U.S.

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Tuesday that he expects the United States to end its involvement in the war with Iran within three weeks, declaring there probably will be “no reason” for American forces to stay in the region even as top defense officials maintain Tehran’s military capabilities have not been fully eliminated.

Trump told reporters during an Oval Office event that he is confident the U.S. objectives in the conflict will be largely achieved by then, whether Iran makes a “deal” with the United States or not.

“If they come to the table that will be good, but it doesn’t matter whether they come or not,” Trump said. “We’ve set them back. It will take 15 to 20 years to rebuild what we have done to them.”

Trump added that he believes the threats to the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route, will be “all cleared up” by the time the U.S. leaves the region. But if issues remain, he said, that will not be a problem for the United States.

“That’s not for us,” he said. “That will be for whoever is using the strait.”

Trump’s comments came hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that, a month into the war, Iran still has the ability to launch offensive missiles, despite ongoing U.S. and Israeli efforts to weaken Tehran’s military capabilities and weapons programs.

“Yes, they will shoot some missiles, but we will shoot them down,” Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon briefing, acknowledging the remaining threat.

The comment, made during the first public briefing on the conflict in nearly two weeks, underscored that despite weeks of intensive U.S. military operations and repeated assertions by Trump that Iran’s military has been “obliterated,” the threats posed by Iranian forces have not been fully eliminated.

Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the briefing that the U.S. military remains focused on “interdicting and destroying” Iran’s weapons warehouses and facilities.

“We’ve continued to do the work against Iran’s missile, drone and naval production facilities,” Caine said.

Although air and naval strikes have been the primary focus so far, U.S. officials have not ruled out the possibility of ground operations as thousands of American soldiers and Marines have begun arriving in the Middle East.

Hegseth said it is up to Trump to determine whether ground operations in Iran will become the next phase in the conflict, which the president has said he is open to ending through diplomatic talks.

Trump repeated over the weekend that Iran is “begging to make a deal” to end the war, but on Monday, the president threatened to target Iran’s power-generating plans and oil wells and even desalination plants if a “deal is not shortly reached.”

President Trump speaking Tuesday in the Oval Office.

(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday that the administration will “operate within the confines of the law,” when asked about Trump’s threat to target infrastructure that would potentially harm civilians.

Caine told reporters Tuesday that the U.S. would only “strike lawful targets” when asked about American military considerations for civilian targets.

“We are always thinking about those considerations and developing options to be able to mitigate those risks,” Caine said.

Since the start of the war, Iranian officials have condemned a series of U.S. military attacks that have hit schools, including a Feb. 28 strike at an elementary school that killed at least 175 people, many of them children.

As Trump issues a new wave of threats on key infrastructure, he has at the same time touted ongoing diplomatic talks with Iran and reportedly told aides he’s willing to end the war without resolving Iran’s de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz that has rattled global energy markets.

Americans have also felt the financial pinch because of the war when it comes to energy prices. Gasoline prices in the United States reached an average of $4 a gallon Tuesday, a price that Trump says Americans are willing to pay to endure because “they are also feeling a lot safer.”

“All I have to do is leave Iran, and I will be doing that very soon and, [prices] will come tumbling down,” Trump said.

Hegseth, for example, said those diplomatic talks are “very real,” but stressed that the military pressure will continue alongside those negotiations and that ground operations remain an option.

“Our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we can come at them with boots on the ground. And guess what? There are,” Hegseth said. “If we needed to, we could execute those options on behalf of the president of the United States and this department, or maybe we don’t have to use them at all. Maybe negotiations will work.”

He said the goal was to remain “unpredictable.” Caine added that the presence of U.S. ground forces in the region can serve as a “pressure point” as diplomatic efforts continue.

As the hostilities continued in the region on Tuesday, the State Department warned American citizens in Saudi Arabia that U.S. officials were “tracking reports of threats against locations where American citizens gather.

“We advise U.S. citizens that hotels and other gathering points including U.S. businesses and U.S. educational institutions may be potential targets,” officials wrote in a new warning.

And in Rome, Pope Leo XIV told reporters that he hopes Trump is “looking for an offramp” to end the war in Iran and made an appeal to “decrease the amount of violence,” according to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Trump administration officials have faced challenges in securing support from some U.S. allies, an issue that Hegseth and the president have publicly pointed out.

On Tuesday, Trump complained that countries have “refused to get involved” in the war and efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. allies’ access to oil has been affected by Iran’s chokehold on the key waterway as a result of the joint operation launched by U.S. and Israel. But now, Trump wants those countries to deal with the strait.

“All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT,” Trump wrote on his social media website.

Trump added that countries will have to “start learning how to fight” for themselves.

“The U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” Trump wrote. “Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!”

In a separate post, Trump singled out France for barring Israeli military planes from flying over its airspace.

“The USA will REMEMBER!!!” Trump posted on his social media website.

On Tuesday, the Italian and U.K. governments reportedly restricted U.S. warplanes from landing in their military bases.

At the Pentagon, Hegseth acknowledged that the U.S. military has faced “roadblocks or hesitations” from U.S. allies when asking for assistance or use of their bases — and said the president is simply noting that “we don’t have much of an alliance.”

“A lot has been shown to the world about what our allies would be willing to do for the United States of America when we undertake an effort of this scope on behalf of the free world,” Hegseth said.

April 1 (UPI) — A federal judge has blocked construction of President Donald Trump‘s $400 million White House ballroom, ruling the New York real estate developer does not have congressional authorization to continue the project.

“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon for the District of Columbia wrote in the ruling.

Trump has said building a White House ballroom had been a dream of his since before he was president. Construction of the 90,000-square-foot building began with the demolition of the East Wing of the White House in October. Initially said to cost $200 million, the ballroom’s price tag has since doubled. Trump has said it will be financed by private donors.

In December, the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the Trump administration to halt construction, arguing the project has not been authorized by Congress as required by U.S. law.

In response, the Trump administration has claimed Congress has already given him authority to construct the project, pointing to a statute that Leon, a President George W. Bush appointee, said only permits the president “to conduct ordinary maintenance and repair of the White House.”

Leon said the Trump administration’s understanding of the law assumes Congress has granted “nearly unlimited power to the President to construct anything, anywhere on federal land in the District of Columbia, regardless of the source of funds.”

“This clearly is not how Congress and former Presidents have managed the White House for centuries, and this Court will not be the first to hold that Congress has ceded its powers in such a significant fashion,” he said in the 35-page ruling.

For Trump to continue with the project, he can ask Congress to either appropriate the funds or approve of another funding scheme, he said.

“Unfortunately for Defendants, unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop!”

In awarding the National Trust for Historic Preservation an injunction, Leon delayed its enforcement for 14 days in acknowledgment that the Trump administration intends to appeal his decision and that stopping an ongoing construction project may raise logistical issues.

“We are pleased with Judge Leon’s ruling today to order a halt to any further ballroom construction until the Administration complies with the law and obtains express authorization to go forward,” Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the nonprofit organization, said in a statement.

“This is a win for the American people on a project that forever impacts one of the most beloved and iconic places in our nation.”

Trump lambasted the decision on his Truth Social platform.

“He is WRONG! Congressional approval has never been given on anything in these circumstances, big or small, having to do with construction at the White House,” he said in a statement.

In an earlier statement issued after the ruling was made, Trump insulted the National Trust for Historic Preservation as “a Radical Left Group of Lunatics.”

According to the White House Historical Association, Congress has long been responsible for appropriating funds for the care, repair, refurnishing and maintenance of the White House, and Congress approved the Truman-era reconstruction project from 1948 to 1952.

March 31 (UPI) — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that helicopter pilots who conducted a flyby of musician Kid Rock‘s Nashville estate over the weekend would not be punished, an abrupt reversal of the U.S. Army’s decision to suspend the Apache helicopter crews amid review of their conduct.

“@USArmy pilots suspension LIFTED,” Hegseth said on X. “No punishment. No investigation.

“Carry on, patriots,” he said.

He also thanked Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, a vocal ally of President Donald Trump.

“You’re a disgrace,” Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican House of Representative from Illinois and a retired U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard officer, said in an expletive-laced statement responding to Hegseth’s announcement, in which he called the defense secretary an “unqualified clown.”

Rock published a pair of videos to social media on Saturday showing him cheering on a pair of Apache helicopters flying by and hovering near his Nashville estate, which he has called “The Southern White House.”

“This is a level of respect that [expletive] for brains Governor of California will never know,” Rock wrote in the caption to the videos. “God bless America and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend her.”

After the videos went viral, the U.S. Army announced Monday that it was conducting an administrative review of the incident.

Army spokesman Maj. Montrell Russell confirmed Tuesday that two Apache helicopters from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell, Ky., located about 60 miles north of Nashville, had conducted a flight in the Nashville area that has attracted media and the public’s attention.

“The personnel involved have been suspended from flight duties while the Army reviews the circumstances surrounding the mission, including compliance with relevant [Federal Aviation Administration] regulations, aviation safety protocols and approval requirements,” Russell said in a statement.

Hegseth offered no explanation for the reversal, which came not long after Trump told reporters at the White House that he had not seen the video.

Asked what he thought of the crews’ suspension, Trump said, “Well, they probably shouldn’t have been doing it.”

“Yes, you’re not supposed to be playing games, right? I’d take a look at it,” he said.

“They like Kid Rock. I like Kid Rock. Maybe they were trying to defend him. I don’t know.”

Rock has long been a vocal supporter of Trump and has appeared at the White House and in a recent Health and Human Services Department promotional video where he is seen working out bare-chested with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy.

He has also lashed out at Trump’s critics, notably California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The Trump administration on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists’ lawsuits against the industry threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran.

Critics said the move by the government’s Endangered Species Committee could doom a rare whale species and harm other marine life. Nicknamed the “God Squad” by groups that say it can decide a species’ fate, the committee comprises several Trump administration officials and is chaired by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

It met Tuesday for the first time in more than three decades amid global oil shocks and soaring energy prices brought on by the Iran war. The U.S. pumps more oil than any other nation, but that hasn’t insulated it from spiking prices: The national average for a gallon of gasoline topped $4 on Tuesday for the first time since 2022.

“Disruptions to Gulf oil production doesn’t hurt just us, it benefits our adversaries,” Hegseth told the committee. “We cannot allow our own rules to weaken our standing and strengthen those who wish to harm us. When development in the Gulf is chilled, we are prevented from producing the energy we need as a country and as a department.”

Environmental groups sought unsuccessfully to block Tuesday’s meeting and pledged to challenge the exemption. They say the exemption would speed the extinction of the rare Rice’s whale, which is found exclusively in the Gulf of Mexico. Government biologists say only about 50 of the animals remain.

“If Trump is successful here, he could be the first person in history to knowingly extirpate a species from the face of the Earth. That’s how precarious the condition of the Rice’s whale is,” said Patrick Parenteau, emeritus professor of law at Vermont Law School.

President Trump has made increased fossil fuel production a central focus of his second term. He wants to open new areas of the gulf off the Florida coast to drilling and has proposed sweeping rollbacks of environmental regulations disliked by industry.

Hegseth had notified Burgum on March 13 that an Endangered Species Act exemption for oil and gas drilling in the gulf was “necessary for reasons of national security.”

Hegseth told committee members Tuesday that Iran’s efforts to block shipping through the world’s busiest oil route, the Strait of Hormuz, underscored the national security imperative of having robust domestic oil production. He said the energy industry is under threat from pending litigation from environmental groups challenging government approvals for drilling.

Industry observers said the Endangered Species Act exemption could have significant implications for energy companies by streamlining approvals of new projects and impeding opponents’ ability to derail drilling plans.

“Serial litigation from activist groups targeting a lawful, well-regulated industry should not be allowed to indefinitely obstruct projects of clear national importance,” said Erik Milito with the National Ocean Industries Assn., which represents offshore developers.

The Gulf of Mexico is one of the nation’s top oil regions, producing 2 million barrels a day. It accounts for almost 15% of crude pumped annually in the U.S., plus a small share of domestic natural gas production.

But the gulf also has been the scene of environmental disasters such as BP’s Deepwater Horizon blowout in 2010, which killed 11 workers and spilled 134 million gallons of oil. A spill in the gulf earlier this month spread 373 miles, contaminating at least six species and polluting seven protected natural reserves.

The Trump administration in mid-March approved BP’s new $5-billion ultra-deepwater drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico.

A 2025 National Marine Fisheries Service analysis determined the gulf oil and gas program was likely to harm several species of whales, sea turtles and gulf sturgeon that face potential harm from ship strikes, oil spills and other impacts.

The Endangered Species Committee was established in 1978 as a way to exempt projects from the Endangered Species Act, which makes it illegal to harm or kill species on a protected list, if no alternative would provide the same economic benefits in a region or if it was in the nation’s best interest.

Before this week, the panel had convened just three times in its 53-year history and issued only two exemptions. The first was in 1979 to allow construction on a dam on the Platte River in Wyoming, home to the whooping crane. It last met in 1992, allowing logging in northern spotted owl habitats in Oregon. That exemption request was later withdrawn.

Its latest meeting follows a federal judge’s ruling on Monday that struck down attempts during Trump’s first term to weaken rules regarding endangered species.

The panel’s members include the secretaries of Agriculture, Interior and the Army, the chairperson of the Council of Economic Advisors, and the administrators of both the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They all voted in favor of Hegseth’s request for an exemption.

Brown writes for the Associated Press.

ATLANTA — Over the past three decades, the collection of DNA from convicted criminals has become standard in the U.S. justice system, and many states now also swab people arrested for serious crimes.

Legislation awaiting a final vote in Georgia would take that a step further by collecting DNA from people charged with less serious misdemeanors — but only if federal immigration authorities want them detained. That could include immigrants not ultimately deported.

If enacted, Georgia’s measure would make it the third state to single out immigrants believed to be in the U.S. illegally for the collection of genetic material that wouldn’t be taken from others. Florida passed a similar law in 2023. And Oklahoma in 2009 authorized DNA collection from immigrants in the U.S. illegally, though it remains subject to funding.

The new legislation comes as President Trump’s administration seeks to expand its use of DNA and biometrics in immigration enforcement as it carries out a plan to deport millions of people from the U.S.

“It is one example of something we are seeing across the landscape, which is government actors at all levels vacuuming up DNA in all available contexts,” said Stevie Glaberson, director of research and advocacy at the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University law school.

Immigrant DNA collection has grown in recent years

The FBI launched the National DNA Index System in 1998 to compile DNA samples submitted by federal, state and local authorities. It’s grown in size and scope and now contains more than 26 million DNA profiles, many from people convicted of crimes.

A federal law enacted 20 years ago allowed the attorney general to expand DNA collection to people arrested and to noncitizens detained under federal authority. But because of exceptions authorized by federal officials, few immigrants had their DNA collected.

That changed in 2020, during Trump’s first term, when a new Department of Justice rule took away much of that discretion. Over the next five years, the Department of Homeland Security added the DNA profiles of more than 2.6 million detainees to the national database, according to an analysis by the Center on Privacy and Technology.

The department did not answer questions from the Associated Press about the percentage of detained immigrants whose DNA has been collected during Trump’s second term.

But the department is looking to expand its authority. A proposed rule would allow it to collect DNA, including from U.S. citizens, to determine family relationships in immigrant benefit cases.

States don’t typically collect DNA for misdemeanor arrests

Though many states collect DNA from people arrested for felonies, just 10 states collect it from people arrested for certain misdemeanors, such as sex offenses, and none collect it for all misdemeanor arrests, according to an AP analysis of data compiled by the Boise State University Department of Criminal Justice.

But under the Florida and Oklahoma laws, any arrest could lead to DNA collection for immigrants subject to federal detainer requests. Officials in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation did not respond to questions about whether those laws are being used.

The Georgia legislation would require DNA collection from immigrants facing any misdemeanor or felony charges if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued a detainer request but has not picked up the person within 48 hours.

Georgia state Sen. Tim Bearden, a Republican sponsoring the bill, described the measure as a means of solving crimes.

“Technology is changing quickly, and DNA is one of those things that help us tremendously when we’re trying to make sure to bring justice to victims in this state and across this country,” Bearden said at a March hearing.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that “partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest criminal illegal aliens across the country.”

Could a broken tail light lead to a DNA swab?

A 2024 Georgia law mandates that local law enforcement cooperate with federal authorities to identify and detain immigrants in the U.S. illegally, or else lose state funding. This year’s legislation would build upon that.

Some legal experts say it could result in DNA collections from immigrants taken into custody for minor violations. Traffic offenses that are penalized as civil violations in some states are considered misdemeanors in Georgia, making them subject to the new law, said Mazie Lynn Guertin, executive director and policy advocate with the Georgia Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

“We don’t think that swabbing a person who’s committed a traffic violation is a boon for public safety,” Guertin said. “The correlation between a broken tail light and a crime that’s solvable with DNA is pretty attenuated in most cases.”

People subject to federal immigration detainer requests aren’t necessarily undocumented or deportable, because they may later prove their legal presence, said Kyle Gomez-Leineweber, director of policy for Common Cause Georgia. But such people could have their DNA collected under the Georgia legislation.

“What this really does is it creates a two-tiered system where some of the DNA would be collected based off of the perception of an individual’s immigration status,” said Gomez-Leineweber.

Legal experts raise questions about constitutional rights

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 upheld a Maryland law allowing DNA to be collected from people charged — but not yet convicted — of certain serious crimes. That law allows DNA to be added to a database after it’s determined there is probable cause to detain someone, provided it’s deleted if the person is not ultimately convicted.

The Maryland case often is cited as justification for an expansion of DNA collection. But some immigrant advocates question whether civil immigration detainers meet the probable cause threshold to make DNA collection acceptable under the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

“There doesn’t appear to be any kind of meaningful justification for states to step in to require the collection of DNA — of genetic material — from noncitizens in their custody who have merely been accused of a crime, even a low-level crime,” said Jorge Loweree, managing director of the American Immigration Council. “It seems like this is just an effort to increase the surveillance of noncitizens.”

Kramon and Lieb write for the Associated Press. Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Mo.

March 31 (UPI) — A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump‘s executive order cutting funding to NPR and the PBS was a violation of their First Amendment rights.

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said the executive order signed in May violated the companies’ constitutional rights to a free press because Trump targeted for what he described as liberal views. He described the cut to funding as “viewpoint discrimination.”

“The message is clear: NPR and PBS need not apply for any federal benefit because the president disapproves of their ‘left-wing’ coverage of the news,” Moss said in his ruling.

“It is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the president does not like and seeks to squelch,” he added.

“To be sure, the president is entitled to criticize this or any other reporting, and he can express his own views as he sees fit. He may not, however, use his governmental power to direct federal agencies to exclude plaintiffs from receiving federal grants or other funding in retaliation for saying things that he does not like.”

Trump’s executive order, called Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media, ordered the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop funding National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service to the maximum extent allowed by law.

At the time, more than 70% of CPB’s congressionally approved $535 million budget went directly to public media stations through grants.

According to NPR, about 1% of its annual operating budget came in the form of grants from CPB and federal agencies and departments, excluding CPB funding for the Public Radio Satellite System. Its largest funding stream — about 36% — comes from sponsorships, donations, memberships and licensing fees.

According to PBS, federal funding covered about 15% of its revenue.

CPB was founded in 1967 as a private nonprofit corporation to fund public television and radio stations and their programs.

NPR sued the Trump administration later in the month, citing First Amendment and 1967 Public Broadcasting Act violations.

March 31 (UPI) — Increased military pressure by the United States on drug trafficking routes in the Pacific Ocean has forced criminal groups to sharply raise payments to those willing to transport narcotics by sea, a police official said.

In Ecuador’s coastal provinces of Manabí and Santa Elena, recruitment costs for local fishermen tasked with moving cocaine to Central America on speedboats have surged to unprecedented levels.

According to Ecuadorian outlet Primicias, in 2023 and 2024 criminal organizations paid up to $20,000 per trip to boat operators and about $5,000 to their assistants.

However, a large-scale deployment of U.S. and Ecuadorian forces under Operation Southern Spear, launched in October, has increased the risks of these journeys and driven up payments offered by traffickers.

Col. William Calle, head of Ecuador’s National Police in Zone 4, said operators piloting speedboats or semi-submersibles can now earn around $40,000 per trip. Assistants receive about $20,000, while those handling mid-sea refueling earn roughly $15,000.

Local reports, including from El Diario de Manabí, indicate payments can reach as high as $90,000 for high-risk missions or large shipments.

Since 2024, U.S. and Ecuadorian maritime authorities have conducted patrol flights and interdiction operations to monitor and intercept drug trafficking vessels in Ecuadorian waters.

President Daniel Noboa ratified two military cooperation agreements in February. The risk for traffickers has shifted from capture to potential airstrikes in international waters if vessels fail to stop.

Despite arrests and international warnings, criminal groups continue to rely on fishing vessels to transport drugs.

According to El Diario, fishermen detained after operations in Manta and Salinas on Thursday told courts that successful trips carrying one to two tons of drugs can yield payments of up to $90,000. Military intelligence has described these sums as the “price of silence” and compensation for the risk of attack.

Ecuador’s Navy said traffickers increasingly use so-called “mother ships” to extend range and cargo capacity, while smaller fiberglass boats serve as logistical support or for transfers at sea. This tactic complicates interdiction efforts, though shared intelligence has enabled several recent seizures.

Ecuador has become a primary departure point for cocaine produced in the region, with about 80% of shipments moving through the Pacific corridor.

For artisanal fishermen facing economic hardship due to declining catches and piracy targeting boat engines, a $40,000 payment can equal up to a decade of legal earnings.

However, many fishermen say participation is not voluntary but enforced under threats. Organized crime groups such as Los Lobos and Los Choneros control ports, extorting and forcibly recruiting experienced navigators whose knowledge of ocean currents helps evade detection.

The escalation of U.S. military actions under Operation Southern Spear has included at least 47 airstrikes against suspected vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. These operations, described President Donald Trump‘s administration as part of a fight against “narco-terrorism,” have resulted in at least 150 deaths.

Authorities have also reported significant seizures, including more than 2.9 tons of drugs near the Galápagos Islands and an additional 2 tons intercepted at sea in March

This month, the U.S. government also launched military and intelligence operations in Ecuadorian territory with authorization from Noboa.

The White House said the operations are aimed at dismantling Los Lobos and Los Choneros, which the U.S. State Department designated as foreign terrorist organizations in late 2025.

According to U.S. Southern Command, these groups are no longer treated solely as criminal organizations, but as threats to hemispheric national security.

Fielding more hardened shelters to better protect U.S. forces at bases in the Middle East is now a top priority in the face of Iranian attacks, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. At the same time, this underscores questions about why more investments in physical hardening were not made in the region well before the current conflict. This is especially true given months of planning leading up to this and the clear threats that Iranian drones and missiles posed.

For years now, TWZ has been highlighting how the lack of hardened infrastructure at American military facilities abroad and at home creates worrisome vulnerabilities. This is especially concerning when it comes to aircraft parked in the open, like the E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) that was destroyed in an Iranian attack last week.

Hegseth talked about U.S. defensive posture in the Middle East at a press conference today at the Pentagon. The Secretary also announced that he had made a previously undisclosed visit to the region to meet with American service members.

“I’ll say, what I witnessed, where I went, was a completely locked-in discipline of bunker use and bunker improvement. So, from the beginning, as we stated very clearly, the first thing we did was set up a defense and make sure our defensive capabilities were maxed out before any of this even started,” Hegseth said. “That included fortifications, as much as possible, but it also included dispersement [sic]. If all of our people are in one place, you can imagine why that’s a big problem.”

“Alongside that dispersement [sic] is more and more bunkers. And I can tell you, talking to base commanders, talking to our allies in Israel, talking to others, rapidly fielding that and then improving those positions is a theater priority, no doubt, as are the air defenses and the layered air defenses,” he continued. “It’s not just Patriots and THAADs [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems]. It’s fighters and defensive CAPs [combat air patrols]. It’s other kinetic defeat systems. It’s electronic warfare. So the defense of our troops and our assets is max [sic].”

“I will say, on some of those other assets you talked about, air wings, airframes, there’s some things adversaries are doing to provide info and intel that they shouldn’t. We’re aware of it, and ultimately, we move things around,” he added. “One of the biggest principles you learn in the military is to not set patterns, predictable patterns, and so we’re – commanders are working hard to adjust in real time with those systems and make sure they’re in the right places and not easily targetable.”

Hegseth was responding to a two-part question about the status of efforts to establish additional bunkers at bases in the region and what other measures were being taken to better protect high-value assets, including aircraft like the E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). On March 27, an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia succeeded in destroying one of these prized AWACS jets, as well as damaging other aircraft and injuring several American service members, as you can read more about here.

Separately, on March 23, the U.S. Space Force had put out a contracting notice to identify “potential sources” of “prefabricated, transportable, hardened shelter systems” that could be delivered to Jordan within weeks or even days of a contract award. The U.S. military has a major presence in Jordan, particularly at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, which has been a key hub in the current campaign against Iran. Muwaffaq Salti has, in turn, also come under Iranian attack, with an AN/TPY-2 missile defense radar there having been notably targeted.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also put out another contracting notice regarding planned new hardened underground facilities at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on March 25, which TWZ was first to report. This is a longer-term project, with work not expected to start until 2028.

Though Hegseth says more bunkers for bases in the Middle East are now a priority, it remains unclear why this was not already the case years ago. There has been no shortage of examples in the region of the threats posed by Iran’s drone and missile arsenals, as well as those employed by Iranian-backed proxies. This includes numerous instances of direct and sometimes fatal attacks on U.S. forces, as well as on allies and partners. Drone threats, in general, are not new and have only continued to grow, something TWZ has been sounding the alarm on for nearly a decade now. In turn, we have also highlighted the curious lack of investment in hardened infrastructure, especially to better protect aircraft, which are especially vulnerable when parked out on open flight lines.

In recent years, U.S. military officials have often pushed back on calls for more physical hardening, having questioned the cost-effectiveness and general utility of doing so. More emphasis has generally been put on expanding active defenses, such as surface-to-air missiles, as well as employing concepts of operations centered on dispersion of forces and camouflage, concealment, and deception. In addition to talking about the importance of bunkers, Hegseth hit these same general talking points himself just this morning.

The destruction of the E-3 at Prince Sultan Air Base raises additional questions about the limits of dispersal and other operating concepts, which the U.S. Air Force has codified under the banner of Agile Combat Employment (ACE). Satellite imagery makes clear that E-3s and other aircraft have continued to be parked out in the open at well-established points on the taxiways at the base in Saudi Arabia. More broadly speaking, American forces in the region continue to operate primarily from a small number of large bases, the locations of which are well known.

Visualizing ACE

Furthermore, in his remarks today, Hegseth alluded to reports that Russia and China have been helping Iran target key assets at bases in the Middle East, including through the provision of satellite imagery. In the past decade, the Chinese have dramatically expanded their space-based surveillance capabilities. The commercial satellite imagery sector in that country has also grown.

At the same time, while additional information from those sources would help refine Iranian targeting processes, it would not be necessary to launch attacks on key assets and facilities, especially larger ones, at locations like Prince Sultan or Muwaffaq Salti in Jordan. Iran has its own intelligence streams in the region that it could leverage, as well. We have seen numerous examples of very deliberate targeting on the part of Iranian forces, especially when it comes to prized air and missile defense radars and communications arrays, many of which are fixed in place, from the start of the current conflict.

And they VERY likely had recent intel from satellite imagery (China and Russia)

— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) March 30, 2026

There are ways to provide targeting data beyond near real time satellite imagery. And even then, who knows how often they are moving them. It would be worth a BM and definitely worth a hopeful shot of a one-way attack drone.

— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) March 29, 2026

In the past few years, there has been some signs of a tonal shift across the U.S. military when it comes to physical hardening, especially against drone attacks. Just last week, authorities at Shaw Air Force Base in California put out a contracting notice regarding plans to put up counter-drone nets around non-hardened sunshade-type shelters on the flightline, a defensive measure that other Air Force facilities have been exploring, as well. In addition to seeing more pushes for additional passive defenses at established bases, work has been touted on more rapidly deployable capabilities to support expeditionary and distributed operations.

At the same time, the U.S. military is clearly still playing catch-up in this regard. These are issues that extend well beyond the Middle East and the current conflict with Iran, too. Though Iran’s drones and missiles clearly present real dangers, the scale and scope of those attacks pale in comparison to the volume and diversity of incoming threats U.S. forces would expect to face in a large-scale conflict in the Pacific against China.

It is true that you cannot protect everything from every threat, but physical hardening can help lessen the impacts. It also limits the overall options an enemy has for attacking a particular target and imposes additional costs to achieving the desired level of destruction. Paired with other tactics, it can drastically improve the survivability of a combat air force on the ground.

Hopefully there will FINALLY be a real wake up call here on hardened infrastructure for air bases. They (DoW leadership) have and are living in a fantasy land with this. It’s maddening. It’s easier to kill your most potent combat aircraft on the ground, where they sped the vast…

— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) March 29, 2026

And this is at home and overseas. You can’t protect everything, not even close, but you can protect a portion of your fleet and plan around that capacity.

— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) March 29, 2026

The current conflict with Iran has clearly put new emphasis on expanding the hardened infrastructure at air bases and other facilities in the Middle East, but it remains to be seen whether this latest wakeup call will be heard more broadly.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

March 31 (UPI) — Three former FBI agents filed a lawsuit against FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi and their departments Tuesday for firing them, claiming it was for political retribution.

The suit includes a proposed class-action of all FBI employees already fired or potentially fired in the future for political reasons. It was filed in the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C.

Former FBI agents Jamie Garman, Blaire Toleman and Michelle Ball served on a public corruption squad at the FBI that investigated President Donald Trump‘s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Special counsel Jack Smith eventually took over the investigation code named Arctic Frost. He dropped the charges against Trump after he was elected in 2024.

The three agents were fired last fall.

“Our removal from federal service — without due process and based on a false perception of political bias — is a profound injustice that raises serious concerns about political interference in federal law enforcement,” they said in a statement released by their lawyer, Daniel M. Eisenberg. “We bring this lawsuit to protect the rule of law and to allow our former colleagues to do their jobs without fear of retaliation.”

A federal judge will have to decide if the case can be a class-action suit. The three agents are seeking to include more than 50 FBI employees who have been fired since Trump took office.

Since taking control of the FBI in February 2025, Patel and the other defendants “have summarily terminated members of the proposed class because of their perceived political affiliation, without legitimate investigation, finding of misconduct, pre-termination notice of charges to the employees, an opportunity for the employees to present a defense, and/or any compelling or exigent circumstances,” the suit said.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas Thursday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a speech that Patel had “cleaned house” at the FBI.

“There isn’t a single man or woman with a gun, federal agent, still in that organization that had anything to do with the prosecution of President Trump,” the lawsuit alleges Blanche said.

WASHINGTON — President Trump is threatening to deploy ground troops to seize critical oil infrastructure on Iran’s Kharg Island, a military gambit that experts say would risk American lives and could still fail to end the war.

If Trump wants to hobble Iran’s oil industry for leverage in negotiations, a better option might be setting up a blockade at sea against ships that have filled up at Kharg Island’s oil terminals, the experts said.

The island — located on the other side of the Persian Gulf from U.S. bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia — is the beating heart of Iran’s oil industry, through which 90% of its exports pass. It is important because Iran’s coastline is mostly too shallow for tanker ships to dock.

“Putting people on the ground might be the most psychologically compelling way of striking a blow at Iran,” said Michael Eisenstadt, a former U.S. military analyst who now directs the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“On the other hand, you’re putting your own troops at jeopardy,” said Eisenstadt, a retired Army reserve officer who served in Iraq. “It’s not far from the mainland. So they can potentially rain a lot of destruction on the island, if they’re willing to inflict damage on their own infrastructure.”

Seizing Kharg Island could escalate the conflict, said Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.

He said Iran and its proxies — including Yemen’s Houthi rebels — could intensify their retaliation, including by laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz or striking targets with drones across the Arabian Peninsula, from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea.

Commodities researchers and investment banks warn major retaliation could have lasting implications for energy prices and the global economy.

“It will be hard to take. It will be hard to hold,” Citrinowicz said of Kharg Island. “And it might damage the economy, but not in a way that will force the Iranians to capitulate.”

Trump says ‘maybe we take Kharg Island’

Trump is under growing pressure to end the monthlong conflict with Iran, which has attacked U.S. bases and allies in the region.

Iran also has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint through which 20% of the world’s oil normally flows, causing fuel prices to soar and other economic tumult.

Trump said in a social media post Monday that “great progress is being made” in talks with Iran to end military operations. But he said that if a deal is not reached “shortly” and the strait is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would obliterate power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and possibly even desalination plants.

Trump has raised the idea of American forces seizing Kharg Island.

“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump told the Financial Times. “It would also mean we had to be there (on Kharg Island) for a while.”

Asked about Iranian defenses there, he said: “I don’t think they have any defense. We could take it very easily.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that ground troops would not be needed to achieve the Trump administration’s goals. He did not repeat that assertion Monday after being asked about plans for U.S. ground troops, saying “the president has several options at his disposal” but diplomacy is Trump’s preference.

“Now, they are making threats about controlling the Hormuz Strait in perpetuity, creating a tolling system and the like,” Rubio told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “That’s not going to be allowed to happen. And the president has a number of options available to him, if he so chooses, to prevent that from happening.”

U.S. has hit targets on the island crucial to Iran

The U.S. has already struck various targets on the island, including air defenses, a radar site, the airport and a hovercraft base, according to satellite analysis by the Institute for the Study of War and American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project.

Petras Katinas, an energy researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, said disrupting Kharg Island would not completely halt oil exports as Iran has other small ports. But it would reduce the oil revenue flowing to Iran’s government, “forcing flows through a much smaller, costlier and less efficient export system,” he said.

However, Tehran has too much at stake to surrender over a single asset, no matter how economically significant, said Citrinowicz, the Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.

While occupying Kharg might offer Washington some leverage in any negotiations, he said the notion that control of the island could be traded for Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was far-fetched.

“It’s in no way a decisive blow,” Citrinowicz said.

U.S. troops face risk from Iran’s mainland if they tried to seize Kharg Island

A U.S. Navy ship carrying about 2,500 Marines recently arrived in the Middle East, while at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division are expected soon. Another 2,500 Marines are being deployed from California. The Trump administration has not said what all those troops will be doing, but the 82nd Airborne is trained to parachute into hostile or contested territory to secure key territory and airfields.

One of the reasons American troops would be vulnerable on Kharg Island is its close proximity — about 33 kilometers (21 miles) — to the Iranian mainland, from which missiles, drones and artillery could be fired. Despite continued U.S. and Israeli strikes, the Islamic Republic is still attacking targets across the region, including a Saudi air base hundreds of miles away where more than two dozen American troops were injured last week.

Even with American ships and planes providing support, there would still be a relatively short window of time to shoot down every drone or missile launched from the mainland at the island, Eisenstadt said.

“The coast tends to be mountainous, so the drones can come in through mountain passes where it’s hard for our radar to pick up,” he said. “And we don’t have the warning time.”

Eisenstadt says a sea blockade against ships carrying Iranian oil would be a safer strategy and achieve the same goal of controlling most of Iran’s oil industry.

“Throw up a quarantine that seeks to seize Iranian oil shipments that are exiting the Gulf,” agreed Clayton Seigle, an energy security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It could be done at a distance “outside the range of the lion’s share of Iran’s weapon systems.”

Seigle argued against destroying Kharg Island’s oil infrastructure, which Trump also suggested.

“We were supposed to be coming to the rescue of the people that had been rising up and protesting for a better future,” Seigle said. “So to cripple Iran’s revenue-generating potential for many years to come would definitely not work in that direction.”

Finley and Metz write for the Associated Press. Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank.

March 30 (UPI) — The founder of the orgasm-based wellness company OneTaste, Nicole Daedone, was sentenced on Monday to nine years in jail for forced labor conspiracy.

Daedone was sentenced after being found guilty last year for grooming vulnerable women into working under the guise of helping women heal from various traumas, the New York Daily News reported.

Along with her director of sales, Rachel Cherwitz, who was sentenced to six and 1/2 years in prison on Monday, Daedone recruited women to purchase sexual wellness therapy programs — which included “orgasmic meditation” — and then turned them into “handlers” who would recruit “marks” into the program, ex-employees testified during trial.

Over the course of the decade-long sex abuse scheme, Daedone forced ex-employees to engage in sex acts under the guise of meditation sessions, often forcing them to work for free, the New York Post reported.

Daedone, and her attorneys, have maintained that the company is “rooted 100% in consent.”

“If I talk to you about the practice … you can say yes or no, and no is a perfectly acceptable answer throughout the practice itself,” she told NBC News last year. “It’s all based in consent. We had an ethics committee. This is the antithesis of what this company was.”

Although Daedone was not sentenced to the 20 years in prison that prosecutors sought, she will have to forfeit the $12 million she sold OneTaste for and pay $900,000 to ex-employees who were not paid for their work.

“Ms. Daedone exploited certain women in a calculated way and made money off of that exploitation,” Federal Court Judge Diane Gujarati said at the sentencing.

“What she was doing was not about enlightenment or operating on a different dimension,” Gujarati said. “It wasn’t a game or a show. It wasn’t ‘Harry Potter‘ or ‘The Matrix.’ It was criminal.”

OneTaste operated centers in cities across the United States that offered it’s orgasmic meditation practice, which involved sessions where one person performed a sex act on another for 15 minutes “with no goal except to feel.”

Former employees who testified during the trial called the company a sex cult that was ruled through fear and intimidation, The New York Times reported.

The women said that they were tasked with offering sexual services to clients and investors, as well as care for the company’s communal homes.

One woman testified that she was forced to receive a meditation session and prosecutors alleged that Daedone used the practice as a “means of encouraging productivity,” The Times reported.

After Daedone and Cherwitz were convicted, the Department of Justice said the jury had revealed the duo as “grifters who preyed on vulnerable victims by making empty promises of of sexual empowerment and wellness only to manipulate them into performing labor and services for the defendants’ benefit.”

People who continue to support the company, which has attempted to re-brand itself, have said the trial is prosecuting consenting adults who have chosen to participate in its programs.

While women who testified during the trial said they fell into Daedone’s trap as vulnerable targets — who were referred to internally as marks, according to trial testimony — the company’s current CEO, Anjuli Ayer, called the sentence “a terrifying day for freedom.”

“Once persuasion becomes a crime, anyone can be a defendant, and anyone can be a victim,” Ayer said. “We must correct the record or everyone will suffer.”

Attorney Alan Dershowitz told NBC News earlier this month that he considers the conviction to be “a miscarriage of Justice” based on his reading of the trial materials and plans to help both Daedone and Cherwitz request a presidential pardon.

“With a few changes of words, this indictment could have been directed against Mormon groups, against Hasidic groups, against various Protestant or Catholic sects,” he said. “There’s so many people who join ideological or religious groups, volunteer their time and later become disillusioned.”

March 31 (UPI) — Democratic lawmaker Ro Khanna, D-Calif., the author of the law that forced the government to release the Epstein files, wrote King Charles III requesting he meet with survivors of the late convicted sex offender during his upcoming state visit in April.

In his letter Monday, Khanna told the king he wanted him to meet with the women because of Epstein’s “significant” links to Britain via his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, and his connections with high-profile political and establishment figures.

He stressed that survivors also “want this meeting.”

“I respectfully ask that you privately meet with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein‘s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s abuse, so they may speak to you directly about the ways powerful individuals and institutions failed them.

“I make this request in light of recent developments in the United Kingdom, including renewed scrutiny of individuals and institutions with ties to Epstein and his network. These developments have raised serious questions about conduct, access, and whether positions of public trust were misused or whether public institutions helped shield wrongdoing,” wrote Khanna.

“Your call for a ‘full, fair and proper’ investigation, and for the law to take its course, recognizes the seriousness of these concerns,” he added, referring to the king’s response to the arrest in February of his brother, the former Prince Andrew, on suspicion of passing confidential information to Epstein when he was Britain’s trade envoy.

Former U.K. Ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, is also under investigation on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegations he passed confidential government information to Epstein when he was business secretary in 2009.

Following their arrests on Feb. 19 and Feb. 24, both men were released “under investigation” by British police. Neither has been charged.

Mandelson was fired from his ambassadorship in September for allegedly concealing the extent, depth and duration of his friendship with Epstein from Prime Minister Keir Starmer when he was considering him for the role.

Buckingham Palace has previously stressed that the king’s “sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse.”

Buckingham Palace did not immediately comment on Khanna’s letter.

However, Khanna’s suggestion the meeting might yield “additional information that British institutions and individuals may be able to share and open a dialogue about whether there will be a full accounting of how Epstein’s and Maxwell’s network operated” in Britain as well as ensuring the matter was addressed with “transparency, seriousness, and accountability,” could prove very tricky for the king.

The king is head of state but his role is mostly ceremonial. He acts on the advice of government ministers, not the other way around, while the constitution places him above politics, if not the law.

The monarch’s legal and political powers are constitutionally limited to approving bills before they become law, dissolving parliament prior to elections and inviting the winning party to form a government — all rubber-stamp conventions over which they have no say.

He or she is not even allowed to publicly express their political views.

As such, the king is not in a position to grant any assurances or make anything happen regarding Britain’s handling of the Epstein scandal.

The visit by Charles and Queen Camilla, in reciprocation of President Donald Trump‘s unprecedented second state visit to Britain in September, has yet to be confirmed by Buckingham Palace and the White House, but U.S. Ambassador to Britain Warren Stephens said last week that he was confident it would go ahead.

The trip in the last week in April will see the royal couple welcomed to the White House complete with a Guard of Honor and a state banquet.

Charles was also expected to address both houses of congress. The last time that happened was in 1991 when Charles’ mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II was in Washington as a guest of the late President George H W Bush.

March 30 (UPI) — NASA officials on Monday started the two-day countdown to the Artemis II mission launch, which will send a crew of four around the moon as they test the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.

After canceling a launch attempt in February because of a helium valve concern, officials said that the only thing they are worried about ahead of Wednesday’s launch is the weather — and the forecast offers an 80% chance for the right conditions.

The 10-day mission, which will take the crew farther from Earth than any human before, is the next step in the agency’s goal of returning humans to the surface of the moon and establishing a permanent presence there.

With mission engineers starting the clock, the crew — Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Commander Reid Wiseman and Pilot Victor Glover — are getting some rest and spending time with their families before starting their own pre-launch activities, officials said.

“The team concluded that everything continues to look good and there are no issues preventing us from pressing ahead,” NASA’s Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said during a media briefing from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“At this point, as we enter the pre-launch phase, we are in a strong posture and the mission remains on track,” he said.

Countdown to launch

The Artemis II launch window starts at 6:24 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, giving NASA two hours if the cumulus cloud cover is too heavy, which mission engineers said is the only thing about the weather forecast they are worried about.

The SLS and Orion was initially rolled out to the launch pad in February but engineers discovered an issue with a helium valve during a wet dress rehearsal and decided to bring the rock back to the Vehicle Assembly Building to check it out.

After replacing the valve, and checking on other systems, the rocket was rolled back out on March 19.

Monday’s mission management team meeting is similar to the flight readiness review but is a faster rundown than that comprehensive effort as each group updates others on their pre-launch progress.

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, launch director for the mission, said the launch countdown officially started at 4:44 p.m. EDT on Monday, which corresponds with NASA starting to configure ground facilities at the launch pad.

She noted that, while most people are familiar with a 30-minute or 10-minute countdown, launch countdowns are generally linked to the preparation needed for launch — shuttle countdowns started three days before launch, while commercial launches may often need a countdown of one day or less.

Crew awaits launch

The Artemis crew arrived in Cape Canaveral “on Friday, getting an opportunity for some rest before we work them very hard,” Emily Nelson, the mission’s chief flight director, said of the foursome, which has been in quarantine already for a couple of weeks.

Like many crews of astronauts before them, the Artemis crew has been staying at The Astronaut Beach House, which NASA has owned since 1963 and where space mission crews have spent time ahead of launches for decades.

Before the start of their final meetings and prep for launch, the crew was expected to eat dinner and spend time with their families, all of whom also have been required to comply with some sort of quarantine before getting there.

On launch day, after fuel tanking and last-minute items by a closeout crew around 1:00 p.m. EDT, the crew will board the Orion at 2:00 p.m. EDT to conduct communication system checks, configure the crew module and run the countdown to a 10-minute hold for about 30 minutes, Blackwell-Thompson said.

During that 30-minute hold, mission engineers will run through one more system-by-system before starting the final countdown to NASA’s first crewed mission to the moon in more than 50 years.

March 30 (UPI) — The Supreme Court on Monday denied an appeal from Joe Exotic, the former Tiger King star who is serving time for trying to have an animal rights activist killed.

The court declined to consider tossing the 2019 conviction of Joe Exotic for a murder-for-hire plot to kill animal rights activist Carole Baskin. Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is serving 21 years for the plot. He was also convicted of falsifying wildlife records and violating the Endangered Species Act.

Baskin was also part of the Tiger King series. She founded Florida rescue center Big Cat Rescue and was an advocate of the Big Cat Public Safety Act, which limited owning big cats and cross-breeds to wildlife sanctuaries, state universities and certified zoos. Former President Joe Biden signed the law in 2022.

Maldonado-Passage’s lawyer, Alexander Roots, told the court that the case arose out of an “intense personal, litigation, operational, and even political, rivalry between two of America’s two largest big cat exhibitors,” The Hill reported.

“By denying any hearing and by refusing to evaluate the evidence as a whole, the lower courts departed from principles that safeguard every criminal prosecution in the nation,” he wrote in the petition to the court.

At the trial in 2019, prosecutors said Maldonado-Passage, 63, hired two men to kill Baskin, one of whom was an FBI agent. They also said he shot and killed five tigers in October 2017 and sold and offered to sell tiger cubs.

Maldonado-Passage has asked President Donald Trump for a pardon. He also asked Biden while he was in office.

In his feud with Baskin, Maldonado-Passage alleged without evidence that she killed her second husband, who disappeared in 1997, and he rebranded his traveling show Big Cat Rescue Entertainment, for which she sued him for trademark infringement. He settled with her for $1 million.

In his petition to the Supreme Court, Maldonado-Passage argued that the lower courts “shrugged off” evidence that three witnesses had recanted their trial testimony, including Allen Glover, a zoo employee and the other hired hitman, and Florida businessman James Garretson.

He also alleged federal prosecutors failed to tell the defense that the witnesses were promised immunity for testifying.

But the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the new evidence wasn’t likely to change the trial’s result.

In July, Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, 65, another Tiger King alum, was sentenced to federal prison for crimes related to trafficking exotic animals. He was given 12 months and one day, plus a $55,000 fine and three years of supervised release for violating the Lacey Act, which bans the sale of illegally acquired wildlife, fish or plants, including those designated as protected species by the federal government.

WASHINGTON — President Trump threatened Monday to destroy vital Iranian energy and water infrastructure if a peace deal is not reached, as Tehran continued to deny negotiations were taking place and said it was preparing for a ground invasion following the arrival of thousands of American troops in the region.

If a ceasefire agreement is not reached quickly, the president said in a social media post, “We will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!).”

The threats came within hours of the president insisting on Sunday night that diplomatic efforts would “probably” lead to a deal soon, and that Iran had allowed 20 more oil cargo ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a “sign of respect.”

Trump said the United States is in “serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME in Iran” but offered no details.

Iran, however, continued to throw cold water on the negotiations Monday when Esmail Baghaei, the foreign ministry spokesperson, dismissed the Trump administration’s terms as “unrealistic, unreasonable and excessive.”

“I do not know how many people in the United States take American diplomacy claims seriously. Our mission is clear, unlike the other side, which constantly changes its position,” he said in comments carried by the semi-official Iranian agency Tasnim News.

Baghaei said that there have been no direct negotiations, but only messages through intermediaries stating that the U.S. wants to confer.

On Saturday, the USS Tripoli, a naval warship, arrived in the Middle East carrying about 3,500 sailors and Marines and a transport of fighter planes. Earlier this month, the San Diego-based USS Boxer and two warships from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit departed from Camp Pendleton to join the buildup of troops in the region.

The deployments have made Iranian diplomatic envoys even more dubious that American peace efforts are sincere.

“The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground offensive. [They] are nothing more than a cover to hide preparations for a land invasion,” Iran’s top lawmaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a statement Sunday.

He added that Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to “set them on fire” and “punish their regional partners forever,” according to state media.

As officials in both Washington and Tehran strike increasingly hard lines, neighboring countries are desperate for a truce.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi pleaded with Trump to stop the war during a speech at an Egyptian energy conference on Monday.

“I tell President Trump: Nobody can stop the war in our region in the gulf but you,” Sisi said.

“Please, Mr. President, please. Please help us stop the war. You are capable of doing so.”

Egypt, though not directly involved in the war, has contended with its repercussions on energy, fertilizer and food prices, not to mention disruptions to shipping income Cairo receives through the Suez Canal.

“Wealthy countries might be able to absorb this, but for middle-income and fragile economies, it could have a very, very severe impact on their stability,” ‌Sisi said, noting that predictions of oil reaching $200 per barrel were “not an exaggeration.”

Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1979, which saw Israel return territory it seized during the 1967 war. Though the agreement is deeply unpopular with most Egyptians, it has held despite escalating tensions during Israel’s campaign against Hamas.

In December, the two nations formally announced a $35-billion agreement expanding Israel gas exports to Egypt. But the war with Iran has disrupted supplies, tripling the cost of imports, according to Egyptian officials.

Last week, the government ordered energy-saving measures for a one-month period, including early closing times for most commercial establishments as well as reductions in street lighting and allocations for government vehicles.

Jordan, another U.S. regional ally that is also energy-starved, took similar steps, enacting bans on air conditioning in government offices and private use of government vehicles.

Despite talks of negotiations, the fighting showed little sign of abating.

Trump’s call for peace followed a fresh round of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran Monday. Tehran retaliated by hitting a major water and power facility in Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said they intercepted incoming Iranian missiles.

Two U.N. peacekeepers were killed on Monday when an “explosion of unknown origin” hit their vehicle near the village of Bani Hayyan, in south Lebanon.

The deaths mark the second fatal incident in two days involving the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, a peacekeeping force established in 1978 and which later monitored cessation of hostilities between the two nations.

UNIFIL also reported a peacekeeper was killed Sunday night when a projectile exploded in a UNIFIL position.

“We do not know the origin of the projectile. We have launched an investigation to determine all of the circumstances,” a UNIFIL statement on Monday said.

Meanwhile, Israel continued its bombardment of Lebanon, hitting areas near the capital and in the country’s south. One strike targeted a Lebanese army checkpoint, killing a soldier, the Lebanese military said. Lebanese authorities said on Monday that the death toll since hostilities broke out between Hezbollah and Israel earlier this month continues to rise.

The Israeli military said one of its soldiers was killed in a Hezbollah anti-tank missile attack in southern Lebanon, which also wounded four other soldiers. Six soldiers have been killed since Israel restarted its campaign in Lebanon.

Hezbollah rockets also killed two civilians, according to Israeli health authorities.

Israel’s fire and rescue service said a fuel tanker and a building at the oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa were hit by debris from an intercepted missile, according to a report from Israeli daily the Times of Israel.

It was unclear whether the missile was launched by Iran, the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah or Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Deaths from the conflict continue to rise, with 1,900 people killed in Iran, over 1,200 in Lebanon, 19 in Israel and 13 U.S. military members. Millions of people have been displaced from their homes in Iran and Lebanon.

Ceballos and Quinton reported from Washington, Bulos from Beirut.

March 30 (UPI) — Some employees of the Transportation Security Administration started getting back pay that they’re owed for the partial government shutdown Monday, easing long lines at airports.

“Most TSA employees received a retroactive paycheck today that included at least two full paychecks covering pay periods 4 and 5 today,” Department of Homeland Security Acting Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Lauren Bis told USA Today on Monday. “A small population might see a slight delay due to a variety of reasons, including financial institution processing times or issues with their direct deposit. We are working aggressively with USDA’s National Finance Center to complete processing for the half paycheck they are owed from pay period 3 as soon as possible.”

“Working without pay forced more than 500 officers to leave TSA and thousands were forced to call out,” Bis added.

The funding lapse has lasted since Feb. 14, causing extreme delays at airports because some TSA workers quit or called out sick.

Democrats have refused to vote for any package that doesn’t rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. On Friday, the Senate voted unanimously to pass a measure that would fund Homeland Security but not ICE and Border Patrol. But the House rejected it, saying it wouldn’t pass it if ICE isn’t included.

In response, President Donald Trump ordered that TSA workers get paid through other Homeland Security funding. That pay is temporary. Congress began a two-week recess on Friday. They return April 14.

Angela Grana, regional vice president of the union that represents TSA workers at 38 airports in the Rockies, told USA Today that she got paid for working 200 hours. She said the overtime and holiday hours she worked didn’t appear to have been counted properly, and that she believed she was taxed at a higher rate than usual because of the lump-sum payment.

“This is all back pay. That doesn’t tell me I’m going to get paid in the future,” she said.

By late Monday morning, TSA lines were down to less than 30 minutes at most major airports, CNN reported.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston had 75-minute security lines before dawn Monday. Hours later, that number dropped to as low as 9 minutes.

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Monday, travelers waited 3 minutes.

About 500 workers, or about 0.82% of total personnel of 61,000, have quit since the partial shutdown began.

Atlanta TSA officer Aaron Barker told CNN he believes the number of agents will keep dropping.

“I do think that there’s going to be a mass exodus of officers,” Barker, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 554, told CNN.

“Officers have gone into debt. Credit has been shot,” he said. “Officers have been evicted. Cars have been repossessed.”

“Back pay is not going to address [the] systemic issues,” he said. In the past five months, “We have been shut down 50% of the time.”

“This is a natural disaster that was caused by Congress,” said Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA workers.

“The vast majority are devastated,” he said. “My colleagues, they’re like, ‘Our finances are ruined.'”

March 30 (UPI) — The United States has reopened its embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, after seven years, marking a concrete step toward restoring diplomatic relations between the two countries, according to an official statement released by the U.S. mission.

In that statement released Monday, the U.S. representative in Venezuela, Laura Dogu, confirmed that Washington “formally resumed operations” in Caracas, signaling the return of permanent diplomatic staff and the beginning of a new phase in bilateral relations.

The announcement comes weeks after a key symbolic gesture: the raising of the U.S. flag at the diplomatic compound on March 14, exactly seven years after it was lowered in 2019, when both countries broke relations.

Venezuelan media reported that the ceremony was led by Dogu, who said the act marked “a new era” in bilateral ties.

According to members of the diplomatic mission, the reactivation will allow resumption of key functions, such as engagement with political actors and civil society, outreach to the business sector and rebuilding facilities, with the aim of restoring consular services in the future.

The United States closed its embassy in Caracas in March 2019 amid Venezuela’s political crisis. Since then, diplomatic management had been handled through the United States External Office for Venezuela based in Bogotá.

Although the embassy has resumed operations, the full restoration of consular services and the appointment of an ambassador have not yet been announced, indicating the process remains in an initial phase.

The resumption of operations takes place in a context of gradual rapprochement between both governments after recent political changes in Venezuela and could have implications in areas such as energy, migration and trade relations.

March 30 (UPI) — Iran has agreed to allow 20 more oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump said late Sunday, as he claimed negotiations with Iran over ending the war were going “extremely well.”

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said the tankers will be allowed through the key Persian Gulf oil transit route starting Monday, describing the gesture by Iran as “a tribute” or “a sign of respect.”

Iran has not confirmed the announcement. Trump late last week said Iran had permitted about 10 tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

The press conference was held after Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar of Pakistan announced that Iran agreed to allow 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels through the Hormuz at a rate of two per day.

Pakistan is seeking to mediate the U.S.-Iran talks.

“This is a welcome and constructive gesture by Iran and deserves appreciation,” Dar said in a statement. “It is a harbinger of peace and will help usher stability in the region.”

About 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran has all but closed it since the United States and Israel attacked Tehran on Feb. 28.

The closure has sent prices higher at U.S. gas pumps. Brent futures early Monday hit $116 a barrel, up from about $72 a day before the war began.

More than a week ago, Trump gave Iran a 48-hour ultimatum to open Hormuz or risk further attacks on its energy infrastructure. He has since extended the deadline until April 6, citing progress in talks with Iran.

“We’re doing extremely well in that negotiation,” he said, while adding that “you can never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up.”

“We’ll make a deal with them. Pretty sure,” he said. “But it’s possible we won’t.”

Immediately after the Feb. 28 U.S. strikes on Iran, Trump called for regime change, a goal that U.S. military and White House officials quickly walked back.

On Sunday, Trump claimed regime change had been achieved saying Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, was killed early in the war and that they were now conducting negotiations with other officials.

“We’ve had regime change. If you look already because the one regime was decimated, destroyed, they’re all dead. The next regime is mostly dead and the third regime, we’re dealing with different people than anybody’s dealt with before,” he said. “It’s a whole different group of people. And, frankly, they’ve been very reasonable.”

March 29 (UPI) — Amid growing chaos at airports during the 44-day Department of Homeland Security shutdown, Immigration and Custody Enforcement agents have been deployed to airports to help Transportation Security Administration agents — and they may be in for an extended stay.

As Congress has not been able to agree on a bill to fund DHS because of disagreements about ICE unrelated to air travel, TSA agents who have not gotten paid are increasingly calling out of work or quitting their jobs.

White House border czar Tom Homan on Sunday told CNN and CBS News that whether ICE retains a presence at airports will depend when “airports feel like they’re 100% in a posture where they can do normal operations.”

The White House on Monday deployed ICE to airports around the country, where they received training to use TSA equipment and standard operating procedures.

By Wednesday, they could be seen screening travelers, checking documents and assisting TSA agents move lines of people through security, The New York Times reported.

Thursday, Senate Democrats again blocked a bill to fund DHS because it does not include new guardrails for ICE agents carrying out the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

As a result, President Donald Trump said that he would pay TSA agents out of funds approved in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill, in addition to sending ICE to assist at airports.

Over the last 44 days, thousands of TSA agents have called out sick and nearly 500 have quick their jobs during the second shutdown in a year that has prevented them from being paid on time, The Boston Globe reported.

Homan said Sunday that how long and how many ICE agents will continue to work at airports will depend on how many TSA agents come back, and that he is working with TSA to determine what level of staffing they need as time goes on.

“In an increased threat posture, we need to secure those airports,” Homan said. “ICE is there to help our brothers and sisters in TSA. We’ll be there as long as they need us, until they get back to normal operations and feel like those airports are secure.”

After failing to pass a bill funding any part of DHS, Congress left Washington, D.C., for a two-week recess.