News of the World
Yesterday, 05:57 AM
OPERATION EPIC FURY / ROARING LION
Quote:The super wealthy are paying as much as $350,000 to flee the Middle East on private jets as missiles continue to pummel the region.
Rich elites living in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been frantically reaching out to private security companies for an exit route ever since the US and Israel targeted Iran in coordinated attacks over the weekend, Semafor reported.
Some are willing to cough up hundreds of thousands of dollars to be driven 10 hours to Saudi Arabia where they can then charter private planes to Europe.
“Saudi Arabia is the only real option for people who want to get out of the region right now,” Ameerh Naran, chief executive of private jet brokerage Vimana Private, said.
Among those trying to escape are senior executives at global finance firms and rich folks in the region on vacation.
“We’ve been approached by a mixture of clients including families, individuals, and corporations that want to get out of the region either because their fear for their safety, or for business reasons they just need to be able to travel,” Ian McCaul, who works at the UK-based security firm Alma Risk, said.
The sudden demand for an escape route has sent the cost of private jet charters to Europe soaring to as much as $350,000, according to the firms.
Dubai — which has become a hive of foreign ultra-wealthy businessmen, entrepreneurs and influencers in recent years – was among the Gulf areas struck after Iran launched its retaliatory strikes on Saturday.
Footage emerged of Dubai’s luxury Fairmont The Palm hotel engulfed in flames after UAE forces intercepted an Iranian air attack.
Debris from the intercepted attack reportedly crashed down near the front of the luxury hotel.
Quote:One of the world’s largest oil refineries was hit by an Iranian drone in Saudi Arabia on Monday, prompting officials to shut it down as a huge ball of fire tore through.
Harrowing video captured the massive fire burning at the Saudi oil giant, Aramco, in Ras Tanura as thick smoke billowed into the sky following a wave of attacks on major regional oil infrastructure across the Middle East.
The Saudi Defense Ministry confirmed that two drones targeting the facility had been intercepted and destroyed. There were no injuries reported in the attack.
Aramco quickly shuttered the refinery as a precautionary measure, Saudi state media reported.
Despite the temporary closure, an unnamed Energy Ministry official insisted that supplies of petroleum and its derivatives to local markets had not been disrupted as a result of the attack.
The plant — one of the largest in the world — produces approximately 550,000 barrels per day and is vital to the kingdom’s energy sector.
Earlier in the day, reports emerged of falling debris at Kuwait’s Ahmadi oil refinery after drones were shot down there – injuring at least two workers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s government said an energy facility belonging to QatarEnergy had also been attacked by two Iranian drones as authorities worked to assess the damage.
“It’s a really worrying signal,” Jorge Leon, who is head of geopolitical analysis at energy firm Rystad Energy, told AFP.
“So far, we haven’t seen energy infrastructure being targeted.”
“The longer this disruption goes on for the higher oil and gas prices we will see in the coming days and weeks,” he added.
Quote:Iranian officials told their US counterparts during crunch talks last month that the Islamic Republic possessed enough enriched fuel to build 11 nuclear bombs, President Trump’s special envoy claimed Monday night.
“Both the Iranian negotiators said to us directly with, you know, no shame, that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% [enriched uranium],” Steve Witkoff told Fox News host Sean Hannity, “and they’re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the beginning of their negotiating stance.”
Witkoff and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner engaged in three rounds of indirect talks beginning in Oman Feb. 6 and concluding in Geneva, Switzerland Feb. 26 in what turned out to be a last-ditch effort to prevent US military action against Iran.
“Jared and I opened up with the Iranian negotiators telling us they had the inalienable right to enrich all their nuclear fuel that they possessed. That’s how they opened up,” Witkoff recounted.
“We, of course, responded that the president feels we have the inalienable right to stop you dead in your tracks,” he continued.
“They then went on to say that beyond the inalienable right to enrich, that that was going to be their starting point. And Jared and I just sort of looked at ourselves flummoxed and said, ‘Well, we’re really in for it now.'”
Witkoff, 68, made worldwide headlines ahead of the Geneva talks when he claimed Iran was “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material.”
The special envoy expanded on those remarks Monday: “I know this: They have 10,000, roughly, kilograms of fissionable material. That’s broken up into roughly 460 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium, another 1,000 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium …They manufacture their own centrifuges to enrich this material. So, there’s almost no stopping them. They have an endless supply of it.
“The 60% material, Sean, can be brought to 90%, that’s weapons-grade, in roughly one week, maybe 10 days at the outside. The 20% can be brought to weapons-grade inside of three to four weeks.”
“They were proud of it,” Witkoff went on. “They were proud that they had evaded all sorts of oversight protocols to get to a place where they could deliver 11 nuclear bombs.”
Witkoff also claimed that he and Kushner, on behalf of the US, offered to provide Iran nuclear fuel for the next decade on the condition it was not used for any weapons program.
“They rejected that, which told us at that very moment that they had no — no notion of doing anything other than retaining enrichment for the purpose of weaponizing.”
With the US-Israeli war against Iran entering a fourth day, Witkoff described Tehran’s negotiating position as “silly,” but added: “They thought they could strong-arm us.”
Quote:The Israeli Air Force struck a top Iranian meeting on Wednesday where Tehran’s senior clerics had gathered to select a replacement for slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, according to multiple reports.
The Assembly of Experts, a body made up of 88 members, was allegedly together in the city of Qom when an airstrike hit their building overnight, the Times of Israel reported.
The strike came just as the mullahs were counting the votes to appoint the next supreme leader, according to FOX News’ chief foreign correspondent.
Following the attack, Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency claimed that the building was an old structure that was no longer used by the assembly for its meetings.
Hours after the strike occurred, the assembly allegedly named Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, as his successor, Iran International reported.
Mojtaba was notably among the 40 top lieutenants targeted during the first 48 hours of the war, with conflicting reports on whether or not he survived.
Mojtaba is known for a staunch adherence to his father’s hardline conservatism, and has close ties to Iran’s notoriously brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military body, according to CNN.
It remains unclear how many members of the assembly, if any, were inside the building and casting a ballot when the building was hit.
Viral images from Qom allegedly show the building that housed the Iranian leaders, with the structure left in complete ruins following the blast.
The bombing ultimately left the building “flattened,” but no injuries or deaths have yet been reported as a result of the strike, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Iran’s leadership was plunged into chaos following Khamenei’s death on Saturday, with the country’s constitution tasking the Assembly of Experts to name a new successor.
While there is no strict deadline for a successor to be chosen, the Iranian constitution dictates that the assembly act in the shortest time possible.
Quote:Iranian state media showed off a fleet of drones lined up inside an underground bunker as part of a chilling propaganda video.
Footage released by the semi-official Fars News Agency shows the unmanned fleet sitting on rocket launchers and on truck beds, while dramatic music plays in the background.
Drones lined either side of an aisle leading down a brightly lit tunnel with a variety of Iranian flags.
Cheaper Shahed drones, which cost only a few thousands of dollars to make, are thought to be the drones showcased in the clip, according to the Daily Mail.
Iran has launched the drones across the Middle East as part of retaliatory strikes against the US and Israel following Operations Epic Fury and Lion Roar.
The strikes targeted US military bases in several neighboring countries, including Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.
Six US service members were killed in an Iranian drone strike that targeted Kuwait’s Port Shuaiba, where soldiers assigned to the Army Reserve’s 103rd Sustainment Command were stationed.
Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Florida, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Nebraska, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of Minnesota, and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of Iowa, died in the attack.
The Iranian military was decimated by the initial strikes in the joint operation Saturday after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 other senior officials were killed inside a fortified compound in the heart of Tehran.
Despite the large loss of leadership, Iran has continued launching the drones and missiles, with a majority of weapons being intercepted and shot down by neighboring countries’ air defenses.
Quote:The CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces in hopes of prompting an uprising in Iran in the coming days, according to a report.
The Trump administration has been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish leaders in Iraq about how to get them military support as tensions escalate in the Middle East, multiple sources told CNN.
Iranian Kurdish opposition forces will take part in the ground operation slated to occur in Western Iran in the coming days, a senior Iranian Kurdish official told the outlet.
“We believe we have a big chance now,” the source said.
The militias have been eyeing an opening since the start of the war and are expecting support from the US and Israel, the source added.
Thousands of forces of Iranian Kurdish armed groups are operating along the Iraq-Iran border. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been striking Kurdish groups, announcing on Tuesday that it had launched dozens of drones at them, the outlet reported.
President Trump spoke with Mustafa Hijri, the President of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, which was targeted by the IRGC, on Tuesday, a senior official said.
Axios first reported that Trump had also called Iraqi Kurdish leaders on Sunday to discuss the US’s military operation in Iran and to assess whether they could work together.
A person familiar with the discussions between the Kurdish groups and the US told the outlet that the strategy would be for Kurdish armed forces to battle Iranian security forces, to make it easier for unarmed Iranians to take to the streets.
The Kurds could also deplete the Iranian regime’s military resources, with other possible strategic ideas centering on whether the opposition group could capture territory in northern Iran to create a buffer zone for Israel, a US official added.
The son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was reportedly elected to replace him, four days after Khamenei and dozens of his top henchmen were assassinated in a US and Israeli-led military campaign on Saturday.
Quote:Thousands of Kurdish fighters launched a ground offensive inside Iran on Wednesday, according to reports — following claims that Israel and the US were hoping that the armed ethnic minority group could help overthrow the Islamist regime.
The Kurdish forces are operating along the Iran-Iraq border, where its major militias are based, with the goal of applying pressure to Iran’s scrambling security forces, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The ground offensive seeks to divert Iran’s military and security resources, which would open the way for an uprising inside the country, sources told the outlet.
It remains unclear whether the well trained Kurdish militias in the self-governed region if Iraqi Kurdistan will get involved.
Some US intel reports suggested that Iraqi Kurds were also involved in the operation, though Aziz Ahmad, a top official in the Kurdish region of Iraq denied Kurdish fighters had crossed the border into Iran.
On Wednesday, the president of the Kurdish region of Iraq talked to Iran’s foreign minister and pledged “cooperation.”
The deployment comes after all six of the major political factions representing Kurds in Iran joined a new coalition on Wednesday aimed at forming of an autonomous territory within the country, the groups’ leadership announced.
With more than 35 million people spread across the Middle East, the Kurds are perhaps the largest stateless ethnic group in the world.
The Kurdish people predominately live in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran, with more than 8 million living in Iran, about 10% of the total population.
The Kurds, however, have long faced oppression at the hands of Tehran, which has spent decades trying to erase Kurdish culture.
“The Kurdish groups see what’s happening now as an opportunity in Iran to unite and stand for self determination,” Hewa Khalid, a Kurdish studies expert at Indiana University, told The Post.
“The future depends on who comes to lead Iran and how they respond to the demand of the Kurds. We could see a Kurdistan operating within Iran, or you could see the next Yugoslavia,” Khalid warned, referencing the violent division of the former Soviet state.
The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan is reportedly leading the way, with the militias speaking with the Trump administration in recent days on whether, and how, to attack Iran’s security forces amid the ongoing war, officials told Reuters.
Quote:Thousands of Kurdish fighters reportedly crossed Iraq’s border with Iran on Wednesday as part of a ground offensive against the Iranian regime.
US and Israeli officials confirmed the military campaign, according to Fox News and The Jerusalem Post.
A top official in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq vehemently denied that “Iraqi” Kurds were involved in the offensive.
“Not a single Iraqi Kurd has crossed the border. This is patently false,” Aziz Ahmad, the deputy chief of staff to the prime minister of Kurdistan, wrote on X.
Iranian Kurdish groups, operating from territory along the Iraq-Iran border, are involved in the ground incursion, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The groups maintain thousands of fighters, according to the outlet, and had been preparing in recent days for a ground offensive aimed at pressuring Iranian security forces and dispersing them across the country.
The incursion may have actually started earlier this week.
Quote:The US has struck nearly 2,000 Iranian targets in the first 100 hours of Operation Epic Fury as military officials vowed to continue striking the regime “from seabed to space and cyberspace.”
More than 50,000 American troops have been deployed as part of the “largest military buildup” in the Middle East in a generation, according to US Navy Adm. Brad Cooper.
“By order of the president of the United States and secretary of war, our military in the Middle East has undertaken an unprecedented operation to eliminate Iran’s ability to threaten Americans as they’ve been doing nearly half a century,” Cooper said in a video posted to X on Tuesday.
The US has deployed more than 50,000 troops along with 200 fighter jets, two aircraft carriers and an undisclosed number of bombers since “Operation Epic Fury” started on Saturday.
“These forces bring a massive amount of firepower, representing the largest buildup by the US in the Middle East in a generation,” Cooper said.
“Many of you may remember the shock and awe of the strikes of 2003. The first 24 hours of this operation were literally doubled the scale, and we continue with 24/7 strikes into Iran from seabed to space and cyberspace,” he added.
Nearly 2,000 Iranian targets were struck in the first 100 hours of the joint operation with Israel, with the US firing over 2,000 munitions.
Cooper said the US has “severely diminished” Iranian air defenses and destroyed hundreds of ballistic missiles, launchers and drones.
“In simple terms, we’re shooting all the things that can shoot at us,” he said.
American forces have utilized their various bombers, including the B-2s, B-1s and B-52s, with operations “deep inside Iran.”
At least 17 Iranian ships and a submarine were struck by the US.
“We are also sinking the Iranian Navy, the entire navy, thus far” Cooper said.
No Iranian-flagged ships have been located in the waters of the Middle East after the operation was launched.
“We will not stop, we will continue to conduct dynamic targeting operations. We’re hunting Iran’s last remaining mobile ballistic missile launchers, to eliminate what, I would characterize, is their lingering launch capabilities,” Cooper said.
Quote:Israel threatened to eliminate Iran’s next regime leader selected to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei if the successor continues his ideology — as the supreme leader’s son emerged as the favored front-runner.
“Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people — will be an unequivocal target for elimination,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Wednesday.
“It does not matter what his name is or the place where he hides. The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to prepare and act by all means to carry out the mission as an integral part of the objectives,” Katz said of Israel’s Operation “Lion Roar,” the military operation working alongside the US’s Operation Epic Fury.
Katz’s message comes after reports surfaced that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was being eyed to succeed his father by the powerful group of Iranian top mullahs.
Israeli media and Iranian opposition channels reported Tuesday that Mojtaba had already been selected, though Iranian state media have not confirmed anything.
“We will continue to act with full force, together with our American partners, to crush the regime’s capabilities and create the conditions for the Iranian people to overthrow it and replace it,” Katz said.
Khamenei and roughly 40 senior Iranian officials including the minister of defense, head of intelligence, and the supreme leader’s adviser for security affairs and secretary of the Defense Council were killed in the early hours of the joint US-Israel operation Saturday.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officials had all convened for a high-profile meeting inside Khamenei’s fortified compound in Tehran when Israeli fighter jets swooped in Saturday in a broad-daylight attack, turning the building into rubble.
After Khamenei’s death, Iran was being ruled by a three-person transitional council consisting of two of the supreme leader’s top lieutenants and President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The council will rule over the Middle Eastern nation until the 88-member Assembly of Experts elects the new leader.
The younger Khamenei was initially believed to have been killed in the strike, but reports of his name being passed around to succeed his father indicate he is alive.
Motjaba — the ayatollah’s second-oldest son — has been known for his staunch adherence to his father’s hardline conservatism and has close ties to Iran’s notoriously brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to CNN.
He never held an official position under his dad’s regime but was sanctioned by the US in 2019.
Quote:An American submarine sank an Iranian warship named the Soleimani in the Indian Ocean overnight — the first such US attack on a member of an enemy fleet since World War II, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday.
The “quiet death” strike on Iran’s prized vessel, the IRIS Shahid Soleimani, unfolded late Tuesday off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, Hegseth said, telling reporters during a Pentagon briefing that the ship “thought it was safe in international waters.”
“Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II,” Hegseth added. “Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department, we are fighting to win.”
The Pentagon released video of the strike soon after Hegseth spoke.
“The Iranian navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” the secretary added. “Combat ineffective, decimated, destroyed, defeated. Pick your adjective.”
A single Mark 48 torpedo was used in the strike, according to Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Sri Lanka’s navy has confirmed it responded to signals that the ship was in distress and sinking late Tuesday.
The vessel had already sunk by the time the island nation’s ships reached the location — leaving behind oil patches and life rafts, according to navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath.
“We found people floating on the water,” he said.
At least 32 people were rescued and taken to a nearby hospital as search and rescue operations continued, the officials said, adding that others had died without giving a precise number.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told the country’s lawmakers that 180 people were on board the Iranian vessel at the time of the strike.
The ship, which was listed as taking part in a naval drill held in the Bay of Bengal Feb. 18-25, was equipped to carry one helicopter and was armed with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes.
Quote:US and Israeli forces took out the Iranian official behind a plot to assassinate President Trump in the final days of the 2024 election campaign, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth revealed Wednesday.
Hegseth did not identify the individual, but Israeli media named him as Rahman Mokadam, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) special operations division.
“The leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon during a morning debrief on Operation Epic Fury.
“Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh.”
According to federal prosecutors, the IRGC tasked Afghan national Farhad Shakeri in September 2024 to “focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating” Trump.
When Shakeri told his unidentified IRGC handler that the Trump plot would “cost a ‘huge’ amount of money,” court documents said, the Iranian responded: “We already spent a lot of money … [s]o the money’s not an issue.”
US officials say Iran has been pursuing assassination plots against Trump as vengeance for the death of Qasem Soleimani, head of the country’s elite Quds Force, who was killed in a drone strike ordered by the president in 2020.
Back in 2022, a chilling video animation was posted on then-Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website showing what appeared to be a drone or bomber looming over Trump while he was out playing golf.
“Revenge is Definite,” appeared on the screen at the end of the video.
Khamenei, who ruled Iran with an iron fist since 1989, was killed in strikes Feb. 28, alongside dozens of other top Iranian officials.
“They tried twice,” Trump later boasted to ABC News’ Jonathan Karl. “Well, I got him first.”
In a phone conversation with an FBI agent, Shakeri, who did time in US prisons for robbery, said the Iranian official told him on Oct. 7, 2024, to have a plan in place to kill Trump “within seven days.”
If Shakeri did not meet his deadline, the contact allegedly said the hit on Trump would be postponed until after the election, because Tehran officials believed that the Republican nominee would lose “and, afterward, it would be easier to assassinate [him].”
Quote:Senate Republicans voted to block a Democrat-led resolution on Wednesday that would rein in President Trump’s military authority against Iran — just days after the US and Israel struck Tehran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of other high-ranking officials.
The Senate voted 47-53 against the resolution, introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) in January and backed by Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), that would compel the president “to remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran” and seek congressional approval for further hostilities.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the only Democrat to vote against the measure, and Paul was the only Republican to vote in support of it.
The resolution allows for the US to defend its personnel or facilities and continue “assisting Israel” in similar non-offensive operations. It reaffirms: “Congress has the sole power to declare war.”
“I do think it’s really important to put every member of Congress on the record about this,” Kaine told reporters ahead of the vote. “If you don’t have the guts to vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ on a war vote, how dare you send our sons and daughters into war where they risk their lives?”
Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, any US lawmaker can force a vote to withdraw the nation’s military from a conflict or halt airstrikes between 60 and 90 days.
“Senate Republicans once again failed to hold Trump accountable. Today’s vote sends us down a dangerous path into a potentially endless war,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) fumed on X after the vote.
“The American people don’t want this war. Trump has no plan,” Kim argued.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) countered that Trump properly notified Congress of the Iran operation and has earned the trust of lawmakers.
“Barack Obama dropped 26,000 bombs in at least 7 countries in 2016 without a word from Congress,” Mullin wrote on X, ahead of the vote. “I won’t hamstring President Trump. Unlike many before him, [Trump] is the ‘peace through strength’ President.
“He has earned our trust just 4.5 days into this mission.”
The vote comes as the House is also deliberating over other war powers resolutions — including one led by New Jersey Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer that would either give the president enough time to remove US forces or give Congress the chance to authorize the military conflict.
An alternative resolution slated for a House vote Thursday from Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) would be more risky and force a quick withdrawal “when we have thousands of troops in the region,” according to former Biden administration senior diplomatic adviser Amos Hochstein.
“Even when you disagree with the president about the war,” Hochstein told The Post Wednesday, “you have to recognize where you are right now. … You can’t just shut off operations.”
Jonathan Schanzer Wrote:The US military and the Israeli Defense Forces continue unleashing their might on the Iranian regime — and precise intelligence, overwhelming firepower and a bit of good luck could soon usher the downfall of the Islamic Republic.
Many are asking about the day after, specifically, about who will rule Iran when the regime finally buckles.
It’s a fair question, but it’s too soon to know: The leaders of the Iranian opposition know that it’s not yet safe to announce themselves.
The regime is still in control, and its brutality is by now well understood.
Just ask the families of the estimated 40,000 protesters murdered in the streets in recent weeks.
A better question is this: Which regional powers may try to fill the vacuum after Iran’s dictatorship falls?
Tehran has for years projected power by proxy across the Middle East, sponsoring terrorist groups like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq, and other malign actors across the region.
Should the regime collapse, other aspiring regional powers will seek to fill the void.
And while many countries may think regional leadership is theirs to inherit, there is one powerful player to watch: the Republic of Turkey.
The country has the second-largest army in NATO.
It has a growing drone industry and a government-tied military contractor, SADAT, that is training and arming militias across the Muslim world.
Concurrently, Ankara has been cultivating terrorist proxies in the Middle East for years.
The Turks are key patrons of Hamas, dating back nearly two decades, and are now trying to ensure their participation in the Gaza peace effort — despite opposition from the Israelis, who are wary of Ankara’s intentions.
But the Turks are deployed elsewhere, too.
Ankara is now supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It’s the primary patron of the new Syrian regime, led by former al-Qaeda leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, making Syria a forward base with key military and intelligence platforms.
That’s to say nothing of Turkey’s longstanding military deployments in Northern Iraq, Somalia, Qatar and more.
In short, Ankara has blanketed the region, leaving it well positioned to fill the void left by the Islamic Republic.
And Turkey’s financial backers in Qatar, a tiny country that controls roughly 12% of the world’s energy, are likely to bankroll this effort.
The alliance of these two Sunni states can be summed up rather simply: They seek to resurrect the influence and ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, the radical Islamist movement that has inspired generations of terrorists.
Their efforts date back to the Arab Spring of 2011, when chaos erupted across the Middle East.
Turkey and Qatar were then the dominant supporters of the Islamist opposition factions that aimed to topple regimes across the region.
In Libya, for example, rebels raised the Qatari flag upon ousting Moammar Khadafy.
In Egypt, after the Sisi regime crushed the Brotherhood, Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan became a foremost global advocate for the movement.
Quote:Iranian weapon debris, blown to pieces or mechanically crippled, keeps dropping from the Middle East sky.
For that, we can thank heat-seeking satellites, military-grade malware and radar-jamming software, all made in America.
New technology laser weaponry has also been deployed against Iran as part of Operation Epic Fury, The Post has learned.
A US Navy destroyer vessel off the coast of the Middle East nation is fitted with the new weapon, which appears to be the High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system, videos released by US Central Command show.
The laser is a state-of-the-art device with a steerable head, able to concentrate a “intense, tightly focused beam” of energy and take out drones, according to keen-eyed military watchers.
Similarly, videos of the skies over the Israel-Lebanon border showed rockets being launched, only to explode seconds later. That has been widely, but unofficially, credited to the Israeli military’s new Iron Beam weapon, an advanced laser able to disable rockets and defend territory.
Neither the US Navy nor the Israeli military has confirmed or denied the use of lasers in Epic Fury, which began Feb. 28. However, the Navy said at the beginning of February it had taken out four drones in a test of HELIOS.
During the first 72 hours of battle, 1,700 targets were struck by US forces. Over 200 of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers have been destroyed, about half of those the nation possessed. Additionally, dozens more of the launchers have been made inoperable. Hundreds of missiles have been destroyed, foiling them from doing their damage.
The US’s precision strikes against missile silos, nuclear facilities and leaders have been hailed a huge success, with minimal losses on US and Israeli sides.
Those strikes have been made possible by devices operated higher off the ground than previously — from space.
The US Space Force, established in 2019, is critical for air and sea forces to know where and when to attack, when to take cover, and the locations of enemy missiles.
They do it “with satellites that have infrared sensors for finding where rockets are being fired,” Brent David Ziarnick, former professor in the Space Force program at Johns Hopkins University and retired officer in the US Air Force, told The Post.
“They can spot the missiles and pinpoint where the launchers are. The missiles can be intercepted and destroyed [often with Patriot Missiles]. Field forces get notified that an attack is coming, so they can go to shelters or bunkers.”
Space Force’s infrared beams track the missiles the second they launch, via the heat they create. According to ABC News, hundreds of Iranian missiles have been destroyed with this technology.
Incredibly, despite the fighting taking place in the Middle East, most of Space Force’s work is centered in the US.
Crews work inside radar domes, called Radomes. Resembling giant golf balls, they receive information in the sky in real time, calculate the trajectory of missiles and, therefore, likely destination and act accordingly.
Quote:The US tested a doomsday ballistic missile off the California coast Tuesday night — as war raged in the Middle East.
The Minuteman III ballistic missile — which is capable of carrying nuclear warheads 20 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima — launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Santa Barbara at 11 p.m.
The unarmed rocket, known as GT 254, hit its intended target near the Marshall Islands in the west-central Pacific Ocean, according to the US Space Force.
The missile was fired to “verify the effectiveness, readiness and accuracy,” according to the Air Force Global Strike Command.
“[It] allowed us to assess the performance of individual components of the missile system,”Lt. Col. Karrie Wray, commander of the 576th Flight Test Squadron said in a press release.
“By continually assessing varying mission profiles, we are able to enhance the performance of the entire [Intercontinental Ballistic Missile] fleet, ensuring the maximum level of readiness for the land-based leg of the nation’s nuclear triad.”
The test launch comes just days after the US and Israel launched an attack on Iran, killing the nation’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at his compound in Tehran — setting off a war in the region.
President Trump later vowed to step up strikes on Iran, warning, “The big one is coming.”
The Air Force Global Strike Command said Tuesday’s test-launch was routine and scheduled years in advance.
The Minuteman III missile is one part of America’s nuclear triad, which include the ability to launch world-destroying weapons from the land, sea and air.
The missiles are stored in silos scattered across the American west — and designed to deter nuclear armageddon, but ensuring that the US will be able to strike back if it is ever hit with an atomic attack.
A Minuteman III missile was also launched in November after President Trump called for restarting the nuclear weapons tests.
The missile can travel 6,000 miles at speeds of more than 15,000 mph and strike anywhere in the world.
Quote:Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the Trump administration’s Operation Epic Fury as an attempt to “neuter” Iran’s military power inside and beyond its borders, including its apparent ties to Hezbollah.
Joining “Special Report” Wednesday, Rice praised U.S.-Israeli joint strikes against Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while emphasizing the operation does not mark the beginning of a new war.
“Iran has been at war with us for at least 47 years,” she explained. “If you ask people about Iraq, what was the source of many of our casualties in Iraq, you’ll get estimates as high as 75 or 80% of them were due to Iranian-made roadside bombs.”
Rice, who served as national security advisor and secretary of state under former President George W. Bush during 9/11 and the Iraq War, said Iran has expanded military capability through its reach to international terrorist groups.
“They also have developed the military capability to reach outside the boundaries of Iran, including Hezbollah and Hamas, which they both arm and equip,” Rice said.
Six American service members have been killed, and 20 Iranian ships have been struck or sunk during Operation Epic Fury, which has utilized more than 50,000 troops, 200 fighters and two aircraft carriers, according to CENTCOM.
The Trump administration’s coordinated strikes with Israel follow failed diplomatic efforts to negotiate Iran’s nuclear program, which Iran refused to abandon.
“To say that this regime was not a threat … it’s ahistorical,” Rice said. “They have been a threat for a long time.”
One goal of Operation Epic Fury, she said, is to strip Iran of its military capabilities and ability to coordinate with proxy groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
“If you can render Iran essentially incapable of military action against us and against our allies, that’s worthy,” Rice told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier. “And I think what they’re trying to do is to neuter Iran as a military power in the region.”
Quote:A Pakistani man charged with plotting to kill US politicians claimed that Iranian spies recruited him to target Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden in bombshell testimony Wednesday.
Accused terrorist Asif Merchant, 47, coolly claimed on the stand that he was forced into the half-baked plot to save his family.
“I had no other options. My family was threatened,” Merchant told jurors in Brooklyn federal court, where he’s charged with bizarrely paying two undercover FBI agents posing as hitmen just $5,000 to carry out the murder scheme.
Merchant, a Pakistan native who said he was a former banker with a failed banana export business, testified that his Iranian spy handler ordered him in April 2024 to go to the US and “maybe to have somebody murdered” — before giving him three potential targets.
“He did not tell me exactly who it is, but he named three people to me: Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Nikki Haley,” the accused plotter, sporting a salt-and-pepper combover and wearing a gray sweater over a blue button-down shirt, matter-of-factly explained.
Trump and Biden were the leading candidates in the 2024 presidential election at the time, and Haley, the former South Carolina governor, had dropped out of the race a month earlier.
Merchant, who pleaded not guilty to terrorism and murder-for-hire charges after his August 2024 arrest, claimed that he’d volunteered to work with Iranian spies in late 2022 or early 2023, helping the regime launder money to evade US sanctions.
His handler, who he named as Mehrdad Yousef, ordered him to carry out the assassination plot as well as steal unidentified documents, he testified.
Merchant claimed that he only agreed to do so because Yousef, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, had put “pressure” on his Iranian relatives.
Merchant, who has a separate wife and three kids in Pakistan, did not describe any specific threats to his Iran-based wife and daughter.
But he claimed Yousef had made an unannounced visit outside his home and had displayed a weapon during their meetings.
“My family was under threat, and I had to do this,” he told the jury.
USA
Quote:Authorities revealed mystery DNA on one of the gloves discovered near Nancy Guthrie’s Arizona home finally has a match — to an employee who works at a restaurant across the street.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who has faced criticism over his handling of the investigation, insisted in an interview with KVOA that officials had always suspected that might be the case after scores of random gloves were found near Guthrie’s million-dollar house in Tucson.
“There was some talk and discussion that it was police officers out in the field just discarding [the gloves], that is so far from the truth,” Nanos said.
“We knew that at that time, we believed wholeheartedly that those gloves belonged to a restaurant and guess what? The owner of the glove, we found working at a restaurant across the street.”
“It has nothing to do with the case,” he added.
The floundering sheriff admitted that other gloves found near the 84-year-old’s home after her Feb. 1 kidnapping could have a different DNA match.
“It’s a challenge because we know we have DNA, but now we have to deal with that mixture and how we’re going to separate it,” Nanos said.
A flurry of gloves found in close proximity to Guthrie’s home were seized as evidence as authorities scrambled to try and solve her bizarre disappearance.
It wasn’t immediately clear which gloves came back as a match to the restaurant employee.
The revelation came as the search for “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mom surpassed a month.
In the weeks since she was reported missing on Feb. 1 after failing to show up for church, investigators have come up empty handed.
Nanos, however, claimed Tuesday that authorities were “definitely closer” to tracking down the suspect or suspects – as the local sheriff continued to face a wave of scrutiny over his handling of the high-profile probe.
Quote:The CEO and founder of Ring doorbells is getting ripped online for positing that the Nancy Guthrie case would be “solved” if only there were more home surveillance cameras on the 84-year-old grandmother’s home.
“I do believe if they had more of it, if there was more cameras on the house, I think we might, you know, have solved” the case, Jamie Siminoff told Fortune on Tuesday.
“The video that they have,” he went on, “appears to be the best evidence they have of what happened.”
Siminoff also told the magazine that Guthrie’s case is “just another example of, like, how important it is to have video at your house.”
Keyboard warriors quickly took to Reddit to blast the entrepreneur behind the $1 billion brand.
“If only we had universal mass surveillance,” one person wrote.
“The CEO of a monitoring company is hoping more people BUY a monitoring product. Why are we surprised by this?” someone else said.
“Basically admitting that a universal privately owned panopticon makes you even more under the thumb of government.
“Why get a warrant when you could just buy the information from Ring?” wrote another sarcastic commenter.
The FBI released photos and video from Guthrie’s Nest camera on Feb. 10, showing a masked man tampering with the security device around the time she vanished on Feb. 1.
Then, new surveillance video obtained last week from one of Guthrie’s neighbors’ cameras captured several cars driving near her Tucson home the night authorities believe she was kidnapped.
But Nancy notably had not paid her Nest subscription, and the footage of her suspected kidnapper was feared lost during the first desperate days of the investigation.
The images were able to be obtained, however, after the FBI worked with Nest to dig the files out of the recesses of its servers.
Though they have been the biggest break in the case – the images seemed to unequivocally confirm that Nancy had been kidnapped – little has come of them, as no suspects have been identified or arrests made in the more than a month that since she vanished.
Several people were detained, but each was soon released after questioning.
Quote:Sen. Tim Sheehy sprang into action Wednesday, helping law enforcement officers subdue an “unhinged protestor” who began “fighting” at a hearing at the US Capitol Building, the Montana Republican explained.
Dramatic video of the incident shows the protester — later identified as Green Party Senate candidate Brian McGinnis — resisting multiple Capitol Police officers trying to remove him from a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, is seen jumping into the scrum and trying to yank the 44-year-old McGinnis, who was wearing a US Marine Corps uniform, out of the room.
The situation only calmed down after a loud snap was heard, which appeared to be the sound of the protester’s arm breaking inside the Hart Senate Office Building.
McGinnis, of North Carolina, had been refusing to let go of the door as Sheehy and officers tried removing him from the room, according to Capitol Police.
“Capitol Police were attempting to remove an unhinged protestor from the Armed Services hearing. He was fighting back. I decided to help out and deescalate the situation,” Sheehy wrote on X.
“This gentleman came to the Capitol looking for a confrontation, and he got one. I hope he gets the help he needs without causing further violence.”
McGinnis is facing three counts of Assault on a Police Officer, as well as three counts of Resisting Arrest, and Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding for the unlawful demonstration.
“This afternoon, an unruly man who started to illegally protest during a hearing, put everyone in a dangerous position by violently resisting and fighting our officer’s attempts to remove him from the room,” Capitol Police told The Post.
Three officers had to be treated for injuries, while McGinnis was also treated, according to Capitol Police.
McGinnis is not an active duty Marine but appeared to be screaming about the US military offensive against Iran.
Quote:In a shocking announcement, lawmaker Steve Daines (R-Mont.) revealed Wednesday that he will not seek reelection to a third term in the US Senate.
“Serving the people of Montana in the US House and US Senate the past 13 years has been the greatest honor of my professional career, and I am grateful to God for allowing me to serve,” Daines said in a video message posted on X.
“But after much careful thought, I have decided not to seek re-election.”
Daines, 64, is the sixth Republican senator to decide against running for reelection ahead of the critical November midterm elections, joining Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
First elected to the upper chamber in 2014, Daines served as the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee between 2023 and 2025, helping Republicans flip four Senate seats in the 2024 cycle.
President Trump described the Montana Republican as “one of our truly Great United States Senators,” in a Truth Social post after Daines’ announcement.
“He honorably served for 12 years in the Senate, and 2 in the House of Representatives. He did a job like few others are capable of doing but, sadly for our Country, Steve’s Term is up,” the president said, before endorsing Daines’ possible successor.
“[H]e has decided to leave the Senate and, ‘pass the torch’ to Kurt Alme, my TRUMP 45 and TRUMP 47 U.S. Attorney.”
The president argued that if Alme “didn’t have the highest level of aptitude and talent, Steve would have remained exactly where he is.”
“But, Kurt is exceptional,” Trump asserted, “and I will be giving him, based on Steve’s strongest recommendation, my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
Quote:This annoying travel habit won’t fly with United Airlines.
The major airline recently made clear that passengers who don’t use headphones while listening to electronic devices could get tossed off a flight – or even banned from traveling with the company.
The new rule was quietly added to United’s contract of carriage terms under its “refusal to transport” section late last month — a change first reported on by CBS News.
“Passengers who fail to use headphones while listening to audio or video content,” is one of the infractions that can get a flyer thrown off a flight, along with a litany of other long-established rules like assaulting staff or being barefoot, according to the contract.
United confirmed the Feb. 27 change in an email to The Post, noting the company’s effort to expand Starlink Wi-Fi access to its planes helped lead to the new rule.
“We’ve always encouraged customers to use headphones when listening to audio content — and our Wi-Fi rules already remind customers to use headphones,” a United spokesperson said.
“With the expansion of Starlink, it seemed like a good time to make that even clearer by adding it to the contract of carriage,” the rep added.
If travelers forget to pack headphones, the airline’s site states that crew members will provide free earbuds upon request.
“This is in line with how the vast majority of travelers comport themselves and would like others to comport themselves,” travel expert Scott Keyes told CBS News.
“It’s usually only a small number of folks on airplanes who are making noise by not using headphones, so this is a graceful way to handle those folks.”
Quote:It’s hard for taxpayers to stomach!
The Baltimore mayor’s office spent more than $890,000 on lavish meals and parties — including crab feasts, catered “farewell” bashes and massive tabs at Ravens football games, according to a report Wednesday.
Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration blew taxpayer cash on over-the-top perks for staffers — including $52,589 on grub in the Mayoral Suite at Ravens and Orioles games — in a gross violation of the city’s “public funds” rules, according to baltimorebrew.com.
One of the elaborate meals was served at a $3,636 farewell “office party” for Scott’s former campaign manager Marvin James, which featured a $324 balloon arch, a $217 cake and a $2,600 catered spread with crab balls and grilled salmon in March 2025, according to the outlet.
James, however, didn’t actually leave City Hall and is still on the payroll as the mayor’s $190,000-plus-a-year senior adviser.
In total, the office spent $801,839 on meals and catering, $42,691 on floral arrangements and funeral services, and $45,646 “unreconciled” expenses between July 2022 and November 2025, according to the outlet.
The administration spent lavishly on food such as banana bread pudding, pizza, bottomless freshly popped popcorn and “a fresh fruit tray available to everyone in the mayor’s suite daily,” according to the outlet, which cited a report from Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming, the city’s waste and fraud watchdog.
It also forked over more than $10,000 for flowers, which city regulations state shouldn’t be purchased “for any reason,” the report states.
The investigation found other extravagant so-called “P-Card” — aka procurement card — expenses related to birthday celebrations, baby showers and flowers “for a selected few, including executive leadership,” according to the report.
At least 336 of the “P-card” transactions violated city rules, which require a waiver to use public funds “for any social functions or activities” without the express approval of the Bureau of Purchasing, Cumming notes in the report.
“[The watchdog] found that taxpayer funds were used for floral purchases for events, employee celebrations, recognition, baby arrivals, funerals bereavement and condolence,” the report states.
When the purchasing bureau denied the mayor’s office’s request to use taxpayer money to host an annual crab feast, the mayor’s office went to finance director Michael Mocksten, who approved the event, according to the report.
The administration has been trying over the past month to restrict Cumming’s access to city financial and personnel records — which would prevent her from exposing over-the-top spending, she told the outlet.
The mayor’s chief of staff, JD Merrill, defended the food and drink spending as “legitimate expenses that support efficient and necessary operations of city government,” according to the outlet.
Quote:An unfinished Vietnam War memorial in Orange County has been reduced to rubble after city officials found it would be cheaper to tear down the shoddily built monument than repair it.
Crews arrived this week to demolish the tribute after the project’s brainchild pleaded guilty to bribery for funneling money to a nonprofit that he paid $1 million to erect the memorial in Fountain Valley’s Mile Square.
County Supervisor Andrew Do, who was sentenced to five years in prison for the crime last year, forked over the cash for the monument’s completion, but no records turned up showing how the money was spent, KTLA reported.
The result was cracked and crumbling granite slabs that would have required up to $460,000 to fix and add engravings to, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“When I saw this, it’s a disgrace,” Do’s successor, Supervisor Janet Nguyen, told KTLA. “It’s so heartbreaking to see that this is how we honor our veterans. This is not who we are.”
Official decided the most cost-effective approach would be to demolish the memorial — to the tune of $30,000 taxpayer money — and start again.
“We’re going to replace it,” Nguyen said at a November press conference. “We gotta do it right because we owe it to these veterans.”
Quote:California will face economic collapse under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “misguided” climate policy — with crippling job losses and sky-high gas prices, Chevron warned in a doomsday letter to the lefty governor on Wednesday.
The oil giant’s bleak outlook in the letter to Newsom and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) came amid calls to block proposed amendments to the Cap-and-Invest program, which places a strict limit on greenhouse emissions that decreases each year.
Chevron argues that the carbon-cutting program will “cripple the survivability” of the state’s remaining refineries, with devastating effects on the Golden State and its residents.
“The proposed regulation will cripple the survivability of the state’s remaining refineries, which will result in California losing the entire industry to this misguided program,” read the letter from Chevron President Andy Walz, obtained by the California Globe.
“This regulation will increase transportation and aviation fuel prices for consumers. It will risk significant job losses, including many high-paying union jobs, while reducing funding for essential public services. It will upend California’s fuels market and threaten critical energy and national security assets,” the letter from Chevron continued.
Chevron said the oil and gas industry supports more than 530,000 jobs across the Golden State alone, and contributes approximately $64 billion each year in state, local, and federal tax revenues that help fund education, healthcare, and essential infrastructure.
California’s Cap-and-Invest program limits aggregate greenhouse gas emissions from major polluters, which account for roughly 80% of the Golden State’s pollution.
It requires the companies to buy allowances for each ton of carbon dioxide emitted. Each year, fewer allowances are created. Revenue from the program funds climate-friendly initiatives, such as public transport projects and public health projects, according to CARB.
Similar pilot schemes in Spain and Australia have faced stiff opposition, but Newsom and the CARB have continued the money-making operation.
The governor extended the program — which was set to expire after 2030 — through 2045 in September.
Coming after Valero began shutting down its Benicia refinery last month, Chevron has warned that the state cannot survive another refinery shutdown.
Quote:Kamala Harris’ taxpayer-funded security will be stripped in November if Steve Hilton wins the gubernatorial race, the Republican has vowed.
The former vice president sparked outrage when it emerged on Tuesday she was having California Highway Patrol cops follow her around on her book tour.
Harris got Joe Biden to sign an order for her federal government security to continue through July this year, but Trump ended it in September. The state of California then stepped in and granted her protection.
Hilton told the Post if he wins the race for governor later this year it will again be taken from her, branding it a “corrupt freebie.”
He said: “The Kamala Harris book tour is obviously part of her presidential campaign. Her donors – if she has any – should be paying for her security, not Californians who already pay the highest taxes in the country for the worst results.
“This is yet another example of the Democrat political machine siphoning off taxpayer cash into their bottomless money pit of waste, fraud and abuse. We are sick of it. As governor I will immediately cancel this corrupt Kamala freebie.
“Our brave CHP officers have enough on their plate dealing with the Democrats’ crime wave without having to traipse around after a failed and rejected machine politician who can’t bear to be out of the limelight.”
Dozens of officers have been yanked off the streets since September to shadow the failed presidential candidate as she travels across the country and overseas to tout the memoir.
The union representing CHP officers told the Post it had been made aware of the protection but had no idea of the details surrounding it.
A spokesman said in a statement: “The California Association Highway Patrolmen is aware of the recent interest in former Vice President Kamala Harris and her California Highway Patrol protection detail, involving our union members.
“Because the CAHP is unaware of the exact amount of resources (numbers of union members working the protection), including the cost, we are not qualified to provide an opinion regarding staffing or budget stress (if at all) this has created.”
Quote:Two young girls whose butchered bodies were found stuffed inside suitcases at an Ohio park were half-sisters, a medical examiner revealed Wednesday.
A dog-walker stumbled across the “juvenile black females,” who are believed to be between the ages of 8 and 14 years old, when his testy pooch refused to move off of a mound of dirt near a playground in Cleveland on Monday evening.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office did not reveal a firm cause of death in the suspect homicide Wednesday, but it did confirm the victims were half-sisters, Cleveland 19 reported.
The brutalized bodies, which were concealed in suitcases and buried in shallow graves, were there for “some time,” Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said.
“It is traumatic for everyone,” Todd told the outlet. “It is traumatic for those who live in the area to know that this was right there at their doorstep.”
Todd said they are diligently parsing through statewide databases and missing children reports with assistance from “state, federal and local partners” as police work to identify the young victims.
Cleveland local Phillip Donaldson came across the mutilated bodies around 6 p.m. Monday when his dog dragged him to the edge of the park and incessantly pawed at the ground.
When Donaldson dredged up the first suitcase, he shockingly found “somebody’s head in it” — before frantically calling 911.
It is unclear if Donaldson also discovered the second suitcase, where the other victim’s remains were hidden.
The suitcases were buried near the Ginn Academy, the only all-boys’ public high school in Ohio.
Quote:Famed Bay Area personal injury attorney Anh Phoong has accused California’s parole division of causing the death of Hanako Abe, a 27-year-old San Francisco woman who was killed by parolee Troy McAlister on New Year’s Eve 2020 — in a new legal filing that cites a whistleblower email from a person inside the state agency.
Phoong filed a wrongful death claim Wednesday — a precursor to a lawsuit — alleging that the Department Of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s parole division ignored a Dec. 29 plea from the Daly City Police Department to help locate McAlister, who was suspected of committing a violent carjacking while out on parole.
“This tragedy was not random,” said Phoong in a statement.
“Parole received repeated warnings that McAlister was committing violent crimes while out on parole.”
McAlister had been arrested at least four times while on parole in 2020 and, on Dec. 29, allegedly robbed a woman near a fast food restaurant in Daly City.
Daly City police asked parole agent Roberto Vasquez to help locate and arrest McAllster for felony carjacking and brandishing a firearm against a girlfriend.
Vasquez reportedly had access to McAlister’s “GPS coordinates, known residences of record and ankle monitor data” but ignored the request for assistance.
Two days later, while allegedly high on methamphetamines, McAlister drove intoxicated and struck and killed Abe and another woman, Elizabeth Pratt — sparking a firestorm over why he was free despite multiple arrests.
“Everyone is wondering why are we doing this, it’s been so long. The family, my client, they lost a daughter and all they want from this, they want answers,” Phoong told The Post.
“In the last several years, there’s always been speculation about why did this happen. Why? Did the police not do their job? Did the DA? Who was it? Was it parole?” she continued.
Phoong’s claim alleges that parole agents Vasquez, Rhoderick Reyes and Tom Porter failed to supervise McAlister during what was his third stint on parole.
UKRAINE WAR
Quote:A Russian drone hit an empty passenger train in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region early on Wednesday, injuring a railway worker, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.
He added that there was also an attempted Russian drone attack on a train operating between the eastern-central city of Dnipro and Kovel in the northwest late on Tuesday, but it was stopped by railway workers and the drone hit a few meters away from the locomotive.
Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukrainian national railways, said that Russia had intensified drone attacks on railway infrastructure, and that rolling stock was among the main targets.
It reported that 18 strikes had been recorded since the start of March, damaging 41 facilities.
Locomotives, freight cars and specialized equipment used to repair infrastructure have also been targeted, the operator said, and railway depots and bridges had also come under attack this month.
A Russian drone attack on a commuter train in Dnipropetrovsk region killed one person and wounded seven more people on Monday.
Quote:French President Emmanuel Macron announced Monday that France will expand its nuclear arsenal and, for the first time, allow the temporary deployment of its nuclear‑armed aircraft to allied countries, a shift he said is intended to strengthen Europe’s strategic independence amid growing global instability.
Speaking at a military base at L’Île Longue in northwestern France, which hosts the country’s ballistic missile submarines, Macron framed the decision as a response to long‑term security challenges rather than recent events. The speech had been planned well before the latest outbreak of war involving Iran between the U.S. and Israel, French officials said.
France has been the European Union’s (EU) only nuclear power since Britain formally exited the bloc in 2020, leaving Paris with a unique role in continental defense debates.
...
France’s Nuclear Weapons and European Security
Macron used the address to outline how France’s nuclear deterrent could play a broader role in Europe’s security architecture, as leaders across the continent express concern about renewed tensions with the U.S. under President Donald Trump and Russia’s ongoing full‑scale invasion of Ukraine.
“To be free, one needs to be feared,” Macron said, describing nuclear deterrence as a central pillar of national and European defense.
He said France’s updated posture could include “the temporary deployment of elements of our strategic air forces to allied countries,” a step never before taken by Paris. Macron emphasized, however, France would not share decision‑making authority over the potential use of nuclear weapons with any other nation.
Under France’s constitution, the president alone serves as commander‑in‑chief and retains exclusive authority over the nuclear arsenal.
Talks With European Allies on Nuclear Deterrence
Macron said discussions on deterrence cooperation have already begun with Britain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark. Those talks include participation by partner nations in deterrence exercises and the involvement of allied conventional forces in France’s nuclear‑related activities.
He said such cooperation would stop short of nuclear sharing, a model used by the U.S. within NATO, and would not alter France’s sovereign control over its weapons.
European leaders welcomed the announcement, describing it as a step toward deeper defense coordination rather than a replacement for NATO.
In a joint statement, Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said France and Germany would begin deeper integration in deterrence efforts starting this year, including German participation in French nuclear exercises and joint visits to strategic military sites.
CHINA
Quote:Foreign nations such as Mexico and China have “weaponized” mass migration to infiltrate the US to become “political kingmakers,” author Peter Schweizer said in the latest episode of “Pod Force One.”
Schweizer, the best-selling author of “The Invisible Coup,” explained that while many Americans can easily see the economic and social effects of the unprecedented surge in US immigration that took place under former President Joe Biden, “the political networks” that recent arrivals have “embedded inside the United States” are not as apparent.
“The reality is that this is not the migration of 120 years ago when the Irish came or even 50 years ago when Mexican-Americans came,” Schweizer told “Pod Force One” host Miranda Devine.
“This is weaponized migration that has a political purpose and a political direction and is organized.”
Schweizer noted that several Mexican officials have publicly remarked on how migrants from south of the US border are “reclaiming” territory for Mexico inside America.
“We already know that the Mexican population in the United States reaches 39.9 million,” a top aide to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in December 2024, according to Schweizer.
“We Mexicans are reclaiming our territory,” the official said.
Mexican Sen. Felix Salgado also boasted, “Mexicans are in our territory: California, Nevada, Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Wyoming,” according to Schweizer, citing a report from “just a couple years ago.”
We’re going to take back the territory that was stolen from us,” Salgado said.
Schweizer acknowledged that on the surface, the idea of Mexico seizing US territory “sounds ridiculous.”
But the Mexican government has “erected a political infrastructure in the United States that is geared towards organizing” Mexican migrants “to serve Mexico’s interests in very specific ways,” he insisted.
He claimed that the Mexican government has surreptitiously been “meddling in our domestic politics,” such as by organizing anti-ICE protests within the US.
“They probably don’t literally expect these states to become Mexican states, but they do want to become political kingmakers within our borders – and they are already trying,” he said.
The Chinese government has meanwhile been taking advantage of birthright citizenship in the US, according to Schweizer.
“[T]here are literally thousands of Chinese companies that Chinese elites pay maybe $80,000, $100,000 to fly their pregnant wives or girlfriends to the United States,” the author said. “They give birth here. As soon as the child is able to travel on an airplane again, they fly back to China.
“But they carry with them a birth certificate and the ability to declare themselves an American citizen at any time.”
Schweizer warned that the US government has not been keeping track of how many people have done this – but the Chinese government has and, “The numbers are eye-popping.
Quote:Global shipping has ground to a near halt in the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf since the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran on Saturday.
Iran has declared the waterway effectively closed, stranding more than 100 vessels in the strait, through which roughly a quarter of the world’s seaborne energy passes each day. Oil prices hit a 14-month high of $82 Monday and remain elevated as the conflict widens, with Tehran's retaliatory strikes expanding to hit oil refineries in Gulf neighbors hosting U.S. bases.
“With no quick de-escalation in sight, the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed and Iran showing a willingness to target energy infrastructure in the region, upside risks remain and they grow the longer the conflict drags on,” IG Australia market analyst Tony Sycamore said, per Reuters.
The region with the most exposure to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz is Asia, which sources more than 46 percent of its seaborne crude from the Middle East, particularly China and India.
China, a longtime ally of the Islamic Republic, said the U.S.-Israeli offensive violated international law and has called on all sides to halt the fighting, warning of global knock-on effects.
"Energy policy is vital to the global economy and ensuring unfettered supply is the responsibility of all," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters Monday. "China will do what is necessary to ensure its energy security."
The following list is based on official data from China's General Administration of Customs (GAC), with the exception of Iran. Newsweek reached out to the Chinese, Iranian and Malaysian foreign ministries by email with requests for comment.
China's Top Sources of Oil
1. Russia - 18 percent
2. Saudia Arabia - 14 percent
3. Iran* - 13 percent (est., Kpler)
4. Malaysia** - 11 percent
5. Iraq - 11 percent
6. Brazil - 8 percent
7. United Arab Emirates - 7 percent
8. Oman - 6 percent
9. Angola - 5 percent
10. Kuwait - 3 percent
*Although Beijing has reported no Iranian oil imports since 2022, it is widely believed to be a top buyer, with much of that oil being shipped through unregistered ships of the so-called "shadow fleet." China accounted for an estimated 80 percent of Iran’s crude exports last year, according to Brussels-based analytics firm Kpler.
** Malaysia’s position on the list reflects its role as a transshipment hub for relabeled Iranian crude bound for China. Neither China nor Malaysia recognizes the U.S.' unilateral sanctions as legitimate.
Quote:Beijing's conspicuously restrained response to the United States and Israel's devastation of Iran's leadership and military capabilities has sparked debate over the impact on China's credibility among allies.
Some claim, just as they did after the U.S. capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, that this inaction has exposed impotence in the face of its U.S. rival’s global power-projection capabilities—and the limits of Beijing’s efforts to make inroads into Washington’s influence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
China has accused the U.S. and Israel of violating international law over the attacks, launched despite negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, and the assassination of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But observers note a lack of support beyond public protests.
This has dealt lasting damage to China’s image as a great power and dependable partner, some China watchers say. “China, as well as Russia, is proving to be a feckless friend for its authoritarian allies,” former U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns wrote in an X post.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Embassy in Iran via email for comment.
Asset, Not Ally
Yet this interpretation amounts to viewing the Chinese Communist Party’s calculus through a U.S. lens, Evan A. Feigenbaum, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in an analysis published Monday.
“Too many Western strategists expect China to behave like the United States — and then when China does not behave like the United States, they conclude that it is a strategic failure rather than a deliberate choice, and that a chastened China has been put back on its heels," Feigenbaum said.
Bailing out the now-assassinated Khamenei or Maduro would not have served China’s core security interests, namely, its own region, Feigenbaum argues. To use the term “ally” with regard to Iran suggests a level of commitment that differs markedly from U.S. treaty alliances with security partners such as Japan. China has no formal defense obligations to any partner, save North Korea.
Rather, China is focused on achieving military dominance in the Pacific and on breaking the “first island chain” of chokepoints that the Pentagon would rely on in a great-power conflict.
Meanwhile, Beijing has profited from strong ties with Iran while diversifying its global interests. Iran is but one of several major oil producers, and China is the top trading partner with more than 120 countries, Feigenbaum said.
The toppling of the regime is likewise not the strategic blow some analysts suggest, according to Ryan Hass, director of the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center.
“[Iran] is not the pillar of some grand strategy,” he said in a video commentary. “That said, if the U.S. gets bogged down in Iran, Beijing will celebrate. It will reduce pressure upon China by the U.S.”
LATIN AMERICA
Quote:U.S. and Ecuadorian forces launched joint operations Tuesday targeting suspected narco-terrorists in Ecuador, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said.
SOUTHCOM said it was taking "decisive action" against designated terrorist organizations, though it was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties.
"On March 3, Ecuadorian and U.S. military forces launched operations against Designated Terrorist Organizations in Ecuador," SOUTHCOM posted on X. "The operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narco-terrorism."
SOUTHCOM added: "Together, we are taking decisive action to confront narco-terrorists who have long inflicted terror, violence, and corruption on citizens throughout the hemisphere."
SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan praised Ecuador’s military for joining the U.S. in the operations.
"We commend the men and women of the Ecuadorian armed forces for their unwavering commitment to this fight, demonstrating courage and resolve through continued actions against narco-terrorists in their country," he said.
The U.S. Embassy in Ecuador said Tuesday the United States "successfully concluded a joint operation" with Europol and Ecuadorian authorities dismantling the Hernán Ruilova Barzola transnational drug trafficking organization, which it said is linked to the Los Lobos cartel.
The announcement follows a series of U.S. strikes targeting suspected drug-trafficking operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
Last week, U.S. forces struck a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean tied to designated terrorist organizations, killing three suspected traffickers.
That strike came after SOUTHCOM said last month it had carried out three strikes in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean, killing 11.
Overall, the U.S. has conducted at least 43 strikes on alleged drug-smuggling vessels, killing 150 people in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
"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.
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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
