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Vice President JD Vance asserted in a bombshell interview with Joe Rogan that some in the Israeli government want to derail US negotiations with Iran to keep the war going “indefinitely” — and he acknowledged the Trump administration “screwed up” the release of the Epstein files. “I know beyond a shadow of a doubt there have been people within the Israeli government who are trying to shift us away from [negotiations] because they want to continue the military campaign,” Vance told the popular podcaster during an episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience” released Wednesday. “There are some people within their...

President Donald Trump thanked Iran for a 'gesture of Goodwill' after an American woman who was 'wrongly detained' in 2024 was released from the country – while also taking a shot at the former President Biden. Trump showed gratitude for the gesture in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, adding that the woman was now outside the country and in 'good condition'. 'Iran has allowed an American Citizen, who was wrongfully detained in December of 2024 under the "presidency" of Sleepy Joe Biden, to leave the Country,' wrote the president. 'She is now safely outside of Iran, and in...

A New Jersey man says he was forced to change an anti-war T-shirt before boarding a United Airlines flight after a flight attendant deemed the message offensive. Sam Saadeh, of Linden, New Jersey, said he was boarding a June 4 flight from Atlanta to Newark Liberty International Airport while wearing a shirt reading, "Bombing kids is not self defense," when a United supervisor approached him shortly after he took his seat, according to CBS New York. Saadeh told the outlet he was "very confused" when he was pulled aside.

Former Navy Secretary John Phelan is calling on the help of Congress and the Pentagon to help the Navy work better, faster and smarter to keep up with U.S. adversaries.Phelan, in a new op-ed published Tuesday in The Washington Post, "The depleted Navy needs immediate rebuilding as dangers rise," argues that the United States is at most responsible for the current state of the naval fighting force. His heeded warning comes amid an ongoing war in Iran played on the backdrop of the major international shipping channel, the Strait of Hormuz, which has been strategically used by Iran to flummox...

President Trump on Tuesday backed off his proposed 20% toll for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz in favor of investment deals that Persian Gulf states will ink with the US. Trump in a Truth Social post said the decision was “[b]ased on highly productive conversations with Middle East Leadership.” “Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” he added... Trump announced the new tolling scheme on Monday, declaring that the US would be the “guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz and would collect a reimbursement equal to 20% of...

President Trump on Tuesday backed off his proposed 20% toll for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz in favor of investment deals that Persian Gulf states will ink with the US.Trump in a Truth Social post said the decision was “[b]ased on highly productive conversations with Middle East Leadership.” “Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” he added. Trump also claimed that exports of oil were “flowing like never before” thanks to recent US airstrikes on Iran, and “the Strait of Hormuz is open to All Ship traffic except...

President Donald Trump took back his 20% fee on all cargo transported through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, some twenty-four hours after first making the surprise announcement. In yet another yo-yo move of his tariff and trade policy, Trump claimed that he will replace the transit fee on the Strait with “trade and investment deals” for individual countries using the key energy hub. “Oil is flowing like never before, thanks to the awesome Power of the United States Military. A special salute to Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, and Commander...

Former Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been placed under house arrest by the country’s notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps following a failed Israeli plot to install him in place of the current theocratic regime, according to a stunning new report. The New York Times, citing four Iranian officials, reported Monday that the 69-year-old is being held by the IRGC’s intelligence wing after he left a safe house run by Israel’s Mossad. Before last week, Ahmadinejad had not been seen in public since an Israeli airstrike hit his compound in the early hours of Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28, after which...

Senate blocks NDAA S.4784, which included provisions expanding defense cooperation with Israel.The US Senate on Tuesday blocked advancement of Senate bill 4784 ,the National Defense Authorization Act, which included provisions expanding defense cooperation with Israel.Harrison Smith reported on this development on Tuesday’s edition of War Room:Alex Jones discussed Rep. Thomas Massie’s effort to prevent American military integration with the IDF on Tuesday’s episode of The Alex Jones Show:

US President Donald Trump urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call last week to begin withdrawing Israeli troops from southern Syria and Lebanon, Barak Ravid of Channel 12 and Axios reported Tuesday, citing American and Israeli officials.According to the report on the Thursday call, Trump warned that Israel’s military presence in Syrian territory is creating tensions that could lead to an escalation, telling Netanyahu, “They don’t want you there. You should redeploy.” He reportedly made a similar request regarding Lebanon......Netanyahu was said to push back, citing Israel’s security needs.

en. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy Captain and former astronaut, earned the ire of the Pentagon last week for raising concerns over U.S. weapons stockpiles that have been depleted by the Iran War. Citing a Department of Defense (DOD) briefing he had received, Kelly told CBS’s “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan it could take “years” to replenish stockpiles of Tomahawks, Patriots, and other long-range munitions that have been deployed in the U.S. and Israel’s attack on Iran—a reality that could leave the U.S. vulnerable around the world. Those comments prompted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to launch an investigation into...

A stable peace appears elusive, some former officials say President Trump’s new plan to wrest control of the Strait of Hormuz by resuming strikes and reimposing the blockade is his third major shift in military strategy as he searches for a way to turn the tables on Iran in the nearly five-month-old war. Trump has tried air and missile attacks, a naval quarantine and now the calibrated use of firepower to try to coerce Tehran to agree to his terms, in addition to diplomatic inducements. But Iran has exploited its proximity to a major oil export route to defy Washington...

US military personnel and contractors in the Middle East were targeted in a coordinated phone-tracking campaign before and during the Iran war, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing telecom data, cybersecurity experts and officials familiar with the matter. “Iran absolutely has capabilities to get real-time, immediate, and continuous location information,” Gary Miller, a senior research fellow at cybersecurity watchdog Citizen Lab, told the FT. “It would surprise me very much if Iran were not using SS7, or mobile network access in the region, to track US users.” Telecom networks under pressure Middle Eastern telecom networks, according to the report,...

The United States military has deployed advanced explosive sea drones in direct combat for the first time, hitting a vital naval maintenance port inside Iran and triggering swift Iranian drone and missile counterstrikes across the region. A major shift in maritime technology has moved the regional geopolitical theater into uncharted territory. American military forces executed a series of direct strikes against an Iranian naval stronghold, marking a significant development in current maritime operations. The deployment of advanced automated weaponry highlights a critical phase in the ongoing standoff over international shipping corridors. The tactical operation focused heavily on the Persian Gulf...

Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been put under house arrest by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after intelligence authorities uncovered his secret dealings with Israel, The New York Times has claimed. For years, Israel conducted a covert operation aimed at grooming Ahmadinejad as an intelligence asset who could be installed as Iran's new leader, American and Iranian sources told the newspaper. Israel even secretly transferred money to Ahmadinejad for housing and travel, while operatives met him abroad on several occasions. The discovery of the secret relationship is shocking given that Ahmadinejad was known for accelerating Tehran's nuclear programme, calling regularly...

Israel Prison Service Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi last week imposed new restrictions that significantly limit the International Committee of the Red Cross's visits to Palestinian security prisoners, despite a High Court ruling that found the blanket ban on such occasions, imposed after October 7, 2023, to be unlawful.

One in four Israelis now engages in harmful substance use as the psychological fallout from Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its expanding wars across the Middle East reshapes daily life, according to research cited by Haaretz. The Israeli Centre for Addiction and Mental Health said substance misuse had risen sharply since October 2023, when Israel launched its war on Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the rate stood at one in 10 Israelis. It climbed to one in seven during the pandemic before reaching about 25 percent after October 2023. The centre found that sedative use had...

The US congressman Ro Khanna says armed Israeli settlers detained him during a visit to the Israel-occupied West Bank recently, describing the experience as a first-hand view of the realities faced by Palestinians living under occupation. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday from a Palestinian village, the progressive US House Democrat from California said his detention happened the previous day while his delegation visited an area of the southern West Bank that has experienced repeated attacks by Israeli settlers. Khanna recounted how settlers carrying US-made M4 rifles surrounded the group’s van. “We were at a village that Israeli settlers...

NEW YORK, July 10 (Reuters) - U.S. drivers have seen gasoline prices climb again after weeks ​of steady declines, as renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran lifted crudeoilprices to their biggest weekly rise in eight weeks. Disruptions in the global refining ‌system and robust U.S. fuel exports further tightened supplies, and average pump prices rose 6 cents this week to $3.88 a gallon on Friday, AAA data showed. It was the biggest weekly increase since mid-May.

Iranian and Middle East diplomats held crisis talks in Oman Saturday to respond to the US demand that Tehran issue a public pledge to keep the Strait of Hormuz open – while reportedly weighing whether to propose a new travel route along the critical waterway. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was meeting with Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi in Muscat to discuss “safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz,” according to state media in Tehran. There were no indications top US officials were involved in the negotiations. Qatari officials, who have sometimes served in a mediating role between the warring...