Nikki Haley slams Democrats who say Iranian regime ‘was no threat to America’: ‘Absurd’
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley slammed Democrats who claim that the Iranian regime was not a threat to the U.S., calling the notion “absurd.” “It’s absurd for Democrats to say the Iranian regime was no threat to America. For decades, they targeted American troops, made the spread of terrorism a priority, relentlessly pursued nuclear weapons, built missiles aimed at our bases, and plotted assassinations against President Trump and other U.S. leaders — myself included — on American soil,” Haley said on X. “When they chanted ‘Death to America,’ they meant all of us, at any cost,” she added. Haley told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum that the U.S. and Israel’s joint military offensive, Operation Epic Fury, was a “history-defining moment.” She added that for President Donald Trump, her former boss-turned-political rival, it was a “legacy defining moment.” LONGTIME TRUMP CRITIC CREDITS HIM FOR RESTORING ‘CREDIBILITY OF US DETERRENCE’ AS IRAN STRIKES UNFOLD “They attempted to do diplomacy, and the Iranian Regime did what they always do. They lie, they cheat, they never tell the truth, and they always want to make sure in the back of their minds they want to harm people,” Haley told MacCallum. “And we saw this when we got out of the Iranian deal, you know, years ago, that they were cheating then. I think that they were trying to get away with cheating now, and I think the Trump administration saw through that.” The launch of Operation Epic Fury caused a sharp divide within the Democratic Party, with major players praising and criticizing the attacks. Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., both of whom called the launch of Operation Epic Fury “illegal,” are among the most vocal critics. Additionally, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., claimed that the operation lacked “strategic clarity” and called for a vote on a war powers resolution. LIZ PEEK: DEMOCRATS RAGE OVER TRUMP’S IRAN STRIKES AS EXILES CHEER AYATOLLAH’S FALL “Confronting Iran’s malign regional activities, nuclear ambitions, and harsh oppression of the Iranian people demands American strength, resolve, regional coordination, and strategic clarity. Unfortunately, President Trump’s fitful cycles of lashing out and risking wider conflict are not a viable strategy,” Schumer said in a statement. “The Senate should quickly return to session and reassert its constitutional duty by passing our resolution to enforce the War Powers Act,” Schumer added. On Feb. 28, when the strikes began, Kaine said that Trump “launched an unnecessary, idiotic, and illegal war against Iran that puts America’s servicemembers and embassy personnel at risk.” Kaine, as well as some other Democrats, called for Congress to return to Washington to vote on his war powers resolution. The resolution, which focused on Iran, was filed in January. Sanders also issued a statement on Saturday criticizing the operation in which he slammed both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Vermont senator said Trump and Netanyahu had started an “illegal, premeditated and unconstitutional war” against Iran. Sanders, like Kaine, called for a vote on a war powers resolution. “This attack against Iran is a clear violation of international law and will create increased instability in an already dangerous world. If the United States and Israel can launch an attack against a sovereign nation, so can any other country. Might does not make right. It creates international anarchy, death, destruction and human misery,” Sanders’ statement read. IRANIAN-AMERICAN JOURNALIST CALLS OUT MAMDANI OVER RESPONSE TO US-ISRAEL STRIKES “We must not allow Trump to force us into another senseless war. No war with Iran,” he added. There are Democrats who have praised the operation, including Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has said that he would be a “hard no” if Democrats forced a war powers resolution vote. “President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region. God bless the United States, our great military, and Israel,” Fetterman wrote on X as Operation Epic Fury began. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., also praised the operation, saying that “confronting the Iranian threat is essential to national security and to global stability.” He also called on the president to comply with the War Powers Act and said that he “requested an immediate classified briefing” on the operation. “Today, the United States, with our key democratic ally Israel, took decisive action to defend our national security, fight terror, protect our allies, and stand with the Iranian people who have been massacred in the streets for demanding freedom from the murderous Iranian regime,” Gottheimer said. “I applaud the extraordinary bravery and professionalism of our servicemembers and pray for their safety as Iran and its terrorist proxies retaliate against American bases and our partners in the region,” he added.
‘You should be ashamed!’: Protester dragged from Kristi Noem’s Senate hearing
A protester was escorted out of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing after she interrupted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s opening remarks on Tuesday, shouting “Abolish ICE” and “Kristi Noem, you should be ashamed of yourself!” before being forcibly removed from the room. “I’m a former FEMA employee,” the heckler said as Noem was slated to begin addressing the panel, adding: “You have disgraced our agency.” “FEMA employees… should be responding to disasters, not ICE agents,” she said. The heckler appeared to trip or fall to the ground as she was being escorted from the hearing, as could be seen in video footage of the exchange. DHS FUNDING STALEMATE THAWS AS WHITE HOUSE SENDS DEMOCRATS ‘SERIOUS’ COUNTER OFFER The exchange occurred during a Senate Judiciary Committee DHS oversight hearing — a long-awaited hearing that comes after the fatal January shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by immigration officials. Congress has for weeks remained deadlocked over how to proceed with fully funding DHS, after Democrats outlined a series of steps the agency would need to take before it would agree to fully fund the agency. Republicans and Noem have warned the shutdown has knockdown effects on myriad federal departments and agencies housed under DHS’s sprawling umbrella — among them, the Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration, FEMA and U.S. Coast Guard. After the heckler was removed, Noem continued with her opening remarks, unfazed, though she did comment on the general behavior of protesters later on after several groups and individuals were escorted from the room. DHS SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM ADDRESSES CALLS FOR HER FIRING, NEW ALEX PRETTI VIDEO “This is what happens when people can’t handle the truth about the border,” Noem said. “We will not be intimidated.” DHS’ handling of the Minnesota unrest has placed Noem and DHS’ immigration officers under fresh scrutiny in recent months, prompting some Democrats — and two Senate Republicans, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — to call for her resignation. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, previously stressed that lawmakers from across the aisle intend to use Tuesday’s hearing to focus on the violence. DEMOCRATS DEMANDING ICE REFORMS LOSE AIRPORT ESCORTS IN SHUTDOWN THEY TRIGGERED “Let me be clear, one death is too many,” he told Fox News. “But officers should never be threatened or harmed while enforcing our laws, and there is a clear difference between the conduct protected by the First Amendment and unlawful obstruction,” he added. “From my perspective, I believe immigration enforcement and dignity aren’t mutually exclusive.” DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for confirmation on the identity of the heckler in question.
Sharp partisan divide emerges over Iran strike, Trump’s strategy: polls
The findings of two new national polls conducted in the hours after President Donald Trump launched strikes on Iran are clear — only a minority of Americans approve of the operation and Democrats and Republicans don’t see eye to eye over the attacks. Twenty-seven percent of those questioned in a Reuters/Ipsos national survey conducted Saturday and Sunday after the start of “Operation Epic Fury” by American and Israeli forces on Iran that resulted in the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said they approved of the strikes. A plurality, 43%, said they disapproved, with nearly three in 10 not sure. There were similar findings in a CNN poll conducted by SSRS that was also in the field this past weekend. HEAD HERE FOR FOX NEWS LIVE UPDATES ON THE ATTACK ON IRAN Fifty-nine percent of Americans surveyed in the poll said they disapproved of the initial decision to strike Iran, with 41% giving a thumbs up. As expected, there’s a wide divide between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans questioned in the Reuters/Ipsos poll, by a 55%-32% margin, were supportive of the military action. The vast majority of Democrats, 73%, disapproved of the strikes, with only 7% saying they approved. A plurality of independents, 44%, disapproved of the military attack, with 19% supportive and nearly four in 10 unsure. WHAT VICE PRESIDENT VANCE TOLD FOX NEWS ABOUT TRUMP’S DECISION TO LAUNCH ATTACKS ON IRAN The partisan gap was even wider in the CNN poll. More than three-quarters of Republican respondents, 77%, approved, compared to 32% of independents and 18% of Democrats. According to the CNN poll, 83% of Republicans said Trump has a clear plan for handling the attacks on Iran, while 70% of independents and 88% of Democrats disagreed. Overall, six in 10 said they don’t think the president has a clear plan for dealing with the situation, and 62% said Trump should get congressional approval before any further military action. TRUMP DECLARES ‘I GOT HIM BEFORE HE GOT ME’ AFTER IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER KILLED IN STRIKE Both polls were conducted before the U.S. military announced on Sunday the first U.S. casualties in the operation — six service members killed. The joint U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran is now in its fourth day as of Tuesday, with Trump saying the plan is ahead of schedule thanks to the early elimination of Iran’s top leaders. Trump has said Iran is seeking talks with the U.S. as the military operations continue, but the president indicated he believes the opportunity for negotiations has passed. The U.S. has urged Americans to leave 14 countries across the Middle East as Iran’s counterattacks intensify. The U.S. State Department has also closed embassies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the Gulf Cooperation Council warned Iran it will take “all necessary measures,” including possible military action, in response to Tehran’s missile and drone attacks.
Fraud-plagued Minnesota sues Trump admin for withholding $243M in Medicaid payments
Minnesota filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration, accusing federal health officials of illegally withholding $243 million in Medicaid payments from the state. Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Minnesota Department of Human Services sued the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), arguing the funding freeze violates federal law. The state is seeking a temporary restraining order to immediately block the action. The dispute stems from a January notice in which the Trump administration said it would withhold more than $2 billion annually from Minnesota’s Medicaid program over what it described as “noncompliance” with federal regulations, specifically, alleged failures to “adequately identify, prevent, and address fraud in its Medicaid program.” USDA IMMEDIATELY SUSPENDS ALL FEDERAL FUNDING TO MINNESOTA AMID FRAUD INVESTIGATION State officials say they have not been told specifically how Minnesota is out of compliance or what changes the administration wants to see. The lawsuit follows a Feb. 25 announcement from CMS that it was deferring roughly $260 million in quarterly federal Medicaid funding to Minnesota, including about $243 million tied to “unsupported or potentially fraudulent” claims. CMS said the deferral is part of a broader fraud crackdown and cited unusually high spending and rapid growth in personal care services, home- and community-based services, and other practitioner services. HEAVILY-REDACTED AUDIT FINDS MINNESOTA MEDICAID HAD WIDESPREAD VULNERABILITIES “For decades, Medicare fraud has drained billions from American taxpayers — that ends now,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “We are replacing the old ‘pay and chase’ model with a real-time ‘detect and deploy’ strategy, using advanced AI tools to identify fraud instantly and stop improper payments before they go out the door.” Minnesota officials contend the move improperly uses a funding “deferral” mechanism and amounts to denying the state due process before any formal finding of noncompliance. WALZ SLAMS TRUMP ADMIN FOR TEMPORARILY HALTING MEDICAID FUNDING TO MINNESOTA: ‘CAMPAIGN OF RETRIBUTION’ The threatened cuts represent about 7% of Minnesota’s quarterly Medicaid funding and could force reductions in healthcare services for low-income residents, according to Ellison’s office. “Trump’s M.O. is to cut first, no matter what the law says or who gets hurt, and ask questions later, if at all,” the attorney general said. “These cuts are the latest in a long series of efforts to go around the law to punish Minnesotans — but just as we fought back and won when they illegally tried to cut funding for childcare, hungry families and our schools, we are suing them again today to make them follow the law.”
Crenshaw says political enemies came out ‘with their knives’ as Texas GOP primary looms
Rep. Dan Crenshaw is heading into Tuesday’s Texas GOP primary warning that some of the biggest names in conservative politics are trying to take him down. “You know, my enemies have all come out with their knives — Tucker Carlson or Ted Cruz — for no good reason,” Crenshaw told Fox News Digital. Despite lacking endorsements from key political figures in the Lone Star State, Crenshaw said he likes his odds against Republican challenger Steve Toth, a state representative. “I’m literally at a polling location at the moment, and in areas where my opponent should be more popular because he represents this area as a state rep,” Crenshaw said. TED CRUZ ENDORSES TEXAS STATE REP. STEVE TOTH IN GOP PRIMARY CHALLENGE TO DAN CRENSHAW “You know, this is a guy who got zero bills passed in the last legislative session. I got more bills passed in Congress. That’s where it’s a lot harder. So, you know, he’s one of these guys who just always votes no, has never accomplished anything at all.” Toth did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Crenshaw said he hopes to avoid a runoff election but did not rule out the possibility when asked whether he could clinch the primary Tuesday. “Anything’s possible,” he said. Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL who has not shied away from verbal confrontations with other Republicans, is pursuing his fifth term in Congress but must first defeat Toth. The sharp-tongued congressman has clashed with Cruz, Fox News personality Jesse Watters, Tucker Carlson and Alex Rosen, a YouTube political activist, over policy disagreements. Notably, Toth has received an endorsement from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who until last Thursday had not made a pick in the race. “I am proud to endorse [Toth] for Congress in Texas’s 2nd Congressional District. Steve faithfully served the people of Texas in the Texas House of Representatives, championing our Texas values of liberty, limited government and constitutional governance,” Cruz said in a post on X. CRENSHAW PRAISES MEXICAN OFFICIALS AFTER ‘EL MENCHO’S DEATH, CALLS CARTEL ‘TERRORIST INSURGENCY’ Cruz’s endorsement of Toth comes after he and Crenshaw split over Cruz’s ROTOR Act, an aviation safety bill. Crenshaw voted against the bill Thursday. Aside from disagreements over legislation, Crenshaw believes Cruz has more financially-based reasons for his endorsement. He noted that Robert Marling, CEO of Woodforest National Bank, financially supported Toth after Crenshaw urged investigators to examine Marling’s $20 million investment in 2023. In particular, Crenshaw, alongside other lawmakers, said Marling’s real estate loans appeared to be “attracting and enabling illegal alien settlement in the state of Texas” by offering easy-access credit with little indemnity verification, according to a letter he penned to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office. Crenshaw signed the letter alongside 25 other Republicans. “Now, where does Cruz come into play? Well, that same banker is a mega donor for Cruz to the tune of millions of dollars,” Crenshaw said. Most recently, FEC records indicate Marling made a personal $14,000 donation to WinRed, a Republican fundraising organization, with the funds earmarked for Toth. Other FEC records indicate Marling has spent millions supporting other Republican candidates. In 2025, he has backed candidates such as Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wisc. TEXAS SENATE PRIMARIES EXPLODE AS CORNYN WARNS PAXTON COULD COST GOP MAJORITY, DEMOCRATS CLASH OVER RACE Despite Cruz’s opposition, Crenshaw noted that this would not be the first time he has had to run without Cruz’s blessing. “Cruz endorsed against me in my very first race. We saw the results of that,” Crenshaw said. “So now we’re feeling good about it. But it’s a race, and we’re gonna run through the finish line.” Polls in Texas opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 7 p.m.
Holi 2026: CM Rekha Gupta Extends warm wishes to Delhi, urges citizens to ‘use natural colours’
On the occasion of the festival of colours, the Chief Minister of Delhi extended her heartfelt greetings and best wishes to the people of the national capital.
Israel launches strikes on Beirut as troops advance into southern Lebanon
NewsFeed Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reports from the site of an Israeli attack in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which Israel says targeted a ‘Hezbollah area’. Israeli forces have taken more land inside Lebanon, expanding a de facto buffer zone that has already displaced tens of thousands of people. Published On 3 Mar 20263 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
‘US president has the authority to act for imminent threats against the US’
Former US defense official Michael Mulroy breaks down the US justification for striking Iran, while some US officials say there were no immediate threats. Published On 3 Mar 20263 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
‘Russian oil will be sought’: What are Moscow’s gains from the war in Iran?
Moscow for decades has been Iran’s main international backer, shielding it from United Nations resolutions while trying to soften Western sanctions and selling weaponry worth billions of dollars to Tehran. Russian President Vladimir Putin lambasted the killing on Saturday of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as a “cynical violation of all norms of human morals and the international law”. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Putin’s former prime minister and one-time successor Dmitry Medvedev sardonically called United States President Donald Trump a “peacekeeper who showed his real face”. Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly, compared the war to what he alleged were the collective West’s attempts to destabilise Russia in the 1990s, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said US-Iranian talks about Tehran’s nuclear programme “degraded to direct aggression”. But as US and Israeli air strikes on Iran raged on for a fourth day on Tuesday, Russia appeared poised to benefit far more from the war than it looked to lose. Moscow’s most immediate gain is a boost in its oil revenues. The price of Russia’s Urals crude plunged to a new low in late February at $40 per barrel because of deep discounts caused by Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine. But as the price of the international benchmark Brent crude jumped by 13 percent by Monday, reaching $82 per barrel, Urals was traded at $57. ‘Russian oil will be sought after’ Russia, Iran and Venezuela are the world’s top producers of heavy crude that is exported to dozens of nations to be processed by their refineries. Advertisement Venezuela’s exports stalled after US special forces captured President Nicolas Maduro on January 3 and the White House gained control of Caracas’s oil trade. The suspension of Iran’s exports means that oil refineries designed to process heavy crude will have to rely on the Urals oil from Russia. “It means that Russian oil will be sought after because the rebuilding of technological processes of oil refineries takes long and costs a lot,” Igar Tyshkevych, a political analyst based in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, told Al Jazeera. “It means that the discounts for Russian oil will change.” If oil prices rise further, the Kremlin may propose to increase supply in exchange for Washington’s decision to partially lift the sanctions. Russia’s higher oil production would decrease petrol prices in the US before the midterm elections in November, he said. A second, longer-term gain could be Moscow’s attempt to act as a mediator in peace talks between Tehran and Washington. “It has been tried several times during conflicts between the US and Iran,” Tyshkevych said. “It didn’t always work, but Russia can try.” In March 2025, Putin offered to mediate US-Iranian negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear programme and three months later repeated the proposal while US and Israeli strikes were hitting Iran during a 12-day war. Washington ignored its offer both times. The conflicts with Iran have distracted Trump from trying to reach a US-brokered settlement of the Russia-Ukraine war, which entered its fifth year on February 24. The talks have stalled as Moscow has kept urging Ukraine to leave the Kyiv-controlled part of the Donetsk region in southeastern Ukraine. Washington will continue pressing both sides to settle, turning the talks into a “who blinks first” game, Tyshkevych said. “No one wants to say ‘no’ first but tries to create conditions for the opponent to loudly say ‘no’ and slam the door loudly,” he said. And as the attention of Washington and other Western powers is turned towards the war in Iran, Russia gets several weeks to come up with a new agenda for Trump, he said. Meanwhile, Ukraine could face a shortage of US-supplied missiles for Patriot air defence systems, which can shoot down Russian ballistic missiles, analysts warned. Patriot missiles are being redirected to Washington’s allies in the Middle East. “We felt a serious deficit before the war, and there is a high probability that the situation will only get worse,” Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy chief of the Ukrainian military’s General Staff, told Al Jazeera. Advertisement Patriot missiles “are manufactured in very low numbers. Americans have tried to change it, but with such demand, it can’t be done fast,” he said. However, Putin faces a tough choice between Washington and Tehran, according to a Russian expert on Iran. “Moscow has to choose, and for Putin, it’s a very tough choice because on the one hand, he doesn’t want to have a falling-out with Trump, but on the other hand, the regime in Tehran is one of the few serious foreign partners for the Kremlin for now,” Ruslan Suleymanov, an associate fellow at the New Eurasian Strategies Center, a US-British think tank, told Al Jazeera. “Besides, there is the heaviest choice between Iran and Israel,” he said. The Kremlin has tried to maintain a pragmatic partnership with Israel. “If we’re talking about immediate gains, then, yes, Russian propaganda can spin this episode with the killing of Khamenei as [an example of] Western treachery as in ‘Why can they do it and we can’t,’” Suleymanov said, referring to Khamenei’s killing and Moscow’s failed attempts to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “In any case, this situation is a blow to Putin’s image that yet again shows that he is incapable of really helping his partners, his allies,” Suleymanov added. Putin has already lost two key allies. In November 2024, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow, and Maduro’s abduction to the United States put an end to Moscow’s alliance with Venezuela. The Iran war has further ruined the authority of international law, according to a London-based expert on Central Asia. “The main argument against the Russian aggression in Ukraine so far has been the rude violation of international law and Ukraine’s sovereignty,” Alisher Ilkhamov, head of the Central Asia Due Diligence think tank, told Al Jazeera. The Kremlin may also use Khamenei’s killing as a way to persuade men of fighting age in the
Who is Saba Shawl? First Kashmiri woman to head Central Jail Srinagar
She has been assigned to head a high-security jail with immediate effect, according to reports. Here’s all you need to know about Saba Shawl and her professional career journey.