Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr is using his bully pulpit to push back against coverage of the U.S. military action in Iran that his boss President Trump doesn’t like, marking an extraordinary escalation in his clashes with the media.
On Saturday, Carr posted a message on X suggesting TV stations could lose their government licenses to use the public airwaves if they “don’t operate in the public interest.”
Underneath his statement, Carr shared a social media post from Trump, who complained about the New York Times and Wall Street Journal stories on the five refueling tankers were hit during an Iranian missile strike on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
Carr seized on Trump’s missive to issue a warning to TV outlets, which are frequently threatened by the president when he is angry at their coverage.
It’s the latest attempt by the FCC chair to apply pressure on media companies that irritate Trump with critical coverage of his administration.
Since becoming FCC chairman last year, Carr has repeatedly threatened to use the levers of power he has to punish TV and radio stations when they get in Trump’s crosshairs. His behavior has alarmed free speech advocates.
“Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions — also known as the fake news — have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr wrote, without providing evidence to back up his claims. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.”
Carr’s threats are based on his assertions that said he wants to enforce the FCC’s public interest obligation for broadcasters that use the airwaves. He made similar remarks in the fall, which prompted two major TV station groups to keep ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air for a week due to remarks the host made regarding slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have repeatedly attacked news organizations for any reporting that doesn’t say the war in Iran is anything but a rousing success.
Ellison, the chief executive of Paramount who, along with his father, has forged strong ties to the White House, will have control over CNN in addition to CBS if the company’s deal to acquire the news outlet’s parent Warner Bros. Discovery is completed.
Carr made the appointment of an ombudsman for CBS News a condition to approve Ellison’s Skydance Partners deal to acquire Paramount last year. Paramount also drew scrutiny over its controversial decision to pay $16 million to settle Trump’s legal salvo against “60 Minutes” over the editing of an interview with his 2024 opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Most legal analysts viewed the case as frivolous.
The FCC has no jurisdiction over CNN, which is why most of Carr’s barbs are aimed at ABC, CBS and NBC, which air on local TV stations. He once wrote on X, “More Americans trust gas station sushi than the legacy national media.”
Trump said in a social media post Sunday that he was “thrilled” with Carr’s remarks and would support his efforts to go after what he called “Highly Unpatriotic ‘News’ Organizations.”
“They get Billions of Dollars of FREE American Airwaves, and use it to perpetuate LIES, both in News and almost all of their Shows, including the Late Night Morons, who get gigantic Salaries for horrible ratings,” Trump wrote.
Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a Washington-based public interest communications attorney, believes Carr’s conduct and threats violate the 1st Amendment, adding that any serious attempt to revoke licenses would be tied up in legal challenges.
“Even if he started to try to deny a license renewal as quickly as he could, Brendan Carr would be long gone before that case would be over,” Schwartzman said. “The law intentionally sets out a very steep burden for the FCC to deny a license renewal; the process takes many years, during which time the licensee continues to operate normally under ‘continuing operating authority.’”
Carr’s remarks Saturday drew immediate blowback from Democrats and 1st Amendment advocates, noting the FCC’s role does not include policing the free press.
“Once again, this FCC pretends it has the power to control news coverage,” FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said Monday in a statement. “In reality, the FCC has vanishingly little power over national news networks. It licenses local broadcast stations, not networks, and no licenses are up for renewal until 2028.”
Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom weighed in as well, posting, “If Trump doesn’t like your coverage of the war, his FCC will pull your broadcast license. That is flagrantly unconstitutional.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), usually a reliable voice of support for the Trump administration, expressed his concerns over Carr’s remarks.
“I’m a big supporter of the 1st Amendment,” Johnson told Fox News on Sunday. “I do not like the heavy hand of government no matter who’s wielding it. I’d rather the federal government stay out of the private sector as much as possible.”
Gomez added that while attempts to pull licenses border on folly, Carr’s threats and attacks on the media can create a chilling effect and erode the public’s confidence in the press.
“Over the past year, this FCC has attacked the media as part of a years-long campaign by this Administration and its allies to discredit factual, independent coverage while blaming the press for growing public distrust,” Gomez said. “Meanwhile, it is the FCC’s own credibility and public trust that are rapidly eroding.”
Trump is not the first president to target TV station licenses in response to negative news coverage. At the height of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, Richard Nixon’s allies attempted to challenge the TV licenses for three stations owned at the time by the Washington Post.
The effort didn’t get far.
The last Los Angeles outlet to lose its broadcast license was KHJ in 1987, when the station was part of RKO General, a media company owned by the General Tire and Rubber Co. The case was related to corporate malfeasance and not broadcast content on the stations.
The process to revoke the RKO licenses took seven years from the moment the FCC voted in favor of the move.
“Since then, only small mom-and-pop radio stations have been litigated,” Schwartzman said. “The cases nearly always involve lying to the government, felony convictions or failure to pay regulatory fees. In one recent case, a small owner convicted of tax evasion still kept his license.”
There would be other logistical hurdles to the FCC making good on Carr’s threats.
As Gomez noted, Carr’s FCC only has regulatory control over the TV stations that carry the network signals. If stations were drop network programming for any reason, they could violate their affiliation contracts and lose the right to carry NFL football and other content that delivers big ratings and revenue.
Sinclair Broadcast Group wanted Kimmel to apologize to Kirk‘s family and contribute to his organization Turning Point USA before putting the host’s late night show on the air.
That did not happen and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” returned to Sinclair’s stations anyway.
Rights groups have slammed United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for saying that “no quarter” will be shown to Iran, as the US and Israel continue their military campaign against the country.
“We will keep pressing. We will keep pushing, keep advancing. No quarter, no mercy for our enemies,” Hegseth told reporters on Friday.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Under the Hague Convention and other international treaties, it is illegal to threaten that no quarter will be given.
Domestic laws, such as the 1996 War Crimes Act, also prohibit such policies. US military manuals likewise warn that threats of “no quarter” are illegal.
Brian Finucane, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, a think tank, said Hegseth’s comments appear to run afoul of those standards.
“These comments are very striking,” Finucane told Al Jazeera over a phone call. “It raises questions about whether this belligerent, lawless rhetoric is being translated into how the war is being conducted on the battlefield.”
But Hegseth has publicly dismissed concerns about international law, claiming he would abide no “stupid rules of engagement” and no “politically correct wars”.
His rhetoric has provoked concern among some experts that measures designed to prevent civilian harm are being ignored in favour of a campaign of “maximum lethality”.
Hegseth’s remarks also come after a US strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran that killed more than 170 people, most of them children. The war has left at least 1,444 Iranians dead and millions more displaced.
‘Inhumane and counterproductive’
Prohibitions against declaring “no quarter” go back more than a century, part of an effort to impose restraints on conduct during war.
The Nuremberg trials after World War II upheld that legal standard, as Nazi officials were prosecuted, in some cases, for denying quarter to enemy forces.
“The basic idea is that it’s both inhumane and counterproductive to execute people who have laid down their arms,” said Finucane.
He added that the “mere announcement” of “no quarter” from a government official can itself be a war crime.
The US and Israel have already faced allegations of violating international law during their war against Iran. Experts have condemned their initial strike on February 28 as “unprovoked”, deeming the conflict an illegal war of aggression.
Iranian officials also protested after a US submarine sank a military vessel, the IRIS Dena, off the coast of Sri Lanka, as it returned from a ceremonial naval exercise in India. That attack killed at least 84 people.
While warships are considered legal military targets, Iran has said that the ship was not fully armed, raising questions about whether it could have been interdicted rather than sunk.
US forces also purportedly declined to help rescue sailors from the Dena, even though the Geneva Convention largely requires aid to the shipwrecked. The Sri Lankan navy ultimately helped collect survivors from the wreckage.
Responding to the attack, Hegseth described the sinking of the ship as a “quiet death”. He also told reporters, “We are fighting to win.”
US President Donald Trump himself remarked that he asked why the ship had been sunk, not captured.
“One of my generals said, ‘Sir, it’s a lot more fun doing it this way,’” Trump said.
‘Serious red flag’
The US military has faced criticism for killing civilians in military operations for decades.
That includes during the so-called “global war on terror”, when airstrikes resulted in thousands of civilian deaths, including a 2008 attack on a wedding party in Afghanistan.
Even before the war with Iran, the Trump administration had faced accusations that it violated international law by attacking alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
At least 157 people have been killed in those attacks since they started on September 2.
The Trump administration, however, has never identified the victims nor presented evidence against them. Scholars have condemned the attacks as a campaign of extrajudicial killings.
Analysts say that the Pentagon’s policies of emphasising lethality at the expense of human rights concerns has carried over into its war against Iran.
“Death and destruction from the sky all day long. We’re playing for keeps. Our warfighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly,” Hegseth said during a briefing on March 4.
“Our rules of engagement are bold, precise and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it.”
Sarah Yager, the Washington director at Human Rights Watch, called such rhetoric alarming.
“I’ve been engaging with the US military for two decades, and I’m shocked by this language. Rhetoric from senior leaders matters because it helps shape the command environment in which US forces operate,” Yager said.
“From an atrocity-prevention perspective, language that dismisses legal restraints is a serious red flag.”
While the impact of Hegseth’s rhetoric on combat operations is not certain, a recent report from the watchdog group Airwars found that the pace of the US and Israeli assault on Iran has far outstripped other military operations in modern history.
Reports indicate that the US dropped nearly $5.6bn worth of munitions in the first two days of the war alone. Airwars says the US and Israel hit more targets in the first 100 hours of the Iran war than in the first six months of the US campaign against ISIL (ISIS).
Following Hegseth’s remarks on Friday, Senator Jeff Merkley condemned the Pentagon chief as a “dangerous amateur”. He cited the attack on the Iranian girls’ school as an example of the consequences.
“His ‘no hesitation’ engagement rules set the stage for failing to distinguish a civilian school from a military target,” Merkley wrote in a social media post.
“The result, more than 150 dead schoolgirls and teachers from an American missile.”
A passenger onboard Southwest Airlines was removed from their flight after their call to prayer was mistaken for a ‘bomb threat’. Officials later called the incident a ‘misunderstanding’ after finding no credible threat, following the Florida-bound flight’s emergency landing in Georgia.
PASSENGERS have been filmed evacuating Kansas City International Airport amid unconfirmed reports of an active bomb threat.
Footage being circulated online shows hordes of travelers exiting the Missouri airport in masses.
Sign up for the Travel newsletter
Thank you!
Passengers have been ordered to evacuate parts of Kansas City airport, officials have confirmedCredit: XAirport officials are working with the FBI to assess the threatCredit: X
The reported evacuation began around 11:50am local time on Sunday, according to one onlooker on X.
Others have reported being moved from Concourse B to Concourse A and being filtered onto tarmac via staircases as “emergency sirens” sound in the background.
“We were all told to immediately get to concourse A. K9’s and agents all over the place. No planes on the tarmac,” one passenger wrote online.
There are unconfirmed reports that the evacuation has been triggered by an active bomb threat.
Tensions are high amid the US-Israeli war with Iran that has increased the domestic terror threat and the prolonged shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) due to funding disagreements.
Former Security Secretary Kristi Noem warned that this would “endanger national security,” with TSA and border patrol agents stretched to their limits.
“Now is the time to be vigilant at home and to ensure that all of our doors are locked, so to speak,” Speaker Mike Johnson, warned on Wednesday as he discussed the continued shutdown and conflict.
This is breaking news. Please keep checking back for the latest updates…
Officials have told The U.S. Sun that the evacuation is a ‘precautionary’ measureCredit: X
A SOUTHWEST Airlines flight has been diverted and forced to do an emergency landing after a mid-air security threat.
Flight 2094 from Nashville to Fort Lauderdale was forced to cut the journey short and land at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at 9:06pm on Friday night.
Sign up for the Travel newsletter
Thank you!
Tactical officers were filmed boarding the aircraft and detaining a passengerCredit: TiktokA Southwest flight was diverted after a mid-air security threat that ended in a passenger being detained (stock)Credit: Alamy
While thousands of feet in the air, a security threat was reported which saw tactical cops storm the aircraft upon landing and detain a passenger.
A video allegedly taken on board the flight showed the moment a man was dragged off the flight by the Atlanta Police Department.
The clip shared on X showed terrified passengers with their hands raised above their heads as cops cuffed a passenger and took him off the aircraft.
The text on the clip claimed that there had been a bomb threat but this has not been commented on by the airline or police.
In a statement, Southwest said the diversion came due to a “possible security matter.”
“We appreciate the professionalism of our flight crew and sincerely apologize to our customers for the significant delay,” the spokesperson said.
“Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of its customers and employees.”
The Atlanta Police Department confirmed it worked with federal partners to attend to “last night’s incident” at the airport.
The nature of the security threat and if the passenger removed will face any charges remains unclear.
It is not known if the passenger is still in police detention.
Officials have not commented if any dangerous items were found onboard.
After the police activity, all passengers boarded another plane and continued their journey to Fort Lauderdale where they arrived safely just before 3:30am.
The airline has apologized to all affected passengers.
It comes as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remains on shutdown over funding disagreements which former Security Secretary Kristi Noem said is “endangering national security.”
The DHS has been shut down since February 14 which Noem said has negatively impacted and put huge pressure on TSA and border patrol.
In addition to this, Republicans have warned that the country is under an increased domestic terror threat due to the recent US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
“Now is the time to be vigilant at home and to ensure that all of our doors are locked, so to speak,” Speaker Mike Johnson, warned on Wednesday as he discussed the continued shutdown.
“Senate needs to fund the TSA. They’ve had them the Coast Guard, FEMA and Cybersecurity CISA on shut down for 3 weeks. We will surely see more of this,” one viewer of the footage from the diverted aircraft said.
“Unfortunately there’s going to be a lot more of this coming,” another said.
Someone allegedly onboard the flight claimed there had been a bomb threat, which has not been commented on by officialsCredit: Tiktok
As the United States and Israel’s war on Iran unfolds over the coming days and weeks, the scale of the fallout for the global economy will be measured at the petrol pump.
The biggest threat the conflict poses to global economic health lies in rising energy prices.
For a global economy already rattled by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and what many see as his unravelling of the post-World War II order, much now depends on how long the disruption lasts.
A sustained surge in energy prices would drive up the cost of everyday goods.
Central banks would then likely raise borrowing costs to curb inflation, dampening consumer spending and dragging down economic growth.
“It’s really a question on how long the disruption of flows through the Strait of Hormuz lasts and whether there will be destruction of physical assets,” said Anne-Sophie Corbeau, an analyst at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.
“For the moment, the market is pricing a short disruption and no destruction. But that may change in the future. We simply do not know right now how this whole crisis ends.”
An aerial view of the island of Qeshm, separated from the Iranian mainland by Clarence Strait, in the Strait of Hormuz, on December 10, 2023 [Reuters]
While Iran’s threats to shipping have halted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for one-fifth of the world’s oil, crude prices have seen relatively modest gains so far.
Brent crude hovered about $84 a barrel on Friday morning, US time, up about 15 percent compared with pre-conflict prices.
That gain pales in comparison with past crises.
During the 1973-74 oil embargo led by OPEC’s Arab members, prices quadrupled in just three months.
Since then, the world’s dependence on Middle Eastern oil has declined substantially.
Today, the US is the biggest producer globally, producing some 13 million barrels a day, more than Iran, Iraq and the UAE combined, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
But if supply disruptions extend beyond a few weeks, oil prices could rise precipitously.
Storage capacity constraints
The seven oil-producing Gulf nations – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – are likely to run out of crude oil storage capacity in less than a month if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, according to an analysis by JPMorgan Chase.
With storage capacity depleted, producers would be forced to cut production.
“While there will be some capacities elsewhere, and some options to use pipelines rather than shipping, it is incredibly difficult to replace the sheer volume as we are talking about an average of 20 million barrels of oil per day that usually cross the Strait of Hormuz,” said Sarah Schiffling, a supply chains expert at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki.
“This important maritime chokepoint provides very significant leverage in the global economy.”
This week, Goldman Sachs analysts estimated that global oil prices will likely hit $100 a barrel – a threshold not seen since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine – if shipping through the waterway stays at the current reduced levels for five weeks.
In an interview published by The Financial Times on Friday, Qatar’s energy minister Saad al-Kaabi warned that producers in the region could halt production within days and that oil could soar as high as $150 a barrel.
Such increases would reverberate through the global economy.
The International Monetary Fund has estimated that global economic growth is reduced by 0.15 percent for every 10 percent rise in oil prices.
The pain would not be spread evenly.
About 80 percent of the oil shipped through the strait goes to Asia.
India, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, which are all highly dependent on foreign energy imports, would be among the economies most vulnerable to spikes in the cost of necessities such as food and fuel.
“The effect would be felt in Asia and Europe in particular,” said Lutz Kilian, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
“Some countries, such as China, have ample oil reserves to help weather a temporary outage, while others do not.”
Liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is also shipped through the strait and has fewer alternative suppliers outside the region than crude oil, has already seen much steeper price rises.
European prices of LNG surged by as much as 50 percent on Monday after state-run QatarEnergy, which ships about one-fifth of global supply through the waterway, announced a halt to production following drone attacks blamed on Iran.
“Gas will be more impacted because the market was still relatively tight and stocks are low in Europe as we are at the end of winter; also, there is no replacement for the LNG lost,” Corbeau said.
The sun sets behind an oil pump in the desert oil fields of Sakhir, Bahrain, on September 29, 2016 [Hasan Jamali/AP]
Prolonged uncertainty
With US President Donald Trump signalling that he intends to continue the assault on Iran for at least several more weeks, the extent to which Tehran is willing – or able – to keep the strait closed will be critical to the global economy.
At least nine commercial vessels have been targeted in attacks in or near the strait since the start of the conflict, prompting multiple insurance firms to cancel coverage for vessels in the Gulf.
While traffic through the strait has not halted, it is down about 90 percent compared with normal levels, according to ship tracker MarineTraffic.
“The uncertainty itself is probably the most dangerous part. Supply chains hate uncertainty,” Schiffling said.
“It is possible to plan for almost anything, but not knowing what will happen makes it really challenging to adapt operations.”
On Wednesday, Trump said he had ordered the US International Development Finance Corporation to start insuring shipping lines in the region in order to keep trade flowing.
Trump also said the US Navy could begin escorting vessels through the strait if necessary.
“As long as Israel and the US are able to suppress Iranian drone and missile attacks in the strait to the point that the bulk of the oil tankers gets through, and as long as the United States provides back-up insurance for shippers and their cargo, the global economy may make it through this war without a recession,” Kilian said.
“On the other hand, if there is a severe disruption of oil traffic, the economic costs will grow the longer the disruption lasts.”
Iran state TV presenter has threatened women’s national team for not singing anthem at opening AFC Cup match.
Published On 6 Mar 20266 Mar 2026
Share
The global representative organisation for professional footballers, FIFPRO, has urged governing bodies responsible for the 2026 Women’s Asian Football Confederation Cup to protect the Iran national team after they were labelled “wartime traitors” by an Iranian state television presenter.
Both FIFA, world football’s governing body, and the AFC have been called upon to “undertake all necessary steps to ensure the safety of Iran’s Women’s National Team players”.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The Iran women’s national football team players did not sing their national anthem before their Asian Cup opener against South Korea in Australia earlier this week.
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting presenter Mohammad Reza Shahbazi said in a video that the players showed a lack of patriotism and their actions amounted to the “pinnacle of dishonour” in footage circulating widely on social media.
“Let me just say one thing: traitors during wartime must be dealt with more severely,” Shahbazi said.
“Anyone who takes a step against the country under war conditions must be dealt with more severely. Like this matter of our women’s football team not singing the national anthem … these people must be dealt with more severely.”
In a statement released on the social media platform X, FIFPRO released a strong and lengthy statement outlining its concerns.
“In addition to the dangerous situation the players would face if they return to Iran following the tournament, FIFPRO Asia/Oceania is deeply concerned by reports that Iranian state television has publicly attacked the members of the team for remaining silent during the national anthem before their opening match,” the statement read.
“Footage circulating online shows Mohammad Reza Shahbazi, a state TV presenter, calling for them to face the ‘stigma of dishonour and betrayal’.
“These statements significantly heighten concerns for the players’ safety should they return to Iran after the tournament.
“FIFPRO Asia/Oceania has once again written to the AFC and FIFA, calling on them to uphold their human rights obligations under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and FIFA’s Human Rights Policy and protect the players.
“We call on the AFC and FIFA to urgently engage with the Iranian Football Association, the Australian Government and all other relevant authorities to ensure that every effort is made to protect the safety of the players.”
The Iranian players stood in silence when Iran’s anthem was played at the Gold Coast ahead of their 3-0 opening loss to South Korea on Monday, though they sang and saluted before a 4-0 defeat by hosts Australia three days later.
The Reuters news agency has contacted both the Asian Football Confederation, the Iranian football federation and the team at the Asian Cup for comment.
Ahead of their game against Australia, Iran forward Sara Didar fought back tears and spoke about the war, while coach Marziyeh Jafari said her players were doing their best to focus on the tournament despite concern for their families back home.
Iran face the Philippines on Sunday in their final group match.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
Iran’s ability to launch missiles and drones at U.S., Israeli, and other allied targets in the Middle East has been severely degraded, two top American military leaders said Wednesday morning. Partly as a result, War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also downplayed concerns about the magazine depth of U.S. offensive and defensive munitions.
You can catch up with our latest coverage of ongoing operations against Iran here. All of the other latest updates can be found lower on the page.
“Iran’s theater ballistic missile shots fired are down 86% from the first day of fighting, with a 23% decrease just in the last 24 hours, and their one-way attack drone shots are down 73% from the opening days,” Caine told reporters, including from The War Zone, at a Wednesday morning press conference. “This progress has allowed CENTCOM to establish localized air superiority across the southern flank of the Iranian coast and penetrate their defenses with overwhelming precision and firepower. We will now begin to expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory and creating additional freedom of maneuver for U.S forces.”
Caine did not break down the numbers of Iranian missiles and drones fired. However, on Tuesday, the head of CENTCOM provided some statistics.
“The Iranian regime has launched over 500 ballistic missiles and over 2,000 drones,” Adm. Brad Cooper said in a video message.
As we have previously mentioned, one of the big concerns about Epic Fury is whether Iranian missile and drone barrages would outlast the ability of the U.S. and allies to defend against them. Despite four days of intensive attacks, Tehran still possesses thousands of missiles and drones, though a significant number of these weapons and their launchers — specifically the longer range ballistic missile types —have been destroyed or prevented from being accessed by crews.
In a closed-door Congressional hearing on Tuesday, Hegseth and Caine “told lawmakers…that Iran’s Shahed attack drones represent a major challenge and US air defenses will not be able to intercept them all, according to a source in the briefing,” CNN reported.
Trump admin officials acknowledged during a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill Tuesday that Iran’s Shahed attack drones represent a major challenge and US air defenses will not be able to intercept them all. The drones, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint…
However, both military leaders also “made an attempt to downplay concerns about the drones and noted that Gulf state partners had been stockpiling interceptors,” CNN reported.
During Wednesday’s press conference, both Caine and Hegseth stated that the U.S. has the weapons it needs.
A night vision picture of a B-2 bomber supporting Operation Epic Fury. CENTCOM
“We used more exquisite standoff munitions at the start, but no longer need to,” the secretary proclaimed. “Our stockpiles of those, as well as Patriots [air defense interceptors], remain extremely strong. The enemy can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did. Not even close.”
Another big factor in the reduction in Iranian missile launches could be how CENTCOM has concentrated striking command and control (C2) nodes, degrading Tehran’s ability to communicate and direct fires.
Iranian (C2) “structures in a bad way,” Caine posited. “Admiral Cooper has been continuing to pressure the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] IRGC C2 and other military elements, and will continue to do so.”
A graphic the Pentagon released today offering details about the first 100 hours of Operation Epic Fury against Iran. US Military
As a result of how the operation has unfolded, “CENTCOM is now shifting in day four already from large deliberate strike packages- using standoff munitions at range outside an enemy’s ability to shoot at us – now into stand-in precision strikes overhead Iran.”
Caine said the U.S. is now using “joint direct attack munitions [JDAMs], which are GPS-aided free-fall weapons and other things like [AGM-114] Hellfires, etc. This will allow the joint force to deliver significantly increased precision effects on the target.”
A USAF MQ-9 Reaper fires a AGM-114 Hellfire at a Iranian ballistic missile TEL, which had just revealed its position by firing. pic.twitter.com/gWP4sdxrzh
TWZ has frequently described how important it is for the U.S. to move as quickly as possible from standoff to direct attacks on Iranian targets, which will significantly increase the number of strikes that can occur and widen the range of effects that can be realized via the employment of more varied weaponry. This is especially true for going after fortified targets with bunker buster munitions.
The U.S. Air Force continues to execute a high volume of airstrikes into Iran. The two most powerful air forces in the world (🇺🇸+🇮🇱) are dominating the skies over the world’s largest state sponsor of terror. pic.twitter.com/0nfwY3zdCL
Hegseth further explained that “we moved the vast majority of American troops – over 90% of Americans that were on our bases – off the X out of the range of Iranian fire. Our defensive shield is equally formidable. The most sophisticated air and missile defense network ever fielded. Thousands of Iranian missiles and drones have been intercepted and vaporized, tens of thousands of American allied lives protected. We have pushed every counter-UAS [uncrewed aerial systems] system possible forward, sparing no expense or capability.”
“I know there have been a lot of questions about munitions,” Caine acknowledged. “We have sufficient precision munitions for the task at hand, both on the offense and defense, but I want to tell you teammates, as a matter of practice, I don’t want to be talking about quantities, and I know there’s been a great debate about that, and I appreciate the interest, but just know that we consider that an operational security matter.”
Regardless of the public stance taken by Hegseth and Caine, the Trump administration “plans to meet with executives from the biggest U.S. defense contractors at the White House on Friday to discuss accelerating weapons production, as the Pentagon works to replenish supplies after strikes on Iran and several other recent military efforts,” Reuters reported, citing “five people familiar with the plan.”
(Reuters) – The Trump administration plans to meet with executives from the biggest U.S. defense contractors at the White House on Friday to discuss accelerating weapons production, as the Pentagon works to replenish supplies after strikes on Iran and several other recent…
Still, Trump has gone out of his way to present a problem he has mentioned as being concerning many times before, as a non issue:
“The United States Munitions Stockpiles have, at the medium and upper medium grade, never been higher or better,” Trump said Tuesday on his Truth Social platform. “As was stated to me today, 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 finest arms!). At the highest end, we have a good supply, but are not where we want to be. Much additional high grade weaponry is stored for us in outlying countries…”
Following reports from various media outlets that stockpiles of U.S. munitions, including air defense interceptors for Patriot and THAAD systems, were running low, President Trump posted to TruthSocial that the U.S. has a “virtually unlimited supply” and that “wars can be fought… pic.twitter.com/7m6xEjVnfM
So, as it sits today, there is still a race against who will run out of munitions first when it comes to Iran’s long-range strike capabilities, but it seems as if the tide is turning in favor of the U.S., Israel, and the Arab Gulf states based on the information we are seeing. With direct attacks now ramping up on Iranian targets deeper and farther east in Iran, the momentum will more likely than not continue in that direction. This does not address the stockpile’s concerning state in regard to a potential conflict with China or even Russia. It is in a far worse state than it was at the start of this war, and these weapons take years and huge sums of money to build.
The two military leaders also discussed several other topics, including:
“Yesterday, the leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed,” said Hegseth. “Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh.”
“Over the next 24 to 48 hours, CENTCOM will continue to strike infrastructure and naval capability and will continue to assess our progress against the military objectives,” said Caine.
“Our partners are answering the call to defend themselves right alongside us,” Caine noted. “Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait, are all defending their people with their own combat capability, with precision and restraint.”
“We’ve got a lot of autonomous systems, or systems that are that – drones and others incorporated with smart AI aspects to them, but a lot of which I can’t talk about here,” Hegseth stated.
Hegseth addressed Iranian claims that the U.S. struck a girl’s school in southern Iran, killing more than 175 people. “All I can say is that we’re investigating that,” he avowed. “We. of course, never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look at investigating.”
“I am not going to comment on U.S. boots on the ground,” Caine said. “I think that’s a question for policymakers, and I don’t make policy. I execute policy.”
The rest of our ongoing coverage of the conflict continues below, with the latest updates at the top.
UPDATE: 4:12 PM EST –
U.S. Central Command has issued another set of denials regarding claimed U.S. losses in the ongoing conflict, including that U.S. naval vessels and aircraft have been destroyed by enemy fire.
More fake news from the Iranian regime: 🚫The regime claims U.S. forces are withdrawing. 🚫They say they sank a U.S. destroyer. 🚫IRGC claims to have taken down U.S. fighter aircraft. 🚫The regime says they killed 100 U.S. Marines. ALL LIES.
In another new data point about the apparent slowing pace of Iranian missile launches, the IDF’s Home Front Command says it is easing restrictions on public gatherings and movements imposed at the start of the conflict. Another reassessment is now set to occur on Saturday, which could lead to further easements.
As the rate of Iran’s ballistic missile fire on Israel slows, the IDF Home Front Command says it is easing restrictions that were imposed on the Israeli public at the start of the conflict.
Following a fresh assessment, the Home Front Command says that from tomorrow at noon, the… pic.twitter.com/xYGj9EbZhx
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 4, 2026
Iranian-backed militants in Iraq have threatened to attack the interests of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other NATO nations if they “interfere in Iraq or the region,” according to Reuters. Pro-Iranian militants also reportedly carried out a drone attack on a majority Christian neighborhood in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s northern Kurdish autonomous region.
IRAQ’S ISLAMIC RESISTANCE SAYS ANY ENTITY THAT AIMS TO INTERFERE IN IRAQ OR THE REGION, INCLUDING NATO, FRANCE, GERMANY AND BRITIAN, WOULD HAVE ITS INTERESTS AS ‘LEGITIMATE TARGETS’ FOR THE GROUP
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed Operation Epic Fury on Tuesday.
“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,” she said in response to a question about whether the U.S. military could commit ground troops to the operation. “I know there’s many leaders in the past who liked 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 to act that is on the table.”
“I don’t want to commit to a timeline, but certainly it’s something that is being calculated actively by both the Department of War and the Department of Energy. They’re working very closely. Both secretaries are in all of the briefings on this subject with the president, and this is again something they’re monitoring,” she also said when asked when U.S. Navy ships might begin escorting commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. “And if and when necessary, the United States Navy will provide assistance to escort oil tankers through the Strait.”
“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,” she said on the topic of regime change. “So any day the United States of America is taking out a terrorist is a good day for our country and a good day for our people.”
When it comes to what role the United States could have after the conflict ends, “I think it’s something the president is actively considering and discussing with his advisors and his national security team,” she added. “But again, right now, the focus minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, day-by-day, is on ensuring the quick and effective success of Operation Epic Fury.”
Q: Has the president considered how he views a US role in Iran post-conflict?
“I don’t have any updates for you on congressional asks from the president. As you know, under this president, we have significantly increased our defense budget, which is a good thing for the United States, for our national security and for protecting our homeland,” when asked about concerns about stocks of anti-air interceptors. “With respect to munitions, ammunition, weapons stockpiles, the United States of America has more than enough capability to not only successfully execute operation Epic Fury, but to go much further. And we have weapons stockpiles in places that many people in this world don’t even know about.”
Leavitt: “With respect to munitions, the United States has more than enough capability to not only successfully execute Operation Epic Fury but to go much further. We have weapons stockpiles in places that many people in this world don’t even know about. Unfortunately we had a… pic.twitter.com/qNHmQLp1Gc
“I will also add, President Trump has rightfully been calling on defense contractors in this country to rapidly and aggressively produce American-made weapons because they are the best in the world,” she added.
The Israeli Air Force has released pictures showing F-16I jets heading out for strikes on Iran carrying stand-in munitions.
The IDF continues to target Iranian ballistic missile capabilities in the central and western parts of the country.
An “extensive” wave of Israeli airstrikes in central and western Iran earlier today destroyed dozens of Iranian ballistic missile launchers and air defense systems, the military says.
According to the IDF, some of the missile launchers were armed and they were struck while… pic.twitter.com/GeBw8bNYda
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 4, 2026
The IDF has pushed back on the suggestion that attacks from Iran and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon today were directly coordinated.
“It is true, there was fire at the same time, more or less, you can say simultaneously, from Iran and Lebanon,” IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said at a press conference, according to The Times of Israel. “I don’t possess any intelligence information that says this was coordinated.”
IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says the military has no intelligence indicating that today’s concurrent fire from Iran and by Hezbollah in Lebanon was a coordinated effort.
“It is true, there was fire at the same time, more or less, you can say simultaneously, from Iran…
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 4, 2026
New satellite imagery from Planet Labs shows damage resulting from strikes on an Iranian missile base in Kermanshah.
Planet imagery shows airstrike related damage at the Kermanshah missile base (North), Iran, most of the buildings associated with the site have been destroyed, strikes also extend to the underground tunnel entrances pic.twitter.com/9XfPW1rkbu
Axios has reported that the White House denied reports of back-channel communications with the regime in Iran in response to queries from Israeli authorities.
🇮🇱🇺🇸🇮🇷Netanyahu sought clarifications from the White House earlier this week after intelligence suggested Trump administration officials might be communicating with Iran. The White House told him no such talks had taken place. My story on @axioshttps://t.co/RRvVnXrPEF
“We need to act with clarity, with purpose, and with a cool head. The protection of U.K. nationals is our number one priority,” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said today. “American planes operating out of British bases, that is the special relationship in action… hanging on to President Trump’s latest words is not.”
Has the PM’s “dithering” response to the week’s events made the UK-US “relationship stronger or weaker?” Tory MP Gareth Bacon asks
Spanish authorities have denied White House claims that they agreed to support current U.S. operations in the Middle East following economic threats from President Donald Trump. Yesterday, Trump had threatened to cut off all trade with Spain after authorities in Madrid blocked the use of bases in the country to support strikes on Iran.
“I categorically deny it. I heard about these statements on my way here, and I’ve had time to look into them and listen to them a little,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said. https://t.co/TS7xwBCyOr
French President Emmanuel Macron has issued a statement after speaking with the leaders of Israel and Lebanon. Macron called on Hezbollah to cease attacks on Israel and for Israel to preserve Lebanon’s territorial integrity.
Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar has written that his service’s “special units are currently carrying out extraordinary missions that could ignite the imagination” in a letter, according to Ynet News. No further details about the letter’s origins or how it was obtained are provided. This comes amid other unconfirmed reports of unusual military activity in the Najaf Desert in Iraq. Israeli special operations forces have conducted spectacular raids in the past, including one targeting an Iranian-linked underground missile production facility in Syria in 2024. TWZ noted at the time that this sent a signal to Iran that its critical underground facilities were not untouchable.
MORE: Israeli Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar said today that IAF special forces are currently carrying out “extraordinary missions that could ignite the imagination.”
Israeli Air Force operates elite special units such as Shaldag (Unit 5101) and Unit 669, which conduct… https://t.co/S0Yvx4kZYe
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say they have now dropped 5,000 munitions on targets in Iran since the start of the current conflict, and that operations “continue to deepen air superiority throughout Iran, with an emphasis on the Tehran area.” The IDF also continues to release footage from those strikes.
The Israeli Air Force has dropped over 5,000 bombs during strikes in Iran since the start of the conflict, the military says.
The military says that IAF fighter jets “continue to deepen air superiority throughout Iran, with an emphasis on the Tehran area.”
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 4, 2026
An armed Iranian ballistic missile launcher in the Kermanshah area was destroyed by an Israeli Air Force F-35 fighter jet today, the military says. pic.twitter.com/W9BihQbtPI
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 4, 2026
The IDF has also released the video clip below showing a strike on what looks to be one of Iran’s Russian-made Mi-17 Hip helicopters. However, there are questions about whether it may have been a decoy.
Looks like the Israeli Air Force struck a decoy of an Iranian Mil Mi-17 helicopter painted on the ground. pic.twitter.com/mtEznE308A
— Status-6 (War & Military News) (@Archer83Able) March 4, 2026
The IDF has also provided details about targets struck during another round of strikes on Iran’s capital, Tehran.
🎯STRUCK: A large Iranian terror regime military compound in eastern Tehran.
Struck command centers in the compound include:
* The IRGC headquarters * The Intelligence Directorate headquarters * The ‘Basij’ headquarters * The ‘Quds Force’ headquarters * The Internal Security… pic.twitter.com/XBvXqks29R
The Israeli Air Force says it carried out “large-scale” airstrikes in Tehran targeting a massive Iranian military compound, which housed headquarters and personnel from across Iran’s security apparatus.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 4, 2026
Israeli forces are also continuing to conduct ground operations in southern Lebanon, ostensibly targeting Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants.
The IDF publishes footage of its new deployment in southern Lebanon, after Hezbollah began attacking Israel.
Troops have pushed deeper into southern Lebanon in recent days, with the IDF saying it assumed “forward defensive positions to establish an additional defensive layer to… pic.twitter.com/cnsKfLXgfB
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 4, 2026
The IDF says Lebanese civilians in all of southern Lebanon should evacuate to north of the Litani River, amid the ongoing fighting against Hezbollah. pic.twitter.com/d9eTOzSo92
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 4, 2026
U.S. Central Command also continues to release footage from strikes on targets in Iran.
While the Iranian regime indiscriminately targets civilians with missiles and drones, U.S. forces continue to aggressively hunt and destroy Iranian missile launchers with precision. pic.twitter.com/1RIhMcg0Jm
CENTCOM has also now explicitly confirmed the use of Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) short-range ballistic missiles in strikes on Iran. This detail had already emerged, as TWZ previously reported.
In a historic first, long-range Precision Strike Missiles (PrSMs) were used in combat during Operation Epic Fury, providing an unrivaled deep strike capability.
“I just could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform leveraging innovation to create dilemmas for the enemy.”… pic.twitter.com/bydvIv5Tn5
Israeli authorities are still planning around one to two more weeks of operations against Iran, at least, according to the Times of Israel.
The Israeli military is planning for at least one or two more weeks of operations in Iran, during which it aims to hit thousands more Iranian regime targets, The Times of Israel has learned.
Israel’s goal is a systematic degradation of the Iranian regime and its military sites.…
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 4, 2026
Imagery continues to emerge, said to show strikes on targets in Iran’s capital, Tehran.
Massive clouds of smoke rising over several neighborhoods of the capital of Iran, Tehran, following continued American/Israeli strikes on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/ksuZvvFiZh
— Status-6 (War & Military News) (@Archer83Able) March 4, 2026
US/Israeli airstrike this morning in Tehran, targeting an Iranian site in the government and military-heavy District 4. pic.twitter.com/uWKAM0aj9n
The video below is said to show the crew of a commercial vessel somewhere in the Middle East watching as U.S. Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles pass overhead toward targets in Iran.
The Telegraph newspaper in the United Kingdom has reported that U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers could soon be flying strikes on Iran from RAF Fairford in that country, as well as Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. There were reports in the lead-up to the current conflict, that British authorities had denied use of those same bases to support any future operations against Iran.
BREAKING: American B-2 stealth bombers are expected to land at British military bases “in a matter of days” to join attacks on Iran. Bases at Diego Garcia and at RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, are being prepared for their arrival, Western officials said today.
“Based on analysis of [the] latest available satellite imagery, IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] sees no damage to facilities containing nuclear material in Iran and therefore no radiological release risk at this time,” according to a new statement from the Agency today. “Near [the] Isfahan nuclear site, damage is visible at two buildings. No additional impact detected at Natanz after previously reported damage at entrances, and no impact at other nuclear sites, including [the] Bushehr NPP [nuclear power plant].”
Based on analysis of latest available satellite imagery, IAEA sees no damage to facilities containing nuclear material in Iran and therefore no radiological release risk at this time. Near Isfahan nuclear site, damage is visible at two buildings. No additional impact detected at… pic.twitter.com/boUtjRTpAk
— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ (@iaeaorg) March 4, 2026
CNN has reported again on the possibility of armed Iranian Kurdish groups launching a ground incursion in support of the current U.S.-Israeli operation, citing an unnamed source. That outlet has also reported that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has been working to arm those groups.
Asked about this today, Hegseth told reporters that “none of our objectives are premised on the support of the arming of any particular force. So what other entities may be doing, we’re aware of, but our objectives aren’t centered on that.” https://t.co/76MI2irOKE
Saudi Arabian authorities say they intercepted two Iranian cruise missiles in the vicinity of Al Kharj, a city situated near Prince Sultan Air Base. That base has been a major hub for U.S. air operations in the current conflict.
BREAKING: Saudi Ministry of Defense says two cruise missiles were intercepted and destroyed in Al-Kharj, a town near Prince Sultan Airbase
The New York Times says satellite imagery that it has reviewed shows damage to several radars, as well as communications systems and other facilities, at multiple military bases in the region as a result of Iranian retaliatory attacks.
A tent surrounded by satellite dishes was destroyed at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Some of the dishes were most likely damaged as well. Al Udeid is the regional headquarters for the US Central Command, and was similarly struck by Iran last June. pic.twitter.com/TyuqZWHUL3
Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait sustained damage to at least eight buildings or structures adjacent to satellite communications infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/oToNYRLTQg
An AN/TPY-2 radar system appears to have been stationed next to a building at a military installation outside of Al Ruwais, UAE since June of last year. Sat imagery from Sunday shows a building adjacent to it had been damaged (unclear if radar was hit) pic.twitter.com/Bp80VxDdU1
While this analysis is not comprehensive (as evidenced by what appears to be yet another radar system damaged during the strikes visible in newly released sat imagery!), it does suggest Iran has been aiming to disrupt US communication and coordination https://t.co/cb2ToNwP9p
Qatar has reportedly fully halted gas liquefaction in the country, according to Reuters. It could take up to a month for production to return to normal levels once the decision is made to do so, as well.
NEW: Qatar will fully shut gas liquefaction, two sources say. Initial estimates suggest it would take about two weeks to restart operations and at least another two weeks to return to full capacity – Reuters
The United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations (UKMTO) organization, which is managed by the Royal Navy, says it has received reports of another ship coming under attack in the Strait of Hormuz.
Dutch authorities are reportedly considering a request from France to deploy military assets to help safeguard commercial shipping, according to The New York Times. There are also reports that a Dutch warship could take up station in the Eastern Mediterranean to bolster defenses against Iranian threats.
The Netherlands is weighing a request from French President Emmanuel Macron to use its military to help secure international shipping routes, according to the New York Times.
The Netherlands is preparing to send HNLMS Evertsen (F805) with France’s CSG to the Eastern Mediterranean as part of a defensive deployment against Iranian attacks.
Notably, Evertsen will be able to provide ballistic missile tracking and engagement data. pic.twitter.com/0wWxZuOcSN
“EUNAFOR [European Naval Forces] ASPIDES assets in the area of operation monitors the situation, remain on high alert and stand ready to contribute within means and capabilities to protect lives at sea, contributing to freedom of navigation and enhancing Maritime Security through one of the most vital and vulnerable sea trade corridors,” a spokesperson for the European Union-led Operation Aspides has told TWZ. “ASPIDES conducts daily assessments of potential risks, making necessary operational adjustments where required.”
In the event of a resumption of Houthi attacks – which remains a possibility – we are present and ready to implement our mandate,” they added, referring to Iranian-backed militants in Yemen. “There [is] no such tasking (escort ships through or near the Strait of Hormuz) for ASPIDES.”
“We expect significantly higher costs i.e. for bunker, insurance, container storage at different ports due to closed or unreachable ports” and “delays have to be expected especially in the Middle East, but also in other trades,” German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has also told TWZ. “All ports within [the] Persian Gulf can not be served. This is why we need to find alternates [sic] in the region. Many other ports [are] not being served as well. We have a booking stop for all import/export cargo in the region.”
Danish shipping company Maersk is also “suspending most cargo bookings in and out of the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia until further notice,” according to Reuters.
COPENHAGEN, March 4 (Reuters) – Maersk said on Wednesday it is temporarily suspending most cargo bookings in and out of the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia until further notice.
All of this follows comments yesterday from U.S. President Donald Trump about the possibility of U.S. Navy ships escorting commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, which you can read more about here.
The American Jewish Committee has compiled data from open sources regarding total Iranian ballistic missile launches at countries in the region. Though the full tallies may be incomplete, the indication is that the United Arab Emirates has been most heavily targeted so far.
Nearly 50% of the missiles and UAVs fired by the Iranian regime have been aimed at the UAE.
Tehran’s actions threaten U.S. partners across the region and put broader Middle East stability at risk. pic.twitter.com/s581ZmMAjl
— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) March 3, 2026
Turkish Authorities say that “NATO air and missile defense elements” intercepted a “ballistic munition” that had been tracked passing over Iraq and Syria in the direction of the Eastern Mediterranean. Debris subsequently fell inside Turkish territory.
There are reports that the weapon was aimed at Cyprus, but went off course. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan subsequently spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and warned against “any steps that could lead to the spread of the conflict.”
A Turkish official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the missile had been “aimed at a base in Greek Cyprus but veered off course”. https://t.co/Q7rj2j3OSB
A ballistic missile from Iran crossing Iraq and Syria was intercepted by NATO in the Eastern Mediterranean before entering Turkish airspace. No casualties reported. Türkiye summoned Iran’s ambassador and called for restraint.https://t.co/JTBeeYVDKx
Local media in Cyprus has reported that Greek F-16 fighters now operating in the country intercepted two incoming drones earlier today.
The New York Times has reported that there have been back-channel, indirect talks between U.S. and Iranian officials, including members of the respective intelligence services, about possible off-ramps to the current conflict. That report also says that American authorities are so far skeptical. Iran’s quasi-official Tasnim News Agency says the country’s Intelligence Ministry has denied that any such talks are taking place.
NEW: The Secret Channel Between Iran and the US
In public, Iran’s surviving leaders have defiantly refused to negotiate with President Trump to end the American and Israeli assault on their country. But a day after the attacks began, operatives from Iran’s Ministry of…
Iran denies that its Intelligence Ministry reached out to the CIA for talks, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reports, citing a ministry source.
“Iran’s future must not be decided outside its borders” and the international community’s support should “go to the people, not to geopolitical calculations,” Farah Pahlavi, widow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, has said in an interview with AFP in France.
She has also said that the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is “a moment of historic significance,” but “does not automatically mean the end of a system.”
➡️ Elle estime aussi que la mort du guide suprême Ali Khamenei constitue “un moment d’une portée historique” mais “ne signifie pas automatiquement la fin d’un système”.
“The government of the Republic of Korea, with grave concern, is closely monitoring the developments in the Middle East involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, and is actively undertaking multifaceted efforts to ensure the safety and protection of Korean nationals currently in the region, as well as to safeguard our economic security, including the stable supply of energy resources,” that country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said in a statement.
The government of the Republic of Korea, with grave concern, is closely monitoring the developments in the Middle East involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, and is actively undertaking multifaceted efforts to ensure the safety and protection of Korean nationals currently… pic.twitter.com/iyhfpjvOhc
According to President Trump, the United States attacked Iran because the Iranian regime posed “imminent threats” to the U.S. and its allies, including through its use of terrorist proxies and continued pursuit of nuclear weapons.
“Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world,” he said in a recorded statement Saturday.
According to leading Democrats in Congress, Trump’s justification is questionable, especially given his claims of having “completely obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities in separate U.S. bombings last year.
“Everything I have heard from the administration before and after these strikes on Iran confirms this is a war of choice with no strategic endgame,” said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and part of a small group of congressional leaders — the Gang of Eight — who were briefed on the operation by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
That divide is bound to remain an issue politically heading into this year’s midterm elections, and could be a liability for Republicans — especially considering that some in the “America First” wing of the MAGA base were raising their own objections, citing Trump’s 2024 campaign pledges to extricate the U.S. from foreign wars, not start new ones.
The debate echoed a similar if less immediate one around President George W. Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, also based on claims that “weapons of mass destruction” posed an immediate threat. Those claims were later disproved by multiple findings that Iraq had no such arsenal, fueling recriminations from both political parties for years.
The latest divide also intensified unease over Congress ceding its wartime powers to the White House, which for years has assumed sweeping authority to attack foreign adversaries without direct congressional input in the name of addressing terrorism or preventing immediate harm to the nation or its troops.
Even prior to the weekend bombings, Democrats including Sen. Adam Schiff of California were pushing Congress to pass a resolution barring the Trump administration from attacking Iran without explicit congressional authorization.
“President Trump must come to Congress before using military force unless absolutely necessary to defend the United States from an imminent attack,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the armed services and foreign relations committees, said in a statement Thursday.
In justifying the daylight strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei just two days later, Trump accused the Iranian government of having “waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder” for nearly half a century — including through attacks on U.S. military assets and commercial shipping vessels abroad — and of having “armed, trained and funded terrorist militias” in multiple countries, including Hezbollah and Hamas.
Trump said that after the U.S. bombed Iran last summer, it had warned Tehran “never to resume” its pursuit of nuclear weapons. “Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long-range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas, and could soon reach the American homeland,” he said.
Other Republican leaders largely backed the president.
“The United States did not start this conflict, but we will finish it. If you kill or threaten Americans anywhere in the world — as Iran has — then we will hunt you down, and we will kill you,” said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“Every president has talked about the threat posed by the Iranian regime. President Trump is the one with the courage to take bold, decisive action,” said Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi.
While Iran’s coordination with and sponsorship of groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas are well known, Trump’s claims about its ongoing development of nuclear weapons systems are less established — and the administration has provided little evidence to back them up.
Democrats seized on that lack of fresh intelligence in their responses to the attacks, contrasting Trump’s latest claims about imminent threats with his assertion after the separate summer bombings that the U.S. had all but eliminated Iran’s nuclear aspirations.
“Let’s be clear: The Iranian regime is horrible. But I have seen no imminent threat to the United States that would justify putting American troops in harm’s way,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Gang of Eight. “What is the motivation here? Is it Iran’s nuclear program? Their missiles? Regime change?”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that the Trump administration “has not provided Congress and the American people with critical details about the scope and immediacy of the threat,” and must do so.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said the Trump administration needs congressional authority to wage such attacks barring “exigent circumstances,” and didn’t have it.
“The Trump administration must explain itself to the American people and Congress immediately, provide an ironclad justification for this act of war, clearly define the national security objective and articulate a plan to avoid another costly, prolonged military quagmire in the Middle East,” he said.
After the U.S. military announced Sunday that three U.S. service personnel were killed and five others seriously wounded in the attacks, the demands for a clearer justification and new constraints on Trump only increased.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) said Sunday he is optimistic that Democrats will be unified in trying to pass the war powers resolution, and also that some Republicans will join them, given that the strikes have been unpopular among a portion of the MAGA base.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who partnered with Khanna to force the release of the Epstein files, has said he will work with him again to push a congressional vote on war with Iran, which he said was “not ‘America First.’”
Benjamin Radd, a political scientist and senior fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, said that whether or not Iran represented an “imminent” threat to the U.S. depends not just on its nuclear capabilities, but on its broader desire and ability to inflict pain on the U.S. and its allies — as was made clear to both the U.S. and Israel after the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which Iran praised.
“If you are Israel or the United States, that’s imminent,” he said.
What happens next, Radd said, will largely depend on whether remaining Iranian leaders stick to Khamenei’s hard-line policies, or decide to negotiate anew with the U.S. He expects they might do the latter, because “it’s a fundamentalist regime, it’s not a suicidal regime,” and it’s now clear that the U.S. and Israel have the capabilities to take out Iranian leaders, Iran has little ability to defend itself, and China and Russia are not rushing to its aid.
How the strikes are viewed moving forward may also depend on what those leaders decide to do next, said Kevan Harris, an associate professor of sociology who teaches courses on Iran and Middle East politics at the UCLA International Institute.
If the conflict remains relatively contained, it could become a political win for Trump, with questions about the justification falling away. But if it spirals out of control, such questions are only likely to grow, as occurred in Iraq when things started to deteriorate there, he said.
Israel and the U.S. are currently betting that the conflict will remain manageable, which could turn out to be true, Harris said, but “the problem with war is you never really know what might happen.”
On Sunday, Iran launched retaliatory attacks on Israel and the wider Gulf region. Trump said the campaign against Iran continued “unabated,” though he may be willing to negotiate with the nation’s new leaders. It was unclear when Congress might take up the war powers measure.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the joint US‑Israel strikes on Iran aim to remove an ‘existential threat.’ He hailed the joint action as empowering the Iranian people to shape their own future and praised US President Donald Trump for his leadership.
Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, speaks at an event hosted by the Washington chapter of the Korean American Union Society at the Washington Korean Community Center in Alexandria. File. Photo by Asia Today
Feb. 26 (Asia Today) — North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau operates as a “complex threat entity” that merges military operations, cybercrime and terrorism under a single command structure reporting directly to leader Kim Jong Un, according to a new report from a Washington-based human rights organization.
The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea released the report Sunday, titled Reconnaissance General Bureau: The Kim Regime’s Precious Treasured Sword. It offers one of the most detailed public examinations to date of the agency’s structure, financing and global reach.
The report was authored by Robert Collins, a former U.S. Army strategist with extensive Korea-related experience, including serving as chief of strategy at the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command – the joint military structure that oversees the defense of South Korea.
Collins argues that the RGB defies easy comparison to conventional intelligence agencies. Unlike South Korea’s National Intelligence Service or the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, which operate within defined mandates, the RGB consolidates military reconnaissance, special operations, cyberwarfare, espionage, psychological operations and operations targeting South Korea under one centralized chain of command.
The bureau reports to North Korea’s State Affairs Commission and ultimately to Kim Jong Un, who the report says treats it as a core instrument of regime survival. Kim has personally referred to its cyber units as a “precious treasured sword,” according to the report.
Seven Bureaus, One Command
Established in February 2009 through the merger of several intelligence and operations units, the RGB currently operates through six main bureaus and a seventh logistics unit.
The first bureau oversees agent training and infiltration missions. The second conducts military reconnaissance along the Demilitarized Zone and coastal areas. The third manages overseas intelligence and alleged international operations. The fourth handles inter-Korean dialogue and related policy support. The fifth directs cyber operations, including hacking and communications interception. The sixth provides technical support and electronic warfare capabilities, while the seventh handles rear services and logistics.
Taken together, the report assesses that the RGB maintains operational capacity across land, sea, air and cyberspace – a multi-domain reach that few comparable organizations possess.
Cyber Operations as a Revenue Engine
A substantial portion of the report is devoted to North Korea’s cyber activities, which Collins describes as both strategically and financially central to the regime.
The report estimates that North Korea maintains approximately 5,900 cyber personnel and identifies hacking groups Lazarus, Andariel and Bluenoroff as operating under the RGB’s organizational umbrella. These groups have been linked by U.S. and international authorities to some of the most significant state-sponsored cyberattacks in recent years.
Drawing on international assessments, the report alleges that North Korean-linked hackers stole approximately $1.7 billion in cryptocurrency in 2022 alone – funds it says are funneled into the country’s nuclear and missile programs, helping Pyongyang sustain its weapons development despite sweeping international sanctions.
The report also raises concern about reported cooperation between North Korean operatives and foreign cybercriminal networks, suggesting the bureau’s reach may extend further into the global criminal ecosystem than previously documented.
Human Rights in the Crosshairs
The report draws an explicit connection between the RGB’s security operations and human rights, an angle that sets it apart from purely strategic assessments of the bureau.
It argues that cyber intrusions, surveillance and information disruption campaigns may violate international covenants protecting privacy and freedom of expression. It further contends that revenue generated through cybercrime – redirected to weapons programs rather than civilian welfare – could breach obligations under international agreements on economic and social rights.
The report also revisits a series of past incidents attributed to North Korean operatives, including armed infiltrations, bombings and assassinations, characterizing them as violations of the right to life and other fundamental protections under international law.
A Threat Beyond the Peninsula
In its conclusion, the report warns that the RGB can no longer be viewed solely as a regional security concern. The integration of its cyber capabilities with emerging technologies – including drones and advanced reconnaissance systems – could significantly complicate the security environment in coming years, the report said.
The committee said the study is intended as a reference for policymakers, researchers and security specialists seeking to understand the bureau’s expanding operational scope.
No response from the North Korean government was immediately available. Pyongyang does not typically comment on reports issued by foreign organizations.
Concern about a plague is growing in the Canary Islands, with officials on alert in the sunny Spanish holiday hotspots of Lanzarote, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura
Lanzarote has been visited by locusts (Image: Getty Images)
The threat of a plague is growing in four Spanish holiday hotspots.
Lanzarote, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura have seen clouds of locusts descend in recent days. While the short-horned grasshopper breed is not harmful to people, it could pose a threat to agriculture, including vineyards, if the situation escalates into a plague, as happened 20 years ago.
Videos have been posted on social networks showing hundreds of locusts flying around the countryside. The insects have arrived from the western Sahara due to recent wet but warm weather. The locusts have hit several parts of Lanzarote, including the popular tourist locations of Arrecife, Costa Teguise, Famara, Uga and Tahíche.
There have also been swarms on the other Canary Islands, including in the north of Tenerife. Twenty years ago, a plague of this insect affected Lanzarote, wreaking havoc on crops and people’s daily lives. At that time, the number of locusts was so large that teams of firefighters were called in to eliminate them.
The locust is an insect that, over the centuries, has arrived from the African continent with the winds from the east, along with the suspended dust of the Sahara Desert.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), it is the most destructive migratory pest in the world and, in response to environmental stimuli, it can form dense and highly mobile swarms.
They have the capacity to destroy crops by ingesting their weight in food each day. A swarm of one square kilometre can contain up to 80 million adults and has the capacity to consume the same amount of food per day as 35,000 people.
Lanzarote’s government has already mobilised its environmental services, which will be vigilant for the next 48 hours. Leaders are confident the swarms will not escalate into a plague.
“The next two days are going to be key. If they are adult specimens that have arrived exhausted, they will die and nothing will happen. If we see copulations, that would mean that they are reproducing. We would have to see it between this afternoon and tomorrow,” said the head of the Environment of the Cabildo, Francisco Fabelo.
“We already experienced this in 2004, and at the end of the eighties, there was another similar episode. On both occasions, it was very striking, with specimens all over the roads, but they did not cause damage inside.”
The Canary Islands experienced one of the most serious episodes of desert locust in October 1958, when large swarms from Africa devastated crops on the islands and, especially, in the south of Tenerife, in municipalities such as Arico, Fasnia, Granadilla de Abona and the Güímar Valley.
Tomato and potato plantations suffered significant damage and the plague forced the mobilisation of planes from the Ministry of Agriculture to fumigate from the air, while residents and farmers tried to combat the insects from the ground with rudimentary methods such as bonfires, noise or poisoned baits.
A similar episode had already occurred in 1954, when another swarm devastated more than 10,000 hectares of crops on the islands. Agricultural leaders on the islands say they do not fear another repeat and have stressed the islands have the means to combat the problem.
While President Trump is busy working through his checklist for sabotaging the midterm elections, Republicans are already concocting the political equivalent of a shady insurance policy — the kind someone takes out the day before the house catches fire.
I’ll save you some time and explain that the drubbing Republicans are about to endure won’t be the result of Trump or his policies. Instead, it will be because the midterm elections were rigged for the Democrats. Or at least these claims are the GOP spin that’s already in progress.
The predicate is being laid. “They want illegals to vote,” House Speaker Mike Johnson recently declared. “That’s why they opened the border wide for four years under Biden and Harris and allowed in all these dangerous people. It was a means to an end. The end is maintaining their own power,” Johnson continued.
To prevent this, Republicans have invented a MacGuffin: the SAVE America Act — a plot device Republicans have introduced primarily to drive the story forward.
That’s not to say the legislation would be meaningless. The SAVE America act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, eliminate mail-only registrations, mandate photo ID nationwide and force states to send voter lists to the Department of Homeland Security.
Some of these things (like requiring voter ID) are popular and even arguably salutary. But in light of recent events — say, Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results — any effort by Trump to nationalize or otherwise meddle in our election process should be met with immediate alarm.
Still, it is highly unlikely that any of these new tools would actually stem the tide of the rising blue wave that is poised to devour Republicans this November.
And to the degree there would be impediments to voter registration (there is worry that women who changed their names after getting married would be disenfranchised), the electoral results of making it harder to register to vote would largely affect future elections after this year — and these provisions wouldn’t solely hurt Democratic voters.
Regardless, this is all likely a moot point. Despite passing the House, it’s hard to imagine this bill can garner the 60-vote threshold needed to pass the Senate (and it doesn’t seem likely there’d be enough votes to nuke the filibuster).
This raises an interesting question: Why invest so much time and energy in a bill that seems destined to fail — and that, even if it did pass, would likely not alter even the closest of November’s midterm elections?
Because the bill isn’t really about passing policy. It’s about narrative control.
The SAVE America Act serves three strategic purposes for Republicans:
It’s a comforting but false diagnosis for the midterms. Let’s face it: Trump isn’t going to admit that his policies have backfired or that his approval ratings are in the tank, and Republicans aren’t about to lay that at his feet. As Trump declared in 2020 (before a single vote was cast), “The only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.” Trumpism cannot fail; it can only be failed.
Base mobilization through grievance. Just as caravans of migrants always seem to miraculously appear just before an election, threats of election rigging at least give Republicans something to scare Fox News voters about — a way to motivate via fear and outrage in an otherwise moribund midterm electorate.
Blame insurance. Despite being the establishment and controlling the entire federal government, Trump still gets to cast himself as the victim. And it won’t just be Democrats who get blamed for a midterm loss; there will also be a “stabbed in the back” excuse.
Scott Presler, a prominent right-wing activist championing this bill on Fox News, has already declared that unless the SAVE America Act passes, Republicans will lose both chambers of Congress. In a veiled threat to Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), he recently asked, “Do you want to be remembered as the Senate Majority Leader that was responsible for ushering in the decline of the United States?”
They’re clearly playing a game, but is this game good for Republicans?
While it might seem shrewd to construct a boogeyman, Republicans risk eliminating the feedback loop on which healthy political parties rely.
When losses are blamed on cheating rather than voter sentiment, there’s no incentive to change your behavior, your policies or your candidates. So a party that voters have rejected will keep repeating the same dumb things, all while voters scratch their heads and wonder why they still haven’t gotten to the promised land.
Republicans might well reflect on Trump’s Republican Party as a party that had “learned nothing and forgotten nothing.”
And a party that cannot learn or adapt is a party that shouldn’t count on winning many elections in the future.
Reporting from Washington — A month after tweeting that he might order FEMA to cut federal disaster funding to California fire victims, President Trump declined to renew that threat and indicated that talks with state officials were going well.
Speaking to The Times and several regional newspapers in the Oval Office, Trump said Wednesday that he and Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke by phone about two weeks ago, after his Jan. 9 tweet that he had ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency not to send more disaster funding to state officials “unless they get their act together, which is unlikely.”
Asked Wednesday if he still thinks the federal government shouldn’t give California any more money until the state changes its forest management practices, Trump refrained from directly repeating the threat, but said something has to be done to keep California from burning year after year.
“I told my people, I said we cannot continue to spend billions of dollars, billions and billions of dollars,” Trump said. “Forest fires are totally preventable. They shouldn’t happen.”
Trump said he was encouraged by his talk with Newsom.
“He was very respectful as to my point of view,” Trump said. “I think he agrees with me. I respect the fact that he called. The forests are, because of whatever reason, … extraordinarily flammable, to put it mildly.”
Newsom’s spokesman Nathan Click said the governor and president had a “respectful conversation about the critical federal-state partnership necessary for emergency preparedness and disaster relief.”
“The governor will continue doing everything in his power to help the survivors of wildfires and make sure the state is prepared for future disasters,” Click said.
Environmental experts say the primary cause of increased fires in California is climate change and drought. The Trump administration has blamed poor forest management, though critics say such claims are misleading and in many cases false.
Thousands of Californians are still recovering from two massive fires this past fall that together killed nearly 90 people and burned thousands of structures.
For months the president has been critical of California’s forest management process, saying state environmental laws are too stringent and keep downed timber and other detritus such as leaves and fallen limbs from being removed before they can catch fire.
“It’s called forest management. You have very poor forest management,” Trump said. “You need good forest management and you will have either no forest fires or very small forest fires that are easily put out.”
Critics accuse the administration of trying to pressure California officials to open the state’s forests to increased logging.
The bulk of California’s forest land is either federal property or private property, and outside the state’s authority to manage, but Trump said California’s strict state environmental laws keep the federal government from managing its lands in the state properly.
“In many cases because of the state environmental rules, the federal government isn’t even allowed to go in and clean them out,” Trump said.
In November, the Camp fire destroyed the town of Paradise in the Sierra Nevada foothills, killing 86 people and destroying more than 13,900 homes in the area; and the Woolsey fire in Los Angeles and Ventura counties left three dead and leveled about 1,500 structures in an unwooded area.
State politicians have implored Trump to remember what he saw when he visited Paradise in November to tour the destroyed area. He spoke at length Wednesday about his shock at the extent of the damage and how quickly the fire moved into and destroyed the town.
“That was a lot of bad luck,” Trump said. “It was dry. You had 80 mile-per-hour winds. It was a very flammable area.”
