Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military carried out three strikes Monday in the waters of the Eastern Pacific against boats suspected of carrying drugs, killing 14 and leaving one survivor. The announcement made on social media Tuesday, marks a continued escalation in the pace of the strikes, which began in early September spaced weeks apart. This was the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day

Foreign media are now required to obtain prior military censorship approval before filming missile impact and crash sites. Foreign photographers will no longer be allowed to film at the scenes of missile strikes in Israel without prior written approval from military censors, under new directives issued by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi. ...

Natanz Initial assessments indicate that Israel’s strikes on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility were extremely effective, going far beyond superficial damage to exterior structures and knocking out the electricity on the lower levels where the centrifuges used to enrich uranium are stored, two US officials told CNN. “This was a full-spectrum blitz,” said another source familiar with the assessments. The strikes destroyed the above-ground part of Natanz’s Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant, a sprawling site that has been operating since 2003 and where Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity Satellite images, taken before and after the strikes, give a...