MORNING GLORY: What will President Donald Trump decide to do with Iran?
A major battle with Iran appears imminent.
Ought it to be called a war, a battle, or a strike?
That depends on what the United States and Israel decide to do and what President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu call it.
It also depends on whether Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, orders the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran’s proxy forces in Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, as well as terror cells around the world, to mount counter-attacks that kill Americans, Israelis or people in our Gulf allies.
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Whatever the president and the prime minister order, the ayatollah can trigger massive escalation with any counter-attack that results in American or Israeli casualties.
In June 2025, Israelis called their attacks on Iran and Iran’s missile fusillades against the Jewish State “the 12-day war.” Americans called their B-2s’ obliteration of Iran’s nuclear weapons program an “operation”: “Operation Midnight Hammer.”
Operations and strikes occur in both battles and wars. What the United States has assembled in and around Iran is a concentration of military forces so immense that everything is on the list of possibilities awaiting President Trump’s order: a discrete one-day operation, numerous strikes over days or weeks, or an intense days, weeks, or months-long “battle” to destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles and missile factories as well as facilities crucial to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and perhaps political leadership, or a war against the Islamic Republic along the lines of the wars conducted against Serbia in 1999 and against Libya
The NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia/Serbia (Operation Allied Force) lasted for 78 days, starting on March 24, 1999, and ending on June 10, 1999. The campaign was launched to stop actions against the ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo and concluded with the withdrawal of Yugoslav/Serbian forces from the region. Over 1,000 Serbian military personnel were killed and at least 500 civilians.
NATO’s air campaign against Libya and its dictator, Muammar Gaddafi lasted for approximately seven months, from March 23 to October 31, 2011 and included 7,000 bombing sorties from the air. A study of that air campaign concluded about 8,000 combatants on both sides died and that Human Rights Watch concluded 72 civilians died in the bombings. Gaddafi himself was captured and killed on October 20, 2011.
A second Libyan civil war began on May 16, 2014, when Khalifa Haftar launched Operation Dignity, later escalating with the formation of rival governments in Tripoli and Tobruk. The conflict concluded with a ceasefire signed on October 23, 2020. That ceasefire is precarious and fighting between factions erupts periodically.
TRUMP VOWS TO ‘KNOCK THE HELL OUT OF’ IRAN IF NUCLEAR PROGRAM IS REBUILT AGAIN AFTER HIGH-STAKES MEETING
President Trump has laid down four red lines for Iran and Iran has violated all four: The regime is reported to have resumed efforts to enrich uranium and reach towards a nuclear weapon, to continue to build more and larger ballistic missiles, to fund its proxy forces across the Middle East and, of course, to continue to murder its citizens.
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Ayatollah Khamenei and his senior military commanders continuously taunt and belittle President Trump and the American military as well as Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel. The classic “wounded beast” lashing out is playing out before our eyes, and all the honeyed talk from Iran’s diplomats crumbles under the weight of the regime’s leadership’s poisoned rhetoric.
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There is, of course, genuine risk to our troops and to our allies in Israel and the Gulf States. That is why when President Trump orders the American military to attack, it should be with overwhelming and sustained force. The president has given Iran opportunity after opportunity to stand down and stop its crazed behavior. Iran is incapable of doing that. Iran’s generals have not organized action against the theocrats pushing them and their troops to ruin.
Fanatics don’t reason, and the United States cannot afford to allow the world to see it deterred by the words and shaking fists of a second- or third-rate military equipped with bluster and ballistic missiles.
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US thwarted near-catastrophic prison break of 6,000 ISIS fighters in Syria
EXCLUSIVE: This was the kind of prison break officials say could have changed the region, and perhaps even the world, overnight.
Nearly 6,000 ISIS detainees, described by a senior U.S. intelligence official as “the worst of the worst,” were being held in northern Syria as clashes and instability threatened the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the guards responsible for keeping the militants locked away and preventing a feared ISIS resurgence. U.S. officials believed that if the prisons collapsed in the chaos, the consequences would have been immediate.
“If these 6,000 or so got out and returned to the battlefield, that would basically be the instant reconstitution of ISIS,” the senior intelligence official told Fox News Digital.
In an exclusive interview, the official walked Fox News Digital step by step through the behind-the-scenes operation that moved thousands of ISIS detainees out of Syria and into Iraqi custody, describing a multi-agency scramble that unfolded over weeks, with intelligence warnings, rapid diplomacy and a swift military lift.
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The risk, the official explained, had been building for months. In late October, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard began to assess that Syria’s transition could tip into disorder and create the conditions for a catastrophic jailbreak.
The ODNI sent the official to Syria and Iraq at that time to begin early discussions with both the SDF and the Iraqi government about how to remove what the official repeatedly described as the most dangerous detainees before events overtook them.
Those fears sharpened in early January as fighting erupted in Aleppo and began spreading eastward. Time was running out to prevent catastrophe. “We saw this severe crisis situation,” the official said.
U.S. ANNOUNCES MORE MILITARY ACTIONS AGAINST ISIS: ‘WE WILL NOT RELENT’
According to the source, the ODNI oversaw daily coordination calls across agencies as the situation escalated. The official said Secretary of State Marco Rubio was “managing the day to day” on policy considerations, while the ODNI drove a working group that kept CENTCOM, diplomats and intelligence officials aligned on the urgent question: how to keep nearly 6,000 ISIS fighters from slipping into the fog of war.
The Iraqi government, the official said, understood the stakes. Baghdad had its own reasons to move quickly, fearing that if thousands of detainees escaped, they would spill across the border and revive a threat Iraq still remembers in visceral terms.
The official described Iraq’s motivation bluntly: leaders recognized that a massive breakout could force Iraq back into a “2014 ISIS is on our border situation once more.”
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the official said, played a pivotal role in smoothing the diplomatic runway for what would become a major logistical undertaking.
Then came the physical lift. The official credited CENTCOM’s surge of resources to make the plan real on the ground, saying that “moving in helicopters” and other assets enabled detainees to be removed in a compressed timeframe.
“Thanks to the efforts… moving in helicopters, moving in more resources, and then just logistically making this happen, we were able to get these nearly 6,000 out in the course of just a few weeks,” the official said.
ISIS FIGHTERS STILL AT LARGE AFTER SYRIAN PRISON BREAK, CONTRIBUTING TO VOLATILE SECURITY SITUATION
The SDF, he said, had been securing the prisons, but its attention was strained by fighting elsewhere, fueling U.S. fears that a single breach could spiral into a mass escape. Ultimately, detainees were transported into Iraq, where they are now held at a facility near Baghdad International Airport under Iraqi authority.
The next phase, the official said, is focused on identification and accountability. FBI teams are in Iraq enrolling detainees biometrically, the official said, while U.S. and Iraqi officials examine what intelligence can be declassified and used in prosecutions.
“What they were asking us for, basically, is giving them as much intelligence and information that we have on these individuals,” the official said. “So right now, the priority is on biometrically identifying these individuals.”
The official said the State Department is also pushing countries of origin to take responsibility for their citizens held among the detainees.
“State Department is doing outreach right now and encouraging all these different countries to come and pick up their fighters,” he said.
While the transfer focused strictly on ISIS fighters, the senior intelligence official said families held in camps such as al-Hol were not part of the operation, leaving a major unresolved security and humanitarian challenge.
ISIS EXPLOITING SYRIA’S CHAOS AS US STRIKES EXPOSE GROWING THREAT
The camps themselves were under separate arrangements, the official said, and responsibility shifted as control on the ground evolved.
According to the official, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian government reached an understanding that Damascus would take over the al-Hol camp, which holds thousands of ISIS-affiliated women and children.
“As you can see from social media, the al-Hol camp is pretty much being emptied out,” the official said, adding that it “appears the Syrian government has decided to let them go free,” a scenario the official described as deeply troubling for regional security. “That is very concerning.”
The fate of the families has long been viewed by counterterrorism officials as one of the most complicated, unresolved elements of the ISIS detention system. Many of the children have grown up in camps after ISIS lost territorial control, and some are now approaching fighting age, raising fears about future radicalization and recruitment.
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For now, the official said, intelligence agencies are closely tracking developments after a rapid operation that, in their view, prevented thousands of experienced ISIS militants from reentering the battlefield at once and potentially reigniting the group’s fighting force.
“This is a rare good news story coming out of Syria,” the official concluded.
Trump orders complete withdrawal of all troops from Syria within two months: report
The U.S. is preparing to withdraw all roughly 1,000 troops from Syria, ending a decade-long military mission as President Donald Trump reshapes America’s posture in the Middle East, according to a report.
Three American officials familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that U.S. forces are expected to depart the country within the next two months, completing a full withdrawal after the military already vacated several key positions earlier this year.
The move would mark the end of a U.S. ground presence that began in 2014 under Operation Inherent Resolve, the coalition campaign aimed at dismantling ISIS.
American troops remained in Syria after the terrorist group’s territorial defeat in 2019 to support partner forces, prevent an ISIS resurgence and counter Iran-backed militias operating across the region.
TOP GOP SENATOR SAYS SYRIA CEASEFIRE WELCOME BUT ACTIONS MUST MATCH WORDS
U.S. forces previously withdrew from al-Tanf Garrison, a strategic outpost near the borders of Syria, Jordan and Iraq, as part of a broader posture adjustment announced earlier this year. At the time, U.S. Central Command said American forces would remain prepared to strike ISIS targets and safeguard long-term stability.
Officials told the Journal the broader withdrawal is not tied to the current buildup of U.S. naval and air assets in the Middle East amid tensions with Iran over its nuclear program. Tehran has threatened retaliation against American troops in the region if the U.S. launches airstrikes.
The Trump administration has determined a continued military footprint in Syria is no longer necessary following shifts in control on the ground, including the integration of Kurdish-led forces into the Syrian army after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, the officials told the Journal.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently met with Syria’s foreign minister to discuss counterterrorism coordination and maintaining a fragile cease-fire.
The change in posture comes just weeks after U.S. forces transferred 150 ISIS fighters from a detention facility in Hasakah, Syria, to a secure location in Iraq.
US FORCES COMPLETE WITHDRAWAL FROM STRATEGIC AL-TANF GARRISON IN SYRIA
Officials indicated in late January that thousands more detainees could also be moved as part of the broader effort to maintain long-term security in the region.
Syria became the 90th member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, a U.S.-led alliance formed to coordinate international efforts against the extremist group, in November.
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Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, said Damascus – under interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa – is prepared to assume security responsibilities, including control of ISIS detention facilities and camps, following the 2024 ouster of al-Assad.
Terror sponsor Iran gets UN leadership overseeing charter principles
United Nations, New York – Iran has been elected vice-chair of the United Nations Charter Committee, a body tasked with examining and strengthening the principles of the U.N. Charter, drawing criticism from Israel and renewed scrutiny of the organization’s selection processes.
The appointment was approved during the committee’s opening meeting as part of its executive composition, through an agreed procedure and without a formal vote.
At a U.N. press briefing, Fox News Digital asked whether Iran’s record aligns with the values of the charter and whether the secretary-general would condemn the move.
UPROAR AFTER IRAN NAMED VICE-CHAIR OF UN BODY PROMOTING DEMOCRACY, WOMEN’S RIGHTS
“The election of any member state to a body is the result of voting by member states themselves,” téphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general, said. “So, questions about who gets elected to which bodies is a question for member states. We expect every member state of this organization to uphold the charter, to uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, given that they themselves signed on to this club that the U.N. is and those are founding, some of our founding documents.”
Pressed on whether the secretary-general would condemn Iran’s election, the spokesperson added, “It is not for him to condemn the election of any member state to a body. He will condemn and has when member states, through their actions, he feels, violate the charter or human rights.”
The Charter Committee operates under the U.N. Legal Committee and meets annually. Its mandate includes examining issues related to the charter and proposing ways to reinforce its implementation, though its work typically requires consensus among member states and rarely results in binding action.
ISRAELI UN AMBASSADOR SENDS STARK WARNING TO IRAN AMID GROWING UNREST
Anne Bayefsky, president of Human Rights Voices and director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, sharply criticized the move, linking it to long-standing concerns about the U.N.’s performance.
“The U.N. created a committee back in 1974 supposedly to ‘enhance the ability of the U.N. to achieve its purposes.’ The trouble is that, ever since, the U.N. has been on a downward trajectory on actually achieving its primary purposes, namely, maintaining international peace and security and promoting respect for fundamental human rights,” Bayefsky said.
“Given that Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and a country committed to the annihilation of the Jewish state and the bloody repression of its own people, the U.N. appointment helps clarify that in our time, U.N. purposes are in fact antithetical to peace, rights and human dignity.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon sharply criticized Iran’s appointment.
“This is a moral absurdity,” Danon said. “A regime that violates the basic principles of the U.N. cannot represent them.
“A country that systematically violates the basic principles of the U.N. cannot sit in a leadership position that deals with strengthening them. The U.N. cannot continue to grant legitimacy to regimes that violate the very principles of its own charter.”
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The committee has in recent years served as a forum for political disputes among member states, including criticism directed at Israel, diplomats say. Iran’s selection to a leadership role comes amid ongoing debate over how the U.N. balances representation among member states with concerns about human rights records and adherence to the organization’s founding principles.
The U.N. maintains that leadership positions across its committees are determined by member states, not the secretariat, and reflect internal diplomatic processes rather than endorsement of any government’s policies or record.
World’s largest aircraft carrier heads to Middle East as Iran nuclear tensions spike dramatically
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group are moving from the Caribbean toward the Middle East as tensions escalate between the U.S. and Iran, according to reports.
The strike group is steaming across the Atlantic toward the Strait of Gibraltar, a Navy official confirmed to USNI News on Tuesday.
The move would place two aircraft carriers and their accompanying warships in the region. The USS Abraham Lincoln and three guided-missile destroyers arrived in the Middle East more than two weeks ago.
After deploying from Norfolk, Virginia, in June 2025, the Ford was moved from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean last fall as the Trump administration assembled a major military presence before launching strikes on Venezuela and capturing President Nicolás Maduro.
SCOTT BESSENT SAYS IRAN UNDERSTANDS ‘BRUTE FORCE’ AS TRUMP WEIGHS OPTIONS AMID NUCLEAR STANDOFF
Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.S. Navy for comment on the matter.
The shift comes as Iran and the U.S. engage in a second round of indirect nuclear talks in Geneva, where negotiators continue to seek an agreement on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that Tehran must fully dismantle its nuclear infrastructure or face consequences. He called for “full dismantlement” of Iran’s program in comments tied to the Geneva negotiations and U.S. demands that go beyond a simple freeze.
TRUMP SAYS IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER KHAMENEI SHOULD BE ‘VERY WORRIED’ AMID TENSIONS
Last Thursday, Trump warned Iran that failure to reach a deal with the U.S. regarding its nuclear program would be “very traumatic” after the two countries held indirect talks in Oman earlier this month.
“It should happen quickly. They should agree very quickly,” he told reporters.
IRAN’S TOP DIPLOMAT SAYS NATION’S POWER LIES IN DEFYING PRESSURE: ‘NO TO THE GREAT POWERS’
Trump also weighed in on the strategic posture in the region, urging U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer not to enter a reported long-term lease arrangement involving Diego Garcia, a key U.S.-U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean that could be critical in any potential operation against Iran.
“I have been telling Prime Minister Keir Starmer, of the United Kingdom, that Leases are no good when it comes to Countries, and that he is making a big mistake by entering a 100-Year Lease with whoever it is that is ‘claiming’ Right, Title, and Interest to Diego Garcia, strategically located in the Indian Ocean,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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“Should Iran decide not to make a Deal, it may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield located in Fairford, in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous Regime,” he added. “DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!”
Russia gets Paralympic slots under national flag; Ukraine officials boycott over ‘outrageous decision’
For the first time since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s flag will be represented at a major international sporting event.
The International Paralympic Committee announced Tuesday that Russia’s National Paralympic Committee was awarded six entry slots for the Milan Cortina Paralympic Games and that Belarus, a close ally of Russia, was also awarded four slots.
“The IPC can confirm that NPC Russia has been awarded a total of six slots: two in Para alpine skiing (one male, one female), two in Para cross-country skiing (one male, one female) and two in Para snowboard (both male),” the statement said.
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“NPC Belarus has been awarded four slots in total, all in cross-country skiing (one male and three females).”
Should any of these athletes win gold in their respective sports, it will be the first time the Russian anthem has been played on the stage of any major global sporting event in the past four years. It has not been heard at any Olympics or Paralympics since the 2016 Games in Rio.
The announcement also marks the first time Russian athletes will compete at the Paralympics under their own flag in over a decade, both due to the war and a ban stemming from a state-sponsored doping program.
The IPC, which operates separately from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), announced a partial lift of suspensions against Russia and Belarus in September.
IPC President Andrew Parson told The Associated Press in November that no athletes from those countries would be at the Games, but Russia appealed the ban in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which paved the way for athletes to compete under a neutral flag at the Olympics and their own at the Paralympics.
UKRAINIAN OLYMPIAN OUT OF WINTER GAMES OVER HELMET HONORING FALLEN COUNTRYMEN
The announcement was met with backlash, and Ukrainian sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi posted on social media that no Ukrainian official would be present for the Paralympics.
“In response to the outrageous decision by the organizers of the Paralympic Games to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete under their national flags, Ukrainian officials will not attend the Paralympic Games,” Bidnyi said.
“We will also not be present at the opening ceremony and will not attend other official Paralympic events,” his statement continued. “We thank every official from the countries of the free world who will also ignore the official events of the Paralympics. We continue the fight!”
In an earlier statement on social media, Bidnyi said that the flags of Russia and Belarus “have no place at international sporting events that stand for fairness, integrity, and respect.”
He also accused the IPC of giving Russia a platform “to voice war propaganda.”
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Tuesday’s announcement comes amid controversy at the Olympics after a Ukrainian athlete was disqualified from a men’s skeleton event after he refused to use any other helmet other than the one honoring his country’s athletes who were killed in the war with Russia.
The IOC said the decision stemmed from its rules prohibiting athletes from making political statements on the field of play.
Ukraine makes fastest gains in years as Russia talks stall, exploiting cracks in Kremlin command
As U.S.-backed negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Geneva ended without a breakthrough, Kyiv made gains on the battlefield, recapturing territory at its fastest pace in years through localized counterattacks along the southeastern front.
The advances come as analysts point to disruptions in Russian battlefield communications and shifting operational dynamics, developments that could strengthen Ukraine’s leverage even as talks remain stalled.
Ukrainian forces retook about 78 square miles over five days, according to a report by Agence France-Presse based on an analysis of the Institute for the Study of War battlefield mapping. The gains represent Kyiv’s most rapid territorial advances since its 2023 counteroffensive in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard Newton said Ukraine’s battlefield performance should not be underestimated. “As this war grinds on, the world too often forgets that the Ukrainians’ determination, innovation, and moral clarity are force multipliers. Their capabilities to defend against a larger and better-resourced enemy should never be counted out. There are growing signals that Russia’s supposed invincibility is no longer a good bet, particularly as President Trump applies greater pressure on the Kremlin’s client states.”
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The fighting has centered east of Zaporizhzhia, where Russian forces have steadily advanced since mid-2025. Open-source battlefield monitoring and mapping indicate Ukrainian troops pushed forward around Huliaipole and nearby settlements, though analysts caution the front remains fluid, and some areas are not fully secured, The Telegraph reported.
The Institute for the Study of War assessed in mid-February that the counterattacks appear to be exploiting disruptions in Russian command-and-control. ISW said Ukrainian forces are likely leveraging limits affecting Russian battlefield communications, including reported restrictions tied to the use of Starlink satellite terminals and messaging platforms cited in open-source reporting.
Analysts say reduced connectivity can create short windows for Ukrainian units to move through contested zones that are typically dominated by drone surveillance and electronic warfare. ISW and other observers emphasize that such opportunities are temporary and do not signal a broader collapse in Russian defenses.
The evolving fight is also shaped by the growing role of drones. In a Feb. 10 special report, ISW said Russia’s expanding use of first-person-view drones reflects a campaign to “weaponize and institutionalize intentional civilian harm as a purposeful tool of war,” warning the tactic is becoming embedded in operational doctrine and could influence future conflicts.
UKRAINE STRIKES MAJOR RUSSIAN AMMO DEPOT WITH ‘FLAMINGO’ MISSILE AS TRUMP URGES ZELENSKYY TO MOVE ON DEAL
Despite the recent gains, analysts caution against viewing the developments as a decisive shift in the war. Newton argued that sustained Western military support remains essential. “Putin only responds to force, therefore the U.S. and Europe should continue to provide Ukraine with defensive and offensive capabilities including land-based Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of reaching deep inside Russia.”
Retired Vice Adm. Robert S. Harward said battlefield gains are increasingly tied to diplomacy. “Both sides are clearly trying to use battlefield advances to shape their positions at the negotiating table. It may be a real sign that neither of the two parties are willing to get to a deal yet, despite President Zelenskyy’s good faith offer to hold elections if there is a ceasefire.”
“If there is a lasting and fair diplomatic deal to be achieved, the Trump Administration is the most capable team to deliver it as the U.S. applies increasing pressure on Venezuela, Iran, and Putin’s few remaining friends,” he said.
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Nearly two years after Ukraine’s last major offensive stalled, the war remains defined by incremental territorial changes rather than sweeping breakthroughs. Both sides continue to rely heavily on drones, artillery and electronic warfare, with front lines shifting village by village.
“As U.S.-led negotiations continue, it is critical we ramp up pressure on Putin to end this war on terms that ensure he is put back in his corner once and for all,” Newton said.