President Trump’s signature on a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz set off a 60-day clock starting Thursday to hone the details of what administration officials hope will be a final agreement to end Tehran’s nuclear weapons ambitions and shore up other issues. The 14-point, relatively vague memorandum of understanding (MOU), signed by…
A U.S.-backed ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was set to take effect Friday as talks with Iran scheduled for Switzerland were abruptly postponed.
Vice President JD Vance had this week circled on his calendar for months
Trump blindsided senators by forcing cancelation of Jay Clayton's DNI hearing and linking FISA renewal to the president's SAVE America Act.
President Trump signed the U.S.–Iran memorandum at Versailles after Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf reportedly signed it digitally earlier in the week. The agreement, witnessed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, is being framed as a step toward ending hostilities and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. officials say...
Vice President JD Vance ripped Israeli officials who have criticized President Trump over the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, blasting them for complaining about the document that requires them to stop striking Hezbollah in Lebanon. Vance told reporters in the White House briefing room Thursday that Israeli cabinet members had, in some cases, “very personally attacked...
Tulsi Gabbard notified President Donald Trump late last month that she was resigning as director of national intelligence.In her final days in the role, Gabbard not only proved that those Ukraine hawks who previously smeared her as "treasonous" and "traitorous" were dead wrong in their denial of the existence and United States' funding of "more than 120 biolabs in over 30 countries, including Ukraine," but created a colossal headache for former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci.'It’s time the American people learn the real story.'On Thursday, Gabbard declassified and published a trove of never-before-seen communications and documents that she claimed expose "how Dr. Fauci provided millions in U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab, worked with politicized elements within the Intelligence Community to suppress the truth about his actions and hide the virus' lab-leak origins, and lied to Congress while under oath in 2024." Besides highlighting whistleblower allegations of retaliation against intelligence analysts who challenged Fauci's zoonotic origin conclusions, the ODNI noted in its release that the declassified documents also show that Fauci's close relationships with elements of the intelligence community "enabled him to assume three key roles during the pandemic that shielded him from scrutiny as he wielded outsized influence."Those roles, according to the ODNI, related to research funding, narrative curation, and narrative control:"Fauci funded risky coronavirus research linked to big pharma and the pursuit of 'universal vaccines' worth trillions of dollars";"Fauci was the behind-the-scenes adviser who, with his hand-picked experts, pushed the IC to endorse a natural, animal origin to hide his dangerous research"; and"Fauci became the nation’s pandemic 'pundit' and publicly pushed lies, disinformation, and censorship."RELATED: Foreign 'Fauci acolyte' and his African crony charged with smuggling monkeypox onto American soil Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesFederal documents previously established that the NIAID under Fauci and United States Agency for International Development funded an EcoHealth Alliance subcontractor's experiments on coronaviruses to the tune of $41 million.The subcontractor listed as an investigator on the grants was Ben Hu — an individual whom Blaze News previously noted was the Wuhan Institute of Virology's lead on gain-of-function research on SARS-like coronaviruses and among the pandemic's "patients zero," having been one of the three lab researchers first infected with apparent COVID-19 in November 2019.Fauci, whose agency funded experiments on coronaviruses at the epicenter of the pandemic, publicly pushed the theory that the virus had instead resulted from a trans-species jump from an animal to a human and promoted a controversial paper — "The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2" — which a 2024 congressional report suggested he had originally "prompted" to discredit the lab-leak theory.The statute of limitations on charging Fauci over alleged false testimony before Congress in 2021 about gain-of-function experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology apparently expired last month. He also has a blanket pardon from former President Joe Biden.Fauci could not immediately be reached for comment. The Justice Department did not respond by deadline."The COVID-19 pandemic caused tremendous hardship and pain for millions of our fellow Americans and for countless people around the world. After years of lies, censorship, and cover-ups, the American people deserve transparency, truth, and accountability," Gabbard said in a statement."The tactics used to hide the truth are straight from the deep state playbook: Politicized self-serving leaders like Dr. Fauci covered up their own wrongdoing and abuses of power, manipulated intelligence, lied to Congress, and undermined a duly elected president by restricting his access to vital facts needed to keep the country safe," continued the departing DNI. "It’s time the American people learn the real story."Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), who has referred Fauci to the Justice Department for criminal charges on multiple occasions, was among the many who welcomed the documents' release. He thanked Gabbard "for her leadership and service in pursuing the truth, even when it wasn't politically convenient."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Former President Barack Obama said the U.S. is worse off because of current President Trump’s war with Iran. “We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, you know, put enormous strain on our military,” Obama said in an interview with NBC’s Craig Melvin.“A lot of people have died. And it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse off,” Obama continued. “I am very happy to see a ceasefire. And I’m hopeful that it holds.” The interview was conducted before the public opening of the Obama Presidential Center on Thursday, and aired Friday morning on the Today show. Obama pointed out that under the 2015 JCPOA agreement his administration negotiated with Iran, “Iran had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons.”“This administration, or a prior version of this administration, pulled out of it, which caused then Iran to develop more nuclear capacity,” Obama said, referring to Trump’s decision to withdraw from that deal in 2018, despite the agreement also involving the European Union, Russia, China, the U.K., France, and Germany. International observers also said that Iran was complying with the JCPOA at the time.Obama faced criticism from the right and his own party over the nuclear agreement, but it had the support of the international community, and it didn’t leave the U.S. in a worse position. Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Iran is under fire from virtually everyone, including Democrats, Trump’s MAGA base, Republicans in Congress, and Israeli officials, who are calling it a “surrender” and “total capitulation.” In his speech at the opening of his library Thursday, Obama emphasized principles in the Constitution that Trump has flouted throughout his time in the Oval Office, and praised protesters in Minnesota who rallied against the Trump administration’s brutal immigration effort in the state, saying, “these are the values and traditions I believe in.” What values does Trump believe in, except for acting in his own self-interest?
Although the usual suspects are attacking Donald Trump on the Iran deal, the actual Memorandum of Understanding with Iran ending the current round of hostilities is actually a win for the United States - and a political boon for the president. Perhaps that's why his critics are so quick to criticize it. It's important to keep basic facts in mind: