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🏛️ Hawkish Democrats could doom party leaders' effort to force a vote reining in President Trump's war powers, Axios' Andrew Solender reports. Go deeper.

🛢️ The strikes on Iran will likely increase oil prices by threatening supplies from a region that's home to a huge chunk of global output and transit, Axios' Ben Geman reports. Go deeper. 🇮🇷 Reza Pahlavi, the exiled former crown prince of Iran, is positioning himself as the "transitional" leader if the Islamic Republic collapses. Go deeper. Seeking shelter as Iran retaliates Photo: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images A person takes shelter in Jerusalem as sirens sound after today's U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. Iran targeted Israel and other U.S. allies and bases across the Middle East in retaliation.

🌐 World leaders react warily People watch from their balcony amid explosions today in Doha, Qatar. The Defense Ministry says it has downed missiles targeting the country. Photo: Mohammed Salem/Reuters European leaders called for restraint and diplomacy, while U.S. adversaries condemned President Trump's decision to strike, Axios' Lauren Floyd reports. 🪧 Public demonstrations for and against the operation broke out in London, Munich, New York, Washington and elsewhere. In a joint statement, leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. reiterated their "commitment to regional stability" and called for a "resumption of negotiations." 🇫🇷 French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X: The "outbreak of war" between the U.S., Israel and Iran "carries grave consequences." The "ongoing escalation is dangerous for all," Macron added, calling for a UN Security Council meeting. 🇪🇺 Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union's chief executive, called on "all parties to exercise maximum restraint, to protect civilians, and to fully respect international law." An anti-war demonstrator during a protest in Parliament Square in London today. Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said the country successfully intercepted Iranian attacks. The Saudis called on the international community to "take all firm measures necessary" to secure the region. 🇷🇺 The other side: Russia's Foreign Ministry called the attack "a preplanned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent UN member state." 🇨🇳 China's state news agency posted a caricature of Uncle Sam captioned: "Hegemonism is the only language I know." Go deeper.

ISRAEL SAYS SUPREME LEADER DEAD Black smoke rises today from Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's heavily damaged compound in Tehran. Satellite image: Pléiades Neo/Airbus via Reuters Bulletin: Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in an Israeli strike today as part of a massive joint military operation alongside the U.S., Israel's ambassador to Washington told U.S. officials, Axios' Barak Ravid and Avery Lotz report. An Israeli official confirmed that Khamenei is dead, according to Israeli intelligence. The 86-year-old Khamenei led Iran for 35 years, making him one of the world's longest-serving authoritarians. His death is a massive blow to the regime and could accelerate its collapse, which U.S. and Israeli officials say is their explicit goal. It also sets off an immediate succession crisis with no clear answer. (Khamenei: What to know) 📱 TRUMP INTERVIEW: President Trump has several "off ramps" from his extraordinary military campaign against Iran, he told Barak Ravid in a phone interview from Mar-a-Lago today. Trump tells Axios: "I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: 'See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding'" nuclear and missile programs. "In any case, it will take them several years to recover from this attack." A photo obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency shows an Iranian man walking past debris in Tehran today following a missile strike. Photo: Amir Kholousi/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images Trump cited two main reasons for launching the strikes: the failure of negotiations this week and Iran's historical conduct. Trump said: "The Iranians got close and then pulled back — close and then pulled back. I understood from that that they don't really want a deal." ☢️ Trump also claimed that Iran had begun rebuilding some of the nuclear facilities that the U.S. and Israel struck last June. Independent analysts pointed to building activity taking place at some of those sites, but didn't conclude that Iran has resumed nuclear activity. Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in a live interview from Tehran this morning. Image: NBC News What's next: The U.S.-Israeli plan envisions the massive bombing campaign against Iran lasting for at least five days, per a senior U.S. official. But, as Trump told Axios, that timeline could change based on developments on the ground — including Khamenei's death. Go deeper.

CDC: Florida has 107 confirmed measles cases Florida ranks third in the number of confirmed measles cases across the country, new data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/02/27/cdc-florida-has-107-confirmed-measles-cases/? Florida House passes election bill requiring U.S. citizenship to register to vote An election bill that would require proof of American citizenship to vote and limit the kinds of identification voters could show at the polls was approved in the Republican-controlled Florida House on Wednesday. The vote was 88-31, along party lines. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/02/25/florida-house-passes-election-bill-requiring-u-s-citizenship-to-register-to-vote/? DOJ: Trump administration won’t pay for ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ construction costs A $608 million federal reimbursement that Florida’s been counting on to pay for the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” lockup won’t cover construction costs — if the money comes through at all, Justice Department lawyers have declared. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/02/25/doj-trump-administration-wont-pay-for-alligator-alcatraz-construction-costs/?

🎶 1 for the road: iPods are hip again Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Cate Gillon/Getty Images Grab your corded headphones: Apple's retired MP3 players are back in vogue, with buyers trading smartphones for nostalgia, Axios' Sami Sparber reports. eBay searches rose 25% for the iPod Classic and 20% for iPod Nano — which were retired in 2022 — from January to October 2025 compared with the same period in 2024, per internal data shared with Axios. 🏫 Some students are even using iPods to get around phone bans at school, the N.Y. Times reports. 🧽 "The act of playing my music, with the sole purpose of listening to music — no ads, no apps, no distractions — makes my brain feel brand-new again," says Gen Zer Shaughnessy Barker. Barker started using an iPod Classic over the holidays after scouring eBay and Facebook Marketplace.

⚖️ Trump says he "ended DEI." Courts disagree Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photos: Charly Triballeau/AFP, Hulton Archive/Getty Images President Trump said during his State of the Union, to raucous Republican applause: "We ended DEI in America." But a year into Trump's crusade to eradicate "anti-white racism," some of the administration's most ambitious diversity, equity and inclusion rollbacks are stalled in court, Axios' Josephine Walker reports. 🚩 With Congress aligned with the White House, the judiciary has become the primary check for civil rights advocates who argue the administration is distorting long-standing equity laws. In courtrooms across the country, judges are weighing in on cases related to education, the environment and employment. Read on for major cases.

💉 Trump-MAHA split over vaccines Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Vaccine politics is emerging as a trip wire in the administration's push to remake America's public health system before the midterm elections, Axios' Caitlin Owens reports. Polling — including from President Trump's own campaign pollster — consistently shows vaccines remain popular. Why it matters: Parts of the Trump administration's 2026 health agenda are frustrating some MAHA faithful. Vaccine critics with close ties to the administration see plenty of unfinished business. ⚠️ Growing flashpoints: Multiple vaccine skeptics have exited HHS, while drug-pricing negotiator Chris Klomp was elevated. HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has focused publicly during campaign trail appearances on food dyes and dietary guidelines, not shrinking the childhood vaccine schedule. Trump's State of the Union emphasized health costs and drug prices — not vaccines or other MAHA priorities. The FDA reversed its decision, declining to review Moderna's application for a new mRNA flu shot. Trump's new executive order boosting the herbicide glyphosate sparked such MAGA backlash that Kennedy issued a long defense of the decision on X, arguing that reform "will not move in a straight line." Keep reading.

⚡ AI powers Nasdaq Data: Financial Modeling Prep. Chart: Axios Visuals The AI trade is getting investors used to a cycle of panic-driven selling, followed by overly euphoric rallies, followed by more panic, Axios' Madison Mills writes. 💭 At first, AI made Wall Street's dreams come true, driving the S&P 500 higher by double digits three years in a row. Keep reading ...

✈️ Scoop: Noem's luxury jet funding Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Getty Images Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's plan to use border funds for an almost $300 million luxury jet fleet has horrified top Trump officials, Axios' Brittany Gibson has learned. Why it matters: Until last year, DHS owned zero luxury jets. Soon it could have three. "This is the world's worst deal to buy an aircraft," a senior administration official told Axios when granted anonymity to discuss internal matters. "This is an abuse," the official said, calling it a misuse of federal money. Russ Vought, who runs the Office of Management and Budget, raised concerns about the luxury jet spending to the White House, sources told Axios. (OMB declined to comment.) 💸 Zoom in: Noem purchased two Gulfstream G700 luxury jets in October. A third plane, a Boeing 737 nicknamed the Big Beautiful Jet, is being leased with plans to buy it for about $70 million. The funding comes from the One Big Beautiful Bill's cash infusion to DHS. A DHS spokesperson told Axios: "Anyone who runs a business in the real world will tell you that owning a work vehicle is less expensive than dealing with long-term rental costs." Keep reading.

🤖 OpenAI seals Pentagon deal; Trump hits Anthropic Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios With Anthropic and the Pentagon deadlocked over military use of Claude, President Trump called Anthropic a "Radical Left AI company." He wrote on Truth Social that he's "directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic's technology." Just after the Pentagon's 5 p.m. ET deadline for a deal, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X that Anthropic will be designated a "Supply-Chain Risk to National Security," preventing any company doing business with the U.S. military from also having a commercial relationship with Anthropic. 🥊 The big winner could be OpenAI, Anthropic's fierce rival. Just before 10 p.m. ET, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on X that his company had reached an agreement with the Pentagon to use its AI models, after the Defense Department agreed to safety red lines similar to Anthropic's. Earlier in the day, OpenAI announced $110 billion in new funding from Amazon, Nvidia and SoftBank. Anthropic vowed to "challenge any supply chain risk designation in court," and said no "intimidation or punishment from the Department of War" would cause it to cave on its principles. The dispute, touched off by Claude's use in January's attack on Venezuela, revolves around the use of AI for mass surveillance of Americans, which the Pentagon says is already illegal, and the development of weapons that fire without human involvement. 👀 Between the lines: Axios is told that OpenAI's agreement acknowledged that mass surveillance is illegal and that DoD would comply with that law. Similar language covered autonomous weapons and humans remaining in control of decisions. Behind the scenes: Anthropic and the Pentagon were still talking last evening. Officials still think Claude is the superior AI option for defense purposes right now, Axios' Dave Lawler and Maria Curi report. The bottom line: A week ago, the U.S. had the world's friendliest regulatory regime for AI. Now the entire industry, and its investors, are less sure. Claude problem: Federal agencies working with Anthropic.

Trump's overnight message President Trump, wearing a white "USA" cap and standing at a presidential podium in Florida, acknowledged the risk of significant American casualties if Iran retaliates. "My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region," he said in his video announcement. Trump encouraged the people of Iran to remain in their homes during the bombing and "when we are finished, take over your government, it will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations." 📺 Richard Haass, CFR president emeritus, said on a special breaking edition of MS NOW's "Morning Joe" that the attack is a "massive roll of the dice" for Trump: "This is a war of choice ... This was not a war we had to fight now. It wasn't as though Iran had broken through some new threshold and posed imminent danger ... This is a preventive attack ... This is not a war of necessity." ps:If! If!! If!!! What did he think they where like him, a draft dodger, afraid to get in to a war that they probably can't win?????

Operation Epic Fury Smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion today in Tehran, Iran. Photo: AP The U.S. and Israel began "major combat operations" in Iran overnight with the aim of destroying the country's military capabilities and fostering regime change, President Trump announced in an overnight video statement. Israel's Air Force conducted strikes against Iranian senior commanders and political leaders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in an effort to destabilize the regime, Axios' Barak Ravid and Dave Lawler report. Iranian media reported strikes nationwide. Smoke could be seen rising in Tehran, the capital. In a video statement on Truth Social at 2:30 a.m. ET, Trump accused Iran of conducting "mass terror" ever since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and declared: "We're not going to put up with it any longer." "We're going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. ... We're going to annihilate their navy, we're going to ensure that the region's terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces," Trump said. "And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon." Trump, who arrived at Mar-a-Lago last night, is expected to address the nation later today. Operation Epic Fury, as the Pentagon dubbed the attack, started exactly as Trump's 10-day deadline to Iran expired. Israel's name for the joint operation is Lion's Roar. Vehicles line up in Tehran during a traffic block after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency (WANA) via Reuters Retaliation was swift. U.S. bases in the region — in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, the UAE and Jordan — were attacked by Iranian missiles. Iranian state TV confirmed Iran was attacking U.S. bases. A senior U.S. official said that as of 7:10 a.m. ET, there were no casualties. 🏛️ Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who's hawkish on Iran and close to Trump, said on X after the attack: "The end of the largest state sponsor of terrorism is upon us. ... This operation is necessary and long justified." Get the latest.

Trump Admits Americans Will Likely Die in New War Nobody Wants The self-proclaimed “President of Peace” just launched “major combat operations” in the Middle East. President Donald Trump has admitted that Americans are likely to die as he launched a major new war against Iran—even though he claimed it is necessary to save American lives. “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties, that often happens in war,” he said in a video he posted early on Saturday morning, wearing no tie and a white USA trucker hat to launch America’s first new full-scale war since 2003. Already, Iran is striking back. Within a few hours of the U.S. attack, explosions had been reported in several areas across the Middle East, including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Iraq, and Jordan—all of which are home to major U.S. military installations. Trump posted the clip on Truth Social to announce “major combat operations in Iran” to “defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.” Trump made the announcement while wearing a white “USA” trucker hat. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for further comment. Forces involved in Saturday’s operation include personnel aboard two U.S. aircraft carriers—the USS Abraham Lincoln, near Oman, and the USS Gerald R. Ford in the eastern Mediterranean—and likely at nearby major U.S. bases in the aforementioned targeted countries. This would include air defense crews, base security, intelligence teams, and medical staff. Some of those bases have been involved in prior confrontations with Iranian forces. Iranian strikes targeted the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq following Trump’s assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Qasem Soleimani in 2020; 110 service members suffered traumatic brain injuries as a result of those attacks. Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base also came under attack following Trump’s strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities last June. Seven U.S. service members were also injured in the course of the MAGA leader’s January invasion of Venezuela. It’s estimated that around 7,000 American troops died in the course of previous U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There is presently no indication that Trump plans to deploy ground troops as part of what, for now, remains largely an air-and-sea campaign. The Republican president has previously referred to fallen American service personnel as “suckers” and “losers.” He has never served in the military, having in fact dodged the Vietnam War draft on five occasions. The last of those owed to a bone spur diagnosis. It’s a condition that usually affects elderly individuals. He was 22 at the time. Trump’s new war contradicts explicit promises made to voters on the 2024 campaign trail to lessen, rather than increase, American involvement in active conflicts and other military entanglements abroad. This is Trump’s second attack against the Iranian regime after targeted strikes against the country’s nuclear facilities last June. It flies in the face of Trump’s efforts throughout his first year back in office to model himself as a “President of Peace,” dubiously claiming to have “solved” a constantly shifting number of wars around the world. What now appears set to become the 2026 U.S.-Iran War comes after the president launched military strikes against Islamic insurgents in Nigeria, a U.S. ally, on Christmas Day. Plus, the shock U.S. incursion into Venezuela in January to abduct former President Nicolás Maduro, who now faces narcoterrorism charges in a New York federal court. Trump has similarly threatened to invade U.S. allies Panama, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a fellow NATO member. The MAGA president’s growing, campaign-promise-busting appetite for military engagement also comes amid his bitter disappointment at being passed over for last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, despite a concerted public and private push by his allies. It was previously awarded to his Democratic predecessor, President Barack Obama. In a letter regarding that snub, Trump wrote to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in January that “considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace.” The Norwegian government is not affiliated with the Nobel Committee, which decides independently to whom it will grant its awards. Trump’s claim to have stopped eight wars remains highly disputed. Today, he started one. https://www.thedailybeast.com/president-donald-trump-admits-americans-will-likely-die-in-new-war-nobody-wants/?

Iran Launches Massive Strikes on U.S. Allies in Response to Trump’s New War The MAGA president just set a match to one of the most combustible regions on the planet. President Donald Trump’s new war with Iran is already rippling out across the Middle East, with the Islamic regime launching retaliatory strikes against U.S. allies in the region. American and Israeli forces launched a concerted series of ongoing attacks against regime targets in the capital, Tehran, and other cities, including Qom, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Lorestan, Karaj, and Khorramabad, in the small hours of Saturday morning. The Defense Department has dubbed the campaign “Operation Epic Fury.” The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has now responded with what it describes as a “first wave” of missile and drone attacks against Israel. Further explosions have been heard in Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, which all host strategically significant U.S. military bases. Bahraini media outlets report that “the service center of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet” is now under missile attack, according to CNN. Qatari officials claim to have intercepted two Iranian rockets. Videos show smoke rising from buildings in Abu Dhabi, with the UAE having closed its airspace. Blasts have rocked the Qatari capital of Doha. U.S. embassies in Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Jordan are advising American nationals across the region to shelter in place. In the event of an all-out U.S. assault, the Iranian regime has in recent weeks threatened to target American military bases across the Middle East, as well as strike U.S. naval assets in the Persian Gulf and attack Israel directly. Iranian officials have also warned they could disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade corridor, and activate allied militias in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen to carry out strikes against U.S. military assets throughout the region. Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, wrote in a Feb. 20 letter to the organization’s Security Council that “all U.S. military bases, facilities, and assets in the region would constitute legitimate targets if the United States follows through on its military threats and attacks Iran.” He echoed similar sentiments from Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf earlier in January. Iran has historically made good on its promises in the aftermath of previous American attacks. In 2020, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps injured 110 service personnel at the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq following Trump’s assassination of the organization’s leader, Qasem Soleimani. Iranian forces also responded to the MAGA president’s attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities last June with a series of strikes against the Al Udeid Air Base in Iraq. Residents in the Iranian capital of Tehran reported a series of explosions at approximately 10.30 a.m. on Saturday in the Pasteur neighborhood, where the presidential palace and national security council head offices are located. Other targets appear to include offices of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Explosions have also been heard in further cities like Qom, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Lorestan, Karaj, and Khorramabad. Israel has joined in the strikes. The Guardian reports the attacks have already caused “a significant number of deaths.” Khamenei is not thought to be at his Tehran residence, with sources claiming he is in a “safe undisclosed location.” His officials have “vowed a crushing response” to what appears to be “the start of a full-scale military exchange, and not a limited US action.” The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Defense Department for comment on this story. https://www.thedailybeast.com/iran-launches-massive-response-to-president-donald-trumps-new-war/? ps:Did he really think they would not fight back?

‘Peace President’ Trump Bombs Iran to Start Another New War The United States launched a surprise attack targeting Iranian leaders in Tehran. President Donald Trump launched a wave of missile strikes on Iran early Saturday morning before announcing that the U.S. military had begun “major combat operations.” Trump made no effort to conceal the extraordinary scale of the preemptive attack, admitting that American personnel are likely to die in a war which he says will curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions and allow the Iranian people to overthrow the Islamic regime. Israeli officials told The New York Times that leadership figures were targeted in the first round of military strikes. The attack began at around 8:10 a.m. local time, according to the Times. Iranian state television has acknowledged the blast, which appeared to occur near offices linked to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump later confirmed the operation himself, in an eight-minute video on Truth Social. He did not immediately provide specifics on targets but described the strikes as decisive. In the same address, he issued a stark warning to Iran’s security forces. “To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces, and all of the police,” Trump said, “lay down your arms or you will face certain death.” “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties,” Trump added. “That often happens in war.” Trump appeared in the recording wearing a white baseball cap emblazoned with “USA,” the same hat he was seen wearing when he arrived in Florida earlier that evening. The White House has not confirmed when the video was recorded or whether it was filmed before or after the strikes began. Reuters reported that Khamenei is not in Tehran and has been moved to a secure location, according to an Iranian official. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz separately confirmed Israel was attacking Iran, saying in a statement: “The State of Israel launched a preemptive attack against Iran to remove threats to the State of Israel.” Katz declared a nationwide state of emergency as Israeli authorities closed schools, workplaces, and airspace in anticipation of possible retaliation. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee warned Americans in Israel to prepare for possible retaliation. “We are encouraging all Embassy team & families & U.S. citizens in Israel to be prepared for Home Front Command alerts & sirens,” Huckabee wrote on X, urging them to stay near shelters and act immediately when alarms sound. The Israeli military’s Home Front Command imposed nationwide restrictions, banning public gatherings and suspending schools and most workplaces, the Associated Press reported. In Tehran, mobile internet service was cut shortly after the first bombings. While there were no immediate signs of unrest, security forces blocked roads in parts of downtown, the AP said. The move marks a dramatic escalation after weeks of rising tensions and failed nuclear talks. This is Trump’s second attack on another country in as many months. In January, the U.S. conducted airstrikes in Venezuela as part of its incursion to abduct the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face “narcoterrorism” charges. The 79-year-old U.S. president gave himself the increasingly dubious nickname the “president of peace” while claiming he had ended as many as nine wars since his return to office. One of the conflicts Trump claimed he helped end was the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June 2025, during which the U.S. conducted airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump’s latest attack on Iran also follows months of desperate campaigning by the president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was awarded last year’s prize, actually handed Trump her Nobel Prize Medal, prompting the Nobel committee to remind the world that the honor cannot be “revoked, shared, or transferred to others,” and that decision is “final and stands for all time.” During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed there would be “no new wars” if he returned to the White House, a promise that has been broken just over a year into his second term. In multiple 2024 campaign rally speeches, Trump also promised to “expel the warmongers from our government,” once back in office. Not all Republicans support the decision to start a new war with Iran. Trump nemesis Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) wrote on X that the strikes were “acts of war unauthorized by Congress.” The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Department of Defense for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/peace-president-trump-bombs-iran-to-start-another-new-war/?

Trump Exposed as Hypocrite by His Own Iran War Doomsday Warnings He was consistent in his criticism of attacking the country for years. For years, Donald Trump publicly claimed that a military attack on Iran would reflect an inability to negotiate, scrambled electioneering, or a limp attempt from a president to “show how tough” he is. Then, early Saturday morning, he did it anyway.In a video posted to Twitter, Trump—not even wearing a tie—announced the U.S. and Israel had begun “major combat operations” against Iran, with a large-scale preemptive strike in which he indicated Americans are likely to die. He claimed the strikes were carried out to prevent the Middle Eastern country from completing its nuclear program and said they would allow its people to overthrow the authoritarian regime that has been in place for decades. But this isn’t something the Trump of years gone by would have stood for, at least not if he’s taken at his word. “Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate,” Trump said of President Obama in a shouty video clip in November 2011. “He’s weak and he’s ineffective. So the only way he figures that he’s going to get re-elected, and as sure as you’re sitting there, is to start a war with Iran.” “@BarackObama will attack Iran in order to get re-elected,” he said in a post on X, then called Twitter, the following January. By the fall, he viewed aggression toward Iran as a pathway to re-election: “Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin—watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.” That October, he said, “Don’t let Obama play the Iran card in order to start a war in order to get elected—be careful Republicans!” he warned. Trump’s assault on Iran comes just months before the midterms, where polling suggests Republicans could suffer heavy losses. Meanwhile, Trump’s own poll numbers continue to slide. The latest Emerson College Poll on Thursday showed disapproval rates have risen to 55 percent, a four percent leap from last month and a 14-point swing from when he took office last year. Trump/X Trump/X Trump/X Trump/X Trump/X Trump/X Trump/X In September 2013, he said, “I predict that President Obama will at some point attack Iran in order to save face!” Then, just a week later: “Remember what I previously said—Obama will someday attack Iran in order to show how tough he is.” Two months on, in November, he was still banging the same drum. “Remember that I predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly-not skilled!” Trump said. Thirteen years later, Trump’s message has shifted dramatically. “To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces, and all of the police,” he said as he announced the initial strike, “lay down your arms or you will face certain death.” Iran has already hit back, with a state-affiliated news agency claiming it had launched retaliatory strikes on U.S. bases in Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain, the Guardian reports. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-warned-us-how-desperate-it-would-be-to-attack-iran/?

Trump’s Own Intel Agencies Say His Iran Claims Are Nonsense “Operation Epic Fury” has no basis in official intelligence. U.S. intelligence experts believe that President Donald Trump’s claims about Iranian threats to the U.S. are vastly exaggerated. Trump, the self-proclaimed “President of Peace,” launched a wave of missile strikes on Iran early Saturday morning, telling the public in a prerecorded address that the U.S. military had begun “major combat operations.” The strikes, unauthorized by Congress and performed alongside Israel, are designed to stop this “very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests,” Trump, 79, claimed in the video message. “We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground.”He accused the Iranian regime of building missiles that “could soon reach the American homeland.”However, this argument, which he also peddled during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, is tenuous at best. While Iran has a vast arsenal of short and medium-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting Israel and U.S. military bases in the Middle East, it is years away from producing the intercontinental ballistic missile Trump warned of. In an assessment from May last year, a month before Trump’s first strikes on the country, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said it would actually take nearly a decade for Iran to produce such weaponry. The report, titled “Current and Future Missile Threats to the U.S. Homeland,” stated that the regime could produce a “militarily-viable” intercontinental ballistic missile by 2035, “should Tehran decide to pursue the capability.” Sources told CNN that any suggestion otherwise is false. No intelligence suggests Iran is building an ICBM program to hit the U.S. at this time, they said. Three sources confirmed that Iran currently has no interest in expanding its capabilities in this field. Indeed, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview this week that Iran was not developing long-range missiles. “We have deliberately limited the range of our missiles to 2,000 kilometers,” he told India Today TV. He added that their short-range missiles are for defense. Despite the lack of intel suggesting Iran has ICBMs and a mind to use them on America, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly responded to CNN’s reporting, saying, “President Trump is absolutely right to highlight the grave concern posed by Iran, a country that chants ‘death to America,’ possessing intercontinental ballistic missiles.” On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was less sure. He told reporters that Iran was “certainly” trying to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles. The New York Times reports that Iran has “steadily increased” the range of its ballistic missiles, but the most powerful in its arsenal can only reach Central and Eastern Europe. Three American officials with access to current intelligence about Iran’s missile programs said that Trump’s claims were purposely exaggerated. One added that some intelligence analysts have grown “concerned” that Trump’s top aides are inflating and distorting the threat to the U.S. The argument that Iran is days away from being able to produce working nuclear weapons has also been debunked. It has been used by top White House officials in recent days to justify military operations in Iran. Steve Witkoff, one of President Trump’s top negotiators, stoked urgency when he said last week that Iran was “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bombmaking material.” This, it must be noted, is despite the U.S. teaming up with Israel last June and “obliterating” the country’s nuclear capabilities. Though not obliterated, Iran’s three main nuclear sites at Natanz, Fordo, and Isfahan, were badly damaged in the attacks. Experts therefore believe it unlikely that the country has produced a working nuclear warhead. Additionally, officials who have been briefed on U.S. intelligence assessments said that the regime has not built any new nuclear sites since the strikes last June, The Times added. This is despite activity at two partially finished sites unaffected by “Operation Midnight Hammer.” Even Rubio acknowledged on Wednesday that there was no evidence the Iranians were enriching nuclear fuel to make the weapons the White House has used to justify the latest sortie, the so-called “Operation Epic Fury.” The White House has been contacted for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-own-intelligence-shows-his-new-war-is-baseless/?

CBS ‘Legend’ Drops Bombshell Warning Ahead of CNN Takeover The CBS News producer left the network after 46 years. A CBS News producer who left the network after almost half a century of service issued a dire warning in a farewell memo. “We’ve been reading a lot of goodbyes lately, and here I am headed out the door,” journalist Mary Walsh wrote Friday in a memo obtained by The Guardian, announcing that she is leaving the network after 46 years. “But maybe it’s for the best,” Walsh wrote, adding that journalists at CBS News have been told to aim their reporting “at a particular part of the political spectrum.” “I don’t know how to do that,” Walsh added. The memo comes as CBS’s parent company, Paramount Skydance—owned by Trump-friendly billionaire David Ellison—emerged Thursday as the frontrunner in a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company, sparking fears among CNN staff that their newsroom could be taken over, just like CBS. Since Ellison’s takeover of Paramount in August, CBS News has come under the control of Bari Weiss, who has been widely criticized for steering the network into Trump-friendly territory as editor-in-chief. Though Walsh’s statement does not specify the “particular part of the political spectrum” the network has directed journalists toward, Weiss’s tenure has been marked by a series of chaotic moments. In December, Weiss came under fire for pulling a 60 Minutes segment at the last minute. The segment detailed the grisly conditions at an El Salvador megaprison where Venezuelan men deported by President Donald Trump were held—a move correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who reported the story, called “political.” The following month, during an all-hands meeting across CBS News bureaus, she told staff to quit if they did not align with her vision and proposed buyouts to employees that same week. Walsh is one of nearly a dozen producers to accept the buyout and is not the first to post a fiery farewell. Producer Alicia Hastey, who also took a buyout and left, complained that journalists at the network were forced to “self-censor or avoid challenging narratives.”The Guardian reported that Walsh, whose exit was described by one staffer as “pretty huge,” was honored in an emotional farewell from CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, alongside fellow veteran producer Kate Rydell, who is also leaving the network, during a staff-wide editorial call on Friday morning. “Mary Walsh is a legend,” former CNN executive David Clinch posted on X, commenting on Walsh’s departure memo. Meanwhile, the Ellison takeover has sent waves of anxiety through CNN, with insiders describing the panic among staffers as “off the charts” and some even claiming the network is “doomed.” The situation could be particularly awkward for Anderson Cooper, who left CBS’s 60 Minutes in February, becoming one of the highest-profile departures under Weiss’s leadership, but remained an anchor at CNN. “This will be messy and uncomfortable if Bari and Anderson are under the same roof again,” a media insider told NewsNation, adding, “Anderson really doesn’t like her or want to work for her—and he’s the face of the network. For now.” The Daily Beast has contacted CBS News for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/cbs-legend-producer-mary-walsh-drops-bombshell-warning-ahead-of-cnn-takeover/?

All the Times Trump, 79, Claimed He Was the ‘Peace President’ Before Bombing Iran Trump promised “no new wars,” then launched military operations across three continents. Warmongering President Donald Trump is failing spectacularly to live up to the much-repeated boast that he is the “Peace President.” Trump, 79, vowed he would start “no new wars,” and has insisted again and again that after apparently stopping multiple conflicts, he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize—an obsession he has refused to let go of. Trump’s actions, including the latest announcement of a foreign bombing campaign, which saw him confirm on Saturday that the U.S. had begun “major combat operations in Iran,” do not back his words. They now sound even more hollow than ever. It is the second time in eight months the self-styled “peace president” has bombed the country. It comes less than two months after he attacked Venezuela. In fact, Trump’s second term has seen him launch military operations across three continents. The myth-making started years ago. In his 2021 farewell address, Trump crowed that he was “especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars,” a line that quickly became a MAGA talking point and campaign slogan. As he left office, he was already hailing his “record of no new wars” as proof he was a different kind of commander in chief. On his re-election night in November 2024, he had told supporters he was “not going to start a war, I’m going to stop wars.” Since retaking office, Trump has tried to uphold the branding—even as he dropped bombs. The Nobel Peace Prize became the ultimate validation he craved. He has lobbied so aggressively throughout his second term that he personally called Norway’s finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, to campaign on his behalf. Standing before the United Nations General Assembly last September, Trump told world leaders: “Everyone says I should get the Nobel Peace Prize”—before claiming credit for ending seven international conflicts and insisting that “no president or prime minister has ever done anything close to that.” When the president didn’t win his coveted prize, he—in classic Trump fashion—threw a hissy fit and whined that he had been somehow slighted. Trump’s actions, however, tell a different story. In June 2025, less than 24 hours after posting a Truth Social list of reasons he deserved the Nobel—citing “stopping the War between Serbia and Kosovo” and “keeping Peace between Egypt and Ethiopia”—Trump authorized seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to drop multiple “bunker buster” bombs on Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. He boasted afterwards that “a full payload of BOMBS” had been dropped on the primary site, Fordow. Pakistan, which had nominated Trump for the Nobel that very morning for brokering a ceasefire between Islamabad and New Delhi, was forced to condemn him hours later, calling the Iran strikes “a serious violation of international law.” Venezuela came next—and with it, perhaps the starkest illustration of the gap between Trump’s peace brand and his military record. Trump’s stated New Year’s resolution for 2026 was “peace on earth.” Forty-eight hours later, he ordered Operation Absolute Resolve—a Delta Force raid on the Venezuelan capital of Caracas that captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flew them to Manhattan federal court on narcoterrorism charges. After the raid, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that Colombia could be next: “Colombia is very sick. Run by a sick man, who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. He’s not going to be doing it very long.” The administration has since named its new interventionist foreign policy the “Donroe Doctrine.” Africa has been the least-publicized front, but arguably the most relentless. U.S. Africa Command conducted 126 airstrikes against al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia in 2025 alone—compared to just 10 for the entire previous year under Biden—before striking 16 ISIS targets in Nigeria’s Sokoto state on Christmas Day 2025. Now, with Iranian nuclear sites in his crosshairs for the second time, Trump told the world on Saturday that U.S. forces were moving to “eliminate imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” in a video posted to Truth Social. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/all-the-times-donald-trump-claimed-he-was-the-peace-president-before-bombing-iran/?

Trump, 79, Posts Crazed 4 AM Rant Right After Starting War The president couldn’t even stay on message after dragging the U.S. into a new Middle East conflict. Donald Trump went straight to his most treasured—and bogus—grievances about the 2020 election immediately after starting a war with Iran in the middle of the night. In a Truth Social post at 4:44 a.m., the 79-year-old president shared an article from JustTheNews detailing how Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was urged by former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department to apply for a lucrative grant while she was investigating Trump’s attempt to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Trump felt it necessary to share this information with his supporters just a couple of hours after he posted an eight-minute video confirming that the U.S. and Israel have joined forces to attack Iran. In a message to the American people for which he did not even wear a tie, the apparent “Peace President” Trump confirmed that the U.S. had launched “major combat operations” in Iran after months of pressuring Tehran to accept a new nuclear deal. Trump also admitted that the war, which has not been approved by Congress and has little support from voters, will mean that “lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties.” “That often happens in war,” Trump added. The president, who spent months pining and whining for a Nobel Peace Prize, also made a direct call for the Iranian people to “seize control of your destiny” and “take over your government” once the U.S. has finished bombing it.“It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations,” Trump said. “This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.” Soon after sharing the video, Trump also posted another JustTheNews article on Truth Social, suggesting that a war with Iran is justified because the regime apparently “sought to undermine President Donald Trump’s reelection bid in 2020.” Trump was charged with 18 other MAGA loyalists as part of Willis’ sprawling Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) probe into an alleged criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Willis was disqualified from leading the prosecution after it was found she was having an improper relationship with her former special prosecutor Nathan Wade. The case against Trump was eventually dropped after he won the 2024 election. Its legal merits have never been adjudicated. In November 2025, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dismissed the entire case against Trump and his co-accused—including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, who served as Trump’s chief of staff during his first presidency—after the prosecutor who took over the case from Willis said he would not pursue the prosecution further. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-79-posts-crazed-4-am-rant-right-after-starting-war-with-iran/?

The Generals Said No but Trump Was Bored of Peace The peace president, 79, has gone to war, again. America’s top generals have been as clear as they dare in warning Donald Trump off his latest military adventure. But the president wasn’t listening.Eight weeks after sending helicopter-borne special forces into Caracas to seize Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump has taken his warmongering to a new level with the launch overnight of “major combat operations” in Iran. The Venezuela raid was well planned, limited in scope, and a clear military success, just the kind of stunt Trump and the former Fox News host who serves as his “Secretary of War” needed to fire up the troops in their new anti-woke army. But Iran is a whole different matter. There’s a reason why, as Trump put it, the Iranian regime has been able to chant “Death to America” for the past 47 years as it targeted American forces and interests in the region through its network of terror groups and proxy militias. The last time the United States tried to use military power to deliver regime change in the Middle East, with the ill-fated invasion of Iraq in 2003, its forces were bogged down for eight years. The real winner of that adventure was Iran, which was effectively handed control of the new Iraq after the dismantling of the Baathist regime.Of course, Iran has been massively weakened over the past couple of years. Hezbollah and Hamas, its main proxy forces, have been all but destroyed by Israel, and while an American bombing raid last June did not actually “obliterate” Iran’s nuclear program, as Pete Hegseth claimed at the time, it did set it back.Reports from inside the White House say Trump’s military advisers, including Gen. Dan “Raizin” Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have warned the president against a full-scale attack on Iran, briefing not just that it could cost American lives but dangerously degrade already depleted weapons stockpiles. Trump dismissed a Washington Post report that Caine is “against us going to War with Iran” as “100% incorrect.” It’s possible that Trump will walk away with an “easy” military victory, or that the Islamic regime, once prodded, could fall, as the president suggested in his video address from the White House. That will depend on Iran’s will and ability to resist the warfighting power of the United States and Israel and whatever allies they can persuade to join them in the ominously titled “Operation Epic Fury.” But it’s far from clear why Trump had to go to war with Iran now, while his son-in-law Jared Kushner and New York property pal Steve Witkoff are still trying to bring the regime to heel. The massive military force gathered in the Middle East and Mediterranean was already sending a pretty clear message to the Mullahs. In a text message last month to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Trump explained that since Norway had denied him the Nobel Peace Prize despite him supposedly ending at least eight wars, “I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace.” When Trump first entered the White House in 2017, there was widespread fear that the nuclear suitcase would be following around such a volatile president. But he defied expectations and ended up being more cautious militarily than his Democratic predecessor as commander-in-chief, Barack Obama. The great American peacemaker of the late 20th century was another second-term conservative president, Ronald Reagan, who clearly had an eye on his legacy as he joined with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to limit nuclear arsenals and call an end to the Cold War. Trump seems to have gone in the opposite direction in his second term: he wants to blow everything up, to test the limits of his power, as though a switch has flicked in his 79-year-old brain. The peace president is bored of peace. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-generals-said-no-but-donald-trump-was-bored-of-peace-and-attacked-iran/?

MAGA Melts Down Over Iran War No One Voted For A Trump-authorized strike on Iran took place just hours after JD Vance tried to allay MAGA fears of another conflict without a clear end. President Donald Trump is facing a furious MAGA backlash after embarking on an unauthorized strike in Iran that he admits will kill U.S. citizens.After being urged by sections of his own base not to enter another foreign war, the president announced on Saturday morning that he had launched a major attack on Iran as he vowed to eliminate the country’s nuclear program—which he insisted months ago had been completely “obliterated”—and bring about a change in government. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson told ABC’s Jonathan Karl that the attack on Iran was “absolutely disgusting and evil.” Former Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene took to X to blast the president, accusing him of abandoning his “America First” principles. “Now, America is going to be force fed and gas lighted all the “noble” reasons the American “Peace” President and Pro-Peace administration had to go to war once again this year, after being in power for only a year,” she said. “NOBODY WANTS THIS WAR,” said the Trump-aligned, self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate, a friend of Donald Trump Jr and the president’s other son, Barron. MAGA congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna wrote on X: “Hold our country in prayer right now. Hold our service members and their families in prayer right now. Hold the innocent people of Iran in prayer right now.” Alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was less diplomatic. “Oh, how disgusting. F--- you, Mr. President,” he wrote. “This is so wicked and disgusting and vile,” added Cassandra Macdonald, a writer at the right-leaning Gateway Pundit. “He is sacrificing our best for a foreign nation. What comes after blackpilled because I’m that.” Far-right figure Nick Fuentes posted on X: “@realDonaldTrump NO WAR WITH IRAN. ISRAEL IS DRAGGING US TO WAR. AMERICA FIRST.” The strike took place in the middle of the night, without Congressional approval—which is required by law—as most Americans were asleep. Only hours earlier, amid the biggest military build-up in the Middle East since the Iraq War, Vice President JD Vance had tried to assuage MAGA fears, telling the Washington Post that there was “no chance” the United States would end up in a years-long conflict without a clear end. “Acts of war unauthorized by Congress,” noted Republican Thomas Massie, who had been trying to push through new laws that would force the president to seek approval before striking Iran. But in an eight-minute video announcing the move, Trump sought to justify his “major combat operations” on the basis that Iran had refused to reach a deal to cease its nuclear program. He then called on Iranians to overthrow their government when the U.S. military operation came to an end. “It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations,” Trump said. He added: “My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region. Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war, but we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.” The fact that American soldiers could die is set to infuriate the anti-interventionist wing of the Republican Party. Only one day earlier, former Greene had posted an old video of Trump lamenting George W. Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq. “They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none, and they knew there were none,” Trump said at the time. The strikes marked the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has used military force against the Islamic Republic. Last June, the president boasted that the military had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities and it would take “years” to rebuild. In his video overnight on Saturday, he claimed the regime’s nuclear program would once again be “totally obliterated.” The strike also came just weeks after Trump ordered a military operation to capture Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro. On Friday, he also suggested another foreign intervention: a “friendly takeover” of Cuba. Iran responded to the latest strikes by launching a wave of missiles and drones targeting Israel. It followed with strikes targeting U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a defiant statement, saying the country “will not hesitate” in its response. In a statement posted on X, the ministry said: “The time has come to defend the homeland and confront the enemy’s military assault.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-melts-down-over-iran-war-no-one-voted-for/?

The following is a listing of dates and subjects: March 1: Is There More to Life than This? March 8: Who is Jesus? March 8: Why Did Jesus Die? March 15: How Can I Have Faith? March 22: Why and How Do I Pray? March 22: Why and How Should I Read the Bible? March 29: How Does God Guide Us? April 12: Who Is the Holy Spirit? April 12: What does the Holy. Spirit Do? April 12: How Can I Be Filled With the Holy Spirit? April 12: How Can I Make the Most of the Rest of My Life? April 19: Does God Heal Today? April 26: How Can I Resist Evil? May 3: Why and How Should I Tell Others? May 3: What About the Church?