You&#8217;ve been lied to.
You&#8217;ve been hearing for weeks now from all of the doubters, all of the so-called “panicans.” But here is what you are not going to hear anywhere else: not just that President Trump is winning in Iran, but why he is winning.
He came in with four goals. He has now achieved three of them, and the fourth is on the way.
Iran had three methods of resistance. President Trump has basically eliminated two of them. And the third is about to end.
People keep assuming that the goal of the war in Iran was regime change. No. Regime change is a means; it is not the actual end. In a certain sense, if the regime were to change its behavior dramatically, you wouldn&#8217;t need to change the regime.
Yes, if there were to be a regime change, it would pretty much achieve all the goals all at once. 
But you don&#8217;t have to achieve all of the goals of the war with regime change.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2408?elementPosition=2&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>
The president and Secretary of State Marco Rubio <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2039408073039630728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2039408073039630728%7Ctwgr%5Eb81529da64e58116a12923b7165a9b8bf97313a6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Freleases%2F2026%2F04%2Fpresident-trumps-clear-and-unchanging-objectives-drive-decisive-success-against-iranian-regime%2F">laid out the goals</a>:
<ol>
<li>Destroy the vast majority of Iran&#8217;s forward military capacity. Done. We have defenestrated their foreign military capacity, their missile base is basically gone. Their air force, gone. Their navy, gone.</li>
<li>Wipe out their defense industrial base. Done. The United States and Israel have wiped out their steel foundries. They have hit all of their missile factories. They have hit their missile launchers.</li>
<li>Keep Iran’s economy in a stranglehold, while depriving it of the means to rebuild. Done. The Iranian economy is defunct. Nothing has been getting in.</li>
<li>End the Iranian nuclear threat. Pending. </li>
</ol>
Three of those four have basically been done. It&#8217;s the Iranian nuclear threat that remains on the table.
Okay, say the panicans and the liars, but somehow Iran has gotten stronger.
This is what we might call the Obi-Wan Kenobi theory of foreign policy: “If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”
It doesn&#8217;t work that way in real life. When you strike someone down, they usually stay down. And if they recover, you can strike them down again. 
The spirit of Iran is not going to teach Luke Skywalker how to blow up the Death Star. That&#8217;s not how this works. It is not clear how you get stronger by being alienated from every single country in the region, from Jews to Muslims, or how, somehow, you&#8217;re getting stronger if all your leaders are dead and you&#8217;re walking around as a regime pretending that an impotent, comatose dude with no leg is your actual leader: “Weekend at Mullahs.”
Or how you get stronger when your missile launch capacity has been so degraded, so radically degraded, that you&#8217;re being forced to physically unbury the missile launchers you buried. 
They buried a bunch of missile launchers to hide them, and now they&#8217;re being forced to unbury them just so they have something to shoot.
We can see them doing that; if there&#8217;s another round here, we will just blow those up, too.
How do you get stronger if your navy is at the bottom of the sea or if your Air Force, which was a bunch of Vietnam-era crap, is now a bunch of shrapnel? How are you stronger when your economy is totally nonexistent, when in a few weeks you&#8217;re not going to have money to pay your IRGC thugs?
Okay, fine, say the panicans and the liars; The Iranians will still win. They will win by outlasting us.
Staying alive isn&#8217;t winning unless we&#8217;re doing “The Hunger Games,” which we&#8217;re not.
To take a similar example: Is Cuba winning right now?
The Cuban communist regime has survived. Are they winning or are they on their last legs? It’s pretty clear they are losing.
And so is the regime in Tehran. The regime in Tehran had three methods of resistance, and they’ve been building all three for years and years.
First, the so-called “Axis of Resistance.” This included all the terror proxies they placed throughout the region, from Hamas to Hezbollah to the Houthis to terror groups in Iraq. All of those members of the “Axis of Resistance” were supposed to be Iran’s forward army. That was their forward capacity.
But since October 7, 2023, Israel has steadily degraded or destroyed that forward capacity.
Hamas is stuck in a small section of Gaza. They may be trying to rebuild, but it won’t matter. Israel will go in and blow them up again. Hezbollah has been greatly reduced as a power in the region, and now it is in danger of complete evisceration. The Houthis could have acted at any time during this war, but they didn’t, and they didn’t for a reason. They knew that if they had, they would have been obliterated.
So the terror proxies Iran had been funding for generations were basically defenestrated. That was their first mode of striking back.
Second was the nuclear program, which they were attempting to develop. They were racing toward a nuclear bomb to protect their regime. That is what caused all of this to happen. If they had given up their nuclear program years ago, they would have had normalized relations with a lot of different countries. The sanctions would not be on them. But they decided they were going to race forward with their nuclear program, and they got the hell bombed out of them.
Third: the Strait of Hormuz. Shutting that down was supposed to be their trump card. That was supposed to stop everything.
And this is where all of the panicans and all of the liars and the people who hate Trump and hate Israel and all the rest started saying, “The Iranians really showed you. They shut the Strait of Hormuz!”
It’s open now.
Remember that time when they said that we would never be able to open the Strait?
What did we do? We said if you close it, we are going to stop all ships going in and out of Iranian ports, and then you won&#8217;t have an economy, and you’ll be dead in the water.
Guess what? Within a week and a half, they opened the strait.
They stopped messing around in the strait because they didn&#8217;t have the forward operating capacity. Their navy was, in fact, at the bottom of the sea. The Persian Gulf was littered with the hulks of their ships. The reality is that they used their pathetic mine-laying capacities — and I say pathetic because they were actually just putting mines in the water and losing them out there — and we are now de-mining the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump wrote, “I received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help. I told them to stay away unless they just want to load up their ships with oil. They were useless when needed. A paper tiger.”
Fact.
What really happened here is that the Strait of Hormuz closing hurt the Chinese far more than it hurt us. The Chinese presumably brought pressure to bear via Pakistan on the Iranians, and the Iranians decided to open the Strait.
Not only that, oil prices have now plunged dramatically. We&#8217;ve been told that that was the chief element that was somehow going to undermine the war.
Nope.
President Trump is winning, big-time.
And don’t let the panicans and liars convince you otherwise.

President Trump Departs Washington Enroute To Miami, Florida

Trump Crushes Doubters On Iran 

Ben Shapiro

Donald Trump

Iran

Marco Rubio

Middle East

Opinion

Strait of Hormuz

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has terminated the legal status of three Iranian nationals tied to Masoumeh Ebtekar, the spokeswoman for the militants behind the Iran Hostage Crisis, placing them in ICE custody and initiating their removal from the United States.
“I terminated their lawful permanent resident status and today, Seyed Eissa Hashemi, Maryam Tahmasebi, and their son are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending their removal from our country,” Rubio said.
Rubio added that the decision reflects a broader principle: “America can never become home for anti-American terrorists or their families — and under the Trump administration, it never will.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
‼️ NEW DETAILS: 
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has TERMINATED the legal status of three Iranians tied to regime figure known as “Screaming Mary.”
They are now in ICE custody and facing deportation.
“I terminated their lawful permanent resident status and today, Seyed Eissa… <a href="https://t.co/7XnEgjbyQ0">https://t.co/7XnEgjbyQ0</a> <a href="https://t.co/xU3udiFLJ8">pic.twitter.com/xU3udiFLJ8</a>
— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) <a href="https://twitter.com/MOSSADil/status/2042982578995478677?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2026</a></blockquote>
The individuals are directly connected to Masoumeh Ebtekar, known to many Americans as “Screaming Mary,” who served as the English-language spokeswoman for the militants who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
That crisis saw 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days, a defining moment in U.S.-Iran relations that continues to shape policy decades later.
Chosen for her fluent English and familiarity with the United States, she became the public face of the hostage-takers, appearing repeatedly on American television to defend the operation and relay the group’s demands. She has never expressed regret for her role, and frequently used her appearances to justify the takeover.
After the crisis, she transitioned from revolutionary activist to establishment figure, eventually rising to serve as a vice president of Iran, specifically Vice President for Women and Family Affairs from 2017 to 2021.
Despite that history, her son Hashemi had been living in Southern California, working as a lecturing psychology professor while residing in Los Angeles County with his wife, according to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/04/06/us-news/son-of-irans-twisted-pr-chief-found-living-life-of-luxury-in-la-and-hes-teaching-superrich-california-kids/">New York Post</a>. Reports and photographs placed him at upscale locations in the area, fueling criticism that relatives of senior regime figures were benefiting from life in the United States.
Public pressure had been building for months. Petitions and protests called for federal authorities to review the immigration status of Hashemi and others connected to Iran’s ruling apparatus, arguing that allowing such individuals to remain in the country undermines U.S. credibility on human rights and national security.
In its statement, the State Department <a href="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/04/secretary-rubio-terminates-green-cards-of-foreign-nationals-tied-to-infamous-iranian-regime-propagandist/">indicated</a> that the individuals originally received visas during the Obama administration before later obtaining green cards through the Diversity Visa Program.
Later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters, “Her family should never have been allowed to benefit from the extraordinary privilege of living in our country. America can never become home for anti-American terrorists or their families.”
The move comes amid a broader push by the administration to target individuals in the U.S. with ties to Tehran’s ruling apparatus. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-asks-leavitt-about-iranian-officials-family-living-lavishly-in-the-u-s?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=8&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Daily+Wire+Asks+Leavitt+About+Iranian+Official’s+Family+Living+Lavishly+In+The+U.S.">The Daily Wire</a> the effort is a “top priority,” particularly in cases involving fraud or national security concerns.
“I understand one of the individual’s visas was revoked by Secretary Rubio, and they were deported by ICE because they had a fraudulent asylum claim,” Leavitt said, referring to a separate case involving relatives of the late Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. “Anyone who is here illegally or fraudulently is subject to our nation’s immigration laws and will be removed from our country.”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1076379" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/iranian_official_fam_members_LA-1-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/iranian_official_fam_members_LA-1-300x199.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/iranian_official_fam_members_LA-1-870x576.jpg 870w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/iranian_official_fam_members_LA-1-768x509.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/iranian_official_fam_members_LA-1-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/iranian_official_fam_members_LA-1-2048x1357.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/iranian_official_fam_members_LA-1-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/iranian_official_fam_members_LA-1-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
That case involved Soleimani’s niece and grandniece, who were also taken into custody after reportedly living openly in the United States while expressing support for the regime, part of what officials describe as a pattern now under increased scrutiny.
The administration has already deported dozens of Iranian nationals over the past year, with hundreds more potentially facing removal as enforcement ramps up.
The message from the administration is that drawing a harder line not just against Iran’s government, but against those connected to it, is going to continue and we could see similar moves going forward.
For all the latest Iran news, follow <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-updates-iranian-protests-intensify-as-citizens-demand-end-to-ayatollah-rule?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Daily+Wire&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=LIVE+UPDATES%3A+U.S.%2C+Iran+Face-To-Face+As+Trump+Warns+Negotiating+Window+Could+Close+Fast">The Daily Wire’s live blog</a>.

1179b268-3139-11e9-b26a-04579b7820b3.jpg

Anti-American ‘Screaming Mary’ Terrorist Family Faces New Reality: U.S. Isn’t Their Playground

Executive

Global Politics

State Department

World

Family members of slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani — a niece and a grandniece — were arrested by federal immigration agents after their lawful permanent resident (LPR) status in the United States was revoked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The State Department announced in a Saturday <a href="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/04/secretary-rubio-revokes-green-cards-of-foreign-nationals-with-ties-to-iranian-terror-regime/">press release</a> that Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter had been taken into custody and were being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.
<blockquote>Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As identified by both press reporting and her own social media commentary, Soleimani Afshar is an outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran.
While living in the United States, she promoted Iranian regime propaganda, celebrated attacks against American soldiers and military facilities in the Middle East, praised the new Iranian Supreme Leader, denounced America as the “Great Satan,” and voiced her unflinching support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terror organization. Afshar Soleimani pushed this propaganda for Iran’s terrorist regime while enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, as attested to by her frequent posting on her recently deleted Instagram account.</blockquote>
Rubio explained in an X post why he had moved to terminate their LPR status, saying, &#8220;Until recently, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter were green card holders living lavishly in the United States. Afshar is the niece of deceased Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani.&#8221;
Rubio went on to note Afshar&#8217;s continued support for the Iranian regime and her attacks on the United States, adding, &#8220;This week, I terminated both Afshar and her daughter&#8217;s legal status and they are now in ICE custody, pending removal from the United States. The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Until recently, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter were green card holders living lavishly in the United States.
Afshar is the niece of deceased Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani. She is also an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime who celebrated attacks on…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecRubio/status/2040454251260809340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Afshar&#8217;s husband, according to the State Department&#8217;s release, will be barred from entering the United States in the future.
The U.S. State Department has also previously revoked legal status of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/their-parents-run-the-iranian-regime-theyre-teaching-your-kids-at-american-universities">Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani,</a> whose father was the late Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Larijani, and her husband Seyed Kalantar Motamedi. In addition to having their status reversed, neither will be permitted to return to the United States.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Relatives of Infamous Iranian Butcher Get One-Way Ticket From Marco Rubio

Family Members Of Slain Iranian General Arrested, U.S. Legal Status Revoked

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Qassem Soleimani

The New York Times got hit with a wave of backlash — and ultimately was forced to issue a correction — after Friday&#8217;s print edition included a headline replacing the word &#8220;Atlantic&#8221; in North Atlantic Treaty Organization with &#8220;American.&#8221;
POLITICO editor Sasha Issenburg drew attention to the flub, sharing a photo of the newspaper showing both the date and the erroneous headline, which read, &#8220;A North American Treaty Organization Without America?&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Does the <a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nytimes</a> know what NATO stands for? <a href="https://t.co/wvD1WxPOnN">pic.twitter.com/wvD1WxPOnN</a>
— Sasha Issenberg (@sissenberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/sissenberg/status/2040078016576204989?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer weighed in on the paper&#8217;s mistake, noting that every headline published by The New York Times had to make it past multiple editors before going to print.
&#8220;The NYT should release the names of every editor who read this and did not correct it. They have multiple layers of editors, especially for the print publication. That’s what the NYT would demand when the government makes a bad mistake. They should live up to the same standard,&#8221; he said.
Former Trump administration official Richard Grenell pointed out that the piece&#8217;s author, Steven Erlanger, as the paper&#8217;s Chief Diplomatic Correspondent for Europe: &#8220;Yikes.&#8221;
President Trump even commented on the flub on Saturday morning, saying in a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116346654846871260">Truth Social post</a>, &#8220;The Failing New York Times, whose lack of credibility, and their constant Fake News attacks on your favorite President, ME, has caused its circulation to absolutely PLUMMET, referred to our severely weakened and extremely unreliable “partner,”NATO, as the North American Treaty Organization. The correct name is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization &#8211; A very interesting mistake! The hiring and educational standards have gone way down at the NYT. Bring back, “ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO PRINT” and, Make America Great Again!&#8221;
The article itself referenced President Donald Trump&#8217;s repeated threats to leave the organization over other nations — primarily in Europe — not providing monetary or military support when the United States is the one asking. Those threats have only accelerated as European allies have failed to answer calls for assistance with Operation Epic Fury in Iran.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/rubio-says-us-need-reexamine-nato-membership-allies-blocked-basing-airspace-help">equally critical</a> of NATO, saying in recent remarks that if the United States could not rely on NATO allies when help was needed.
&#8220;If now we have reached a point where the NATO alliance means that we can&#8217;t use those bases, that, in fact, that we can no longer use those bases to defend America&#8217;s interests, then NATO is a one-way street. Then NATO is simply about us having troops in Europe to defend Europe,&#8221; Rubio told Fox News host Sean Hannity, adding that it did not make strategic sense for the United States to remain in the organization if it was going to be so one-sided.
By Friday afternoon, the outlet <a href="https://x.com/NYTimesPR/status/2040142477215056082">issued a statement</a> promising a correction in Saturday&#8217;s print edition: &#8220;A correction will appear in tomorrow&#8217;s print edition: &#8216;A headline with an article on Friday about President Trump’s threats to leave NATO misstated the full name of the body. It is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, not the North American Treaty Organization.'&#8221;

New York Times

New York Times Forced To Issue Correction After Wild Whiff On NATO

Media

Military

NATO

Politics

The New York Times

As millions of Christians across the world celebrate Holy Week, believers in Nigeria have already been shaken by a Palm Sunday attack that reportedly left dozens dead. 
A group of gunmen opened fire on a crowd in the northern Nigerian Plateau State on Sunday evening as many people returned home from evening worship services. While the official death count is still being confirmed, <a href="https://www.opendoorsus.org/en-US/stories/Palm-Sunday-Attack-Shakes-Nigerian-Community/">local reports</a> have indicated that as many as 27 people could have been killed. 
Some witnesses have <a href="https://persecution.org/2026/03/30/dozens-killed-during-palm-sunday-attacks-in-nigeria/">blamed</a> the terrorist group Boko Haram for the attack while others said it was a group of Fulani militia, a largely Muslim group that has targeted Nigeria’s Christian communities. The attack took place in the majority Christian town of Angwan Rukuba.
&#8220;Here in Jos in Nigeria, we say that there is no Christian holiday or event left on the Christian calendar that has escaped an attack by radical Islamists or terrorists in Nigeria, whether it is Christmas, Easter or Good Friday, Palm Sunday, or Sunday services or whatever. We are trapped,” one local lawyer told Fox News after the attack. 
The attacks have led to calls for action from Congress, including Rep. Mark Harris, a Christian pastor and North Carolina Republican representative, who sent a letter on Thursday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 
Harris pointed to the Palm Sunday attack in Nigeria and violence <a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-christians-sectarian-attacks-suqaylabiyah-d3c66fd9713084c1fbab0c307c77bcf9">targeting</a> the Christian city of Suqaylabiyah in Syria over the weekend. 
“As Christian communities in both countries continue to be terrorized, displaced, and killed for their faith, this crisis requires the Department of State to ensure that both governments take decisive action to protect innocent Christians,” Harris wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio first obtained by The Daily Wire. “When Christians are targeted for worshiping, gathering, and living openly in their faith, the United States should speak with moral clarity and act with resolve — and under President Trump’s and your leadership, we have.”
Harris asked for clarity on if the State Department had taken any action related to the attacks and if any consequences will be imposed on the governments of Syria and Nigeria if they fail to take action over the violence. 
“This urgency is only heightened as Christians around the world observe Holy Week and remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Harris wrote. “At a time when believers should be free to gather in worship, far too many Christians in places like Nigeria and Syria are instead forced to worship in fear, grieve loved ones lost to violence, or wonder whether they will be targeted next simply for living out and practicing their faith.”
The State Department has routinely condemned Christian persecution around the world, recently labeling Nigeria as a country of particular concern for Christian persecution. President Donald Trump ordered strikes targeting Islamic terror groups on Christmas Day, and the country has hired lobbyists to convince the American government it is doing enough to protect Christians. 
“For too long, persecuted Christians around the world have watched the international community issue statements while their churches are burned, their families are slaughtered, and their future in their ancestral homelands disappear,” Harris said. “The United States must remain an unapologetic voice for those who are suffering for their faith and a forceful advocate for governments to uphold their responsibility to protect innocent life.”

NIGERIA-RELIGION-UNREST

Dozens Feared Dead After Christians Targeted In Holy Week Massacre

Christian Persecution

Islamic Jihad

Nigeria

Syria

Signaling a seismic shift in the post-WWII global order, President Donald Trump said he is &#8220;strongly considering&#8221; withdrawing the United States from NATO, delivering one of his clearest warnings that Washington may no longer be willing to underwrite European security without reciprocal support.
Delivered in a characteristically blunt interview with <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/01/donald-trump-strongly-considering-pulling-us-out-of-nato/">The Telegraph</a>, Trump argued the alliance has become a &#8220;one-way street,&#8221; with the United States expected to defend Europe while allies decline to support American operations.
The catalyst for this potential divorce is the refusal of European allies to support the U.S.-led effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a vital artery for 20% of the world’s oil — which has been temporarily shuttered by Tehran.
Asked whether he would reconsider U.S. membership after the war with Iran is over, Trump did not hedge.
“Oh yes, I would say beyond reconsideration,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”
Trump pointed directly to European reluctance to support efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for 20% of the world&#8217;s oil that has been shuttered by Iran, as evidence that the alliance is failing, and noted that while the United States has &#8220;automatically&#8221; stood by Europe, including in non-member states like Ukraine, the favor has not been returned.
&#8220;They weren’t there for us,&#8221; Trump remarked, specifically lambasting UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer for a lack of naval support.
Senior administration officials are now echoing the president&#8217;s frustration.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that continued U.S. participation in NATO cannot be taken for granted if allies expect protection while limiting American military flexibility.
&#8220;If NATO is just about us defending Europe if they’re attacked but then denying us basing rights when we need them, that’s not a very good arrangement,&#8221; he said.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth went further, arguing the war has exposed a fundamental imbalance.
&#8220;You don’t have much of an alliance if you have countries that are not willing to stand with you when you need them,&#8221; Hegseth stated.
The statements point to a hardening of the administration&#8217;s NATO stance. Sources suggest the White House is eyeing a model that would block delinquent or uncooperative members from decision-making and is revisiting plans to withdraw troops from Germany.
As the U.S. and Israel continue air strikes against Iran’s nuclear program, the message from Washington is clear: the era of the American &#8220;blank check&#8221; for European security is over. If NATO will not serve as a platform for mutual security, President Trump appears ready to walk away from the table entirely.

President Trump Holds Cabinet Meeting

Trump Eyes Major NATO Shift After Allies Fail Key Test

Pete Hegseth

The Trump administration says it is pursuing options to end its military campaign against Iran within &#8220;weeks,&#8221; even as negotiations continue and additional U.S. troops deploy to the Middle East. 
Secretary of State Marco Rubio described on Monday morning what he called a narrow but achievable path to reopening the Strait of Hormuz and bringing the conflict to a close.
“They are making threats about controlling Hormuz Strait in perpetuity, creating a tolling system and the like. That’s not going to happen,” Rubio said of the Iranian regime in an interview with Good Morning America. “We are going to achieve our objectives in a matter of weeks, not months.”
Other administration officials have expressed similar confidence about the timeline and progress of the operation, known as Operation Epic Fury.
Vice President JD Vance said in a recent interview that the United States does not intend to remain engaged in Iran long-term.
“We are not interested in being in Iran a year down the road, two years down the road,” Vance said. “We are taking care of business, we are going to be out of there soon.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week that the campaign has already met almost all of its objectives, noting that the operation was initially expected to last four to six weeks.
According to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the operation has involved more than 11,000 strikes and combat flights, as well as damage to more than 150 Iranian vessels.
Rubio added that the objectives have remained unchanged since President Donald Trump first outlined them when the operation began: dismantling Iran’s air force and navy, severely degrading its missile-launching capabilities, and destroying key military-industrial infrastructure and factories.
“All of this so that they can never hide behind it to acquire a nuclear weapon,” Rubio said. 
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States is still engaged in what he described as “serious” talks with a “new, and more reasonable, regime” in Iran. 
Even as negotiations continue, U.S. military assets continue to move into the region. Thousands of soldiers and Marines have arrived in the Middle East, according to Central Command, expanding the administration&#8217;s options if negotiations fail. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-middle-east-news-updates/card/exclusive-pentagon-weighs-sending-another-10-000-ground-troops-to-the-middle-east-Chgv158wIOBdj3b4UDHg?mod=article_inline">According</a> to the Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon is considering sending 10,000 more ground troops to the region.
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U.S. Sailors and Marines aboard USS Tripoli (LHA 7) arrived in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, March 27. The America-class amphibious assault ship serves as the flagship for the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group / 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit composed of about… <a href="https://t.co/JFWiPBbkd2">pic.twitter.com/JFWiPBbkd2</a>
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) <a href="https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/2037906827778682900?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2026</a></blockquote>
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A report from The Washington Post said potential U.S. targets could include Iran&#8217;s Kharg Island oil hub and coastal military positions near the Strait of Hormuz.
“Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached — which it probably will be — and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island … which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched,’” Trump wrote.
He has made similar threats earlier this month, but walked them back after negotiations reportedly began.

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Marco Rubio Hints At Near-Term End To Iran Fight: ‘Weeks, Not Months’

Centcom

Operation Epic Fury

WASHINGTON—The nominee to serve as United Nations Secretary General is a pro-abortion extremist who is unfit to serve in the role, Republicans told Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a letter first obtained by The Daily Wire.
The bicameral group of lawmakers, led by Republican Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, told Rubio on Thursday that former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet &#8220;does not match the qualifications&#8221; President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration is seeking in the next secretary general, given her record of pro-abortion advocacy and the support she has from abortion proponents around the world.
As one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, the United States has the power to veto Bachelet&#8217;s selection to be the next Secretary General. The lawmakers urge Rubio to instruct U.N. Ambassador Michael Waltz to exercise that veto.
&#8220;Dr. Bachelet’s resume reveals a pro-abortion zealot intent on using political authority to override state sovereignty in favor of extreme agendas,&#8221; the lawmakers write. &#8220;She has both overtly attacked pro-life laws — including those of the United States — and sought to weaken them through intimidation and coercion.&#8221;
Bachelet served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as Executive Director of United Nations Women, and as the president of Chile. In each of these roles, the Republicans stressed, she has pushed for abortions of unborn babies as a woman&#8217;s right. President Donald Trump actually pulled the United States out of U.N. Women in January 2026, saying that participation in U.N. Women is contrary to U.S. interests.
&#8220;Dr. Bachelet has repeatedly prioritized an extreme abortion agenda at the expense of state sovereignty,&#8221; the lawmakers told Rubio. &#8220;She is an unsuitable candidate, and the United States, as a permanent member of the Security Council, should veto Dr. Bachelet’s selection.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1066457" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-republicans-press-rubio-to-block-pro-abortion-zealot-un-secretary-general-nominee/chile-election-runoff-vote" rel="attachment wp-att-1066457"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1066457" class="wp-image-1066457 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2251241254-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2251241254-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2251241254-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2251241254-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2251241254.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Chile&#8217;s former president (2006-2010 and 2014-2018) Michelle Bachelet speaks to the press after casting her ballot during the presidential runoff election in Santiago on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Raul BRAVO / AFP via Getty Images)</div>
The United States has previously emphasized that it wants a Secretary General who shares the American vision of &#8220;returning the UN to its founding purpose of maintaining international peace and security,&#8221; as Ambassador Dorothy Shea argued in October 2025, during remarks at a United Nations Security Council Briefing. &#8220;The next Secretary-General should reject initiatives that fall outside the Charter’s founding purpose, prioritize accountability and transparency, and respect state sovereignty.&#8221;
The lawmakers argue that Bachelet would not match such a vision, and that she would instead promote &#8220;divisive ideologies.&#8221;
&#8220;However, Dr. Bachelet’s previous promotion of an extreme abortion agenda suggests that, if selected as the next UNSG, she would 
continue the UN practice of engaging in &#8216;the propagation of divisive ideologies that undermine national sovereignty and stir controversy rather than bring member states together to address issues of common concern.&#8217;  Her demonstrated ambitions and priorities, outlined below, conflict with the United States determination to bring the UN &#8216;back to the basics.'&#8221;
They note that Bachelet, when she served as the High Commissioner for Human Rights, deplored the United States Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022, calling the decision a &#8220;major setback,” a “huge blow to women’s human rights,” and a decision that “strips autonomy” from women. They note that she described abortion as &#8220;firmly rooted in international human rights law,&#8221; saying that the procedure, which brutally ends the life of a human baby, &#8220;is at the core of women and girls’ autonomy.”
Since Bachelet has set the precedent of &#8220;using her office to attack United States pro-life law,&#8221; she cannot be trusted to respect the United States&#8217; &#8220;right to enforce pro-life laws and policies, include the Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance policy and the executive order Enforcing the Hyde Amendment,&#8221; the Republicans argue.
Bachelet has spent her career arguing for more abortions and fewer pro-life laws: in 2022, as the lawmakers point out, she said that &#8220;restrictive abortion laws and practical barriers pose a threat to human rights&#8221; and praised the weakening of pro-life laws in Colombia, Argentina, and Mexico.
&#8220;The truth is that killing an unborn child by abortion can never be construed to be a human right,&#8221; the Republicans wrote. &#8220;Every person — born and unborn—deserves to have his or her human rights secured and protected.&#8221;
They also point to a 2020 fact sheet from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, published under Bachelet&#8217;s purview, that claims &#8220;treaty body jurisprudence has indicated that denying women access to abortion can amount to violations of the rights to health, privacy and, in certain cases, the right to be free from cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.”
Failure to abort babies is &#8220;a form of gender based violence against women, which can amount to torture and/or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,&#8221; the fact sheet asserts. The Republicans argue that these claims are in contradiction to the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a document signed by the United States and 30 other nations affirming there is no international right to abortion.
Bachelet has also failed to oppose coerced abortion in China, traveling to the nation at the invitation of the Chinese Communist Party in order to investigate reports of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the lawmakers tell Rubio.
&#8220;She should have honestly identified the atrocities committed by the CCP against the Uyghurs as a genocide,&#8221; they wrote. &#8220;Instead, she released a watered-down report literally minutes before her term expired. She allowed the CCP to blatantly shield itself from an honest assessment and to sidestep responsibility for its horrific human rights abuses. In an appalling failure of leadership, Dr. Bachelet crumbled under pressure and enabled the CCP to manipulate the visit for its own advantage.&#8221;
As she campaigned for the Chilean presidency, Bachelet promised to weaken the country&#8217;s pro-life law that protected all unborn babies. She followed through by authoring a bill legalizing abortion and sending it to Chile&#8217;s Congress. The bill was approved and established into law, allowing abortions when the baby was a risk to the mother&#8217;s life, had fatal fetal abnormalities, or was the result of a rape.
While the change in law might seem minimal or even standard for Americans, for Chileans, the law change was a cultural shift and a door opened to future pro-abortion laws.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

CHILE-POLITICS-UN-DIPLOMACY

EXCLUSIVE: Republicans Press Rubio To Block ‘Pro-Abortion Zealot’ UN Secretary General Nominee

Abortion

United Nations

Donald Trump/Gavin Newsom

Trump Admin Gives Newsom Rare Praise As He ‘Plays Ball’ On Biden-Era Failure

Cabinet

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will have another task added to his plate, but this one wasn&#8217;t ordered by President Donald Trump.
Rubio is expected to take the witness stand on Tuesday in the federal trial of a former Republican congressman who is accused of secretly lobbying on behalf of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
The trial of David Rivera began on Monday in Miami with prosecutors alleging that Rivera &#8220;offered access&#8221; to U.S. politicians without registering as a foreign lobbyist and was paid $20 million by a Venezuelan state-owned company to attempt to improve U.S.-Venezuela relations, Reuters reported. Rivera and his co-defendant, Esther Nuhfer, met with U.S. lawmakers, including Rubio, as they allegedly attempted to persuade politicians to hold off on economic sanctions on Venezuela.
&#8220;They sold their loyalty. They offered access, the defendants did, to United States politicians that they&#8217;ve spent decades establishing relationships with,&#8221; prosecutor Roger Cruz said during opening statements on Monday.
&#8220;The evidence will show that for $50 million these two defendants made a pact to secretly lobby for Nicolás Maduro, the communist director, and his second in command Delcy Rodríguez,&#8221; Cruz added, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/rubio-rivera-miami-trial-venezuela-5993890ac0d3deece86f6ed900959a64">Associated Press</a>.
Rivera allegedly convinced then-Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez, who is now Venezuela&#8217;s acting leader, to award him a three-month $50 million contract in exchange for his lobbying. Rivera signed the contract in 2017, according to federal prosecutors. The allegations against Rivera stem from after he was in Congress, where he served just one term from 2011 to 2013. Rivera shared a home with Rubio in the early 2000s when they were both serving in the Florida legislature.
When Rubio takes the stand on Tuesday, he will become the first sitting Cabinet member to testify at a criminal trial since Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan testified during a mafia-related trial in 1983. The timing of the criminal trial is intriguing, given that Rubio is currently playing a major role in President Donald Trump&#8217;s Venezuela strategy following the capture of Maduro and the efforts to revitalize and oversee Venezuela&#8217;s oil industry.
Rubio&#8217;s testimony will likely focus on his 2017 meetings with Rivera when Rubio was serving in the U.S. Senate. During the first of those meetings, Rivera revealed details about working with Venezuelan media tycoon Raúl Gorrín, who supposedly held vast influence inside the Venezuelan regime and was working to convince Maduro to hold fair elections, according to an indictment unsealed in 2022. Gorrín has also been charged in the United States with bribing Venezuelan officials.
Rivera and Gorrín also communicated in a private group chat with others and used code names for Maduro, whom they called &#8220;bus driver,&#8221; and Rodríguez, whom they referred to as &#8220;the lady in red.&#8221; According to the indictment, Rivera texted Rubio two days after the meeting, writing, &#8220;Remember, U.S. should facilitate, not just support, a negotiated solution. No vengeance, reconciliation.&#8221;
Rivera, alongside Gorrín and others, met with Rubio a second time and allegedly said in a private group chat with Gorrín that Maduro would have to pay him for setting up the meeting with the U.S. senator. Rivera and Gorrín also asked Texas Republican Congressman Pete Sessions to set up a meeting between Rodríguez and Exxon Mobil.
The defense argues that Rivera and Nuhfer were not required to register as foreign lobbyists under U.S. law because they were focused on commercial issues, such as convincing Exxon to move back to Venezuela, not on political lobbying, the Associated Press reported. Rivera&#8217;s defense also claims that because he was hired for consulting by the American subsidiary of Venezuela&#8217;s state-owned oil company, he was not required to register as a foreign lobbyist.
Rivera’s defense attorney Ed Shohat told the jury on Monday, &#8220;Not one single policy of the U.S. was impacted by this case.&#8221;
The defense team wanted Maduro, who is awaiting his own trial in the United States, to testify, but the former dictator said he would exercise his Fifth Amendment right if called to testify. The defense team also sought to subpoena White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who was working as a lobbyist for Gorrín&#8217;s network at the time, to testify in the trial, but that effort was shot down.

David Rivera/Marco Rubio

Rubio To Take The Stand In Bombshell Corruption Trial

Rubio To Testify In Trial Of Former Congressman Accused Of Secretly Lobbying For Venezuela

trial

Venezuela

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In a move that surprises absolutely no one familiar with the &#8220;Gray Lady’s&#8221; obsession with laundering leftist narratives, the New York Times has once again been caught pushing anonymous leaks as front-page news. This time, the target is the Trump administration’s Cuba policy, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio isn&#8217;t just calling them out — he’s incinerating the outlet&#8217;s credibility.
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The Times published a sensationalist report titled, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/world/americas/trump-cuba-president-diaz-canel.html?unlocked_article_code=1.TlA.Ygf9.a5SMOwYKG0cM#after-story-ad-7">Trump Administration Said to Tell Cuba That Its President Has to Go</a>,” alleging that U.S. negotiators are cutting backroom deals to swap Cuba&#8217;s figureheads while leaving the broader communist apparatus intact. The story relies heavily on anonymous sources and reads more like a fever dream of D.C. bureaucrats than actual reporting.
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Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles whose political career is inextricably linked to the fight against Havana, took to X to dismantle the report with surgical precision. &#8220;The reason so many in US media keep putting out fake stories like this one is because they continue to rely on charlatans &amp; liars claiming to be in the know as their sources,&#8221; Rubio blasted.
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The reason so many in US media keep putting out fake stories like this one is because they continue to rely on charlatans &amp; liars claiming to be in the know as their sources. <a href="https://t.co/mfzZbeO9UT">https://t.co/mfzZbeO9UT</a>
&mdash; Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) <a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/2034111671950594146?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
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As the primary architect of the &#8220;hardline&#8221; approach — from the Cuba Restricted List to returning the regime to the State Sponsors of Terrorism list — Rubio has consistently argued that the only real &#8220;blockade&#8221; on the island is the one the regime imposes on its own people. Whether it&#8217;s medicine, the internet, or remittances, Rubio has spent years exposing how the regime uses control as a weapon. For the Times to suggest he is now negotiating with &#8220;Raulito&#8221; Castro to keep the system in place is not just a bad lead; it’s a deliberate insult to the exile community.
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But this is par for the course for the Times. This is the same &#8220;Paper of Record&#8221; that <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/11/10/us-news/nyt-has-yet-to-issue-correction-for-wrongly-claiming-trump-falsely-accused-fema-of-avoiding-supporters-homes/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">spent weeks</a> &#8220;fact-checking&#8221; Donald Trump’s claims that FEMA neglected Republican homes — only to stay silent when FEMA itself admitted an official ordered workers to &#8220;avoid homes advertising Trump.&#8221; It’s the same outlet that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nyt-humiliated-leavitt-dismantles-fake-news-narrative-on-trumps-health?utm_source=chatgpt.com">lacerated</a> for questioning the president’s fitness using anonymous hacks, while previously claiming a stumbling Joe Biden was &#8220;100% fine.&#8221;
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For Rubio, the Times&#8217; Cuba piece is just the latest entry in a long ledger of institutional gaslighting. By relying on &#8220;charlatans&#8221; to push a narrative of managed transition, the Times is attempting to memory-hole the administration&#8217;s true goal: the total collapse of the Marxist dictatorship. Rubio’s message is clear: the administration isn&#8217;t interested in the Times’ symbolic reshuffling. While the &#8220;fact-checkers&#8221; continue to protect the regime, Rubio is busy reminding the world that if the regime wants the embargo to end, it can start by freeing political prisoners and holding fair elections.
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Secretary Marco Rubio Meets With Ecuadoran Foreign Affairs Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld

‘Charlatans And Liars’: Rubio Torches The ‘Gray Lady’ Over Cuba Report

Cuba

As the 2026 midterm elections approach, Democrats are fighting to claim the majority in one or both chambers of Congress. But, according to a recent poll, the Democratic Party is polling below almost every key figure and organization — with the exception of the brutal Iranian regime.
<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/27777984-nbc-news-march-2026-poll-03-08-2024-release-final/">An NBC News poll</a>, published by the legacy news outlet on March 8, asked a number of standard questions regarding the economy, military action in Iran, and the overall performance thus far of President Donald Trump — but it also ranked a number of key figures and organizations based on their net favorability.
The Democratic Party, with a net favorability rating of -22, ranked near the bottom of the list — in fact, only the Iranian regime ranked below the Democrats, albeit with a much lower net favorability of -53. Pope Leo the 14th ranked highest overall with a net favorability of 34.
President Donald Trump (-12) and the Republican Party (-14) were near the middle of the list — and as far as 2028 presidential contenders, Republicans fared far better than Democrats did there as well. Two of the most likely Democratic primary candidates — former Vice President Kamala Harris at -17 and Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feminist-hero-katie-couric-asks-gavin-newsom-if-hes-too-hot-to-be-president-in-hard-hitting-interview">Gavin Newsom</a> (D-CA) at -18 — ranked decidedly lower than current Vice President JD Vance (-11) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (-7). Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who is rumored to be considering either a presidential bid or a move to unseat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, was the only Democrat to break into the top half of the list, tying with Vance at -11.
The poll surveyed 1000 registered voters, just over half of whom were female. They were evenly divided along political lines, with 42% saying they leaned Republican, 42% saying they leaned Democrat, and the rest identifying themselves as either independent or other.
As to the other questions, just under half (44%) said they approved of President Trump&#8217;s performance thus far, and 54% disapproved. On border security specifically, the president fared much better, with just over half (53%) approving of his actions and a little less than half (44%) disapproving. On foreign policy, 43% approved and 54% disapproved — a slight shift from one year prior, when 45% approved and 53% disapproved. On the war in Iran, more than one-third (41%) approved of the president&#8217;s actions, and just over half (54%) disapproved.
A number of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/odds-have-gone-plummeting-down-cnn-data-guru-says-democrat-hopes-of-flipping-house-are-fading">polls</a> in recent months have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/voters-abandon-democrats-support-hits-lowest-level-in-more-than-three-decades-poll">spelled trouble</a> for the Democrats, with one from The Wall Street Journal (in July of 2025) noting that Democrats had sunk to their lowest approval rating in decades, with well over half (63%) holding a negative view of the party.

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