As airstrikes rain down on the Iranian regime, can a fractured opposition unite to lead if it falls?
As U.S. and Israeli air forces continue to attack Iran’s leadership and facilities with devastating military strikes, there are intense discussions unfolding about who will rule the country if the regime falls.
One of the biggest questions being asked by Iran experts is whether the fragmented opposition groups can come together and unite in defeating the regime.
Lawdan Bazargan, an Iranian political and human rights activist who was imprisoned by the regime for her dissident activities in the 1980s, told Fox News Digital there is a dangerous precedent for a total unified opposition.
“Unity cannot mean everyone stands under my flag,” she said.
“That model failed Iran once before. In 1979, one figure [Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini] absorbed moral authority while claiming he wasn’t seeking office and ended up consolidating absolute power. It’s also not fair to automatically position someone who has not lived in Iran for decades as the interim authority of over 90 million people. That fuels more mistrust, not less.”
She also warned about the need to avoid a Venezuela situation in which Nicolás Maduro was replaced by his devotee, Delcy Rodríguez.
Mariam Memarsadeghi, a senior fellow at The Macdonald-Laurier Institute and founder and director of the Cyrus Forum for Iran’s Future, told Fox News Digital, “When it comes to helping unite opposition forces, the crown prince [Reza Pahlavi] has the most responsibility because he is leading. It is to everyone’s advantage for him to build true alliances and real cooperation.
“He can start through reconciliation with prominent figures who once were in collaboration with him before spoilers in his own ranks were propelled by regime manipulation and infiltration to turn on others. It will be tempting to think that, because he is popular, he does not need others. But there is much hard work ahead.”
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Reza Farnood, a researcher, writer and activist, told Fox News Digital, “In 48 years of activism and struggle, I have never experienced such broad unity and alignment. Even those who for years held firmly leftist views and were staunch opponents of the Shah and the Pahlavi family are now openly supporting the prince. Inside Iran, people are openly and courageously chanting his name.”
Yet others remain skeptical of Pahlavi.
“Unfortunately, the Iranian opposition is more divided than ever,” Alireza Nader, an Iran expert, said. “And I blame much of it on Reza Pahlavi and his team. Take the announcement of the formation of the new Kurdish Iranian coalition. Pahlavi attacked the coalition as soon as it was formed, labeling them as ‘separatists.’
“But then Pahlavi had to walk back his statement after he found out that President Trump had called Kurdish leaders, an important development.”
Nader added, “The Kurds are very organized and capable. And they are armed. Anyone who wants to free Iran has to work with them. The regime is a deeply entrenched system in Iran. It’s an ideology and belief system that will not be uprooted with air strikes. And the regime has been preparing for this moment for decades. The individual leaders may not matter as much as the system.”
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Yet while many voices claim Pahlavi should be the rightful successor to bring democracy to Iran, others point to the influential Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), the Iranian exile organization that has attracted supporters like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
The group was reportedly the first to highlight Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions and regularly posts videos on its social media showing its active units operating against the regime. A post on X dated March 3 shows attacks against regime targets.
“Resistance Units step up anti-regime activities nationwide,” it said, adding that there have been 30 operations in 15 cities, including Tehran, in recent days.
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Its Paris-based leader, Maryam Rajavi, says she supports a secular provisional government. Ali Safavi, an official with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital, the organization “has consistently argued that unity must be built on principles — republicanism, popular sovereignty, human rights and the separation of religion and state — rather than on personalities or nostalgia for past systems.”
The NCRI is the umbrella organization for groups that fall under MEK.
Andrew Ghalili, the policy director for the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), defended Pahlavi’s standing, saying, “There is no figure within the Islamic Republic who has legitimacy with the Iranian people or who would be a credible partner for the U.S.
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“As for opposition unity, the pro-democracy opposition is more united than it gets credit for. At the Munich Security Conference in 2025, a broad coalition came together around Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and four core principles for democratic transition. That includes monarchists, republicans, human rights advocates, ethnic minority representatives — all committed to a democratic, territorially intact Iran.”
Ghalili claimed, “When people say the opposition is ‘fractured,’ they’re usually lumping in groups like the MEK, which is universally reviled inside Iran and has no democratic credentials or aspirations, or separatist movements that don’t reflect what Iranians, including ethnic minorities, actually want. The real pro-democracy opposition is already uniting. The world, and international media, should recognize it.”
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“If the West truly wants stability and not a Venezuela-style managed authoritarian transition, it should not anoint personalities,” Bazargan warned. “It should push for a structured transition that guarantees free and fair elections within 12 months, with distributed authority and real safeguards against concentration of power.
“Iran does not need another supreme figure, even a secular one. It needs an accountable transitional framework, so every Iranian feels they have a stake in their future. Without that, fragmentation will continue, and fragmentation only helps the regime survive.”
Her warning was echoed by Memarsadeghi, who said, “The Iranian people will not trust in any process that leaves in power any vestige of the regime that massacred them.”
$4.2M US torpedo detonates under Iranian warship in historic ‘No Mercy’ strike
A multi-million-dollar U.S. Navy torpedo detonated underneath an Iranian warship in a nighttime submarine strike off Sri Lanka’s southern coast — an attack, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday in a Pentagon update, was the first of its kind since World War II.
The weapon, identified as a Mark 48 Advanced Capability (ADCAP) torpedo, underscored the scale of force used, and signaled to Tehran that “the gloves really are off,” according to a former U.S. submarine commander.
“The Mark 48 is one of the most lethal anti-ship weapons in the U.S. inventory,” Thomas Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Fox News Digital.
The torpedo carries a 650-pound warhead and is designed not to strike a ship directly, Shugart said, but to detonate beneath it, creating a massive vapor bubble that breaks the vessel’s back and splits it in half.
“This torpedo detonated underneath the stern of the Iranian ship and lifted it up out of the water, and so it sank in a matter of minutes,” he added.
The torpedo costs approximately $4.2 million per unit, according to recent data, with Shugart likening the strike to rare submarine attacks in modern naval history.
In addition to World War II, he pointed to the 1982 Falklands War as one example of a submarine-launched torpedo sinking a major surface combatant.
“This was the second time ever that a nuclear-powered submarine has fired a torpedo and sunk a ship,” Shugart said.
“The only other time that happened was a British submarine called HMS Conqueror, which similarly sank an Argentine cruiser, the General Belgrano, during the Falklands War in 1982,” he added.
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The naval submarine operation, he said, would have involved increased surveillance, forward naval deployments and targeted actions designed to demonstrate U.S. maritime dominance.
“It definitely seems to me like a message that the gloves really are off,” Shugart added.
“An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth told reporters at the Wednesday briefing.
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Hesgeth described the strike as “a quiet death,” adding that it marked the first sinking of an enemy ship by torpedo since World War II.
“The U.S. Navy submarines are very highly mobile, very, very quiet, and our crews are extremely well-trained,” Shugart explained. “This was not a challenge for a U.S. Navy submarine to fire a torpedo.”
“To hunt down and sink an Iranian ship like that is not — that’s not a challenging task for a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine,” he said.
The targeted vessel, identified as the IRIS Dena, was the newest frigate in Iran’s naval fleet and was equipped with surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles, torpedo launchers and other heavy weaponry.
According to Sri Lanka’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath, the country’s coast guard received a distress call at 5:08 a.m. local time Wednesday from the Iranian vessel reporting an explosion.
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“I’m not sure Iran has any operational submarines anymore, but if they were operational, their biggest submarines would be at least 20 or 30 years old,” Shugart said.
“They would be ex-Russian diesel-electric submarines, so they’re not nuclear-powered like the U.S. ones, with satellite communications and unlimited mobility.”
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“The U.S. submarines can operate at high speed for as long as they want with unlimited endurance, other than the food on board. They carry the most advanced weapons, the most advanced sensors.”
“This strike sent a message that if there are any Iranian warships left or any Iranian government-owned ships, they should expect no mercy,” he added.
Physicist lawmaker warns Iran could build ‘Hiroshima-style’ weapon, says US lacks uranium plan
A House Democrat with a background in physics is sounding the alarm over what he views as a lack of a plan to deal with Iran’s nuclear sites during the U.S. offensive campaign.
After a classified briefing Tuesday with top administration officials, Rep. Bill Foster, D-Ill., said lawmakers were not presented with a clear plan to secure or neutralize Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.
“We have heard that they never had a plan for that nuclear stockpile of enriched uranium — to destroy that, to seize it or to put it under international inspection,” he said.
The U.S. intervention was publicly justified by the Trump administration as a necessary step to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
U.S. forces have struck more than 1,700 targets across Iran, including ballistic missile launch sites, air defenses, naval assets and command centers. Core nuclear facilities, however, have not been among the primary targets.
“Until that happens, Iran will be very, very close to making — as many observers have pointed out in a nonclassified situation — Iran can use that material to make a handful of Hiroshima-style nuclear devices,” Foster told Fox News Digital. “Not the sort you can put on a missile, but the sort you can deliver by a number of other ways and are very hard to stop.”
Foster was referring to Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, material that, if weaponized, could be used to build a nuclear explosive device.
Experts note that building a compact warhead that fits on a ballistic missile is technically complex and requires advanced engineering. But a simpler, larger nuclear device — similar in basic concept to the bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945 — would not need to be miniaturized to fit on a missile. Such a device could not be delivered by long-range rocket but could theoretically be transported by other means.
Foster argued that containing Iran’s nuclear materials, most of which are buried deep underground, would likely require U.S. forces to enter Iran.
Recent satellite imagery shows damage to support buildings and access points at Iran’s Natanz enrichment site, though the deepest underground infrastructure at key nuclear facilities has not been confirmed as a primary target in the current campaign.
U.S. and international officials previously have acknowledged that while strikes can damage enrichment infrastructure, stockpiled enriched uranium stored underground may remain intact and potentially retrievable unless physically secured or removed.
“You have to go in there with boots on the ground and grab a bunch of equipment,” Foster said. “You have to go underground into those facilities and lose a lot of soldiers’ lives doing that.
“They’re unwilling to do that, or they’ve decided not to or they’ve decided it’s impossible. In any case, they did not present to us any plan that would actually get the material under control.”
Without securing the nuclear material, he argued, military operations may push Iran closer to a nuclear weapon than diplomatic negotiations would have.
“The only positive thing about the ayatollah is that he had a fatwa against building nuclear weapons,” Foster said. “Who knows what the next generation of ayatollahs are going to feel? They’re going to be under a lot of pressure from the IRGC, which was not so much against having a nuclear weapon.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the joint U.S.-Israeli operations, had previously issued a fatwa, a religious edict, opposing the pursuit of nuclear weapons. Analysts have long debated how binding or durable that ruling was.
At a White House briefing Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration believes Iran “wanted to build nuclear weapons to use against Americans and our allies,” framing the strikes as necessary to prevent Tehran from advancing its nuclear ambitions.
“The US military has more than enough munitions, ammo, and weapons stockpiles to achieve the goals of Operation Epic Fury laid out by President Trump — and beyond. Nevertheless, President Trump has always been intensely focused on strengthen our Armed Forces and he will continue to call on defense contractors to more speedily build American-made weapons, which are the best in the world,” she said in a follow up statement to Fox News Digital.
Missile suppression strategy faces ‘math problem’
Senior administration officials have emphasized that the current phase of the campaign is aimed at dismantling Iran’s ability to project force with missiles, drones and naval assets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has highlighted strikes on Iran’s ballistic missile systems, air defenses and naval capabilities, describing the effort as a push to degrade the conventional tools Tehran uses to threaten U.S. forces and regional allies.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio similarly has said the United States is working to “systematically take apart” Iran’s missile program, so it could not “hide behind” it to develop a nuclear weapon.
While the broader justification for intervention centered on preventing a nuclear-armed Iran, the most immediate threat facing U.S. troops and partners has been Iran’s ongoing missile and drone launches. Administration officials contend Iran’s missile buildup was meant to create a deterrent buffer, shielding its broader strategic ambitions, including its nuclear program, from outside attack.
Lawmakers emerging from classified briefings said the campaign has become, in part, a question of sustainability.
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“We do not have an unlimited supply,” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said of U.S. and allied interceptor inventories. He warned the conflict could become a “math problem,” balancing launch volumes against finite air defense munitions and the ability to replenish them without weakening readiness in other theaters.
“At some point — and we’re probably already in this — this becomes a math problem,” Kelly added.
He said he pressed defense officials on how interceptor stocks are being replenished and whether diverting munitions to the Middle East could strain U.S. readiness elsewhere.
“How can we resupply air defense munitions? Where are they going to come from? How does that affect other theaters?” he said. “The math on this currently seems to be an issue.”
Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said he also sought clarity on interceptor inventories but did not receive detailed answers.
“I am very concerned about that,” Kim said. “I did not get any specificity today. … Something akin to ‘trust us’ is not good enough for me.”
Republicans, however, pushed back on the notion that interceptor supplies are strained.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said officials told lawmakers U.S. forces are “in great shape,” dismissing concerns about shortages.
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Ehud Eilam, a former Israeli defense official and national security analyst, said that while a nuclear weapon remains the most serious long-term threat, missile and drone systems pose the most immediate danger if intelligence assessments conclude Iran is not on the verge of assembling a device.
“As long as it is estimated Iran cannot produce a nuclear weapon soon, then the focus moves to missiles and drones,” Eilam said, noting that ballistic missiles would ultimately be required to deliver any future nuclear warhead. Suppressing mobile launchers, crews and command networks can reduce Iran’s firing tempo, conserving interceptor supplies while degrading Tehran’s broader military capacity, he said.
The concern is not theoretical.
During the intense June 2025 Iran–Israel conflict, U.S. forces reportedly fired more than 150 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors, roughly a quarter of the global inventory, along with large numbers of ship-based Standard Missile interceptors to shield allies.
Analysts note that replenishing high-end air defense systems such as Patriot, THAAD and SM-3 interceptors could take more than a year under current production rates.
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The Pentagon also is balancing competing demands. The same missile defense systems used to protect U.S. bases and Gulf partners are being supplied to Ukraine to defend against Russian cruise missile attacks, creating what some analysts describe as a “zero-sum” competition for inventory between Europe and the Middle East.
“There is a limit to how many THAAD missiles can be used,” Eilam said. “These are not systems you can reproduce overnight.”
Republicans hand Trump the wheel on Iran, but one red line emerges
House Republicans are signaling that they’re largely OK giving President Donald Trump the reins as the U.S. and Israel continue their joint operation against Iran.
But one red line looms on the horizon for most GOP lawmakers, one that would put dozens of them in a difficult position between supporting their party leader and keeping in line with Congress’ constitutional authorities.
“I would like to see congressional approval for boots on the ground,” Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital. He added, however, that “right now, it’s just an intervention, which is very similar to what Obama and Clinton and other presidents throughout my lifetime have done.”
The ongoing strikes, which killed Iran’s supreme leader and other high-ranking members of Tehran’s repressive regime, have so far been comprised of coordinated missile launches on military targets.
But the Trump administration has not ruled out having a U.S. presence on the ground there despite assurances that the mission will be finite and only lasting a matter of weeks rather than months or years.
“The president is doing what he should be doing. … I agree with the policy,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “If at some point this extends beyond … in terms of boots on the ground and budgetary need and scope, that starts to then demand our involvement, then we’ll look at it.”
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said she too backed the operation, but added, “If ground troops get involved, I think that’s a very different conversation. That’s not where we are today.”
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“We’re taking it day by day at this point to see how things progress, but that would certainly be something that we as Congress would like to be involved in the discussion,” Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital.
But he also argued that forcing the operation to end too early could do more harm than good.
“Once the president has taken that action, that first action, if we were to pull back, it would actually leave us more vulnerable and less safe by leaving all of their capabilities in place but having started a conflict like this,” Mackenzie said.
“So, we do need to follow through on the objectives, but we also need to be very much on guard to make sure that it doesn’t expand beyond what we are able to achieve.”
Others, like Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., were skeptical it would get to that point.
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“I don’t think we’re going to get to that point. This is much different than Iraq or Afghanistan. The capabilities that we’ve developed, the intelligence that we developed, working with the IDF — we had the capabilities now that we did not have,” Alford told Fox News Digital.
“Now, should it come to boots on the ground, which I don’t think it will, that’s an entirely different story. … We’re only five days into this, and I think what you’ve seen so far is having tremendous effect.”
Leavitt lashes out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in tense exchange on fallen soldiers from Iran operation
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had a tense exchange with CNN’s Kailtan Collins during Wednesday’s briefing heavily focused on Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
Collins noted that President Donald Trump is expected to attend the dignified transfer ceremony honoring the fallen soldiers who were killed in the wake of Iran’s military response against the U.S. and Israel. She then invoked comments made earlier in the day by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who scolded the press for making tragic developments “front-page news” despite the mission’s broader successes.
“Is it the position of this administration that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of U.S. service members?” Collins asked.
“No,” Leavitt responded. “It’s the position of this administration that the press in this room and the press across the country should accurately report on the success of Operation Epic Fury and the damage it is doing to the rogue Iranian regime that has threatened the lives of every single American in this room.”
After Leavitt expressed gratitude to the service members who made the ultimate sacrifice and those continuing to serve overseas, Collins doubled down on her question, saying Hegseth was “complaining” about how the six fallen soldiers were making “front-page news.”
“No, that’s not what the secretary said, Kaitlan, and that’s not what the secretary meant, and you know it,” Leavitt shot back. “You know you’re being disingenuous — we’ve never had a secretary of defense who cares more —”
“‘But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front-page news. I get it, the press only wants to make the president look bad,'” Collins read the quote from Hegseth. “You know we cover the deaths of U.S. service members under every president.”
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“The press does only want to make the president look bad. That’s a fact,” Leavitt responded. “Especially you and especially CNN. And our secretary of defense cares deeply about our war fighters and our men and women in uniform. He travels all across this country to meet with them, to connect with them, and your network has hardly ever probably reported on that.”
Collins insisted the focus on the fallen soldiers isn’t about making Trump “look bad” but rather “showcasing” their service.
“And we expect you to cover that as you should, Kaitlan,” Leavitt continued. “But you and your network know that you take every single thing this administration says and tries to use it to make the president look bad. That is an objectable [sic] fact.”
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“I don’t think covering troop deaths is trying to make the president look bad,” Collins said.
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“If you’re trying to argue right now that CNN’s overwhelming coverage is not negative of President Donald Trump, I think the American people would tend to disagree — and your ratings would tend to disagree with that as well,” Leavitt told the anchor before moving on.
Leavitt says ground troops in Iran not currently being considered, doesn’t rule it out
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt would not rule out the possibility of the U.S. sending ground troops to Iran, though she said Wednesday it is not being considered at the moment.
During the first White House press briefing since Operation Epic Fury was launched, a reporter asked whether ground troops would be sent into Iran.
“Well, they’re not part of the plan for this operation at this time, but I certainly will never take away military options on behalf of the president of the United States or the commander in chief, and he wisely does not do the same for himself,” Leavitt said.
“I know there’s many leaders in the past who like to take options off of the table without having a full understanding of how things could develop. So, again, it’s not part of the current plan, but I’m not going to remove an option for the president that is on the table.”
Since Saturday, the U.S. and Israel have carried out attacks on Iran using airstrikes and naval attacks, but neither country has put boots on the ground. The attacks that have been carried out thus far have targeted the regime’s security and military infrastructure, including the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials.
Leavitt said the U.S. has four main objectives with Operation Epic Fury: eliminate Iran’s ballistic missile threat, destroy its naval capability, disrupt its missile and drone production infrastructure and cut off Iran’s pathway to a nuclear weapon.
The press secretary was asked multiple times if the U.S. wished to see regime change in Iran. She repeated the objectives she previously detailed and reiterated the administration’s stance on the regime.
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“Obviously, as the president has said numerous times, do we want to see Iran being led by a rogue terrorist regime? No, of course not,” Leavitt said.
So far, the U.S. has hit nearly 2,000 targets in Iran, and more than 17,500 Americans have returned to U.S. soil from the Middle East since the operation began.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gave an operational update earlier on Wednesday, saying he U.S. was “decisively” winning, and later adding that Iran was “toast” and if it didn’t already realize it, it would “soon enough.”
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“I stand before you today with one unmistakable message about Operation Epic Fury. America is winning — decisively, devastatingly and without mercy,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon.
“The two most powerful air forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian skies. Uncontested airspace.”
Zohran Mamdani dodges question about whether Iran is better off without the ayatollah
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appeared to dodge a reporter’s question about whether Iran is better off without Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a press conference Tuesday.
Khamenei, who ruled the Islamic Republic for more than three decades, was killed in an Israeli military strike in Tehran last week.
“Mr. Mayor, do you think Iran is better off without the ayatollah?” a reporter asked.
While Mamdani acknowledged the regime’s “systematic repression” of its own people and that it’s “killing thousands” of Iranian protesters, he did not answer whether the country is better off without the dictator.
“I’ve said before that the Iranian government has engaged in systematic repression of its own people, even killing thousands of Iranians who were seeking to express the most basic forms of dissent earlier this year,” Mamdani responded.
“It is a brutal government, and I’ve also said that while I may be a young mayor, I am old enough to remember the devastating consequences of our country pursuing a war with the intent of regime change in that very same region not that many years ago.”
Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Last week, the mayor faced backlash on social media over his post condemning the U.S. attack on Iran that led to the killing of Khamenei.
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On Saturday, as a joint strike on Iran by the United States and Israel was developing, Mamdani slammed the Trump administration’s decision in a post on X that has been viewed roughly 20 million times.
“Today’s military strikes on Iran — carried out by the United States and Israel — mark a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression,” Mamdani wrote.
“Bombing cities. Killing civilians. Opening a new theater of war. Americans do not want this. They do not want another war in pursuit of regime change.”
Mamdani said Americans prefer “relief from the affordability crisis” before speaking directly to Iranians in New York City.
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The post was quickly called out by conservatives on social media, making the case that Mamdani’s response appeared sympathetic to Iran’s regime.
Oil slick, life rafts, dozens of bodies: What Sri Lankan navy found after US sank Iranian warship
Sri Lanka’s navy responded to a distress call from an Iranian warship, but found only oil slicks, empty life rafts and the bodies of sailors in the water after a U.S. torpedo strike sank the vessel in the Indian Ocean.
The Sri Lankan navy sent ships and planes on a rescue mission after receiving a distress signal from Iran’s IRIS Dena, which had 180 people on board, the country’s foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, told Parliament on Wednesday.
When Sri Lanka’s navy arrived, there was no sign of the ship, “only some oil patches and life rafts,” navy spokesman Cmdr. Buddhika Sampath said. “We found people floating on the water.”
Crews recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 people, Sri Lanka’s navy said.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said earlier Wednesday morning during a briefing at the Pentagon that the Iranian vessel was a “prize ship” of 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 II. Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department. We are fighting to win.”
A single Mark 48 torpedo was used to sink the warship, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said at the briefing.
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Those rescued from the wreckage were taken to a hospital in Galle, a town on Sri Lanka’s southern coast, Sampath said, adding that bodies were also being recovered.
One of those rescued is in critical condition, seven are receiving emergency treatment and others are being treated for minor injuries, a health official in Sri Lanka said.
In a separate incident, Hegseth said the U.S. Navy sank another Iranian warship, the Soleimani, a corvette class missile ship, in the Strait of Hormuz near Iranian shores.
The ship was named for Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian general who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps until he was killed in a U.S. drone strike in January 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term.
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“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.”
Ex-CENTCOM chief details ‘exquisite intelligence’ behind Iran strikes, says next steps hinge on ‘missile math’
Former Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Gen. David Petraeus detailed the conditions and “exquisite intelligence” that led to Operation Epic Fury, adding that strategy going forward will hinge on what he called “missile math.”
The retired general and former CIA director explained on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday that many in the U.S. intelligence community believed Israel was gearing up to strike Iran due to concerns over the reconstitution of Iran’s missile stocks.
“Despite the great Israeli and American defenses, still 5% to 7% of those [missiles] got through in the 12-Day War,” he said.
Petraeus then pointed to the “very frustrating” drawn-out nuclear talks, which he said gave the sense that Iran was stringing the U.S. along.
But he said the real catalyst was “this exquisite intelligence and an opportunity to achieve at least tactical surprise,” referring to intelligence indicating that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top leaders were gathering in broad daylight on Saturday after no attack materialized in the early morning hours, when such assaults are typically launched.
Petraeus called the Iranian leaders’ move a “stunning miscalculation” that showed the “arrogance of the supreme leader” and enabled Israeli forces to kill Khamenei along with a number of others.
He said the U.S. achieved “air superiority – if not air supremacy.”
“The Iranians are defenseless at this point against air attack and missile attack, as long as you stay above a certain altitude,” he said, noting that the achievement allowed the U.S. to deploy B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers.
NETANYAHU INSISTS US AND ISRAEL’S STRIKES ON IRAN WON’T LEAD TO ‘ENDLESS WAR’
“This is the real heavyweight stuff. Carry enormous bomb loads, very precise, and they’re now able to get into this fight as well,” he said.
He said CENTCOM is now likely focused on the so-called “missile math” — the calculation of how many missiles and launchers Iran still has and the available defense systems between Israel, the U.S. and allies.
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Petraeus said that, while America is paving the way to topple the Iranian regime, it will be up to forces on the ground to make that change happen.
“That’s not something, in general, that is possible from the air… It’s going to have to be those on the ground who take advantage of that,” Petraeus said.
Iran postpones Tehran farewell ceremony for Khamenei where large crowds were expected to gather
Iran postponed a planned farewell ceremony in Tehran for its late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed Saturday in U.S.-Israeli strikes as part of Operation Epic Fury.
The three-day program was scheduled to begin Wednesday at 10 p.m. local time at Imam Khomeini Prayer Hall, where large crowds were expected to gather to pay their respects, according to Tasnim, a semi-official Iranian news agency.
Hojjatoleslam Seyed Mohsen Mahmoudi, head of the Islamic Propaganda Coordination Council of Tehran Province, said the postponement followed widespread requests to participate and the need to provide adequate infrastructure and facilities to accommodate attendees.
“It was decided to hold the ceremony at a more appropriate time,” he explained.
No additional reason for the postponement was given, and it was not immediately clear when the ceremony would be rescheduled.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Iranian leadership in a post on X that any successor who tries to “destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people” will be an “unequivocal target for elimination.”
“It does not matter what his name is or the place where he hides,” Katz said.
TRUMP SAYS US SANK 10 SHIPS IN IRAN STRIKE, ‘LAST, BEST CHANCE’ TO ACT
The funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, drew massive crowds in the country’s capital on June 11, 1989, with an estimated 10.2 million people in attendance, roughly one-sixth of the nation’s population at the time.
According to Guinness World Records, it drew the largest percentage of a population ever recorded at a funeral.
IRANIAN JOURNALIST URGES TRUMP TO ‘FINISH THE JOB,’ SAYS IRANIANS FEAR ‘WOUNDED REGIME’
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Khamenei’s death triggers a closely watched succession process overseen by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the clerical body responsible for appointing the supreme leader.
“The IRGC is a key stakeholder in this process, and will heavily influence its outcome,” Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital.
Rubio says in ‘simple English’ Iran run by ‘lunatics,’ defends Trump strike as ‘right decision’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered one of his bluntest defenses yet of President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran Tuesday, sharply rejecting criticism and describing the regime as “lunatics” as he argued the president acted at the right moment to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“Let me explain to you guys this in simple English, okay? Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics,” Rubio told reporters.
“They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons,” Rubio said. “This is the weakest they’ve ever been. Now is the time to go after them.”
Rubio said Trump made the “right decision” to dismantle Iran’s military capabilities before they could shield a nuclear program.
“The president made the decision to go after them, take away their missiles, take away their navy, take away their drones … so that they can never have a nuclear weapon,” Rubio said.
He acknowledged “there will be a price to pay,” but argued it would be far lower than allowing Iran to become nuclear-armed.
“That is a much lower price to pay than having a nuclear armed Iran,” he said.
Rubio grew visibly sharper when pressed on whether Israel dictated the timing of the operation.
“Your statement is false,” he told one reporter who suggested the U.S. acted because Israel was about to strike.
Rubio confirmed Monday that Israel was prepared to act independently.
“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces,” Rubio said. “And we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them … we would suffer higher casualties.”
He emphasized Tuesday that the decision ultimately rested with President Donald Trump.
“The president determined we were not going to get hit first,” Rubio said. “If you tell the president of the United States that if we don’t go first, we’re going to have more people killed and more people injured, the president is going to go first.”
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said after a classified briefing that Israel was “determined to act … with or without American support,” and that U.S. officials concluded “a coordinated response was necessary.”
“I am convinced that they did the right thing,” Johnson said.
Despite Rubio’s harsh rhetoric toward Iran’s clerical leadership, administration officials have emphasized that the mission is not aimed at overthrowing the regime but at dismantling its military capabilities.
Rubio repeatedly framed the operation as focused on destroying Iran’s ballistic missiles, launchers, drone capabilities and naval assets.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “It cannot have the things it was hiding behind to have a nuclear weapons program.”
SEN. KENNEDY PRAISES TRUMP’S RESOLVE ON IRAN, SAYS ‘WORLD IS SAFER TODAY BECAUSE OF WHAT HE’S DONE’
So far, U.S. and Israeli strikes largely have targeted missile infrastructure and military facilities. Officials have not indicated that nuclear enrichment sites have been the primary focus of the campaign.
Some Democrats questioned whether the administration demonstrated an imminent threat to the United States.
“There was no imminent threat to the United States of America by the Iranians. It was a threat to Israel,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said after the briefing. “We equate a threat to Israel is the equivalent of an imminent threat to the United States. Then we are in uncharted territory.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said after the classified briefing, “I have no idea what the objective is, and I didn’t get any additional clarity.”
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Rubio brushed aside the criticism, predicting opponents would emerge from briefings claiming they “didn’t hear anything” while insisting the administration complied with congressional notification requirements.
“This is an action by the president to address a real threat,” Rubio said. “The world will be a safer place when these radical clerics no longer have access to these weapons.”
Feds say Pakistani national backed by Iran plotted to assassinate Trump, others in murder-for-hire scheme
A Pakistani national with alleged ties to Iran shared photos online depicting President Donald Trump’s death, federal prosecutors said Tuesday, describing the posts as part of a broader plot to kill U.S. politicians, potentially including the president.
Authorities said Asif Merchant plotted with Iran to kill U.S. politicians in 2024, illustrating Iran’s threats against the United States that stretched back years before Trump launched strikes against the country beginning Saturday.
An FBI special agent showed a courtroom in Brooklyn, New York, the images posted by Merchant, who is standing trial this week on charges of attempting to commit an act of terrorism and engaging in a murder-for-hire plot.
Merchant was indicted in July 2024 after he was recorded on camera outlining a plot on a napkin to kill an unnamed politician with a person who turned out to be an informant. Merchant allegedly also tried to hire two hit men and pay them $5,000, but the men were FBI agents posing as assassins.
The indictment does not name Trump, but a law enforcement source confirmed to Fox News that he was floated as a target, and defense lawyers named Trump as the target in court documents.
Merchant’s trial comes against the backdrop of Trump launching a major combat operation in coordination with Israel against Iran. Trump did not seek congressional authorization to carry out the offensive on Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, which has set off condemnation from Democratic lawmakers, and some Republicans, that he launched an “illegal” war.
Conservative legal experts have argued Trump is operating within his bounds under Article II, which allows the commander in chief to direct military operations and act to protect U.S. forces and interests in time-sensitive situations.
Merchant was arrested as he was attempting to leave the country, before he could take any concrete steps to carry out a murder plan. Authorities, at the time, said he appeared to be acting at the behest of Iran.
TRUMP DECLARES ‘I GOT HIM BEFORE HE GOT ME’ AFTER IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER KILLED IN STRIKE
“This dangerous murder-for-hire plot was allegedly orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian regime’s playbook,” then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
Merchant’s lawyers argued in their opening statement last week that their client, who has two wives, cared about his faith and his families, that he was innocent and that politicians lie.
Federal prosecutors said in court Tuesday that in addition to images of Trump, Merchant also posted images of former President Joe Biden online. Some of the images dated back to 2020, when Trump was president and Biden was a presidential contender.
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The images included Trump digging his own grave next to a headstone with his name on it and an image of a decapitated head belonging to Trump with the words “coming soon.” A comment under the photo said “Allah willing.” Another image was a wanted poster for Trump, shared on June 30, 2020, that said, “Iran issues an arrest warrant for Trump.”
Merchant’s trial remains ongoing. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.