News of the World
Today, 03:19 AM
MIDDLE EAST WAR
Quote:ISLAMABAD — President Trump’s naval blockade of Iranian ports is targeting one of the Islamic Republic’s most sensitive points — and it may be enough to inspire Tehran to respond to the US’ peace overtures, a former senior Pakistani official told The Post on Monday after weekend talks here ended without a deal.
“This may prove totally wrong, but it’s my assumption that whatever option has been given to them as ‘Take it or leave it,’ they will come back on it — either saying ‘We accept it,’ or they will say, ‘We totally reject it,'” explained retired Lt. Gen. Muhammad Saeed. “Or they will say, ‘These are adjustments we seek in your option.'”
Saeed added that Iran will be eager to resume negotiations with Washington because “they know what economic hardships their people are facing.”
Iran’s economy was struggling long before the war began on Feb. 28, with international sanctions triggering financial woes, including a major currency devaluation that sent protesters into the streets for nationwide — and deadly — demonstrations in late December and early January.
“Irrespective of their perception of victory,” Saeed said, “they know what economic hardships their people are facing. They know the level of inflation. They know how terribly their own currency is.”
Perhaps most crucially, he added, the regime likely is aware of its military’s limits.
“While they would keep firing drones and missiles for a few more days, they don’t have compatible military means” to counter the US and Israel, “and they don’t have cost-effective military options to fall back on.”
Since Vice President JD Vance on Sunday presented the Iranians with what he called a “best and final offer,” the ball has been in Iran’s court.
At least publicly, the regime in Tehran has not given a clear response to the pitch — the full details of which have not been officially confirmed by any of the parties — but President Trump indicated Monday the Iranians are interested in continuing discussions.
Quote:WASHINGTON — The US asked Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program for at least two decades during weekend cease-fire negotiations in Pakistan, a source familiar with the talks told The Post Monday.
“The United States suggested 20 years at a minimum with all kinds of other restrictions,” said the person, apparently indicating that the White House had budged on what President Trump had previously described as a red line for his administration.
The US offer was first reported by Axios.
Discussions led by Vice President JD Vance broke up in Islamabad after 21 hours with no agreement announced — though President Trump claimed Monday that Tehran was ready to try again.
“We’ve been called by the other side,” he told reporters outside the Oval Office. “They’d like to make a deal very badly, very badly.”
Trump acknowledged that the future of Tehran’s nuclear program was the sticking point, insisting: “Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And we agreed to a lot of things, but they didn’t agree to that. I think they will agree to it. I’m almost sure of it. In fact, I am sure of it.
“If they don’t agree, there’s no deal. There’ll never be a deal. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and we’re going to get the [uranium] dust back. We’ll get it back. Either we’ll get it back from them or we’ll take it.”
The White House later confirmed the US and Iran were in “continued engagement” with “forward motion,” without elaborating.
With the war in its seventh week, economic pressure is building on both nations. Oil prices briefly surged back above $100 per barrel after the US Navy began a blockade of Iranian ports on the Strait of Hormuz, while regular gas prices remain above $4.12 per gallon on average nationwide.
But Tehran is also feeling the heat. With the strait blocked, Iran has lost its main route to distribute oil and receive cargo.
Quote:The leader of Hezbollah called on Lebanese officials to reject the US-led peace talks scheduled with Israel on Tuesday, saying the terror group would not accept surrender and will keep retaliating against the Jewish state.
In a televised speech on the eve of the meeting, Naim Qassem demanded leaders in Lebanon cancel the talks in Washington as he vowed that the Iran-backed group would not accept any terms of a cease-fire with Israel.
“We call on the president and prime minister to back down from these negotiations that we absolutely reject,” Qassem said.
“Our choice is resistance and confrontation in the face of this enemy, and we consider these negotiations to be worthless and will only provide the enemy with free concessions,” he added.
Qassem slammed the peace talks as hypocritical given Israel’s continued airstrikes in southern Lebanon, arguing that the US has helped facilitate those attacks.
The Hezbollah chief went as far as to claim that Israel’s true aim in the war was the complete annexation of Lebanon, spreading a conspiracy theory that the Jewish state wishes to engulf the entire Middle East.
The heated response comes as Israel and Hezbollah continue to wage war despite the cease-fire in Iran, with the fighting threatening to collapse the fragile truce.
The Jewish state maintains that the strikes against Hezbollah are to ensure the safety of northern Israel, which is within striking distance of the terror group’s rocket launchers.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he supported a cease-fire as the conflict escalates and continues to affect the country’s security forces, first responders, and United Nations’ peace keeping troops.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since the current conflict broke out on March 2, according to health officials, who do not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.
Quote:The Iranian regime executed more than 1,600 people last year — marking a three decade high not seen since the end of the Islamic Republic’s war against Iraq in 1989.
The shocking figures were included in a joint report released by the nonprofit Iran Human Rights and Together Against the Death Penalty, which estimated that in 2025 at least four people were put to death each day in Iran.
In total, at least 1,639 were executed in Iran last year, the highest reported number since the post-war bloodbath in 1989, where an estimated 1,700 political prisoners were executed, according to the report.
It’s not clear how many of the executions were done publicly.
Most of last year’s prisoners were hanged for drug-related offenses or murder at ostensibly higher rates compared to 2024. Drug-related convictions resulting in death saw a 58% increase, while murder convictions — which almost always leads to execution — jumped a staggering 79%, according to the report.
At least 57 others, including two protesters, were given the death penalty for intangible charges like “waging war against God” and “corruption on Earth,” according to the report.
At least 48 women were also killed, setting another 20-year record, according to the report.
A bulk of the death sentences were handed down by the Revolutionary Courts “after grossly unfair trials and without due process,” the report said.
The nonprofits noted that those in marginalized groups, including ethnic and religious minorities, were “disproportionately represented among those executed.”
The report does not account for the slew of executions that have been ordered since January’s nationwide revolt and the start of the war with Israel and the US.
State media has already confirmed at least 14 executions by the brutal regime this year, though the Norwegian-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported evidence of as many as 160 hangings since January.
Seven of the known hangings linked to protest activity took place after Operation Epic Fury launched in late February. Six other victims were convicted of membership with the exiled opposition group Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), and one was accused of spying for Israel, the report said.
Quote:Iran’s barbaric regime is set to execute its first female protester over recent protests, one of an estimated 1,600 sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic in the past year.
Bita Hemmati is the first woman due to be hanged in relation to the demonstrations that broke out in January across the country and were viciously stamped out by government forces.
The regime accused her of numerous crimes, including using explosives and weapons, throwing objects such as concrete blocks, participating in protest gatherings, and disrupting national security, according to a Tuesday press release from the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
Her husband, Mohammadreza Majid Asl, 34, as well as two other men, Behrouz and Kourosh Zamaninezhad, who lived in the couple’s apartment building, were also sentenced to death following a hasty trial and their property confiscated.
A fifth defendant, Hemmati’s relative Amir Hemmati, was sentenced to almost six years in prison for “assembly and collusion against national security” as well as “propaganda against the regime.”
They were accused by Iran’s government of “operational action for the hostile government of the United States and hostile groups,” according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
The group was all arrested in Tehran, which saw the largest national protests against the Iranian regime.
No execution date has yet been given.
“The Iranian Resistance once again calls on the United Nations, relevant international bodies, and human rights defenders to take immediate action to save the lives of prisoners sentenced to death, especially political prisoners and those detained during the uprising,” the NCRI said in a statement.
The protests in Iran were triggered by a series of local strikes by shopkeepers and market merchants in Tehran in late December.
Quote:The health of jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi is critical after she suffered a heart attack last month, supporters said on Wednesday. Her family and lawyers, allowed a second prison visit, reported a sharp deterioration in her condition, with her physical state now described as critical, her foundation said.
The health of jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi is critical after she suffered a heart attack last month, supporters warned on Wednesday.
Her Iran-based family and legal team were on Saturday allowed a second in person visit with Mohammadi in her prison in northern Iran where "clear signs of a deterioration in her general condition were observed, and her physical state was described as critical", her foundation said in a statement.
The latest meeting came after an earlier visit in late March where it emerged that Mohammadi had suffered a heart attack earlier in the month.
The family reported after the latest visit that Mohammadi "has become extremely weak and has suffered significant weight loss", the statement quoted her Norway-based brother Hamidreza Mohammadi as saying.
He added that his sister was "being held in a cell with prisoners charged with murder and has been threatened with death by some of these inmates several times".
Mohammadi, who won the peace prize in 2023 in recognition of more than two decades of campaigning, was arrested on December 12 in the eastern city of Mashhad after speaking out against Iran's clerical authorities at a funeral ceremony.
In February, without prior warning, she was moved to a prison in the northern city of Zanjan and has only been allowed the most limited communication with her family, with concerns amplified by the US-Israel war against Iranwhich saw attacks on the city.
Quote:Spain’s prime minister on Tuesday urged China to play a leading role in resolving the war in Iran, saying Beijing is uniquely positioned to help end conflicts destabilizing the Middle East and beyond.
Pedro Sánchez's comments come amid a ceasefire in the conflict, which began after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28. The war has since widened across the region, leaving thousands dead over the past several weeks. China could play a key role in bringing an end to the conflict. Bringing an end to the war would be a "significant achievement" for Beijing, Osamah Khalil, chair of the international relations undergraduate program at Syracuse University, told Newsweek on Tuesday.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment via its press contact form.
Why It Matters
The U.S. and Iran earlier in April agreed to a two-week ceasefire following threats by President Donald Trump that a "whole civilization will die” if a deal is not reached. The war has become a sticking point between the U.S. and NATO allies. Trump has said NATO’s response to the Iran war left him "disappointed.” Many NATO countries have informed the U.S. they are not interested in joining the war. Trump has repeatedly said NATO does not pull its weight in the military alliance, though that has been robustly denied by countries who have lost soldiers fighting with the U.S.
Spanish Prime Minister Urges China to Help End Iran War
Speaking during a visit to Beijing, Sánchez said China was the only global power he could envision helping deescalate fighting in Iran and other flashpoints, including Ukraine.
“I find it very difficult to find other interlocutors, beyond China, who can resolve this situation in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz,” Sánchez said, urging China to step up its diplomatic efforts.
His comments came as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who called for safeguarding multilateralism and warned against what he described as a global slide toward the “law of the jungle.”
Xi said China and Spain should strengthen communication and cooperation to address geopolitical tensions, while Sánchez said the two countries could help ease trade disputes and confront shared environmental, social and security challenges.
Sánchez, whose country is a member of NATO, has been among Europe’s most outspoken critics of U.S. and Israeli military actions in the Middle East. His government recently barred U.S. military flights tied to the Iran war from using Spanish airspace and has limited the use of joint U.S.-Spanish bases for related operations.
Quote:Vice President Vance accused Iran of “economic terrorism” over how it has blocked the Strait of Hormuz – but said the ball is in Tehran’s court when it comes to securing a peace deal.
“Well, as the president of the United States showed, two can play that game,” Vance told Fox News Monday – just hours after the US blockade came into force.
“If the Iranians are going to try to engage in economic terrorism, we’re going to abide by the simple principle that no Iranian ships are getting out either.
“We know that’s a big deal to them. We know it applies additional economic leverage.”
The blockade came into force – just two days after US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, failed following 21 hours of negotiation.
Vance told Fox News Iranian negotiators could not finalize a deal, but said there were “good conversations” and a “we made a lot of progress.”
“They moved in our direction, which is why I think we would say that we had some good signs, but they didn’t move far enough,” he said.
“Whether we have further conversations, whether we ultimately get to a deal, I really think the ball is in the Iranian court because we put a lot on the table, we actually made very clear what our red lines were.”
Vance claimed there was the prospect of a “grand deal” but said Iran cannot pursue a nuclear weapon and terrorism in order for it to become a “normal country.”
“It’s up to the Iranians to take the next step,” he said.
Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said there was “progress on many issues discussed,” but Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that “unreasonable” demands made by Washington prevented a deal from being reached.
Quote:There is no shortage of jet fuel in the European Union at the moment, but supply problems could occur and the situation remains a top concern, the European Commission said on Tuesday.
European airlines have urged the European Union to step in with emergency measures to tackle repercussions from the Iran war, including widespread airspace closures and mounting concerns over jet fuel shortages, a document seen by Reuters showed.
“There is no evidence for fuel shortage in the European Union at present, but supply issues could occur in the near future,” a Commission spokesperson told reporters in Brussels.
“Crude oil supplies to the European refineries remain stable, with no need for additional stock releases at the present. However, that remains our primary concern,” the spokesperson added.
Quote:Europe has “maybe six weeks or so” of jet fuel left before it’s forced to start canceling flights, if oil supplies remain blocked by the Iran war — just in time for summer vacation, the head of the International Energy Agency warned on Thursday.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol described the current situation as “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced” — as he called for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen and allow global oil and gas supplies to flow.
“Several European countries may start to face shortages of jet fuel in the next six weeks,” Birol told the Associated Press.
“If we are not able to open the Strait of Hormuz … I can tell you soon we will hear the news that some of the flights from city A to city B might be canceled as a result of lack of jet fuel,” he added
The IEA’s April report said Europe could start seeing physical shortages of jet fuel by June, even if the region can replace half of the supplies it normally gets from the Middle East.
The continent has the highest dependence on jet fuel from the Middle East, with the region supplying nearly 375,000 bpd, or 75%, of Europe’s net jet fuel imports, according to the IAE.
“In the past, there was a group called ‘Dire Straits.’ It’s a dire strait now, and it is going to have major implications for the global economy,” Birol said.
“And the longer it goes, the worse it will be for the economic growth and inflation around the world,” he added.
Birol’s warning comes just a week after ACI Europe, which represents airports across the continent, suggested that Europe had only three weeks before it faced a serious fuel shortage.
Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump said that China has agreed not to send weapons to Iran amid reports it plans to give Tehran new air defense systems — and predicted Chinese leader Xi Jinping “will give me a big, fat, hug” when they meet next month.
Trump further claimed Wednesday that Xi is “very happy” about his efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz, a day after officials in China slammed his blockade as “dangerous and irresponsible.”
“China is very happy that I am permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz. I am doing it for them, also — And the World,” Trump crowed on Truth Social. “This situation will never happen again. They have agreed not to send weapons to Iran.
“President Xi will give me a big, fat, hug when I get there in a few weeks,” he added. “We are working together smartly, and very well! Doesn’t that beat fighting??? BUT REMEMBER, we are very good at fighting, if we have to – far better than anyone else!!!”
Trump and Xi are set to meet in Beijing on May 14-15.
That meeting was delayed due to the war in Iran.
China notably gets roughly 45-50% of its crude imports through the Strait of Hormuz. Over a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil traverses the Strait of Hormuz annually.
Meanwhile, multiple reports have indicated that US intelligence believes China has been preparing to send MANPADs, which are shoulder-fired anti-air missile systems, to Iran to help it defend against potential American attacks.
The president claimed on Fox News Business’ “Mornings with Maria” that Xi wrote him a letter about not sending weapons.
“I wrote him a letter asking him [Xi] not to do that [send Iran weapons], and he wrote me a letter saying that essentially he’s not doing that,” Trump said in a pre-taped interview.
“Look, there’s never been anybody tougher in China than me. But I also have a good relationship with President Xi, and that’s a good thing,” the president added at another point.
Quote:Iran is using the cease-fire to dig out its underground missile bases that were buried by US and Israeli airstrikes, according to recent satellite images.
Trucks and heavy machinery were seen arriving at the ruins of Iran’s missile bases near Khomeyn and Tabriz on April 10, two sites previously hit by airstrikes, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Iranian crews were seen to be clearing the debris from the underground tunnels, scooping the rubble and loading up nearby trucks that hulled it away.
The work appeared concentrated at the entrances to the missile bases that were hit and sealed off during the war, preventing Iran from deploying its rockets.
The images suggest Iran could be rushing to salvage its missile launchers during the temporary cease-fire, which remains in effect this week.
Mediators are still attempting to bring Washington and Tehran back to the negotiating table after talks broke down over the weekend.
The satellite photos come just a week after US intelligence warned that Iranian operatives were digging out the missile bunkers and silos to make them operational again.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz also reported that Iran had used bulldozers to dig out its missile launchers from the underground bunkers.
Quote:Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist group, saw its command structure across Lebanon come under what Israeli officials described as one of the most devastating blows of the war April 8.
Nearly simultaneously, explosions tore through Beirut, Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley and southern Lebanon as roughly 50 Israeli aircraft struck more than 100 Hezbollah targets.
The targets were not rocket launchers or weapons depots, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), but the nerve centers of the organization — command rooms, intelligence headquarters and offices where Hezbollah commanders planned the next stage of the fight.
The strike marked a new phase in the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which erupted March 2 after Hezbollah entered the conflict in support of Iran, one day after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Since then, Hezbollah has fired rockets, drones and anti-tank missiles into northern Israel, while Israel has responded with widening airstrikes and a ground offensive inside southern Lebanon.
“Within only a minute, the IDF eliminated 250 Hezbollah terrorists in three areas simultaneously,” the Israeli military said in a statement, adding the assessment is still ongoing.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an IDF spokesman, told Fox News Digital the strike was the result of weeks of intelligence work.
Israeli intelligence agencies tracked Hezbollah operatives as they moved between apartments, offices and safe houses across Lebanon.
“The timing had to do with the preparations,” Shoshani said.
“There was weeks of amazing intelligence.”
Quote:Israeli forces say they discovered a Hezbollah weapons stash inside a hospital in Lebanon this weekend.
The Israel Defense Forces carried out the operation in Lebanon's Bint Jbeil municipality. Images shared with Fox News show weapons, ammunition and explosives that Israel says were found within a hospital in the area.
The IDF says it eliminated "approximately 20 terrorists" inside the hospital compound after Hezbollah was detected conducting surveillance and firing upon IDF troops from a window of the hospital.
"The Hezbollah terrorist organization systematically and repeatedly used the hospital compound and its immediate surroundings for military purposes, constituting a serious violation of international law," the IDF said in a statement.
"The IDF operates in accordance with international law, and clarified prior to the operation to the relevant Lebanese authorities that all military activity within hospitals in Lebanon must cease, and disseminated these warnings through various channels. Despite this, Hezbollah continued to use the hospital for military activity," the IDF said in a statement.
Israel has continued operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon amid a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran this week.
The operation comes after U.S. talks with Iranian officials failed to make progress this weekend in Pakistan.
Speaking during a press conference from the Serena Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, Vice President JD Vance said Iran has "chosen not to accept our terms."
"The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement," Vance said. "And I think that's bad news for Iran much more than it's bad news for the United States of America."
Quote:Iran secretly got its hands on a Chinese spy satellite to target American bases in the Middle East during the war, leaked military documents revealed.
Following its launch to space in 2024, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had acquired Beijing’s TEE-01B satellite, tasking it to monitor key US military sites in the region, the Financial Times reported.
Time-stamped records show some of the images were taken last month before and after Iranian drone and missile attacks on those very bases.
The logs indicate that the satellite, which was built by the Earth Eye Chinese company, had taken images of the Prince Sultan Air Base, in Saudi Arabia, on March 13, 14, and 15.
It was during that same timespan that Iran struck the American base, damaging five US Air Force refueling planes.
The satellite also took images of the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, and several locations close to the US Fifth Feel naval base in Bahrain and Iraq, which also came under fire from the IRGC.
“This satellite is clearly being used for military purposes, as it is being run by the IRGC’s Aerospace Force and not Iran’s civilian space program,” Nicole Grajewski, an expert on Iran at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, told the FT.
“Iran really needs this foreign-provided capability during this war, as it allows the IRGC to identify targets ahead of time and check the success of its strikes,” she added.
The TEE-01B, which launched on June, 6, 2024, was intended to be used for agriculture, emergency management and municipal transportation purposes, according to Earth Eye Co.’s website.
The IRGC, however, took control over the satellite in September 2024 after forking over about $36 million, the FT reported.
Quote:Pakistan’s army chief is set to meet with Iranian officials in Tehran on Thursday in a bid to ease tensions in the Middle East and arrange a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran after almost seven weeks of war.
The White House said any further talks would likely take place in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, though no decision had been made on whether to resume negotiations.
The US naval blockade of Iranian ports continued as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would ramp up economic pain on Iran with new economic sanctions on countries doing business with it, calling the move the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign.
Pakistan has emerged as a key mediator after it hosted direct talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad that authorities said helped narrow differences between the two sides. Mediators are seeking a new round before the ceasefire expires next week.
Meanwhile, Trump wrote late Wednesday on Truth Social that leaders from Israel and Lebanon would speak the next day in a renewed effort to broker a ceasefire after the countries’ first direct talks in decades ended the previous day in Washington without a deal.
It was not clear what leaders Trump was referring to. The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond for comment, which was posted before dawn in Israel and Lebanon.
The war has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have torn through military and civilian infrastructure across the region. Oil prices have fallen amid hopes for an end to fighting, and US stocks on Wednesday surpassed records set in January.
Quote:Iran has threatened to sink American ships policing the Strait of Hormuz amid the blockade — and wildly claimed that a US ground invasion would be “great” as it would allow the regime to make billions of dollars snatching hostages.
Mohsen Rezaee, the ex-commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, mocked President Trump on state TV Wednesday — claiming he wants to be the “police” of the waterway before boasting that Tehran’s missiles can take out American vessels, as reported by Agence France-Presse.
“Is this really your job? Is this the job of a powerful army like the US?” the regime stooge, dressed in a military uniform, threatened Trump.
“These ships of yours will be sunk by our first missiles and have created a great danger for the US military. They can definitely be exposed to our missiles and we can destroy them.”
Rezaee, a senior adviser to the supreme leader, challenged claims that Iran’s navy has been “completely obliterated,” posing the question, “Why does the United States not dare to cross the Strait of Hormuz?”
He asserted Tehran would not leave the strait unless its “rights” are fully secured — and vowed it was the regime setting the terms, not Washington.
“Based on past negotiations, agreements must be drafted more carefully, with a stronger focus on economic issues,” he said.
“Unlike the US, which fears prolonged war, Iran is fully prepared and experienced in long-term war.
“Unlike previous talks where the other side set the terms, Iran is now setting the preconditions.”
Rezaee vowed he wasn’t in favor of extending the fragile cease-fire — before wildly claiming a ground invasion would be good for Tehran.
Quote:Iran has only two to eight weeks left before it must curb oil production, risking long-term damage to its oil fields, experts said.
In the face of the US blockade on Iranian ports, Tehran is running out of storage space after it has been forced to divert its oil to onshore storage tanks, which only have the capacity for 122 million barrels, according to FGE NextantECA, an energy and chemicals advisory company.
With Iran’s current production of about 2 million barrels per day, the Islamic republic has only two months before it uses up all its storage space, the consultancy said.
“Once the tanks are filled, Iran would have to shut down its oil fields, which risks long-term damage to the fields,” Annika Ganzeveld, the Middle East Portfolio Manager for the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute, told The Post.
Sudden and long-term halts at oil production plants risk permanent damage to a fuel reservoir and make it increasingly difficult to restart operations and reach the same level of output as before.
Both the AEI and Energy Aspects, a UK-based fuel analyst firm, estimate that Iran’s storage space is actually smaller, giving the Islamic republic about two weeks before its tanks are full.
“The blockade may not have a significant impact on Iranian production in April, but if it continues into May then output would need to be reduced substantially,” Richard Bronze, co-founder of Energy Aspects, told Reuters.
Iran may attempt to lower production for the remainder of the month or deploy oil tankers along its ports as temporary storage space to delay the production cuts.
“Iran’s limited storage capacity highlights the difficult position the US blockade has put Iran in,” the Critical Threats project said.
The US launched a full blockade to Iran’s ports on Monday morning, halting the Islamic republic’s exports traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.
Quote:WASHINGTON — The US military will “actively pursue” any Iranian-flagged vessels or any ships attempting to support the regime elsewhere in the world, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced Thursday — in an expansion of the blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.
Caine explained that in addition to cutting off the regime’s ports in the critical oil chokepoint, other US military assets will look out for and stop vessels elsewhere, including in the Indo-Pacific region.
“The joint force, through operations and activities in other areas of responsibility, like the Pacific Area of Responsibility under the command of Admiral [Samuel] Paparo, will actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran,” Caine said at a press conference on Thursday.
“This includes Dark Fleet vessels carrying Iranian oil. As most of you know, Dark Fleet vessels are those illicit or illegal ships evading international regulations, sanctions or insurance requirements.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also warned Iranian leaders to “choose wisely” on whether to accept a deal with the US.
“To Iran: Choose wisely. I pray you choose a deal which is in your grasp for the betterment of your people and for the betterment of the world,” Hegseth said at the press conference. “In the meantime, the War Department is locked and loaded.”
President Trump first announced the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday — and by Tuesday, US Central Command, which coordinates the joint forces in the Middle East, announced the cutoff of Iranian ports was fully implemented.
Caine also stressed, as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did on Wednesday, that non-Iranian-linked traffic is still allowed through the Strait of Hormuz.
Quote:WASHINGTON — House lawmakers narrowly rejected a measure requiring President Trump to end the war with Iran absent congressional approval Thursday, with just a single vote separating the two sides.
The so-called war powers resolution failed by a 214-213 vote on a near-party-line basis, with Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) siding with most Republicans in opposing the resolution, while libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) joining most Democrats in supporting it.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) voted present, while three other Republicans — Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Thomas Kean Jr., of New Jersey and Nancy Mace of South Carolina — did not vote.
A Senate version of the resolution was voted down Wednesday, with Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky voting for it and Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania opposing it.
“My Democrat colleagues really want America to lose,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) fumed during a floor debate ahead of the vote.
“As far I’m concerned, the most patriotic thing that we can do is stand up to ensure that our men and women in uniform aren’t being recklessly sent into a costly war of choice, more than 12 of whom have already lost their lives, hundreds of whom have been seriously injured,” countered House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
The resolution came to the floor in the midst of a two-week cease-fire between the US, Israel, and Iran that expires April 22. Trump has imposed a blockade around Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil flows annually.
Quote:WASHINGTON — A 10-day cease-fire agreed to by Israel and Lebanon took effect at 5 p.m. ET Thursday, sparking celebratory gunshots and rocket-propelled grenade launches in the streets of Beirut.
Hours earlier, President Trump announced on Truth Social that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had settled on the pause “in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries.”
“On Tuesday, the two Countries met for the first time in 34 years here in Washington, D.C., with our Great Secretary of State, Marco Rubio,” he added on Truth Social.
“I will be inviting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, to the White House for the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983, a very long time ago,” the president continued. “Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly!”
The cease-fire calls for Lebanon and Israel to engage “in good-faith direct negotiations, facilitated by the United States, with the objective of achieving a comprehensive agreement that ensures lasting security, stability, and peace between the two countries,” according to the State Department.
A Hezbollah official previously told NBC News Wednesday that “if Israel is fully committed to a complete cessation of hostilities … then this matter would be subject to consideration” by the terror group. Trump insisted to reporters Thursday that “they’re going to be having a ceasefire, and that will include Hezbollah.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the pact in a social media post, noting that the pause in fighting “is a central Lebanese demand we have pursued since the first day of the war.”
Netanyahu confirmed in a video statement that Israel had agreed to the cease-fire but isn’t withdrawing its forces from southern Lebanon yet.
“We are remaining in Lebanon in an expanded security zone,” Netanyahu said, citing the “danger of an invasion.”
During trilateral cease-fire talks between Rubio, Lebanon’s ambassador to the US, and Israel’s ambassador to the US, Beruit acknowledged that Hezbollah is a mutual problem for both nations, a White House official said.
Quote:WASHINGTON – President Trump claimed Thursday that the US and Iran have a “good” chance of finalizing a peace deal in the coming days after the Islamic Republic agreed to two major demands put forward by the White House — and teased that he may go to Pakistan himself to seal the agreement.
“It’s very important that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, and they’ve agreed to that,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a two-day western trip.
“Iran’s agreed to that, and they’ve agreed to it very powerfully.”
Trump then claimed that Iran “agreed to give us back the nuclear dust that’s way underground because of the attack we made with the B-2 bombers,” referring to the roughly 970 pounds of enriched uranium buried under three Iranian nuclear sites damaged by US strikes on the country in June 2025.
The Post could not immediately confirm whether Iran has indeed agreed to give up its enriched uranium, under what terms and to whom it would be surrendered.
However, the president has insisted that Iran’s leadership was “willing to do things today that they weren’t willing to do two months ago.”
“Something’s going to happen, very positive,” he added. “We’re moving very fast. It could happen pretty quickly.”
Trump, in an exclusive interview with The Post Tuesday, predicted talks would resume in Pakistan this weekend.
Islamabad officials are engaged in a round of shuttle diplomacy, travelling to Iran and other countries in the Middle East to help make discussions happen.
Pakistani Field Marshal Asim Munir went to Tehran on Wednesday and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is on a four-day tour to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, to garner support for a deal.
“I might go,” Trump suggested Thursday. “Pakistan has been great. They’ve been so good.”
Quote:It’s an international game of chicken.
At one end of the Strait of Hormuz Iran is threatened to attack any ship that crossed without its permission.
At the other, a US blockade is halting the few remaining ships that were making it through — all of which were tied to Iran’s shadow fleet.
The result is that traffic at the critical choke point — which carries 20% of the world’s oil — is at a standstill.
Only four ships appear to have successfully crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the four days since the blockade came into effect — according to maritime trackers — all of which were entering the Persian Gulf, rather than exiting with Tehran’s oil exports.
But about 800 vessels remain stuck in the Gulf, according to the UK-based Lloyd’s List, leaving 20,000 seafarers in limbo.
Prior to the war, more than 130 ships traveled through the strait every day but traffic fell to only a handful of vessels after the conflict broke out, the majority of which were linked to Iran.
The blockade put an end to that, with 14 vessels forced to turn back due to their links with Iranian exports within the first 72 hours, according to US Central Command.
Only a single ship was caught exiting the strait on Thursday, but it remained to be seen if the vessel, the Comoros-flagged Race tanker, will make it to its final destination in India or if it will be intercepted and forced to turn back by US warships in the Gulf of Oman.
While traffic out of the oil-rich Persian Gulf has appeared to drop to zero, tracking data indicates that at least four ships have managed to enter the Persian Gulf after the blockade went into effect on Monday morning.
Quote:Iran has lost the first oil storage tank in its weekslong war with the United States and Israel, according to new satellite imagery released this week.
A photograph, captured on April 15 by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 satellites, showed smoke rising from the site of a crude oil storage facility on Sirri Island, an Iranian oil terminal in the Persian Gulf.
The damage—first reported on Thursday by the shipping-monitoring group TankerTrackers.com—appeared to cost Iran at least one large tank capable of storing 1 million barrels of crude oil, about one-fifth of the island's capacity.
Oil exports are central to Iran's heavily sanctioned economy—over 90 percent goes to Chinese refineries—but U.S. President Donald Trump has deliberately spared Iranian energy sites, he said, possibly as a bargaining chip and with a view to stabilizing oil prices after the war.
American, Israeli and Iranian forces have not exchanged fire since the ceasefire called on April 7, but Iranian state media reported explosions on Sirri and the Lavan Island oil hub, off Iran's south coast, hours after the pause in fighting.
At the time, the Mehr news agency did not say who was responsible for the blast, and no follow-up reports were filed. On the same day, suspected drone attacks were reported on energy infrastructure in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
It was unclear whether the fire seen on Sirri was linked to the April 7 explosion, but large plumes of smoke were also seen in ESA imagery of the site taken on April 10.
UKRAINE WAR
Quote:The Ukrainian military captured a Russian position using only ground robots and aerial drones — completely unassisted by any infantry, for the first time in the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
No lives were lost when the robot force went into highly dangerous enemy-occupied territory and forced the soldiers there to surrender, he said in a video address to defense workers this week, without revealing additional details about the mission.
“The future is already on the front line — and Ukraine is building it. These are our ground robotic systems,” Zelensky said, according to Business Insider.
Over the last three months, Ukrainian ground robots have carried out more than 22,000 missions on the front lines, according to the president.
“In other words, over 22,000 times, lives were saved,” he said.
“This is about high technology protecting the highest value — human life,” he continued.
Ukraine reportedly has used a record number of land robots to fend off invading Russian forces, as the war-torn country continues to ramp up its use of killer droids on the battlefield.
“The front line is more like ‘Terminator,’” a drone operator with Ukraine’s 25th Airborne Brigade, named Bambi, told the Guardian earlier this month. “A land robot arrives at your position and there is nothing you can do about it.
“You can shoot a person in the chest and they stop firing. If you shoot a ground robot, it doesn’t feel pain.”
Quote:Russia launched its deadliest strike of the year, killing at least 18 Ukrainians after it fired more than 700 drones and missiles at the war-torn country overnight.
The attack on Ukraine began just before midnight on Wednesday and carried into early Thursday, with nine deaths recorded in Odessa, five in Dnipro, and four in Kyiv, which included the killing of a 12-year-old boy.
“Today in Ukraine is another very hard day, really hard night – the day after a massive Russian attack,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement.
“In just one night, there were nearly 300 attack drones, 19 ballistic missiles, as well as cruise missiles. … And this came after waves of “shaheds” had filled our skies just yesterday,” he added.
“Just ordinary people, children, civilians, killed by Russian madness.”
During the bombardments, Ukraine said it was able to intercept 31 missiles and 636 drones, but 12 rockets and 20 UAVs still managed to break through and rock 26 locations across the country.
Images of the blast showed the the Ukrainian capital, with black smoke billowing in the sky.
With rescue operations still underway and scores of people injured, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba warned that the death toll could rise even higher.
More than 50 people were injured in Kyiv, with 23 wounded in Odessa and about 36 in Dnipro, according to regional officials.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city in the northeast, two people were injured by drone strikes, officials said.
“Such attacks cannot be normalized,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted on X.
“These are war crimes that must be stopped and their perpetrators held to account.”
Zelensky, who has warned that his country is facing a shortage of Patriot air defense missiles, said the overnight attack proved that Moscow was still able to wage large-scale attacks more than four years into the war.
USA
Quote:Eric Swalwell dramatically announced he was resigning from Congress on Monday just hours before a bombshell press conference from one of his alleged victims.
The married former California governor hopeful again defiantly shot down the sexual assault and rape claims against him — but said he felt it was right to step aside amid the chaos.
Congress erupted at the update, with Florida Rep Anna Paulina Luna claiming “more disgusting stuff coming” that she argued could send him to jail.
Swalwell’s statement, which extinguishes the final flame in his rollercoaster political career, came just hours after the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into the allegations against him, which will now be scrapped when he officially resigns.
The fallout has also embroiled Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales, who is under fire over sexual advances towards an aide who later committed suicide, as he suddenly said he will retire from Congress.
Swalwell said Monday: “I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past.
“I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.
“I am aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against me and other members. Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong.
“But it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress.”
He did not specify when he would officially step down, but said he will work with his team to handover responsibilities over the next two weeks.
Quote:A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to end his contempt inquiry into senior Trump administration officials after they deported more than 130 Venezuelan migrants — capping a protracted and bitterly disputed legal fight.
Judges for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Boasberg's inquiry overstepped the court's authority and represented an "unwarranted impairment" of the executive branch. Judges Neomi Rao and Justin Walker, two Trump appointees, authored the majority, which ordered Boasberg, the chief district judge for the District of Columbia, to terminate the contempt inquiry roughly 12 months after it began.
At issue was the Trump administration’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador last March — migrants that the administration alleged were in the U.S. illegally and in some cases had ties to the violent gang Tren de Aragua — and whether senior Trump officials had willfully defied an emergency court order issued by the district court judge in allowing the deportation flights to continue.
Rao and Walker said Tuesday that the March 15 emergency order that Boasberg issued last year, which sought to halt the administration from immediately deporting the Venezuelan migrants, was too ambiguous to justify what they ruled was an "intrusive" investigation into high-level executive matters.
"The district court proposes to probe high-level Executive Branch deliberations about matters of national security and diplomacy," Rao and Walker said Tuesday. "These proceedings are a clear abuse of discretion."
J. Michelle Childs, a Biden appointee, authored a sharp, 80-page dissent.
"Contempt of court is a public offense, and the fate of our democratic republic will depend on whether we treat it as such," she said, adding: "Without the contempt power, the rule of law is an illusion, a theory that stands upon shifting sands."
Quote:A major oil industry group has pushed back against a California congressman who proposed a bill to tax fuel producers, instead encouraging state Democrats to “stand up” against Governor Gavin Newsom’s crippling green tax policies.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna shared a video referencing “Trump’s immoral and reckless war in Iran” as the reason for surging California gas prices. He also urged the passage of his proposed windfall profits tax on oil companies “to give Americans a rebate for their gas bills.”
In a lengthy retort, the US Oil & Gas Association argued the legislation would do nothing to lower prices, saying Californians should “stand up” against Governor Gavin Newsom’s crippling green tax policies.
“Stand up to your Governor. You know he is wrong and you can be on the right side of things,” the association said Saturday in the long-winded X post, adding that state-level taxes need to be suspended first in order to bring California prices in line with the national average.
While Khanna blamed President Donald Trump for pain at the pump, the association pointed to the state’s taxes — plus environmental regulations like cap-and-trade, low carbon fuel standard, unique reformulated gasoline, refinery limits and geographic isolation — for adding “$1.00-$1.78+ over the US average” to the price of a gallon of gas.
“Put your state bureaucracy on a diet. They could stand to shed a few pounds,” the association’s post continued. “Encourage California domestic oil and gas production and expand your refinery capacity instead of shutting it down.”
Over the weekend, Khanna called for the end of the war in Iran and a stop to the exportation of US crude oil, while urging Congress to pass his profits tax bill.
The idea behind the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax act, which was reintroduced by Khanna and Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, is to prevent large oil companies from raking in profits when oil prices spike, and send Americans money from taxing the extra profits.
Quote:The US Oil & Gas Association has torn Kamala Harris apart after she posted a video expressing concern about high gas prices in North Carolina and across the country.
The prominent trade association that represents over 5,000 members pointed out the failed Democratic presidential pick had used jet fuel to fly across the country to promote her new book and record the footage.
They said: “California still pays the nation’s highest gas prices — thanks to the taxes, mandates, and anti-production policies you championed for years.
“Flying cross-country (made possible by jet fuel) to North Carolina to make a video isn’t going to change that.”
The association’s comments were in response to a video shared by Harris via her social media account the same day, in which she addressed the war in Iran.
“I’m here in Charlotte. Since the start of Trump’s war of choice, it’s $15 more every time you fill up your tank of gas,” she said, standing in front of a local gas station in the state nearly 2,500 miles from her home in California, where she recently purchased a new home in Malibu.
“We’ve got a president who is paying more attention to what he thinks is in his best political interests and personal interests, as opposed to what is in the best interest of working people in America,” the former vice president added.
While Harris has not ruled out a potential 2028 run following her loss to Trump in 2024, she has yet to make her formal intentions clear. Harris lost all seven key battleground states, including North Carolina, where the video was filmed.
The association of thousands of oil industry workers did not hold back from schooling Harris.
“Ma’am (can we call you Ma’am?), we’ll keep this factual and review your actual record, not your reboot,” the association wrote before elaborating on her track record.
In a lengthy social media post, the group argued that as a US senator from 2017–2021, Harris was an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal resolution, which called for a transition away from fossil fuels.
It also pointed to statements from her 2020 presidential campaign, including remarks at a CNN town hall — “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking” — and on NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” where she said, “We will end fracking once and for all.”
Quote:Tom Steyer, the now top polling Democrat for California governor, has unveiled his extremely radical, open-door, anti-ICE immigration platform as he continues his run for the state’s top office.
The hedge fund billionaire, who was polling poorly until the media targeted Eric Swalwell for a sacrifice to revitalize the Democratic field for the governor’s race, released his immigration pledges on Tuesday with a five-point plan that is far more left-wing and radical than the current governor’s, who himself is a left-wing radical on immigration.
The 68-year-old founder of Farallon Capital Management turned radical environmentalist posted his intentions to nullify all federal immigration laws, jail federal immigration law enforcement officers, and return deported individuals back to the U.S.
Steyer’s immigration plan includes the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in California and would attempt to jail ICE agents and their superiors whom Steyer thinks are breaking his rules.
He also thinks he has the power as a governor to go to foreign countries, gather up people who have been deported, and bring them back to the U.S.A.
The billionaire went on to pledge to ignore any U.S. Supreme Court rulings that he does not like.
Steyer claimed, “Each point builds on one another to create a comprehensive strategy that gives the State of California the power it needs to take on ICE and win.”
The candidate’s first bullet point made the claim that ICE uses “racial profiling” to arrest illegal migrants and to target them for deportation. This, he claims, is against California statutes that “outlaws any law enforcement agency from profiling anyone based on their race.” He pledged to enforce these statutes against federal immigration officers.
With his second policy, he pledged to “give the state Attorney General the authority to hold ICE’s leadership accountable for violence.”
“My plan will pursue supervisory liability. This body of law empowers the California justice system to criminally prosecute and imprison not just the ICE agents who are committing these crimes, but the leadership directing them to do so,” he claimed, not explaining how any state law could supersede federal authority.
His third policy pledge is to set up a special branch of the state attorney general’s office to pursue “evidence” that will lead to the prosecution of federal immigration officers, again without addressing federal supremacy issues.
Next he revealed he thinks a state governor can reverse federal deportation rulings and said he’d use state money to send representatives to foreign countries then pay to fly deported illegals back into California, saying, “I will bring those detained and kidnapped by ICE back home,” and says he will “assist and help those who have been imprisoned without due process.”
Finally, he pledged to use more state tax dollars to train illegals to “know their rights” so they can fight against being held accountable for breaking U.S. immigration laws, backed by California tax dollars in the process.
Quote:Nebraska police fatally shot a woman who slashed a toddler after leading the child out of a Walmart at knifepoint in an alleged kidnapping, according to cops and body-worn camera images.
Cops responded to a Walmart in Omaha just after 9:10 a.m. for reports of a woman armed with a “large kitchen knife” who had a young child, according to the Omaha Police Department.
Surveillance footage caught the woman, later identified as 31-year-old Noemi Guzman, shoplifting the knife from the store and approaching a 3-year-old boy and his guardian in an aisle, police said.
Guzman was seen brandishing the knife and forcing the female shopper to walk ahead of the cart as the child remained inside it. She then terrifyingly led them through the store and into the parking lot, cops added.
The knife-wielding woman “took possession of the child, essentially kidnapping the child,” Deputy Chief Scott Gray said at a press conference.
A two-officer patrol unit arrived and discovered Guzman in the parking lot, standing by the shopping cart with the young child inside.
Guzman continued to make threats with the knife and — after ignoring several pleas from officers to drop the weapon — slashed the boy, authorities said.
Harrowing images from body camera footage captured Guzman, who had dyed red hair, a purple tank top, and plaid pants, holding the large knife up near the boy’s face as a cop drew their gun.
The two officers fired their weapons and struck Guzman, as the toddler’s guardian and a bystander immediately removed him from the cart and provided medical aid.
Lifesaving measures were given to Guzman, but she died at the scene, police said.
Quote:WASHINGTON — Disgraced ex-Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax killed his estranged wife and then himself inside their million-dollar home in the Washington, DC, suburbs early Thursday — after he spiraled into booze and financial ruin following sexual assault allegations and a bitter divorce fight.
The 47-year-old Democrat — who was under court order to vacate the family home at the end of the month — shot wife Cerina Fairfax multiple times in the basement of their Annandale house just after midnight before turning the gun on himself, according to Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis.
The couple’s two teenage children were inside the home at the time of the murder-suicide, and their 16-year-old son called 911 to report the shootings after discovering his mother’s bloody body sprawled out on the floor, harrowing audio revealed.
“It is high-profile in nature, it’s tragic in nature. Certainly a fall from grace for a relatively high-profile family that seemingly had had a lot of things going in their favor,” Davis told reporters shortly before the couple’s bodies were removed from the home.
“So, tragic for the children to lose both parents, extra tragic for them to actually be in the home when it occurred. So yeah, there’s a lot going on.”
After his professional life unraveled following several sexual assault allegations in 2019, Fairfax became a raging alcoholic and deadbeat father — stealing money meant for his kids’ horseback riding lessons to buy a handgun in 2022, bombshell divorce documents obtained by The Post reveal.
After leaving office that year, Fairfax withdrew from family life, his wife alleged.
The evidence also showed that he left the family home that same year with the gun and a hastily packed suitcase. Concerned family members, including his mother, later found him alone in the woods. Fairfax claimed the gun was for personal protection after losing his armed security detail upon leaving office.
Quote:A Department of Homeland Security employee was murdered by a convicted felon immigrant who was naturalized under the Biden administration during a bloody killing spree in Georgia early this week, officials said Wednesday.
Lauren Bullis, who worked as an auditor for DHS’s Office of Inspector General, was shot and stabbed in Atlanta when 26-year-old Olaolukitan Adon-Abel allegedly went on his deadly rampage on Monday morning.
Bullis, a 40-year-old auditor for the DHS, had taken her dog out for a stroll about 7 a.m. when she was targeted as part of three random attacks carried out by the madman across the Atlanta area, cops allege.
Adon-Abel’s alleged rampage also killed another woman outside a Checkers restaurant and critically injured a homeless man who was sleeping outside a Kroger store, according to authorities.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has since revealed the alleged perp, who was born in the UK and became a naturalized US citizen in 2022 under Biden, already had a lengthy rap sheet prior to this week’s bloodshed.
“He possesses a prior criminal record that includes convictions for sexual battery, battery against a police officer, obstruction, and assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism and now stands accused of murdering [DHS] employee Lauren Bullis by shooting and stabbing her while she walked her dog,” he said.
“These acts of pure evil have devastated our department and my prayers are with the families of the victim.”
Quote:Susan Wilkerson was gone for just more than one hour when her husband, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William "Neil" McCasland — who once oversaw some of the military’s most advanced and highly classified research programs — reportedly vanished from their Albuquerque home.
McCasland, 68, left his phone behind, but his wallet and a .38-caliber revolver were missing, according to the Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Sheriff’s Office.
The general previously had said he was experiencing what he described as a "mental fog," according to investigators, but authorities stressed there was no indication he was disoriented at the time of his disappearance.
"Arguably, he would still be the most intelligent person in the room," Albuquerque police Lt. Kyle Wood said March 16.
McCasland’s disappearance is one of 10 recent cases involving scientists tied to U.S. military and government research that have drawn attention, including at the White House, where officials said they are looking into the matter after being asked about a potential pattern.
"I hope it's random, but we're going to know in the next week and a half," Trump told reporters Thursday. "I just left a meeting on that subject."
Here’s what we know about the scientists who have disappeared or died under a range of circumstances over the past three years.
McCasland disappeared Feb. 27 and police have found no trace of him since. His phone, prescription glasses and wearable devices were found at home, but his hiking boots, wallet and a .38‑caliber revolver were reported missing, according to the Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Sheriff’s Office.
McCasland held senior roles in space research and acquisition, including leadership positions at the Air Force Research Laboratory and the National Reconnaissance Office, according to the Air Force. He held senior roles at the Pentagon and commanded the Phillips Research Site of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, according to the Air Force.
Quote:WASHINGTON — Secret Service agents apprehended a man attempting to enter the White House grounds Thursday morning — but not before a brief scuffle that left one officer injured.
“Shortly after 11:30 a.m., a man was quickly detained by uniformed US Secret Service police officers after jumping over a construction bollard near the Treasury Building on the northeast side of the complex,” protective agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.
“Officers encountered the individual near a pedestrian gate, where he engaged in a physical altercation before being taken into custody,” Guglielmi added.
A Secret Service officer suffered a laceration during the tussle, an injury that was described as non-life-threatening.
Authorities have not identified the intruder who was taken into custody approximately two hours before Trump departed the White House on a two-day Western trip to Nevada and Arizona.
Thursday’s incident comes a month after a man was arrested for driving a van through a temporary security barricade near the White House.
The driver, Christopher Cavanaugh, was charged with unlawful entry and destruction of property, according to local outlet WUSA9.
Cavanaugh, 35, reportedly told Secret Service agents he was trying to “deliver a present.”
The Ohio man was seen wearing a shirt that read, “Trump is my President, Jesus is my savior,” according to the outlet.
Quote:A courageous Michigan gas station clerk helped save a teenage girl who was abducted by a gun-toting stranger with a history of rape allegations while walking to her school bus stop.
The creep kidnapped the 16-year-old girl at gunpoint just after 7 a.m. Monday in Hamtramck, while she was waiting for her school bus, Hamtramck Police Chief Hussein Farhat told WXYZ.
Roughly 30 minutes later, the unidentified suspect brought the girl to a Sunoco gas station, where he asked for cigarettes and told the terrified teen to pay for them, the outlet reported.
“When he ask her to pay for the cigarettes, I stop and go, ‘There’s something wrong.’ And she mouthed talked to me, like with no sound, ‘Help,'” store clerk Abdulrahman Abohatem told the local station.
Abohatem heroically came out from behind the protective glass and confronted the man — kicking him out and ushering the kidnapped teen behind him.
“I go out, I kick him out, I ask the girl [to] go behind me,” Abohatem recalled.
Meanwhile, fellow students who witnessed the kidnapping had helped cops track the girl’s phone, leading police cars to rush into the gas station’s parking lot as Abohatem escorted the alleged kidnapper out of the store, the outlet reported.
“I see the police outside. I point to him. I go, ‘That’s the guy,'” Abohatem recalled.
The suspect, who police said has a history of rape charges, was quickly taken into custody.
The girl and her kidnapper did not know each other, cops added.
“This is a random incident. This suspect could have driven anywhere, saw the opportunity and took advantage of it,” Farhat said.
Quote:WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden “withheld evidence” and approved “aggressive arrest tactics” when targeting pro-life defendants — and then slapped them with longer prison sentences than pro-abortion ones, according to an explosive internal review released Tuesday.
The DOJ revealed the stunning abuses in a nearly 900-page report after examining more than 700,000 records related to the Biden administration’s prosecutions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
The 1994 law was passed to protect access to houses of worship, religious institutions, abortion clinics and pregnancy resource centers.
But the Biden DOJ was found to have engaged multiple times in “biased enforcement” of it — while also collaborating with and even seeking to fund pro-abortion groups, according to the DOJ Office of Legal Policy report.
Former Attorney General Merrick Garland set up a national task force to pursue cases against pro-lifers the month after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
Emails show the task force, led by civil division trial attorney Sanjay Patel, worked closely with Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Feminist Majority Foundation and the National Abortion Federation (NAF) Security Team to initiate investigations and “monitor” pro-life activists — sometimes for years — before requesting arrest warrants and filing charges.
In a Nov. 17, 2021, email, before the task force was launched, Patel had already praised NAF’s security director, Michelle Davidson, to colleagues as an “MVP” at “bringing incidents to my attention, often in real-time, which usually result in an investigation/prosecution.”
The task force director was not nearly as chummy with defense counsel for one of the first pro-lifers indicted for illegally blocking access to an abortion clinic after the Dobbs decision, writing in a Feb. 22, 2023, email that he didn’t “keep the kind of records” the lawyer requested about the total number of “prosecutions for vandalisms of pregnancy centers.”
TURKEY
Quote:A student opened fire in two classrooms at a middle school in southern Turkey on Wednesday, killing nine people and wounding 13 others, authorities said. It was the country’s second school shooting in two days.
Wednesday's shooter, a 14-year-old student, was found dead after the attack, though it was not immediately clear whether he was killed by police or died by suicide. Kahramanmaras Provincial Governor Mukerrem Unluer said the boy arrived at the school armed with weapons believed to belong to his father, a retired police officer. He was carrying five firearms and seven magazines.
Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said six of the wounded were in serious condition. The motive for the attack was not immediately known.
At least one of the victims killed in the shooting was a teacher, and several students were killed, the Kahramanmaras government wrote in a statement.
"Initial findings indicate that the incident occurred when an 8th-grade student came to school with weapons and ammunition in his bag and opened fire randomly," the statement reads. "The suspect was found dead. In order to shed light on the incident, a judicial investigation has been initiated by the Kahramanmaraş Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, and this investigation is being conducted comprehensively and from multiple angles."
The shooting took place in the Onikisubat district of Kahramanmaras, where parents rushed to the school after reports of gunfire, according to NTV television.
State-run broadcaster TRT identified the middle school shooter as Isa Aras Mersinli and reported that his father was detained for questioning.
Second Shooting This Week in Turkey
The attack came a day after an 18-year-old former student opened fire at a vocational high school in Siverek, in neighboring Sanliurfa province, wounding 16 people, most of them students. That assailant later took his own life, authorities said.
Ten students, four teachers, a canteen employee and a police officer were injured. A motive remained unclear, and the attacker did not have a criminal record, according to Governor Hasan Sildak. He said the shooting was an “isolated incident.”
Student Omer Furkan Sayar told the state-run Anadolu Agency news outlet: “He suddenly entered the classroom and fired. He fired four or five times. Two people were hit. He then went into the next classroom. We first threw ourselves to the ground and then two of us jumped out of the window.”
THAILAND
Quote:The annual festival of Songkran usually signifies a dazzling week-long celebration — but this year’s death toll paints a picture that’s anything but.
While the Thai holiday is globally famous for being the “world’s largest water fight,” the reality on the ground is a horrific cycle of road accidents, drunk driving and reckless behavior.
In the first three days of Songkran this year, more than 191 deaths have been recorded with 951 accidents and 911 injuries.
Despite the government’s road safety campaign, enforcement of stricter drunk driving laws and increased police checkpoints, the carnage continues.
Marking the Thai New Year, the holiday triggers a mass exodus from major cities like Bangkok as millions travel to their home province to celebrate with family.
Fifty-one people died in road incidents on the first day of celebrations alone. Speeding was the leading cause of fatalities (just under 42 per cent), followed by drunk driving (27.4 per cent).
According to the Road Accident Victims Protection Company, an average of 38 road deaths per day occur throughout the calendar year, indicating a large increase over the Songkran festival.
Nicknamed the “seven dangerous days,” the death toll is also driven by “speeding and risky behaviors such as not wearing helmets.”
“The highest number of accidents occurred between 3:01pm and 6:00pm,” the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported.
According to the World Health Organization, Thailand already ranks as the ninth most-deadly nation for road crashes among member countries.
The tragic irony is that the festival is organized to mark renewal and new beginnings.
Playful water fights continue to take over the streets of the nation as people join with family and friends to spiritually “cleanse” themselves.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
![[Image: SP1-Scripter.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Scripter.png)
![[Image: SP1-Writer.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Writer.png)
![[Image: SP1-Poet.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Poet.png)
![[Image: SP1-PixelArtist.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-PixelArtist.png)
![[Image: SP1-Reporter.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/GmxWbHyL/SP1-Reporter.png)
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
