Rand Paul says US in ‘active war’ with Venezuela: ‘I still hope it works out for the best’
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on Sunday that the U.S. is engaged in an “ongoing war” with Venezuela following what he described as recent U.S. actions involving the country.
During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Paul said the U.S. continues to be in conflict with Venezuela over its oil.
“That is an act of war, it’s an ongoing war, to continue to take their oil, ongoing war, to distribute it,” Paul said.
“I still hope it works out for the best, but we are still involved in an active war with Venezuela,” he continued.
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The senator added that “we still have hundreds of ships with a 100% blockade of the coast.”
This comes after the U.S. operation to attack Venezuela and arrest its president, Nicolás Maduro, and the Trump administration’s subsequent seizing of oil tankers from the country.
Venezuela is one of the biggest producers of oil, and its oil industry has become a focus of the Trump administration. Officials said oil sales to the U.S. will start immediately with an initial shipment of about 30 million to 50 million barrels and that the shipments will continue indefinitely.
“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump previously wrote on Truth Social.
Trump has also said the U.S. would continue “running” Venezuela for much longer than a few months. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have said it will take time for Venezuela, now led by interim President Delcy Rodriguez, to reach a place where it can hold elections.
More than half of U.S. voters oppose the Trump administration running Venezuela, according to a poll from Quinnipiac University.
Paul is part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers who want to limit Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela after the U.S. military’s recent move to strike the country and capture Maduro, which the Kentucky Republican has said amounts to war.
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The group attempted to pass a war powers resolution last week to block the president from additional intervention without congressional approval, but the effort failed in the Senate.
“The only problem about a war powers vote now is that, since it hasn’t happened, there are a lot of Republicans who say, ‘Oh, that’s prospective. I’m not going to tie his hands prospectively,'” Paul said on Sunday.
“The problem is, if you wait until after an invasion, whereas the administration argues, we don’t know it’s a war until we count the casualties. That’s sort of a crazy definition of war, because our job is to initiate or declare war,” he added.
Iran accused of killing 16,500 in sweeping ‘genocide’ crackdown: report
Iranian protesters are facing their deadliest days yet as security forces unleash mass killings and executions in a sweeping crackdown some have labeled “genocide,” new reports say.
According to The Sunday Times, a report compiled by doctors entrenched in the region and reviewed by the outlet estimates that security forces have killed at least 16,500 protesters and injured more than 330,000 others.
The report also described the violence as an “utter slaughter,” warning that the true toll may be even higher due to restricted access to hospitals and the near-total shutdown of communications.
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Most of the victims, the report says, are believed to be under the age of 30, underscoring the heavy toll on Iran’s younger generation as the regime intensifies its efforts to crush dissent.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, acknowledged Sunday that “several thousands” have been killed since protests erupted Dec. 28.
In a televised address, he blamed demonstrators, calling them “foot-soldiers of the U.S.” and falsely claiming protesters were armed with imported live ammunition.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that as of day 22 of the protests, verified figures show 3,919 people killed, with 8,949 additional deaths under investigation, 2,109 severely injured, and 24,669 detainees.
HRANA noted that the true toll is likely far higher due to the internet shutdown.
Professor Amir Parasta, an Iranian-German eye surgeon and medical director of Munich MED, said in The Sunday Times report that doctors across Iran are “shocked and crying,” despite having experience treating war injuries.
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“This is a whole new level of brutality,” Parasta said. He added that Starlink terminals smuggled into Iran have been the only means of communication since authorities cut internet access on Jan. 8.
Eyewitnesses who fled Iran also described snipers targeting protesters’ heads, mass shootings and systematic blinding using pellet guns.
One former Iranian resident said in the report that doctors reported more than 800 eye removals in a single night in the capital alone, with possibly more than 8,000 people blinded nationwide.
“This is genocide under the cover of digital darkness,” Parasta said.
Alongside the street killings, executions have surged dramatically, according to Ali Safavi, a senior official with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
Safavi told Fox News Digital that 2,200 people were executed in 2025, while 153 have already been hanged in the first 18 days of January 2026, averaging more than eight executions per day.
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“Ali Khamenei is continuing mass executions in parallel with the killing of young protesters,” Safavi said. “Three executions in the form of hanging are now happening every hour according to our data.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi previously disputed high death tolls reported in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, claiming fatalities were only in the hundreds and dismissing higher figures as “misinformation.”
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President Donald Trump sharply condemned Khamenei over the weekend, calling him a “sick man” and urging new leadership in Iran.
In an interview with Politico, Trump accused Khamenei of overseeing “the complete destruction of the country” and using “violence at levels never seen before,” adding that Iran’s leadership should “stop killing people.”
Viral protest video against Iran’s supreme leader sparks copycat demonstrations worldwide
A viral video showing an Iranian refugee lighting a cigarette using a burning image of Iran’s supreme leader has become a global flashpoint as protests rock the Islamic Republic and President Donald Trump weighs military action against the regime.
The Associated Press reported the 34-second video shows a woman believed to be living in Canada igniting a photo of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – a capital crime in Iran – before calmly lighting a cigarette and letting the image fall to the ground.
The images accompanying this story show protesters recreating the act at demonstrations outside Iran, not the woman featured in the original viral video.
The footage has spread rapidly across social media as Iran’s government carries out a violent crackdown on dissent that activists say has killed thousands.
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The video has been shared millions of times across platforms such as X, Instagram and Reddit, with many viewers seeing it as a stark act of defiance against Iran’s clerical rulers.
Others have questioned whether the moment was spontaneous or staged, highlighting the growing skepticism that surrounds viral images in an age of artificial intelligence and information warfare.
What is undisputed is the symbolism of the act. In Iran, burning an image of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei can be punishable by death.
Smoking in public is considered immodest, and women are legally required to wear hijabs. In the brief clip, the woman defies all three norms at once, appearing without a headscarf as her hair hangs close to the flame.
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The gesture has leapt from the digital world into the real one. Photos and videos have surfaced from protests in Europe, Israel and the U.S. showing demonstrators lighting cigarettes using images of Khamenei, mimicking what has become known online as the “cigarette girl” moment.
Iranian state media has announced wave after wave of arrests, targeting those it labels “terrorists” and seizing Starlink satellite internet equipment – often the only way videos can escape the country during government-imposed internet blackouts.
Activists say the regime has intensified repression in recent weeks as unrest spreads amid economic collapse and political instability.
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The AP reported the woman has described herself in interviews with other outlets as an Iranian refugee living in Toronto, and said she fled Iran after repeated arrests and abuse by security forces.
She filmed the video on Jan. 7, according to The AP – one day before Iran imposed a near-total internet blackout. She did so to show solidarity with “friends” inside the country, she said. She has asked that her real name not be published, citing fears for her safety and for family members who remain in Iran.
The video’s explosive reach underscores how social media has become a central battleground in modern conflicts, with images shaping global perception faster than governments can control them.
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As Trump weighs next steps toward Tehran, the clip has become more than a viral moment – it has become a symbol of resistance, scrutiny and the high stakes of dissent under authoritarian rule.
Iranian regime elites allegedly move millions of dollars out of country amid sanctions
Members of Iran’s ruling elite are said to have moved “tens of millions of dollars” out of the country as the U.S. imposed fresh sanctions over the regime’s violent protest crackdown, according to reports.
The regime’s “capital flight” came as the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced on Jan. 15 in a release that it was taking “action against the shadow banking networks that allow Iran’s elite to steal and launder revenue generated by the country’s natural resources.”
“There are several reports, some of which are yet to be confirmed, about capital flight in various forms from the Islamic Republic,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
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If confirmed, Ben Taleblu said, the suspected exodus of money underscores the need for U.S. authorities to track and “freeze and seize” assets tied to sanctioned figures.
“If capital flight has taken place, then these are accounts that the U.S. government should be looking to monitor, block, freeze and seize,” he said.
“At the direction of President Trump, the Treasury Department is sanctioning key Iranian leaders involved in the brutal crackdown against the Iranian people. Treasury will use every tool to target those behind the regime’s tyrannical oppression of human rights,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent also said in a statement on Jan. 15.
Bessent went on to reveal in an interview how his department had tracked the wiring of “tens of millions of dollars” out of Iran by leaders.
“We are now seeing the rats fleeing the ship, because we can see millions, tens of millions of dollars being wired out of the country, snuck out of the country by the Iranian leadership,” Bessent added.
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“So they are abandoning ship, and we are seeing it come into banks and financial institutions all over the world,” he added.
Iranian figures were said to be moving large sums abroad, with Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei allegedly transferring roughly $328 million overseas as part of an estimated $1.5 billion shift in recent days, Channel 14 reported.
“There were also some reports on social media about large volumes of Bitcoin being transferred, or other kinds of financial assets. I haven’t been able to independently confirm that, but it is something that’s being discussed,” Ben Taleblu added.
“The fact that the Treasury Department is looking at this tells you quite seriously that Washington is also trying to link its foreign economic policy with its national security policy,” he said.
Ben Taleblu also claimed Iran’s shadow banking system has been deeply embedded in global finance, with billions of dollars routed through jurisdictions “including the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Singapore.”
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“In the past, Washington has tracked the regime’s shadow banking activities, which, unfortunately, even include trade and money laundering through friendlier, more Western-leaning jurisdictions,” Ben Taleblu explained.
“In fact, the Treasury Department identified almost $9 billion of Iranian shadow banking activity that touched U.S. correspondent accounts throughout 2024,” he said.
Ben Taleblu added that the economic pressure campaign places renewed attention on President Donald Trump’s next move.
“All eyes right now are on President Trump to see if he takes a page from the Reagan playbook, the Obama playbook, or something else entirely,” Ben Taleblu said.
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“The million-dollar question is whether there will be something kinetic, especially after the most violent crackdown against protesters in the Islamic Republic’s history.”
“Economic sanctions are helpful and necessary,” he added, “but they are nowhere near sufficient to level the playing field between the street and the state.”
Russia plots major strike on Europe’s largest nuclear plant power lines: source
Russia is preparing to target Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant’s power lines in a move that could unfold within days, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Ukrainian officials had said Moscow’s plan was focused on high-voltage transmission infrastructure rather than direct strikes on nuclear reactors, but a source has since claimed the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lines (ZNPP) are Moscow’s focus.
In a statement released Jan. 17, the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry (HUR) had warned that Russia was weighing attacks on substations critical to nuclear power generation.
“In order to force Ukraine to sign unacceptable surrender demands to end the war, the aggressor state Russia is considering the option of attacking strategic facilities of our state’s energy system — we are talking about electricity transmission substations that ensure the operation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants.”
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“The threat is at ZNPP,” a source told Fox News Digital. “There are talks of a massive attack either tonight or in the coming nights,” the source said on condition of anonymity, adding that “the talks within the Ukrainian government are about ZNPP and the lines, and these talks have not been for the first time.”
According to The Associated Press, Russia also targeted energy infrastructure in Odesa region overnight Sunday, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service.
ZNPP is located in southern Ukraine and consists of six VVER-1000 pressurized water reactors, and has been under Russian occupation since March 2022, according to reports.
Although the reactors are no longer producing electricity, the plant needs external power to maintain cooling and safety systems.
The IAEA has repeatedly warned that disruptions to off-site power supplies and lines pose a serious nuclear safety risk.
A Jan. 16 localized ceasefire was agreed between Russia and Ukraine for repairs under IAEA coordination on one backup power line at ZNPP that had already been damaged.
In a statement, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Jan. 16: “The IAEA continues to work closely with both sides to ensure nuclear safety at the ZNPP and to prevent a nuclear accident during the conflict. This temporary ceasefire, the fourth we have negotiated, demonstrates the indispensable role that we continue to play.”
“A deterioration of Ukraine’s power grid from persistent military activity has direct implications on the nuclear safety of its nuclear facilities,” Grossi said.
“Russia is said to be going to do this strike, maybe even tonight,” the source said of the ZNPP operation.
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“Information also from the Ukrainian Parliament and Ukrainian Security Service, or internally, is that the Russian army told the Ukrainian army that if they don’t stop shelling their tankers in the sea or shelling their oil refineries, as well as their electric stations like power stations,” the source said, “then they will fully destroy Kyiv energy facilities aswell.”
“The parliament knows this. But we keep shelling,” the source added.
“This is a very difficult situation,” the source continued, saying Ukrainian leadership, the Ukrainian parliament and “obviously the office of the president” are fully aware that “if we keep shelling Russian tankers and oil refineries, then they will destroy everything that we have.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also recently urged NATO allies to urgently deliver additional air-defense missiles, warning that some systems are running low on ammunition, according to reports.
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“To actually preserve the energy in the country when it is minus 20 outside and people are literally suffering hugely,” the source added. “People don’t have electricity, don’t have warmth and some don’t even have water.”
“And this is a very controversial situation,” the source said, “particularly for the Ukrainian people sitting inside, hungry and freezing, and overall being in this disastrous humanitarian situation.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to President Zelenskyy’s office for comment.
Keane warns Iran’s leadership to take Trump ‘at his word’ as military assets move into region
Retired Gen. Jack Keane said Iran’s leadership should take President Donald Trump “at his word,” arguing that the administration’s threat to hold the regime to account for violence against its own people remains in place as the U.S. moves military assets into the region.
Keane pushed back on the idea that the White House had softened its stance toward Tehran or might be trying to mislead Iran, saying Trump has been clear about his intent.
“I believe the president at his word. He intends to hold the regime accountable for what they have done,” Keane said on “The Sunday Briefing.”
The U.S.-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates that more than 3,000 people were killed over roughly three weeks of unrest, though other reports put the death toll higher. Many thousands more have been arrested.
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“Certainly, the regime should take him at his word. They’ve completely disregarded it, obviously,” Keane said, adding that Iran’s “bloodbath” was not over.
He claimed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had brought in militias from other countries such as Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan to patrol the streets with loudspeakers and machine guns to suppress dissent.
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Trump has not yet taken action, Keane said, because the U.S. is still positioning assets and assessing how Iran might retaliate. He suggested American military bases and Israel were in danger of finding themselves in Iran’s crosshairs.
“What likely it means — I’m just speculating — is we’ve expanded the targets to ballistic missiles, which would do damage to us as well as to the Israelis. [We must] make certain that we have all the assets in the region to be able to accomplish that.”
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He said Trump has been explicit about his intentions and should not be underestimated.
“That threat is still on the table.”