U.S. and Iran exchange strikes, as violence escalates between Israel and Hezbollah

US homeland security secretary tells migrants to seek permanent status or leave

Markwayne Mullin’s remarks come after controversial supreme court ruling to strip TPS from over 350,000 peopleMigrants in the US on temporary protected status should seek permanent residence or leave, Markwayne Mullin, Homeland Security secretary, said in the wake of last week’s supreme court decision that stripped humanitarian protections from hundreds of thousands of immigrants.The remarks to CNN’s State of the Union program comes after a decision ⁠that could allow Donald Trump’s administration to deport Haitian and Syrian immigrants to home countries plagued by conflict and ​destitution. Continue reading...

'Stupid' Trump mocked by conservatives for revealing his ignorance on US passport basics

President Donald Trump's unveiling of a redesigned U.S. passport — complete with a "welcome" message and an image of himself — drew ridicule this week, with critics arguing the greeting makes no sense on a document meant for Americans traveling abroad.Trump had posted an image of what he called the new commemorative passport, marking the country's 250th anniversary, writing: "The U.S.A.'s New Passport, which says, 'Welcome, but be good!' President DJT." The design featured a photo of the president alongside patriotic imagery.The anti-Trump conservative outlet The Bulwark seized on the "welcome" framing in a segment by host Tim Miller, who questioned whether the president grasped the basic purpose of the document.In the video, Miller noted that Trump had updated the passport with the message "Welcome, but be good," then raised the obvious problem."This raises the question, does Donald Trump know what a passport is for? Welcome to who? The US passport is for Americans. We use it to go other places," Miller said.He framed the confusion as cause for concern about the president's faculties, in a line The Bulwark highlighted: "It's pretty concerning that the President of the United States either is so stupid that he doesn't know what a passport is or that his mentals are declining at such a rate that he's forgotten."Miller went on to mock the image of the president on the document, describing "a glowering president reminding Americans welcome in your own house, in your own country" — before working in a reference to Trump's legal history with the aside, "I've been indicted several times."He closed with a note of resignation: "This is it, I guess. This is real life."Conservative commentator and Bulwark contributor Bill Kristol also amplified the segment, calling Miller's take "very good" and adding his own variation on the critique."Trump clearly doesn't understand that a passport is for Americans, since the message he's delivering is suitable for a visa for foreigners," Kristol wrote.

Hezbollah's leader rejects U.S.-Israeli brokered ceasefire

The leader of Hezbollah rejected the U.S.-Israel-brokered ceasefire. The deal would require Hezbollah to disarm, which Holly Williams reports would be difficult.

Iran doubles down on control of Strait of Hormuz after weekend of violence — as shipping traffic plummets

Just 10 ships crossed on Saturday, compared with 40 to 50 earlier in the week.

Trump's war backfires as Iran now declares it must 'obtain the atomic bomb': MAGA expert

Iranian state media has reportedly declared that the country now has "no choice but to obtain the atomic bomb," according to a post circulating online — a statement that, if accurate, would mark a dramatic escalation amid the ongoing exchange of strikes between the U.S. and Iran.The claim was relayed by the account The Hormuz Letter, which posted what it described as a breaking statement from Iranian state media. According to that post, Iranian state media argued the country must "absolutely reach nuclear deterrence" before current negotiations can be conducted, framing the pursuit of a weapon as necessary to remove what it called "the military option for the occupation and partitioning of Iran" from the table.The reported statement seized the attention of David Pyne, an America First conservative who posts under @AmericaFirstCon and who has been sharply critical of the administration's handling of Iran. Pyne argued the development vindicated his earlier warnings about the consequences of President Donald Trump's approach."Iran is responding to Trump's continued nuclear threats against it by building more nuclear missiles just as I predicted they would do," Pyne wrote. He contended that "Trump's war on Iran hasn't reduced Iran's nuclear threat in any way" but had instead "served to greatly magnify and expand Iran's nuclear threat against the US and Israel."Pyne went further, delivering a stinging assessment of the president's broader record."Trump's disastrous foreign policy and endless unwinnable wars make Jimmy Carter look like a veritable foreign policy genius by comparison," he wrote.The reported statement also caught the attention of Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, who reacted with unease. "Ugh. Hope it's just bluster; fear it is not," McFaul wrote, sharing the same post.The reported declaration comes against the backdrop of a rapidly deteriorating ceasefire, with the U.S. carrying out repeated strikes on Iranian targets in recent days and Trump himself warning that "the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist" if forced to "militarily complete the job." Trump has also continued to insist that "Iran will never have a Nuclear Weapon."The Iranian framing — that only a nuclear deterrent can forestall foreign intervention — runs directly counter to the administration's stated goal of ending Tehran's weapons ambitions, and underscores the risk that the military campaign could harden rather than halt Iran's nuclear drive.

Mamdani Accuses Israel Of Religious Favoritism, Trips Over Saudi Arabia And Iran

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani launched an intellectually dishonest attack on Israel that wouldn’t survive five minutes of scrutiny. Asked point-blank whether he supports Israel as a Jewish state, he waffled, hedged, and retreated into a fog of false equivalence. Don’t be fooled. This wasn’t principle. It was pandering dressed up as philosophy. Reporter: Israel ...

US Ambassador Slams Iran: No More Free Shipping Attacks

Iran must develop nuclear bomb to protect ‘peace and calm,’ IRGC media says — despite pledge to Trump

Iran has "no choice" but to develop a nuclear bomb, a media outlet linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said — the latest threat to the US-organized peace deal.