American diplomats will push countries around the world to adopt policies that prioritize the online safety of kids while not jeopardizing free speech or digital privacy, according to an internal memo first obtained by The Daily Wire. 
The memo from the State Department directs diplomats to encourage their host countries to pursue policies that keep children safe from the dangers of online pornography and sexual abuse while not compromising fundamental freedoms. 
“The Trump Administration strongly prioritizes the protection of children online, advancing policies that combat exploitation while safeguarding privacy, free expression, and innovation,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told The Daily Wire. “As countries explore frameworks to protect children online, we stand ready to engage and encourage approaches that are effective, balanced, and do not impose unintended consequences on fundamental freedoms or technological progress.”
The memo from the State Department says that it supports age verification technology if implemented within a scope that protects privacy, freedom of speech and digital innovation. In general the State Department said it favored an open internet, especially when it comes to political speech, with the exception to pornography and adult commercial activities such as gambling, tobacco, or alcohol. 
“The United States seeks to engage global partners to ensure that, if they implement or consider age assurance measures, they do so in close coordination with the U.S. government, tech companies, and civil society, including parents, to inform their approach,” the memo said. 
The memo added that its priority was prioritizing parental involvement. 
“The United States favors regulatory approaches that empower parents to prescribe access limitations for devices used by their child, rather than mandating one-size-fits-all access limitations imposed by the government.  The United States also favors digital-literacy campaigns that educate parents about how to manage relevant device settings,” the memo read.  
One form of age-verification the State Department said it favored was zero knowledge proof (ZKP) age verification systems. This approach is to be verified while precise personal details are kept private at the same time. 
“The United States encourages ZKP standards that are interoperable across platforms and regulatory regimes and encourages a diverse ecosystem of ZKP credentialing that includes relatively anonymous, low-friction options,” the memo added. 
It said it does not favor approaches that mandate the production of a driver&#8217;s license or a passport.
President Donald Trump has pushed for protections online for kids and signed “The Take It Down Act” in 2025, a law championed by First Lady Melania Trump requiring the removal of content featuring nonconsensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated deepfakes. 
Polling <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/where-americans-stand-on-forcing-age-checks-for-porn-sites">shows</a> that the vast majority of Americans support a federal law requiring age verification for app downloads or access to pornographic content online. A poll conducted by Cygnal in February found that 83% of likely voters support an age verification law for mobile app downloads, and 81% of likely voters support age verification for pornographic sites.

Girl lying on bed at night and using a mobile phone

Trump Admin Launches Global Crackdown To Shield Kids From Pornography, Online Abuse

Free Speech

Online porn

Pornography

State Department

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>.

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

Executive

Global Politics

Iran

Marco Rubio

World

In a major legal victory for free speech, the State Department has settled a lawsuit brought by The Daily Wire and others in 2023, ensuring an end to its support for censorship of American media outlets and putting the burden on the government to prove compliance to outlets harmed by its actions.
A federal judge on Wednesday entered a consent decree placing The Daily Wire and The Federalist, a co-plaintiff, in charge of ensuring that future State Departments do not fund efforts to deem news outlets &#8220;disinformation,&#8221; concluding the years-long First Amendment battle. The settlement will prohibit the State Department from supporting any further censorship of Americans, and appoint the plaintiffs as compliance monitors until 2036.
&#8220;Today marks an important day for preserving free speech in the digital era,&#8221; said Daily Wire CEO Caleb Robinson. &#8220;The U.S. government has acknowledged its censorship structures under the Biden administration, and will now be subject to limitations on similar behavior in the future.&#8221;
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/">The Daily Wire will not be silenced, and will always fight for freedom. Join us today to support the fight. </a>
In 2023, The Daily Wire and The Federalist <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-texas-ag-ask-court-to-block-state-departments-domestic-misinformation-efforts">sued</a> the State Department after President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration used its Global Engagement Center to fund and promote companies that worked to bankrupt conservative news outlets by deeming them &#8220;disinformation.&#8221; The Daily Wire, represented by the <a href="http://nclalegal.org/press_release/in-historic-settlement-ncla-strikes-fatal-blow-to-state-departments-censorship-industrial-complex/">New Civil Liberties Alliance</a> (NCLA), demonstrated in the case how the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) was used during the Biden administration to deliberately target disfavored news outlets.
Many of the more than 30 products showcased by GEC would assign reputability scores to news outlets, often due to their coverage of issues like COVID and election integrity. At the same time, advertisers were pressured not to do business with flagged outlets, based on the idea that it would be toxic to their brand.
One such company was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/congress-to-probe-media-rating-firm-newsguard-for-possible-taxpayer-funded-censorship?author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Congress+To+Probe+Media+Rating+Firm+NewsGuard+For+Possible+Taxpayer-Funded+Censorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NewsGuard</a>, which sells its ranking list to advertisers and whose co-CEO said it was &#8220;empowering governments… to support quality journalism and systemically defund sources of harmful misinformation.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/11Pgvwj3RVE?si=r0AQ3j5MjQLszXI6" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Another is the Global Disinformation Index, which claimed that liberal sites like ProPublica are among the “least risky,” while outlets like the New York Post, Reason Magazine, The Federalist, and The Daily Wire are among the “riskiest.” The group received a cash award from the State Department’s GEC and said it would “support market-wide deployment so that the ad-tech space can offer advertisers the chance to choose which sites their ads support.”
Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro said that GDI &#8220;fed basically a blacklist of sites to advertisers so that advertisers would want to pull their money&#8221; and that the effort &#8220;deprived groups and organizations like the Daily Wire of legitimately millions of dollars in advertising.”
Outlets were down-rated for their coverage of vaccines, the efficacy of masking, election integrity, abortion, transgenderism, and other topics.
Since it would be unconstitutional for the government to work to bankrupt news outlets that criticized the government&#8217;s official line, the Biden administration backed third parties who were doing it, the lawsuit argued. GEC seemingly attempted to avoid scrutiny by using a mysterious company called Park Capital Investment Group, helmed by a former State Department employee, as an additional middleman.
In a historic first, the State Department has publicly acknowledged through a binding legal agreement that the types of speech it previously sought to censor like the news and opinions published by The Daily Wire and The Federalist are protected by the First Amendment, and the State Department has agreed to dismantle its censorship apparatus by no longer using “technologies to knowingly or intentionally suppress, censor, demonetize, or downgrade the constitutionally protected speech of Americans or domestic media outlets,&#8221; or recommending that third parties do so.
<div id="attachment_663179" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-663179" class="size-large wp-image-663179" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/GettyImages-1712281320-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/GettyImages-1712281320-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/GettyImages-1712281320-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/GettyImages-1712281320-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/GettyImages-1712281320.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />President Joe Biden (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/ Washington Post via Getty Images)</div>
Congress defunded the Global Engagement Center in 2024 following the lawsuit, but the Biden administration moved its employees to a similar group doing similar work, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in April 2025, announcing that all those employees had been hit with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-department-shutters-misinformation-censorship-agency-salts-the-earth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">layoff notices</a>.
“Under the previous administration, this office, which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year, spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving,” Rubio said. “This is antithetical to the very principles we should be upholding and inconceivable it was taking place in America.”
The agreement is a binding contract that cannot be dissolved by future administrations, and requires the State Department — including under any future Democratic president — to report annually on its activities so The Daily Wire and The Federalist can monitor for compliance.
If violations are uncovered and the government does not rectify them, a federal judge in Texas would force the State Department to come into compliance with the agreement. The State Department settlement also requires the department to hold employee trainings in 2030 and 2035 on how the First Amendment precludes them from censoring Americans.
&#8220;The prohibitions, reporting, and training required by the Consent Decree will protect Free Speech for well more than the decade that the Decree is in force,&#8221; said Zhonette Brown, a top attorney for NCLA.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-texas-ag-ask-court-to-block-state-departments-domestic-misinformation-efforts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> said that GEC &#8220;researched, assessed, funded, investigated, evaluated, tested, marketed, and/or promoted over 365 so-called Countering Propaganda and Disinformation or ‘CPD’ tools and technologies, including tools and technologies that target American speech and the American press.&#8221; GEC created a platform called “Disinfo Cloud” to house them, and encouraged U.S. social media and tech companies to use the resources, even creating a Silicon Valley office.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-department-shutters-misinformation-censorship-agency-salts-the-earth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elvis Chan</a>, an FBI agent involved in asking Twitter to take down posts including those related to the Hunter Biden laptop, told Congress that he worked regularly with GEC, and that GEC did not seem to be concerned with the First Amendment since it was used to operating in foreign countries.
The State Department has always been forbidden from running propaganda on Americans, yet GEC sponsored a “COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation” tech challenge, and the three winners were all “American companies which offer technologies that target Americans’ speech broadcast to Americans,” the conservative outlets argued.
&#8220;Media literacy&#8221; is a term that has been used by the State Department to import left-wing censorship from countries like Germany and impose it on Americans. The U.S. Embassy in Berlin funded a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-department-paid-germans-to-bring-censorship-and-propaganda-to-u-s-schools" target="_blank" rel="noopener">seminar for United States teachers</a> who heard from an activist at a German group that lamented that on the internet, “it is not just progressive voices which are being spread,” but also “ideologies which are based on hatred.”
For that event, the State Department worked with Media Literacy Now, which calls media literacy a &#8220;tool to create the society we all deserve: one that nurtures racial equity, social justice, and true democracy. Media literacy equals cultural change.&#8221; It is a nonprofit linked to the for-profit Ad Fontes, which sells lists of &#8220;reputable&#8221; news outlets to advertisers.
The Daily Wire’s Andrew Klavan called it a “major victory for The Daily Wire, for The Federalist,” and a “major step in preserving the most precious right we have, a right that came very close to being extinguished during the Biden administration.”
The media outlets were represented on a pro bono basis by Margaret Little, Margot Cleveland, Casey Norman, Zhonette Brown, and Margaret Harker of the New Civil Liberties Alliance.
&#8220;We&#8217;re grateful to NCLA for representing us, and I also appreciate our co-plaintiffs&#8217; efforts in this landmark case,&#8221; Robinson said. &#8220;We&#8217;re proud to join them in the fight for freedom.&#8221;
The Daily Wire stands for the American birthright of freedom —  freedom of speech, faith, open debate, and the pursuit of objective truth. These are not just ideals; they are the promise of America, and we refuse to surrender them. 
If you believe in this nation&#8217;s greatness, <a href="https://get.dailywire.com/">stand with us</a> in the fight to preserve it.

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Daily Wire Wins Landmark Free Speech Victory In Censorship Lawsuit Against State Department

Social Media Censorship

The Daily Wire

On March 6, 2024, Reza Valizadeh — a journalist and dual American-Iranian citizen — returned to Iran for the first time in nearly two decades to visit his elderly parents.
Six months later, he was arrested. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confiscated his U.S. passport and other documents. He was interrogated about his work, convicted of “collaborating with a hostile government,&#8221; and sentenced to 10 years in Tehran&#8217;s notorious Evin Prison. According to the United Nations, detainees at Evin are frequently held in solitary confinement, denied access to lawyers, and subjected to harsh and often abusive conditions.
Now, as President Donald Trump suggests the United States and Iran could soon renew diplomatic talks, Valizadeh&#8217;s supporters hope he could soon find freedom.
<h3 style="max-width: 728px; margin: 0 auto;">Trapped in Iran: The Fight to Free American Journalist Reza Valizadeh<iframe style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; max-width: 100%; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/6t7Sdm7y01d6GhJZddXudZWRUlivNLIma?metadata-video-content-type=embed_video&amp;metadata-video-id=b44f296f-18b6-41c0-b755-fee2e8aaa58d&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=March%2024%2C%202026%20-%20Inside%20the%20Case%20of%20Reza%20Valizadeh&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fembedded-videos%2F0a924ad5-c02e-40ed-a4ba-5d4b8a5dc1af.webp&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></h3>
Valizadeh was forced into exile in 2009 after angering the Islamic regime with his reporting on corruption, election manipulation, and the regime’s security apparatus. He returned to Tehran knowing that his reporting on the regime&#8217;s corruption and abuses — which he continued in exile for Radio Farda, a Persian-language outlet affiliated with Radio Free Europe — had angered the Iranian government and IRGC.
“With the news of the negotiations with Iran, we are hoping the cessation of strikes (if even brief) will open a window for the administration to prioritize the release of Americans being held in Evin prison,” Valizadeh’s attorney, Ryan Fayhee, told The Daily Wire.
That possibility follows a recent de-escalation in tensions, after President Trump cited ongoing talks as a reason for backing off his demand that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its energy infrastructure. While Tehran has denied that negotiations are ongoing and reportedly rejected a U.S.-ceasefire plan on Wednesday, Fayhee still has hope.
For advocates, even the prospect of dialogue creates a potential opening for U.S. officials to prioritize the release of detained Americans.
Fayhee told The Daily Wire that Valizadeh was misled about his safety before returning to Iran in 2024.
“He did receive some assurances — they ended up being false assurances — that he would not face any concerns,” Fayhee said. “He was ultimately arrested, interrogated, and then held in the political wing of Evin Prison with many other political dissidents, former government officials who are being held there.”
Fayhee says what followed was a sham trial where Valizadeh was denied due process protections, meaningful access to legal counsel, and in which the judge acted as a prosecutor and decision-maker.
Valizadeh was present for a 2025 Israeli strike on Evin Prison, during which prisoners were <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/08/14/iran-detainees-ill-treated-and-disappeared-after-israeli-evin-prison-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> transferred in chaotic, cruel conditions to overcrowded facilities without adequate food or medical care. Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, <a href="https://x.com/gidonsaar/status/1937083300373541216" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the attack was a response to Iran targeting civilians and was intended to help liberate detainees.
<div id="attachment_1065091" style="width: 802px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1065091" class="size-large wp-image-1065091" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2222337441-792x576.jpg" alt="" width="792" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2222337441-792x576.jpg 792w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2222337441-300x218.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2222337441-768x559.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2222337441.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px" />Iranian cameramen capture videos of an office building of the Evin prison, which is destroyed in Israeli strikes in northern Tehran, Iran, on July 1, 2025. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</div>
Valizadeh is believed to have been held in Ward 209 of Evin Prison, the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention center, where reports indicate prisoners are held without access to sunlight and “subjected to indiscriminate physical torture, including floggings, electric shocks, mock executions, waterboarding, sexual violence, suspension, force-feeding of chemical substances, and deliberate deprivation of medical care,” according to the United Nations.
He is now being held in Ward 7, where inmates are kept in overcrowded cells under poor living conditions, including just four toilets for every 200 prisoners. According to his brother, Valizadeh’s small cell holds 18 inmates, many of whom are forced to sleep on the ground.
Fayhee said Valizadeh was arrested not only for his reporting, but to send a broader warning.
“Reza appears to have been targeted really for the purposes of sending a message to other journalists who would report outside Iran on what&#8217;s happening within Iran,” he said.
Fayhee, who has represented wrongfully detained Americans abroad since 2019, said Valizadeh’s case follows a familiar pattern in which Iran targets dual nationals and particularly journalists on vague national security charges. The two most prominent Iranian-American journalists to be wrongfully detained by Iran are Jason Rezaian and Roxana Saberi, both of whom were released amid international pressure.
“Essentially, the crime is alleged to be sort of consorting with the enemy and outside forces,” Fayhee said. “It’s truly a fake crime, fake proceeding. There&#8217;s no real rule of law when it comes to anyone who&#8217;s publicly criticizing the regime. And so this is the charge that they rely upon.”
Valizadeh has since been designated by the State Department as wrongfully detained — a classification that opens additional government resources to help secure his release.
Due to the lack of an American diplomatic presence in Iran, Switzerland’s embassy in Tehran serves as the protecting power for the United States, providing consular assistance to American citizens, including prisoners. The embassy was <a href="https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/foreign-affairs/swiss-embassy-in-tehran-closes-temporarily-amid-escalating-middle-east-conflict/91081782" target="_blank" rel="noopener">temporarily closed</a> earlier this month due to Operation Epic Fury, with the Swiss ambassador and staff leaving Iran.
According to Fayhee, it is difficult to communicate with his client, though he has received some messages that have made him concerned about Valizadeh’s health.
“I grew quite concerned immediately because I know he&#8217;d had some respiratory issues in the past,” he said. “A lot of coughing, pretty raspy, difficult.”
The United Nations confirms Valizadeh suffers from asthma and has experienced worsening symptoms in detention while being denied adequate medical care. His family has been unable to deliver him medication due to the prison’s doctor not providing him a prescription.
For now, Fayhee says ensuring visibility is key.
“I think it&#8217;s important that his name be known by everybody across the U.S., whether it&#8217;s in Capitol Hill, whether it&#8217;s at the UN, whether it&#8217;s at the White House,” Fayhee said. “I think that&#8217;s his best protection.”

Reza Valizadeh

He Went Home To Visit His Parents — Now He’s Fighting To Get Out Alive

Evin Prison

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

The Trump administration designated another branch of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization Monday, marking its fourth such designation in an effort to curb the Islamic extremist group active throughout the world.
The designation targets the Muslim Brotherhood’s Sudanese chapter, whose fighters the Trump administration says received training from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and carried out mass executions.
The State Department said the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood — composed of the Sudanese Islamic Movement and its armed wing, the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade (BBMB) — uses “unrestrained violence against civilians” to advance its violent Islamist ideology and undermine efforts to resolve the conflict in Sudan.
In January, the Trump administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-designates-three-muslim-brotherhood-branches-as-terrorist-organizations">designated</a> three branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, including affiliates in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt.
The Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan was designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) and the administration said it intends to classify the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), the most severe designation, which criminalizes providing material support under federal law. The SDGT designation allows the Treasury Department to freeze assets and block financial transactions.
“The Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood uses unrestrained violence against civilians to undermine efforts to resolve the conflict in Sudan and advance its violent Islamist ideology,” the State Department said. 
The group contributed more than 20,000 fighters to Sudan’s civil war, which has displaced about 12 million people and may have caused as many as 400,000 deaths, <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/power-struggle-sudan">according to</a> the former U.S. envoy to Sudan.
According to the State Department, many of the fighters received training and other support from the IRGC, and members of the BBMB have carried out mass executions of civilians in captured areas, including killings based on race, ethnicity, or suspected affiliation with opposition groups.
“Its fighters, many receiving training and other support from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have conducted mass executions of civilians,” the statement added. “As the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, the Iranian regime has financed and directed malign activities globally through its IRGC.”
It added that the U.S. will continue to “use all available tools to deprive the Iranian regime and Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
The Treasury Department previously designated BBMB in September 2025 under Executive Order 14098 for its role in Sudan’s brutal civil war.
Under the new designation, all property and financial interests belonging to the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood that fall within U.S. jurisdiction are blocked and U.S. citizens and businesses are prohibited from conducting transactions with the organization.
The State Department warned that foreign individuals or companies that engage in certain dealings with the group could also face secondary sanctions under U.S. counterterrorism authorities.
The designation is scheduled to take effect on March 16.
The designation follows Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-joins-texas-in-designating-cair-and-muslim-brotherhood-as-terrorist-organizations">issuing</a> state-level orders in late 2025 labeling the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as foreign terrorist organizations. 
CAIR, which describes itself as the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group in the United States, responded by suing both states and denying that it supports terrorism. After DeSantis issued his order, the group accused the Florida governor of being “Israel first.”
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, an Islamist schoolteacher who sought to build a movement dedicated to implementing Islamic law and resisting Western influence in the Muslim world. It is one of the most influential movements in the Middle East and Africa, and has spawned terrorist groups, including Hamas.

Gaza protest in Jordan

Trump Admin Takes Fight Beyond Battlefield With New Terror Blacklist Move

Muslim Brotherhood

Sudan

A question about &#8220;queering&#8221; maps — raised during a Thursday hearing on Capitol Hill — revealed just how deep the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives were buried in the U.S. State Department under former President Joe Biden.
Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) posed the question to Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers, who assumed the role previously held by Biden-appointee Liz Allen in 2025, asking her what it meant to &#8220;make maps more gay.&#8221; Mast was questioning Rogers on a series of programs that were given grant funding during the Biden administration to push DEI priorities.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/RepBrianMast?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepBrianMast</a>: How do you make a map more gay? <a href="https://twitter.com/UnderSecPD?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UnderSecPD</a> brings reciepts exposing just what the Biden State Department wasted tax dollars on for four years. <a href="https://t.co/4nQvIptIFM">pic.twitter.com/4nQvIptIFM</a>
— House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority (@HouseForeignGOP) <a href="https://twitter.com/HouseForeignGOP/status/2029713864212762872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Can you tell me, what is queering the map?&#8221; Mast asked Rogers.
&#8220;So I think we were trying to make the maps more gay,&#8221; Rogers replied.
&#8220;Literally? That&#8217;s — How do you make a map more gay?&#8221; Mast asked, clearly baffled by the concept. &#8220;Or gay at all?&#8221;
&#8220;Especially with AI — since the age of cartography we&#8217;ve had pretty good maps, but maybe they weren&#8217;t gay enough,&#8221; Rogers said. &#8220;I know also — I took critical theory in college, I think sometimes people use &#8216;queer&#8217; as a verb. I do understand that the maps that we were trying to make gay were I think of Czechia and Slovakia, so maybe those countries asked for it. I doubt it, but I don&#8217;t know.&#8221;
Mast made it clear that he was unimpressed by the previous administration&#8217;s priorities, adding, &#8220;We do have real things to work on in Congress like what&#8217;s going on with the imminent threat of Iran, and it is embarrassing that we have to talk about the fact that things like this were funded.&#8221;
Mast went on to list a few other similar DEI-focused initiatives that had been funded during the Biden administration, including introducing &#8220;non-binary and trans francophones&#8221; to minimize the heavily-gendered nature of the French language in order to make it more inclusive.
The goal, Mast explained, was to shift &#8220;linguistic attitudes and ideologies towards inclusive French in Montreal, Canada.&#8221;
Turning to Rogers, he asked the undersecretary to provide him with receipts for other such initiatives and with the identities of those who were writing the grants.
&#8220;Whatever documentation they have on all of these things, we would love to see that and would absolutely love to know the individuals specifically that were busy writing these grants because they have no business receiving another paycheck from the people of the United States of America,&#8221; Mast concluded.
Rogers <a href="https://x.com/UnderSecPD/status/2029790467525943547">commented</a> on the exchange afterward, offering her apologies to the people of Czechia and Slovakia for what the Biden administration had done to their maps.
&#8220;Czechia and Slovakia are great countries. I’m sorry that my predecessors &#8216;queered&#8217; your maps! This is why future public diplomacy grants will be streamlined, accountable, and channeled toward real American interests, like free speech and sports diplomacy,&#8221; she said.

President Biden Speaks In Las Vegas On Lowering Costs For Americans

‘How Do You Make A Map Gay?’ Biden-Era Program Used Tax Dollars To ‘Queer’ Maps

Wild Line Of Questioning Exposes Biden Admin's DEI Priorities: 'How Do You Make A Map More Gay?'

Brian Mast

Politics

queer

Sarah Rogers

President Donald Trump floated the United States taking control of Cuba after the communist country’s Coast Guard killed four individuals on a boat registered in the state of Florida on Wednesday.
&#8220;The Cuban government is talking with us, and they&#8217;re in a big deal of trouble, as you know. They have no money, they have no anything right now, but they’re talking with us, and maybe we&#8217;ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba,” the president told reporters Friday, adding that the island nation is in “big trouble.”
“You know, we have people living here that want to go back to Cuba, and they’re very happy with what’s going on,” he continued.
The boat had Americans on board, according to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/02/26/us-americans-cuba-boat-shooting-rubio" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Axios</a>. The Cuban government claims that the “violating speedboat” was in “territorial waters.”
“When a surface unit of the Border Guard Troops of the Ministry of the Interior, carrying five service members, approached the vessel for identification, the crew of the violating speedboat opened fire on the Cuban personnel, resulting in the injury of the commander of the Cuban vessel,” the Ministry of the Interior stated.
“In the face of current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar of the Cuban State in safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region,” the statement added, noting that there will be investigations into the incident.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez posted to X on Thursday that the country “does not attack, nor threaten.”
“We have stated this on repeated occasions and we reaffirm it today: Cuba will defend itself with determination and firmness against any terrorist and mercenary aggression that seeks to affect its sovereignty and national stability,” he added.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that the U.S. has “every reason to want our own information.”
“We don’t make decisions in the United States on the basis of what the Cuban authorities are saying,” he added.
The recent incident and the comments from the president come as the country, which is just 90 miles south of Florida, is facing an ongoing energy crisis, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-02-26/trump-looks-to-leverage-cuba-s-energy-crisis-to-gain-influence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomberg</a> reported.
The Trump administration has not wavered in flexing the American military’s muscle in the Western Hemisphere, most recently with the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in January to face narco-terrorism charges in the United States.

TOPSHOT-CUBA-MAY DAY-DEMO

Trump Suggests ‘Friendly Takeover Of Cuba’ After Boat Incident

Cuba

Foreign Policy

Trump Administration

Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Friday that any new U.S. nuclear treaty must reflect the rapid expansion of China&#8217;s nuclear arsenal. 
Rubio’s comments come a day after the New START Treaty, which limited deployed strategic nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia, officially expired. He argued that any replacement framework should address a new era beyond the Cold War model, one that recognized both Russia and China as nuclear peers. 
“A treaty requires at least two parties, and the choice before the United States was to bind itself unilaterally or to recognize that a new era requires a new approach. Not the same old START, but something new. A treaty that reflects that the United States could soon face not one, but two, nuclear peers in Russia and China,” he <a href="https://statedept.substack.com/p/the-next-era-of-nuclear-arms-control">wrote</a> on the State Department’s Substack page. 
Rubio said China&#8217;s nuclear stockpile has nearly tripled since 2020, growing from the low 200s to almost 600, with projections topping 1,000 warheads by 2030. 
“China’s rapid and opaque expansion of its nuclear arsenal since New START entered into force has rendered past models of arms control, based upon bilateral agreements between the United States and Russia, obsolete,” Rubio wrote. “An arms control arrangement that does not account for China’s build-up, which Russia is supporting, will undoubtedly leave the United States and our allies less safe.”
President Donald Trump has accused China of conducting secret nuclear tests. Under Secretary of State Thomas DiNanno <a href="https://x.com/UnderSecT/status/2019714341344362507">said</a> Friday on X that China had used a technique called &#8220;decoupling&#8221; to mask nuclear explosive tests by reducing the effectiveness of seismic monitoring, including one conducted on June 22, 2020.
Rubio also criticized Russia, noting that Moscow announced in 2023, amid its war with Ukraine, that it would stop recognizing the New START Treaty. Although Russia later said it would continue observing the treaty&#8217;s limits, the agreement capped deployed nuclear warheads at 1,550. 
“Russia and China should not expect the United States to stand still while they shirk their obligations and expand their nuclear forces. We will maintain a robust, credible, and modernized nuclear deterrent,” Rubio wrote. “But we will do so while pursuing all avenues to fulfill the President’s genuine desire for a world with fewer of these awful weapons.”
Ahead of New START’s expiration, President Donald Trump said he wanted a broader nuclear agreement that could include other countries like China. In a Truth Social <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116019511106186158">post</a> on Thursday, Trump criticized the Obama-era deal as poorly negotiated.
“Rather than extend ‘NEW START’ (A badly negotiated deal by the United States that, aside from everything else, is being grossly violated), we should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future,” Trump wrote.

President Trump Meets With Visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

Rubio Warns China’s ‘Rapid’ Nuclear Buildup Is Making U.S. ‘Less Safe’

China

Nuclear Weapons

Russia

An arms control treaty between the United States and Russia limiting deployed strategic nuclear warheads expired Thursday, marking the first time since 1972 that either country is no longer bound by formal caps on its nuclear forces. 
The New START Treaty, negotiated under former President Barack Obama and taking effect on February 5, 2011, expired on February 4 with no announced replacement. The expiration comes as President Donald Trump has directed the Departments of War and Energy to prepare for potential changes to nuclear weapons policy. 
“If it expires, it expires,” Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/us/politics/trump-interview-power-morality.html#:~:text=“If%20it%20expires%2C%20it%20expires%2C”%20he%20said.%20“We’ll%20do%20a%20better%20agreement%2C”%20he%20added%2C%20insisting%20that%20China%2C%20which%20has%20the%20fastest%2Dgrowing%20arsenal%20in%20the%20world%2C%20should%20be%20incorporated%20in%20any%20future%20agreement.">told</a> The New York Times in an interview last month. “We’ll do a better agreement.”
“You probably want to get a couple of other players involved also,” Trump added. 
New START capped Russia and the United States at 700 deployed strategic delivery systems, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), along with a limit of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers.
“New START limits all Russian deployed intercontinental-range nuclear weapons, including every Russian nuclear warhead that is loaded onto an intercontinental-range ballistic missile that can reach the United States in approximately 30 minutes,” the State Department <a href="https://www.state.gov/new-start-treaty">said</a>. 
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that “Russian interests” would drive the next stage of relations with the United States. 
&#8220;What happens next depends on how events unfold,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/new-nuclear-age-beckons-clock-ticks-down-last-russia-us-arms-deal-2026-02-04/">said</a>. &#8220;In any case, the Russian Federation will maintain its responsible and attentive approach to the issue of strategic stability in the field of nuclear weapons and, of course, as always, will be guided first and foremost by its national interests.&#8221;
Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115460423936412555">said</a> in October that the United States would begin testing its nuclear weapons, arguing the move was necessary because Russia and China were conducting secret nuclear tests. China, meanwhile, is rapidly expanding its nuclear weapons stash and is projected to have more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.
“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. You know, we’re an open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you people are going to report,” Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-sounds-alarm-china-and-russia-conducting-secret-nuke-tests?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Sounds+Alarm%3A+China+and+Russia+Conducting+Secret+Nuke+Tests">said</a>. “We’re going to test, because they test and others test.”
Trump administration officials later clarified that the planned tests would be &#8220;systems tests&#8221; and would not involve nuclear detonations. The United States has not detonated a nuclear weapon since 1992.
Russia <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-nuclear-rules-start-treaty-vladimir-putin-ukraine-missiles-rcna71805">suspended</a> participation in the New START Treaty in 2023 amid its war with Ukraine, but claimed it would continue to comply with the treaty&#8217;s limits. Since coming into office, Trump has pushed strongly for an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. On Thursday, special envoy Steve Witkoff announced that the United States, Russia, and Ukraine had agreed to a 314-person prisoner swap.
&#8220;This outcome was achieved from peace talks that have been detailed and productive. While significant work remains, steps like this demonstrate that sustained diplomatic engagement is delivering tangible results and advancing efforts to end the war in Ukraine,&#8221; Witkoff <a href="https://x.com/SEPeaceMissions/status/2019354305661137340">said</a>. &#8220;Discussions will continue, with additional progress anticipated in the coming weeks.&#8221;

U.S. President Trump And Russian  President Putin Meet On War In Ukraine At U.S. Air Base In Alaska

Nuclear Caps Gone As U.S.-Russia Treaty Expires

Donald Trump

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey come under federal scrutiny, President Donald Trump threatens tariffs over Greenland, and the United States severs aid to Somalia.
It’s Monday, January 19, 2026, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Minnesota Anti-ICE Protests Turn Violent</h2>
As left-wing protests in Minneapolis <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jacob-frey-says-minneapolis-riots-about-love-but-videos-tell-a-more-violent-story">appear</a> to be growing more violent, the Justice Department is investigating Minnesota Democrats for obstructing federal law enforcement. Last week, Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz urged President Donald Trump to “turn down the temperature.” But over the weekend, violent left-wing agitators in his state continued demonstrations. Large groups of protesters clashed with law enforcement outside of federal buildings and other ICE facilities, and a number of conservative demonstrators were brutally attacked in broad daylight. In one instance, a right-wing activist was physically dragged from the steps of a government building by a large mob of leftist agitators. They proceeded to beat him with fists, rocks, and flag poles, as some in the crowd yelled “kill him” — all with police nowhere to be seen. 
On Sunday, dozens of protesters stormed the Cities Church in St. Paul as part of a “clandestine operation” to “disrupt business as usual,” activist leader Nekima Levy-Armstrong told ex-CNN host Don Lemon, who embedded with the protest group.
Clips from Lemon’s coverage of the protest spread on social media and drew the attention of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
“The [Civil Rights Division] is investigating the potential violations of the federal FACE Act by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshippers,” Dhillon said in a <a href="https://x.com/aagdhillon/status/2013003168179724426" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> on X.
Governor Walz and Mayor Frey are under federal investigation amid their opposition to the Trump administration’s massive immigration enforcement operation in the state. CBS News first <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/justice-department-investigating-tim-walz-jacob-frey-minnesota/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> the details of the investigation, which focuses on allegations that Walz and Frey have interfered with federal immigration operations.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump’s Greenland Gamble Revives Trade War With Europe</h2>
Some European leaders want to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/europe-ramps-up-trade-fight-after-trump-threatens-tariffs-over-greenland">escalate</a> a trade war with the United States after President Trump threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25% on eight countries. Trump has said he will back off the tariffs only when Denmark agrees to sell Greenland. Leaders in the European Union want to <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-us-trade-deal-on-hold-after-new-trump-tariffs/">freeze</a> the trade agreement the bloc struck with the United States last year. Under that agreement, the EU would lift all levies on American goods, and in exchange, the United States would drop its tariffs on EU imports to 15%. The European Parliament was supposed to move forward on it next week, but instead the bloc is now expected to vote on Wednesday to put the deal on hold. It may also take additional steps to increase economic pressure on the United States. Some officials are concerned that the brewing trade war could mean trouble for the NATO military alliance, as well.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">State Department To Permanently End Aid To Somalia</h2>
The State Department will permanently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-department-to-permanently-end-aid-to-somalia-after-warehouse-of-food-disappears">end</a> foreign aid to Somalia after a warehouse full of U.S.-funded food disappeared. The Daily Wire obtained diplomatic cables from the United States embassy in Mogadishu showing corruption in Somalia that mirrors the fraud perpetrated by refugees in Minnesota. The U.S. embassy recommended that the State Department stop foreign aid after January 3, “at the direction of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the Federal Government of Somalia, authorities at Mogadishu Port demolished the World Food Programme Emergency Response Warehouse with no prior notification or coordination with international donor countries, including the United States.” Seventy-six metric tons of food went missing, even as another 1,650 tons of commodities were on their way.

MRN_260119_V1

Morning Brief: Minnesota Church Stormed, Trump’s Greenland Gamble, & U.S. Ends Aid To Somalia

European Union

Greenland

Minneapolis

Minnesota

Morning Wire

Somalia

The State Department will officially terminate foreign assistance to Somalia after the African nation&#8217;s government demolished a warehouse containing 76 metric tons of food donated by America, a senior administration official told The Daily Wire. 
On January 3, &#8220;at the direction of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (HSM) and the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), authorities at Mogadishu Port demolished the World Food Programme (WFP) Emergency Response Warehouse with no prior notification or coordination with international donor countries, including the United States,&#8221; a diplomatic cable from the United States Embassy in Somalia dated January 6 said.
The move &#8220;likely resulted in the destruction of these emergency food supplies,&#8221; and was approved by Somali&#8217;s president over the objections of the World Food Programme, the cable said. The apparent cause, it said, was corruption: the Mogadishu Port is managed by a Turkish company that wanted to expand, and Somalia&#8217;s Minister of Ports &#8220;acts as [Turkey&#8217;s] primary agent in Somalia.&#8221; Turkey has increasingly played a large role in Somalia industries, &#8220;often operating under corrupt contracts that uniformly favor Turkish interests,&#8221; the cable said.
An additional 1,650 metric tons of additional commodities were scheduled to arrive in early January, and had to be stored in an alternative warehouse. The World Food Programme, a project of the United Nations, said it will notify Somalia that the &#8220;demolition constitutes a breach of UN diplomatic protocols,&#8221; the cable said.
The embassy in Somalia requested that the Secretary of State &#8220;strongly consider pausing, canceling, or postponing U.S. assistance to [Somalia] until it returns or compensates the United States and other international donors for the stolen food assistance items,&#8221; the cable said.
The State Department announced on January 7 that it has &#8220;paused all ongoing U.S. assistance programs which benefit the Somali Federal Government. Any resumption of assistance will be dependent upon the Somali Federal Government taking accountability for its unacceptable actions.&#8221; But the administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, went further, saying that all aid will be permanently and officially ended by May.
The ports minister issued an eviction notice to the WFP in December, but the Somali government had later said the warehouse could still be used while a final decision was pending. The port manager claimed that the food was moved to two containers and remained accessible, but WFP said that was not true, and that it is likely ruined because it requires specialized storage.
The food was donated by Americans under the Title II &#8220;Food for Peace&#8221; program and International Disaster Assistance, while the World Food Programme administers its distribution. Hunter Biden served as chairman of the World Food Programme USA, which supports its work, from 2011 to 2015.
The disappearance of the Food for Peace food due to apparent Somali corruption comes as Somalis who migrated to the United States by claiming refuge status have themselves defrauded the U.S. government, including by asking to be paid by the government to watch their own children or their neighbors&#8217; children, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/were-putting-america-first-trump-admin-ends-temporary-protected-status-for-thousands-of-somalis">plunged</a> cities like Minneapolis into their own instability.
A member of Somalia&#8217;s parliament and its Foreign Affairs committee, Abdillahi Hashi Abib, wrote to United States officials saying that 90% of Somalia&#8217;s humanitarian assistance comes from America, and that the Somali Disaster Management Agency (SoDMA) has been &#8220;defrauding&#8221; it because &#8220;the funds have been captured and monetized by a single-family network and its clan affiliates.&#8221;
For example, three brothers of the agency&#8217;s chairman, Mohamud Macallin Abdulle, each receive $15,000 a month salaries, paid through their wives, he said, and the Finance Department and Training Unit are both run by the his uncles. 
He said that &#8220;food donations from the US, EU, UAE, Qatar, and China are systematically sold in Magadishu markets after staged photo-ops,&#8221; in which starving people are paid $5 to pay for photos with the food, before it is taken away from them.
By diverting aid for 8,000 to 12,000 families, the clan generates half a million dollars a month for itself, he said. Foreign aid money has also been wasted as Somalis inflate the cost of items, charging $300,000 for ambulances and fire trucks that cost only $100,000, he said.
&#8220;The President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and his extended family are beneficiaries of a system that has systematically looted U.S.-funded humanitarian assistance&#8221; by &#8220;installing a close relative&#8230; at the apex of Somalia&#8217;s humanitarian system,&#8221; he wrote.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

EXCLUSIVE: State Department To Permanently End Aid To Somalia After Warehouse Of Food Disappears

USAID

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