State Dept in ‘constant contact’ with congressional offices as Americans flee Middle East amid Iran strikes
FIRST ON FOX: The State Department revealed communications with Congress on getting Americans out of the Middle East as Democrats on Capitol Hill say the department is “refusing to help people leave the region.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed concerns about Americans still remaining in the Middle East with reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday, telling U.S. citizens abroad that “we need to know where you are” in order to successfully help them evacuate.
“9,000 Americans have been able to leave the region since the start of this war,” Rubio said. “We have about [1,500] Americans that are requesting assistance with departure. We have identified and continue to identify charter flights, military flight options and expanded commercial flight options, meaning working with the airlines to send bigger airplanes with more seats.”
“Here’s the message I want to deliver Americans who are in the Middle East and in need of assistance… we need to know where you are,” Rubio added. “We need to have contact information for Americans that need assistance. They have to register with us because, as these options begin to open up and as they open up we have to be able to call you, we have to be able to reach you, we have to be able to know where you’re staying so we can get this information to you and coordinate appropriately.”
Rubio strongly encouraged Americans still remaining in the Middle East to utilize the department website to initiate the proceedings to safely evacuate.
The Department of State told Fox News Digital that the department has been in “constant contact” with Congress, specifically related to getting stranded Americans back home.
“The State Department is in constant contact with members of Congress in order to provide American citizens in the Middle East with assistance and accurate information on the security situation in the region, State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott told Fox News Digital in a statement. “There is no greater priority than the safety of American citizens both at home and abroad.”
“The State Department has reached over a thousand Congressional staffers with briefings on the security situation on the Middle East and continues to be in constant contact with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee to ensure that their constituents have the facts on available support and assistance,” Pigott added.
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Democrats in Congress have accused the Trump administration of not assisting in getting trapped Americans out of the area.
“So the State Department is forcing everyone to immediately leave the region but is also refusing to help people leave the region,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-CT posted to X. “The strike itself is illegal and disastrous but their lack of readiness for what comes next is unforgivable as well.”
“Incompetence everywhere,” Murphy added.
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Sources at the State Department told Fox News Digital that they contacted the Consular on the Hill with approximately 130 emails and calls from 88 congressional offices through Monday evening, seeking information to provide constituents or request information about citizens in the region.
The department also told Fox that they communicated with more than 1,300 congressional staffers, held three webinars covering the security situation, and have been in constant communication with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee on Embassy operating status, regional requests for additional interceptors, and other military equipment.
The department says they made 60 emails and a dozen calls on policy-related questions, briefing requests, and general inquiries from Congressional offices.
Rubio told reporters on Tuesday he is confident that the administration will be able to safely evacuate all U.S. citizens out of the region.
“Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics,” Rubio said. “They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons. They intend to develop those nuclear weapons behind a program of missiles and drones and terrorism [so] the world will not be able to touch them for fear of those things… now is the time to go after them.”
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During an interview with Fox News Digital, Kristy Ellmer, from New Hampshire, described the “shock waves” and “red bursts in air” she witnessed while with her husband in Dubai.
“We were just sitting on the beach. We hadn’t been watching the news or anything, just enjoying the morning,” Ellmer said. “All of a sudden, we felt explosions.”
She was scheduled to leave Dubai on Sunday, though she dealt with flight cancellations for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.
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On Saturday, Iranian airstrikes hit Dubai International Airport as the country exchanged blows with the U.S. and its Israeli allies.
She still remains in the region, hoping to get out of the country by the end of the week.
Former TOPGUN pilot declares Iran military ‘over with’ amid US air superiority, but warns of another danger
Decorated Navy TOPGUN graduate and F/A-18 fighter pilot Matthew “Whiz” Buckley said Tuesday that Iran has “zero” options as U.S. and Israeli strikes continue in Operation Epic Fury — but warned the biggest danger now may be friendly fire amid a complex battle environment.
Given U.S. air superiority, Buckley said on “Fox & Friends First” the Iranian government is backed into a corner.
“They really don’t have any options. When you have command of the sky, you can do whatever you want… We have free flow over the airspace, which means we can pick and choose targets at will and not worry about any ground fire,” he said, but added that, “the only ground fire we have to worry about is friendly fire.”
Buckley said he was grateful for the safety of the U.S. airmen who had to eject themselves from their F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft after they were mistakenly engaged by allied Kuwaiti air defenses.
“I’m more worried about our own forces than I am the Iranians at this point. It’s over with. As far as their air, sea and mainly land powers as well,” he said.
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Three U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles were shot down in a friendly fire incident over Kuwait late Sunday during active combat operations tied to Operation Epic Fury, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said. The aircraft were taken down by Kuwait amid a complex battle environment that included attacks by Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones.
All six aircrew members safely ejected, were quickly recovered, and are reported to be in stable condition.
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Despite the misfire, Buckley expressed confidence in the military’s stated objectives of degrading Iran’s ballistic missile capability and nuclear program, and said that what happened next would be up to the Iranian people.
The mission also served as a demonstration that, “whether it was the Maduro raid, Operation Midnight Hammer, or Epic Fury, we can project power around the globe and hit our mission objectives extremely quickly,” Buckley said.
Top Israeli military official reveals operation against Iran involved ‘strategic and operational deception’
FIRST ON FOX: As Israel wages what it describes as an existential campaign against Iran, IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the war has reinforced a fundamental strategic shift in how Israel sees itself and its alliances, particularly with the United States and regional partners.
“Israel was never part of this region. We thought we were part of Europe,” he said. “Since the Abraham Accords started, we are having good relations with our neighbors. We are part of this region now.”
He described the 2020 agreements as transformative, building on the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. “The military cooperation is great. Some of the things are overt and some covert,” Defrin said in his first English-language media interview since the beginning of the conflict. “Iran is a regional threat, and that is clear to everyone now.”
But he stressed the campaign against Tehran is not only regional.
“It’s a worldwide problem, it’s a global problem, it’s a regional problem and it’s also an Israeli problem,” he said. “They are not hitting only Israel.”
Months of Deception
The spokesperson revealed that the operation was preceded by months of strategic deception.
“It was a strategic and operational deception,” he said.
On the eve of the strike, senior officials deliberately maintained routine appearances.
“Friday night we went to dinner at home. The chief of staff and I returned late in cars that were not our official vehicles. The official cars stayed at home, and we made sure that from satellite imagery it would not look like the Kirya (ministry of defense) was full while all the planes were armed and ready.”
He said Iran was caught off guard. “For many long months there was deception, so they were surprised. They fired what they had pre-planned in their preset response.”
‘A Mutual Operation’
The spokesperson said the strike that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was carried out in coordination with the Trump administration. “It was a mutual operation,” he said. “The cooperation between us and the American military is amazing. We have mutual planning and mutual executing for the plans in Iran and beyond.”
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He framed the operation as part of unprecedented U.S.-Israeli military coordination. The entire operation in Iran is a mutual and coordinated campaign,” he said.
He also described a broader international dimension. “It’s a problem with the United States of America as well,” he said, citing attacks by Iranian-backed groups that have killed American service members and threatened shipping lanes.
“They are posing a threat to the Red Sea… the movement of naval ships in the Suez Canal dropped by 90% since the Houthis started shooting at ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait,” he said. “It’s a global problem. It’s a terror regime. They are acting all over the world. And again, we had to act.”
He added that regional states increasingly understand the threat. “Israel is here to stay. You see the countries of the region placing their trust in Israel.”
Strike on Iranian Targets
Addressing reports that dozens of senior Iranian figures were eliminated in a strike on Tuesday, including claims that 88 members of Iran’s Assembly of Experts were killed, he dismissed the figures.
“We struck a few targets involved in terrorism. We still don’t have any battle damage assessment. Once we have it, we will publish it. It’s too early.”
He emphasized that the targets were military. “We struck military targets,” he said. “They are attacking population centers.”
According to the spokesperson, Israeli intelligence shows Iran is deliberately aiming at civilians “to exact a price,” including launches toward civilian infrastructure.
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War Aims
Explaining the decision to launch the campaign, the spokesperson described Iran as an imminent existential threat.
“We didn’t have another choice, unfortunately. It’s an existential imminent threat. This is a terror regime,” he said.
“They declared it. Whatever they declared, they did.”
Asked whether regime change is an objective, he drew a distinction between military aims and political outcomes.
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“As a member of the military, I cannot say we have an aim to remove the regime,” he said. “But definitely, we want to weaken it and create the conditions that one day this regime will be removed by its own people.”
As fighting expands to Lebanon following renewed Hezbollah fire, he reiterated Israel’s view of Iran as the head of a regional network.
“Hezbollah is an octopus. The head of the octopus is in Iran.”
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For Israel, he said, the campaign has clarified a strategic reality shaped by the Abraham Accords and deepened U.S. cooperation. “We are part of this region now.”
Trump’s Iran strikes get legal cover as scholars say Article II playbook spans Obama era and beyond
President Donald Trump’s legal case for ordering strikes on Iran without prior congressional authorization is not novel, according to legal scholars, and instead tracks the modern Article II template that past presidential administrations have used to justify limited military operations abroad.
“Whether you agree or disagree with Obama or any of the other presidents who used military force, like in Haiti with 20,000 troops on the ground (in 1994 under the Clinton administration), this is what the founders anticipated when they divided the power,” Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow and acting director of the Institute for Constitutional Government Cully Stimson told Fox News Digital in a phone interview Monday.
“They did not want to have what we had in Mother England, where the king made the decision alone,” he said.
Trump’s Iran strikes are reigniting the long-running tug-of-war between Congress’ war powers and presidents’ Article II claims to act quickly against threats. Legal scholars and critics point to past precedents and the War Powers Resolution as the key guideposts as some lawmakers move to curb further action in Iran.
The U.S. military launched joint strikes with Israel on Iran beginning Saturday without congressional approval. Trump administration officials said they provided congressional notification to the “Gang of Eight,” a bipartisan group of top congressional intelligence leaders, ahead of the strikes, but Congress did not hold a vote to approve them.
Instead, the Trump administration has argued that the U.S. was facing an “imminent threat.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was not going to “sit there and absorb a blow” from Iran and that the operation was needed at this juncture, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operation “is not a so-called regime change war” or a war like in Iraq that was open-ended, but a targeted mission born out of escalating threats.
“Our president has guts,” Hegseth said during a press conference Monday. “Iran’s stubborn and self-evident nuclear pursuits, their targeting of global shipping lanes and their swelling arsenal of ballistic missiles and killer drones were no longer tolerable risks. Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional shield for their nuclear blackmail ambitions.”
Democratic lawmakers, as well as some Republicans, have denounced the strikes as “illegal,” arguing they did not obtain congressional approval first and drafting resolutions that would require Trump to seek congressional approval to use military force in Iran.
“This is an illegal war,” Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” “I have a war powers resolution queued up for vote this week, and I’m encouraging my colleagues to assert the constitutional power vested in the legislative branch.”
Kaine, who has been one of the more vocal Democrat lawmakers denouncing the strikes, argued they are “illegal” because “the Constitution can’t be changed by statute. The Constitution says no declaration of war without Congress.”
Under the Constitution, Congress holds the power to declare war and control war funding, while the president, as commander in chief under Article II, directs military operations and can act to protect U.S. forces and interests in time-sensitive situations.
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The 1973 War Powers Resolution was Congress’ attempt to police that split in power. It requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of introducing U.S. forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities, and it sets a 60-day clock to end the operation absent a declaration of war or specific authorization.
“This is sort of the built-in tension between the legislative branch — which is under Article One, Section Eight, Clause 11 and has the declare-war power — and the commander in chief, who cannot prosecute a war without money appropriated and paid for by Congress,” Stimson explained.
A White House official told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that “the President exercised his authority as Commander in Chief to defend U.S. personnel and bases in the region against an implacable enemy.”
The official continued that Iran “has spent the last four decades attacking Americans to pursue its radical agenda and the last four weeks manipulating the diplomatic process to buy time to build up its offensive military capabilities increasing the regime’s threat to U.S. personnel, our bases, and allies in the region and around the world.”
Stimson pointed to a long line of modern precedents in which presidents of either party have launched military operations without a new authorization for use of military force, arguing that the executive branch has repeatedly relied on Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel guidance to determine when a strike falls short of “war” in the constitutional sense.
“Most presidents, especially in modern times, have used the military in the national interest of the United States, and they determine what is in the national interest … without congressional authorization,” Stimson said.
Stimson said the key legal argument administrations have used — including in a 2011 OLC opinion on Libya under the Obama administration — turns on whether an operation is expected to be “prolonged and substantial,” typically involving U.S. personnel facing significant risk over a substantial period.
If the president “reasonably thinks or represents that there’s no anticipated prolonged military engagement” and no anticipated significant risk to U.S. personnel over time, Stimson argued, the requirement to go to Congress for a declaration of war is not triggered.
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In practice, Stimson said, presidents typically comply with the War Powers Resolution’s initial reporting requirements by notifying Congress within 48 hours and describing the expected scope and duration of the deployment.
“Then there’s sort of a 60-day clock that people talk about,” he said, referring to the statute’s termination provision, which requires the president to end the use of force within 60 days absent a declaration of war or specific authorization, with a potential 30-day extension.
Trump has said the operation is expected to last just a month or five weeks, short of the 60-day clock.
Gene Hamilton, former White House deputy counsel and president of America First Legal, told Fox News Digital that the president has “broad inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to defend U.S. interests and safety.”
“The Constitution, in Article II, Section 2, vests the President with powers as the Commander in Chief,” Hamilton explained. “He is ultimately vested with operational command of the military. The Founders understood and would not have required the President of the United States to go before Congress and seek approval every time he needed to act to secure U.S. interests with military assets abroad.”
The Framers at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 changed Congress’ power from “make war” to “declare war,” a shift scholars say was meant to let presidents respond to sudden attacks while leaving lawmakers the authority to authorize full-scale war.
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Hamilton said the Founders worked to ensure “that the Constitution does not impose insurmountable barriers to the president’s inherent ability to engage in military action to defend U.S. interests. ‘Making war’ would require the president to engage in a glorified act of cat herding every time he believes military action of any kind is necessary — an outcome so nonsensical it needs no further explanation,” he said.
Hamilton said the White House has “access to intelligence that puts them in the best position to make these decisions, invoking our inherent right to self-defense.”
“In the case of Iran, there is a documented, demonstrable history of the Iranian regime engaging in overt acts of hostility against U.S. interests for decades. Many innocent Americans have died as a result of direct or indirect attacks by Iran through proxy actors,” Hamilton said.
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“The president is on firm ground,” he continued.
State Department has helped over 130 Americans evacuate Israel during war with Iran, official says
The State Department has so far helped more than 130 Americans evacuate Israel during the war with Iran, an official told Fox News on Tuesday.
“Hundreds of American citizens have left Israel since the start of the conflict. Over the last few days, the State Department has assisted over 130 American citizens [in departing] Israel, with an additional 100 American citizens expected to depart today,” the State Department official said.
“The Department is in direct contact and aiding nearly 500 American citizens [with arranging] travel out of Israel currently,” the official added.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said overnight, “We are getting a lot of requests regarding evacuating from Israel from American citizens who are currently in Israel or who have family here,” and that there are “very limited” options available.
“As of now, the best is utilizing Israel’s Ministry of Tourism shuttle bus to Taba, Egypt and getting flights from there or going on to Cairo for flights back to the U.S.,” Huckabee said on X. “Not sure when Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv will reopen. Hopefully soon, but even when it does, there will be VERY limited flights with priorities to those who already were ticketed by El Al. Doubtful that other airlines will fly in/out for a while.”
The State Department also has warned Americans in more than a dozen countries across the Middle East to depart immediately due to risks tied to the conflict with Iran.
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Officials have warned that conditions in the region remain volatile and that security situations can change quickly as fighting tied to the Iran conflict continues.
The warnings come days after the United States launched Operation Epic Fury, striking command-and-control centers, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites.
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Israel has been striking Iran as part of its Operation Roaring Lion.
Trump says Iran is ‘running out of launchers’ as regime is ‘being decimated’
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the Iranian regime is “running out of launchers” as its forces are “being decimated.”
The president made the remarks despite saying that the Iranian military is expected to “keep lobbing missiles for a while,” according to Politico. The State Department is urging Americans to depart immediately from more than a dozen countries across the Middle East, warning of “serious safety risks” as the Iran war intensifies.
“They’re running out, and they’re running out of areas to shoot them, because they’re being decimated,” Trump told Politico. “They’re running out of launchers.”
Trump’s comments come as the Israel Defense Forces announced Tuesday that “targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in Tehran and Isfahan were struck.”
“Throughout Iran, industrial sites used by the Iranian regime to produce weapons, particularly ballistic missiles, were targeted,” the IDF said.
“Isfahan: Dozens of targets related to the ballistic missiles array, including launchers and missile storage sites, were struck,” it added.
AMERICANS IN MORE THAN A DOZEN MIDDLE EAST NATIONS URGED TO FLEE
The United States launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran and Israel launched its parallel campaign, Operation Roaring Lion, on Saturday.
“The Air Force personnel, the fighters — both women and men — the commanders and the technical teams, are doing amazing work in defense and offense. All of Israel must appreciate their contribution to the defense of Israel’s civilians and to striking those who seek our harm,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X on Tuesday.
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“We are on the fourth day of Lion’s Roar,” he added. “We are roaring and we are acting.”
Iran’s ‘stunning strategic miscalculation’ could accelerate Gulf ties to Israel, ex-CENTCOM director predicts
A “stunning strategic miscalculation” by Iran’s leadership could ultimately push several Gulf states closer to formal ties with Israel, a former U.S. military official said Tuesday, arguing Tehran’s broad attacks across the region have backfired and reshaped the Middle East’s geopolitical landscape.
The Gulf Cooperation Council “has already decried Iran and has already vowed to get back at Iran for this,” former CENTCOM Communications Director Joe Buccino told “Fox & Friends First.”
“I think this could possibly set the Gulf states on path towards normalization with Israel, which would reset the region, particularly if you have a new leadership, a new regime, in Iran that’s not a hard-line regime.”
The retired Army colonel’s comments came after Tehran launched retaliatory strikes against U.S. interests in neighboring countries in the region following the start of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday.
Several Gulf states, including Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), intercepted hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones in the past four days.
Those countries, along with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait, joined the United States in issuing a joint statement condemning Iran’s “indiscriminate and reckless” missile and drone strikes across the region.
The statement said the strikes endangered civilians, damaged infrastructure and violated the sovereignty of multiple states.
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Retired Gen. Jack Keane addressed Gulf state pushback during a Fox News appearance, telling “Fox & Friends Weekend” that the conflict could escalate into a “regional war.”
“This backfired on the Iranians…” Keane said.
“The Gulf states are responding. They’re adequately defending themselves [with technology supplied by the U.S.]… they’re frustrated with the Iranians,” he added.
Keane told Fox News’ Griff Jenkins that three Gulf states are preparing for combat, but declined to identify them.
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“One has already started, and two others are about to get going,” he elaborated.
“I’m not going to talk about who they are, but that is being coordinated with Adm. Cooper and Central Command. These will be coordinated, selected targets, and they will contribute to the offensive nature of what’s taking place – the IDF, Central Command and the Gulf states.”
Trump says Iran’s succession bench wiped out as Israeli strike hits leadership deliberations
President Donald Trump said U.S. military strikes on Iran have eliminated much of the regime’s anticipated leadership succession bench, raising new questions about who will emerge to lead the Islamic Republic after the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. “So, you know, we had some in mind from that group that is, is dead. And now we have another group. They may be dead also based on reports. So, I guess you have a third wave coming in. Pretty soon we’re not going to know anybody.”
The president said the worst-case scenario would be someone taking over “who’s as bad as the previous person.”
“That could happen,” Trump said. “We don’t want that to happen. It would probably be the worse you go through this, and then, in five years, you realize you put somebody in who was no better. We’d like to see somebody in there that’s going to bring it back for the people, and we’ll see what happens with the people. You know, they have their chance.”
The remarks come as Israeli strikes hit the building in the holy city of Qom, Iran, associated with the country’s Assembly of Experts, the 88-member clerical body constitutionally responsible for selecting the next supreme leader, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Effie Defrin confirmed to Fox News Digital.
“We struck a few targets involved in terrorism,” Defrin said.
Iranian media has claimed the building was empty at the time of the strikes. Israel does not yet have a battle damage assessment, Defrin said.
The White House has said 49 top Iranian leaders were taken out in the opening phase of the campaign, which Trump said put the operation “ahead of schedule.“
Defense officials, however, have stressed the operation was not designed to force regime change.
“This is not a so-called regime change war,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth said. “But the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it today.”
That distinction now sits at the center of a critical geopolitical question: If the U.S. did not intend to overthrow Iran’s ruling system but has eliminated much of its top leadership and succession chain, what happens next?
How Iran’s succession process is supposed to work
Under Iran’s constitution, the Assembly of Experts selects a new supreme leader when the position becomes vacant. In the interim, a three-person council — composed of the president, the head of the judiciary and a senior cleric — carries out the leader’s duties until a permanent successor is chosen.
After Khamenei’s death, Iranian authorities moved to activate that constitutional mechanism. President Masoud Pezeshkian, judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei and senior cleric Alireza Arafi are overseeing the interim phase.
The structure is designed to prevent exactly the kind of vacuum that can destabilize authoritarian systems. But Trump’s assertion that multiple potential successors were killed has intensified uncertainty about whether Tehran’s clerical establishment still has a clear and viable path forward.
While Israeli officials have indicated that senior figures were targeted in recent strikes, Iran has not publicly confirmed a full list of clerical or succession-level casualties. The extent to which the Assembly of Experts itself was directly disrupted remains unclear.
Potential successors and reported losses
Judiciary chief Mohseni-Ejei has long been viewed as a senior insider within the succession framework and remains part of the interim leadership council.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had quietly begun preparing for a potential transition during last year’s 12-day war between Iran and Israel, according to prior reporting by The New York Times.
Possible successors reportedly included his chief of staff Ali Asghar Hejazi, Mohseni-Ejei and Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Israeli officials have claimed Hejazi was killed in recent strikes, though Iranian authorities have not publicly confirmed his death.
Ayatollah Alireza Arafi has also been viewed by some analysts as a potential contender within the clerical hierarchy.
Trump’s claim that “second or third place is dead” suggests U.S. intelligence assessed that multiple tiers of leadership were affected. However, no comprehensive public accounting of succession-ranking figures killed has been released.
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Risk of power shifts
Some analysts warn that wiping out multiple tiers of leadership risks creating the kind of power vacuum that has destabilized other countries after the removal of entrenched rulers.
After Moammar Gadhafi was removed in Libya in 2011, rival militias and competing governments fractured the country. The U.S. invasion of Iraq similarly led to prolonged insurgency and regional upheaval.
Iran’s situation is not identical. The country retains formal succession rules, centralized institutions and a functioning state bureaucracy.
But if clerical leaders struggle to agree on a successor, competing power centers could emerge.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which controls vast military, intelligence and economic assets, could move to consolidate influence if civilian religious leadership falters.
“When clerics cannot agree, power does not disappear. It shifts,” analysts at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote in a recent assessment, warning that sustained instability could empower the IRGC. “The most likely beneficiary of sustained instability is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
Domestic unrest and opposition figures
Iran’s leadership already has faced intense domestic unrest.
Nationwide protests erupted in late December 2025 concerning economic hardship and political grievances, prompting a sweeping government crackdown. Trump has claimed 32,000 people were killed during the regime’s response, a figure significantly higher than official Iranian statements and independent estimates.
To stifle communication and hinder coordination among demonstrators, Iranian authorities imposed a near-total internet blackout during the unrest and again after the start of U.S. strikes.
Outside the regime, opposition figures have positioned themselves as potential transitional voices in the event of broader political realignment.
Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, has cast himself as a symbol of the opposition and a potential transitional figure who could steer Iran toward a democratic system if the clerical order collapses.
But Pahlavi lives in the U.S., and Trump said Tuesday someone within Iran might be more “appropriate.”
“Some people like him, and we haven’t been thinking too much about that,” Trump said. ‘It would seem to me that somebody from within maybe would be more appropriate. I’ve said that he looks like a very nice person, but it would seem to me that somebody that’s there that’s currently popular if there is such a person.”
Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran — a coalition of exiled opposition groups led by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) — advocates for the overthrow of the clerical regime and establishment of a democratic republic.
Both figures have international supporters, but their actual influence inside Iran remains uncertain and contested.
Not regime change — but what is it?
Critics of U.S. intervention in the Middle East often point to past regime-change efforts that produced instability rather than stability.
Trump has instead pointed to Venezuela as a more relevant comparison.
In January, U.S. forces captured President Nicolás Maduro, and Vice President Delcy Rodríguez assumed power under Venezuela’s constitutional process. The country’s governing institutions continued functioning while Washington exerted influence through economic pressure, legal action over oil assets and diplomatic engagement rather than direct rule.
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Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier that the Venezuela operation was a template for leadership that “takes over” and one the United States can work with, suggesting the administration sees a pathway where entrenched systems adjust under pressure rather than collapse outright.
Whether Iran follows that model — maintaining institutional continuity despite devastating leadership losses — or whether deeper fractures emerge inside the clerical establishment remains one of the most consequential unanswered questions in the Middle East.
Nikki Haley slams Democrats who say Iranian regime ‘was no threat to America’: ‘Absurd’
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley slammed Democrats who claim that the Iranian regime was not a threat to the U.S., calling the notion “absurd.”
“It’s absurd for Democrats to say the Iranian regime was no threat to America. For decades, they targeted American troops, made the spread of terrorism a priority, relentlessly pursued nuclear weapons, built missiles aimed at our bases, and plotted assassinations against President Trump and other U.S. leaders — myself included — on American soil,” Haley, now Walter P. Stern Chair at the Hudson Institute, said on X.
“When they chanted ‘Death to America,’ they meant all of us, at any cost,” she added.
Haley told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum that the U.S. and Israel’s joint military offensive, Operation Epic Fury, was a “history-defining moment.” She added that for President Donald Trump, her former boss-turned-political rival, it was a “legacy defining moment.”
“They attempted to do diplomacy, and the Iranian Regime did what they always do. They lie, they cheat, they never tell the truth, and they always want to make sure in the back of their minds they want to harm people,” Haley told MacCallum. “And we saw this when we got out of the Iranian deal, you know, years ago, that they were cheating then. I think that they were trying to get away with cheating now, and I think the Trump administration saw through that.”
The launch of Operation Epic Fury caused a sharp divide within the Democratic Party, with major players praising and criticizing the attacks.
Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., both of whom called the launch of Operation Epic Fury “illegal,” are among the most vocal critics. Additionally, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., claimed that the operation lacked “strategic clarity” and called for a vote on a war powers resolution.
LIZ PEEK: DEMOCRATS RAGE OVER TRUMP’S IRAN STRIKES AS EXILES CHEER AYATOLLAH’S FALL
“Confronting Iran’s malign regional activities, nuclear ambitions, and harsh oppression of the Iranian people demands American strength, resolve, regional coordination, and strategic clarity. Unfortunately, President Trump’s fitful cycles of lashing out and risking wider conflict are not a viable strategy,” Schumer said in a statement.
“The Senate should quickly return to session and reassert its constitutional duty by passing our resolution to enforce the War Powers Act,” Schumer added.
On Feb. 28, when the strikes began, Kaine said that Trump “launched an unnecessary, idiotic, and illegal war against Iran that puts America’s servicemembers and embassy personnel at risk.” Kaine, as well as some other Democrats, called for Congress to return to Washington to vote on his war powers resolution. The resolution, which focused on Iran, was filed in January.
Sanders also issued a statement on Saturday criticizing the operation in which he slammed both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Vermont senator said Trump and Netanyahu had started an “illegal, premeditated and unconstitutional war” against Iran. Sanders, like Kaine, called for a vote on a war powers resolution.
“This attack against Iran is a clear violation of international law and will create increased instability in an already dangerous world. If the United States and Israel can launch an attack against a sovereign nation, so can any other country. Might does not make right. It creates international anarchy, death, destruction and human misery,” Sanders’ statement read.
IRANIAN-AMERICAN JOURNALIST CALLS OUT MAMDANI OVER RESPONSE TO US-ISRAEL STRIKES
“We must not allow Trump to force us into another senseless war. No war with Iran,” he added.
There are Democrats who have praised the operation, including Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has said that he would be a “hard no” if Democrats forced a war powers resolution vote.
“President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region. God bless the United States, our great military, and Israel,” Fetterman wrote on X as Operation Epic Fury began.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., also praised the operation, saying that “confronting the Iranian threat is essential to national security and to global stability.”
He also called on the president to comply with the War Powers Act and said that he “requested an immediate classified briefing” on the operation.
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“Today, the United States, with our key democratic ally Israel, took decisive action to defend our national security, fight terror, protect our allies, and stand with the Iranian people who have been massacred in the streets for demanding freedom from the murderous Iranian regime,” Gottheimer said.
“I applaud the extraordinary bravery and professionalism of our servicemembers and pray for their safety as Iran and its terrorist proxies retaliate against American bases and our partners in the region,” he added.
Vance says US has ‘much greater capacity’ to hit Iran, campaign could ‘go a lot longer’
Vice President JD Vance defended the Trump administration’s military posture toward Iran on Monday, saying the U.S. has “much greater capacity” to strike Tehran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure and that the campaign could continue for an extended period if necessary.
“The president of the United States knows what we’re able to do,” he told “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Monday.
“He knows that we have much greater capacity to inflict damage on the Iranian nuclear program, but also on various missiles that threaten our troops…” he continued.
“I think the president has made it very clear that the United States has a lot of optionality here, and we could go for a little bit longer. We could go a lot longer.”
Vance rejected comparisons to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, arguing that the current operation is defined by limited objectives rather than open-ended nation-building.
“If you think back to Afghanistan, 20 years of mission creep, 20 years [of] not having a clear objectiveand 20 years [of] the United States trying to bring liberal democracy to Afghanistan. Iraq was a little bit shorter, but we were still in that country for nearly a decade with no clear mission, no clear definition,” he said.
“What’s so different about this, Jesse, is that the president has clearly defined what he wants to accomplish.”
TRUMP SENDS OFFICIAL NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS ON STRIKES AGAINST IRAN
That mission, he said, is distinct: preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring Tehran commits to never rebuild its nuclear capability.
“I think that means that we’re not going to get into the problems that we’ve had with Iraq and Afghanistan,” he concluded.
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Vance’s remarks come amid growing concerns that the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran could lead to broader Middle East conflict with no clear end in sight.
The weekend strikes killed dozens of key Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Sharp partisan divide emerges over Iran strike, Trump’s strategy: polls
The findings of two new national polls conducted in the hours after President Donald Trump launched strikes on Iran are clear — only a minority of Americans approve of the operation and Democrats and Republicans don’t see eye to eye over the attacks.
Twenty-seven percent of those questioned in a Reuters/Ipsos national survey conducted Saturday and Sunday after the start of “Operation Epic Fury” by American and Israeli forces on Iran that resulted in the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said they approved of the strikes.
A plurality, 43%, said they disapproved, with nearly three in 10 not sure.
There were similar findings in a CNN poll conducted by SSRS that was also in the field this past weekend.
Fifty-nine percent of Americans surveyed in the poll said they disapproved of the initial decision to strike Iran, with 41% giving a thumbs up.
As expected, there’s a wide divide between Democrats and Republicans.
Republicans questioned in the Reuters/Ipsos poll, by a 55%-32% margin, were supportive of the military action. The vast majority of Democrats, 73%, disapproved of the strikes, with only 7% saying they approved. A plurality of independents, 44%, disapproved of the military attack, with 19% supportive and nearly four in 10 unsure.
WHAT VICE PRESIDENT VANCE TOLD FOX NEWS ABOUT TRUMP’S DECISION TO LAUNCH ATTACKS ON IRAN
The partisan gap was even wider in the CNN poll.
More than three-quarters of Republican respondents, 77%, approved, compared to 32% of independents and 18% of Democrats.
According to the CNN poll, 83% of Republicans said Trump has a clear plan for handling the attacks on Iran, while 70% of independents and 88% of Democrats disagreed.
Overall, six in 10 said they don’t think the president has a clear plan for dealing with the situation, and 62% said Trump should get congressional approval before any further military action.
TRUMP DECLARES ‘I GOT HIM BEFORE HE GOT ME’ AFTER IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER KILLED IN STRIKE
Both polls were conducted before the U.S. military announced on Sunday the first U.S. casualties in the operation — six service members killed.
The joint U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran is now in its fourth day as of Tuesday, with Trump saying the plan is ahead of schedule thanks to the early elimination of Iran’s top leaders.
Trump has said Iran is seeking talks with the U.S. as the military operations continue, but the president indicated he believes the opportunity for negotiations has passed.
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The U.S. has urged Americans to leave 14 countries across the Middle East as Iran’s counterattacks intensify. The U.S. State Department has also closed embassies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the Gulf Cooperation Council warned Iran it will take “all necessary measures,” including possible military action, in response to Tehran’s missile and drone attacks.
Israel’s military releases video showing obliteration of Iran’s missile launchers, defense systems
The Israel Defense Forces released a video Tuesday showing the Israeli Air Force destroying the “Iranian regime’s missile launchers, defense systems, and live-fire arrays.”
The IDF said more than 60 strikes recently were carried out in waves across western Iran, hitting targets including vehicles carrying ballistic missiles, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and loaded missile launchers.
The development comes as Iran “once again” fired missiles containing cluster sub-munitions toward Israeli civilians on Tuesday in central Israel, according to IDF international spokesperson Lt. Nadav Shoshani.
“The Iranian regime’s war crimes continue,” he wrote on X.
Shoshani also said in a video that, “Our forces, along with the U.S. armed forces, continue degrading the Iranian regime’s military capabilities.”
“Yesterday, Iran’s main terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, launched dozens of rockets and UAVs from southern Lebanon at Israeli civilians in northern Israel,” he continued. “Our forces have been prepared to strengthen and protect all borders as part of this operation and are more than ready.”
ISRAELI MINISTER OUTLINES IRAN MISSION GOALS, SAYS IRANIAN PEOPLE NOW HAVE CHANCE TO ‘REGAIN THEIR FREEDOM’
“We are preparing for the possibility of Hezbollah expanding their attacks against Israeli civilians,” Shoshani warned. “This includes reinforcing aerial defense systems and troops presence.”
“Overnight, IDF troops were positioned in southern Lebanon at several points near the border area as part of an enhanced forward defense posture. Let me be clear: this is not a ground maneuver into Lebanon. It is a tactical step to create an additional level of security for the residents of northern Israel,” Shoshani added.
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“Let me remind you, on Oct. 8th, the day after the Oct. 7 massacre, Hezbollah took control of vantage points near the northern border and fired RPGs and missiles indiscriminately towards Israeli civilians in the northern border. As a result, Israel had to evacuate around 60,000 civilians from their homes for many months. We will not let that happen again,” he said. “Overnight, we carried out a series of preventative strikes on Hezbollah military infrastructure across Lebanon in order to neutralize the continuous fire towards our civilians.”
Israel strikes Iranian leadership meeting choosing Khamenei successor
Israeli forces struck a meeting of Iran’s Supreme Council on Tuesday as officials gathered to choose a successor to the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a senior Israeli official told Fox News.
“Israel struck while they were counting the votes for the appointment of the supreme leader,” the official said.
The strike came just south of Tehran as Iran continued targeting Israeli population centers, with Israel signaling that continued attacks on civilians would not be tolerated.
Israeli officials believe multiple Iranian officials responsible for counting the votes in the succession process were killed in the strike. The officials were not among the ruling clerics or top mullahs, but the attack marked a substantial escalation as Israel continued expanding its target set inside Iran.
The strike underscored the depth of Israeli intelligence penetration inside Tehran and marked one of the most dramatic escalations yet in the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign aimed at dismantling Iran’s political and military leadership from the top down.
It came as Iran’s leadership structure appeared increasingly hollowed out.
More than 40 of Iran’s most senior leaders — including Khamenei — have been killed since the operation began, with 49 eliminated in the opening salvo of Operation Epic Fury early Saturday, fracturing the regime’s command structure and dealing a crippling blow to its military leadership and command-and-control networks.
Israeli analysts estimated that more than 1,000 enemy combatants have been killed inside Iran since the United States launched Operation Epic Fury and Israel launched its parallel campaign, Operation Roaring Lion, on Saturday. The estimate came from Israel’s latest battle damage assessment, according to a senior Israeli official.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu framed the conflict as part of a broader effort to neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear ambitions.
KEY MILITARY SITES TARGETED INSIDE IRAN AS PART OF COORDINATED US-ISRAELI STRIKES
“With these ballistic missiles, these weapons of mass death, these weapons, they bombed all these countries,” Netanyahu said. “And when they developed these ballistic missiles, they’ll try and eventually they’ll bomb you. This is what President Trump understood.”
Vice President JD Vance said the administration had set a clear, limited objective for the operation.
“There’s just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict, with no clear end in sight and no clear objective,” Vance said. “He’s defined that objective as Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has to commit long-term to never trying to rebuild the nuclear capability.”
The joint U.S.-Israel assault entered its fourth day Tuesday, with no signs of slowing down.
President Donald Trump said the plan was ahead of schedule following the early elimination of Iran’s top leaders.
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The U.S. urged Americans to leave 14 countries across the Middle East as Iran’s counterattacks intensified. The State Department also closed two embassies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
The Gulf Cooperation Council warned Iran it would take “all necessary measures,” including possible military action, in response to Tehran’s missile and drone attacks.
Fetterman ‘baffled’ by lack of support for Trump’s Iran strikes and death of ‘evil’ leaders
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., questioned Democrats who voiced opposition to President Donald Trump’s military strikes on Iran, calling the action a “significant development” for regional peace.
“Every single member of the Senate has agreed that we can never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb, and clearly they [Iran] were actually intending to do that. So, are you really committed to that?” Fetterman asked Monday on “Hannity.”
U.S. and Israeli forces launched strikes on Iranian military and government targets on Feb. 28, unleashing air, sea and missile power in a coordinated operation.
The senator said he was “baffled” that more people aren’t celebrating the death of “one of the most evil men ever” – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – and the crippling of his regime.
“It’s a good thing for the region, it’s a good thing for Israel, it’s good for America, and so, for me, that’s why I stand with the country over perhaps what the base may demand,” Fetterman said.
The mission, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, struck more than 1,000 military, intelligence and government sites across Iran within its first 24 hours, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of senior regime officials were eliminated in the strikes.
DOUG SCHOEN: AS A DEMOCRAT, I BACK TRUMP’S IRAN STRIKE — MY PARTY IS WRONG
Fetterman voiced support for the action. He said tweets and harsh language wouldn’t lead to real peace and emphasized that sanctions and negotiations had failed to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Democrats and some Republicans, however, are calling for a vote to rein in Trump’s war powers, arguing the Constitution requires congressional authorization to declare war.
Fetterman has said he would vote against the resolution.
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“Why can’t we all just say the world is better now after this operation? So I’m proud to stand with the military. I’m proud to stand with the Iranian people now that they have the opportunity to have real peace.”
Former NFL players of Iranian descent speak up for freedom from Islamic regime
Ali Haji-Sheikh and Shar Pourdanesh share the fact they are retired NFL players living beyond the glow of the NFL spotlight. But they also share another distinction tying them to current events: They are part of the Iranian diaspora hoping for the downfall of the Islamic revolution.
They make up part of a small group of men who played in the NFL – along with David Bakhtiari, his brother Eric Bakhtiari and T.J. Housmandzadeh – who are decedents of Iranians.
Haji-Sheikh: Self-Determination For Iranians
Haji-Sheikh, 65, played in the 1980s for the New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins. He was a first-team All-Pro, made the Pro Bowl and was on the NFL All-Rookie team in 1983 for the Giants and, in his final season, won a Super Bowl XXII ring playing for the Washington Redskins and kicking six extra points in a 42-10 blowout of the Denver Broncos.
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Now, Haji-Sheikh is the general manager at a Michigan Porsche-Audi dealership and is like the rest of us: Keeping up with world events when time permits.
Except the war the United States is currently waging against the Islamic Republic of Iran is kind of different because Haji-Sheikh’s dad emigrated from Iran to the United States in the 1950s and built a life here.
And his son would like to see freedom come to a country he’s never visited but has a kinship to.
“It’s a world event,” Haji-Sheikh said on Monday. “I am not a big fan of the Islamic revolution because I am not Islamic. I would like to see the people of Iran be able to determine their own future rather than it be determined by a few people. It would be nice to see them having a stable government where the people can actually decide how they want it to go.”
Iranians Celebrating And Americans Protesting
Haji-Sheikh hasn’t taken to the streets of his native Michigan to celebrate a liberation that hasn’t fully manifested mere days after the American and Israeli bombing and elimination of the Ayatollah.
“I’m so far removed from that,” Haji-Sheikh said. “My mom is from Michigan and of Eastern European background. My dad is from Iran. But it’s like, he hasn’t been back since I was in eighth grade, so that’s a long time ago. That was when the Shah was still in power, mid-70s, ‘74 or ’75, because if he ever went back after that he never would have left. They would have held him, so there was no intention of going back.
“But if things change he might want to go, you never know.”
Despite being removed from any activism about what is happening in Iran Haji-Sheikh is an astute observer.
“My favorite thing I’m seeing right now on TV is the Iranians in America celebrating, because there’s a chance, a glimpse, maybe a hope for freedom,” Haji-Sheikh said. “And you have these people in New York protesting. What are you protesting?”
Pourdanesh Thanks America, Israel
Pourdanesh retired from the NFL in 2000 after a seven-year career with the Redskins and Steelers. The six-foot-six and 312-pound offensive tackle was born in Tehran. He proudly tells people he was the NFL’s first Iranian-born player.
Pourdanesh is much more visible and open about his feelings about his country than others. And, bottom line, he loves that President Donald Trump is bombing the Islamic regime.
“This is a great day for all Iranians across the world,” Pourdanesh posted on his Instagram account on Saturday when the war began. “Thank you, President Trump, thank you to the nation of Israel. Thank you for everybody that has been standing up for my people, my brothers and sisters in Iran across the world. This is a great day.
“The infamous dictator is dead – the one person who has contributed to deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iranians and other people around the world, if not more. So, congratulations to my Iranian brothers and sisters. Now, go and take back the country.”
This message was not a one-off. Pourdanesh has been posting about what has been happening in Iran since January, when people in Iran took to the streets demanding liberty and the government’s thugs began killing them, with some estimates rising to 36,500 deaths.
‘Islam Does Not Represent The Iranian People’
“[The] Islamic Republic does not represent the Iranian people,” Pourdanesh said in another post. “Islam does not represent the Iranian people. For almost 50 years, the Iranian people and our country of Iran has been taken hostage by a terrorist regime, and it’s time to take that regime down.”
Pourdanesh was not available for comment on Monday. I did speak to a handful of other Iranian-Americans on Monday. They didn’t play in the NFL, but their opinions are no less valuable than those of former NFL players.
And these people, some of them participating in rallies on behalf of a free Iran, do not understand the thinking of some Americans and mainstream media.
One complained that media that reports on reparations for black Americans based on slavery in the 1800s dismisses the Islamic takeover of the American Embassy in 1979 as an old grievance.
Another said his brother lives in England, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer immediately called the American and Israeli attacks on the Ayatollah’s regime “illegal” but, as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, it took years to do the same of Muslim rape (grooming) gangs in the country.
(Starmer announced a national “statutory inquiry” in June 2025).
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Pourdanesh Calls Out NFL Silence
And finally, Pourdanesh put the NFL on blast. He said in yet another post that during his career, the NFL asked him to honor Black history, asked him to stand for women’s rights, asked him to fight for equality for those who cannot defend themselves.
“I did everything they asked, and now I ask the NFL this: Where are you now? Why haven’t we heard a single word out of the NFL? NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell, all the NFL teams out there, all the players who say they stand for social justice, where are you now?
“Why haven’t we heard a single word out of you with regard to the people who have been killed as of today? The very values you claim to espouse are being trampled right now. Why haven’t we heard a single word?”
Ambassador Huckabee describes ‘best option’ for Americans looking to flee Israel
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee described what he believes is the “best option” for Americans looking to flee Israel amid the ongoing unrest across the Middle East.
Huckabee said overnight, “We are getting a lot of requests regarding evacuating from Israel from American citizens who are currently in Israel or who have family here,” and that there are “very limited” options available.
“As of now, the best is utilizing Israel’s Ministry of Tourism shuttle bus to Taba, Egypt and getting flights from there or going on to Cairo for flights back to the U.S.,” Huckabee said on X. “Not sure when Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv will reopen. Hopefully soon, but even when it does, there will be VERY limited flights with priorities to those who already were ticketed by El Al. Doubtful that other airlines will fly in/out for a while.”
“The Ministry of Tourism is operating buses to Taba. That crossing is further away, but it’s open 24/7. There are some flights from Taba, but there are also options to get to Cairo, and it’s operating normally except to Middle Eastern countries. To get out, it’s the best option for now,” Huckabee added.
Huckabee also said he does not recommend Americans exit via Jordan at this time, as “Flights are not consistent and access across the Allenby crossing has limited hours.”
“All of our personnel from [the] embassy are sheltering in place, but I realize you may need to get people out and back home and not continue to incur hotel costs,” the ambassador wrote.
NETANYAHU INSISTS US AND ISRAEL’S STRIKES ON IRAN WON’T LEAD TO ‘ENDLESS WAR’
U.S. Embassy Jerusalem said in a statement early Tuesday morning that it is “not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.” It also mentioned the Israeli Ministry of Tourism’s buses to Taba.
“To be added to the passenger list for a shuttle, you must register via the Ministry’s evacuation form,” it said.
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“The U.S. Embassy cannot make any recommendation (for or against) the Ministry of Tourism’s shuttle. If you choose to avail yourself of this option to depart, the U.S. government cannot guarantee your safety,” it added.
New satellite images show fires, naval base damage across Iran after US-Israeli strikes
New satellite images offer a stark look at the devastation inside Iran after U.S.-Israeli strikes, while also revealing the damage left behind by Tehran’s retaliatory attacks across the region.
According to U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations across the Middle East, U.S. forces struck more than 1,250 targets during the first two days of Operation Epic Fury.
Planet Labs satellite imagery captured burning ships and damaged facilities at the Konarak base in southern Iran, as well as significant destruction at Iran’s naval headquarters in Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf, reflecting the scale of the strikes on military infrastructure.
Imagery from Vantor shows the Choqa Balk drone facility in western Iran was hit, along with damage to other key military and strategic sites targeted in the U.S.–Israeli strike campaign.
Radar systems at the Zahedan air base in eastern Iran — near the country’s borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan — were also struck.
The two facilities are about 800 to 900 miles apart, underscoring the broad reach of the coordinated strikes.
Additionally, satellite imagery from Planet Labs shows thick smoke plumes rising above Tehran, signaling explosions and fires inside the Iranian capital.
The smoke underscores how the conflict has moved beyond isolated military sites and into the heart of Iran’s political center.
TRUMP PLEDGES TO ‘AVENGE’ FALLEN US SERVICE MEMBERS AS TENSIONS WITH IRAN INTENSIFY
Iran responded with missile and drone strikes of its own, expanding the conflict across the region. Satellite images reveal damage to the port city of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The city of Sharjah is the third most populous after Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The Jebel Ali Port, the region’s largest maritime hub, was also targeted, underscoring how the retaliation extended beyond military sites to key infrastructure.
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The U.S. has warned that further retaliation could follow, as both sides signal they are prepared for additional rounds of strikes. Pentagon officials said U.S. forces in the region remain on high alert and have publicly cautioned that any new attacks on U.S. citizens would prompt a forceful response.
With damage now visible from western Iran to the Persian Gulf, the coming days could determine whether the confrontation stabilizes — or spirals into a wider regional war.
Trump criticizes Biden for transferring weapons to Ukraine but insists US is ‘stocked’ to win
President Donald Trump on Monday accused former President Joe Biden of failing to replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles, though insisted that the U.S. is still “stocked” to win as Operation Epic Fury continues to devastate Iran.
U.S. munitions at the medium and upper medium grades have “never been higher or better,” Trump said on Monday in a post on his Truth Social platform. He added that “we have a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons.”
“Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies (which are better than other countries (sic) finest arms!),” the president’s post read.
But Trump noted that while the U.S. has a “good” supply of the highest munitions grade, it is “not where we want to be.”
“Much additional high grade weaponry is stored for us in outlying countries,” the post read. “Sleepy Joe Biden spent all of his time, and our Country’s money, GIVING everything to P.T. Barnum (Zelenskyy!) of Ukraine – Hundreds of Billions of Dollars worth – And, while he gave so much of the super high end away (FREE!), he didn’t bother to replace it.”
The U.S. delivered billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with Biden approving an additional $500 million of military aid in a security package rushed out the door just days before Trump’s second term began.
“Fortunately, I rebuilt the military in my first term, and continue to do so,” Trump added. “The United States is stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!!”
“Their air defense, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership is gone,” he wrote later. “They want to talk. I said ‘Too Late!'”
HEGSETH LAYS OUT ‘CLEAR’ 3-PART MISSION AGAINST IRAN, SAYS WAR ‘IS NOT ENDLESS’
The U.S. launched Operation Epic Fury on Saturday morning, working with Israel in a joint military campaign that officials say targeted Iranian leadership and key military installations.
Earlier Monday, Trump declared that the operation in Iran is “ahead of schedule,” stating that many of the regime’s military leaders were eliminated in about an hour.
“We have the strongest and most powerful, by far, military in the world, and we will easily prevail,” the president said. “We’re already substantially ahead of our time projections, but whatever the time is, it’s okay. Whatever it takes.”
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Trump said that the operation is projected to last four to five weeks, noting that “we have capability to go far longer than that.”
“We also projected four weeks to terminate the military leadership,” Trump added. “And as you know, that was done in about an hour. So we’re ahead of schedule there by a lot.”