Gas prices could jump as Middle East tensions threaten global oil supply

Americans could soon see higher gas prices as escalating tensions in the Middle East threaten a critical global oil choke point, raising fears of supply disruptions that could quickly reverberate across U.S. energy markets.

After joint U.S.–Israeli strikes, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, targeted Iranian sites over the weekend and killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, concerns quickly shifted to how Tehran might respond and whether oil infrastructure or tanker traffic could become collateral damage.

Any disruption to global crude supplies could translate into higher costs for American drivers at the pump.

“Every time we’ve had flare-ups in the Middle East like we’re seeing right now — and we’ve seen this kind of situation periodically over the last 50 years — it has caused significant disruption to energy markets,” economist Stephen Moore told Fox News Digital. 

“I would expect we could see anywhere from 25 to 50 cents a gallon increase in gas prices in the short term,” he said.

Market data already shows prices moving higher.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said oil prices were up $5 per barrel, while wholesale gasoline prices had risen 11 cents per gallon.

He expects retail gas prices to begin climbing immediately, especially in areas where stations tend to adjust prices in sharp, periodic jumps.

The national average could hit $3 per gallon as soon as Monday, De Haan said, with some stations increasing prices by 10 to 30 cents this week and potentially more in markets that see larger price swings.

Moore warned that prices could climb further and remain elevated if vital transit routes or oil facilities are disrupted.

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“Huge amounts of global oil travel through the Strait of Hormuz, so this could be incredibly disruptive, delaying delivery of oil and gas,” he said.

“The Iranians have already knocked out some oil facilities in the Middle East, and who knows what they’re up to next. When you have less supply, prices go up. The big question is whether this will be a temporary bump or something more prolonged.”

The ongoing conflict sits near the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important energy corridors.

“This shipping route represents around 25% of global oil trade and 23% of liquefied natural gas trade,” explained Jaime Brito, executive director of refining and oil products at OPIS.

The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping lane between Iran and Oman that has long been a flash point during regional crises, serves as a vital artery for global energy markets.

Roughly 20 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products — about one-fifth of global oil supply — transit the strait each day, underscoring how disruption there can quickly send shock waves through international energy markets.

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Highlighting the growing concern, Maersk, widely regarded as a bellwether for global ocean freight, said it will suspend all vessel crossings through the Strait of Hormuz until further notice and cautioned that services to Arabian Gulf ports may be delayed.

Still, not all price movements are immediate.

“Developments over the weekend in the Middle East should hypothetically take time to ripple into the global supply chain. An initial assessment would suggest no specific price impacts should be seen in the gasoline market across the world, including the U.S.,” Brito told Fox News Digital.

However, Brito said prices could climb quickly if markets expect trouble ahead, even before supplies are actually affected.

As a result, Brito said, developments in Iran may have already translated into higher gasoline, diesel and other fuel prices in parts of the U.S., depending on regional supply dynamics and individual company pricing strategies.

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From a domestic standpoint, Brito added that gasoline prices follow a seasonal pattern, typically climbing during the summer travel months.

“March prices are not expected to be significantly high,” he said, noting that spring break travel could support demand in certain areas — but not at the level seen during peak summer driving season.

Ultimately, the direction of gasoline prices will depend less on seasonal demand and more on how the geopolitical situation unfolds in the days ahead.

Missiles above, newborns below: Israeli hospitals shift critical care underground

TEL AVIV, Israel: The Israeli Health Ministry reported Monday that 777 people have been evacuated to hospitals since the start of the joint Israeli-U.S. war against Iran.

At least ten people were killed directly by Iranian missile attacks on Israel, and two died on their way to shelters.

Since fighting began Saturday morning, hospitals nationwide have restructured operations, relocating patients underground to maintain functionality.

“See, this child,” Prof. Efrat Bron-Harlev, CEO of Schneider Children’s Medical Center, told Fox News Digital, pointing to a young patient. “This cart is his artificial heart. He has been living here while waiting for a heart transplant. He moved to the underground area together with 119 other children. This is not just a hospital — it’s his home,” she said.

Schneider Children’s Medical Center has so far treated three children injured as a result of the war. The greater challenge, Bron-Harlev said, is continuing to care for all existing patients as missile sirens sound across the country.

All patients have been relocated to level minus one. Standing in a corridor, Bron-Harlev explained that if a missile were to strike at that moment, those present would need to move behind the heavy doors of reinforced areas for protection.

Once sealed, she said, the fortified section is designed to withstand even a direct missile hit and continue operating as a unit for a limited time. “We have electricity supplied by large batteries located in another sheltered area, as well as oxygen and air,” she said. “How long we could remain there would depend on the extent of damage to the overall building. A catastrophic strike on the oxygen tanks, for example, would affect how long we could stay.”

Lessons learned from the June 2025, 12-day war include establishing a separate unit for bone marrow transplant patients with an independent ventilation system. Fresh air enters and exits the space without circulating from the regular ward, protecting the children not only from missile threats but also from potential infections from other patients.

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In the event of a mass-casualty incident involving severely ill children, the hospital has prepared an intensive care unit capable of accommodating up to 20 patients at a time.

The staff’s underground dining room has been converted into a dormitory for parents. Although there was not enough time to construct fully fortified operating rooms, Bron-Harlev said part of the neonatal intensive care unit has been transformed into a restricted-access surgical area.

“We are performing only emergency surgeries,” she said. “We have created two provisional but fortified operating rooms that will function until the permanent ones currently under construction are ready. Two are sufficient for now for emergency procedures. I hope we will not face a situation in which 10 children arrive from a major incident needing surgery, but even then, we could operate on them one after the other.”

At the nearby adult hospital, which is part of the same complex — Rabin Medical Center —17 people were treated as a result of the war. The hospital has moved 500 beds 60 meters underground.

Schneider Children’s Medical Center and Rabin Medical Center are two of 14 hospitals operated by Clalit Health Services, the largest healthcare organization in Israel, providing day-to-day primary care, specialty care, and hospital care to over 5 million Israelis.

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During the 12-day war, Prof. Ran Balicer, Deputy Director General and Chief of Innovation at Clalit Health Services, told Fox News Digital that a missile targeted Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and hit a building that had fortunately been evacuated the day before.

“We’ve learned a lesson about the importance of preparing for attacks of Iranians targeting civilians in general and hospitals in particular,” he said.

In the 24 hours following the start of the war, all patients not in safe areas were moved underground, where staff can focus on care despite the threats. The parking lot, Balicer explained, is more condensed than a normal ward.

“There are challenges from congestion to infection control and privacy, there are no windows, all of the noise and the pressure is in, it’s a mental and physical strain on the staff, but they are here to do what they vowed to do,” he said.

The area includes stockpiles of food, oxygen, and medical supplies. The hospital also focuses on virtual care and digital health to provide effective care without requiring patients to come in.

War-associated wounds, Balicer said, include limb injuries and other severe trauma. “Our rate of mortality on the frontlines is the lowest compared to anywhere else in the world. As such we have to really be effective in rehabilitation work,” he said.

The line between the frontlines and the homefront in terms of injuries is no longer clear-cut.

“They target civilians like they are on the frontlines, they aim deliberately to strike and hurt civilians with weapons that aim to inflict mass-casualty events,” he said.

Israeli hospitals are also being secured by IDF soldiers deployed to assist with moving patients during missile alerts, if necessary, and to coordinate the arrival of casualties.

Major S., head of operations in the IDF’s search and rescue unit, told Fox News Digital that the forces are preparing for a prolonged campaign.

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“The last operation lasted only 12 days, and it was very significant for our unit, but this time is different,” she said.

“Our mindset is that this will not end until it is over for good. As the war continues, we are facing attacks from additional fronts, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and potentially the Houthis in Yemen. We are ready for every scenario,” she added.

Ex-CIA chief warns not to underestimate Iran’s response after Operation Epic Fury exposed regime ‘arrogance’

Former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus said Sunday the U.S.-led campaign that killed Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei capitalized on the regime’s “stunning arrogance” while warning that Tehran still has “retaliatory capabilities” as it seeks to maintain unity under new leadership.

Petraeus called the operation “an extraordinary military achievement by the Israelis and the Americans” on “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“Clearly, a lot of this was led by intelligence, precise intelligence, and a degree of stunning arrogance on the part of the Iranians,” he said, noting that Iran’s top leadership appeared confident enough to meet together, making them vulnerable to being targeted simultaneously.

He also said it would be “foolish” for the Iranians to retaliate with attacks on U.S. interests in neighboring countries, saying those nations had preferred to stay out of the conflict but now risk being drawn in.

“Their aircraft are already flying as part of the overall defensive effort. And we’ll see if there is a decision about [America] using their bases again, which they had initially denied because they had wanted to stay on the sidelines,” Petraeus said.

The U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury on Saturday morning, a joint military campaign that officials say targeted Iranian leadership and key military installations. Iran’s state media confirmed that Khamenei was killed in the strikes, along with several senior officials.

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The military operation is expected to carry on for days. Officials tell Fox News that Israel is focusing on Iranian leadership targets, while the United States is targeting military sites and ballistic missile infrastructure it says pose an “imminent threat.”

Amid the ongoing fight, Petraeus noted that an interim Iranian leadership council is “very deeply underground” and their intentions are presently unclear.

“Iran still clearly has quite a capability,” he warned. 

“And keep in mind that it’s not just the longer-range missiles that can hit Israel… when you come to the shorter-range missiles, there’s quite a large number of those as well.”

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The former CIA chief questioned whether a new leader could emerge who would appeal to the Iranian people, unite disaffected elements of the regime and stand against hardliners — and whether any such figure would embrace President Donald Trump’s call for Iranians to challenge their government in exchange for immunity.

“So the real question is, could there be an alternative to this very hardline ideological clerical regime? Could some other leader step up, and [could] the people and those disaffected elements of the regime rally to that individual? And I’m not sure that that is quite the base case,” he said.

National security expert urges DHS to raise terror threat level, warns of sleeper cell risks in US

A national security expert is urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to raise the national terror threat level following a shooting that investigators say may be linked to terrorism, warning that sleeper cell activity within the United States poses an escalating danger.

“We are facing a wide variety of threats here, and the problem is, they’re all located within our own borders right now,” former DHS advisor Charles Marino said Monday.

Marino, a former Secret Service supervisory agent, joined “Fox & Friends First” following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed several Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The unrest prompted retaliation threats along with warnings from security officials who say sleeper cells that have infiltrated the U.S. may be preparing to strike.

“There’s no doubt that law enforcement and intelligence agencies are operating at an elevated threat level here in the United States,” Marino said. 

“That’s based on the correct operating assumption that the United States has been allowed to be infiltrated with a myriad of threats from around the globe, thanks in large part to the policies of the Biden administration, which turned our borders into a sieve.”

Marino blamed several border policies for what he described as an increasingly vulnerable domestic threat environment, including “the undercutting and exploitation” of asylum and temporary protective status programs and weakness in the legal immigration process.

“What you have is you now have communities comprised of immigrants in the United States that have been allowed to segregate themselves based on culture and ideologies, and what this leads to is an ability to become radicalized,” he continued. 

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“And as reported, sometimes this radicalization is focused on those with mental health issues, those going through a tough time in their lives… this also impacts American citizens as well, who are open to becoming radicalized.”

Marino said he remains confident in federal law enforcement’s ability to respond but warned that potential adversaries could target critical infrastructure and cybersecurity systems.

He reiterated his call for DHS to formally elevate the National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) level and urged Americans to stay vigilant and cooperate with authorities.

Marino’s comments come as federal authorities investigate a deadly Texas bar shooting as a possible act of terrorism, while funding battles in Congress threaten DHS operations.

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Former ATF Special Agent in Charge Bernard Zapor warned Sunday that the U.S. faces growing vulnerabilities, particularly as DHS contends with funding uncertainty.

“It makes no practical sense whatsoever, and it puts our country and our communities down to something like a restaurant or a bar in Austin, Texas potentially at risk for a really unnecessary and ridiculous motive, I would say, political,” he said. 

“Our public safety has to be paramount above all. National security and public safety are the paramounts of our democracy, and it’s something we have to treat with ultimate care and that nothing like politics interferes with the ability to protect our citizens.”

Chasing the apocalypse: Radical Shiite clerics on American soil preach prophetic showdown with US

MANASSAS, Va. – FIRST ON FOX: For many, the war with Iran — and the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — might seem like the climactic end to a long, brutal reign of terror by the theological clerics who have run the country since 1979.

But a Fox News Digital investigation reveals that, for certain hardline Shiite ideologues, including in the U.S., this is not an ending but a prophetic showdown that will usher in the arrival of the “Mahdi,” a messiah, according to Islamic eschatology, or the theology of end times. 

In this prophecy, Mahdi will emerge to battle Dajjal, the Islamic equivalent of the Antichrist, in a final battle of Armageddon. For many of these ideologues, President Donald Trump is Dajjal.

At a recent Friday sermon at a local Shiite mosque in northern Virginia, an imam closed prayer with an earnest plea, before war broke out in Iran: “May Allah destroy all the nonbelievers – or kafiroon or munafiqoon,” he said, using Arabic words that refer to “nonbelievers” and “hypocrites.” 

He asked for this victory “before the arrival of Imam Mahdi.”

Fox News Digital observed the sermon and also witnessed a special table of honor in the middle of the mosque’s main prayer hall, featuring framed photos of Khamenei embracing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrullah, also killed by Israel for orchestrating terrorist attacks.

The Friday service at the Manassas Mosque reveals a theological dynamic that Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned about in early February, noting that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s leaders are guided not merely by geopolitics and national security considerations, but by “pure theology.”

“We have to understand that Iran ultimately is governed, and its decisions are governed by Shiite clerics — radical Shiite clerics — who make policy decisions on the basis of pure theology,” Rubio said.

In its investigation, Fox News Digital conducted a digital analysis of hours of sermons and scores of pages of pro-regime protest slogans, messaging and social media posts, using large-language models, and found clerics, community leaders and media platforms in the U.S. framing tensions with Iran in explicitly apocalyptic terms rooted in eschatology, or Islamist end-times theology. 

The investigation found that precepts shaping Tehran’s worldview, from its clerics to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, are also being preached on American soil by proxies for Iran’s propaganda.

From the mosque in northern Virginia to religious institutions in Michigan and Texas, clerics aligned with the Islamic Republic are advancing a doomsday interpretation of faith that casts geopolitical and military confrontation with the U.S. as part of a prophetic destiny tied to the return of the Mahdi.

After war broke out Friday night, Fox News Digital witnessed pro-regime chats on messaging platforms, like Telegram, filled with prayers, awaiting “the arrival” of Mahdi. 

“We need Al Mahdi…His return with Jesus will be the final win permanently,” one read.

“The saviour the warrior the dominator ‘ imam mahdi ’ [sic] will arrive,” read another.

Last summer, the Manassas Mosque co-organized a White House protest with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the ANSWER Coalition, CodePink and other far-left groups to support the Iranian regime. The groups are now again protesting Trump’s military action against Iran. 

One demonstrator, wearing a black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarf over her face, carried a flag last summer that read “Labayk ya Mahdi” in Arabic, meaning, “At your service, oh, Mahdi.” 

In Farsi, Arabic and English, the flag also had the message, “I dedicate every single of my steps to your reappearance.” 

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Pro-regime mosques, K-12 schools and local community organizations in the U.S. are “producing messaging that mirrors Tehran’s talking points almost word for word,” warned Andrew Ghalili, policy director at the National Union for Democracy in Iran, an advocacy group led by Iranian Americans who oppose the theocratic regime running Iran.

In an upcoming report, “The Ayatollahs’ Influence Network in the United States,” reviewed by Fox News Digital, the group’s researchers conclude the Islamic Republic of Iran spreads “Tehran’s messaging” in a network of institutions it supports in the U.S., for example, pitting Trump as the Dajjal fighting defenders of the Mahdi, like Khamenei and now his successors.

“What we’re seeing is years of deliberate investment by the Islamic Republic inside the United States,” Ghalili told Fox News Digital. 

“This is happening on American soil, and it’s just another way in which the regime poses a direct threat to the United States, this time not with missiles but through infiltration,” he said.

A gunman just killed three in Austin, Texas, wearing a sweater that said, “PROPERTY OF ALLAH.” According to media reports, law enforcement officials found the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran and photos of its leaders in his home.

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After the recent Friday service, two community leaders at the Manassas mosque declined to speak for attribution but told Fox News Digital that the rhetoric of destroying “nonbelievers” and the photos of Khamenei and the terrorist group leaders are meant to challenge “injustice” before the Mahdi appears.

A Harvard University report on “The Hidden Imam and the End of Time” recognizes the world’s two billion Muslims hold a range of beliefs regarding eschatology and many reject strict or literal interpretations.

In the majority Sunni sect and the minority Shiite sect of Islam, clerics describe the Mahdi’s army traveling from modern-day Iran to Damascus, Syria, where Jesus would appear at the Umayyad Mosque and pray behind the Mahdi. The Mahdi’s forces would battle Dajjal in Syria and kill him in Lod, Israel, conquering the world.

Days ago, Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency repeated the end-times narrative, quoting Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem, claiming the regime is the “government of Imam Mahdi” and its anti-U.S. “resistance is the path to hastening his reappearance.”

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For women’s rights activist Sara Ghorbani, a writer who fled Iran’s rigid theocratic rule in 2010, the regime’s death grip on power is disturbing.

“We’re fighting an evil that the world doesn’t truly comprehend in its belief that it has a divine mandate to usher in a day of apocalypse,” Ghorbani told Fox News Digital. 

“Our brave people in Iran are fighting a tyranny that believes it is God’s salvation for this earth when, in fact, it is a cruel and ungodly regime that is actually their own prophecy of Dajjal,” added Ghorbani, who created a short video of children the Iranian regime allegedly killed in recent weeks.

In Dearborn, Michigan, Usama Abdulghani, imam at the Hadi Institute, recently posted a controversial video on a YouTube channel for “Light of Guidance,” which says on its YouTube page that its content isn’t connected to any other organization. 

Before war broke out, he warned congregants that “the empire is now right outside the door” of Iran, in the form of U.S. forces. The Hadi Institute and the Light of Guidance didn’t respond to requests for comment about the cleric’s statements.

In another lecture, he reassured congregants, “Iran has been waiting for the mother of all battles for 47 years,” since 1979. He said Americans shouldn’t fight “for this empire.”

He urged congregants to engage in a “clarification jihad” and convert Americans to Islam “before Imam Mahdi returns.”

In its report, the National Union for Democracy in Iran alleges that the Hadi Institute is a “rhetorically aggressive node in the pro-Iran ecosystem.” It has a publishing enterprise that says on its website that its staff “deliver an unfiltered message in promoting an Islamic worldview in preparation of the Mahdi.” The Hadi Institute and its publishing initiative didn’t respond to questions about the criticisms about its work.

The National Union for Democracy in Iran alleges anti-U.S. propaganda, like the doomsday scenario, is often expressed at venues supported by a pro-regime New York-based 501(c)(3) organization, the Alavi Foundation, which it alleges has built “durable, institution-based influence networks operating inside the United States through religious, educational and nonprofit structures.” 

In its latest IRS Form 990 filing, the Alavi Foundation, headquartered on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, reported $58 million in assets. The Alavi Foundation didn’t respond to a request for comment about the allegations that it promotes propaganda that supports the regime in Iran. 

At one point, Abdulghani reassured his congregation that Iran would defeat U.S. forces, saying, “Iran has something for these guys. Don’t be worried about Iran. Iran has been waiting for the mother of all battles for 47 years. They’ve been waiting for this. Iran is prepared. Don’t worry about that. Iran’s going to be able to handle its business.”

In a new report, researchers at the National Contagion Research Institute, based in Princeton, N.J., analyzed regime narratives alleging the CIA and Israel’s Mossad spy agency, fomented January’s protests against the regime, an allegation that Abdulghani repeated. They found “decentralized influence networks,” including in the U.S., “operationalize and amplify” pro-regime narratives.

The pro-regime messaging even invokes the end-times narrative to children. In late December, the “Muslim Student Association Persian-Speaking Group of North America” shared a video showing children coloring paper masks, swords and shields labeled “Ya Mahdi, Labayk,” or “Oh Mahdi, come.” The children staged mock attacks with their paper weapons amid Legos and glitter.

A few years ago, a video from the Islamic Education Center of Houston went viral in Iran, featuring students saying they would be soldiers for Imam Mahdi, singing, “I make an oath to be your martyr.” The center didn’t respond to requests for comment, but an academic told the local media the video was metaphorical allegiance to a religious figure.

The messianic messaging also extends to pro-regime media platforms. Earlier this month, a media website, TMJ News Network, published an article headlined, “The Promise of Justice Amid Corruption,” featuring an image of convicted child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein alongside a green-cloaked silhouette and images of other figures referenced in documents released by the Justice Department. Only Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell has been implicated in illegal conduct in connection with the Epstein case. 

The article stated that “against this backdrop, the Mahdist movement represents a promise of justice.”

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On the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution, the pro-regime Light of Guidance hosted an assistant imam, Hassan Salamey, who invoked “the Epstein list” to denounce “the Satanic” West.

“The Islamic Republic is the system that is working to prepare the grounds for the saviors who will come side by side: Jesus, the son of Mary, and the Mahdi from the final prophet’s line,” he said. “This is the transitional government that will lead the fight to save us all.”

Back at the Manassas Mosque in northern Virginia, congregation members closed their prayers seeking to “destroy all the nonbelievers,” the portraits of Khamenei, Sinwar and Nasrullah over their shoulders.

GORDON SONDLAND: No more ‘restraint’: Europe must stand with America on Iran

The United States and Israel are doing the heavy lifting. On February 28, joint American-Israeli strikes — Operation Epic Fury and Operation Roaring Lion — eliminated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Iran’s defense minister, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. 

American service members and Israeli pilots are in harm’s way at this very moment, absorbing retaliatory strikes so that the free world does not have to live under the shadow of a nuclear-armed theocracy. And what has Europe offered? Ursula von der Leyen called the situation “greatly concerning.” Emmanuel Macron warned of an “outbreak of war.” France, Germany and the United Kingdom rushed to clarify that their forces did not participate. 

The collective message from the continent was not solidarity but distance. If the transatlantic alliance cannot count on Europe for even full-throated public support while Americans and Israelis bear the costs and the risks, then what, exactly, is the alliance for?

I write from experience. As the United States ambassador to the European Union, I was charged with urging our allies to abandon the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and join America’s maximum-pressure campaign. 

What I encountered in Brussels was willful denial. European officials performed extraordinary contortions to avoid acknowledging what the intelligence made plain: Iran had already violated the deal. Federica Mogherini, the EU’s then-High Representative, was simply uninterested in any evidence that contradicted her narrative. And the creation of INSTEX — a financial vehicle designed to circumvent American sanctions and keep European trade with Iran flowing — was a breathtaking display of misplaced priorities. 

At a moment when the democratic world should have been tightening the vice, Europe was engineering workarounds to do business with the mullahs. Iran took note and then systematically violated every enrichment limit the JCPOA imposed, reaching 60% purity — a short technical step from weapons-grade material. Europe’s fidelity to the JCPOA did not restrain Iran. It enabled Iran.

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What makes Europe’s sideline posture not merely disappointing but absurd is that Iran has been attacking Europe for years. 

In 2018, an Iranian diplomat operating out of the Vienna Embassy was convicted in Belgium for masterminding a plot to bomb a rally of Iranian dissidents near Paris — a gathering of tens of thousands, including a sitting British MP who said that, had the plot succeeded, it would have been the deadliest terror operation ever carried out on European soil. 

In London, a journalist with Iran International was stabbed near his home by assailants linked to Tehran. MI5’s director general disclosed that British security services tracked more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots in a single year. 

Dutch intelligence linked Tehran to assassination attempts in the Netherlands. German and French authorities exposed Iranian agents hiring European criminals to surveil Jewish targets in Paris, Munich and Berlin. 

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Iran has not merely threatened Europe in the abstract. It has deployed operatives, recruited criminal proxies and attempted mass-casualty attacks on European soil. And still, Europe equivocates.

The regime in Tehran chose this path. It enriched uranium to near-weapons-grade levels. It armed and directed Hamas in the barbaric Oct. 7 attack. It unleashed the Houthis on international shipping. And when its own people rose up in the largest protests since the 1979 revolution, the regime slaughtered thousands of unarmed civilians on Khamenei’s direct orders — the largest street massacres in modern Iranian history. 

Even as Oman’s foreign minister announced a supposed breakthrough in nuclear talks two days before the strikes, Iran was tripling its oil exports to sanction-proof its economy. The diplomatic runway was exhausted.

Now Khamenei is dead. The IRGC’s senior leadership has been eliminated. Ali Larijani’s hastily announced temporary leadership council is a sign of desperation, not stability. The regime’s retaliatory strikes demonstrate that even a mortally wounded theocracy remains dangerous — which is precisely why the pressure must not relent. 

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The United States and Israel must sustain operations until Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile capability and capacity to wage proxy war are permanently degraded and until whatever authority emerges in Tehran understands that reconstituting these programs means annihilation.

No one is asking Europe to fire a single shot. The United States and Israel have assumed that burden. But the least — the very least — that our closest allies can do is offer unequivocal public support. Not mealy-mouthed calls for “maximum restraint.” Not frantic clarifications of nonparticipation. Not Macron calling for an emergency Security Council session, as though the problem is the response to 40 years of Iranian aggression rather than the aggression itself. 

Europe must publicly back the campaign to dismantle the regime’s military capabilities, enforce the full scope of sanctions with no carve-outs and tell the Iranian people that the democracies of the world stand with them — not with the apparatus that has butchered them.

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There is a broader dimension European leaders would be wise to consider. No one is watching more carefully than Beijing. China has deepened ties with Tehran, purchasing discounted oil in defiance of sanctions. 

If Europe sits on the sidelines while America and Israel shoulder the burden alone, China will conclude that the Western alliance lacks the cohesion to confront determined adversaries — a conclusion that will inform Beijing’s calculations on Taiwan and beyond. 

A unified front sends the opposite message: The democratic world will not be divided, and the cost of backing rogue regimes is real and escalating.

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The window for capitulation is open now, and it will not stay open forever. The United States and Israel have demonstrated the resolve to act and are paying the price in treasure, risk and blood.  Europe owes it to its allies, to the Iranian people and to its own stated values to stand beside them — publicly, unequivocally and with no daylight in between. 

Now is the time to prove it.

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DOUG SCHOEN: As a Democrat, I back Trump’s Iran strike — my party is wrong

As a Democrat, it is profoundly disturbing to me that many in my party have widely condemned what appears to be, at least initially, a successful, coordinated effort to promote fundamental and lasting change in Iran.

It falls to me, a Democrat who has supported my party and its candidates for many years, to state what is obvious: the Trump administration and our military deserve strong support for leading a coordinated strike with Israel that has already led to the death of Iran’s supreme leader and multiple senior Iranian officials and continues to degrade Tehran’s nuclear and conventional weapons programs. 

This action also offers the potential for long-overdue regime change, where large percentages of the Iranian population have long supported removing the current illegitimate regime — one of the rationales the president offered for striking Tehran and other Iranian cities at this time.

Very sadly, many in my party seem more interested in regime change in Jerusalem than they are in regime change in Teheran and the possibility of lasting political change.

Given that Iran is arguably the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism and repeatedly refused to voluntarily dismantle its nuclear program through peaceful means, the threat to U.S. and allied national security is real and imminent, requiring decisive action by the U.S. and Israeli governments.

Very sadly, many in my party seem more interested in regime change in Jerusalem than they are in regime change in Teheran and the possibility of lasting political change.

I fervently hope my party will now focus in a bipartisan way on supporting our efforts in the Middle East, rather than condemning President Trump for not seeking to formally invoke the War Powers Act before launching the coordinated strike on Iran with Israel.

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I doubt this will happen.

But as someone who remains committed to the Democratic Party and its traditional ideals, I believe it is critically important to acknowledge the courageous role President Trump played in these events — from arresting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to now contributing to the removal of the supreme leader of one of the most dangerous theocratic states, Iran.

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I very much hope that the leaders of my party will stand with the administration and the people of Iran in the coming days to support an effort that — for the first time in many years — offers the prospect of peace and democratization in the Middle East.

What could be more important?

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Why Trump invoked regime change in attacking Iran, and the media must learn from past mistakes

Well, so much for all the weekend punditry that was to follow Donald Trump’s State of the Union. 

And the expert analysis of the tariff confusion caused by the president’s loss in the Supreme Court? That’s on hold too. 

When Trump unleashed the bombing barrage against Iran, joined by Israeli forces, he did more than take a giant, risky step against the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism. 

The attacks targeted Iran’s supreme leader and succeeded in killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a remarkable military achievement. 

Behind such pinpoint targeting, Trump uttered a crucial phrase: regime change. 

Those words have resonance because they echo George W. Bush’s rhetoric from two decades ago. Bush’s announced goal was to topple Saddam Hussein – rather than stopping short, as his father had done – albeit on fictional claims of weapons of mass destruction. And that drive was aided by rally-round-the-flag, almost fawning media coverage. 

I feel strongly about this because while at The Washington Post, I did a lengthy report in which the paper’s leaders admitted they too eagerly joined the march to war and downplayed contrary evidence. “I think I was part of the groupthink,” Bob Woodward told me. 

EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE SAYS US STRIKES MARK ‘BEGINNING OF THE VERY END’ FOR REGIME

So Trump is no longer merely trying to stop Iran’s nuclear program, which he claimed to have done nine months ago with that surprise attack on Tehran’s underground nuclear sites. 

Now the president is saying he wants Iranians to topple the latest in a long line of theocratic authoritarians who rule that country with an iron fist – as if they could make that happen on their own. 

Not that I have the slightest sympathy for these awful ayatollahs. Trump called Khamenei “one of the most evil people in History.”

Many Trump supporters were drawn to his America First language, which they viewed as an end to faraway wars. Instead, they’ve gotten the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro, whose Venezuela is about a third the size of Iran. And the threats, finally dropped, to take over Greenland. Plus, now the second shelling of Iran. 

No wonder some of his conservative allies are opposing these military strikes. They want federal money spent here, not in a volatile region driven by centuries of ethnic hatred. 

The Iranian retaliation – against Israel and U.S. bases in several nearby Arab countries – was both immediate and predictable. So now we find ourselves in a regional war. 

While the butchery of Khamenei sealed his fate, the targeted assassination of another head of state certainly fuels critics who see the U.S. acting as the Great Satan. At the same time, most neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia, want nothing to do Iran or its proxies such as Hamas. 

OPERATION EPIC FURY: HOW AMERICA’S AIR POWER IS CRUSHING IRAN’S TERROR REGIME

On the question of why the military escalation was launched now, some of Trump’s explanations seemed based on disputed or exaggerated evidence, given that Tehran is not close to completing a bomb. He may have decided the regime is too weak to survive the moment. 

But the Iranian hardliners who flatly refused to drop their nuclear ambitions left Trump little choice. 

This is the same gang of dictators that murdered thousands of protesters in the streets. Trump kept claiming the practice had stopped, but that wasn’t true, except for public hangings. It’s all too reminiscent of the Beijing crackdown at Tiananmen Square in 1989. 

Let’s go back even further. What civilized country would hold 52 diplomats hostage for more than a year, to pressure America to turn over an ailing Shah Reza Pahlavi? I guess the key word is civilized. 

The 444-day ordeal ended Jimmy Carter’s presidency, but also served notice that not even American embassies were safe. 

Chuck Schumer wants to push ahead with invoking the War Powers Act, since the Constitution gives that authority to Congress. It’s kinda late for that. 

Politically speaking, who could vote to undermine the administration now that our pilots are risking their lives in the assault on Iran?

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Come on, in the modern age, presidents wage war and Congress holds hearings. Whether it was JFK and Cuba, Ronald Reagan and Grenada, George H. W. Bush and Panama, Bill Clinton and Kosovo or many others, the commander in chief gives the orders. 

But war also brings casualties, as Trump rightly pointed out. 

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Before the invasion of Iraq, Bush’s CIA chief said there was a “slam-dunk” case that Saddam had illegal weapons. As the media get swept up in the coverage of Trump’s war in Iran, they might display the kind of skepticism that was sorely missing during that last Middle East showdown. 

Austin shooting suspect wore Iranian flag shirt during attack, sources say

Authorities said they found an Iranian flag and photos of regime leaders in the apartment of the gunman in the shooting outside a bar in Austin, Texas, on Sunday morning.

The flag and the images were discovered during a search of the suspect’s home, according to CBS News, after the shooting early Sunday morning that left three people dead and 14 wounded.

The shooter was also wearing a sweatshirt that read “Property of Allah” and an undershirt featuring an Iranian flag when he carried out the attack, according to law enforcement sources.

The suspect, identified as Ndiaga Diagne, was a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Senegal and lived in Pflugerville, Texas, multiple federal law enforcement sources told Fox News.

Diagne first entered the U.S. in 2000 on a B-2 tourist visa before becoming a lawful permanent resident six years later after marrying a U.S. citizen. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2013.

His criminal history includes being arrested in Texas in 2022 for collision with vehicle damage.

The shooting happened outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden shortly before 2 a.m. along Sixth Street, a nightlife destination filled with bars and music clubs located near the University of Texas at Austin.

Police Chief Lisa Davis said the gunman “put his flashers on, rolled down his window and began using a pistol shooting out of his car windows, striking patrons of the bar that were on the patio and that were in front of the Bar.” The suspect then drove westbound on Sixth Street to Wood Street, parked, exited the vehicle with a rifle and continued shooting at pedestrians, but he never entered the bar.

Police shot and killed the gunman, who used a pistol and a rifle in the shooting.

“Today is a difficult day for our city and the University,” the university’s president, Jim Davis, said on X. “We are deeply saddened by the tragedy that occurred early this morning in downtown Austin. Our prayers are with the victims and all those impacted, including members of our Longhorn family. We are also grateful to the first responders who acted quickly to save lives, and to our UT counselors and staff members who have provided care and support throughout the day.”

The FBI said the shooting was a possible act of terrorism, as authorities continue to investigate.

“Obviously, it’s still way too early in the process to determine an exact motivation, but there were indicators on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate potential nexus to terrorism,” Alex Dorn, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio Field Office, said at a Sunday press conference.

FEDS FILE SWEEPING TERRORISM CHARGES AGAINST SUSPECT IN DEADLY DC AMBUSH OF ISRAELI EMBASSY STAFFERS AT MUSEUM

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“Again, it’s still too early to make a determination on that. That’s why we are investigating it very closely with our partners with Austin police department,” Dorn added.

Asked by a reporter if the case involved domestic or international terrorism, Dorn said the Joint Terrorism Task Force is engaged.

“We’re just at this point prepared to say that it was potentially an act of terrorism,” he said.