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President Trump is sending the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest warship, to the Middle East, along with a huge fleet of aerial refueling tankers and F-22 and F-35 strike fighters, according to reports. It would join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group in the Middle East as a major show of force amid US negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. The Ford — America’s most advanced aircraft carrier and the largest ever built — is designed to carry more than 75 aircraft, including F-35C Lightning II stealth fighters and F/A-18F Super Hornets, as well as EA-18G...

Oil smuggling has been so enormously profitable that no matter how many obstacles Washington and Brussels put up, the barrels kept flowing. With a daily turnover of $1 billion, the black market has been just too attractive. For the first time, however, I see cracks in the illicit business. Millions of barrels of unsold Iranian and Russian crude are accumulating in storage. The reason isn’t just more U.S. and European sanctions and political pressure. Sure, they’ve helped. But the key factor is more mundane: The buyers of sanctioned crude oil have plenty of alternative aboveboard barrels available — at reasonable...

“ TEHRAN, Feb. 18 (MNA) – The Russian Defense Ministry has released a video showing that Russian and Iranian navies hold maneuvers in the Oman Gulf The Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russia and Iran have held joint naval operations in the Gulf of Oman. Iran’s fleet is joined by the Russian corvette Stoiky, whose crew took part in joint ceremonial events in the port of Bandar Abbas, the report said. The sailors from both sides synchronize their actions to ensure safe navigation. Earlier, media have cited the Russian defense ministry as saying that Iran and Russia will hold joint...

The 162-article draft "constitution," however, shows that, if and when the Palestinians have a state of their own, it would actually not be different from the two mini-states they have had for the past two decades: the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank. Both Palestinian regimes have miserably failed their people, mainly by depriving them of international aid, democracy, opportunity, free elections, and freedom of speech. Notably, the new "constitution" repeats and reaffirms the long-standing and familiar positions and policies of the PA and Hamas, especially towards Israel and Jews. These...

The Trump administration is closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize. It could begin very soon.Why it matters: A U.S. military operation in Iran would likely be a massive, weeks-long campaign that would look more like full-fledged war than last month's pinpoint operation in Venezuela, sources say.The sources noted it would likely be a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign that's much broader in scope — and more existential for the regime — than the Israeli-led 12-day war last June, which the U.S. eventually joined to take out Iran's underground nuclear facilities. Such a war would have...

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general declared the United States is “finished” and claimed that even deploying America’s entire aircraft carrier fleet against Iran “won’t be able to do a damn thing” as U.S. and Iranian officials concluded a second round of nuclear talks in Geneva Tuesday under the shadow of an expanding American military buildup across the Middle East. General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, a senior adviser to the IRGC’s commander-in-chief, made the remarks last Wednesday in comments to an Iranian state-affiliated news agency, according to a translation released by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “Even...

Global energy markets were put on alert after Iran temporarily restricted movement in parts of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most strategically important oil transit routes on Earth. The move came as Tehran simultaneously engaged in sensitive diplomatic talks with the United States over its nuclear program, underscoring how quickly geopolitical tensions in the Middle East can ripple through global markets. While the disruption was limited and short lived, investors, energy traders, and policymakers immediately focused on what the action signals about regional stability, oil supply risks, and the broader geopolitical chess match between Iran and the West....

As high-stakes nuclear negotiations resumed Tuesday in Geneva under mounting U.S. military pressure, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei taunted President Donald Trump and warned that American warships could be sent “to the bottom of the sea,” denouncing the United States as a “corrupt, oppressive empire” in decline. In a series of posts on Tuesday, Ali Khamenei published multiple statements on X escalating his rhetoric against the United States and directly challenging the President Trump and American military power. The remarks came just one day after Trump said he would be “indirectly” involved in the Geneva talks and warned that...

While some dubious policies linger from the Biden administration years, even some Trump administration policy steps in the Middle East — Gaza, Iran, and Syria especially — raise questions about this administration’s and its envoys’ understanding of realities of Islam, jihad, and sharia. ...So far, so good for the Trump administration, but then:“‘No Idea’ of Threat Posed by Afghan Parole Program, Senator Warns” by Virginia Allen at the Daily Signal, January 15, 2026“The Trump Administration’s Delusional Gaza ‘Master Plan’” by Khaled Abu Toameh at the Gatestone Institute, February 3, 2026At the recent annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF)...

The Jerusalem Post @Jerusalem_Post: Editorial: For the first time during the war, a major international organization has publicly recognized the presence of armed groups operating within a Gaza hospital.

Iran is pursuing a nuclear agreement with the U.S. that delivers economic benefits for both sides, an Iranian diplomat was reported as saying on Sunday, days before a second round of talks between Tehran and Washington. Iran and the U.S. renewed negotiations earlier this month to tackle their decades-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program and avert a new military confrontation. The U.S. has dispatched a second aircraft carrier to the region and is preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks do not succeed, U.S. officials have told Reuters. “For the sake of an agreement’s durability,...

The United States has directed its military forces in the Middle East to prepare for potentially extended operations against Iran, positioning them for action should President Donald Trump order strikes on the Islamic Republic. It remains unclear whether Trump will pursue a diplomatic solution or move toward military action against the Iranian regime. Speaking to U.S. forces at a base in North Carolina on Friday, Trump said it has "been difficult to make a deal." "Sometimes you have to have fear. That's the only thing that really will get the situation taken care of," Trump told the U.S. troops. White...

-Excerpt- Banging drums and chanting for regime change, the giant and boisterous rally in Munich was part of what Pahlavi described as a “global day of action” to support Iranians in the wake of deadly nationwide protests. He also called for demonstrations in Los Angeles and Toronto. Police said in a post on X that the number of protesters reached some 250,000, more than the organizers had expected. -excerpt- An estimated 350,000 people marched on the streets of Toronto as part of the Global Day of Action Rally, Toronto Police spokesperson Laura Brabant said.

Iran’s exiled crown princess joined tens of thousands of demonstrators for a “Global Day of Action” in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to show support for Iranian people fighting Tehran’s brutal Islamic regime. Noor Pahlavi spoke at the massive rally, which saw attendees waving flags and unfurling massive banners reading “Help Is On Its Way.” “This is not just a protest — this is a declaration of a nation reclaiming itself,” said Pahlavi, the daughter of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who has called for global protests to increase pressure on Iran. “Fear, the chief weapon in the Islamic Republic’s arsenal,...

Speaking at the 2026 edition of the Munich Security Conference, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the UN has "tremendous potential," but needs reforms to be of real use.

Over a year has passed since the world saw the terrified face of Arbel Yehoud forced to walk through a baying mob of Hamas terrorists to freedom. Only now does the 30-year-old feel strong enough to reveal that this sickening spectacle was just the last act in a monstrous campaign of abuse unleashed throughout her 482 days held in Gaza.

Nickolay Mladenov, the head diplomat in charge of the Board of Peace's subcommittee on the Gaza ceasefire, stressed on Friday that all armed groups in the Gaza Strip must disarm. Mladenov was responding on social media to a post by Aaron Goren, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who wondered why Mladenov refused to respond to a question on whether reports that Hamas will only be partially disarmed as part of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan are accurate. “I've made it very clear that all militants in Gaza need to be disarmed and there is...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., alleged at the Munich Security Conference on Friday that U.S. aid to the Jewish state enabled a genocide by Israel. AOC’s attack on the Jewish state in Munich unfolded in the birthplace of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi movement that carried out the worst genocide in human history. During the town hall event in Munich, the Squad member said, "To me, this isn't just about a presidential election. Personally, I think that the United States has an obligation to uphold its own laws, particularly the Leahy laws. And I think that personally, that the idea of completely unconditional...

The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen between the countries. The disclosure by the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the planning, raises the stakes for the diplomacy underway between the United States and Iran. U.S. and Iranian diplomats held talks in Oman last week in an effort to revive diplomacy over Tehran's nuclear program, after Trump amassed military forces in the...

PORT ORANGE, Fla. — A Florida couple was arrested after a game of pickleball escalated into a fight, authorities said. According to Volusia County Sheriff’s Office online booking records, Anthony Edward Sapienza, 63, and his wife, Julianne Sapienza, 51, both of Ponce Inlet, were arrested on Feb. 8. ... While five people on the court were directly involved in the fight, it was unclear how many other witnesses participated. The affidavit stated that 20 people were involved.