Following the Trump administration’s unprecedented attack on Iran, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is reportedly preparing to deliver a speech, prompting Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to issue an ominous warning on Saturday to journalists considering covering the event.

According to Reuters, Khamenei is expected to deliver a speech in response to the U.S. attack at any moment, contrary to some reports that suggested he was killed by U.S. strikes. To journalists considering covering the Ayatollah speech, however, Graham suggested that they instead stay away, suggesting he may have advanced knowledge of another U.S. strike targeting Khamenei.

“Don’t know if it’s accurate that the Ayatollah is about to speak,” Graham wrote in a social media post on X Saturday. “But a word to the wise, if you’re in the press corps, don’t attend in person.”

Graham has become among the most vocal advocates for a U.S. strike on Iran, consistent with his long record of backing military action against other nations throughout his career, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mexico, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela, among other nations.

Earlier on Saturday after news broke that the Trump administration had launched a major military operation against Iran, Graham took to social media to express his excitement, writing that his “mind” was “racing,” while also preemptively paying tribute to U.S. service members who may die in the ensuing conflict.

“If you are injured or fall, I believe with all my heart that your sacrifice makes your country and the world a better and safer place,” Graham wrote earlier on Saturday. “This moment is why you chose to serve.”

President Donald Trump raised eyebrows and angst among democracy defenders Friday for saying he deserves an unconstitutional third term in office, remarks that came a day after reporting that right-wing activists are drafting an executive order that could empower him to ban mail-in ballots and voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

“Maybe we do one more term. Should we do one more?” the 79-year-old Republican president asked attendees of an event at the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas on Friday to roaring applause. “Do one more term. Well, we are entitled to it.”

During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump rehashed his thoroughly debunked claim that Democrats stole the 2020 election for former President Joe Biden, saying this “should be my third term.”

A third term would require a constitutional amendment, as the 22nd Amendment restricts US presidents to two terms in office.

Extensions of presidential terms or abolition of limits are hallmarks of dictators and backsliding leaders of erstwhile democracies. After Chinese President Xi Jinping lifted constitutional term limits in 2018, Trump marveled, “He’s great,” adding, “He’s now president for life.”

Trump has made cryptic allusions to a third term in office on multiple occasions.

While many Trump supporters believe he should also be president for life, his allies in actual positions of power—including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and political strategist and convicted fraudster Steve Bannon, whom Trump granted clemency—have backed a third term for his administration.

A constitutional amendment enabling a third Trump term is not under any consideration and is all but impossible by the 2028 election. So Trump and his allies are working on other ways for the president to remain in office, focusing heavily on voter suppression. The Washington Post reported Thursday that a group of right-wing activists is writing a draft decree that would give the president “extraordinary power over voting.” On Friday, Democracy Docket published an April 2025 version of the draft order provided by a Trump ally, which the outlet described as “riddled with errors.”

According to the Post, the draft executive order would cite the pretext of alleged Chinese interference in the 2020 election. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded that there was no such interference.

MS NOW national security contributor Marc Polymeropoulos called the draft order “bats--- authoritarianism.”

While the Trump administration’s unprecedented attack on Iran has received a wave of scrutiny, so too did the name the administration had given the operation – Operation Epic Fury – which was dogpiled on Saturday morning by critics as childish.

“It's called Operation Epic Fury because it tested well with a panel of 6 year olds and Steven Seagal,” wrote author Russ Jones in a social media post on Bluesky Saturday.

“More like Operation Epstein’s Fury,” wrote prominent political commentator and social media influencer Jackson Hinkle in a post to his more than 3.6 million followers on X, referencing the Trump administration’s ongoing fallout from its botched investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

Operation Epic Fury began early Saturday morning after President Donald Trump authorized a series of strikes on Iran targeting its military assets. However, civilian infrastructure appears to have also been hit, including a strike on an elementary girls’ school that killed at least 85 people, according to Al Jazeera.

The juxtaposition between the brutal images of deadly U.S. strikes with the name of the operation continued to be widely mocked throughout Saturday morning.

“Operation Epic Fury sounds like [an] energy drink that gives you heart palpitations and bad decisions,” wrote X user "Crypto Intel Plug,” a cryptocurrency commentator with more than 1,600 followers.