US submarine sinks Iranian warship by torpedo in a first since World War II
A U.S. submarine sank a prized Iranian warship by torpedo, the first such sinking of an enemy ship since World War II, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Wednesday morning.
Hegseth joined Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine at the Pentagon to provide an update to reporters on “Operation Epic Fury” in Iran.
“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War Two. Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department. We are fighting to win.”
Caine said that an Iranian vessel was “effectively neutralized” in a Navy “fast attack” using a single Mark 48 torpedo. He added that the U.S. Navy achieved “immediate effect, sending the warship to the bottom of the sea.”
WATCH HEGSETH’S ANNOUNCEMENT:
Hegseth said that the U.S. Navy sank the Iranian warship, the Soleimani. The flagship was named for Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who the U.S. killed in a January 2020 drone strike during President Donald Trump’s first term.
“The Iranian Navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Combat ineffective, decimated, destroyed, defeated. Pick your adjective,” Hegseth said. “In fact, last night we sunk their prize ship, the Soleimani. Looks like POTUS got him twice. Their navy, not a factor. Pick your adjective. It is no more.”
Hegseth also told reporters at the briefing that the U.S. and Israel will soon achieve “complete control” over Iranian airspace after Iran’s missile capabilities were drastically diminished in the four days of fighting.
US ‘WINNING DECISIVELY’ AGAINST IRAN, WILL ACHIEVE ‘COMPLETE CONTROL’ OF AIRSPACE WITHIN DAYS, HEGSETH SAYS
“More bombers and more fighters are arriving just today and now, with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500 pound, one thousand pound and 2,000 pound laser-guided precision gravity bombs, of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile,” he said.
The war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran and dozens in Lebanon, while U.S. officials said six American troops were killed in a fatal drone strike in Kuwait.
Thousands of travelers have been left stranded across the Middle East.
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Caine told reporters that the U.S. military is helping thousands of Americans stranded in the Middle East after the U.S. State Department urged citizens to leave more than a dozen countries.
Pentagon honors American troops killed in Operation Epic Fury: ‘never be forgotten’
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine shared the names of four of the six fallen U.S. service members killed in Kuwait while supporting Operation Epic Fury.
“It is with profound sadness and gratitude that I share the names of four of the six fallen heroes, all from the 103rd Sustainment Command, U.S. Army Reserves, out of Des Moines, Iowa,” Caine said during a press conference Wednesday morning from the Pentagon, alongside Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Caine named several of the fallen American heroes.
“Capt. Cody Khork, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor and Sgt. Declan Coady,” Caine said.
Khork, 35, was from Lakeland, Florida; Amor, 39, was from White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Tietjens, 42, was from Bellevue, Nebraska; and Coady, 20, was from Des Moines.
“To the families of our fallen, we grieve with you today and we look forward to welcoming your family members home at Dover in the coming days,” he continued.
Two additional soldiers killed in the attack have not yet been publicly identified.
“Out of respect for the other families, we will withhold the release of their names until next of kin notification is complete, and either myself or Adm. Cooper will release those names as soon as we can ensure that all of those families have been properly notified,” he said.
“To our Gold Star families, to our wounded warriors and their loved ones — we will never forget your sacrifice,” Caine continued. “Our nation stands with you and we are eternally grateful for your courage, your resiliency, your devotion to this mission and to our nation.”
The Department of War on Monday identified four of the six U.S. Army Reserve soldiers killed in a March 1 drone attack in Kuwait while supporting Operation Epic Fury, and officials said the incident remains under investigation.
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The soldiers were killed at the Port of Shuaiba during what officials described as an unmanned aircraft system attack. All were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, Iowa, which provides logistical and operational support to U.S. forces overseas.
Lt. Gen. Robert Harter, chief of Army Reserve and commanding general of U.S. Army Reserve Command, said the loss is deeply felt across the force.
“We honor our fallen heroes who served fearlessly and selflessly in defense of our nation,” Harter said. “Their sacrifice, and the sacrifices of their families, will never be forgotten.”
Officials said the soldiers were supporting operations in the region when the drone strike occurred.
Khork enlisted in the National Guard in 2009 as a multiple launch rocket system/fire direction specialist before commissioning as a military police officer in the Army Reserve in 2014. He went on to deploy to Saudi Arabia, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and Poland.
Amor joined the National Guard in 2005 as an automated logistics specialist. She transferred to the Army Reserve the following year, and went on to deploy to Kuwait and Iraq in 2019. She earned multiple commendations, including the Army Commendation Medal and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with “M” Device.
Tietjens entered the Army Reserve in 2006 as a wheeled vehicle mechanic and completed two deployments to Kuwait since 2009 and 2019. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Achievement Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal with Campaign Star across his career.
The youngest of the four identified soldiers, Coady enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2023 as an Army information technology specialist. He was posthumously promoted from specialist to sergeant and awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Overseas Service Ribbon.
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Israel hammers Iranian internal security command centers to open door to uprising
The Israeli military’s latest wave of airstrikes in Iran dealt a serious blow to the country’s brutal internal security apparatus, opening the door for a potential uprising.
During the strikes, Israel “dropped dozens of munitions on the Basij and internal security command centers that are subject to the Iranian terror regime,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Wednesday. “The targeted command centers were used by the Iranian regime to maintain control throughout Iran and maintain the regime’s situational assessments.”
Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. has hit nearly 2,000 targets as it carries out a sweeping military campaign aimed at dismantling the regime’s security apparatus and neutralizing threats. Adm. Brad Cooper of U.S. Central Command confirmed the number of targets hit in a video message.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij militia, Iran’s volunteer paramilitary force, were behind the violent crackdown on protesters in January. The bloody crackdown saw regime actors firing on crowds and conducting mass arrests of Iranian protesters. Some had seen the protests as a sign that regime change in Iran was getting nearer, though it did not occur.
Israeli and U.S. officials have hinted at the possibility of regime change in Iran as both countries take aim at Tehran’s military and security sites.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message announcing the launch of Operation Epic Fury, which Israel calls Operation Rising Lion, that it was time for Iranians “to rid themselves of the yoke of tyranny.” Similarly, President Donald Trump said in a message to the Iranian people on Feb. 28 that “the hour of your freedom is at hand.”
“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations,” Trump said.
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“America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. Now is the time to seize control of your destiny, and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach. This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass,” the president added.
Ali Vaez, director of the Iran project at the International Crisis Group, told The Wall Street Journal that the path to regime change through foreign airstrikes and popular uprising on the ground has “a bet that rests on no clear historical model.” Vaez also warned that the idea “ignores the resilience of entrenched authoritarian systems like the Islamic Republic.”
The IDF said on Monday that Israel had hit headquarters, bases and regional command centers that belonged to the regime’s internal security apparatus.
“These bodies were responsible for, among other things, suppressing protests against the regime through violent measures and civilian arrests,” the IDF said.
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It is unclear who will lead Iran after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the operation. Since then, Israel and the U.S. have made it clear that regime leaders chosen to replace him would be targets. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned on Wednesday that anyone chosen to replace Khamenei would be considered “a target for elimination” if they continued to threaten Israel, the U.S. and regional allies.
The killing of key leaders might not be enough to cause an uprising, as the regime has a monopoly on weapons in most of Iran, the WSJ reported, adding that Basij militants are still patrolling the streets.
Hegseth says the leader behind effort to assassinate Trump has been ‘hunted down and killed’ in Iran
War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that an Iranian leader behind a unit that attempted to assassinate President Trump has been killed in Iran amid Operation Epic Fury.
“The leader of the unit that attempted to assassinate Trump has been hunted down and killed,” Hegseth said during a press conference Wednesday morning.
“Iran tried to kill President Trump and President Trump got the last laugh,” Hegseth continued. “Now, this is not a ‘mission accomplished’ situation. This is simply a reality check.”
In 2024, Iran-linked actors attempted to arrange an assassination plot to take out the president. Iran has previously threatened to assassinate Trump following the 2020 killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
In 2022, an Iranian video depicted an assassination attempt on Trump while he played golf.
U.S. officials confirmed earlier this week that strikes on Iran, which began Saturday, killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Trump reflected on Khamenei’s death in a call to ABC News’ Jonathan Karl earlier this week, saying: “I got him before he got me.”
“They tried twice,” Trump continued, referring to Iran’s previous attempts on his life. “Well, I got him first.”
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Meanwhile, Hegseth, on Wednesday said the combination of U.S. and Israeli intelligence and combat power “will control Iran and will control it soon.”
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“America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy,” Hegseth said.
Fallen US soldiers in Operation Epic Fury remembered as patriotic, dedicated
The four identified U.S. soldiers killed in a March 1 drone attack in Kuwait while supporting Operation Epic Fury were described as a martial arts instructor father who was a proven leader, a “spitfire” mother of two, a patriotic history buff who followed his calling in life, and a 20-year-old whose dedication foretold a bright future.
The fallen service members were identified as Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Lakeland, Florida; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of Des Moines, Iowa. Two additional soldiers killed in the attack have not yet been publicly identified.
All were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, Iowa, which provides logistical and operational support to U.S. forces overseas.
The soldiers were killed at the Port of Shuaiba during what officials described as an unmanned aircraft system attack. Officials said the incident remains under investigation.
Noah L. Tietjens, 42
Tietjens entered the Army Reserve in 2006 as a wheeled vehicle mechanic and completed two deployments to Kuwait in 2009 and 2019.
Tietjens’ twin brother, Nicholas, told The New York Times that his brother was a “great leader” who was three months away from finishing his deployment and returning home.
Tietjens had taken up martial arts with his wife Shelly and a teenage son, Dylan, according to the newspaper. Tietjens became an instructor, dreaming of opening his own studio.
Julius Melegrito, the owner of Martial Arts International, told The Times that Tietjens possessed the qualities of a great teacher: calm, confidence and a soft-spoken demeanor.
Melegrito’s wife, Faith, remembered Tietjens having a “commanding presence and friendly aura,” telling the paper she would “always feel more calm when he’s around, because I knew he would look at what’s needed and he would take care of it.”
His decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Achievement Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal with Campaign Star.
Nicole M. Amor, 39
Amor joined the National Guard in 2005 as an automated logistics specialist and transferred to the Army Reserve the following year. She deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in 2019.
Amor’s brother, Derek Hoff, told The Times that after 20 years of service, his sister was finally thinking about retirement to spend more time with her kids, an 18-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter.
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“She just missed them,” Hoff said. “It was a yearning for her kids.”
He described his sister as “a spitfire” who “knew what she signed up for, and she did it because she had a job and a duty.”
Amor earned multiple commendations throughout her service, including the Army Commendation Medal and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with “M” Device.
But her biggest accomplishments, according to Hoff, were becoming a mother and later a surrogate.
Cody A. Khork, 35
Khork enlisted in the National Guard in 2009 as a multiple launch rocket system/fire direction specialist before commissioning as a military police officer in the Army Reserve in 2014. He deployed to Saudi Arabia in 2018; Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in 2021; and Poland in 2024.
TRUMP PLEDGES TO ‘AVENGE’ FALLEN US SERVICE MEMBERS AS TENSIONS WITH IRAN INTENSIFY
His family said in a statement on Tuesday that he had always “felt a calling to serve his country,” living a life “defined by devotion, character, and service.”
“He was deeply patriotic and took great pride in serving something greater than himself,” the family said.
“He lived with purpose, loved deeply, and served honorably,” they continued. “His legacy will endure in the lives he touched, the example he set, and the love of country and family that defined him.”
Khork had a passion for history, earning a degree in political science and becoming a leader in the ROTC program at Florida Southern College, according to his family.
His awards include the meritorious service medal, Army Commendation Medal and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with 10 Year Device and “M” Device.
Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20
The youngest of the four identified soldiers, Coady enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2023 as an Army information technology specialist and was posthumously promoted from specialist to sergeant.
Coady was a sophomore at Drake University in Des Moines. The school said he was studying information systems, cybersecurity and computer science.
The university released a statement describing Coady as “a well-loved and highly dedicated” student who “had an incredibly bright future ahead of him.”
His awards include the National Defense Service Medal and the Overseas Service Ribbon.
Following the loss of the six soldiers, Lt. Gen. Robert Harter, chief of Army Reserve and commanding general of U.S. Army Reserve Command, said each “served fearlessly and selflessly in defense of our nation.”
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“Their sacrifice, and the sacrifices of their families, will never be forgotten,” Harter said.
US ‘winning decisively’ against Iran, will achieve ‘complete control’ of airspace within days, Hegseth says
War Secretary Pete Hegseth declared “America is winning” the war against Iran, saying the results in just four days of conflict have been “historic.”
Hegseth says more fighters and bombers are arriving daily to the Middle East, adding that the U.S. and Israel wills soon achieve “complete control” over Iranian airspace. Iran’s missile capabilities have been drastically diminished in the four days of fighting, and the nation’s top leadership positions remain vacant, he said.
“America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy,” Hegseth said. “Only the United States of America could lead this. Only us. But when you add the Israeli Defense Forces, a devastatingly capable force, the combination is sheer destruction for our radical Islamist Iranian adversaries.”
“They are toast, and they know it,” he added. “The two most powerful air forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian skies. Uncontested airspace.”
“More bombers and more fighters are arriving just today and now, with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500 pound, thousand pound and 2,000 pound. laser guided precision gravity bombs, of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile,” he continued.
The U.S. had used “more exquisite standoff munitions” at the outset of Operation Epic Fury, Hegseth said, but the U.S. can now rely on cheaper munitions. He clarified that the U.S. stockpile of premium ordnance remains “extremely strong.
“The enemy can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did. Not even close,” he said.
FORMER TOPGUN PILOT DECLARES IRAN MILITARY ‘OVER WITH’ AMID US AIR SUPERIORITY, BUT WARNS OF ANOTHER DANGER
Hegseth also announced that the U.S. and Israel had sunk Iran’s prize warship, the Soleimani. The vessel was named after Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the former head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps who President Donald Trump had eliminated during his first administration.
“Looks like POTUS got him twice,” Hegseth quipped.
His attention then turned to the Indian Ocean, where he said a U.S. submarine sank another Iranian vessel that “thought it was safe in international waters.”
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“Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War Two,” Hegseth said.
Iranian journalist urges Trump to ‘finish the job,’ says Iranians fear ‘wounded regime’
Iranian American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad says Iranians are celebrating what they see as cracks in the regime’s foundation but warns that fear still grips the country, with dissidents urging President Donald Trump to “finish the job” rather than leave them “alone with a wounded regime” that could retaliate against innocent civilians.
“If you leave us alone with a wounded regime, they will take revenge on innocent and unarmed people,” Alinejad said Tuesday, describing the message activists inside Iran are asking her to relay.
She told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum that many dissidents remain “worried and concerned” considering the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran last June, noting that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei survived the exchange, which led to further unrest.
“If in 12 Days War, the target was Ali Khamenei, we wouldn’t have seen this massacre, so that’s why Iranians are very, very concerned,” she said.
Alinejad’s comments come as tensions remain high in the region, with U.S. and Israeli strikes targeting Iranian military and political figures, creating lingering concerns about the regime’s stability and the potential for further retaliation.
Alinejad said that while fear persists, some Iranians have taken to the streets to celebrate the deaths of senior regime figures.
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“It’s like they have been waiting for years to actually say that loud and clear in the streets,” she said.
“In the street, [there are] the family members of the victims, women who were blinded intentionally in order of Ali Khamenei… with one eye taking to the street dancing and saying that, ‘Wow even with one eye, we’re able to see justice.'”
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Alinejad also called for broader international coordination, urging Arab nations and European leaders to join the United States in confronting Tehran’s regime.
“This is the right moment. We need a political coalition,” she said. “Where is Europe? Why should we just put the pressure on the United States of America? We need an international coalition to help the people of Iran.”
Khamenei is dead — and Iranians dare to hope for freedom again after decades of tyranny
“Khamenei is dead?” That was the first sentence at the top of every message I received as Operation Epic Fury unfolded. The question mark at the end baffled me; Israel had already announced that it had verified the body in the rubble of the missile attack to be that of Ayatollah Khamenei.
Even more confusing was that the question persisted even as mainstream news sites splashed the words “Khamenei is dead” across their screens.
Then it dawned on me that this was no longer a question. It was disbelief, compounded by a rare combination of mourning and celebration. It was a look into the surreal world in which Iranians had come to live, as if anything that happened in Iran was like sleepwalking into someone else’s nightmare.
And then there was a flood of messages filled with exclamation marks and fireworks emojis. The mood shifted from disbelief to jubilation. Iranians were dancing in the streets, honking their car horns and chanting “Freedom! FREEDOM!”
They had not envisioned this moment arriving so early, only a few hours into Operation Epic Fury, and so precisely targeted that all the buildings surrounding Khamenei’s compound remained standing.
The longest-running dictator of the modern era, who had managed a façade of invincibility for himself and disposability for his opponents, was dead. His era of denying Iranians a sense of normalcy — of life lived without one’s own choices — had come to an end.
FORMER TOPGUN PILOT DECLARES IRAN MILITARY ‘OVER WITH’ AMID US AIR SUPERIORITY, BUT WARNS OF ANOTHER DANGER
The Islamic Revolution of 1979 had abruptly upended normalcy, veiling women, banning bars and movie theaters, separating genders and gradually transforming public spaces into glorified cemeteries, with pictures of Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) “martyrs” looming large.
For those of us with fond childhood memories of parks with flowerbeds and fountains, and men selling toys and balloons from pushcarts, nothing looked like the Iran we knew. The Iran we loved changed slowly, and then quickly, from a modern, forward-looking country to a scene out of an Islamic “Mad Max.”
But as recent uprisings have shown, Iranians are resilient and creative. “They are like wheat in a field,” Rolof Benny, a celebrated photographer touring Iran to capture its beauty, told my parents. “They bend their heads with the coming storm and stand right back up.”
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Life was not as seamless as Benny had observed. But he was right that Iran is unique. Longing for normalcy, Iranians began to quietly rebel, naming their baby boys Shahan — a Persian-origin name meaning kings — instead of the regime-sanctioned Mohammad. They created movies that won awards in international competitions.
Careful not to raise the ire of the regime’s morality council, they embedded their anger in plotlines depicting the regime’s tyranny through stories of divorce and the dissolution of families, the anguish of a rebellious child, or a father dying of Alzheimer’s who forgets the unbearable present and lives in the past.
Normalcy was also the call in the song “Baraye” (“For the Sake Of”) by Shervin Hajipour. Popularized during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement, Hajipour sang of towering trees lining Tehran’s famed Pahlavi Avenue, barking dogs and idle days spent drowning in one’s beloved’s eyes. Hajipour won a Grammy in 2023 in the Best Song for Social Change category.
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It is almost too easy — and perhaps too early — to conclude that the mullahs were the authors of their own demise.
But for a government anchored in the teachings of the Quran, the regime was blatantly immoral and unspeakably ruthless, butchering Iranians in the streets or in the isolation of prison wards. Many who were detained were never seen again. Many who were released were ghosts of their former selves.
Perhaps the bigger offense to proud Iranians was the clerics’ claims to nationalism, as they often wove Iran’s beloved poetry into their hateful sermons. Nationalism is Iran’s most enduring ideology, and Iranians ridicule any pretense by the clerics with gusto.
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“They don’t represent me or my people,” I would often hear in interviews with Iranians. “There is nothing Persian about the Ayatollahs.” In the aftermath of the 12-day war, they insisted they would not rally around the flag “because this is not our flag.”
Just as the Islamic regime’s flag replaced the ancient Lion and Sun, the rule of the clerics was a construct from the start. In fact, it had no precedent in Islamic history. “We did not create a revolution to worry about the price of tomatoes,” Khomeini would angrily retort to those who came to kiss his robe and ask mundane questions about running the country. “Islam is the answer. It has everything.”
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Ironically, Iranians’ rejection of Khomeini’s Islam has brought two ancient peoples together. My sources in Iran speak of a growing bond between Iranian Jews and crowds of protesters. “Ma hameh ba ham hasteem” (“We are all in this together”) is now chanted while Israeli flags wave alongside the Lion and Sun flag across Europe and the U.S. In this, history has come full circle from Cyrus the Great to the present.
A return to normalcy may not be far behind.
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After Epic Fury: How to defend America’s security and values in a dangerous world
Operation Epic Fury has the potential to be a game changer in America’s fight against terrorism. President Donald Trump has taken decisive steps to cripple a known state sponsor of terror, one that has targeted innocent civilians — including Americans — for almost 50 years.
Unfortunately, we can’t assume retaliation by Iran and its proxies will be limited to the region. Nor can we expect that other proponents of terrorism will stop targeting the United States. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have both announced they are now on high alert for homeland attacks.
The strikes against Iran come as America nears the 25th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. This anniversary is an opportunity to evaluate how the country has fared in its fight against terrorism and where we must focus our efforts going forward.
The U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), on which I serve, takes this as its mission. The 9/11 Commission recommended the creation of PCLOB to help ensure that government actions taken to protect the nation from terrorism are balanced with the protection of privacy and civil liberties. A bipartisan congressional panel, chaired by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and co-chaired by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), is now evaluating how the Intelligence Community has implemented the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations and whether our intelligence agencies are equipped to counter the threats the United States will face over the next 25 years.
Based on PCLOB’s work reviewing government counterterrorism programs for national security value and privacy and civil liberties protections, here are some things the panel should consider:
Don’t Forget About Terrorism
While attention turns toward “great power” competition with China and Russia, 25 years without another large-scale mass casualty terrorist attack is not the result of luck. Military operations like Operation Epic Fury have disrupted terror networks overseas. And constant vigilance by law enforcement and intelligence officers has consistently and quietly thwarted numerous attacks. A new generation must be trained and appropriately resourced to fight terrorism.
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Don’t Rebuild “The Wall”
The 9/11 Commission identified a policy prohibiting information sharing between FBI personnel working on intelligence matters and those working on law enforcement investigations — known as “the wall” — as a major factor that prevented discovery of the 9/11 plot. The Commission even found records of a dispute between an agent trying to track down two of the terrorists and an intelligence analyst who refused to share useful information, a refusal the analyst believed was required by the wall. The agent presciently warned that if the information were withheld, “someone will die.” The Executive Branch and Congress must make sure that any efforts to regulate counterterrorism programs do not rebuild the wall or create new bureaucratic barriers to foiling future attacks.
Prepare for New Forms of Terrorism
The 9/11 terrorists succeeded partly because they employed a tactic no one expected: using airplanes as missiles. Counterterrorism strategists had previously assumed that if terrorists hijacked an airplane, they would hold the passengers hostage or explode the aircraft. The failure to predict new methods of terrorism led to gaps in preparedness. It would be an error to fall back into complacency about terrorists’ capabilities and intentions. New forms of terrorism — such as drone attacks on the homeland, or AI-enabled cyberterrorism and bioterrorism — need to be anticipated.
Provide Transparency
To be effective, national security operations generally must remain secret. But the United States is far ahead of most other countries, including our democratic allies, in providing public information about intelligence programs operated by the government. This is consistent with our values and helps ensure public support for the intelligence community. Transparency is a central function of PCLOB, which published five public reports in 2025 — our most productive year on record — on subjects ranging from the Terrorist Watchlist to the FBI’s use of open source information. The intelligence community should continue its transparency, and when possible improve reporting of both its successes and failures.
Utilize Technology in Privacy-Protective Ways
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Adopting new technology does not have to mean endangering privacy and civil liberties, and building safeguards into systems at the outset is crucial. PCLOB staff concluded, for example, that TSA’s installation of facial recognition technology at airport security checkpoints is a well-designed program that in its current form significantly mitigates privacy and civil liberties risks. Expansion of artificial intelligence capabilities in the counterterrorism space has the potential to provide similar benefits if designed and deployed responsibly.
Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, Congress is wisely looking back to see if our intelligence community has corrected the mistakes that led to the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history, and if it has done so consistent with America’s founding principles. The challenges ahead require us to continue to preserve that balance.
Beyond the Iran Deal: Why Trump’s refusal to ‘kick the can’ just saved generations
The national security experts of the deep state called him “unqualified” when he sought the presidency in 2016. They said he was reckless. Some 50 former GOP national security officials said he “would put at risk our country’s national security.” And even one former secretary of Defense called him “cavalier about the use of nuclear weapons.”
Turns out they really didn’t know much about Donald Trump. They didn’t understand that he viewed keeping the American people safe as his top responsibility as commander in chief. And they didn’t grasp his commitment to ensure that the world’s number one sponsor of terrorism, a radical Islamist regime that had vowed “death to America,” never acquired a nuclear weapon.
The free world has long been concerned about Iran’s nuclear program. And it’s their nuclear ambitions, when combined with the ever-increasing range of its ballistic missile capability, that poses the greatest threat. Over the years, steps have been undertaken to try and delay or slow down Iran’s nuclear efforts. The Stuxnet cyberattack in 2010 destroyed many spinning centrifuges at Iran’s Natanz facility. Experts believe this set Iran’s nuclear program back approximately two years. Regardless of these efforts though, Iran would always reconstitute and expand its nuclear program, thumbing its nose at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) along the way.
In 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or “Iran Deal,” was negotiated with U.S. government support, and the support of the vast majority of national security experts who opposed Trump’s candidacy in 2016. During the 2016 presidential campaign, then candidate Trump called it a “horrible, one-sided deal” because it did not address Iran’s ballistic missile program, and that it would allow Iran’s nuclear efforts to continue as restrictions are phased out. Fortunately, in 2018, President Trump, determined that Iran would never have a nuclear weapon, formally withdrew the U.S. from the Iran deal.
To me, another non-starter for the Iran deal was that Americans were not permitted on IAEA inspection teams. As President Obama’s national security advisor, Susan Rice, said at the time, “No Americans will be part of the IAEA team.” This was ludicrous. The United States is the largest donor to the IAEA. American taxpayers provide over 25% of the IAEA’s budget. There should be an American on each IAEA inspection team.
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Iran has also exported its nuclear and ballistic missile know-how. It has been the chief enabler of North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Using open-source intelligence (OSINT), I first revealed to Fox News in 2012 that Iranian experts were at a North Korea missile launch. I further revealed that Iran and North Korea were both using the same miniaturized nuclear warhead design that can be traced back to the infamous Pakistani scientist, Dr. A.Q. Khan. On September 1, 2012, in Tehran, North Korea signed an agreement with Iran focused on scientific and technological cooperation. During the visit of the North Korean delegation to Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei announced that both countries must reach goals despite pressure and sanctions from others. Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reported that after the agreement was signed, Iran stationed staff in North Korea to strengthen cooperation in missile and nuclear development.
We shouldn’t be surprised. As the Federation of American Scientists pointed out in the late 1980s, Iran has been in bed with North Korea since the early 1980s and helped fund North Korea’s missile development. When we look at Iran’s Shahab missile, we see it looks an awful lot like the North Korean Taepodong missile.
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Last year, on June 22, 2025, President Trump made the right decision with Operation Midnight Hammer to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. And he made the right decision with Operation Epic Fury, to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, a day after the IAEA reported suspicious activity at Iran’s uranium enrichment sites that were bombed last June. As Senator Lindsey Graham aptly put it, “The mothership of terrorism is sinking. The captain is dead. The largest state sponsor of terrorism — Iran — is close to collapsing.” Earlier intelligence had also revealed that Iran was rebuilding its ballistic missile program last fall after receiving several shipments of sodium perchlorate from China. Sodium perchlorate is the main precursor of the propellant for Iran’s ballistic missiles.
The elites who opposed President Trump from the start helped structure the Iran deal, which would have eventually allowed Iran to resume its nuclear ambitions. Prior administrations gave Iran a lifeline by transferring enormous sums of cash. President Trump, though, stuck with his gut that America, our children and our grandchildren, would not be safe with an Iran that possessed nuclear weapons, combined with long-range ballistic missile launch capability. He made the right decision for this, and future generations of Americans. And China and Russia are taking note that this president is different. The security of the American people is foremost with him, and he doesn’t kick the can down the road. The entire world is seeing what real American leadership looks like.
Iran’s senior clerics ‘exposed’ after building strike in Qom, succession choice looms
Senior Iranian clerics would have been left “exposed” after an Israeli airstrike hit a meeting place where they were supposed to be convening Tuesday — days after a strike leveled the Tehran compound of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a defense analyst has claimed.
The clerics, members of the Assembly of Experts, had reportedly planned to meet at the location in Qom to deliberate succession plans for Khamenei, who was killed in the strikes, according to The Times of Israel.
“This second strike would be another embarrassment to what has been left of the regime,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital.
“It indicates intelligence dominance and superiority because any movement is detected, meaning they would feel exposed,” Michael added.
“As of now, the leadership would feel insecure and hunted, with all of their plans collapsing one after another.”
“They would feel totally isolated and understand that the biggest risk might come from home — from a potential uprising next,” he added.
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin confirmed that the Israeli Air Force struck the building where senior clerics had planned to assemble, The Times of Israel reported.
KHAMENEI’S DEATH OPENS UNCERTAIN CHAPTER FOR IRAN’S ENTRENCHED THEOCRACY
It remains unclear how many of the 88 members were present at the time of the strike, according to an Israeli defense source cited by the outlet. The second strike on Iran’s leadership comes amid a broader military campaign.
As previously reported by Fox News Digital, U.S. forces have struck more than 1,700 targets across Iran in the first 72 hours of Operation Epic Fury, according to a U.S. Central Command fact sheet.
The campaign is aimed at dismantling Iran’s security apparatus and neutralizing what officials describe as imminent threats.
According to U.S. Central Command, targets have included command-and-control centers, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Joint Headquarters, the IRGC Aerospace Forces headquarters, integrated air defense systems and ballistic missile sites.
FIREBRAND ANTI-AMERICAN CLERIC ALIREZA ARAFI SEEN AS CONTENDER TO REPLACE IRAN’S KHAMENEI
“We need strategic patience and determination, and in several weeks most of the job will be accomplished,” Michael added. “Even if the regime does not collapse, Iran will not be like we used to know.
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“I assume that the U.S. and Israel will establish a very robust monitoring mechanism that will enable them to react whenever the regime tries to reconstitute its military capacities again.”
Iran’s drone swarm attacks unleash ‘exponential costs’ on US, prolonging war: ‘Asymmetric capability’
Iran is waging a mass drone campaign across the Middle East, unleashing waves of low-cost, one-way attack drones also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), against Western-linked targets to impose “exponential cost on the U.S.,” a defense expert has warned.
As Tehran reportedly launched thousands of Shahed drones across the region and Iranian state media shared footage of underground stockpiles, Cameron Chell, CEO of drone maker and tech company Draganfly, said Iran’s strategy is designed to force high-end defenses to counter cheap aerial threats.
“Even a hundred of these drones in the hands of a decentralized unit can cause terror in a neighboring state like never before imagined,” Chell told Fox News Digital. “The Iranians cannot win the war with these drones, but like the [communist] Viet Cong [during the Vietnam War], they have an asymmetric capability that can prolong this war and create political pressure.”
“Iran can drive terror in unimaginable ways and drive exponential costs on the U.S. side, having to target these small, very hard-to-detect drone units,” he added.
Chell’s warning comes as tensions spiraled following Saturday’s joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran targeting nuclear sites, missile facilities and leadership that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several commanders.
The Iranian drones have proved deadly, having killed six U.S. service members in an attack on a tactical center in Kuwait earlier this week.
A CIA station in the U.S. Embassy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh was struck in an Iranian drone attack Tuesday, causing a limited fire but no reported injuries.
In Bahrain, drones reportedly identified as Iranian Shahed models smashed into the upper floors of the Era View Tower in Manama, about one mile from a U.S. Navy base.
An Iranian drone also struck a parking lot outside the U.S. Consulate in Dubai, while the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted Iranian missiles and drone attacks targeting the country.
“Based on the engine sound, the apparent attack angle and the implied speed, to the best of my knowledge, this was a Shahed-class one-way attack drone,” Chell said of the Dubai consulate attack video before suggesting the drone footage showed “a Shahed 191.”
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Fars News Agency also released footage purporting to show scores of attack drones stockpiled in vast underground tunnels in Iran.
The video appeared to show rows of triangular-shaped drones on rocket launchers, missiles lined up, four to a launcher vehicle and walls adorned with Iranian flags and photographs of Khamenei. Outlets noted that the video’s timing and location remain unverified.
“It is hard to confirm that Iran has the capability now to produce these drones in these volumes during wartime,” Chell said of the stockpiling footage.
“To the extent they were producing these in those numbers, a more-than-significant portion would have been for delivery to Russia — which does not seem impossible. That said, the drones in the underground propaganda video are Shahed 191 drones.”
IRAN ‘TOP TARGET’ HIT IN $10M PRECISION STRIKE, US KAMIKAZE DRONES USED TO ‘OVERWHELM’
A new report from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace also underscored Chell’s comments on expense and range.
“Right now, Iran is using a mixture of ballistic missiles and attack drones,” said senior fellow Dara Massicot. “The methods are effective, but targeting drones in this way is resource-intensive and expensive, and it will drain certain types of interceptors quickly.”
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“Ground-based air defense interceptor missiles are not infinite, and the United States and its partners and allies have had stockpile challenges in this area for years,” she added.
Another senior fellow, Steve Feldstein, added, “An important point is that the world is entering a new age of drone war as unmanned aircraft are proliferating on the battlefield in major conflicts and smaller ones.”