Iran Blog #4

LIVE UPDATES: Trump Ramps Up Iran Threats: Comply Or ‘Shootin’ Starts’

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Iran

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Protest

Revolution

President Donald Trump raged Thursday morning that America&#8217;s allies fail to understand &#8220;anything unless they have pressure placed upon them,&#8221; once again taking aim at NATO after his meeting with the alliance&#8217;s secretary-general.
Trump targeted NATO in two social media posts shortly after his Wednesday meeting at the White House with NATO chief Mark Rutte, who traveled to Washington, D.C., following Trump&#8217;s renewed threats to pull the United States from the alliance.
&#8220;NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN,&#8221; Trump wrote in a social media <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116371693008302124">post</a> on Wednesday evening. &#8220;REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!&#8221;
Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116374792489555954">ripped</a> NATO again Thursday morning, posting, &#8220;None of these people, including our own, very disappointing, NATO, understood anything unless they have pressure placed upon them!!!&#8221;
Trump&#8217;s frustration with NATO has been building for months, particularly after several alliance members pushed back on his idea to acquire Greenland. Tensions have intensified more recently as some allies have rejected the president&#8217;s calls to back U.S. efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Rutte met with Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday to discuss the alliance and Europe&#8217;s stance on the Iran war.
“He is clearly disappointed with many NATO allies, and I can see his point,” Rutte told CNN after the meeting.
Some NATO members — including the United Kingdom, France, and Spain — initially blocked U.S. aircraft from using their military bases for offensive strikes during &#8220;Operation Epic Fury.&#8221; The U.K. and France later allowed the United States limited use of bases for defensive purposes only, while Spain has remained a vocal opponent of the U.S. military operation.
&#8220;The large majority, including France, of European nations, has been doing what they committed they would do in a case like this,&#8221; Rutte said. &#8220;So Europe as a platform of power projection for the United States was in full play over the last six weeks. And yes, it is true that not all European nations lived up to those commitments, and I totally understand that [Trump] is disappointed about it.&#8221;
Rutte has been one of Trump&#8217;s biggest cheerleaders on the world stage in recent months and has repeatedly praised the U.S. president for forcing European nations to increase defense spending. The NATO secretary-general told CNN, &#8220;This was a meeting between friends because we like each other. I really admire his leadership &#8230; and NATO allies are with him when it comes to taking out, degrading the ballistic missile capacity of the Iranians.&#8221;
&#8220;The whole world is safer by this president degrading those capabilities,&#8221; Rutte added.
The United States is, by far, the largest financial supporter of NATO, covering more than 60% of the alliance&#8217;s defense spending, <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/trackers-and-data-visualizations/nato-defense-spending-tracker/#:~:text=United%20States%20$980%2C000%2C000%2C000%20NATO%20Europe,Kingdom%20France%20Italy%20Poland%20Spain">according</a> to the Atlantic Council. Last year, the United States spent roughly $980 billion on NATO&#8217;s defense.
Amid Trump&#8217;s pressure and repeated threats to withdraw from NATO, member states have ramped up their defense spending commitments. At last year&#8217;s NATO summit, allies agreed to increase their military spending to 5% of GDP by 2035.

Donald Trump/Mark Rutte

Trump Signals A Continued Pressure Campaign On Allies After Meeting With NATO Chief

Donald Trump

Europe

Military

NATO

A ceasefire is not peace. It is not the formal end of hostilities. It is a pause.
General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made that unmistakably clear at a Pentagon press conference on April 8, his first since President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran the previous evening: “A ceasefire is a pause, and the joint force remains ready, if ordered or called upon, to resume combat operations with the same speed and precision as we’ve demonstrated over the last 38 days.”
Iran’s rulers should now understand that this president does not bluff. The United States and Israel remain, in Trump’s words during January’s anti-regime uprising, “locked and loaded and ready to go.”
Since that warning, the landscape has changed dramatically.
Domestically, more than 40,000 Iranians have died after the regime unleashed extraordinary violence against demonstrators. Militarily, Iran has been badly weakened by combined U.S.-Israeli operations: its navy crippled, air defenses penetrated, missile stockpiles and launchers significantly reduced, and key elements of its defense-industrial and economic-industrial base severely damaged. The supreme leader and 51 of his top commanders and advisors have been eliminated along with thousands of members of the IRGC, Basij, law enforcement, and intelligence apparatus.
Diplomatically, nearly six weeks of attacks on Arab capitals have shattered what little trust remained between Tehran and its Gulf neighbors, and Iran is increasingly isolated even from American allies who have their fair share of differences with President Trump. Psychologically, Iran’s leadership has learned that beneath Trump’s social media theatrics — offensive to many — lies a president willing to act.
As in many wars, both sides now claim victory. But Iran’s claim is far less persuasive. For now, the regime has achieved the minimum objective of survival. Yet survival under sustained military, economic, and political pressure is not strategic success. The possibility of an Iran freed from Islamic Republic rule remains very much alive.
As talks begin this weekend in Pakistan to solidify the ceasefire, Washington should negotiate from a position of maximum leverage, not compromise. None of the 10 points reportedly included in Tehran’s public proposal deserves serious consideration: lifting all sanctions, preserving Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz, demanding war reparations, permitting continued uranium enrichment, and insisting on an indefinite halt to hostilities would amount to strategic surrender by the United States. Tehran’s original 10-point proposal was fundamentally unserious, unacceptable, and, as the White House put it, “completely discarded.”
That should remain the administration’s posture. The central reality has not changed during these volatile weeks: The Islamic Republic remains the most dangerous force destabilizing the Middle East and a direct threat to American security. Replacing it with a government that allows Iranians to reclaim their country should remain the central objective of U.S. policy.
That requires abandoning illusions about trade-offs. Unlike the Obama administration&#8217;s pursuit of the 2015 nuclear deal, the Trump administration should not seek to persuade, incentivize, or rehabilitate Iran’s rulers. It should present terms and insist on compliance.
That means no enrichment. It means surrendering Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile. It means intrusive, unannounced inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a prelude to dismantling Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and ballistic missile program. It means freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. It means maintaining all sanctions until Tehran proves over time that it has ended support for regional terror proxies and complied fully with American demands.
And if protest conditions re-emerge inside Iran, Washington should stand openly with those protesters regardless of diplomatic timing. Claims that Iran’s protest movement is dead ignore a quarter-century of repeated uprisings. Again and again, the regime has crushed dissent; again and again, outside observers have declared the opposition finished; again and again, they have been wrong.
Since the 12-Day War of June 2025, when U.S. and Israeli aircraft struck Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure, Tehran has learned what maximum pressure actually means. There is no reason to ease it now — and every reason to intensify it.
If Iran refuses — as it almost certainly will — then the alternative to accepting American defeat is exactly what Gen. Caine described: resume combat operations.
***
Mark Dubowitz is chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the presenter of <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.fdd.org/category/podcasts/the-iran-breakdown/__;!!F0Stn7g!CXgsIlEBML2AYFaX0372v0_L5qnUjHMgegvX8DDMWsMIjt3f0Sf06wIzQZDE2vGSfwN3STHRx9Y$">“The Iran Breakdown”</a> podcast. Ben Cohen is a research fellow at FDD.

US-ISRAEL-IRAN-WAR-HEGSETH

Washington Should Not Compromise — It Has The Upper Hand Over Iran

Iran Nuclear Deal

Nuclear Weapons

The Trump administration has made it a &#8220;top priority&#8221; to remove anyone residing in the United States illegally or fraudulently, especially those connected to the Iranian regime, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan on Wednesday.
Olohan asked Leavitt about the administration&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/family-members-of-slain-iranian-general-arrested-u-s-legal-status-revoked">efforts to deport</a> people with close ties to the Iranian government, such as the niece and grandniece of the late Iranian terrorist general Qasem Soleimani. Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, 47, and Sarinasadat Hosseiny, 25, were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last week, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
&#8220;I understand one of the individual&#8217;s visas was revoked by Secretary Rubio, and they were deported by ICE because they had a fraudulent asylum claim,&#8221; Leavitt told The Daily Wire. &#8220;That is against the laws of the United States, so anyone who is here illegally or fraudulently is subject to our nation&#8217;s immigration laws and will be removed from our country. And I know this continues to be a top priority for the State Department working in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MaryMargOlohan</a> asks <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressSec</a> if the Trump administration plans to deport more relatives of Iranian officials in the U.S.
&#8220;Anyone who is here fraudulently is subject to our nation&#8217;s immigration laws and will be removed from our country.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/urZfy1Bgpu">pic.twitter.com/urZfy1Bgpu</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2041940236997988685?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Soleimani&#8217;s family members appeared to live lavish lifestyles in the United States, with photos they posted to social media <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/photos-inside-california-home-qasem-soleimanis-relatives-following-immigration-customs-arrest">showing</a> them in designer clothing, bikinis, and low-cut dresses. Meanwhile, women in Iran are forced to wear restrictive religious garb — including mandatory hijabs and full-body cloaks — and are threatened with arrest if they show their hair. While Afshar lived with freedom in the United States, she was outspoken in her support for the Iranian regime and celebrated attacks on Americans, Rubio said.
Afshar and Hosseiny are not the only Iranians living in the United States with close connections to the brutal regime. The son of one of the top spokeswomen for Iran&#8217;s propaganda machine is also living in the United States and is working as an adjunct associate professor at The Chicago School in Los Angeles, The New York Post reported. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/his-mother-raised-him-on-irans-regime-propaganda-now-hes-teaching-your-kids">Eissa Hashemi</a>, 43, is the son of the former Iranian vice president for Women and Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar, who was better known as “Screaming Mary.”
Ebtekar was the leading spokeswoman for the Iranian radicals who took 66 American hostages in 1979. Hashemi has lived in the United States since 2010 and has never publicly denounced his mother&#8217;s actions.
Last September, the Trump administration deported at least 55 Iranians back to their home country, which sparked fear among many in the Iranian diaspora who had fled the country to escape persecution under the radical Islamic regime. As many as 400 Iranians in America were expected to be sent back to Iran last year.

Iranian officials family members living in U.S.

Daily Wire Asks Leavitt About Iranian Official’s Family Living Lavishly In The U.S.

deporation

Karoline Leavitt

Trump Administration

U.S.

The Islamic Republic of Iran&#8217;s proposed 10-point peace plan, according to versions circulating in Iranian and international media, demands acceptance of the regime&#8217;s uranium enrichment program, removal of all sanctions, and compensation payment for war damage.
Iran&#8217;s proposal also calls for the United States to withdraw all forces from the region and implement a ceasefire on all fronts, including Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
On Truth Social early Wednesday, President Donald Trump said there will be “positive action” following the two-week ceasefire agreement with Iran, but he appeared to contradict key pillars of Iran&#8217;s plan.
&#8220;The United States will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has gone through what will be a very productive Regime Change! There will be no enrichment of Uranium, and the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear &#8216;Dust,'&#8221; <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116368825638596650">Trump said.</a>
The president, however, left the door open to sanctions and tariff relief.
Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116369934305888462">said</a> later on Wednesday that numerous proposed lists of demands from Iran have been reported &#8220;that have absolutely nothing to do with the U.S.A. / Iran Negotiation.&#8221;
&#8220;There is only one group of meaningful &#8216;POINTS&#8217; that are acceptable to the United States, and we will be discussing them behind closed doors during these Negotiations,&#8221; he wrote on Truth Social. &#8220;These are the POINTS that are the basis on which we agreed to a CEASEFIRE.&#8221;
Iran&#8217;s full 10-point plan includes the following demands.
<ul>
<li>1.   The U.S. must fundamentally commit to guaranteeing non-aggression.</li>
<li>2.   Continuation of Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz.</li>
<li>3.   Acceptance that Iran can enrich uranium for its nuclear program.</li>
<li>4.   Removal of all primary sanctions on Iran.</li>
<li>5.   Removal of all secondary sanctions against foreign entities that do business with Iranian institutions.</li>
<li>6.   End of all United Nations Security Council resolutions targeting Iran.</li>
<li>7.   End of all International Atomic Energy Agency resolutions on Iran’s nuclear program.</li>
<li>8.   Compensation payment to Iran for war damage.</li>
<li>9.   Withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region.</li>
<li>10. Ceasefire on all fronts, including Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.</li>
</ul>
The 10-point framework differs from the plan that Trump said was a “workable basis on which to negotiate,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/08/world/iran-war-trump-news">according to the New York Times.</a> White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is expected to share additional details during a Wednesday afternoon briefing.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has backed Trump&#8217;s operation, said he prefers a diplomatic solution &#8220;to end the reign of terror in Iran&#8221; but described elements of Iran&#8217;s reported proposal as &#8220;troubling.&#8221;
&#8220;Allowing this regime to enrich in the future would be an affront to all those murdered by the regime since this war started and would be inconsistent with denying Iran a pathway toward a bomb in the future,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/2041871542032716010?s=20">Graham said in a post on X</a>. &#8220;The last thing I’m interested in is for Iran to be able to save face. I’m interested in a deal that will stop their maniacal drive to a nuclear weapon among other things.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Again a diplomatic solution to end the reign of terror in Iran is the preferred outcome. The supposed negotiating document, in my view, has some troubling aspects, but time will tell. I look forward to the architects of this proposal, the Vice President and others, coming forward…
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) <a href="https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/2041871542032716010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
Conservative broadcast host Mark Levin, another hardline supporter of the war, called the Iranian 10-point plan an &#8220;absolute disaster.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
These 10 points are an absolute disaster <a href="https://t.co/GLlDwtM5k6">https://t.co/GLlDwtM5k6</a>
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) <a href="https://twitter.com/marklevinshow/status/2041859062820696167?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
The fragile two-week ceasefire hinges on the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-updates-iranian-protests-intensify-as-citizens-demand-end-to-ayatollah-rule?author=Daily+Wire&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=LIVE+UPDATES%3A+Trump+Says+Peace+Is+Within+Reach+As+U.S.+Vows+Hands-On+Role+In+Strait+Of+Hormuz">Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan</a> asked Secretary of War Pete Hegseth what Iran meant when it said it would open the strait with &#8220;technical limitations.&#8221;
&#8220;What we know is that Iran is going to say a lot of things. A lot of people are going to say a lot of things, claim a lot of things. What has been agreed to, what&#8217;s been stated, is the strait is open. Our military is watching. I&#8217;m sure their military is watching, but commerce will flow,&#8221; Hegseth said.
The Daily Wire also asked Hegseth about reports that Iran was still launching strikes overnight.
&#8220;As far as shooting, we were monitoring it last night in real time. Of course, we are. Iran would be wise to find a way to get the carrier pigeon to their troops out in remote locations, to know not to shoot, not to shoot any longer,&#8221; Hegseth said. &#8220;It takes time sometimes for ceasefires to take hold. We&#8217;re watching it.&#8221;

Iran-Tehran-Explosions-March

Trump Suggests 10-Point Plan Is Not What’s Being Discussed In Iran Peace Talks

Ceasefire

United States

The ceasefire being trumpeted across the world today looks less like a two-week agreement toward the end of the current U.S.-Israel war on Iran’s regime and more like a break so President Donald Trump can watch Master’s golf undisturbed.
The reported details laid out in Iran’s ten point response to negotiation talks represent, on multiple points, a risky series of steps that are either impossible to maintain or aren’t even being reported the same to both sides – with a depiction in Farsi of agreed allowance for the continued enrichment of uranium.
That should be a non-negotiable point for a president who has derided Barack Obama’s Iran deal ad nauseam, regardless of his reluctance to extend the current conflict into the summer.
Here’s the reality of the proposed deal if accepted on its face:
<ul class="ul1">
<li class="li1">Iran still has its nuclear materials, and without immediate extraction, will now sprint to enrich the uranium in its possession and construct a nuclear weapon.</li>
<li class="li1">Iran’s regime has now, despite the loss of dozens of leaders and the utter destruction of missile and other capabilities, survived both internal rebellion and external attack.</li>
<li class="li1">Iran has shown that it can and will control the Strait of Hormuz, and therefore the world economy, at will – without even inspiring Europe to clear the mines, one of the last things its military is good at.</li>
<li class="li1">If not defeat, Iran has shown it can at minimum deter the United States Navy at the strategic level.</li>
<li class="li1">Iran has shown that no wartime coalition will coalesce against it, even when it directly attacks over a dozen neighboring countries, and even when it demonstrates the ability to lob missiles into central Europe.</li>
</ul>
None of this is good.
The more fundamental problem for the United States, beyond President Trump’s tenure, is that America will have shown an inability to plan and win at the strategic level, and furthermore has shown itself to be without effective wartime allies beyond Israel.
The markets are speaking, and their shaky nature means they’re optimistic about this deal. But it’s a bad one, short- and long-term, for an America First policy perspective. It’s certainly satisfying to swipe the chessboard clear of a bunch of bad guys. It’s another to expend significant resources to create a scenario in which the takeaways all speak to Iran’s ability to stand up to the Great Satan and survive, and to the advantages going forward for China that are impossible to fully estimate at this point.
The Trump approach to foreign policy and national security has, time and again, proven his critics wrong. He has ridden a hot hand repeatedly, to the great benefit of the American people. But he’s often done so by gambling and winning, often facing long odds. Eventually those odds may prove too long. Eventually the table goes cold. Or sometimes, you just need a break to go off tilt.
We’ll see which situation this is for the president in short order.

Trump visit to Scotland

Trump Takes A Break From Bombing Iran For The Master’s

America First

Foreign Policy

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said he believes the ceasefire between the United States and Iran will hold after being asked by The Daily Wire about reports of Iranian strikes overnight. 
“We were monitoring it last night in real time. Of course, we are. Iran would be wise to find a way to get the carrier pigeon to their troops out in remote locations, to know not to shoot, not to shoot any longer,” Hegseth said. “It takes time sometimes for ceasefires to take hold. We&#8217;re watching it. We&#8217;re prepared, if necessary, but we hope and believe that it&#8217;ll hold.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/SecWar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecWar</a> tells <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MaryMargOlohan</a> that the Strait of Hormuz is OPEN and commerce will FLOW, despite Iran noting technical limitations.
Hegseth added that the administration &#8220;hopes and believes&#8221; the ceasefire will hold when asked about this morning&#8217;s Iranian strikes:
&#8220;Iran would… <a href="https://t.co/iwFShQ21sa">pic.twitter.com/iwFShQ21sa</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2041860553719619612?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Hegseth made the remarks during a briefing at the Pentagon on Wednesday morning after being asked by Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan about reports that Kuwait, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates faced Iranian strikes after President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire. 
Hegseth also told reporters that American troops in the Middle East are &#8220;not going anywhere&#8221; and will remain in the region to ensure Iran abides by the ceasefire agreement &#8220;and ultimately comes to the table to make a deal&#8221; on a broader peace agreement. 
&#8220;Our troops are prepared to defend, prepared to go on offense, prepared to restart at a moment&#8217;s notice with whatever target package would be needed,&#8221; he said.
Olohan also asked Hegseth about what the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz would look like and what restrictions Iran might place on ships. 
“What we know is that Iran is going to say a lot of things. A lot of people are going to say a lot of things, claim a lot of things,” Hegseth said. “What has been agreed to, what&#8217;s been stated, is the strait is open. Our military is watching. I’m sure their military is watching, but commerce will flow. And that&#8217;s what you saw the market reacts to, is that reality.”
In a Truth Social <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/116367088879643074">post</a> early Wednesday, Trump suggested Iran was ready to reach a broader peace agreement and said the United States would help manage traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
“A big day for World Peace! Iran wants it to happen, they’ve had enough! Likewise, so has everyone else! The United States of America will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote. “There will be lots of positive action! Big money will be made. Iran can start the reconstruction process.”
Trump added that the United States would be “loading up with supplies of all kinds, and just ‘hangin’ around’ in order to make sure that everything goes well.” 
“I feel confident that it will,” he said.

Daily Wire Asks Hegseth About Iran Ceasefire Slip-Ups As Shaky Truce Takes Hold

Operation Epic Fury

Pete Hegseth

Strait of Hormuz

On the eve of the deadline President Trump has set for the despotic Islamic Iranian regime to negotiate an end to the war, former Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi issued a plea for the Iranian army to oust the regime and its terrorist IRGC, and begin a new era for his country.
“To the armed forces of Iran: You are the heirs to the legacy of the patriotic and honorable commanders of this land, from Ariobarzanes, Bahram Chobin, and Surena, to Babak Khorramdin, Ya’qub Leyth, and Mazyar to Jahanbani, Khosrowdad and Rahimi,” he began.
Pahlavi’s list was a &#8220;Who&#8217;s Who&#8221; of Iranian military legends and patriots, which spans over 2,000 years. They all fought as fearless commanders who defended Iran against foreign invasion or internal collapse.
Ariobarzanes led a last-stand defense at the Persian Gates against Alexander the Great in 330 BC. Though heavily outnumbered, his fierce resistance nearly halted the Macedonian advance on Persepolis. Surena was the general who humiliated Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. Bahram Chobin, in 590, defeated the Göktürks.
Babak Khorramdin — a major symbol of Iranian national identity and resistance to Arab rule — led the Khorramites in a 20-year rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate in the 9th century. Ya’qub Leyth is credited with reviving the Persian language in his court in the 9th century and reclaiming much of Iran from the Abbasids. Mazyar fought against the Abbasid Caliphate to preserve Iranian autonomy in the 9th century.
Jahanbani, Khosrowdad, and Rahimi were high-ranking generals of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces during the 1979 Revolution. They were among the first executed by the Islamic revolutionary courts.
“How can you remain silent and inactive in the face of the brazen presence and boasts of foreign agents and criminals affiliated with the Islamic Republic in the streets of Iran from Hashd al-Shaabi and Hezbollah of Lebanon, to Afghan and Pakistani terrorists?” Pahlavi continued. “Before your very eyes, the Islamic Republic and its terrorist, repressive IRGC have slaughtered tens of thousands of the purest and bravest sons and daughters of this country, and each day sent more to their deaths.”
“These occupiers of Iran’s soil, driven by a destructive and apocalyptic madness, have brought the country to the brink of ruin,” he declared. “How have you closed your eyes to these realities and withdrawn from your duty to defend the nation and the people? How will history — and future generations of Iran — judge you? Remember your national and patriotic oath and commitment. Step forward. Defend the honor and credibility of Iran’s national army against the Islamic Republic and its foreign mercenaries.”
“And to you, the great nation of Iran: with a loud voice, demand that the army fulfill its national role,” he importuned. “Call on them to carry out their duty to the homeland and the people. Before it is too late, stand together with the nation and save Iran. Long live Iran.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi on Tuesday called on members of Iran’s army to step in against the Islamic Republic and stand with the Iranian people, urging them to uphold what he described as their national and patriotic duty and asking the public to demand that the… <a href="https://t.co/z9L7QkFD90">pic.twitter.com/z9L7QkFD90</a>
&mdash; Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) <a href="https://twitter.com/IranIntl_En/status/2041608940669075568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

FRANCE-IRAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT

Pahlavi Implores Iranian Military To Engineer Coup Before Trump’s Bombing Deadline

Global Politics

Reza Pahlavi

World

President Donald Trump gave the Iranian regime a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-updates-iranian-protests-intensify-as-citizens-demand-end-to-ayatollah-rule">deadline</a> of 8 p.m. on Tuesday to reach a deal with the United States and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and a number of Democrats have spent the hours leading up to that deadline warning American service members to be wary of — or disregard — any potentially &#8220;illegal&#8221; orders.
Responding to Trump&#8217;s deadline — and his warning that &#8220;a whole civilization will die tonight&#8221; — Democrats quickly lined up to claim that the president was either not in full possession of his mental faculties or about to issue illegal orders to the United States military, if not both.
&#8220;This is a threat of genocide and merits removal from office. The President’s mental faculties are collapsing and cannot be trusted,&#8221; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez <a href="https://x.com/AOC/status/2041563794787193194">declared</a>. &#8220;To every individual in the President’s chain of command: You have a duty to refuse illegal orders. That includes carrying out this threat.&#8221;
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) addressed his <a href="https://x.com/tedlieu/status/2041277990903091695">warning</a> to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying, &#8220;The UCMJ and federal law prohibit war crimes. Striking civilian infrastructure that causes disproportionate civilian harm constitutes war crimes. You will disobey those illegal orders. If you commit war crimes, the next Administration will prosecute you.&#8221;
&#8220;These are not the words of a sane person,&#8221; Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) <a href="https://x.com/RepJasonCrow/status/2041516423906824681">added</a>. &#8220;Calling for the elimination of a civilization is a war crime. As I’ve repeatedly said, our military must only follow lawful orders. Every American of good conscience must repudiate this.&#8221;
Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) ignored the possibility that a bridge or power plant might be considered a military target if it was part of the necessary infrastructure sustaining and supplying the Iranian forces, and instead suggested that any attack on such infrastructure would necessarily be an attack on civilian populations.
&#8220;Threatening to target power plants and other non-military targets is not strength. If those words become orders to destroy civilian infrastructure with no valid military purpose, it’s hard to see how they would not violate the laws of armed conflict. America leads best with strength, discipline, and professionalism. Illegal orders to make civilians suffer would be a black mark on our military and our country,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/SenMarkKelly/status/2041333810269151246">Kelly said</a>.
Democrats began warning American troops that &#8220;illegal&#8221; orders were a possibility — and were perhaps even to be expected — from President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration months earlier, when &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hegseths-war-department-escalates-review-of-mark-kelly-over-seditious-six-video">The Seditious Six</a>&#8221; published a <a href="https://x.com/SenatorSlotkin/status/1990774492356902948">video</a> in response to a number of precision strikes on narco-terrorists. Led by Senators Kelly and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), the group called on members of the military to refuse &#8220;illegal&#8221; or &#8220;unlawful&#8221; orders while heavily insinuating that if Trump or War Secretary Pete Hegseth had not already given such orders, they were likely to do so.
Slotkin doubled down on Tuesday, <a href="https://x.com/SenatorSlotkin/status/2041559132755653104">posting</a>, &#8220;I know that our service members up and down the chain of command know their duty and the law to refuse illegal orders. Even as the Commander-in-Chief tells the world otherwise. It’s moments like these that are why we made the video to service members last year. And I hope and believe our troops — especially those in command — will have the moral clarity to push back if they are given clearly illegal orders.&#8221;

Celebrity Sightings In New York City – June 22, 2024

Trump’s Iran Clock Is Ticking As Democrats Try To Make Moves Behind His Back

Dems Prep For Trump's Iran Deadline By Warning Military Against 'Illegal Orders'

An American journalist has reportedly been freed after being held captive for more than a week by an Iran-backed militia, with the group demanding she &#8220;leave the country immediately&#8221; as a condition of her release.
In late March, Shelly Kittleson was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-video-shows-moment-american-female-journalist-is-kidnapped-in-iraq?author=Nathan+Gay&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=WATCH%3A+Video+Shows+Moment+American+Female+Journalist+Is+Kidnapped+In+Iraq">stopped</a> in the middle of a road in Baghdad by a group of armed men who then threw her into a van and fled the city. The kidnappers were later identified as members of Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shiite Iraqi militia.
Kataib Hezbollah said in a Tuesday statement on Telegram that it had decided to release Kittleson following productive discussions with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. The militia said they had an “appreciation of the patriotic stances” of the prime minister, and released the journalist &#8220;on the condition that she leaves the country immediately.”
Middle Eastern outlet Al-Monitor, which Kittleson worked for prior to her kidnapping, <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2026/04/us-journalist-shelly-kittleson-released-iran-backed-kataib-hezbollah-iraq">reported</a> that two Iraqi officials confirmed Kittleson&#8217;s release, and according to one official, Kittleson was in the Iraqi prime minister&#8217;s office on Tuesday.
The officials declined to give further details on her release, and neither the Iraqi nor U.S. government has verified Kittleson&#8217;s release at the time of publication.
Alhurra, an Arabic outlet based in Washington, D.C., <a href="https://alhurra.com/en/17856" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> Monday, citing Iraqi intelligence sources, that Kittleson had been moved to a militia-controlled area in Iraq&#8217;s Babil province — which is known as a hub for smuggling operations and attacks on U.S. forces — where she was believed to be held as a &#8220;human shield&#8221; against American strikes. The outlet also reported that Kataib Hezbollah was seeking the release of four of its members detained by Iraqi authorities for their role in attacks on Syria. It is unclear if the Iraqi government met this demand.
Kataib Hezbollah released footage purporting to show Kittleson earlier Tuesday, with her supposedly admitting to gathering intelligence on Iranian-backed militias for the U.S. government. The unverified video would be the first sign of life of Kittleson since her abduction.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Iraqi Hezbollah releases footage of American journalist Shelly Kittelson in captivity, showing her “admitting” she gathered intelligence on Shia militias for the U.S. consul in Baghdad.
They say she will be freed and must leave Iraq immediately. <a href="https://t.co/M8nTZaFNRC">https://t.co/M8nTZaFNRC</a> <a href="https://t.co/bUiqbTiCCm">pic.twitter.com/bUiqbTiCCm</a>
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) <a href="https://twitter.com/Osint613/status/2041561782574084606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Kittleson, a journalist specializing in the Middle East who has reported for the BBC, Foreign Relations, and POLITICO, was in Baghdad reporting on Iraqi politics for the outlet Al-Monitor at the time of her kidnapping.

TOPSHOT-IRAQ-MEDIA-SECURITY-KIDNAPPING

American Journalist Released By Iran-Backed Militia, Sets Exit Deadline

Crime

Iran war

Iraq

kidnapping

Middle East

Ignore those who are preaching doom. America rocks.
America is experiencing a totally exceptional moment.
This country just kicks ass.
We are sending human beings around the moon for the first time in decades.
We are performing some of the most extraordinary military operations in all of human history, killing terrorists, delivering the most targeted strikes from the most sophisticated weaponry ever built.
We are rescuing pilots in Mission: Impossible-style operations.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2402-sub?elementPosition=3&amp;row=5&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
On Monday, the Artemis II astronauts made history by traveling farther than any human being has ever gone.
<a href="https://www.wsj.com/science/space-astronomy/artemis-astronauts-are-going-where-no-human-has-gone-before-99962e92">According</a> to The Wall Street Journal:
<blockquote>Just before 2 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, the astronauts on Artemis II steered their Orion craft into the record books, flying more than 248,655 miles from Earth, which is the furthest that human beings have ever gone.</blockquote>
Human beings are doing unbelievable things because America kicks absolute ass.
President Trump called the Artemis crew to congratulate them.
“Tell me, what is the most unforgettable part of this really historic day?” he asked. “The whole world is watching and listening. Please tell me.”
“Mr. President, this call is certainly special to all of us, and we really have a lot of faith in our administrator, Jared Isaacman, who is with you,”  Commander Reid Wiseman responded. “We appreciate his leadership in NASA and in the international community. We are doing great things and we are proud to be a part of &#8230; I have to tell you, as we came around the near side of the moon, seeing all the sights that we&#8217;ve seen from Earth for all of our lives, but we&#8217;re seeing them from a different perspective, and then we started to get a glimpse of the &#8230;  And we saw sights, oriental sights that no human has ever seen before, not even in Apollo, and that was amazing for us. And then the surprise of the day: We just came out of an eclipse where the sun, moon and the entire dark moon, about that big, right out the window that we were watching, we could see the corona of the sun, and then we could see the planet train line up, and then Mars, and all of us commented how excited we are to watch this nation and this planet become a two-planet species.”
America rocks.
And you know what? It&#8217;s part and parcel of an inspiring vision for the United States. I know we don&#8217;t talk about the United States that way, or haven&#8217;t in recent years, but America is an unbelievably inspiring place.
That&#8217;s the reason why everyone is clamoring to get here, not just because we can put human beings 250,000 miles away going around the moon, but also because when people come here, they are inspired to create and to build and to build better lives for themselves and their families.
It’s because the American system offers them that opportunity, and because America is, in fact, the guarantor of security on planet Earth. It’s because the United States, the same United States that takes humans and puts them 250,000 miles away around the moon, is the same United States that stands up to the thuggish, theocratic tyrants in Iran who want to develop nuclear weapons and develop into intercontinental ballistic missiles, and who wish to spread terrorism all over the region against us and our allies.
We stand up to them.
What President Trump is providing is an inspiring vision of what the United States should be.
And guess what? We are making it happen in real time.
The president has provided the Iranian regime an off-ramp over and over and over and over again. This is the part that everyone seems to just ignore: If Iran did not wish to be in the gun sights of the United States military, all they would have to do is stop developing nuclear weapons, stop developing long-range ballistic missiles, and stop funding terrorism.
That is all they would have to do. That&#8217;s it. And they could have done this at any time for 47 years.
They could have done this at any time. They would have been reintegrated into the world economy. They would have been treated as a member of the family of nations. Their concerns would have been heard.
Instead, they decided that they were going to double down on their theocratic tyranny, that they were going to rush toward a nuclear weapon, that they were going to back every major terrorist group in the region and beyond.
They decided to do that. That was their decision.
The difference now is that this president understands that it is not in the interest of the United States to allow that cancer to fester, that the gangrenous limb that is the Iranian cannot be allowed to poison the entire region and beyond.
That&#8217;s why the president took the stand that he is taking right now.
And guess what? We are kicking the hell out of the Iranian military. We are. There is no standard in military history by which we are not kicking the hell out of them. We have put their entire navy underwater. We have taken their entire air force out of the sky. We have taken their ballistic missile launcher capacity to near zero. We have destroyed their steel factories. We have been hitting specific Basij checkpoints in Tehran. We&#8217;ve been bombing every nuclear facility we can find. 
And still, President Trump is offering them an off-ramp; all they would have to do is open the Strait of Hormuz and give up their nukes.
Do it, and we’re done. The war would be over. That&#8217;s all.
They won&#8217;t do it.
Ask yourself: Why? We would give them a permanent cease-fire if they opened up the Strait of Hormuz and gave up their nukes.
They won&#8217;t do it.
And the reason they won&#8217;t do it is because they must terrorize their people. They must rush toward a nuclear weapon to preserve their tyrannical regime, and they must harass the countries around them to gain power. They have regional ambitions not restricted to Iran in their philosophy.
This notion that radical Islam is restricted to a small portion of the world, that if only we would leave them alone, they would leave us alone, ignores the entire history of radical Islam going back roughly 1300 years.
President Trump was asked if God supports the United States’ actions.
“I do, because God is good, and because God is good and God wants to see people taken care of, God doesn&#8217;t like what&#8217;s happening,” he said of the violence perpetrated by the Iranian regime against their own people. “I don&#8217;t like what&#8217;s happening. Everyone says I enjoy (waging war)? I don&#8217;t enjoy this.”
When the president says that he thinks that God supports the United States as we take out tyrannical dictators, when we kill Ayatollah Khomeini, a mass murderer, when we try to destroy the forward function of terror groups, he is correct.
We are a great and moral nation. Whether it’s going farther than Man has ever gone before or removing evil from the world’s midst, we are a unique force in world history.
And Americans should feel justly proud of that.

President Trump Attends Opening Night Of Chicago At The Kennedy Center

Note To America Haters: Sorry, We’re Busy Kicking Ass

Artemis II

NASA

Space

U.S. Military

In the days ahead, the direction of Operation Epic Fury will become unmistakable in the targets the United States and Israel choose to strike.
The U.S.-Israeli air campaign has already delivered historic results. Our losses to enemy fire have been dramatically lower than in past major operations — far below the roughly one aircraft per day suffered in the run-up to Desert Storm. Precision strikes combined with air superiority have severely damaged Iran’s missile forces, air defenses, and naval capabilities.
The extraordinary rescue of the downed F-15E pilot and weapons systems officer — the latter extracted on Easter Sunday after going missing on Good Friday — further showcased unmatched special operations skill and real-time intelligence fusion, with operators inserted near Isfahan and a small team sortieing to a 7,000-foot ridge to recover the injured colonel under enemy pressure.
These successes set the stage for the critical phase now unfolding.
President Donald Trump’s remarks on Monday included both talks of negotiations and a threat to hit dual-use infrastructure, but the clearest indicators will be the strikes themselves in the coming hours and days.
For America and its allies, the central goals remain eliminating Iran’s nuclear and missile threat, neutralizing its ability to close the Strait of Hormuz, and cutting off support for its terror proxies — Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. These elements have long formed the regime’s capacity to destabilize the region and threaten global energy security.
<div id="attachment_1059641" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1059641" class="size-large wp-image-1059641" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2242929815-864x576.jpg" alt="Strait of Hormuz (Photo by Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2025)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2242929815-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2242929815-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2242929815-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2242929815.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Strait of Hormuz (Photo by Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2025)</div>
Iran’s center of gravity is more existential: the survival of the revolutionary regime itself.
Animated by a messianic death cult ideology that seeks to hasten the end times and the return of the 12th Hidden Imam — the Mahdi — the regime views its stockpile of 60% enriched uranium as vital insurance for that apocalyptic mission.
But preserving custody of that material increasingly forces a confrontation with the regime’s very existence, even if full regime change has not been the publicly stated goal.
Watch the target sets carefully. 
If strikes concentrate on tactical assets around the Strait of Hormuz — anti-ship missiles, coastal batteries, fast-attack craft, and related naval infrastructure — the immediate priority will be reopening vital shipping lanes and safeguarding global oil flows. This approach would focus on restoring freedom of navigation while building on gains already achieved. But, as operations against the Houthis to safeguard the Red Sea showed, it’s not easy.
But targeting dual-use infrastructure, such as bridges, power plants, and logistics nodes, would indicate sustained pressure on the regime’s ability to move forces and maintain domestic control. Such targets squeeze the theocrats’ sustainment without committing to large-scale ground operations, potentially accelerating internal strains on a population long weary of repression.
The most telling sign, however, would be systematic attacks on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Basij militia leadership, command nodes, and control networks. If the campaign pivots decisively in this direction, it will mark the abandonment of meaningful negotiation and a clear intent to drive this terror regime toward collapse. Air power that degrades the mullahs’ tools of internal repression — especially amid existing domestic discontent — could burst open the door for rapid regime collapse.
Only the last option — going after the regime — would likely lead to the United States recovering Iran’s enriched uranium.
Ultimately, the regime faces a binary choice: recognize the futility of defiance or cling to its apocalyptic ideology at ever greater cost. The Iranian people, long oppressed by a corrupt theocracy, could prove decisive once the regime’s instruments of control are sufficiently shattered.
Operation Epic Fury has already reshaped the battlefield in America’s favor. The strategic decisions made now — guided by a clear grasp of centers of gravity as Carl von Clausewitz described them, the hub of all power and movement — will determine whether this campaign delivers not just tactical success but lasting victory: a Middle East more secure, global commerce protected, and a dangerous regime consigned to history’s garbage pile.
What unfolds in the coming days will turn on those target choices and the intent behind them.
* * *
Chuck DeVore is the Chief National Initiatives Officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

TOPSHOT-US-ISRAEL-IRAN-WAR-POLITICS-TRUMP

Why What Comes Next In Iran Will Decide Everything

What Comes Next In Operation Epic Fury: By Sea And By Land, Watch The Targets Closely

U.S. Navy

Menu