the death of top security official Ali Larijani.

Iran’s Tasnim News Agency has shared video showing missiles reportedly bound for Tel Aviv being launched.

One of the missiles Tehran claims to have launched is a Khorramshahr-4, which has a range of 1,242 miles and can carry a nearly 4,000-pound warhead.

Amir Hatami, the Iranian army commander-in-chief, warned that the response to Larijani’s assassination will be “decisive and regrettable.”

Missile attacks on Israel were carried out in “revenge for the blood” of Larijani and his companions, according to the regime. Iran has consistently claimed Larijani was martyred in Tuesday’s airstrike.

Iran killed elderly Israeli couple in ‘retaliation’ strikes for assassination of security chief

Iran launched a wave of strikes on Israel early Wednesday in revenge for the assassination of security chief Ali Larijani — killing an elderly Jewish couple as they tried to find safety in a bomb shelter.

Iranian missiles with multiple warheads pummeled Tel Aviv in the predawn attack in what the military claimed was “retaliation” for the security chief’s assassination a day earlier.

The elderly Israeli couple, identified as Yaron and Ilana Moshe, were killed by missile shrapnel as they fled to a nearby bomb shelter in Ramat Gan, just outside Tel Aviv, authorities said.

Their bodies were found alongside a walker just feet from the safe room, according to local cops.

Meanwhile, Iran also launched strikes against neighboring Gulf countries — with explosions heard in United Arab Emirates and Qatar and interceptions reported in Saudi Arabia.

The attacks came just hours after Iran confirmed Israel’s military had wiped out Larijani in an overnight strike, as well as Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, head of the Revolutionary Guard’s Basij force, known for its role in suppressing protests.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed Wednesday that the US was to blame for the regime’s retaliatory strikes.

“Some of these places may be near urban areas, this is not our fault, it is America’s fault,” he told Al Jazeera.

Iranian women’s soccer players look terrified as they are greeted back home by officials after being branded ‘traitors’

Iranian female soccer players have been filmed looking scared and glum-faced as they return home after a scandal over claiming asylum in Australia.

Video shared on X by a pro-regime account shows the players, all wearing team tracksuits and Islamic hijab headcoverings, walking between two lines of people waving the green, white, and red Iranian flag.

The players, each accompanied by a little girl, looked nervous as they walked along the line in the video filmed in the northwest Iranian city of Bazargan, which is accompanied by music.

Further video shared by the same account shows scenes from the previous night, when the players were greeted by cheering supporters of the Iranian regime at the border town of Bazargan, some four hours’ drive northwest, after crossing back into Iran from Turkey.

It is the latest stage in a weeks-long saga involving Iran’s women’s soccer team, which started when several players failed to sing the Iranian national anthem at a women’s Asian Cup match earlier this month following the start of Operation Epic Fury.

They were labeled “wartime traitors” by Iranian state television, and six players and a support staff member sought asylum in Australia.

They were granted humanitarian visas, before five members suddenly withdrew their asylum claims, amid fears of threats to their loved ones.

The players then rejoined the rest of the squad at their training camp in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, before flying to Istanbul on Tuesday.

They then took a second flight to Igdir in eastern Turkey on Wednesday morning, before crossing back into Iran.

Iran’s soccer authorities said last week that the players who had withdrawn their asylum claims would “once again be embraced by their families and homeland.”

Iran makes chilling threat to target tourist sites worldwide — as spring break kicks off in US

Iran threatened Friday to start targeting tourist sites worldwide — just as spring break kicked off across the United States.

Iranian military spokesman Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi blasted out the chilling warning on state TV as he vowed that popular tourism havens would no longer be safe for Tehran’s enemies.

“From now on, based on the information we have about you, even parks, recreational areas, and tourist destinations anywhere in the world will no longer be safe for you,” the military official said.

He stopped short of naming specific vacation destinations that could be in Iran’s line of fire.

The threats, which came as spring breakers descended across the US, renewed fears that Tehran could potentially revert to using militant attacks beyond the Middle East as a pressure tactic.

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have already indicated they are on high alert after the US-Israeli strikes on Iran kick-started the war three weeks ago.

Iran’s fresh warning came after US officials said three more warships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines were being deployed to the Middle East.

No decision had been made to send troops into Iran itself, the officials said, but they would build up the capacity for future operations in the region.

Russia Issues ‘Major’ Nuclear Warning

Russian official Mikhail Ulyanov warned that a projectile reportedly hit near Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant on Tuesday, posing “a real risk of a major nuclear disaster.”

Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, also called out the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s response to the incident, writing on X: “I am not sure that the Agency’s response is commensurate with the gravity of the situation.”

Why It Matters

The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, located in southwestern Iran on the Persian Gulf, was built with assistance from Russia. Rosatom, Moscow’s nuclear corporation, continues to support the facility with about 480 Russia nationals at the site. While there have been no reports of substantial damage, nuclear facilities are a key concern during wartime because of the risk that radioactive material could be released, and in Bushehr's case into the Persian Gulf.

Nuclear sites in Iran have remained a central focus of U.S. policy, with President Donald Trump having ordered strikes on three facilities in June 2025, and initially cast Iran’s nuclear program as a key impetus for Operation Epic Fury, the ongoing war.

The U.S. and Israel launched coordinated attacks on Iran on February 28, killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Officials have reported more than 2,500 deaths in the war, including more than 1,300 in Iran, 900 in Lebanon, 12 in Israel and 13 U.S. service members.

What To Know

Russia’s state-run Tass news agency reported that Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev said Tuesday night that “a strike hit the area adjacent to the metrology service building located at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant site, in close proximity to the operating power unit. There were no casualties among Rosatom State Corporation personnel. The radiation situation at the site is normal.”

IAEA said in a Tuesday night X post that the agency has “been informed by Iran that a projectile hit the premises of the Bushehr NPP on Tuesday evening. No damage to the plant or injuries to staff reported.”

The post also noted that IAEA chief Rafael Grossi reiterated his call “for maximum restraint during the conflict to prevent risk of a nuclear accident.” Grossi told journalists in Washington that the damage “doesn’t seem to be very significant. At the same time, any attack on any nuclear facility should always be avoided."

Ulyanov, in his X post, argued that the IAEA’s response doesn’t match up with the “gravity” of the situation. His post continued: “The possibility of another strike can not be ruled out. This poses a real risk of a major nuclear disaster, which can dramatically affect the whole region.”

Israel says it assassinated Iranian intelligence minister Esmaeil Khatib in overnight strike

Israeli forces have killed Iranian intelligence minister Esmaeil Khatib, making him the third major Islamic Republic figure to have been taken out in the past two days.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed Wednesday on X that Khatib, who led Iran’s global terror apparatus, had been “eliminated overnight.”

Khatib, thought to be 65, joins de facto Iran leader Ali Larijani and Basij paramilitary leader Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani as the highest-ranking Tehran officials to be rubbed out since the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of Operation Epic Fury.

The network Khatib spearheaded “targeted current and former US officials, including President Donald Trump,” a senior Israeli official told Fox News, adding: “This man had American blood on his hands.”

In its statement, the IDF explained that Iran’s Intelligence Ministry “possesses advanced intelligence capabilities and serves as a central arm in supervising, spying, and executing covert operations worldwide, particularly against the State of Israel and Iranian citizens.

“As Intelligence Minister, Khatib played a significant role in directing the arrests and killings of protesters and in shaping the intelligence picture during the recent internal protests in Iran. Similarly, he acted against Iranian citizens in the context of the hijab protests in 2022-2023.”

Khatib and Larijani were two of 10 Iranian officials with a $10 million price on their heads, with the State Department offering Iranian citizens the money and the ability to move to America in exchange for information on their whereabouts.

Meanwhile, Israel’s defense chief, Israel Katz, said Wednesday that the Jewish state’s onslaught against Iran and Tehran-backed Hezbollah is not slowing down.

“On this day, significant surprises are expected across all arenas that will escalate the war we are conducting against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon,” he said in a statement to the Times of Israel. “The intensity of the strikes in Iran is increasing.”

Israel says it killed top intel official in Iran’s Basij paramilitary force

The top intelligence official of Iran’s feared Basij paramilitary force was killed in an Israeli strike, the Israel Defense Forces announced Friday morning.

Ismail Ahmadi was killed in the same attack that took out Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the leader of the all-volunteer force, earlier this week, the IDF posted on X.

“In his role, Ahmadi played a central part in advancing and executing terrorist operations carried out by the Basij unit’s forces, and alongside that, he was responsible for enforcing public order and regime values on behalf of the Revolutionary Guards,” the Israeli military said.

“Amid the internal protests in Iran, and particularly in the recent period with their intensification, Ahmadi played a central role in leading the main suppression operations through the use of severe violence, widespread arrests, and the application of force against civilian protesters.”

The strike that took out Soleimani and Ghani followed a tip from Iranian civilians that the Basij leaders were holed up in a tent with their lieutenants in a wooded area of Tehran after US and Israeli attacks had destroyed their headquarters and command posts over the previous two weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War noted in an assessment published late Thursday that the circumstances of the Iranian thugs’ demise showed the operational and psychological impact of Operation Epic Fury on Tehran’s security apparatus.

“Running a headquarters out of a tent rather than an established facility is certainly suboptimal, though not necessarily wholly ineffective,” the ISW wrote, also citing reports that some security forces had taken to hiding under bridges in a desperate attempt to avoid becoming targets.

“These reports indicate a notable level of operational shock across the regime’s coercive apparatus, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Basij, and Law Enforcement Command (LEC), and suggest that elements of Iran’s internal security system are functioning suboptimally at this time.”

Ahmadi is the fourth top Iranian official confirmed to have been killed by allied strikes so far this week, along with Soleimani, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani and Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib.

Trump draws gasps with shocking Pearl Harbor quip in front of Japanese PM over Iran ‘surprise attack’

WASHINGTON — President Trump defended his decision not to give Japan advance warning of his attack on Iran — citing Tokyo’s 1941 surprise raid that killed 2,403 Americans at Pearl Harbor.

“We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise,” Trump told a Japanese journalist Thursday as the country’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sat next to him in the Oval Office.

“Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?” Trump said, adding: “You believe in surprise, I think, much more so than us.

“And because of that surprise, we knocked out, [in] the first two days, we probably knocked out 50% of what we — and much more than we anticipated doing. So if I go and tell everybody about it, there’s no longer a surprise, right?”

Takaichi kept a mostly straight face as Trump referenced her nation’s World War II massacre of US military members in Hawaii and did not provide her own thoughts on the analogy.

‘Really stepping up to the plate’

Trump welcomed Takaichi warmly to the White House and said Tokyo was “really stepping up to the plate” in backing up the US position against Iran — “unlike NATO,” he added.

The two leaders were expected to discuss the possible use of Japanese mine-sweeping boats to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — the Iranian closure of which has caused a massive spike in global fuel prices since the start of combat operations Feb. 28.

Takaichi described herself as offering strong diplomatic support for Trump’s goals of reopening the strait and preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

“I am ready to reach out to many of the partners in the international community to achieve our objective together,” she said.

“So today I came here at the White House to directly convey this message to you. And speaking of the situation in Iran, Iran’s development of nuclear weapons must never be allowed.”

Number of countries offering to ‘contribute’ to opening Strait of Hormuz grows to 22

Two more nations signed on to a letter Saturday strongly condemning Iran’s partial blockade of the Strait of Hormuz – isolating the Islamic Republic diplomatically as it seeks to apply maximum economic pressure by bottling up oil shipments.

The two latest to join are Australia and the United Arab Emirates – one of Iran’s Gulf neighbors who has been bombarded with missile attacks from Tehran – bringing the total to 22 countries.

Earlier signatories were the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan, whose Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters Thursday that she informed President Trump what her country “can do and cannot do,” citing war limits outlined in Japan’s constitution.

“They are really stepping up to the plate,” Trump said at the White House, despite his on and off fury that allies weren’t sharing more of the burden.

Later Friday, he posted that the Strait “will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not!”

Defense experts said naval escorts to protect shipping would require the use of destroyers. Following Iran’s initial threats to US, Israeli and allied ships, vessels flagged to China, India, Turkey and Pakistan have continued to trickle through the crucial corridor.

Iran was also preparing to allow Japanese ships to pass through the strait, Al Jazeera reported.

“We have not closed the strait. In our opinion, the strait is open. It is closed only to ships belonging to our enemies, countries that attack us. For other countries, ships can pass through the strait,” Araghchi told Japan’s Kyodo News late Friday.

The 22 countries, meanwhile, blasted Tehran for recent attacks on “unarmed” vessels in a joint statement.

“We condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces,” the countries said in the statement.

Trump vows no cease-fire with Iran, predicts Strait of Hormuz may ‘open itself’

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Friday that he’s not interested in a potential cease-fire with Iran — and that he thinks the Strait of Hormuz could “open itself.”

“I don’t want to do a cease-fire. You know, you don’t do a cease-fire when you’re literally obliterating the other side,” Trump said while leaving the White House, responding to a question about Pope Leo XIV calling for a cease-fire.

“From a military standpoint, all they’re doing is clogging up the strait. But from a military standpoint, they’re finished,” Trump said.

Iran’s closure of the strait for three weeks has caused a surge in oil prices — with Tehran vowing to use it as a strategic point of pressure against the US and Israel.

Trump told reporters that opening the strait would require a “simple military maneuver” before saying no action at all may be needed.

“It’s relatively safe, but you need a lot of help, in the sense of you need ships, you need volume,” Trump said.

“NATO could help us, but they, so far haven’t had the courage to do so. And others could help us,” Trump fumed.

“We don’t use it. You know, at a certain point, it’ll open itself.”

‘10 years to rebuild’

Trump contended that the damage in Iran is so severe that it will take a decade to rebuild the nation of 93 million people.

“I think I could leave right now and it would take them 10 years to rebuild … If we stay longer, they’ll never rebuild,” Trump told Stephanie Ruhle, an anchor at the outlet formerly called MSNBC.

Elsewhere in the Friday interview, the president reiterated that regime change was not the major goal of the US operation, insisting instead that “the major thing is that they cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Iranian protesters say revolution is just around the corner — can’t wait to ‘finish the job’

Two Iranian protesters who survived the regime’s brutal crackdown in January told The Post that it’s only a matter of time before the people take back their government.

“The protest that will happen will be something extraordinary, because the hatred people have for [the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] after the massacre is extremely intense,” a woman currently living in Tehran told The Post.

The woman, 43, said the horrors she witnessed from her own government during the protests will haunt her for the rest of her life.
“Brains and intestines and internal organs had been splattered all over people’s faces . . . things that no one could forget for a very, very long time,” she said.

“It was the most brutal crackdown imaginable,” said a second protester, a 37-year-old Tehran tattoo artist. “They were just shooting people. They didn’t really care if someone was part of the protest or not, or just passing by.”
Both Iranian citizens spoke on the condition of anonymity because they fear for their lives. They were interviewed by The Post this week by phone via an interpreter.

The Islamic regime is estimated to have killed more than 36,500 protesters during massive demonstrations that broke out across the country in January. The woman said as many as 2 million people were in the street the night she was out.

The Iranians told The Post that the vast majority of the country supports the US and Israel as they continue to dismantle their repressive regime.

“We are totally, one hundred percent, thankful and grateful for this. . . . I would say more than 90 percent of the people are grateful to Trump and thankful to the USA,” the man said.

UK agrees to let US military use its bases for strikes in the Strait of Hormuz after Trump calls European allies ‘cowards’ for refusing to help

The British government partially reversed course Friday, allowing the US to use UK bases to carry out airstrikes aimed at clearing the Strait of Hormuz of Iranian obstacles.

The change in policy was announced by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office just hours after President Trump called European allies “cowards” for refusing to “help open” the crucial waterway in the Persian Gulf – where Iran has been attacking oil tankers in retaliation for Operation Epic Fury.

“[T]he agreement for the US to use UK bases in the collective self-defence [sic] of the region includes US defensive operations to degrade the missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz,” Starmer’s office said in a statement.

London had previously allowed the US to use its bases only to prevent Iran from putting British interests or lives at risk — as when missiles from Tehran targeted UK forces on Cyprus early in the war.

Starmer reportedly has concerns that the US strikes on Iran may violate international law, and that allowing the US to use UK bases may implicate Britain. The prime minister has also argued it wasn’t in his country’s “national interest” to help the US attack Iran.

“Ministers condemned Iran’s expansion of its targets to include international shipping,” the statement continued. “They agreed that Iran’s reckless strikes, including on Red Ensign vessels and those of our close allies and Gulf partners, risked pushing the region further into crisis and worsening the economic impact being felt in the UK and around the world.”

“[T]he UK remains committed to defending our people, our interests and our allies, acting in accordance with international law and not getting drawn into the wider conflict,” it concluded. “Ministers underlined the need for urgent de-escalation and a swift resolution to the war.”

Iranian man arrested in attempted break in at UK nuclear missile base: officials

An Iranian man and a Romanian woman have now been charged after allegedly unsuccessfully attempting to enter a nuclear missile base in Scotland this week, Police Scotland announced Saturday.

The agency said around 5 p.m. on Thursday, “we were made aware of two people attempting to enter HM Naval Base Clyde.”

“A 34-year-old Iranian man and a 31-year-old Romanian woman have been arrested and charged in connection with the incident. They are due to appear at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Monday, March 23,” Police Scotland said. “Enquiries are ongoing.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Police Scotland for further comment.

Citing the Times, the Telegraph newspaper reported that the suspects were turned away from the base because they lacked the correct passes and were later arrested nearby for allegedly “acting suspiciously in the vicinity.”

HM Naval Base Clyde — commonly known as Faslane — is considered the primary base for the United Kingdom’s missile fleet.

The Royal Navy says the base is home “to the core of the Submarine Service, including the nation’s nuclear deterrent, and the new generation of hunter-killer submarines.”

The UK Parliament says the Royal Navy currently operates a fleet of nine submarines, with the entire fleet based at HM Naval Base Clyde.

“Five of those are conventionally-armed nuclear-powered attack submarines of the Astute class. A further four are ballistic missiles submarines (SSBN) of the Vanguard class that comprise the UK’s submarine-based nuclear deterrent,” it added.

A Royal Navy spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Friday, “Police Scotland have arrested two people who unsuccessfully attempted to enter HM Naval Base Clyde on Thursday 19 March. As the matter is subject to an ongoing investigation, we will not comment further.”

Iran targets US-UK military base — 2K miles away — with ballistic missiles: report

Iran launched two intermediate-range ballistic missiles aimed at a joint US-UK military base 2,500 miles away in the Indian Ocean, but failed to hit its target, according to a new report.

One of the missiles that was directed at the Diego Garcia base failed while in the air as a US warship fired an SM-3 Interceptor at the second missile, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

It was not known if the interceptor had successfully destroyed the missile, but the base was not hit by an enemy strike, according to the outlet.

The Journal did not specify when the missiles ⁠were fired.

Iran’s attempt to reach Diego Garcia has worried experts who believe the rogue nation’s long-range missile capabilities have increased despite a reported self-ban on missiles that can go further than 1,200 miles.

Iran Watch, part of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, found that some Iranian missiles can reach up to 2,500 miles, roughly the distance to Diego Garcia.

Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago, is an atoll and part of the British Indian Ocean Territory.

The base houses American bombers, nuclear submarines and guided-missile destroyers.

The US recently transported military personnel and bombers, including the B-1 Lancer, to both Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England.

The B-1 Lancer can carry 24 missiles and reach speeds up to 900 mph.

Earlier on Friday, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave the US military permission to launch strikes at Iran from both the Diego Garcia facility and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England, the Times reported.

Starmer, who previously denied the US access to the bases, said that permitting the launch sites was for the “collective self-defense” to protect the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran says its Natanz nuclear facility has been hit in airstrike as war enters fourth week

Iran fired a pair of missiles at the British-US Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean — more than 2,000 miles away — signaling Tehran has developed advanced capabilities to strike far beyond what was previously estimated.

The attack didn’t result in damage to the base, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported it. One missile failed and a US warship fired an interceptor at the second.

The joint military base is a key strategic asset, and was the subject of a tense diplomatic clash earlier this year.

The attack came the same day the UK gave the US permission to use the base to launch attacks on Iran.

“Nobody, and I mean nobody, even guessed” Iran had the capability to send missiles that far, William Alberque, a Europe-based senior fellow at the Pacific Forum, told the Financial Times.

“It means they probably used a modified missile — maybe a prototype,” he said.

The Friday strike caught the international community off guard, revealing Tehran had developed intermediate-range ballistic missiles beyond what it previously disclosed.

“Iran’s reckless attacks, lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz, are a threat to British interests and British allies,” the British Defense Ministry said.

Royal Air Force jets and other UK military assets “are continuing to defend our people and personnel in the region.”

Iran’s allies threaten Red Sea attacks as mullahs choke Strait of Hormuz

Iran and its Houthi proxies may target the Red Sea as they look to inflict economic pain using critical transit points beyond the Strait of Hormuz, experts told The Post.

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have mostly stayed quiet since the US launched Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28, but if they get into the fight, they could try to lock up the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb in the Red Sea, say defense experts and the Houthis themselves.

The 20-mile wide strait is on the southern end of the Red Sea, where it allows the flow of shipping traffic out to the Arabian Sea. Ships carrying about 10% of the world’s oil and 20% of its containers use it.

In an ominous sign, the Houthis posted a music video to their Telegram channel this month threatening to “attack, burn, and sink the collapsing American Pharaoh” and said their “fingers are on the trigger,” while featuring AI-generated images of drones and missiles launched from desert outcroppings.

The Houthis have missile and drone capabilities which they used to harass shipping after Israel’s war with Hamas following the Oct. 7, 2023 attack inside the Jewish state.

Houthi spokesman Abed al-Thawr told Iran’s state-run Press TV “all options are on the table” and threatened a naval blockade against the US and Israel.

Iran and its allies are “going up the ladder of escalation, quite methodically, whatever is being done to them they’re, in turn, doing to the Gulf states” and other tactics, said Amir Handjani of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

That is what Iran did in a revenge attack on two Gulf neighbors, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, after Israel struck its main natural gas field last week.

Those attacks are part of Iran’s strategy of “asymmetric warfare” — trying to impose costs on the US by blasting at allies who provide bases and support, actions which have driven the price of oil above $110 per barrel.

“I think they’re just hunkered down and trying to be a nuisance with where they are and what they have,” said retired Navy Admiral Andrew “Woody” Lewis, a fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis

Over 100 Israeli civilians wounded by new Iranian missile strikes, including one near nuclear facility

Over 100 people were injured, including a five-year-old girl, after Iran launched a wave of missile strikes at Southern Israeli cities and came dangerously close to hitting a nuclear facility.

Iranian missiles struck the Israeli cities of Dimona and Arad today when the Islamic Republic launched a retaliatory barrage after their nuclear site at Natanz was hit in a United States-Israeli airstrike.

Dimona is home to the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, which is widely suspected of producing nuclear material for Israel’s nuclear arsenal. Israel has never acknowledged whether it has nuclear weapons.

At least 88 people were injured in the strike on Arad, including a five-year-old girl, causing widespresd damage to buildings. Ten were seriously injured.
The Dimona strike caused 59 injuries, including a 10-year-old boy who is in serious condition.

“It was a very difficult scene, when I arrived I treated about 40 casualties,” United Hatzallah medic Tomer Segev said.

The strikes caused widespread fears that Iran had launched a new kind of missile that is capable of penetrating Israel’s extensive air defenses, but an IDF spokesman said that this is not the case.

“The air defense systems operated but did not intercept the missile. We will investigate the incident and learn from it. This is not a special or unfamiliar type of munition,” IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said in a post on X.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conveyed his prayers for those injured, and said that the Jewish state is determined to continue striking its enemies.

“I spoke with the Mayor of Arad, Yair Maayan, and asked him to convey, on behalf of all Israeli citizens, our prayers for the peace of the injured… We are determined to continue to strike our enemies on all fronts,” The Israeli PM said in a statement.

Israeli Security Minister Ben Gvir was on site to tour the damage after the attack, and told the media that Israel’s war against Iran was a war they must keep fighting “to win.”

Israel’s Education Minister Yoav Kisch announced that all in-person learning would be canceled in Israeli schools following the strikes.

Schools had finally begun to reopen in areas deemed to be low risk after they were closed for two weeks after the war with Iran commenced.

IDF strikes Hezbollah targets across Lebanon after terrorist rocket attacks

The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday completed a wave of overnight strikes targeting Hezbollah infrastructure across Southern Lebanon and Beirut in response to the Iranian-backed terrorist group’s rocket attacks.

Shortly after Hezbollah launched “dozens” of rockets at Israeli territory, the IDF “issued recommendations to residents of Tyre that they should evacuate in order to protect themselves prior to IDF activities targeting Hezbollah sites in the vicinity,” according to the military statement.

“The IDF then struck weapon storage sites and operational outputs that had been deliberately embedded within the civilian population in Tyre, reiterating the terrorist organization’s systematic abuse of the Lebanese population as human shields,” the IDF statement continued.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force and Israeli Navy targeted Southern Lebanon-based infrastructure of the 14th Imam Hossein Division, a division of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

In Beirut, the IDF launched attacks on the Al-Quard al-Hasan association, which it described as Hezbollah’s financial arm.
The Israeli Navy also hit terrorist targets in the Lebanese capital.

“Prior to the strikes, steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of advance warnings, the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance,” according to the military.

Hezbollah began firing rockets and suicide drones at Israel on March 2, in retaliation for the Jewish state’s targeted killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei was killed in the opening strikes of “Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury” against the regime on Feb. 28.

In response to the terrorist organization’s violation of the US-brokered Nov. 27, 2024, truce agreement, Jerusalem launched an aerial campaign against Hezbollah and ordered IDF troops to advance and take control of additional areas in Southern Lebanon to halt cross-border attacks.

Hamas given 90 days to hand over rocket launchers, missiles in latest Gaza disarmament plan

Hamas has 90 days to hand over its heavy weaponry and maps to its sprawling underground terror tunnels, a new disarmament proposal delivered by Gaza cease-fire mediators show.

The proposal requires all terrorist groups in Gaza, which include Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other armed outfits, to completely disarm over the next several months, The Times of Israel reported.

Hamas received the disarmament framework in Cairo at a meeting headed by President Trump’s Board of Peace Gaza representative, Nickolay Mladenov, this month.

The proposal also creates a gun-buyback program, which could grant immunity to terrorists who willingly hand over their firearms.

“[The disarmament plan] can unlock reconstruction, breathe life into communities, and bring closer to unity and a negotiated resolution of the Palestinian question,” Mladenov said Thursday.

Mladenov went on to say that rebuilding Gaza hinges on “full decommissioning by Hamas and every armed group, with no exceptions and no carve-outs.”

The terror group has reportedly shown flexibility on relinquishing its heavy weaponry — such as rocket launchers and missiles — but has refused to negotiate on delivering its guns, which Hamas says it needs for self-defense.

Iran and Hamas signed on to Trump’s 20-point cease-fire plan in October 2025, which ended the war in Gaza. The plan calls for Hamas to disarm as Israeli forces gradually withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

A non-partisan technocratic government overseen by the Board of Peace would govern the strip, and an International Stabilization Force would replace IDF troops in the areas they withdraw from.

The weapons handover would go region by region, beginning in Southern Gaza, with reconstruction in the strip advancing as the area becomes demilitarized.

The proposal also calls for Israel to lift caps on humanitarian aid that can enter Gaza.

UKRAINE WAR

NATO Scrambles Reconnaissance Plane After Russian Fighter Jet Violation

NATO scrambled a reconnaissance plane after a Russian fighter jet violated Estonia's airspace on Wednesday.

Estonia's foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said on Thursday that a Russian SU-30 fighter jet entered the country's airspace for around a minute, according to the local news outlet Delfi.ee.

He added that the Italian Air Force, based at the Ämari Air Base, deployed a military plane to monitor the jet. "There was no direct threat to Estonian security," Tsahkna said.

Why It Matters

Estonia's government said that Wednesday's incident was the first Russian airspace violation this year.

Last September, the country said that three Russian military jets violated its airspace for 12 minutes in an "unprecedentedly brazen" incursion.

It underscores the persistent tensions on NATO's eastern flank and the alliance's rapid air policing posture.

What To Know

Russia's violation occurred near Vaindloo Island in the Gulf of Finland, off Estonia's northern coast, Tsahkna said. The fighter jet did not have a flight plan or communication with Estonian air traffic control, Delfi.ee reported.

Estonia has summoned the acting head of the Russian diplomatic mission in Tallinn in response to the violation, Reuters reports.

Last week, NATO member Poland dispatched two MiG-29 fighter jets to intercept and escort a Russian Ilyushin Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea, country's Operational Command of the Armed Forces said.

Norway also scrambled F-35s on two consecutive days to identify and shadow Russian Il‑20M aircraft near a NATO exercise area off the country's north coast. The Norwegian Armed Forces said the flights were likely intended to gather awareness of NATO's activity during the Cold Response military training exercise.

Last year, NATO launched Eastern Sentry, a mission to secure its eastern flank airspace following frequent violations by Russia.

NATO said: "Through Eastern Sentry, Allies are contributing additional capabilities and assets to NATO's deterrence and defense – for instance, more fighter jets, helicopters, transport aircraft, air defense systems, surveillance aircraft and frigates – and improving the coordination of these assets through NATO.

France Sends Warning to Russia as It Seizes ‘Shadow Fleet’ Tanker

French President Emmanuel Macron sent a warning to Russia that it will not forget about its war with Ukraine after confirming the interception of an alleged shadow fleet vessel.

The Deyna was boarded by the French Navy on Friday morning in the western Mediterranean as it sailed from the Russian port of Murmansk after being suspected of flying a false flag, local officials told Reuters.

In a post on X, Macron said of the interception: "We remain resolute. This morning in the Mediterranean, the French Navy intercepted and boarded another vessel from the shadow fleet, the Deyna. The war involving Iran will not deflect France from its support for Ukraine, where Russia’s war of aggression continues unabated. These vessels, which evade international sanctions and violate the law of the sea, are profiteers of war. They line their pockets while helping finance Russia’s war effort. We will not allow it."

Russian Oil Sanctions

Russia’s shadow fleet is described as a constantly shifting network of vessels that frequently change registration and flags of convenience to elude detection and avoid sanctions enforcement.

Last week, the United States temporarily eased some sanctions on Russian oil shipments amid global concerns over sharply higher crude prices due to supply shortages stemming from the war in Iran.

But the move received pushback from European countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the action “does not help peace," while Macron warned the "situation in no way justifies lifting sanctions against Russia."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday the move will help stabilize global energy markets, adding it was impossible to do so “without significant volumes of Russian oil.”

Tensions Over Strait Of Hormuz

The seizure occurred amid tensions between the U.S. and Europe over the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump has frequently called on European allies, including France, for their help in securing the strait, one of the world's busiest shipping routes that is effectively under blockade by Iran.

Macron, on Friday, floated the idea of unblocking the channel using a United Nations framework, while speaking to reporters after a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

The conflict with Iran has seen oil prices shoot well past $100 a barrel, causing worldwide concern over energy prices. In the U.S., several states are now averaging over $4 a gallon for regular gasoline.

According to the AAA, the national average price for regular gasoline has surged to about $3.88, up nearly a dollar in less than a month, putting the U.S. on the brink of a nationwide return to $4 gas for the first time since 2022.

FBI investigating former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent over alleged leaks

WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating Joe Kent, the former head of the National Counterterrorism Center, who resigned Tuesday in protest of the war with Iran, for allegedly leaking classified information, according to four sources familiar with the matter.

The probe, first reported Wednesday by Semafor, predates Kent’s dramatic departure from the Trump administration, though it is not clear when exactly it started or what revelation triggered it.

Kent, 45, had access to the nation’s most guarded secrets, and two sources claimed the FBI has direct evidence of Kent leaking. One said it was to at least two like-minded media figures, another said it was to a newspaper.

A third source said that Kent, who claimed President Trump was manipulated into attacking Iran at the behest of Israel and shielded from dissenting views, was effectively iced out ahead of his Tuesday resignation due to the investigation.

“There was a recognition that he was self-serving, so the fear of putting him on leave or firing him before there was more certainty was that he’d go out and do exactly what he’s doing,” the third source said.

“The White House lost trust in him, and attempts to compartment his work were made, but there was an effort to not embarrass the guy and find a way to transition him. He was shown a level of grace that he clearly didn’t deserve.”

The timing of the investigation’s revelation, however, has raised doubts — with skeptics recalling that War Secretary Pete Hegseth fired three senior aides last year for alleged criminal leaking before they were exonerated by further review.

CIA boss confirms Iran pursuing intel against US from Russia and China: ‘Don’t take Vladimir Putin at his word’

WASHINGTON — Iran has been pursuing damaging intelligence against the US from Iran and China to undermine Operation Epic Fury attacks, CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed Wednesday.

Numerous reports have alleged that the Russians have been feeding intelligence, including satellite imagery and other data on the position of US assets, to help Iran target American forces in the Middle East.

Moscow has denied those accusations both publicly and privately to Washington, with special envoy Steve Witkoff suggesting that “we can take them at their word.”

“No, I don’t take Vladimir Putin at his word,” Ratcliffe told Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) when asked about Witkoff’s suggestion.

“The Iranians are requesting intelligence assistance from Russia, from China, and from other adversaries of the United States, and whether or not those countries are is something we can talk about in the classified portion,” Ratcliffe told the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday during a public hearing.

Senators on the panel peppered the top intelligence honchos about the 2026 annual threat assessment. After the public hearing, lawmakers on the committee attended a classified one. Concerns about the ongoing wars in Iran and Ukraine dominated Wednesday’s hearing on global threats.

Similar to Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declined to publicly confirm that Russia has, in fact, given sensitive intelligence to Iran to help it target American assets.

“If there is that sharing going on, that would be an answer that would be appropriate for a closed session,” Gabbard said during an earlier exchange with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine).

She also noted that “any support that Iran may be receiving is not inhibiting their operational effects.”

On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov ripped into a Wall Street Journal report about Russia feeding satellite imagery and better drone technology to Iran as “fake news.”

USA

DOJ quietly issues first-ever correction to Mueller report over infamous ‘golden showers’ footnote

The Justice Department has quietly issued a stunning correction to former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on President Trump and Russia after a years-long legal battle — admitting the infamous “golden showers” footnote contains a critical error.

The footnote buried in the 2019 Mueller report dangled a link between Georgian-American businessman Giorgi Rtskhiladze and alleged “tapes” of Donald Trump in Moscow — fueling breathless cable TV chatter that the Russians might hold “kompromat” leverage over President Trump.

It was linked to one of the most explosive allegations to emerge from the “Steele dossier” compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele during the run-up to the 2016 election. But it contained a significant inaccuracy that Rtskhiladze says cost him a heavy price.

“This was a huge lie. And now we know, after the correction came, that I was not Russian. They knew I was Georgian-American. They knew this on Day One,” Rtskhiladze fumed to The Post.

The inclusion of the false identifying information in the report poured more fuel onto salacious and unsubstantiated allegations about Trump’s alleged conduct with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room during the 2013 Miss Universe pageant — elevating Rtskhiladze’s communications with former Trump fixer Michael Cohen to a potential smoking gun.

The correction is the only official change to the 448-page report that was the center of a political storm during Trump’s first term, and comes as Trump continues to settle scores from that era. DOJ gave no official notice of the correction, and it now sits at the bottom of the agency’s archival page on Mueller.

Rtskhiladze sued Mueller and the US government for defamation in 2020. DOJ issued its dry correction to footnote 112 in December, The Post has learned.

DOJ “notes that the Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election (2019) incorrectly identified” Rtskhiladze as a “Russian businessman … when in fact he is Georgian-American,” it states, in its entirety.

The correction mentions nothing else about its unsubstantiated allegations about Trump. But the correction punctures a key part of the narrative, which Rtskhiladze says destroyed his reputation by portraying him as an agent for Moscow and ultimately its president, Vladimir Putin.

He was born in a former Soviet republic that is experiencing severe strains with Moscow. He has become a US citizen, and says his texts with Cohen were mere banter and passing along rumors he had heard in Moscow.

In one fateful text included in the footnote, Rtskhiladze wrote Cohen that he “Stopped flow of some tapes from Russia.” The Mueller report omitted the word “some,” which Rtskhiladze also says distorted the tone of his message.

Mueller probe cut corners, broke rules to ‘get Trump,’ whistleblower claims

An FBI agent assigned to then-special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign has made bombshell allegations charging that misconduct, political bias, and “overzealous thoughts” permeated the team — to the point of festooning the walls of their office with anti-Trump cartoons and drinking alcohol while on the job.

A “Let’s get him” attitude colored the two-year investigation into false claims that Trump and his advisers colluded with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election, the unidentified agent said.

The allegations were first made in December 2020, when the agent was interviewed as part of an internal FBI probe into alleged misconduct by then-supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten — a central figure in both the Russia collusion hoax and the Hunter Biden laptop cover-up.

In a Sunday night letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) detailed the most troubling aspects of the agent’s account, saying it “confirms long-standing concerns that political bias rotted the decision-making process within the Mueller team … The American public deserve answers.”

Among the most damning allegations:

• There was “no authority” for the Special Counsel’s Office to open a case on Tom Barrack, a billionaire friend of Trump’s and chairman of his 2017 inaugural committee, over false claims that he was an unregistered agent of the United Arab Emirates. The FBI’s Washington Field Office already had declined to open an investigation into the now-78-year-old but the Mueller team nevertheless arrested Barrack, held him in jail, and charged him with being an agent of a foreign government. After a lengthy and expensive legal battle, Barrack was acquitted by a jury in 2022. He now serves as US ambassador to Turkey.
  
• The Mueller team chronically abused federal surveillance, or FISA, warrants that govern secret monitoring of suspected foreign agents to target Trump campaign advisers, even renewing them over the objections of FBI agents. In one case, the agent claimed, “the target of the investigation [was] cooperating and the [surveillance warrant] would not give us anything more and there was nothing in the past FISA that aided the investigation other than to prove the Target was being honest with the investigators … there were no corroborating facts that tied [the target] to certain facts that we thought were originally true.” When investigators decided to apply for a fourth warrant against the aide, the agent pointed out a series of needed corrections. In response to the proposed revisions, FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith told him: “We can’t send this.” The DOJ subsequently decided the corrections weren’t needed. Clinesmith later pleaded guilty to doctoring an email that underpinned a FISA warrant application for another blameless Trump adviser, Carter Page. He was sentenced to 12 months’ probation and kept his law license after a short suspension.
  
• Mueller prosecutor Zainad Ahmad, a protege of former Barack Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch, repeatedly violated security protocols: “For example, she brought classified documents to a meeting at WFO [Washington Field Office] without adherence to FBI security policy by bringing her classified notebook to the meeting without a proper carrying bag. What was worse, she came to WFO from her residence, meaning she kept her notebook at the residence.”
  
• Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe “referred to President Trump in a derogatory manner” in an official interview record — and DOJ prosecutors later tried to pressure FBI agent Michelle Taylor to “change the tone of the [document] to reflect that McCabe spoke about [Trump] without the negative connotation.” Taylor refused and left the FBI shortly after her secondment to the Mueller team ended, the agent said.
  
• A “general atmosphere … of bias [in the office was] led by one young prosecutor, Aaron Zelinsky … There were caricatures and cartoons that were anti-Trump.” Zelinsky, who handled the zealous investigations into Trump advisers Roger Stone, George Papadopoulos and Michael Caputo, resigned from the DOJ in January 2025.
  

Mueller’s investigation ran until March 2019, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $30 million, but found no evidence of Russia collusion.

Robert Mueller, former FBI director, Russia special counsel, dead at 81

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller —  whose probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election famously failed to establish a criminal conspiracy with the Trump campaign — died at 81, his family announced Saturday.

“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away last night. His family asks that their privacy be respected,” Mueller’s family said.

President Trump could barely contain his glee, posting on his Truth Social minutes later: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

Mueller’s cause of death was not immediately known, though he had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

A New York-born Princeton University grad, Mueller joined the Marine Corps and led a rifle platoon in Vietnam. He was the recipient of the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and other commendations.

He later became a top prosecutor and litigator. President George W. Bush nominated him to be FBI director just days before the Sept. 11th terror attacks, and he led the agency until 2013.

He was named special counsel by then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in 2017, tasked with proving whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to benefit Trump.

His probe resulted in the Department of Justice publication of the 448-page “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election,” although it was colloquially known simply as the “Mueller report.”

‘Witch hunt’

He assembled a team of top prosecutors who Trump would regularly refer to as “killers” and “thugs.”

Through the course of the probe, they interviewed figures including former campaign chair Paul Manafort, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, daughter Ivanka Trump, son Donald Trump Jr., and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Trump’s team negotiated to have the president submit answers to Mueller’s questions in writing.

The report resulted in 37 indictments and seven guilty pleas — but its failure to identify Trump campaign “collusion” resulted in the president declaring he was “totally exonerated.”

Trump praises ‘great supporter’ Chuck Norris after legendary movie star’s death at 86: ‘Tough cookie’

President Trump mourned the death of actor Chuck Norris on Friday, telling reporters he was a “tough cookie” and a “great supporter” of his.

“I thought he was a great guy,” Trump said while leaving the White House.

“He was a great guy. He was a really good tough cookie. You didn’t want to fight him, I can tell you. He was a tough, great guy.”
The president added: “A great supporter. Wow, that’s too bad.”

The two men had a long-standing friendship, going back years. Norris endorsed Trump for president in his first campaign in 2016.

They are believed to have met in 1991 at WrestleMania VII in Los Angeles, California.

Norris, an Air Force veteran, was a longtime Republican who’s been involved in presidential politics for decades. He founded a nonprofit with President George H.W. Bush that promoted martial arts instruction for kids. The two even went skydiving for Bush’s 80th birthday in 2018.

And, in the 2008 Republican primary, Norris endorsed then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for president although Huckabee ultimately failed to garner the nomination.

The 86-year-old  “Walker, Texas Ranger” star died Thursday, in what his family described as a “sudden passing.”

A beloved icon of toughness, Norris’ supporters made him go viral when they started posted “Chuck Norris Facts” online.

Trump’s fans embraced the idea with their own “Trump Facts.”

What is cauda equina syndrome? Nicholas Brendon’s nerve condition — as Buffy star dies at 54

Nicholas Brendon was open with fans about his health before his untimely death at 54.

The actor, best known for playing the lovable and wisecracking Xander Harris on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” died in his sleep from “natural causes,” his family revealed in an Instagram post Friday.

“We are heartbroken to share the passing of our brother and son, Nicholas Brendon,”  they said in a statement first shared with The Hollywood Reporter.

“While it’s no secret that Nicholas had struggles in the past, he was on medications and treatment to manage his diagnosis and he was optimistic about the future at the time of his passing.”

Brendon had previously revealed he suffered a heart attack in 2023 and was later diagnosed with a congenital heart defect.

He’d also been open about issues with substance abuse and mental health, which at times led to legal troubles.

On top of that, Brendon battled cauda equina syndrome, a medical emergency that required multiple surgeries and left lasting complications.

Here’s everything you need to know about the rare spinal condition.

What is cauda equina syndrome?

It’s a medical emergency that affects the bundle of nerves at the base of your spine, called the cauda equina. These nerves control bowel and bladder functions as well as movement and sensation in the legs and feet, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

The problem arises when something presses on these nerves, blocking signals to the rest of the body. That can trigger a range of symptoms — and if it’s not treated quickly, it can cause permanent damage, including paralysis.

Desperate Hochul begs wealthy New Yorkers to come back — as Mamdani pressures her to hike their taxes

ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul is begging wealthy New Yorkers who fled the city to encourage their rich pals to come back and continue padding the Empire State’s lavish public handouts.

Hochul made the case against caving to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s demands that she hike income taxes — by saying she not only wants fat cats to stay in the city, but also by clawing at those who have moved to states with better business climates like Florida.

“Maybe the first step should be to go down to Palm Beach and see who we can bring back home because our tax base has been eroded,” the Democratic governor said at a forum hosted by Politico last week.

“I have to look at the fact that we are in competition with other states who have less of a tax burden on their corporations and their individuals,” she said.
The comments are a far cry from Hochul’s much-derided remarks from her 2022 election campaign where she ripped her GOP opponent, Rep. Lee Zeldin, as well as then-Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro and President Trump, telling them and other New York Republicans to scram.

“Trump and Zeldin and Molinaro – just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong. OK? Get out of town. Because you don’t represent our values,” Hochul said at the time.

Hochul, who faces re-election in November, has made the pitch defending high-earners to shore up the state’s tax base in recent weeks as Mamdani and his “tax the rich” crew of lefty lawmakers demand she further jack up income taxes.

The governor was particularly poking at the group “Patriotic Millionaires” in her remarks last week, after the tax-loving lefty group got behind Mamdani’s push for an additional 2% citywide income tax on those making more than a million dollars and other proposals to squeeze more money out of New Yorkers such as lower the estate tax threshold.

Hizzoner wants to use funds raised by the tax hike to help pay for his democratic socialist wishlist and cover the $5.4 billion budget gap he claims the city faces.

But even Hochul — who is negotiating her own massively bloated $263 billion budget proposal — admitted she’s been cashing in on New Yorkers’ income taxes to buoy state finances for years.

“We have to be smart about this, but we can fund what we want to fund with what we already are taking in,” bragged Hochul.

The state had been facing its own multibillion-dollar budget gap that was largely patched after a great year on Wall Street caused bonuses to shoot up 25% over 2025, according to Hochul’s budget office.

But despite shrieking that Trump is wrecking the economy whenever it’s convenient, Hochul was somehow able to find $1.5 billion in new cash to bail out the city and another $1.7 billion to expand childcare access in her record-high spending proposal.

Continuing to hold that line, she told reporters as recently as Wednesday that she thinks the handouts she has offered will suffice and that the city needs to reign in spending instead.

“I am focused 100% on affordability measures,” Hochul said, asked if she sees a potential compromise on taxes.

If her budget passes, Hochul will have racked up state spending almost $54 billion, or 20%, since she took office in 2021.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, 78, undergoing brutal gym prep for ‘Conan the Barbarian’ sequel

He’s baaack.

At 78, legendary actor Arnold Schwarzenegger certainly isn’t slowing down — instead heading back to the gym to reclaim his role in the “Conan the Barbarian” sequel.

Schwarzenegger is reportedly pushing himself harder than ever, determined to return to peak physical shape as he reprises one of his most iconic roles in the long-awaited sequel, according to the National Enquirer.

The original film was released in May 1982, with Schwarzenegger, then 34, playing the title character.

The movie is a dark fantasy about a warrior seeking revenge for his parents’ murder and his people’s enslavement.

Originally the directors earmarked either Charles Bronson or Sylvester Stallone for the role, but that all changed when they saw Schwarzenegger’s 1977 body building documentary ”Pumping Iron.”

They proved correct, with the movie grossing $79 million at the box office and launching Austrian as a genuine Hollywood star. He also starred in the sequel the 1984 sequel, Conan the Destroyer, the same year he played Terminator.

The project, dubbed “King Conan,” has been in the works for decades, will focus on a an older version of the warrior who must fight once more.

The original was remade in 2011 starring Jason Momoa, but it was a box office flop.

According to Enquirer’s source, the film depends on the former Mr. Universe “really looking like a legendary barbarian-slash-king.”

Schwarzenegger is working out intensely and following a strict routine to get back into shape for the demanding role.

“Gold’s Gym just sold almost all of their L.A. locations, but they held the original gym in Venice, where Arnold still works out to this day,” the source said.

“That’s where he’s going to forge the body to take on this role again, come hell or high water! Failure is not an option.”

Men’s Health reported that the Austrian-born bodybuilder has dealt with shoulder, knee, elbow, and hip problems, including a hip replacement, and has had a pacemaker implanted after several open-heart surgeries.

Elon Musk offers to pay TSA workers' salaries amid DHS budget standoff
Congress has not passed a funding bill for DHS, leading to the current standoff

Elon Musk offered to cover the salaries of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel during the ongoing government funding standoff.

"I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country," Musk said in an X post on Saturday morning.

Musk's offer comes as a partial government shutdown passes one month, with lawmakers unable to reach a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the TSA.

The DHS shutdown has left TSA agents working without pay, triggering staffing shortages and long airport lines nationwide, while raising concerns about the ability to prevent attacks.

Republicans have pushed to fund DHS, while Democrats have sought standalone funding for agencies like TSA that would exclude immigration operations.

TSA officers are considered essential employees and are required to report to work even during a shutdown, though pay can be delayed.

Musk’s offer appeared aimed at easing the strain as airport lines grow and staffing pressures build.

Major U.S. airports have experienced severe delays, with security wait times exceeding 3 hours in some cases, due to high TSA officer absenteeism. Hardest-hit airports include Houston (HOU, IAH), Atlanta (ATL), New Orleans (MSY), and Philadelphia (PHL).

Footage from PHL, shot early Thursday morning, showed hundreds of passengers waiting on elevators and escalators to clear a security checkpoint.

Trump threatens to unleash ICE agents on US airports if Dems don’t end shutdown

President Trump on Saturday threatened to station ICE agents in airports across the nation as soon as Monday to ease the chaos and long security lines caused by widespread TSA absenteeism amid a partial government shutdown.

Trump called on Democrats to end the stonewalling that has cut off funding and paychecks for TSA screeners.

“If the Radical Left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before,” Trump said on Truth Social.

The president added that ICE agents would also beef up security against illegal immigrants “with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia, who have totally destroyed, with the approval of a corrupt Governor, Attorney General, and Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, the once Great State of Minnesota.”

In a follow-up post, the President revealed he had already begun mobilizing ICE so that they could start working inside airports on Monday.
‘[I] have already told them to, “GET READY.” NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES,” Trump wrote.

In a post, the president slammed the Democrats’ “vicious and uncaring ways.”

Republicans have pushed to fund DHS, while Democrats have sought standalone funding for agencies like TSA that would exclude immigration operations.

“The Radical Left Democrats have hurt so many people with their vicious and uncaring ways. What they have done to the Department of Homeland Security, our fantastic TSA Officers, and, most importantly, the great people of our Country, is an absolute disgrace,” Trump wrote.

“If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before! The Fascist Democrats will never protect America, but the Republicans will,” he continued.

“Just like the Radical Left allowed millions of Criminals to pour into our Country through their ridiculous and dangerous Open Border Policy, the Republicans closed it all down, and we now have the Strongest Border in American History.”

Trump’s threats come as the partial shutdown enters its 35th day — leaving roughly 50,000 TSA agents to work without pay.

Thousands of others have called in sick since Feb. 14, and at least 376 have quit their jobs altogether

AOC spent $2,000 in campaign cash to hire pricey celebrity makeup artist: ‘outrageous’

She’s blushing now.

Far-left “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — who once boasted about doing her own makeup in an Instagram tutorial — shelled out more than $2,000 last fall to a celebrity makeup artist whose clients include Bad Bunny and Bella Hadid.

On Nov. 5, her campaign reported paying New York and Los Angeles-based The Only Agency $670 for “campaign event makeup services,” then another $693.08, and $665 five days later for “campaign event hair and makeup services,” Federal Election Commission records show.

The posh agency’s prices start at $600 a pop for hair and $600 for makeup.

One of the occasions the “Bronx girl” got dolled up for was the get out the vote rally for Mayor Mamdani in Queens on Oct. 26 with comrade Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont).

“An honor to glam AOC for the ‘New York is Not for Sale’ rally at Forest Hills Stadium — an unforgettable moment watching her light up the stage with conviction, courage, and heart,” gushed makeup artist Jocelyn Biga on Instagram, along with snaps of AOC’s airbrushed look.

Sporting a smokey brown eye, subtle red lip and perfectly coiffed eyebrows, AOC drew massive applause as she talked about New York City being built by Irish people fleeing famine, Italians escaping fascism, Jews seeking shelter after the Holocaust and blacks escaping Jim Crow laws.

It’s not clear for what other occasion Ocasio-Cortez used the company’s services.

Her other public appearances around that time included the Eugene Debs award banquet for Sanders in Terre Haute, Indiana on Oct. 25, and Mamdani’s election night victory party Nov. 4 at the Paramount Theater in downtown Brooklyn.

“AOC’s favorite slogan is ‘tax the rich,’ but her campaign spending shows she’d rather live like the 1%,” slammed RNC National Press Secretary Kiersten Pels.

“It’s the latest reminder that her class-warfare message is little more than political theater propped up by high-priced makeovers.”

AOC spends $19K in campaign cash on psychiatrist known for ketamine therapy

She’s trippin’.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) spent nearly $19,000 in campaign cash last year on a shrink who specializes in controversial ketamine therapy.

The socialist lawmaker hired Boston-based Dr. Brian Boyle, the chief psychiatric officer at Stella, a chain of mental health clinics focusing on “novel” therapies popular with Hollywood and Wall Street.

Her campaign paid Boyle $11,550 in March 2025, another $2,800 in May, and $4,375 in October for a total of $18,725, Federal Election Commission records show.

The expenses were marked as “leadership training and consulting.”

It’s unclear what the sessions consisted of or who participated. Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Boyle, a Harvard-trained doctor, calls himself an “interventional psychiatrist” and specializes in unorthodox methods for treatment-resistant depression, PTSD and anxiety.

He’s considered a “leading authority” on ketamine, the controversial horse tranquilizer given to “Friends” star Matthew Perry in the month leading up to his tragic death.

“I just saw the incredible power of what these treatments could do,” Boyle said during a podcast appearance last year about getting into the mind-blowing biz. “It’s a ton of fun helping patients get better.”

Boyle’s clinic also offers other treatments popular with the 1 Percent, like stellate ganglion block, an anesthetic injected into a nerve cluster in the neck to calm the body’s fight-or-flight response. Billionaires like Bob Parsons, who’s battled PTSD since returning from the Vietnam War, have raved about the treatment.

USPS mailman who violently shoved Jewish boy in NYC suburb to face new charge, police said

The Rockland County postal worker arrested for violently shoving a 4-year-old Jewish boy was expected to face new charges, police said — as outrage grows over the decision to shield the suspect’s name from the public.

The unidentified mail carrier, 39, was to be slapped with an additional charge of attempted assault in the second degree Saturday, according to the Ramapo Police Department.

The expected new charge comes one day after the United States Postal worker was hit with misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child and attempted assault in the third degree for the heartless, caught on video attack.

Home surveillance footage showed the young Orthodox Jewish boy approaching a community mailbox which was being filled by the postal worker, who had his back turned.

When the boy got close to the mailbox, the carrier jumped around and launched at him — delivering a two-handed push that sent the boy falling to the ground and knocked off his yarmulke, video first reported by The Monsey Scoop showed.

The boy jumped up, collected his religious garment, and hurried back to a group of friends nearby.

The 4-year-old was not physically hurt and police have not yet deemed the incident a hate crime.

The mail carrier, a resident of Stony Point, was arrested Thursday and released on his own recognizance and processed in Ramapo Town Justice Court.

The Ramapo Police Department said it “very rarely” identify suspects in news releases, and declined to provide the name of the postal worker.

New Yorkers took to social media to express their outrage that the authorities have not announced the identity of the mail carrier who is due back in court at an unspecified date.

CUBA

Russian Tankers Could Challenge US Blockade of Cuba

Russian fuel shipments are heading to Cuba, according to maritime tracking data, in a development that could test President Donald Trump’s effort to choke off the island’s energy supplies.

A U.S.-sanctioned Russian tanker, Anatoly Kolodkin, is carrying crude to Cuba, while a second vessel is believed to be transporting Russian diesel or gasoil.

The Anatoly Kolodkin, owned by the Russian state company Sovcomflot, loaded 730,000 barrels of Urals crude in the Russian port of Primorsk on March 8 and could arrive in Cuba as early as March 23, according to analytics firm Kpler.

The vessel is sanctioned by the U.S. and the EU as part of measures aimed at punishing Moscow for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The second tanker, the Hong Kong-flagged Sea Horse, is reported to be carrying approximately 200,000 barrels of Russian diesel fuel which could arrive in Cuba by the weekend, according to maritime tracking data.

The U.S. capture of Venezuela's former leader Nicolás Maduro deprived Cuba of an ally whose oil had provided a lifeline to the island. Havana faced even more pressure after Mexico also cut off supplies, bringing the country to the verge of economic collapse. 

However, the approach of the Russian vessels could test how far the Trump administration is willing to go to stop fresh fuel shipments from reaching Cuba.

Trump has suggested that the U.S. could take over Cuba, telling reporters at the White House on Monday: "I could do anything I want with it... They’re a very weakened nation right now."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that Moscow was committed to helping authorities in Havana and was "ready to provide all possible assistance." The countries were involved in "working levels" of contact during the energy crisis, he added.

Trump’s rhetoric prompted Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel to say that any U.S. aggression would be met with "impregnable resistance."

In his first response to Trump's rhetoric about the island, the Cuban leader said in an X post on Tuesday: "The U.S. publicly threatens Cuba almost daily with the forceful overthrow of its constitutional order."

Cuba's foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, also condemned the U.S. in an X post on Wednesday which accused Washington of trying to destroy the country's constitutional order.

"The collective punishment applied to us, Cubans, will not dent the full exercise of our sovereignty or our creativity," said Rodriguez. "Every aggression of the empire will clash against the irreducible will of the Cuban people."

CHINA

China Offers Energy Security if Taiwan Accepts ‘Reunification’

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday made a public offer of energy stability for Taiwan if it would agree to “reunification,” or peacefully submitting to rule by the Chinese Communist Party.

“We are willing to provide Taiwan compatriots with stable and reliable energy and resource security, so that they may live better lives,” said Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua.

Chen argued that “peaceful reunification” would give Taiwan the benefit of a “strong motherland” to secure its energy supplies.

“The removal of barriers between the two sides of the strait will ensure the smooth flow of resources,” he purred. “The mainland’s abundant power supply is more than sufficient to meet the electricity needs of Taiwan’s companies and can ensure that households across the island are freed from the inconvenience and worries of power shortages and outages during peak seasons.”

The occasion of China’s latest effort to sell “reunification” to the Taiwanese was, of course, the war in Iran. Asian countries have traditionally obtained a great deal of their oil and natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran is attempting to blockade by attacking civilian ships.

China is arguably the country suffering the most from the Strait of Hormuz crisis, although there have been persistent rumors that Iran is finding ways to ship oil to its biggest customers in Beijing, using “dark fleet” tankers that have deactivated their transponders.

China is so concerned about shortages that it banned fuel exports of gas, diesel, and jet fuel until at least the end of March, which seems like an inconvenient detail for Beijing’s promise of fuel security for Taiwan in exchange for undying fealty.

Chen contended that, even before the Iran war, Taiwan sometimes struggled to get the fuel it needed shipped to the island, leaving it with chronic shortages and price spikes. His offer to help smooth out Taiwan’s energy system was part of a push for peaceful reunification Beijing has been conducting over the past year, with various officials seeking to convince Taipei that rich economic rewards would flow from accepting Beijing’s rule voluntarily.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Wednesday highlighted an October speech by Wang Huning, chair of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), that was laced with all manner of sweeteners for Taiwan to accept a reunification deal, including energy security, improved foreign relations, superior economic development, and even a richer “cultural life” for the Taiwanese people.

So far, there has been scarcely a nibble on China’s well-baited hook. Taiwanese officials gave assurances in early March that they had contingency plans for a prolonged conflict in Iran to ensure that “domestic gas supply will absolutely not be interrupted.”

On Wednesday, Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te gave assurances that energy supplies for the next two months have been secured, thanks to a “diversified and multi-source strategic approach to energy imports” that includes increased gas purchases from the United States.

Taipei said on Monday that retail prices for diesel and gas would be unchanged for at least another week, as the state would absorb any extra costs that might otherwise have been passed along to consumers. The government is also hoping to keep electricity prices stable through the end of next month.