WHY TRUMP HAS FAILED TO TURN THE CEASEFIRE INTO A DEAL
If nothing else, the Iran war has shown that the US and Israel can’t bring every country to its knees by an air war against military targets alone, especially a country that has prepared in advance by protecting much of their offensive weapons deep underground. So far they have wisely held back from using their air power to destroy the infrastructure but Trump’s verbal volley about an “entire civilization will die,” is impossible without becoming a war criminal. In short, the “cards” that Netanyahu and Trump so confidently played (or threatened to play) against Iran haven’t produced the hoped for results: quick regime change and easy capitulation of Iran that Netanyahu claimed when he talked Trump into this war. In fact, Iran still has enough missiles and drones left to threaten Israel and nearby US allied Arab nations. And, it has sufficient anti-ship missiles, drones and mines left to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed for quite some time. There is even one more card Iran can play: they can get the Houthis to use their missiles and drones to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on the Red Sea, and again block the Suez Canal. With both major sea routes closed, the world economy would really feel the pinch. So, contrary to Trump and Vance’s boasting about “holding all the cards,” they don’t. And that is why Vance came back empty-handed from Pakistan this week. Trump is desperate for a deal with Iran but it’s not going to be totally “on his terms” as he is demanding. To receive a free one-time sample of the brief, along with options on how to subscribe, click on Request a sample on the left.
Donald Trump announced today that a Lebanon–Israel meeting has been set, presenting it as a diplomatic step forward and hinting at talks “at the level of leaders.” On the surface, it is packaged as de-escalation. In reality, it is the language of urgency from Washington, trying to contain the wider Iran crisis before it spins out of control. Such a meeting gives Israel nothing it has failed to seize by force, brings Netanyahu no closer to any meaningful war aim, and will not erase Hezbollah from the battlefield, the government, or parliament. It reveals the opposite: not Israeli success, but the failure of war to produce the political outcome Israel wanted, and the growing American need to disguise that failure as diplomacy. A staged photo or a phone conversation between Lebanese and Israeli decision-makers, officials, whatever their rank, cannot erase the domestic image of Netanyahu’s defeat, especially when every other party involved rushes to declare victory.
Federal health officials have renewed and revised the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee charter, broadening membership criteria and increasing focus on vaccine safety and injury. The changes come amid ongoing legal disputes and scrutiny over the committee’s structure and direction.
The House passed H.R. 1689 by a vote of 224-204. The bill would codify Temporary Protected Status – known as TPS – for more than 350,000 Haitian nationals until April 2029. TPS is a government program that grants foreign nationals work permits and protection from deportation during a crisis in their home country. It was designed to be temporary. It has become a backdoor amnesty.
If the allegations are true, former Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., is slime. He represents the worst variety: the kind who lectures the world about morality while living in the gutter. Multiple women have accused him of sexual assault, claiming he preyed on them when they were too intoxicated to consent.
A top government doctor who declined to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 was worried he would lose his job and medical license in retaliation, according to newly obtained emails.
Federal prosecutors deliberately withheld evidence while pursuing cases against individuals who protested at abortion clinics, according to a new Department of Justice (DOJ) report released on Tuesday.
The recent strikes conducted by the US over the past month surprised many around the world, but data from transporters refueling flights provided valuable information about their locations.
CENTCOM: "During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the U.S. blockade & 6 merchant vessels complied with direction from US forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman," it said.
Diplomacy is not yet dead, as Bloomberg reports Iran is mulling a short-term pause to shipments through Hormuz Strait. Trump tells NYP talks could happen again in two days in Pakistan.
Mediators are scrambling to put together another round of US-Iran talks in the coming days: Iran is reportedly offering a 5-year moratorium on nuclear program, while US demands 20.
Across the U.K., motorists face record-breaking fuel costs at the gas pump as the Gulf energy shock ripples around the world. One of the clearest second-order effects now emerging is a surge in petrol station thefts, spanning from organized crime gangs to even drivers in exotic cars simply filling up and driving off.
Iran's military says the US blockade on Gulf ports, now in effect, is an "illegal" act tantamount to "piracy" as Trump is also weighing limited strikes on Iran. Trump warns Iranian fast boats to be 'eliminated'.
US military says it is enforcing the blockade in the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea, Reuters reports. No major incidents or acts of aggression reported, hours into US operation.
Pundits review breakdown of Pakistan talks, where the "gaps were enormous" - and yet Iran's FM says the sides were "inches away" from an "Islamabad MoU".
Tehran has meanwhile accused Washington of making "excessive demands" - with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi having alleged negotiations collapsed because the US changed its position late in the process.
"In intensive talks at the highest level in 47 years, Iran engaged with the US in good faith to end war," he earlier wrote on X. He added: “But when just inches away from ‘Islamabad [Memorandum of Understanding],’ we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade. Zero lessons [l]earned."
After 19 ships went through the Strait in either direction on Sunday - the most since the early stages of the war - the momentum reversed by Monday morning. Only four were observed passing on Monday: a single liquefied petroleum gas carrier was sighted entering the Gulf, and three small fuel tankers were raced to exit just hours before the blockade took effect at 10 a.m. New York time.
Don’t take my word for it. Researchers in Finland published a groundbreaking study in the peer-reviewed pediatric journal Acta Paediatrica, which pretty much destroyed the notion that “gender reassignment” surgeries and treatments help gender-confused kids.
According to the study, the surgeries and treatments may, in fact, be making things worse.
US-Iran peace talks have broken down over Iran's commitment to no nuclear weapons, Vance said "it's bad news for Iran, much more than for the US."
CENTCOM confirms two mine-sweepers are clearing the Strait, Iran claims it turned the warships back.
The SSS is a tiny agency being given unprecedented authority to demand access to data from all other Federal agencies. The attempt to register potential draftees “automatically” will be a large, complex exercise in data collection, data sharing, and data matching between the SSS and other agencies.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a strategic defense agreement last year involving joint deployments, intelligence sharing, and coordinated responses to regional threats.
The pact commits both states to treat any attack on one as an attack on both, allowing the Gulf kingdom to benefit from the protection afforded by Pakistan's nuclear weapons arsenal.
"Israel under my leadership will continue to fight Iran’s terror regime and its proxies," Netanyahu wrote on X. He then turned to blasting Erdogan for "accommodating" Iran and being responsible for "massacres" of Kurdish citizens.
Ever since the Gaza war began well over two years ago, Turkey and Israel have been locked in a bitter war of words which at times included sanctions and a regional trade war.
The Sunrise Movement describes itself as an anti-Trump ‘climate revolution’ group that advocates socialism and an end to the two-party political system.
The wait is over: after the Persian Gulf side of the Hormuz Strait had turned into a bit of a parking lot late last week as tankers piled up hoping to use the ceasefire and make the crossing, two Chinese supertankers loaded with crude sailed through the Strait of Hormuz hours after a Greek vessel moved through the waterway, marking a significant uptick in oil shipping traffic. It represents the biggest day of oil exits through Hormuz since the war caused traffic through the waterway to all but halt six weeks ago. More importantly, none of the ships are carrying Iranian oil or have obvious, direct links to the country.
If Israeli bombs on Lebanon start flying again, this could re-trigger Iranian attacks on Israel. The Houthis in Yemen have also threatened to act, and all of this could collapse the fragile US-Iran ceasefire, amid impending talks expected to begin in Pakistan on Saturday.
The PiS politician asks Brussels what safeguards will exist to ensure that Europol "remains an agency supporting member states and not an authority exercising direct police powers"
US, Iran agree to meet for first direct talks in Islamabad. Situation fragile given that Iran is threatening to hit Israel again over IDF's massive Lebanon airstrikes. Tehran says 3 clauses already violated.
China's manufacturing base is now churning out short-range, low-cost kamikaze drones priced at under $500 per unit, which X user PLA Military Updates has described as "Baby Shahed" drones.
Colorado’s tourism slogan, “it’s our nature,” has a menacing meaning for free speech advocates. Colorado is now arguably the most anti-free speech state in the union, pushing an array of measures attacking those with opposing social and political views. The irony is that the state has proved a bonanza for free speech with spectacular legal failures that reaffirmed rather than restricted the First Amendment. Now, the Democratic legislature and governor are back with new unconstitutional measures, including a requirement that lawyers not share information with federal immigration officials as a condition for filing with state courts.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi followed up Trump’s announcement with a statement on behalf of the Supreme National Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, expressing gratitude to the Pakistani officials for their work to reach a cease-fire.
“If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations,” the statement said. “For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations.”
Araghchi said the decision was in response to a 15-point peace proposal from Pakistan and Trump’s comments on Iran’s 10-point proposal.
If civilians can be trusted to carry firearms, military personnel certainly can. As Hegseth noted, “Uniformed service members are trained at the highest and unwavering standards.”
Why would a soldier risk such severe penalties? Because those penalties do not deter attackers. Someone planning to murder fellow soldiers will not stop because of gun laws.
Sources described Ghost Murmur as able to detect something as faint as a human heartbeat's magnetic signal at long distances in complex environments using AI to filter through the noise.
President Trump and CIA Director John Ratcliffe hinted at the new super-surveillance tool at a White House press conference on Monday afternoon. This was Ghost Murmur's first operational field use, or at least the first publicly known one.
