President Donald Trump revealed that he had an hour-and-fifteen-minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, but said that the discussion was not one &#8220;that will lead to immediate peace.&#8221;
Trump said the two leaders discussed Ukraine&#8217;s recent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-ukraine-pulled-off-its-massive-drone-strike-inside-russia">drone attack</a> on Russia, which reportedly decimated Russia&#8217;s fleet of bombers that are capable of carrying nuclear payloads. The president said that Putin &#8220;strongly&#8221; told him that Russia &#8220;will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields.&#8221;
&#8220;I just finished speaking, by telephone, with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia. The call lasted approximately one hour and 15 minutes,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114626383407680212">wrote</a> on Truth Social. &#8220;We discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides. It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.&#8221;
On the Iran front, however, Trump said he came to an &#8220;agreement&#8221; with Putin, reiterating &#8220;that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.&#8221; Iran and Russia — two nations that are outspoken in their rejection of Western values — have grown close in their economic and military ties, with Iran <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/iran-sends-russia-hundreds-ballistic-missiles-sources-say-2024-02-21/">reportedly</a> sending Russia hundreds of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles last year.
&#8220;President Putin suggested that he will participate in the discussions with Iran and that he could, perhaps, be helpful in getting this brought to a rapid conclusion,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;It is my opinion that Iran has been slowwalking their decision on this very important matter, and we will need a definitive answer in a very short period of time!&#8221;
Russia and Ukraine have taken turns escalating the three-year-long war in recent weeks as the Trump administration continues to push the countries toward a peace deal. Trump last spoke to Putin on May 19 and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-makes-big-announcement-following-very-frank-two-hour-call-with-putin">said</a> that Russia and Ukraine would &#8220;immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War.&#8221; But as Russia&#8217;s aggression continued, Trump said a week later that he was “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-eyes-stinging-russia-sanctions-bipartisan-proposal-bring-pain">absolutely</a>” considering imposing new sanctions on the country. He also blasted Putin as &#8220;CRAZY,&#8221; saying that he was “needlessly killing a lot of people.”
Trump then warned that if Putin pushed for taking &#8220;ALL of Ukraine,&#8221; it would &#8220;lead to the downfall of Russia.&#8221;

Putin/Trump

Trump Holds 75-Minute Call With Putin: ‘Not A Conversation That Will Lead To Immediate Peace’

Donald Trump

Global Politics

Iran

Russia

U.S.

Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

Vladimir Putin

In a televised speech on Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei <a href="https://www.iranintl.com/en/202506044672" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taunted</a> the United States and the Trump administration over its demand that Iran stop enriching uranium, declaring, “The first word of the US is that Iran should not have a nuclear industry and should rely on the United States. Our response to the US nonsense is clear: they cannot do a damn thing in this matter.”
Khamenei spoke at the mausoleum of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran on the 36th anniversary of his death.
On Monday, President Donald Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114616038217949758">posted</a> on Truth Social, &#8220;The AUTOPEN should have stopped Iran a long time ago from &#8216;enriching.&#8217; Under our potential Agreement — WE WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM!&#8221;
“The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have an enrichment?” Khamenei jeered.
The Trump administration’s proposal for a nuclear deal was presented by Oman, which is acting as a mediator.
“Why are you interfering?” Khamenei said to the United States. “Whether Iran enriches uranium or not — what does it have to do with you? Who are you?”
Later on Wednesday, Iran&#8217;s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi <a href="https://x.com/araghchi/status/1930219219746009302" target="_blank" rel="noopener">echoed</a> on X, “There is no scenario in which we will give up on the patriots who made our dream come true. No enrichment, no deal. No nuclear weapons, we have a deal.”
Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, <a href="https://www.iranintl.com/en/202506049481" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> to Khamenei, “I assure [you] that&#8230; we will stand against the excessive demands of the United States and other hegemonic powers.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s Defense Minister, Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, <a href="https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202505293262#202506042552]" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mocked</a> Israel on Wednesday, saying, “Israel does not have the power to threaten Iran. Iran’s strength prevents them from doing so. Those who can actually threaten don’t speak this way. They are incapable.”
Last October, Israel launched an airstrike on Iran that <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/israels-strike-iran-took-missile-defense-systems-islamic-republic-is-essentially-naked" target="_blank" rel="noopener">destroyed</a> three of Iran&#8217;s Russian-made S-300 missile defense systems. Israel had wiped out the fourth five months before, in April 2024. &#8220;The majority of Iran’s air defense was taken out,&#8221; a senior <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/world/world-regions/israel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Israeli official</a> told Fox News. Amos Hochstein, Middle East advisor to former President Joe Biden, admitted, “Iran is essentially naked” without a missile defense.
In the same airstrike, Israeli warplanes also destroyed radar systems Iran used to guide ballistic missiles. Roughly three weeks before, Iran had fired 181 ballistic missiles at Israel.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

Khamenei Taunts Trump: ‘Cannot Do A Damn Thing’ About Iran’s Nuclear Program

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Executive

Nuclear Weapons

Politics

There are enormous threats on the world stage. Those threats can be mitigated by President Trump. Or, through lack of clarity, they can grow worse. 
Just before the Memorial Day Weekend, Vice President JD Vance spoke at the Naval Academy. He suggested that President Trump&#8217;s visit to the Middle East, in which he visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, was designed to recapitulate an American foreign policy that is based on a realistic assessment of what the world looks like.
He explained, “I actually think the most significant part of that trip is that it signified the end of a decades-long approach in foreign policy, that, I think, was a break from the precedent set by our founding fathers. We had a long experiment in our foreign policy that traded national defense and the maintenance of our alliances for nation-building and meddling in foreign countries’ affairs, even when those foreign countries had very little to do with core American interests.”
The Vice President was presumably arguing against the war in Iraq. The war in Afghanistan is a bit of a different story, since originally the war in Afghanistan was launched on the back of 9/11, so it was, in fact, a core American national interest to defenestrate the regime that had protected Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of the murder of 3,000 Americans.
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Vance suggested that American foreign policy has to be focused on countering our peer adversaries: “Our government took its eye off the ball of great power competition and preparing to take on a peer adversary, and instead we devoted ourselves to sprawling, amorphous tasks like searching for new terrorists to take out while building up faraway regimes. Now, I want to be clear. The Trump administration has reversed course. No more undefined missions, no more open-ended conflicts. We&#8217;re returning to a strategy grounded in realism and protecting our core national interests. Now, this doesn&#8217;t mean that we ignore threats, but it means that we approach them with discipline and that when we send you to war, we do it with a very specific set of goals in mind. And consider how this played out in just the last major conflict we engaged in, with the Houthis over in the Middle East. We went in with a clear diplomatic goal not to enmesh our service members in a prolonged conflict with a non-state actor, but to secure American freedom of navigation by forcing the Houthis to stop attacking American ships. And that&#8217;s exactly what we did.”
The Houthi example is a very interesting one for him to use, because the reality is that the Houthis have not ceased their activities in the Red Sea. Originally, we did not define our battle against the Houthis as simply restoring deterrence with regard to Houthi attacks on American ships; the goal was to restore freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. The goal was to ensure that people could use the Red Sea through the Suez Canal in order to ship things, including oil and LNG, from the region.
That has not been restored. The Houthis are still shooting a couple of missiles a day over Saudi Arabian airspace at Israel. And shipping has still not been restored in the Red Sea.
Now, I don&#8217;t disagree with anything that Vance is saying on the surface. But the use of the Houthis is a telling example, because one of the things that is an open battle in this administration, which we all need to keep our eye on, is what this sort of language obscures.
What is the actual policy of the Trump administration? Is it a policy that makes sure to actually set red lines that are keepable? The Vice President suggests that every mission has to have an exit strategy with an end in sight, saying, “Past leaders sent our service members on mission after mission with no exit strategy, no end in sight, and with little articulation for the American people or for the warfighters about what we were doing.”
All of that sounds really nice. The reality is that foreign policy is a lot messier than that. So, for example, the United States currently has troops stationed in South Korea. Why? That is an open-ended conflict. There&#8217;s an armistice with North Korea, and the United States is, in fact, maintaining the peace in the region between South Korea and North Korea by having a trigger force there.
The United States still has military bases in Japan. Why? Presumably to deter a Chinese takeover of the South China Sea. The United States still has overflight and overwatch power over the Middle East. Why? To ensure the free flow of oil, for example, and to prevent, I assume, the nuclearization of Iran.
This kind of easy notion that the United States can simply, in pinpoint fashion, define our conflicts and get in and get out is not the way actual foreign policy really works.
If you believe that we are now living in a much more dangerous world than we were previously, that&#8217;s going to require a larger commitment to military spending. A safer world, a world in which free trade actually applies, in which you do have freedom of navigation, in which economic growth is the norm, in which the United States has trade capacity and commerce; in which global growth is the norm — all of that is maintained, in the end, by the credible threat of the use of the American military.
That&#8217;s the reality of the situation. That&#8217;s always been the reality of the situation. The notion promoted by some on the more isolationist side of the Republican aisle — that if the United States basically defines in pinpoint fashion its own military engagement, the rest of the world will simply comply — is not the way the rest of the world works.
That&#8217;s been true all along. There&#8217;s a very famous story about George Washington at the Constitutional Convention. There was a constitutional delegate who suggested that the standing army of the United States should be limited to 5,000 men. The reason was that there were a lot of members of the founding generation who didn&#8217;t like the idea of a standing army on the national level. And George Washington would have to fend off the British with an army of essentially irregular soldiers, militiamen, whom he had to cobble together throughout the Revolutionary War.
The constitutional delegate proposed a 5,000-man cap on the army in the actual Constitution. George Washington agreed. And then he sarcastically said that there had to be a stipulation added to the Constitution that no invading army could number more than 3,000.
Of course, the joke he was making is that, when it comes to foreign policy, necessity is the mother of policy.
So you can have all of these principles that we all hope to have about “no open-ended missions,” “no long-term commitments.” The reality is that in a world in which the United States refrains from any long-term commitment and refrains from flexible policy, what you end up with is more red lines crossed.
And so the question becomes, for the administration, how strong are the administration&#8217;s red lines, and what happens when those red lines are crossed? When it came to the Houthis, the United States drew a red line. Originally, it was about freedom of navigation.
That freedom of navigation has not, in fact, been restored.
You can make the case that shouldn&#8217;t have been the mission in the first place in the Red Sea. Fine. But that was not actually the mission. The ends were shifted in order to achieve some sort of titular end to a conflict so the United States could then go and pick up checks in Qatar.
Again, you can make the argument that that&#8217;s a good policy or that it&#8217;s not a good policy, but let&#8217;s be clear about what happened there.
Right now, America&#8217;s enemies are perceiving, at the very least, that there’s some play in the joints.
If President Trump had the foreign policy team from his first term in place, it wouldn&#8217;t be happening. Trump 1.0 was extremely predictable on foreign policy: If you crossed a red line, you would get punched in the face. If you did not cross a red line, we would negotiate with you. That was the foreign policy of the United States. 
There&#8217;s been debate inside the administration over whether Trump 1.0 was too hawkish.
But what America’s enemies see is that now might be a good time to push. That is certainly clear from Russia, from China, and from Iran. Russia. China and Iran are sensing weakness in the Trump administration&#8217;s approach. Russia has been stringing President Trump along while it ramps up its attacks on Ukraine. According to reports, China has now strengthened its ability to rapidly attack Taiwan. Iran, which has been weakened by Israel to its weakest point in decades, is stiffening its negotiating stance with the United States.
President Trump is a peace through strength president.
But that needs to be conveyed not just in words, but in actual forward posture, in military spending, in public statements.
Because the United States has spent the last 20 years being non-credible in its threats. And that needs to stop, as it did during President Trump’s first term.

Vice President Vance Speaks At U.S. Naval Academy Graduation Ceremony

Peace Through Strength Requires Actual Strength

JD Vance

Opinion

President Trump

U.S. Military

The terrorist who killed two Israeli embassy staffers was once affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a leftist group linked to Chinese Communist Party funding networks that have been repeatedly contacted by sanctioned Iranian state media, according to a report.
Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, was detained by police on suspicion of murdering Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26 — two Israeli embassy staffers — on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C. The couple was shot at close range. According to police, the terrorist shouted “Free Palestine” while being taken into custody.
The shooter was quickly identified in a picture on a 2017 article posted on <a href="http://liberationnews.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LiberationNews.org</a>, the media wing of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), where he was at a protest holding an anti-capitalist sign from the ANSWER Coalition. In the article, which was deleted after the attack, the shooter was quoted and described as “from the Party for Socialism and Liberation.”
PSL posted a statement distancing itself from the shooter, claiming the group and the shooter only had a &#8220;brief association” that ended in 2017.
“We reject any attempt to associate the PSL with the DC shooting,” <a href="https://x.com/pslnational/status/1925468146024034305" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the group posted to X</a>. “Elias Rodriguez is not a member of the PSL. He had a brief association with one branch of the PSL that ended in 2017. We know of no contact with him in over 7 years. We have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it.”
According to a <a href="https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/SID4P-Report_May-2024.pdf">report</a> by Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), both PSL and ANSWER leaders have ties to foreign governments, including China, Iran, and Russia. The report states that ANSWER operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Progress Unity Fund (PUF), which has financial and personnel ties to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/world/europe/neville-roy-singham-china-propaganda.html">Neville Roy Singham</a>, a pro-CCP financier in Shanghai.
PSL and ANSWER are sister organizations, and their leaders hold overlapping roles in Singham’s network, including with CODE PINK and The People’s Forum, according to NCRI.
Both PSL and ANSWER are radical leftist organizations that have organized anti-Israel protests and mobilization efforts.
In July 2024, then-Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-GA) <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/releases/icymi-graham-rubio-to-ag-garland-provide-update-on-efforts-to-counter-ccp-propaganda-operations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recommended ANSWER</a> for investigation for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) over its ties to Beijing.
Senior leadership of PSL and ANSWER were also called by the sanctioned Iranian state outlet PressTV over 200 times in a 29-month period, according to call detail records obtained by NCRI that were first archived by the whistleblowing DDoSecrets group.
One of the top-contacted individuals by PressTV in the 2019-2022 period was the national coordinator for ANSWER, Brian Becker, who is also a founder and central organizer of PSL, according to NCRI. He was reportedly called over 69 times. Gloria La Riva, a <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Gloria_La_Riva">PSL candidate</a> for president in 2020, was contacted 46 times by PressTV.
According to emails obtained by NCRI, there were a number of booking requests for ANSWER and PSL-affiliated individuals, including Becker’s brother, Richard Becker, who served as the Western Region Coordinator of ANSWER. Richard received 10 booking requests between January and May of 2019 and was offered $1,000 in compensation, though it is unclear if he accepted.
Brian Becker also hosted a podcast on Russia&#8217;s state-owned Sputnik Radio from 2015 until September 2020, according to the report.
An anonymous X account believed to belong to Rodriguez shows an extensive history of anti-Israel and far-leftist rhetoric, including videos of now-deceased Hezbollah leader Sayyed Nasrallah and retweeting a post after the 2024 presidential election that stated, “Don’t blame me, I voted for Hamas.”
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About one hour before the shooting, a manifesto was posted on the account titled “Escalate for Gaza, Bring The War Home.” The manifesto’s author wrote, “humanity doesn’t exempt one from accountability,” and said that many Americans may view “action” as “the only sane thing to do.”
“I think to most Americans such an action would have been illegible, would seem insane,” the post states. “I am glad that today at least there are many Americans for which the action will be highly legible and, in some funny way, the only sane thing to do.”
The last account followed by the anonymous account believed to belong to Rodriguez, was that of the American Jewish Committee — the same organization that hosted the event where Lischinsky and Milgrim were shot.
PSL and ANSWER did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Untitled design (33)

Terrorist Who Killed Israeli Embassy Staffers Was Influenced By A Foreign-Linked Leftist Org

China

Israel

On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister bluntly stated that whether the despotic regime in Iran makes a nuclear deal with the United States or not, Iran will continue enriching uranium.
Seyed Abbas Araghchi <a href="https://x.com/araghchi/status/1924143188341653975?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1924143188341653975%7Ctwgr%5Edc42ba01d925128c26ebf7241cb4cb02c171b908%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fworld%2Firan-foreign-minister-vows-nuclear-enrichment-continue-with-without-deal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a>, “Special Interest groups; malign actors which set the agendas of at least previous Administrations,” should be ignored before adding, “we are ready for a serious conversation to achieve a solution that will forever ensure that outcome. Enrichment in Iran, however, will continue with or without a deal.”
In January 2024, the Arms Control Association <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2024-02/news/iran-accelerates-highly-enriched-uranium-production" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> that Iran had accelerated its production of uranium enriched to near-weapons grade levels, pointing out that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had estimated Iran was producing approximately nine kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent uranium-235 per month. “Accelerating the production of uranium enriched to 60 percent U-235 is concerning because the material can be quickly enriched to weapons-grade levels or 90 percent,” the Arms Control Association reported.
“Once you&#8217;re at 60, you&#8217;re 90% of the way there. You are, in essence, a threshold nuclear weapons state, which is what Iran basically has become,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-foreign-minister-vows-nuclear-enrichment-continue-with-without-deal?intcmp=tw_fnc&amp;taid=682aa729f8868200012f443a&amp;utm_campaign=trueanthem&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> said</a> on Thursday.
Uranium enrichment involves increasing the concentration of the Uranium-235 (U-235) isotope in uranium, from its normal 0.7% to 3.5% for use in nuclear reactors or going further, over 20%, at which point it can be used for nuclear weapons.
“Because Iran has reduced its cooperation with the Agency, the IAEA is no longer able to precisely verify Iran&#8217;s stockpile of enriched uranium at any one time,” Iran Watch<a href="https://www.iranwatch.org/our-publications/articles-reports/irans-nuclear-timetable-weapon-potential" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> noted</a> in late March of this year in a comprehensive article about Iran’s nuclear weapons program, adding, “Iran’s nuclear program has reached the point at which Iran might be able to enrich enough uranium for five fission weapons within about one week and enough for eight weapons in less than two weeks.”
The danger of Iran further enriching uranium was explicated thus: “Iran&#8217;s centrifuges have not produced uranium usually defined as weapon-grade, which is uranium enriched to 90% or higher in the isotope U-235. All of Iran’s production has been at lower grades. Thus, the lower-grade uranium would have to be enriched further to reach at least 90%.”
In April 2024, Iran <a href="https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2024/as-iran-threatens-israel-the-danger-of-tehrans-long-vaunted-missile-program-remains-in-question/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> a reported 30 cruise and 120 ballistic missiles targeting Israel; the U.S. Director of National Intelligence stated, “Iran has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the region and continues to emphasize improving the accuracy, lethality and reliability of these systems.”
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei verbally attacked President Donald Trump in front of a crowd chanting “death to America” in recent comments; Khamenei accused Trump of “lying.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Trump Is Lying and His Statements Are Not Worth a Response; Israel Will Be Dismantled; Crowd Chants “Death to America” Multiple Times <a href="https://t.co/STqgNBsSP5">pic.twitter.com/STqgNBsSP5</a>
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://twitter.com/MEMRIReports/status/1924053709585043708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

IRAN-TEHRAN-FM-RUSSIA-FM-PRESS CONFERENCE

Iran Foreign Minister Taunts U.S.: Deal Or No Deal, We Will Enrich Uranium

Iran Nuclear

Iran Nuclear Deal

Uranium

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei slammed President Donald Trump in front of a crowd chanting “death to America” in recent comments as the United States tries to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran.
Khamenei accused Trump of lying about attempts to bring peace to the Middle East and said that the United States should leave the region. The supreme leader also referred to Israel as a “cancerous tumor” that needs to be “uprooted,&#8221; according to a translation of his comments by the Washington D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute.
“Some of the things the U.S. president said in his recent visit to the region are not even worthy of a response,” the supreme leader said Saturday in a video published and translated by the institute. “Trump said that he wanted to use power for peace. He is lying.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Trump Is Lying and His Statements Are Not Worth a Response; Israel Will Be Dismantled; Crowd Chants “Death to America” Multiple Times <a href="https://t.co/STqgNBsSP5">pic.twitter.com/STqgNBsSP5</a>
&mdash; MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://twitter.com/MEMRIReports/status/1924053709585043708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In reaction to Khamenei’s comments throughout the roughly four-minute clip, the crowd of supporters alternately chant “death to America,” “death to England,” and “death to Israel.” The crowd also calls for “death to those who oppose the rule of the Jurisprudent,” a <a href="https://institute.global/insights/geopolitics-and-security/what-velayat-e-faqih" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reference</a> to the Islamic law that the Iranian regime is based on.
“[Trump] and other senior officials in the American administration have used power to perpetrate a massacre in Gaza, to stir up war wherever they could, and in order to support their mercenaries,” the supreme leader said. “When have they ever used power for peace?”
Khamenei then said that Iran intends to “increase our power.”
“Indeed, one can use power for peace and security. This is why we will increase our power and the power of our country every day whether the enemies like it or not, inshallah,” he said, according to the institute translation.
The Iranian supreme leader’s comments come after Trump completed a tour of Middle East countries, announcing agreements and commitments that will <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/while-trump-pulls-in-investments-in-middle-east-trip-white-house-touts-investments-on-home-front" target="_blank" rel="noopener">generate</a> roughly $2 trillion in trade and investment. At the same time, the United States is attempting to strike a new deal with Iran to keep the regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that the Trump administration has drawn a “red line” at nuclear enrichment capabilities in its negotiations with Iran.
“We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability,” said Witkoff on ABC’s This Week. “We cannot have [enrichment] because enrichment enables weaponization, and we will not allow a bomb to get here.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
On negotiations with Iran for a new nuclear deal, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff tells <a href="https://twitter.com/jonkarl?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JonKarl</a> that uranium enrichment is the Trump administration’s “one very, very clear red line.”
“We cannot have that. Because enrichment enables weaponization.” <a href="https://t.co/eXpYGKlkRR">https://t.co/eXpYGKlkRR</a> <a href="https://t.co/WmauqQuAEV">pic.twitter.com/WmauqQuAEV</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1924100073819943307?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

Iran’s Supreme Leader Accuses Trump Of ‘Lying’ While Crowd Chants ‘Death To America’

United States

The 27-year-old New Jersey man who was convicted in February of stabbing and partially blinding famed novelist Salman Rushdie was hit with the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison on Friday.
Hadi Matar was convicted of second-degree attempted murder for the August 2022 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-famed-author-salman-rushdie-target-of-iran-death-sentence-stabbed-on-stage-in-new-york?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=BREAKING%3A+Famed+Author+Salman+Rushdie%2C+Target+Of+Iran+Death+Sentence%2C+Stabbed+On+Stage+In+New+York" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stabbing attack</a> that also injured the event&#8217;s moderator, Henry Reese, the co-founder of Pittsburgh&#8217;s City of Asylum, which helps exiled writers, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/assailant-who-stabbed-author-salman-rushdie-sentenced-25-years-2025-05-16/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Rushdie — who sparked the ire of the Iranian regime with his 1988 novel, &#8220;The Satanic Verses&#8221; — was stabbed by Matar between 10 and 15 times in the head, neck, torso, and left hand at a New York arts institute. After the book was published, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, calling for Rushdie&#8217;s assassination.
Video captured Matar rushing the stage where Rushdie spoke during a writers&#8217; event focused on protecting exiled writers. During the trial, a trauma surgeon testified that without immediate medical intervention, Rushdie would have died, ABC News <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/salman-rushdie-stabbing-sentencing-attempted-murder-hadi-matar/story?id=121844226" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The jury took just two hours to reach a verdict. Matar was also sentenced to seven years for second-degree assault in the stabbing of Reese, but that sentence will run concurrently with the longer one.
Before the trial began in Chautauqua County Court, Matar rejected a plea deal. Shortly after the jury reached its verdict, his defense attorney, Nathaniel Barone, said Matar plans to appeal the conviction. Matar has also been charged by the federal government with an act of terrorism. He will face those charges at a separate trial in Buffalo, according to Reuters.
Rushdie was born into a non-practicing Muslim family in British India, and now identifies as an atheist. “The Satanic Verses,&#8221; which was labeled as blasphemous by hardline Islamists, refers to verses of the Quran that Rushdie claimed had been removed. Rushdie said that his book is not blasphemous against Islam, adding, “I doubt very much Khomeini or anyone else in Iran has read this book or anything more than selected extracts taken out of context.”
After the sentencing hearing, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said that the stabbing attack still haunts the 77-year-old author.
&#8220;He&#8217;s traumatized. He has nightmares about what he experienced,&#8221; Schmidt said. &#8220;Obviously this is a major setback for an individual that was starting to emerge in his very later years of life into society after going into hiding after the fatwa.&#8221;

Hadi Matar

Sentence Is In For American Who Stabbed Novelist Salman Rushdie

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This week, every GOP senator except one and 177 out of 220 GOP members of the House signed a <a href="https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Document_250514_125039.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to President Donald Trump supporting his past statements and urging that Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium be permanently eliminated.
The effort was spearheaded by Nebraska Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts and House Republican Study Committee Chair Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX). Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican senator who would not sign the letter.
The signatories acknowledged Trump’s “strong support&#8221; for &#8220;efforts to secure a deal with Iran that dismantles its nuclear program, and to reinforce the explicit warnings that you and officials in your administration have issued that the regime must permanently give up any capacity for enrichment.”
After noting Trump’s first-term withdrawal from the “deeply broken” Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and his imposition of maximum pressure on the regime, the signatories pointed out that the Obama JCPOA deal “allowed Iran to sell oil, provided waivers allowing third countries to help Iran build out its nuclear program, and included the termination of United Nations sanctions on the regime.&#8221;
They noted that Trump’s maximum pressure campaign had deterred Iran from making substantial nuclear progress. “Tragically, the Biden administration systematically undid that pressure, functionally re-implementing the nuclear deal. They immediately rescinded your decision to reimpose U.N. sanctions, allowed Iran to sell oil at JCPOA-levels, and even re-issued waivers allowing Iran to build out its nuclear program,” they continued.
“As you predicted, those policies indeed allowed Iran to reach the brink of nuclear breakout, which is where they are today,” they asserted. “The scope and breadth of Iran’s nuclear buildout have made it impossible to verify any new deal that allows Iran to continue enriching uranium. In its most recent report, published on February 26, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that because of Iran’s activities over the last four years, ‘the Agency has lost continuity of knowledge in relation to the production and current inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and UOC, which it will not be possible to restore.’”
They quoted Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum that stated, “Iran’s nuclear program, including its enrichment- and reprocessing-related capabilities and nuclear-capable missiles, poses an existential danger to the United States and the entire civilized world,” then additionally quoted him saying recently that only “full dismantlement” of those capabilities would be acceptable.
“We cannot afford another agreement that enables Iran to play for time, as the JCPOA did. The Iranian regime should know that the administration has Congressional backing to ensure their ability to enrich uranium is permanently eliminated,” they concluded.

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Nearly Every Congressional Republican Wants Trump To Show No Mercy With Iran Deal

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During his Middle East trip, President Donald Trump says he might be close to making a deal with Iran on nuclear weapons, the Supreme Court hears arguments on Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship, and football coaching legend Nick Saban has been tapped to bring order to big-money college sports.
It’s Friday, May 16, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
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<h2>U.S.-Iran Nuclear Deal</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-921029" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_33_14.Still001-3.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_33_14.Still001-3.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_33_14.Still001-3-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: President Trump says the United States is close to a nuclear deal with Iran.
After months of tense negotiations, President Trump says America is on the verge of signing a historic nuclear deal with Iran. Iran has been working for decades to build nuclear weapons. Iranian leaders refer to America as “the great Satan,” and its government spends billions of dollars annually sponsoring terror groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
Over the last four years, President Joe Biden attempted to revive the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, waiving sanctions as a show of goodwill, but the Iranians refused to meet for formal negotiations, and no agreement was ever reached. But now, after four rounds of formal talks between the White House and Iran, President Trump says they’re ready to cut a deal.
The general idea is that Iran will agree to never produce nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions — and peace. A top adviser to the country’s Supreme Leader told <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/iran-enriched-uranium-nuclear-deal-trump-rcna206833">NBC</a> they would commit to never making nuclear weapons, hand over their existing stockpiles of enriched uranium, only enrich uranium to low levels consistent with civilian use, and allow third-party inspectors to supervise the entire process. In exchange, they want the United States to lift all economic sanctions, which have hobbled the country’s economy for years. President Trump has said he also wants to see them cut funding to the terror groups they support — it remains to be seen if that part will be included in the final deal.
Critics say there’s no way to ensure Iran will hand over its existing nuclear materials and allow inspectors to see the full scope of their operation. Fifty-two GOP Senators and 178 GOP House members signed a letter to President Trump saying the &#8220;scope and breadth of Iran&#8217;s nuclear buildout have made it impossible to verify any new deal that allows Iran to continue enriching uranium.&#8221; Many Republicans want a deal, but not one that allows Iran to enrich any uranium, even low levels for civilian use.
<h2>SCOTUS Hears Arguments On Birthright Citizenship, National Injunctions</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-921031" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_39_00.Still002.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_39_00.Still002.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_39_00.Still002-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: The Supreme Court hears oral arguments challenging birthright citizenship.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Thursday in a case challenging President Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship. The pivotal case calls into question whether the lower courts have the power to block executive branch actions.
The case hinges on three lower courts issuing nationwide injunctions blocking Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship. Trump’s EO interprets the 14th Amendment to deny automatic citizenship to children who are born in the U.S. if their mother was unlawfully in the country and if the father isn’t a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident. That order is currently on hold while the Supreme Court considers it.
“ Since January 20th, district courts have now issued 40 universal injunctions against the federal government, including 35 from the same five judicial districts,” U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer <a href="https://x.com/GuntherEagleman/status/1923020348624187655">told</a> the court. “This is a bipartisan problem that has now spanned the last five presidential administrations. Universal injunctions exceed the judicial power granted in Article 3, which exists only to address the injury to the complaining party.”
The liberal justices appeared to disagree with the Trump administration’s arguments – they believe Trump’s order is at odds with many years of Supreme Court precedent.
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/05/15/nx-s1-5398025/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship">said</a> that the Trump administration seemed to turn the justice system into “a kind of catch me if you can regime … where everybody has to have a lawyer and file a lawsuit in order for the government to stop violating people&#8217;s rights … I don&#8217;t understand how that is remotely consistent with the rule of law.”</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Justice Sonia Sotomayor <a href="https://x.com/BehizyTweets/status/1923031636301709591">argued</a> that the Trump administration was violating precedent and the “plain meaning of the 14th Amendment.”</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Meanwhile, Justice Elena Kagan pointed out that <a href="https://x.com/Tyler2ONeil/status/1923038011966562374">many</a> lower courts are ruling against Trump’s executive order. &#8220;This is not a hypothetical. This is happening. Every court ruled against you.&#8221;</li>
</ul>
Most of the conservative justices also seemed skeptical of the Trump administration’s stance, but Justice Clarence Thomas pointed out that the United States “survived until the 1960s” without nationwide injunctions.
<h2>Trump Drafts Nick Saban To Save College Sports</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-921035" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_33_26.Still003-2.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_33_26.Still003-2.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_33_26.Still003-2-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: Trump drafts college football coaching legend Nick Saban to bring some order to big-dollar collegiate athletics.
President Trump plans to create a commission to study “ailing issues” in college athletics, with the possibility of signing an executive order. Collegiate sports have been experiencing a bit of turmoil the last few years, with the schools adjusting to a new climate now that student-athletes have name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights and are on the road to receiving direct compensation from their respective universities.
The president announced that he was creating a commission to “deeply examine the unwieldy landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the <a href="https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/">transfer portal</a>, the unregulated booster compensation paid to athletes, the debate of college athlete employment, the application of Title IX with regards to revenue sharing and, even, conference membership makeup and conference television contracts.”
Trump has named Nick Saban, who won seven national titles as a college football coach, as co-chair of the commission, with the other co-chair being Cody Campbell – the chairman of Texas Tech’s Board of Regents and NIL collective founder. Many people believe Saban is the best person to lead this initiative, given the on-field success, but there have also been accusations of hypocrisy given how much money Saban himself made from college athletics.
Hanging over all of this is the pending settlement of House vs. NCAA, a class-action, antitrust lawsuit that would allow collegiate athletes to participate in revenue sharing from TV rights deals once a settlement is complete. That settlement is expected within the coming weeks, or even days. The plaintiffs&#8217; attorney, Steve Berman, blasted Saban and Trump’s discussions, accusing them of “meddling.”
“College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals,” Berman said. “They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.”

MorningWire-0428_V1

Morning Brief: SCOTUS Hears Birthright Citizenship Case & Trump Drafts Legendary Football Coach

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An Iranian regime insider who once operated at the heart of Tehran’s global assassination network is now collecting a paycheck at Princeton and walking freely on American soil.
His name is <a href="https://www.nysun.com/article/move-to-deport-terror-supporting-professors-ignites-fresh-scrutiny-of-former-iranian-diplomat-accused-of-advancing-terror-whos-still-at-princeton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hossein Mousavian</a> — and his presence is a direct insult to every American and Israeli who has lost a loved one to Iranian terror. His past affiliations and statements pose direct threats to national security and the moral consistency of American immigration policy.
Today, Mousavian is a Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy Specialist at the Princeton Program on Science and Global Security. But from 1990 to 1997, <a href="https://www.meforum.org/german-think-tank-under-fire-for-hosting-former" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mousavian</a> served as Iran’s ambassador to Germany.
During this period, the infamous 1992 <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/1079258.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mykonos</a> restaurant assassinations occurred in Berlin, where four Iranian dissidents were murdered. A German court later concluded that the killings were ordered by Iran&#8217;s Special Affairs Committee, implicating the highest levels of the Iranian government.
While Mousavian was not formally charged, the court found that the Iranian embassy in Bonn, which Mousavian led at the time, was identified by the court as a hub for intelligence operations. Testimony from former Iranian intelligence operative <a href="https://www.iranintl.com/en/202403076212" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Abolghasem Mesbahi</a> asserted that Mousavian was allegedly involved in “most of the crimes that took place in Europe” during his tenure.
More recently, <a href="https://jcpa.org/iranian-official-reveals-how-we-eliminated-regime-opponents-in-europe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mohsen Rafighdoost</a> — a founding figure of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — stated in an interview that the regime was directly involved in the Mykonos killings and suggested Mousavian likely had knowledge of, or was possibly connected to, the broader Iranian assassination program in Europe.
These public confessions don’t just implicate Mousavian in past crimes: they raise alarms about who American institutions are empowering today. The question is no longer what he did, but why he still has access to American students, media platforms, and policy circles.
Rafighdoost also <a href="https://www.iranintl.com/en/202503113972" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted</a> in a separate video interview that the Iranian regime orchestrated assassinations of dissidents across Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. He detailed how the IRGC operated dedicated hit squads and even collaborated with external groups like the Basque separatist movement ETA to carry out these killings. His candid confession sheds light on the Iranian government&#8217;s systematic elimination of opposition figures overseas — a program that overlapped with Mousavian’s diplomatic tenure in Europe.
But Mousavian’s troubling record extends beyond history books. In recent <a href="https://x.com/hmousavian/status/1841131157829636119" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Persian-language remarks</a>, he has labeled critics of the Islamic Republic as ‘traitors’ — a term the regime has long used to justify execution, torture, or imprisonment.
Particularly disturbing is his public <a href="https://fararu.com/fa/news/782445/%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B8%D8%B1%D9%87-%D8%AF%D9%88-%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%BE%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%BE%DB%8C%D8%B4%DB%8C%D9%86-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88-%D8%A2%D9%85%D8%B1%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%A7-%D8%AE%D8%B5%D9%88%D9%85%D8%AA-%DB%B4%DB%B4-%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%80-%D8%A2%D9%85%D8%B1%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%AF-%D9%BE%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86-%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%AF" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attack</a> on religious minorities. Following a controversial 2024 speech at <a href="https://mes.dartmouth.edu/news/2024/09/israel-and-iran-future-middle-east" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dartmouth College</a>, he <a href="https://x.com/hmousavian/status/1841131157829636119" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blamed</a> a “Zionist journalist,” the “Israeli lobby,” and “traitorous Iranians, including Baha’is,” for protesting his presence. The <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/01/iran-persecution-bahais" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baha’i faith</a> is brutally persecuted by the regime — its members are routinely jailed, tortured, or executed simply for practicing their beliefs. By lumping them in with “traitors,” Mousavian echoed the exact language the Islamic Republic uses before unleashing crackdowns. Imagine a former Nazi official labeling Jews as enemies from an American podium. That’s the level of moral offense here.
When Mousavian spoke at Dartmouth, <a href="https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2024/10/dickey-center-hosts-talk-on-israel-and-iran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">local police</a> were deployed to secure the venue. This resulted in American taxpayer dollars being used to secure a public event featuring a former senior official from a regime known not only for targeting dissidents in Europe but also for threatening American lives and interests.
Rather than addressing these legitimate <a href="https://www.change.org/p/petition-cancel-seyed-hossein-mousavian-s-talk-at-dartmouth-college" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concerns</a>, Dartmouth officials defended Mousavian&#8217;s participation. <a href="https://www.meforum.org/fwi/fwi-news/anti-regime-activists-challenge-former-high-ranking-iranian-official-at-dartmouth-college" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Iranian-American</a> <a href="https://x.com/Aidin_FreeIran/status/1840894243612545401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1840894243612545401%7Ctwgr%5Eac590ccb23d20aa96ee7e499237a4c7247e0f290%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.meforum.org%2Ffwi%2Ffwi-news%2Fanti-regime-activists-challenge-former-high-ranking-iranian-official-at-dartmouth-college" target="_blank" rel="noopener">activists</a> raised direct questions about his complicity in the regime’s crimes, but they were shut down. Event moderator Victoria Holt redirected the discussion, while Professor Ezzedine Fishere, another former diplomat, dismissed concerns by saying, “I am in the business of training students, not convincing you.”
The elite’s eagerness to protect regime operatives while dismissing victims of Iran’s terror machine reveals a dangerous rot. For Iranian dissidents, the Jewish community, and anyone who values liberty and truth, the message is clear: your trauma takes a back seat to regime diplomacy
This moment demands action. <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/cruz-urges-princeton-take-action-over-professor-accused-pro-iran-allegiances-citing-risk-students" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Senator Ted Cruz</a> (R-TX) recently called for Mousavian’s deportation on national security grounds, echoing broader bipartisan concerns about regime affiliates residing in the United States. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have recently enacted policies aimed precisely at individuals like <a href="https://www.hstoday.us/featured/perspective-the-u-s-must-investigate-iranian-regime-networks-inside-the-homeland/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mousavian</a> — foreign nationals supportive of terrorism or espousing hateful rhetoric.
Mousavian checks both boxes. He has publicly downplayed or defended groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and frequently attributes criticism directed at him to “Zionist lobbies” and “traitors.” Even if Mousavian holds a permanent resident status, historical precedent exists for revoking permanent residency or deporting individuals linked to hostile regimes or involved in activities detrimental to national security.
For example, in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/25/us/national-briefing-midwest-ohio-imam-loses-citizenship-over-terrorist.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2004</a>, the United States government deported Imam Fawaz Damra, a longtime Cleveland-area imam, stripping him of his permanent residency after it was revealed he concealed his ties and support for terrorist groups when obtaining residency. Damra’s deportation sets a clear precedent: permanent residency is not an unconditional shield against accountability when national security concerns are at stake.
Mousavian’s presence demands immediate investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and revocation of any visa or green card under anti-terrorism provisions. The Trump administration has the tools — and the moral duty — to act. The safety of Americans and the integrity of our immigration system depend on it.
Hossein Mousavian’s continued residence and academic appointment in the United States stand in direct contradiction to the country’s values and security interests. Given his history, statements, and the regime’s confirmed record of extraterritorial assassinations, his presence is indefensible. This is not about academic freedom or political dissent. It’s about protecting America from the enablers of terrorism.
The time has come to ask not only why he is here — but why he was ever allowed to stay.
Dr. Aidin Panahi is an Iranian-American research professor, energy expert, and political activist. He is the cofounder of the “From Boston to Iran” initiative and his analyses on security and policy issues have appeared in outlets including The Jerusalem Post, Washington Times, the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, Middle East Forum, Homeland Security Today, and Visegrád24. X: @Aidin_FreeIran
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Head of the Iranian delegation, Hossein

This Princeton Scholar Was Once A High-Ranking Iranian Official. Why Is He Still Here?

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President Donald Trump travels to the Middle East, where he inks massive arms and investment deals, Sean Combs’ sex trafficking trial brings shocking testimony, and the Left is outraged as Trump welcomes Afrikaner refugees.
It’s Wednesday, May 14, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
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<h2>Trump Secures Massive Saudi Investment</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-919927 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_33_14.Still001-1.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_33_14.Still001-1.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_33_14.Still001-1-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: President Trump secures a $600 billion investment in the U.S. from Saudi Arabia.
President Trump and an entourage of his top officials were in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, where the president secured a $600 billion investment in the United States and the largest arms deal in history. Trump arrived in Qatar on Wednesday morning and plans to visit the United Arab Emirates while negotiating economic deals and signaling a new approach to American foreign policy in the Middle East.
“Far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it&#8217;s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins,” Trump said. “It is God&#8217;s job to sit in judgment — my job to defend America and to promote the fundamental interests of stability, prosperity, and peace.&#8221;
Trump also celebrated a recent ceasefire with the Houthis, who agreed to suspend attacks on American shipping in the Red Sea after months of intense aerial bombardment by U.S. military forces. The president announced the cessation of sanctions on Syria, to give the new government, which ousted the Russian- and Iranian-backed Bashar al-Assad last December, “a chance at greatness.&#8221; Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, formerly known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, is a former Al-Qaeda fighter who fought against American forces in Iraq. He has been Syria&#8217;s president since January and has attempted to rebrand himself as a moderate figure focused more on Syrian interests than jihad.
“In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace. That’s what we want to see,” Trump said.
However, Trump’s rhetoric was not entirely dovish – he issued a stern warning to Iran, a longtime regional adversary of the United States that has come perilously close to developing nuclear weapons. “Iran CAN have a much brighter future — but we will NEVER allow them to threaten America and our allies with terrorism or a nuclear attack. The choice is theirs to make.”
<h2>Did Diddy Do It?</h2>
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Topline: Eight months after his arrest, the federal trial of music mogul Sean &#8220;Diddy&#8221; Combs kicked off this week in Manhattan. The charges Combs faces — including sex trafficking, coercion, and racketeering — have sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry.
The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs began on Monday. Prosecutors painted a dark picture, alleging that Combs used his fame, wealth, and multimedia empire to orchestrate a decades-long scheme involving sex trafficking and violence. They claim he lured women with promises of romance or career opportunities, only to force them into “freak offs” — drug-fueled sexual performances involving male prostitutes, some recorded to blackmail victims into silence. They also claim it was particularly during these “freak offs” where women, including his former girlfriend, R&amp;B singer Cassie Ventura, were abused and manipulated.
Combs has been charged with five felony counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, and two counts of transportation for prostitution. If convicted, he could face life in prison, with a minimum of 15 years for the sex trafficking charges alone.
On Tuesday, Ventura took the stand and said Combs “too frequently… mashed in [her] head, dragged [her] along the floor, kicked [her], stomped on [her] head.&#8221; She also said he characterized these drug and alcohol-fueled “freak-offs” as part of her “job” and that they increased in frequency over the course of their relationship. She said that in the final years she was with Combs, these sex sessions became “all-consuming” and she spent most of her time engaging in the freak-offs or recovering from them while enduring abuse from Combs.
The jury also heard from Daniel Phillip, a former male escort. He gave graphic testimony about being paid to have sex with Ventura at the Gramercy Park Hotel in 2012 while Combs watched from the corner, masturbating and directing the encounters. He also recounted a disturbing incident where Combs allegedly forced him to urinate into Ventura’s mouth. Phillip also said he witnessed Combs’ physical abuse when he threw a liquor bottle at Ventura, dragged her into a bedroom, and slapped her as she screamed, “I’m sorry!” Phillip said he was “terrified” to intervene, citing Combs’ power and nearby bodyguards.
Combs’ defense admitted their client is a “complicated man” with flaws, including a history of drug use and domestic violence, but stressed that domestic abuse is not a federal crime and insisted this isn’t a racketeering or trafficking case. Teny Geragos, one of Combs’ attorneys who is the daughter of celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos, told jurors, “This is about Sean Combs’ private sex life,” emphasizing that the women involved, including Ventura, were “strong, capable, and in love with him,” making consensual choices.
<h2>Afrikaner Refugees Arrive In The United States</h2>
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Topline: The first group of white Afrikaners who were granted refugee status by the Trump administration arrived in the United States this week, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/12/trump-afrikaners-refugees-immigration-00342029?utm_source=chatgpt.com">sparking outrage</a> on the Left.
Afrikaners are a South African ethnic group. Fifty-nine Afrikaner men, women, and children arrived in America this week, many of them farmers. They were vetted and granted refugee status very quickly, within a matter of months – the refugee vetting process ordinarily takes years. President Trump, who has been outspokenly opposed to the treatment of white South Africans by their government, signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/addressing-egregious-actions-of-the-republic-of-south-africa/">executive order</a> in February to end aid to South Africa over its discriminatory racial policies, specifically pertaining to white farmers. The order notes that South Africa has taken “aggressive positions” toward the U.S. and her allies, including Israel, and also notes the recently enacted Expropriation Act, which the order said enables the South African government “to seize” Afrikaners&#8217; agricultural property without compensation.”
The State Department said Afrikaners face unjust racial discrimination in South Africa, and added that no one should be subject to “violent attacks because of their ethnicity.” One refugee said that she was attacked on her farm four different times. She said that Afrikaners are being blamed and targeted for the past apartheid in South Africa. Hundreds of people have been killed on farms in just the last four years or so. Not all of those people were white, but many were.
“What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said. “This is persecution based on a protected characteristic, in this case, race. This is race-based persecution. The refugee program is not intended as a solution for global poverty.”
The Left has argued that Trump is favoring these refugees because they’re white – they’ve cited the president’s moves to halt most of the refugee programs established under Joe Biden from nations like Afghanistan, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Trump argues that those programs did not vet refugees properly, especially from those nations that are considered high-risk.

MorningWire-0428 V2

Morning Brief: Trump Lands Huge Saudi Investment & Diddy Faces The Music

Courts

Refugees

Saudi Arabia

Sean 'Diddy' Combs

South Africa

World

Speaking from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued a firm warning to foreign leaders: his priority is defending the United States of America, and he will do so using &#8220;overwhelming strength&#8221; and &#8220;devastating force&#8221; if necessary.
&#8220;In recent years, far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it&#8217;s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins,&#8221; Trump said during the U.S.-Saudi investment forum in Riyadh. &#8220;They loved using our very powerful military. And now it&#8217;s really the most powerful it&#8217;s ever been &#8230; we&#8217;re getting the greatest missiles, the greatest weapons.&#8221;
Trump emphasized that the United States believes in peace through strength, arguing that &#8220;bad things could happen&#8221; if the United States was not powerful and in a position to defend itself.
&#8220;It is God&#8217;s job to sit in judgment, my job to defend America, and to promote the fundamental interests of stability, prosperity, and peace,&#8221; he said Tuesday. &#8220;That&#8217;s what I really want to do.&#8221;
Trump also announced plans to lift sanctions on Syria, sharing that he made the decision after he discussed the matter with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmampz0yb000a3b6r62d85ei0@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true">“Syria, they’ve had their share of travesty, war, killing in many years,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That’s why my administration has already taken the first steps toward restoring normal relations between the United States and Syria for the first time in more than a decade.&#8221;
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmampz0yb000a3b6r62d85ei0@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true">Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Syria&#8217;s foreign minister in Turkey this week, Trump noted, sharing: “The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important — really an important function — nevertheless, at the time. But now it’s their time to shine.&#8221;
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmampz0yb000a3b6r62d85ei0@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true">He added: &#8220;So I say, ‘Good luck, Syria.’ Show us something very special.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;After discussing the situation in Syria with the Crown Prince and also with President Erdogan of Turkey&#8230; among others in the Middle East, I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria, in order to give them a chance at greatness.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/JG3gx3Nn6D">pic.twitter.com/JG3gx3Nn6D</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1922327334863946039?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamq2wvn000c3b6rc8aqrbs2@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true">During his remarks, the president outlined his vision for the future of the Middle East and how he seeks to create a more stable region and peaceful world. He contrasted the path taken by Gulf nations to the path taken by the Iranian regime, offering Iran a different path to a brighter future.
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamq2wvn000c3b6rc8aqrbs2@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true">&#8220;I am here today not merely to condemn the past choices of Iran’s leaders, but to offer them a new and a better path toward a much more hopeful future,&#8221; Trump argued, adding, &#8220;As I have shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be profound.&#8221;
The president also praised some Middle Eastern leaders and touted &#8220;the transformation that has occurred under the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed&#8221; in Saudi Arabia, calling it &#8220;truly extraordinary.&#8221;
According to the White House, Trump secured a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia for investments in the United States, including a defense partnership worth about $142 billion.
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamq2wvn000c3b6rc8aqrbs2@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true">&#8220;If the responsible nations of this region seize this moment, put aside your differences and focus on the interests that unite you,&#8221; the president said, &#8220;then all of humanity will soon be amazed at what they will see right here in the geographic center of the world &#8230;  and the spiritual heart of its greatest faiths.&#8221;

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From The Middle East, Trump Vows To Defend America With ‘Devastating Force’

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