Exclude NB

Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been secretly evacuated to Moscow for medical treatment following injuries sustained in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes that killed his father and other top Iranian officials, according to reports from the Kyiv Post and Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida.

Iran's ambassador to Cyprus confirmed Khamenei suffered injuries to his legs, hand, and arm. He reportedly sustained a fractured foot, bruising near his left eye, and minor facial cuts.

The White House angrily denied a report revealing that President Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has been privately texting Iranian officials seeking to resume peace negotiations but seemingly failing, as Iran reportedly ignores his messages.

Drop Site News reported that Trump administration officials have been requesting talks, contradicting Trump's public claims that Iranian officials are pushing for negotiations. According to two Iranian officials, Witkoff sent messages to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and other Tehran officials last week exploring resumption possibilities.

Charlie Kirk Show hosts Blake Neff and Andrew Kolvet featured Sen. Lindsey Graham's primary opponents Paul Davis and Mark Lynch on Monday's broadcast, criticizing the South Carolina Republican as a "neocon warmonger" focused on Middle East military intervention.

Kolvet invoked Kirk's previous characterization of Graham as "Lady Graham" and cited a 2023 Kirk quote opposing neoconservatives who "want to spend our money to bomb faraway lands."

President Donald Trump triggered audible gasps at the Kennedy Center on Monday after revealing details about a Republican lawmaker's terminal health diagnosis.

While sitting beside House Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump discussed how GOP deaths have impacted the party's House majority and prevented advancement of his agenda. Trump initially hesitated to name the lawmaker before pressing Johnson to share details. Johnson revealed Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL) faced "very serious" health challenges and a "pretty grim diagnosis."

President Trump posted late-night messages on Truth Social warning of continued military action against Iran and attacking media coverage of the conflict.

Trump claimed the U.S. is "totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise," asserting Iran's Navy and Air Force are gone and their leaders "wiped from the face of the earth."

The House Oversight Committee requested Friday that prison guard Tova Noel testify about her role monitoring Jeffrey Epstein during his 2019 detention before his controversial death.

Recently released Justice Department files revealed Noel made suspicious internet searches immediately before Epstein's body was discovered and deposited $5,000 in cash 10 days prior, a transaction flagged by her bank.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's offhand remark that the U.S. would show "no quarter, no mercy for our enemies," in Iran. In military context, "no quarter" means killing enemy combatants without allowing surrender.

This alarmed legal experts, who warned the statement could constitute a war crime. Even just saying it could count as a violation of international law and U.S. military code, they added.

Former Trump administration Homeland Security staffer Miles Taylor warned Thursday on MSNBC that President Trump was dangerously unprepared for the Iran crisis, claiming the situation is "so much worse" than it appears.

Taylor accused Trump and his team of creating a false veneer of strategic planning while engaging in "coin-flipping instead of checkers."

Vice President JD Vance avoided directly answering whether he supports the U.S. and Israeli military operation against Iran when questioned by an Associated Press reporter Friday in North Carolina.

Reporter Bill Barrow asked if Vance expressed concerns about extended wars to President Trump, given his past criticism of Middle East military involvement and current economic fallout including surging gas prices.

CNN host Kasie Hunt and Rep. Jim Jordan engaged in a heated exchange Thursday on "The Arena" over Trump's Iran bombing campaign.

Jordan defended the strikes as necessary retaliation for Iranian-caused American military deaths and claimed Trump sought to prevent Iran's nuclear development. However, Hunt countered by replaying Trump's campaign promises not to start new wars and his previous criticisms of the 2003 Iraq invasion for destabilizing the Middle East.

Democrat Bobbi Boudman won a stunning upset in a New Hampshire state house special election in a rural district Trump carried by double digits 16 months earlier.

Boudman defeated Republican Dale Fincher 52-48 in Carroll County near the Maine border in her third attempt for the seat.

The U.S. economy expanded by just 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025, a significant downgrade from the initial 1.4% projection and well below economist expectations, according to an NBC News report.

The sluggish growth represents a sharp decline from the third quarter's 4.4% and second quarter's 3.8% growth rates. A 43-day government shutdown accounted for at least 1.16 percentage points of the decline through reduced federal spending.

Terry Duffy, CEO of CME Group, which operates the U.S. oil futures exchange, warned the Trump administration against intervening in derivatives markets to lower oil prices during the Iran war.

Speaking at a conference in Boca Raton, Duffy cautioned that government pricing intervention risks a "biblical disaster" if investors lose confidence in market-set commodity prices.