Over 40 Iranian regime leaders eliminated in ‘wildly bold’ Tehran strike
The Israeli military on Saturday said it had killed dozens of members of Iran’s leadership during sweeping, coordinated strikes in Iran, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had targeted a number of locations across Tehran “in which senior officials of the Iranian defense establishment had gathered.”
More than 40 senior Iranian security and regime figures were eliminated in the strikes, a senior Israeli security official told Fox News.
It was one of the largest regime “decapitation operations” conducted in modern warfare history, the official added. Israeli intelligence managed to infiltrate the Iranian security echelon, making the strikes possible, the official explained.
Among those killed, according to the IDF, were Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Iranian Security Council who was also a personal advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader.
Mohammad Pakpour, who was also killed, had been commander of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps since Operation ‘Rising Lion’ and was one of the leaders of the “destruction of Israel” plan, the IDF said.
Saleh Asadi, who headed up the Intelligence Directorate of the Khatam al-Anbiya emergency command, Mohammad Shirazi, head of the Military Bureau of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei since 1989, Iran’s Defense Minister, Aziz Nasirzadeh, Hossein Jabal Amelian, who chaired an organization that advanced projects related to nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, and Reza Mozaffari-Nia, who previously chaired the same organization, were also killed, according to the IDF.
IF KHAMENEI FALLS, WHO TAKES IRAN? STRIKES WILL EXPOSE POWER VACUUM — AND THE IRGC’S GRIP
President Donald Trump also confirmed Saturday that Khamenei was killed in the strikes.
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS.”
The leaders had all been meeting at a compound in Tehran on Saturday morning.
The strikes were moved up due to the “target of opportunity,” multiple sources told Fox News, which is why the strikes happened in the daytime in Iran, keeping the element of surprise. “There was a deliberate decision to accelerate the timeline,” one source said.
“This was a massive, wildly bold daytime attack,” a senior US defense official told Fox News.”It caught the senior leadership off guard, a Saturday morning during Ramadan and on Shabbat in the daytime.”
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“We hit the senior leaders right out of the gate,” the source added.
Republicans join Democrats to block Trump’s military authority over Iran
President Donald Trump’s joint strikes with Israel against Iran have intensified a growing bipartisan push in Congress to rein in his war powers, with lawmakers in both parties demanding votes on resolutions aimed at limiting his authority to use military force in the region.
Members in both chambers had already planned to force votes before the first bombs fell Saturday. Now, they are doubling down on calls to restrict the president’s military authority.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has repeatedly forced votes to curb Trump’s war powers abroad, and he was nearly successful in halting further military action in Venezuela until Republicans blocked the effort earlier this year.
Kaine had already prepped his latest resolution, co-sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for a vote in the Senate next week. He argued Saturday that the strikes, carried out without congressional approval, further underscore why a vote should be held immediately.
“These strikes are a colossal mistake, and I pray they do not cost our sons and daughters in uniform and at embassies throughout the region their lives,” Kaine said in a statement. “The Senate should immediately return to session and vote on my War Powers Resolution to block the use of U.S. forces in hostilities against Iran.”
In the House, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., are preparing their own war powers resolution for a vote.
KENNEDY WARNS AYATOLLAH WANTS TO ‘DRINK OUR BLOOD OUT OF A BOOT’ AS IRAN TENSIONS ESCALATE
Massie said in a post on X that he opposed “this war. This is not ‘America First.’”
“When Congress reconvenes, I will work with [Khanna] to force a congressional vote on war with Iran,” Massie said. “The Constitution requires Congress to vote, and your representative needs to be on record as opposing or supporting this war.”
The effort has the backing of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who earlier in the week noted that the resolution would require “the president to come to Congress to make the case for using military force against Iran.”
RUBIO, RATCLIFFE TO DELIVER CLASSIFIED IRAN BRIEFING TO ‘GANG OF EIGHT’ AHEAD OF TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION
The resolution’s fate in the House remains uncertain, given that a handful of House Democrats have broken with their party and backed the administration’s strikes in Iran.
Massie and Khanna’s push may also have the support of at least one more Republican in the lower chamber.
Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, appeared ready to back their war powers resolution after news of the strikes Saturday. He reiterated a position he made earlier in the week in a post on X.
“I have asked for a classified briefing defining the mission in Iran,” Davidson said. “In the absence of new information, I will support the War Powers Resolution in the House next week.
“War requires congressional authorization,” he continued. “There are actions short of war, but no case has been made.”
Back in the Senate, the success of Kaine and Paul’s push will require Senate Republicans to cross the aisle.
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They found a short-lived bipartisan coalition earlier this year, when their resolution targeting military action in Venezuela survived a key procedural vote. The group included senators Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Todd Young, R-Ind.
Both Hawley and Young later flipped their positions after assurances from the administration that there would be no boots on the ground in Venezuela and that Trump would seek congressional approval for any future military action in the region.
Whether that same standard will apply to operations in Iran remained unclear Saturday. Murkowski and Young both said they hope to receive thorough briefings in the days ahead.
“Last summer, following Operation Midnight Hammer, I supported the administration’s targeted actions in Iran after receiving a comprehensive briefing from senior officials,” Murkowski said on X.
“Events are rapidly unfolding, and I expect Congress to receive the same level of engagement so we fully understand the scope, objectives and risks of any further military action.”
Social media erupts with reality check after Obama’s Iran official speaks out
Ben Rhodes, a leading figure within the Obama administration who pushed for the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, was blasted on social media Saturday after he criticized U.S. military strikes on Iran.
In the immediate aftermath of the joint attack by the U.S. and Israel, Rhodes was posting criticism of the administration on social media saying that Trump and Netanyahu “seem to be totally unconcerned about the human beings – on all sides – who will suffer.”
“Trump’s second term has been the worst case scenario,” Rhodes said in another X post.
Rhodes was quickly ridiculed by many conservatives on social media who pointed to the Obama-era Iran deal as a catalyst for allowing the situation to escalate to this point and placing blame on the Obama administration for not taking the threat from Iran seriously.
“Yes we were much better off with a president who drew redlines and failed to enforce them,” American Enterprise Institute fellow and Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen posted on X. “Team Obama might want to sit this one out.”
“Oh look the guy who literally created this mess in the first place has chimed in,” Republican digital operative Alec Sears posted on X.
“You were part of the team who gave billions of dollars to the Iranian Regime – you helped fund this terror on human beings,” former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell posted on X. “Once again, President Trump is cleaning up your mess.”
LONGTIME TRUMP CRITIC GEORGE CONWAY SUGGESTS US IS ‘TERRORIST STATE’ AFTER IRAN STRIKES
“You had eight years to do something on this issue,” Red State writer Bonchie posted on X. “Instead, you became a foreign operative doing everything you could to preserve an Islamist regime.”
“You put these circumstances in place.”
“The Obama crew weeps for the mullahs,” former Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh posted on X.
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“Ben Rhodes bears responsibility for how America got to this point,” Middle East geopolitical analyst and Red Ax Strategies President Matthew Brodsky posted on X. “He is a spineless agent of influence for the regime in Iran. It’s taken years to undo the damage of his foreign policy.”
On Saturday afternoon, it was reported that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled the Islamic Republic for more than three decades, was killed in the strike against Iran.
Israeli leaders confirmed Khamenei’s compound and offices were reduced to rubble early Saturday after a targeted strike in downtown Tehran.
“Khamenei was the contemporary Middle East’s longest-serving autocrat. He did not get to be that way by being a gambler. Khamenei was an ideologue, but one who ruthlessly pursued the preservation and protection of his ideology, often taking two steps forward and one step back,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of FDD’s Iran program, told Fox News Digital.
Women’s tennis icon blasts Trump as ‘psychopath’ then cheers Khamenei’s death
Women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova weighed in on the U.S-Israeli strikes against Iran Saturday.
Navratilova, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, labeled him a “psychopath” for the decision to attack Iran in a post on X.
“OMG… Trump is a psychopath- he totally doesn’t give a damn how many people he is personally responsible for killing,” Navratilova wrote in response to a post by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green criticizing Trump for the strike.
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Navratilova also expressed support for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a later post.
“That would be good news,” she wrote in response to an earlier news report that Khamenei might be dead.
Khamenei was confirmed dead on Saturday after an Israeli strike in Tehran after his compound was reduced to rubble. Khamenei ruled the Islamic Republic for more than three decades and oversaw an era of harsh internal repression and confrontation with the United States and Israel.
Navratilova previously joined a coalition of athletes, along with Riley Gaines, signing a letter in November condemning the Iranian regime for its death sentence of boxing champion Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.
Still, Navratilova levied similar criticism against Trump after the military strike on Venezuela and the capture of Nicolás Maduro in January.
“He is absolutely insane. Not to mention this is completely illegal,” Navratilova wrote on Jan. 4 of Trump after the Venezuelan strike. “Peace president my a–! Trump is breaking more laws than all the previous presidents combined. A serial criminal on so many different fronts!”
Navratilova has cited her background as a refugee who fled the former Czechoslovakia to escape a totalitarian communist government in her criticisms of Trump. Navratilova has said she left her homeland in 1975, citing her experience under Soviet rule, resenting the limitations on personal liberties.
Navratilova has compared Trump to her home country’s authoritarian rule in the past, including in the tennis legend’s pinned post on X.
“I lived in a totalitarian authoritarian country growing up and I will not vote for that now or ever,” she wrote in October 2024, referencing Trump.
Saturday’s strikes on Iran prompted a growing bipartisan push in Congress to rein in Trump’s war powers, with lawmakers in both parties demanding votes on resolutions aimed at limiting his authority to use military force in the region.
Members in both chambers had already planned to force votes before the first bombs fell Saturday. Now, they are doubling down on calls to restrict the president’s military authority.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has repeatedly forced votes to curb Trump’s war powers abroad, and he was nearly successful in halting further military action in Venezuela until Republicans blocked the effort earlier this year.
In the House, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., are preparing their own war powers resolution for a vote.
Massie said in a post on X he opposed “this war. This is not ‘America First.’”
Trump has called for the people of Iran to “take control” of the country’s government.
“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” the president wrote. “We are hearing that many of their IRGC, Military, and other Security and Police Forces, no longer want to fight, and are looking for Immunity from us. As I said last night, ‘Now they can have Immunity, later they only get Death!'”
Trump said he hopes the IRGC and police will “peacefully merge” with Iranian patriots to stabilize the country.
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“That process should soon be starting in that, not only the death of Khamenei but the Country has been, in only one day, very much destroyed and, even, obliterated,” he wrote. “The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!”
Team USA star was drug tested right after men’s hockey team won gold at Olympics
After Team USA’s thrilling win over Canada in the Olympic gold medal game Sunday, all Brady Tkachuk wanted to do was celebrate.
However, he had to take a drug test first.
Tkachuk, 26, wrapped up his media obligations and was on his way to the locker room when he got a tap on the shoulder.
“I get a tap on the shoulder, ‘Hello Brady, you’ve been selected for a drug test,’” Tkachuk said on a recent episode of his podcast, “Wingmen with Matthew and Brady Tkachuk.”
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Matthew Tkachuk said players are not required to take the drug test upon being notified, but you are under supervision until you do so. Brady said two other players opted to do their tests right away but missed a couple of the songs. He did not want to miss any of the celebrations, so he opted to wait until the bus left to take his test, which wasn’t for another hour and a half to two hours.
Matthew said the man administering the test, a man he named “little Johnny,” had a front-row seat to the locker room celebrations.
Brady said that, in about a 40-minute span, he drank about five beers, three Powerades and two waters but didn’t have the urge to use the restroom. He explained that the drug tests require 90 milliliters of urine, and if you don’t fill up the cup to the requisite amount, you have to wait until you fill it up.
Brady said, normally after a game, he has no issue going to the restroom, but with the pressure of having to take a test to continue celebrating, he wasn’t sure if he could produce enough urine to complete the test. The Ottawa Senators captain said he was being patient and finally decided to take the test 10 minutes before the bus departed.
“Finally, 10 minutes before the bus (left), I’m like, ‘Eff it, I got to gamble, I got to gamble with this one.’ And did it, and (it was) 100 milliliters. I was like, ‘Thank God,’ because if I had to stay there and all the boys left, and I had to meet them, I would have been sour.”
The locker room celebrations kicked off a wild few days of partying for Team USA.
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After Team USA’s win in Milan, the team flew to Miami to celebrate its win at E11even, a famous nightclub. When their raucous celebration wrapped up, they flew up to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Donald Trump and attend the State of the Union address Tuesday.
The Senators returned to action Thursday and lost 2-1 to the Detroit Red Wings in overtime. Tkachuk scored the team’s lone goal but was left bloodied after a big hit.
‘Revenge of the Nerds’ star Robert Carradine’s cause of death revealed
Robert Carradine’s cause of death has been revealed just days after the “Revenge of the Nerds” star’s death was announced by his family.
Fox News Digital has confirmed that the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner listed two causes of death for Carradine. Cause A was listed as sequelae of anoxic brain injury and Cause B was listed as hanging. Carradine died at the hospital on Feb. 23, according to the medical examiner’s report. He was 71.
On Monday, the actor’s family confirmed his death in a statement to Deadline.
“It is with profound sadness that we must share that our beloved father, grandfather, uncle, and brother Robert Carradine has passed away,” the statement began.
“In a world that can feel so dark, Bobby was always a beacon on light to everyone around him,” the statement continued. “We are bereft at the loss of this beautiful soul and want to acknowledge Bobby’s valiant struggle against his nearly two-decade battle with Bipolar Disorder. We hope his journey can shine a light and encourage addressing the stigma that attaches to mental illness. At this time we ask for the privacy to grieve this unfathomable loss. With gratitude for your understanding and compassion.”
“In a world that can feel so dark, Bobby was always a beacon on light to everyone around him.”
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Carradine’s career in Hollywood began over five decades ago.
He landed his first major roles on the television series “Bonanza” in 1971 and in the John Wayne Western “The Cowboys” in 1972. He later scored roles in Martin Scorsese’s “Mean Streets,” Hal Ashby’s “Coming Home” and Samuel Fuller’s World War II film “The Big Red One.”
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He landed his most memorable role in 1984 with “Revenge of the Nerds,” in which he played head nerd Lewis Skolnick.
Carradine later starred in the Disney Channel’s “Lizzie McGuire” as Hilary Duff‘s on-screen dad.
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College basketball star suspended after spitting on heckling fans during blowout loss
Stony Brook men’s basketball star Erik Pratt was suspended by the school for spitting on a fan during the team’s 82-69 loss to Monmouth Thursday.
Pratt was being heckled by fans with 2:30 left in the game with Stony Brook down 79-63. Instead of ignoring the fans, Pratt turned and spit at them and walked away.
“In light of his actions in last night’s game at Monmouth, I have made the decision in consultation with the CAA to suspend Erik Pratt for Saturday’s game at Hofstra,” Stony Brook director of athletics Shawn Heilbron said in a statement.
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“I met with Erik earlier, and he acknowledged his mistake while accepting full responsibility for his actions. While emotions were high in the moment, he understands that his behavior was inappropriate and did not meet the standards we expect of our student-athletes nor those set forth by our department, institution and the CAA. Erik has expressed his commitment to learning from this experience and moving forward in a positive manner.”
At the time of his ejection, Pratt led the team with 14 points and had eight assists. Pratt is Stony Brook’s leading scorer, averaging 19.4 points per game, and his absence for the team’s game against Hofstra on Saturday is a big one.
Stony Brook is tied for the No. 5 seed in the CAA tournament, and a loss to Hofstra could drop them in the seedings.
Pratt played at Milwaukee and Texas A&M before joining Stony Brook.
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Pratt is not the only athlete to be embroiled in a spitting controversy over the last year. Philadelphia Eagles star Jalen Carter spit on Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott in the first game of the 2025 NFL season.
Clinton faces fresh scrutiny over Epstein links as Congress demands answers
Former President Bill Clinton has vigorously denied many of them, allegations of sexual improprieties have punctuated his career and repeatedly made questions about his character the focus of national attention.
His truthfulness is again back in the national spotlight after lawmakers on Friday questioned Clinton about his connections to Jeffrey Epstein — the disgraced financier who died in 2019 while incarcerated on charges of sex trafficking minors.
Clinton has not been implicated in any wrongdoing.
Friday’s questioning, however, is just the most recent entry in a list of questions and controversies that stretches back almost 30 years.
Juanita Broaddrick – 1998
Allegations against Clinton began in 1998 when Juanita Broaddrick accused Clinton of raping her when he was running for governor of Arkansas in 1978. In the years since, Broaddrick described attempts she believes the Clintons made to keep her from speaking about the incident.
“I was at a fundraiser, but [Hillary Clinton] caught me before I left, and she came up very friendly and said, ‘Bill and I are so appreciative of everything you do.’ And then her voice changed,” Broaddrick recalled in an interview with Fox News in 2018.
“It frightened me,” she said.
By the time Broaddrick’s allegations became public, the statute of limitations protected Clinton from prosecution for the accusation.
Clinton has denied the claim.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS DESCEND ON CLINTONS’ HOMETOWN FOR HIGH-STAKES EPSTEIN PROBE GRILLING
Kathleen Willey – 1998
In an interview with Fox, Willey called herself a former friend of Clinton and said she supported him when he launched his presidential ambitions.
“We raised an awful lot of money for him,” Willey recalled.
Willey explained that her husband had fallen on hard financial times, prompting her to turn to the White House in 1993 in hopes of finding a job. Clinton was the president then.
“He sat down on the sofa. I proceeded to tell him what was going on, and I told him, ‘I need a job.’ He took my coffee cup from me and the next thing I knew he had me backed into a corner, hands all over me, trying to kiss me,” Willey said, describing an altercation between the two that took place in a study just outside the Oval Office.
Willey first went public with her allegation in a CBS interview with “60 Minutes” in 1998. Clinton has repeatedly denied the allegation.
Gennifer Flowers – 1992
A former television reporter, Gennifer Flowers claimed that she had a longstanding affair with Clinton from the late 1970’s through 1989.
Years later, she said Clinton’s advances started when she and Clinton met during a reporting assignment.
“He proceeded to come on to me for three months before I decided I wanted to have a relationship with him which at that point was consensual. In today’s standards, it was definitely sexual harassment,” Flowers said in an appearance on the Ingraham Angle in 2018.
The story spread to national media as Bill Clinton waged a presidential campaign, just weeks before the Iowa caucuses.
Clinton, in an interview with 60 Minutes in the fallout of the news, didn’t confirm the allegations from Flowers but said he had “acknowledged causing pain” in his marriage.
MONICA LEWINSKY SAYS BILL CLINTON ‘ESCAPED A LOT MORE THAN I DID’ AFTER WHITE HOUSE SCANDAL
Troopergate – 1993
Shortly after President Bill Clinton assumed office, allegations first reported by The American Spectator magazine began to surface that Clinton had used state troopers as governor to arrange sexual encounters with women.
Among them, Larry Patterson, Roger Perry and Danny Ferguson all claimed Clinton had ordered them to facilitate his encounters.
Time magazine quoted the original American Spectator allegations, stating that the troopers had said “their official duties included facilitating Clinton’s cheating on his wife.”
“They were instructed by Clinton to drive him in state vehicles to rendezvous points and guard him during sexual encounters … and to help Clinton cover up his activities by lying to Hillary.”
The allegations about the troopers also became a part of independent counsel Ken Starr’s later investigation of separate cases.
Paula Jones
Jones’ case, which eventually led to Clinton’s impeachment in 1998, began while Clinton was governor of Arkansas.
“I was asked to work the governor’s quality management conference,” Jones recalled in an interview with Sean Hannity in 2016. “His security was hanging out with us, and later that day, he came over and said, ‘The governor would like to meet with you.’”
Jones said she was escorted up to Clinton’s room at a hotel.
“We did some small talk, and then he started kinda getting a little comfortable. He said he liked my curves and then I’m like — I didn’t know what to do. It was him and me in the room,” Jones said.
Jones described how the governor then exposed himself to her before she left the room.
“’I’m not that kind of girl,’” Jones remembers telling Clinton.
After Jones launched a sexual harassment lawsuit in 1991, Ken Starr, an independent counsel who was assigned to the case, began an investigation that would uncover not just the details about the Jones incident but also the Monica Lewinsky scandal that finally led to Clinton’s impeachment in the House of Representatives.
Jones herself was awarded an $850,000 settlement as a result of her private suit.
BILL CLINTON FACES HIGH-STAKES HOUSE GRILLING IN EPSTEIN PROBE AND MORE TOP HEADLINES
Monica Lewinsky – 1998
The case that would eventually lead to Clinton’s impeachment first came to the public’s attention when the Drudge Report picked up a story, initially abandoned by Newsweek, that Clinton was having an affair with an intern at the White House.
“She was a frequent visitor to a small study just off the Oval Office, where she claims to have indulged the president’s sexual preference. Reports of the relationship spread in White House quarters, and she was moved to a job at the Pentagon, where she worked until last month,” the reporting read.
Clinton famously denied the allegations when answering questions under oath from Ken Starr, who, at the time, was investigating Paula Jones’ claims.
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” Clinton famously said in an interview at the White House.
Eventually, Clinton’s infidelity was confirmed when a friend of Lewinsky recorded her talking about the affair and turned the tapes over to Starr.
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Clinton would be forced to admit that he had misrepresented his boldest of assertions. At least one voter in Houston told NBC the admission left him with more questions.
“What else has he lied about?” a man asked reporters.