Trump Vows More Attacks on Iran, Says US Will Take Kharg Island

Trump stuns with 'insane' Iran update on Fox & Friends

President Donald Trump lobbed a series of outrageous statements about the Iran war Thursday morning during a call to "Fox & Friends."The 79-year-old president phoned in to the show he regularly watches to provide an update on the war, which he has escalated in recent days in response to the downing of a U.S. Army helicopter, and he complained at length about media coverage of the conflict, saying that Iranian officials have told him they appreciate the assistance from American journalists."You read the Wall Street Journal, they had an editorial today [suggesting] we're not hitting them hard enough," Trump said, chuckling. "Not hitting them hard enough? We dropped $250 million of bombs on them last night – you know, the whole thing is crazy. They're really in submission. They just don't know it yet."Trump also claimed that he's growing less interested in reaching a peace deal and suggested he would like to escalate the war even further."I don't know if America has the appetite to do what I would really much prefer doing," he said. "You remember in Iraq, I said, 'Don't go in,' but they went in, they made a big mistake, it should have never – you know, that war lasted for 10 years. It killed tens of thousands of people, millions of people on both sides, millions of people – nobody ever reported that.""We've lost 13 soldiers in two wars. In Venezuela, we lost none, took over the country, and in Iraq -- in Iran we lost 13," he added. "In Vietnam, we lost hundreds of thousands, 19 years – nobody says that. They say, three months, you've been there for three months. They've gone crazy because I've been there for three months."The president's statements astounded observers."It was 58K in Vietnam," pointed out market analyst Chris Beauchamp, adding a vulgar acronym."If he were a serious person I would assume he means he would have approved the use of nuclear weapons," posted popular Bluesky user Philo of Alexan. "He is not a serious person, so this is just the usual Trump empty bragging.""We wasted $250 million to make gas prices in America even higher… is not the flex he thinks it is," opined Friendly Atheist blogger Hemant Mehta."We dropped 1/7th of Trump’s slush fund on Iran last night," said political scientist Michael McDonald."To put this $250 million figure in context, that's the cost of 31 no-bid fountain repairs," noted the Majority Democrats' account."This would have fed and housed thousands of Americans," sighed widely followed X user Molly Ploofkins."Last week they cut $200 million from the WIC program to help pregnant women afford food," added Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI)."Trump bragging about literally lighting our tax dollars on fire in his idiotic war as Republicans start pushing for even more Medicaid cuts," snarled popular X user Jesse Lee."Legitimately impressed in our collectively rationalize away the fact that the president is insane," marveled political scientist Josh Zingher. "We experiencing a level of mass delusion most societies could only dream of."

Watch live: Blanche, Mullin give remarks on Trump’s immigration efforts

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin will speak with reporters Thursday morning about the Trump administration’s efforts to protect unaccompanied migrant children. The joint press conference comes as the administration has faced scrutiny over President Trump‘s sweeping immigration enforcement and deportation agenda. It also comes a day…

Arizona Trump backer begs court to stop Stephen Miller's group from election 'power grab'

The prospect that a group tied to White House adviser Stephen Miller may be working behind the scenes to meddle in the upcoming election has become so alarming that an Arizona county attorney, who endorsed Donald Trump for president, has asked a court to intervene.According to MS NOW reporting by Ja'han Jones, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell—who gained national prominence questioning Christine Blasey Ford during Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing—is leading the charge against America First Legal's influence over the Maricopa County Recorder's Office, which administers elections.Recorder Justin Heap, who has previously encouraged the Trump administration's attempts to seize sensitive Arizona voter data, has allegedly allowed America First Legal to exercise sweeping authority over his office. This comes as Trump has openly called for Republicans to "take over the voting" in major cities, including Phoenix.In a June 8 legal filing, Mitchell's lawyers asked Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney to rein in America First Legal, describing the group's actions as an "unprecedented power grab.""The Recorder lacks any explicit or implicit statutory authority to hire outside counsel—let alone a partisan organization—to serve as in-house counsel on 'all' matters under his 'purview,'" Mitchell's lawyers wrote, according to the Arizona Republic.According to Jones, America First Legal is advising Heap's office as he battles the Republican-controlled Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in a dispute over official powers. According to Democracy Docket, the conflict escalated when Heap allegedly seized election equipment and provisional ballot envelopes while votes were being cast in a March local election, prompting county supervisors to warn of "grave chain-of-custody concerns."Mitchell's legal team identified six examples of America First Legal exceeding its intended scope, according to Arizona Republic reporting. The group has claimed authority over all early voting matters, directed election officials to disregard directives from Mitchell's office, threatened prosecution over drop boxes, and sent warning letters signaling new litigation against the board.According to Jones, "The fact that even conservative officials are sounding the alarm here shows how extreme, unprecedented and potentially threatening to democracy this situation could prove to be."

Secret gathering lays out plan to stop Trump from 'perverting the election'

A group of 10 Democratic senators and the party's top election lawyers quietly convened to game out responses to what they fear could be an unprecedented attempt to disrupt or overturn the results of this fall's midterm elections.The closed-door session, first reported by Politico, brought together a roster of high-profile legal and political strategists, including former Attorney General Eric Holder and prominent Democratic election attorney Marc Elias, to walk senators through a series of extreme yet increasingly plausible scenarios. Among them: armed federal agents stationed at polling locations, the Justice Department seizing ballots in competitive races and a foreign-backed disinformation campaign powered by AI-generated deepfakes."Trump has talked about stealing the election, violating the election, perverting the election, over and over again," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who convened last week's meeting. "We are going to be prepared for anything that he throws at us."The tabletop exercises, the first major effort from an election-protection task force Schumer launched earlier this year, produced concrete legal playbooks. Participants mapped out injunctions to block armed agents or citizens from appearing at voting sites, and drafted lawsuit strategies to compel the Trump administration to return ballots if confiscated in key battleground contests. They also coordinated messaging plans to counter disinformation in real time across campaigns, elected officials and advocacy groups.Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) were among those who participated, and a second exercise is already being scheduled for July.The urgency behind the effort stems from a string of actions the Trump administration has already taken. It has seized 2020 ballots from swing counties in Georgia and Arizona, sought confidential voter files from nearly every state, and pushed executive orders aimed at restricting mail-in voting and federalizing parts of the election process. When asked last month whether he would send troops or immigration agents to polling sites, Trump said he would do "anything necessary" to ensure honest elections.Democrats are careful to acknowledge the limits of their power as the minority party — they cannot force hearings, and most legal battles are expected to be fought by state attorneys general and outside groups rather than Congress. Some in the party have also privately warned against catastrophizing the issue, noting it could suppress Democratic turnout as much as Republican tactics.“This administration is one that wants people to feel alone, they want people to be afraid," said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, who took part in the war games. “This exercise is actually an exercise in confidence and trustbuilding."But Schumer signaled the preparations will continue regardless."We know that the threats are broad," Schumer said. "They evolve, and we're preparing for them."

Trump vows to seize Iran's oil and 'assume total control' in stunning Truth Social post

President Donald Trump proclaimed on Truth Social on Thursday morning that not only would the United States engage in new offensives against Iran, they are gearing up for an invasion of the country and a seizure of its oil industry."The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT," wrote Trump. Furthermore, he added, "At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America."As of now, Trump's claims about the takeover of Venezuelan oil "working out brilliantly" are unverifiable, because there has been next to no transparency about how that money is being spent.Kharg Island is a major hub for Iran's oil infrastructure, and U.S. forces have attacked it in the past — though experts are highly skeptical that a full invasion and seizure of the island would be defensible.This comes shortly after Trump boasted that he had secretly secured the passage of 100 million barrels of oil through the still-blockaded Strait of Hormuz, a claim analysts say is impossible.

Trump says US will hit Iran again and ‘will be taking Kharg Island’

President Trump on Thursday morning vowed more attacks on Iran and threatened to seize Kharg Island, after the two countries exchanged fresh strikes this week. “The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY…

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'Hit them again': US fires scores of Tomahawks into Iran after Apache helicopter shot down

Iran and the United States have riddled their fragile ceasefire with missiles in the 14th week of the war.President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that the U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter downed while patrolling the Strait of Hormuz on Monday had been shot down by Iranian forces. While the uninjured pilots were rescued, the president stressed that "the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack."'US forces remain vigilant, lethal, and ready.'Hours later, U.S. Central Command announced that it had begun launching "self-defense strikes," which it characterized as a "proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression."Early Wednesday, Trump noted on Truth Social that "they’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!"The president clarified later in the day that more American strikes were forthcoming."We hit them hard yesterday. We're going to hit them again hard today, in case you miss it, in case you don’t turn on your television set, and we’ll see what happens with the deal," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.On Wednesday evening, CENTCOM launched another series of "self-defense" strikes, stating afterward that it had targeted "Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defense sites across Iran."RELATED: US Apache helicopter crashes near Strait of Hormuz on 100th day of Iran war; Trump says end in sight Ford Williams/U.S. Navy/Getty ImagesIranian media claimed, however, that among the structures damaged in the American strikes was a pair of water tanks in the south of the country with a combined capacity of 2.5 million liters — tanks said to have supplied water to tens of thousands of civilians. When asked by the New York Times about reports of damage to water facilities, CENTCOM declined to comment."U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy assets fired precision munitions on Iranian targets that posed a threat to U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters," CENTCOM said in a statement. "The strikes are in response to Iran's unwarranted and continued aggression. U.S. forces remain vigilant, lethal, and ready."According to Trey Yingst, an Israel-based Fox News reporter, Trump said that the U.S. fired at least 49 Tomahawk missiles into Iran and executed bombings via fighter jets, hitting targets as close as 40 miles outside Tehran. Trump also reportedly said that if the Iranians don't sign the peace agreement, "we'll bomb the s**t out of them."Iranian state media reported on Thursday that in retaliation for the American strikes, "18 important targets belonging to the U.S. military in the region were successfully hit during two operational waves following the recent aggression against Iranian territorial integrity."The Iranians maintain that their attacks constitute self-defense "as recognized under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations."According to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the targets were located "at the Al-Salem and Ahmad al-Jaber air bases, as well as the Sheikh Isa air base."Citing an unnamed military official, Jordanian state media reported that 20 missiles had been intercepted and neutralized by the country's air defense systems, adding there had been no human casualties or material damage.Iranian drones and "hostile aerial targets" were reportedly intercepted over Bahrain and Kuwait.While Iranian media also claimed that the Strait of Hormuz had been completely closed in response to the American strikes, CENTCOM stated on Wednesday evening that "commercial ships are continuing to transit in and out of the Strait of Hormuz."Trump emphasized on Wednesday that "the UNITED STATES of AMERICA CONTROLS the Strait of Hormuz — NOT Iran."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!