128 Democrats join House GOP to block progressive’s bid to impeach Trump
The House of Representatives voted along bipartisan lines to quash a lone progressive lawmaker’s bid to impeach President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon. Lawmakers agreed to table the measure in a 344–79 vote. A vote to table is a procedural mechanism allowing House members to vote against consideration of a bill without having to vote on the bill itself. The resolution was offered by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who was infamously ejected from Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress earlier this year for repeatedly interrupting the president. A majority of House Democrats joined Republican lawmakers to kill Green’s resolution, a sign of how politically caustic the effort appears to be. Just 79 Democrats voted to proceed with the impeachment vote, while 128 voted to halt it in its tracks. ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ CRACKS DOWN ON BIDEN’S STUDENT LOAN ‘SCHEME,’ TOP REPUBLICAN SAYS Green, who has threatened to impeach Trump before, said his latest bid is aimed at the president’s strikes on Iran from over the weekend. “I did not come to Congress to be a bystander while a president abuses power and devolves American democracy into authoritarianism with himself as an authoritarian president,” Green said in a statement on Tuesday morning. “President Trump’s unauthorized bombing of Iran constitutes a de facto declaration of war. No president has the right to drag this nation into war without the authorization of the people’s representatives.” Other progressives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called for Trump’s impeachment over the strikes in Iran. Trump mocked those progressives in a lengthy Truth Social post Tuesday, taunting them to “make my day.” “She better start worrying about her own Primary, before she thinks about beating our Great Palestinian Senator, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, whose career is definitely on very thin ice!” Trump wrote. “She and her Democrat friends have just hit the Lowest Poll Numbers in Congressional History, so go ahead and try Impeaching me,” he posted. The push has put House Democratic leaders in a difficult spot as well. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., sidestepped questions on progressives calling to oust Trump during a press conference on Monday. REPUBLICANS CHALLENGE ‘IRRELEVANT’ BUDGET OFFICE AS IT CRITIQUES TRUMP’S ‘BEAUTIFUL BILL’ “A tool that’s on the table right now is to continue to demand that the administration present itself before the United States Congress and make the case to the American people as to why this extraordinary step has been taken. That’s step one,” Jeffries said. “Step two is for the War Powers Resolution, whether that’s the one that has already been introduced or others that may subsequently be introduced, for those resolutions to be debated on the House floor, as should have occurred already. And then we’ll see where we’re at thereafter.” Pressed again on whether he was taking calls for Trump’s impeachment seriously, Jeffries said, “This is a dangerous moment that we’re in, and we’ve got to get through what’s in front of us. And what’s in front of us right now is the Trump administration has a responsibility to come to Congress, justify actions for which we’ve seen no evidence to justify its offensive strength in Iran.”
Trump pressures Congress to pass ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,’ insisting ‘NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT’S DONE’
President Donald Trump pressured Congress to pass the “BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL” as soon as possible on Tuesday, while also continuing to lob broadsides against Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. “Now that we have made PEACE abroad, we must finish the job here at home by passing “THE GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” and getting the Bill to my desk, ASAP,” the president declared in a Truth Social post. “To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, don’t go home, and GET THE DEAL DONE THIS WEEK. Work with the House so they can pick it up, and pass it, IMMEDIATELY. NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT’S DONE. Everyone, most importantly the American People, will be much better off thanks to our work together. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” the president declared. Trump, who targeted Massie in Truth Social posts on Sunday and Monday, continued lambasting the congressman on Tuesday, claiming that the lawmaker is “very bad for the Constitution,” and “votes, ‘NO!’ on everything, because he thinks it makes him cool, but he’s not cool, he’s a LOSER!” THOMAS MASSIE SAYS HE FEELS ‘MISLED’ BY TRUMP AFTER IRAN STRIKES: ‘HE’S ENGAGED IN WAR’ Massie replied to Fox News Digital’s comment request on Tuesday by sharing the 2022 endorsement message in which Trump called him “a first-rate Defender of the Constitution” and “a Conservative Warrior for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District!” The congressman also shared a screenshot of the statement on X and wrote, “For those who want to know what @realDonaldTrump really thinks of me, this should clear things up…” Last month Massie was one of the two House Republicans who voted against passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act when it cleared the chamber. REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: WHO REALLY DECIDES WHEN AMERICA GOES TO WAR? THE ANSWER ISN’T SO CLEAR The congressman declared on Saturday in a post on X that the president’s strikes against Iran were “not Constitutional.” Trump unloaded on Massie in a Truth Social post on Sunday, indicating that he will campaign against the lawmaker. “MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague! The good news is that we will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him in the Republican Primary, and I’ll be out in Kentucky campaigning really hard,” Trump declared amid the anti-Massie diatribe. TRUMP SLAMS REPUBLICAN MASSIE AS ‘NOT MAGA’ FOLLOWING CONGRESSMAN’S CRITICISM OF IRAN STRIKES “GET THIS ‘BUM’ OUT OF OFFICE, ASAP!!!” Trump exclaimed in a follow-up post on Monday.
Navy using munitions at ‘alarming’ speed to defend Israel
The U.S. Navy used its munitions at an “alarming rate” to defend Israel from recent Iranian strikes, a military official said Tuesday, raising questions from lawmakers about how it intends to replace and maintain stockpiles amid global threats. Admiral James Kilby, Naval Operations acting chief, made the remark in his testimony during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Navy’s budget in Washington when Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, asked about the Navy’s available munitions to defend against global threats. “The latest round of conflict in the Middle East utilized large amounts of munitions to defend Israel from Iranian strikes,” Schatz said. “Does the Navy currently have all the SM-3s it needs for global threats?” “We do, sir,” Kilby responded, “but we are, to your point, using them at an alarming rate. As you know, those are missiles procured by the Missile Defense Agency and then delivered to the Navy for our use. And we are using them quite effectively in the defense of Israel.” OPERATION MIDNIGHT HAMMER: HISTORIC B-2 BOMBER MISSION FLEW FROM MISSOURI TO STRIKE IRANIAN NUCLEAR SITES ISRAEL-IRAN CONFLICT: LIVE UPDATES An SM-3, or Standard Missile 3, are missiles that the Navy uses as a defense to intercept and destroy short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. “We need more munitions, air defense interceptors, long-range fires, artillery,” Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said during the hearing. “Recent conflict tells us we need a lot more of them.” US STRIKE DAMAGE TO IRAN’S NATANZ, ISFAHAN NUCLEAR FACILITIES CAPTURED IN SATELLITE IMAGES McConnell asked how the Navy and Marine Corps were addressing the challenge of these munitions not being produced fast enough. John Phelan, secretary of the Navy, said this was a main concern that officials were focusing on to “get fixed.” “We are looking at a number of different avenues, including other parties and different ways of making some of these munitions,” Phelan said. “This is a huge priority from both the secretary of defense and the president, and we are putting as much effort and time into this as we are in shipbuilding.”
More Iranians with criminal histories arrested by ICE in Trump’s security sweep: ‘Worst of the worst’
EXCLUSIVE: At least five more Iranian nationals were arrested on Monday in addition to the 11 announced by the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday morning. On Monday, 45-year-old Mohammad Hassanpoor was arrested by officers in Baltimore and given a “Third County Notice.” He was previously criminally convicted of “assault with a deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury,” where he was sentenced to just under a year behind bars. He was also previously sentenced roughly three months behind bars for “battery: spouse/ex sp/date/etc.” and sentenced to two years for stalking. Kaveh Abedi, 45, was arrested in Chicago on Monday for “violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act” and had a 2001 conviction for selling cocaine. HOSPITALS IN SANCTUARY CITIES COULD BE MOST VULNERABLE TO IRAN TERROR ATTACKS, WARNS EXPERT Arish Rustami was also arrested and has a prior sex offense, and Abdolmohammad Raghibzadeh was taken into ICE custody on Monday. He’s had a deportation order since November 2005 from an Arizona immigration judge, and he’s currently an Iranian citizen, according to ICE. In 1999, he previously faced arrests for “domestic violence, vandalism and intimidation” and faced 90 days behind bars and five years of probation as a result. He faced two other arrests and jail time for “violations of probation of the previous crimes.” In May 2006, Raghibzadeh could not get proper paperwork to go back to Iran, so he was given an “order of supervision” and then released. But in 2007, he was arrested again by sheriffs in Santa Ana, Calif., for not following probation and had to spend the rest of it at the California Chino Detention Center, according to ICE. Sahand Yousefinasrabadi was arrested Monday by federal authorities “during targeted enforcement action” in Forth Worth, Texas. Yousefinasrabadi was convicted in Sept. 2013 of aggravated sexual assault of a child, and he was asked in October 2013 to leave the U.S. by an immigration judge. EX-ICE CHIEF WARNS BIDEN’S BORDER CRISIS LIKELY FUELED IRANIAN SLEEPER THREAT IN US The arrests come amid concerns about Iranian sleeper cells in the United States following the strikes on nuclear sites in the Middle Eastern nation. While there is currently a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, DHS noted the arrests made since Sunday. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE “Under Secretary Noem, DHS has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through Biden’s fraudulent parole programs or otherwise,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement about the initial 11 arrests that were publicly announced. “We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out—and we are. We don’t wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump’s mandate to secure the homeland,” McLaughlin added. CALIFORNIA SHERIFF SAYS NEWSOM ‘ENCOURAGED’ LA RIOTS AS ICE ARRESTS VIOLENT ILLEGAL ALIENS Notably, Yousef Mehridehno was arrested by ICE on Sunday in Mississippi and was on a “known or suspected” terror watchlist as of February. Former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member Mehran Makari Saheli was arrested by ICE in Minnesota, and DHS said he has “admitted connections to Hezbollah” and stayed in the U.S. despite being court-ordered to leave in June 2022. During the Biden administration alone, 729 out of the roughly 1,500 Iranian nationals that came into the country illegally were released into the U.S.
Most Republicans support Trump ordered military strike on Iran’s nuclear program: poll
More Americans say they oppose rather than support this past weekend’s U.S. military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to a new national poll. However, the Reuters/Ipsos survey points to a wide partisan divide, with most Republicans supporting President Donald Trump’s decision to launch aerial attacks against Iran in order to prevent the Islamic State from acquiring nuclear weapons. Thirty-six percent of adult Americans questioned said they supported the airstrikes, with 45% opposed and 18% unsure or skipped answering the question. CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS LIVE UPDATES ON THE AFTERMATH OF THE U.S. AIRSTRIKES ON IRAN However, among Republicans, support for the military strikes stood at 69%, with 17% opposed. Only 13% of Democrats supported the attack, with nearly three-quarters opposed. Among independents, support stood at 29%, with nearly half opposed. The survey was conducted on Sunday and Monday following the attacks, which the president announced to the nation on Saturday evening. The airstrikes came after more than a week of daily exchanges between Iran and Israel, sparked by an initial Israeli attack on Iranian territory. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS Just over a third of those surveyed (35%) said they approved of how Trump is handling Iran, with half saying they disapprove. There was an expected partisan divide, with 70% of Republicans but only 10% of Democrats and 28% of independents giving the president a thumbs up on his handling of Iran. Trump announced following the attacks that “the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.” AMERICANS AGREE WITH TRUMP THAT IRAN POSES NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT TO U.S. – POLL However, some independent experts say that commercial satellite imagery of Iran’s facilities after that attack suggests that Tehran’s nuclear program is far from destroyed. The poll also indicated that six in 10 believe U.S. airstrikes on Iran will not make America safer, with 36% saying they will make the nation safer. As with the previous questions, there is a wide partisan divide, with just 12% of Democrats, 29% of independents and two-thirds of Republicans saying the strikes will make America safer. The poll also indicates that four in five worry that Iran may target U.S. civilians in response to the airstrikes. The Reuters/Ipsos poll questioned 1,132 adult Americans, with an overall sampling error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
Bondi vows to ‘protect every religion in this country’ after Wray-era controversy
Attorney General Pam Bondi spoke about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) efforts to protect religious freedom rights during a House hearing Monday and indicated to lawmakers that she was focused on a range of religions, from Judaism to Islam. “It’s not only Catholics, it’s every religion, and even mosques that were slow-walked under the Biden administration and not allowed to open,” Bondi said. “We will protect every religion in this country.” The attorney general’s remarks came in response to questions from Rep. Riley Moore, R-W. Va., who asked what budget resources Bondi needed to “eradicate anti-Christian bias” in the department. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CRACKS DOWN ON ANTISEMITISM AS DOJ OFFICIAL EXPOSES ‘VIOLENT RHETORIC’ OF PROTESTERS Bondi also referenced recent high-profile incidents that appeared to be rooted in antisemitism, including the murder of two people who worked at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. The pair were gunned down in May outside the Capitol Jewish Museum by a man who shouted “free Palestine!” as he was arrested. Bondi’s nod to mosques was an apparent reference to a handful of blue-leaning states closing all religious buildings as part of their COVID-19 protocols in 2020 during the Trump administration. The attorney general said she talks “almost daily” with the DOJ Civil Rights Division, which handles discrimination cases, and she commended division head Harmeet Dhillon, who has upended the division and shifted its focus, in part, to religious freedom. “They are working to protect people of all religions,” Bondi said. SUSPECT CHARGED WITH MURDERING ISRAELI EMBASSY STAFF COULD FACE DEATH PENALTY Moore also broached a controversial internal memo that originated in the FBI Richmond Field Office under former FBI Director Christopher Wray. The memo, which Congress made public in 2023 after receiving it from an FBI whistleblower, offered a threat assessment of “radical-traditionalist Catholics.” The internal document laid out what the FBI perceived as a pattern of extremism among a small group of Catholics, identifying them as those who opposed modern-day popes, held “extremist ideological beliefs,” and “engaged in violent rhetoric.” The document pointed to three real-life examples of criminal suspects who identified with that sect of Catholicism to illustrate its point, and it used the Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-leaning nonprofit, to bolster its assessment. In response to backlash, the FBI retracted the memo. Wray later said he admonished employees involved with making it but also said he did not uncover any “bad faith conduct” among them. Bondi said during Monday’s hearing that under her tenure, the DOJ will not use the Southern Poverty Law Center as a resource.
‘Golden Dome’ comprehensive weapons defenses in the works as lawmakers make Trump dream a reality
EXCLUSIVE – With the Iran situation intensifying, senators will put forward a bill Tuesday that creates the “Golden Dome” missile defense system modeled off Israel’s Iron Dome that President Donald Trump asked for at the beginning of his term. Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., came together to craft the Ground & Orbital Launched Defeat of Emergent Nuclear Destruction and Other Missile Engagements (Golden Dome) Act, a $21 billion congressional authorization split among more than two dozen individual defensive strategies. It comes after Trump ordered in January that a defense system be realized in response to the “threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks.” Trump later confirmed his plan to seek construction of the Golden Dome at a May White House appearance with Sullivan. “The escalating missile threats we’ve witnessed from the Iranian terrorist regime and the rapidly evolving hypersonic, cruise missile and drone threats from Russia, China, and other adversaries demonstrate why we need to develop a robust, modernized missile defense system to protect the entire country—which the Golden Dome Act will do,” Sullivan told Fox News Digital. IN ONLY STATE BORDERING RUSSIA, GOVERNOR SAYS DEFENSES ARE STRONG “The three prongs of successful policy in D.C. are presidential leadership, appropriated funding and comprehensive authorizing legislation.” Trump’s order cited former President Ronald Reagan’s so-called “Star Wars” plan to build laser-based nuclear defense systems against the Soviet Union, while Sullivan and Cramer took a big step Tuesday toward creating something even more comprehensive. Similar to “Star Wars,” the Golden Dome plan calls for the development and deployment of space-based weapons sensors, as well as research into another orbital component, Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. Sullivan’s state of Alaska is home to some of North America’s most important extant defense systems, particularly at Clear Space Force Base near Fairbanks and Fort Greely in Delta Junction. The latter is home to Alaska Army National Guard members who provide “operational control and security for the nation’s ground-based interceptors,” according to Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy. There are about 80 interceptors at-the-ready at Fort Greely. The Golden Dome plan builds on such defenses, by creating, maintaining and/or revitalizing other sites as well, including the Cobra Dane – a land-based “passive electronically scanned array” radar system positioned in the Aleutian Chain. “Alaska is a big part of [missile defense] because the location is sort of perfect,” Trump said. As both the easternmost and westernmost state in the union, Alaska is also the commercial and defensive gateway to Asia, state officials have noted. Specifics of the Golden Dome Act would focus first on present situations the U.S. can respond to in the near-term, including upgrading systems and replenishing munitions short-in-supply like PAC-3 “Patriot” missiles. AK SENATOR LITERALLY TEARS UP BIDEN’S ENERGY ORDERS, BOOSTS WH EFFORTS TO LEVERAGE ARCTIC LNG IN ASIA TRADE The second piece of the puzzle is forward-looking, according to a source familiar with the effort, focusing on technologies like space-based interceptors and air-moving-target indicators — capabilities the U.S. has yet to fully master. Some assets for use in any China-Taiwan contingency are already in Alaska, foreshadowing that the components of the Golden Dome would be subject to a robust testing regime. The Golden Dome would also include a battle-management system, allowing Trump or a future commander in chief to have visibility and the panoply of options at his fingertips if an attack on the U.S. surfaces. The Golden Dome would also include the AEGIS Ashore missile range in Kauai, Hawaii, and, in Cramer’s state, the Perimeter Acquisition Radar System at Cavalier Space Force Base. Additional mobile launch systems would be created across the country, as well as an “early warning” radar installation to be developed somewhere in the South. “The GOLDEN DOME Act increases our national security by enhancing all-domain awareness — eyes and ears upon which any missile-defense architecture relies; bolstering missile and drone defeat capacity to meet the peer and near-peer threat; and accelerating new capabilities to the force to counter future threats to the homeland,” Sullivan and Cramer’s plan read. “Despite this increasing threat, United States homeland missile defense policy has been severely limited to staying ahead of rogue nation threats and accidental or unauthorized missile launches.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Cramer, whose state was subject to suspicious Chinese land purchases near a sensitive military base, said U.S. adversaries’ weapons tech has advanced, so the U.S.’ defense should stay ahead of them. “We have to act in order to defend against the evolving and complex threat landscape. Senator Sullivan and I introduced the GOLDEN DOME Act to build a layered missile defense system, which protects our homeland from catastrophic attacks from modern missiles,” Cramer said. Rep. Mark Messmer, R-Ind., who will lead companion legislation in the House, added that the U.S. “must stand ready to prevent nuclear weapons from harming our citizens.”
Trump dares AOC to try to impeach him: ‘Make my day’
President Donald Trump dared progressive “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to try and impeach him over the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, after she had suggested such a measure. “Stupid AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the ‘dumbest’ people in Congress, is now calling for my Impeachment, despite the fact that the Crooked and Corrupt Democrats have already done that twice before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Trump said the “reason for her ‘rantings’ is all of the Victories that the U.S.A. has had under the Trump Administration.” “The Democrats aren’t used to WINNING, and she can’t stand the concept of our Country being successful again,” he wrote. AOC, OTHER ANGRY DEMOCRATS, CALL FOR TRUMP IMPEACHMENT OVER ATTACK ON IRAN Trump said Ocasio-Cortez’s “test scores” will show that “she is NOT qualified for office but, nevertheless, far more qualified than Crockett, who is a seriously Low IQ individual, or Ilhan Omar, who does nothing but complain about our Country, yet the Failed Country that she comes from doesn’t have a Government, is drenched in Crime and Poverty, and is rated one of the WORST in the World, if it’s even rated at all. “ The president was referring to Rep. Jasmine Crockett, the Texas Democrat who called Trump “the mo-fo” who is “occupying the White House” during a 21-minute social media video rant about the U.S. strikes in Iran. He was also referring to another progressive, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who recently claimed Trump is turning the United States into one of the “worst countries” in the world. The congresswoman originally came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia. “How dare ‘The Mouse’ tell us how to run the United States of America!” Trump wrote. “We’re just now coming back from that Radical Left experiment with Sleepy Joe, Kamala, and ‘THE AUTOPEN,’ in charge. What a disaster it was!” Trump said Ocasio-Cortez should be forced to take the same cognitive test that he completed at Walter Reed Medical Center as part of his annual physical. DEMOCRATIC SEN. FETTERMAN SHUTS DOWN AOC’S CALL FOR TRUMP’S IMPEACHMENT AFTER IRAN STRIKES “As the Doctor in charge said, ‘President Trump ACED it,’ meaning, I got every answer right,” Trump wrote. “Instead of her constant complaining, Alexandria should go back home to Queens, where I was also brought up, and straighten out her filthy, disgusting, crime ridden streets, in the District she ‘represents,’ and which she never goes to anymore.” Trump addressed how Ocasio-Cortez is reportedly weighing a primary run against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in 2028. Ocasio-Cortez won re-election in November and next defends her House seat in the 2026 midterms. The congresswoman has come under fire for perceived inaction against a notorious “Red Light” prostitution strip and illegal street vendors plaguing her migrant-heavy district in New York City. “She better start worrying about her own Primary, before she thinks about beating our Great Palestinian Senator, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, whose career is definitely on very thin ice!” Trump wrote. “She and her Democrat friends have just hit the Lowest Poll Numbers in Congressional History, so go ahead and try Impeaching me, again, MAKE MY DAY!” Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday condemned what she called Trump’s “disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers.” “He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations,” the democratic socialist wrote on X. “It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”
Israel-Iran ceasefire off to rocky start, drawing Trump’s ire after fanfare
The ceasefire between Israel and Iran is already showing signs of strain – and has triggered frustration, and a televised expletive, from United States President Donald Trump, who accused Israel of undermining the deal just hours after its announcement. The ceasefire, brokered by the US and Qatar, came into effect late Monday following days of intensive missile barrages between the two foes. Israel’s last wave of strikes targeted Iranian military infrastructure near Isfahan, prompting retaliatory drone launches by Tehran. Iran violated the ceasefire, “but Israel violated it too”, Trump told reporters on the White House’s South Lawn on Tuesday as he departed for the NATO summit. “So I’m not happy with them. I’m not happy with Iran either. But I’m really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning.” “I’ve got to get Israel to calm down,” he said. “Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I’ve never seen before.” As he prepared to head to a NATO summit in The Hague in the Netherlands, Trump’s anger flared on the White House Lawn: “We have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.” A day earlier, Trump boasted on his Truth Social app that “the Ceasefire is in effect!” “ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran. Nobody will be hurt,” Trump wrote. Trump’s unusually public display of anger at Israel saw the US leader apparently trying to force his ally to call off warplanes in real time on Tuesday. Advertisement Earlier the same morning, he had posted on Truth Social: “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS” – without it being clear which bombs he was referring to. “IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to quickly accede, with his office saying in a statement on Tuesday that Israel still carried out one more attack near Tehran after Trump’s appeal, but is refraining from “further strikes”. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had said earlier on Tuesday that he had ordered the military to mount new strikes on targets in Tehran in response to what he claimed were Iranian missiles fired in a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire. Iran denied launching any missiles and said Israel’s attacks had continued for an hour and a half beyond the time the ceasefire was meant to start. For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that his country would not fire at Israel if it was not fired upon, but that a “final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later”. Despite the rocky start, Trump voiced support for the ceasefire itself, clarifying he is not seeking regime change in Iran, after some mixed messaging in recent days, and insisting that the ceasefire remains in effect. If it holds, the truce would be a big political win for Trump in the wake of his risky gamble to send US bombers over the weekend to attack three nuclear facilities in Iran that Israel and the United States claim were being used to build an atomic bomb in secret. US intelligence and the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog had previously recorded no indication Iran was developing a nuclear weapon. Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said Iranian officials appeared to welcome Trump’s remarks, viewing them as a potential opening for diplomatic engagement. “It might give the impression that Trump is serious about this ceasefire,” Hashem said. In Washington, Al Jazeera’s Phil Lavelle, said Trump is feeling “quite annoyed” at and perhaps “betrayed” by Netanyahu violating the ceasefire. “He was angry with both Israel and Iran. But you could really tell some of the extra anger there, the extra fury was aimed at Israel,” Lavelle said. The US leader had said the truce would be a phased 24-hour process beginning at about 04:00 GMT Tuesday, with Iran unilaterally halting all operations first. He said Israel would follow suit 12 hours later. Israel has been bombing Iran in an offensive that began June 13. The US joined the attack with a mission starting overnight Friday to Saturday against the deeply-buried and hard-to-access Fordow complex and two other sites. Advertisement Iranian officials say more than 400 people have been killed in air strikes. Retaliatory missile strikes have killed 28 people in Israel, the first time large numbers of Iranian missiles have penetrated – and on a daily basis – its much vaunted air defence systems, which mainly the US has provided. Adblock test (Why?)
Under Trump, US strikes on Somalia have doubled since last year. Why?
Mogadishu, Somalia – Ending the United States’ “forever wars” was a major slogan of Donald Trump’s 2024 election campaign, during which he and many of his supporters spoke out against American resources and lives being put to waste in conflicts across the globe. But on February 1, a mere 10 days after being inaugurated for a second time, President Trump announced that the US had carried out air strikes targeting senior leadership of ISIL (ISIS) in Somalia. “These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States,” his post on X read. This marked Trump’s first military action overseas, but it wouldn’t be his last. In the time since, the US has provided weapons and support to Israel in its wars in Gaza and across the Middle East; it has launched strikes on Yemen; and even attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities. At the same time, in the Horn of Africa, US strikes have more than “doubled” since last year, according to US Africa Command (AFRICOM). AFRICOM, which oversees US military operations on the continent, has carried out at least 43 air strikes in Somalia in 2025, according to think tank New America, which tracks strikes using AFRICOM data. More than half of those, which are conducted in coordination with Somalia’s federal government, targeted IS-Somalia, the ISIL affiliate in northeast Puntland state, while the remainder targeted al-Shabab. The uptick in US air strikes targeting IS-Somalia appears to be linked to growing concerns that the group has become a hub for regional and global ISIL affiliates in terms of financing and attacks, according to US officials. Advertisement At the same time, experts also note the recent worrying gains being made by al-Shabab in Somalia. But why is this a war the “Make America Great Again” Trump administration has an increasing hand in – especially given that decades of US policy in Somalia have been marred by controversy, disaster and failure? A June 2010 file photo shows a US Predator unmanned drone armed with a missile that has been used against targets from Afghanistan to Somalia [File: Massoud Hossaini/AP Photo] American intervention in Somalia: A failure since the start? “Ever since Black Hawk Down, Somalia was a no-go zone for the US,” said Abukar Arman, a Somali analyst and former special envoy to the US, referring to the failed 1993 US military intervention in Somalia during which 18 US troops and thousands of Somali civilians were killed. “That changed after 9/11 when Somalia became one of the key theatres of so-called GWOT [global war on terror]. That political facade has three objectives: It justifies US sustained lethal drone attacks in the public psyche; it enables the US to guard its geopolitical interests in the Horn of Africa; [and] it enables American predatory capitalists to engage in economic exploitation,” Arman told Al Jazeera. In 2007, Somalia became the first country on the African continent to fall victim to a US air strike in the post 9/11 era as part of its so-called “war on terror”. In the decades that followed, US aerial bombardment of the country has not only persisted but intensified. During the combined 16 years under former presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama, there were more than 50 US air strikes on Somalia, while Trump’s first term alone saw a staggering 219 strikes, according to New America. With dozens more strikes just five months into his second term, analysts say if it continues at this rate, Trump is sure to surpass the 51 strikes the Biden administration conducted during its entire four years in office. Jethro Norman, a senior researcher with the Danish Institute for International Studies, suggests that in Somalia, Trump has made an ideal stage on which to remotely project US power capabilities – as it combines high firepower, low oversight and little US domestic political risk. “By loosening Obama-era restrictions, he enabled a surge in preemptive strikes with minimal vetting or accountability. The logic wasn’t just strategic; it was theatrical: a way to perform toughness, signal contrast with previous administrations, and claim counterterrorism ‘wins’ without entanglement,” Norman told Al Jazeera. Advertisement “So, what you see now is a spike in drone activity, but without any corresponding investment in long-term peacebuilding or governance support,” he explained. Norman also highlighted how infighting within the Trump White House on policy direction in Somalia played a role in the massive uptick in US strikes. “There were also competing camps within his [Trump’s] administration. Some pushed hard for kinetic engagement in Somalia and Yemen, while others argued that counterterrorism was a distraction from great-power rivalry with China. “That policy push and pull [between spectacle and strategy] helps explain why air strikes surged even as Trump talked about ending forever wars,” he said. A man sits beside the wreckages of burned military supply vehicles used by suspected ISIL fighters in Cal Miskaad mountain range in Bari, Puntland region, Somalia, in January 2025 [File: Feisal Omar/Reuters] Al-Shabab gains Some analysts suggest that another reason for the uptick in US strikes could be al-Shabab’s unprecedented counteroffensive this year. In it, the armed group reversed most of the Somali government’s territorial gains and seized dozens of towns and villages in the Middle Shabelle region of the semi-autonomous Hirshabelle state – the home base of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Complicating matters further is that during this counteroffensive, al-Shabab was able to advance on the capital and set up checkpoints on main roads leading in and out of Mogadishu. This shows not only the deep structural weakness within the Somali security forces but also the resilience of the armed group as they inched closer to the seat of power in Mogadishu, experts say. “These [recent US strikes] appear to relate more closely to conditions on the battlefield – and in particular, the perceived threat from an al-Shabab offensive that has reversed some of the gains of prior Somali government offensives,” said David Sterman, the deputy director of the Future Security programme at New America. “There may also be other