Iran's military says it reserves the "legitimate and definite" right to retaliate against any U.S. ceasefire violations.
Iran said Tuesday that it would retaliate against violations of its ongoing ceasefire agreement, after US Central Command on Monday confirmed that it had launched strikes on Iranian vessels.
A lack of security clearance didn’t stop a former U.S. official from spouting off on negotiations in Iran, including his hopes to see them “break down” as […]
Israel says it will intensify attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon and U.S. military struck Iranian boats and missile launch sites as envoys continued negotiations for a deal that would end the three-month war.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie has vowed to go scorched earth on the Trump administration—by unveiling previously unmentioned names related to the Epstein files.The rogue Kentucky lawmaker pointed fingers at Donald and Melania Trump during an interview with NBC News’s Meet the Press Sunday, claiming that the first lady is well aware that the Justice Department’s public rollout of its investigation into the pedophilic web is incomplete. Acting Attorney General “Todd Blanche is violating the law; there’s still millions of files they haven’t released,” Massies said. “We know from talking to the victims’ lawyers that their own 302 forms haven’t been released. We know the files have been over-redacted.“I have released at least three names of billionaires who are implicated in this. I don’t think it’s possible to get to convictions with Todd Blanche at the top, and with the FBI Director Kash Patel at the top, because they’ve effectively both perjured themselves by saying that there’s nobody else in the files.“Even Melania doesn’t believe that: The first lady knows that Jeffrey Epstein didn’t act alone,” Massie said.Last month, Melania delivered an oddly timed public address that surprised even the president. In a short speech, she denied having any sort of relationship with Epstein or his longtime girlfriend and criminal associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. She also criticized media coverage that tied the three of them together (despite their having been photographed together), and called on Congress to allow Epstein’s victims to testify. Trump was reportedly not informed of what his wife would tell the public ahead of time, but said afterward that the content of Melania’s speech didn’t “bother” him and that she “had a right to talk about it.”Massie underscored that the Epstein Files Transparency Act “is a law” that will force the files’ release “for years.”“So, if we can’t get this attorney general and this FBI director to do the right thing, the next ones who take those seats are obligated by law to release the files that these individuals are not releasing now,” Massie concluded.Massie—a longtime critic of the president—lost his primary race last week to a Trump-backed candidate. But even before the primary vote, Massie had become increasingly unbeholden to MAGA loyalties, voting (and speaking) his mind, much to the president’s chagrin.
Negotiations remain in flux, but we’re a long way from ‘Unconditional Surrender.’
Despite an agreement to end the U.S. war against Iran appearing within reach on Saturday, the negotiations look poised to fail due to one critical “ability” President Donald Trump lacks, and one that former President Ronald Reagan demonstrated decisively during his first term in office, a political analyst and expert warned this week.Trump boasted on Saturday that a deal to end the war had “been largely negotiated," but within days, jeopardized his own negotiations by floating a last-minute demand to Middle East nations, as well as by authorizing new strikes targeting Iran on Monday.And yet, while Trump’s actions have been scrutinized for potentially compromising a path toward a negotiated settlement, Trita Parsi, co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, warned on Monday that the president was not the “greatest threat” to achieving peace.“In recent days, it was not the Persian Gulf that emerged as the greatest threat to the agreement. It was Israel’s potential refusal to fully adhere to the regional ceasefire and halt its bombardment of Lebanon. That danger remains acute,” Parsi wrote in an analysis published on his Substack Monday.Iran has demanded that Israel halt its bombardment of southern Lebanon as a key condition in its negotiations with the Trump administration, a demand that Israel has largely ignored. On Friday, Israel launched what’s referred to as a “double tap” strike in southern Lebanon – following up an initial strike with a second to target emergency responders such as paramedics. More than 3,100 Lebanese have been killed by Israeli air strikes since early March and nearly 10,000 wounded, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.To secure a peace deal, Trump could demand Israel’s compliance, much as he unsuccessfully tried to do in April when he explicitly demanded Israel halt its attacks on Lebanon. Israel strikes continued, however, with Parsi noting a similar scenario that occurred in 1982, though one that elicited a very different response by the U.S. president at the time.“Trump could still choose to put American interests first and compel Israel to comply, much as Ronald Reagan did in 1982 when he pressured Prime Minister Menachem Begin to halt Israel’s devastating assault on Lebanon,” Parsi wrote. “Reagan reportedly expressed outrage at the bombardment of Beirut, warning Begin that America’s support could not be taken for granted. Within hours, the bombing stopped. Trump, by contrast, has thus far shown little ability to ensure sustained Israeli compliance with his demands.”
Writing at The Bulwark, Bill Kristol is pointing to three Republican Senators who over recent days told the truth about President Donald Trump’s war in Iran and possible deals to end it. The longtime conservative columnist who recently became a Democrat calls their remarks a “brief spasm of Republican truth-telling,” and “a step on the road to recovery” but warns that “the damage that’s been done is real.”U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) on Friday warned that Trump was “being ill advised to pursue a deal that would not be worth the paper it is written on. Further pursuit of an agreement with Iran’s Islamist regime risks a perception of weakness.” One day later, Wicker continued his warning: “The rumored 60-day ceasefire — with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith — would be a disaster. Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!” U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) also weighed in, saying he was “deeply concerned about what we are hearing about an Iran ‘deal,’ being pushed by some voices in the administration.”He called Trump’s decision to strike Iran “the most consequential decision of his second term,” but also issued a warning: “If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime—still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’—now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake.”Kristol also pointed to “lickspittle extraordinaire” U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) who dared to issue criticism.“If a deal is struck to end the Iranian conflict because it is believed that the Strait of Hormuz cannot be protected from Iranian terrorism and Iran still possesses the capability to destroy major Gulf oil infrastructure,” Graham said, “then Iran will be perceived as being a dominate [sic] force requiring a diplomatic solution.” Graham also mused, “it makes one wonder why the war started to begin with if these perceptions are accurate.”Kristol answered Graham’s musing: “The war started because Trump and his administration are foolish and reckless and hubristic, and those in a position to check him—like Sens. Wicker and Cruz and Graham—have utterly failed to do so.”
Is President Trump’s grip on the party faltering? Tuesday’s Texas GOP primary race, particularly the contest between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton, will be a test. What comes next after the controversial autopsy on the Democratic Party’s 2024 losses? Join The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Editor in Chief Ian Swanson…