‘The Iranian leadership has no good options,' says expert
Christiane Amanpour speaks with Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group about the options facing Iran's government after Israel's strikes.
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New York Post
23 minutes ago
- New York Post
A ‘big, beautiful deal', America's aerospace ‘revolution' and other commentary
Iran-Israel war: A 'Big, Beautiful Deal' 'Proponents of an American strike believe that we have no realistic choice other than to help Israel do as thorough a job as possible in setting back Iran's nuclear ambitions,' contends The New York Times' Bret Stephens. True, after Trump drops bunker busters on the Fordow nuclear site, the question is 'what comes afterward.' But the president can follow that up with 'a diplomatic bunker buster on Tehran': lifting economic sanctions and forcing the Israelis to stop the bombings. 'Nobody, perhaps even President Trump himself, knows for sure whether the United States will wind up joining Israel in launching military strikes on Iran.' But 'there's a big, beautiful deal to be struck here. For all sides.' Tech watch: America's Aerospace 'Revolution' Advertisement 'From LAX to coastal San Diego,' dozens of new firms are 'embracing the country's emerging 'hard tech' revolution,' cheers Joel Kotkin at UnHerd. Including around 40 spinoffs of SpaceX, they make everything — largely for aerospace — 'from drones to engines, drilling systems to satellites.' Together, they can 'restore' America's 'blue-collar prosperity.' Given the 'military implications' of these products, these firms embrace a 'Right-wing patriotism' and so threaten to change corporate culture. Yet 'the biggest pool of money' is not from the Defense Department but the 'burgeoning space industry.' And the 'technology looks set to dominate our century. For if those robots and satellites are all impressive enough in theory, they could yet be used as a geopolitical battering ram' — with US innovators as 'riposte to Chinese central planning.' Libertarian: Czechs to the Rescue in Ukraine 'Through online fundraisers organized by community platforms like 'Gift for Putin,' 'Team for Ukraine,' or 'Just Retribution,' Czech citizens have donated millions of dollars toward' arms for Ukraine, marvels Miroslav Hanušniak at Reason. These include much-needed rifle magazines, howitzer shells, a Black Hawk helicopter and 'more than $11.5 million toward the direct purchase of First Person View drones.' Czechs 'show no signs of slowing down. New initiatives continue to emerge, finding creative ways to support the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.' In neighboring Slovakia, citizens defied their Russian-leaning 'government's stance and joined the fundraising efforts, contributing millions.' It's a reminder that 'real power and meaningful change do not always come from parliaments.' Advertisement Defense beat: Space — Aukus' Final Frontier 'It's time for Aukus,' the Australia, US and UK alliance, 'to grow,' argues Scott Morrison at The Wall Street Journal, and Trump 'is the right person for the job.' Aukus 'enables Australia's acquisition of its first nuclear-powered sub fleet' and 'facilitates cooperation on advanced military capabilities,' notes the former Australian prime minister. But 'if our nations are serious about deterrence, then we must prepare for new theaters of geopolitical competition' — particularly space. Aukus should be expanded to consolidate 'cooperation across launch systems, satellite architecture, cybersecurity, data integration and industrial innovation.' It must ensure that space 'is secured by free nations, not our enemies. American and Australia have stood shoulder to shoulder on land, at sea and in the skies. Now we must do the same in orbit.' Hispanic pastor: Riots Hurt Protesters' Cause Advertisement 'Once more, the streets of Los Angeles are filled with chaos' because of 'modern-day anarchists,' blasts Samuel Rodriguez for The Hill. Blame it on Team Biden's border 'failure,' which 'permitted millions to enter our country without any real verification process.' Now 'the majority of these riots are being led, organized, and amplified by Antifa factions and ultra-left progressive groups whose mission is not reform but total revolution.' These thugs are 'protesting the deportation of individuals who are violent criminals, rapists, murderers, or pedophiles.' 'There is a legitimate space for expressing concern over the deportation of longstanding immigrants who have lived here peacefully,' but 'these riots hurt and did not help their cause. This lawlessness is antithetical to everything the immigrant rights movement hopes to achieve.' — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
The Hill
29 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump leaves Washington weighing pending Iran plans
Evening Report is The Hill's p.m. newsletter. Sign up here or using the box below: Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here PRESIDENT TRUMP left Washington for his Bedminster, N.J., golf club for the weekend, as Israel and Iran traded strikes for an eighth day. Trump will attend a fundraiser on Friday night, with plans to receive intelligence briefings over the weekend in Bedminster. The president will depart for next week's NATO summit in the Netherlands on Monday, after saying he'll make a decision within the next two weeks about whether the U.S. will intervene in the Israel-Iran war. Trump said Friday if the U.S. does get involved, it would probably be limited to air strikes. 'I'm not going to talk about ground forces,' Trump told reporters. 'The last thing you want to do is ground force.' Officials from Europe and Iran huddled in Geneva on Friday in search of an off-ramp. Foreign ministers from Germany, France and the United Kingdom met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, with the Europeans encouraging Iran to drop its nuclear ambitions. The Associated Press reports that the meeting provided hope of further talks, but no concrete breakthrough. Araghchi said Iran will not negotiate while it's under attack. 'In the current situation, as the Zionist regime's attacks continue, we are not seeking negotiations with anyone,' he said in an interview that aired Friday on Iranian state television. Trump said Friday he wouldn't call on Israel to stop its airstrikes because they're winning the war. 'I think it's very hard to make that request right now,' Trump said. 'If somebody is winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing, but we're ready, willing and able, and we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens.' French President Emmanuel Macron said diplomats would make a 'comprehensive, diplomatic and technical offer of negotiation,' arguing that Israel won't be able to accomplish its goal of dismantling Iran's nuclear program all by itself. 'No one can seriously believe that this threat can be met with (Israel's) current operations alone,' he said. 'Why? Because there are some plants that are highly protected and because today, no one knows exactly where's the uranium enriched to 60%. So we need to regain control on (Iran's nuclear) program through technical expertise and negotiation.' The U.S. is capable of dropping a 'bunker buster' bomb that penetrates the mountains where Iran's nuclear program is hidden, although Trump's two-week ultimatum is meant to buy time for a nuclear deal with Iran. Politically, Trump is torn between the anti-war MAGA faction and traditional Republicans, who are eager to intervene. Some Democrats, including Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), are eager to see the U.S. intervene to annihilate Iran's nuclear program. Others are heartened by Trump's restraint. 'The fact that we're not reading about a U.S. attack on Iran right now actually gives me a little bit of comfort,' Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said in an interview with Jim Acosta. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said on CNN that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 'has always wanted to drag the United States into a war with Iran.' Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) mocked Trump's two-week deadline. 'What a joke,' she posted on X. 'We're dealing w/ a reality show dictator who uses Truth Social to notify/terrify a city of 10M people to evacuate + then says the decision on war will be 'made within two weeks.'' 'I don't know how the US ever recovers from this blow to our credibility in the world,' she added. 💡Perspectives: • Washington Examiner: If the U.S. did attack, would it work? • Foreign Affairs: The right path to regime change in Iran. • Responsible Statecraft: Israel is luring the U.S. into a trap. • The Wall Street Journal: MAGA's misguided isolationists. • Fox News: Army celebration a startling split-screen for angry Dems. Read more: • Trump administration monitoring possible Iran-backed cells in U.S. • Satellite images reveal Trump's dilemma over Iran nuclear complex. • Russia warns of 'Chernobyl-style catastrophe'. • Will Israel's interceptors outlast Iran's missiles? • Spain rejects NATO's anticipated 5% defense spending proposal. CATCH UP QUICK NEWS THIS AFTERNOON President Trump's agenda bill hit rough waters late this week, with the Senate Parliamentarian ruling that key provisions must be stripped from the bill if Republicans hope to bypass a Democratic filibuster. Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian, ruled that provisions in the bill run afoul of the Byrd Rule and must be taken out for the legislation to pass by a simple majority vote using the budget reconciliation process. Republicans do not expect to get any support from Democrats for Trump's 'big, beautiful bill,' so it's up to the GOP to ensure the legislation adheres to Senate rules for the special procedural fast track. The Hill's Alexander Bolton reports that the offending provisions fall under the jurisdiction of the Senate committees on Banking, Environment and Public Works and Armed Services: • The bill would have placed a funding cap on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which would have cut $6.4 billion from the agency. • MacDonough ruled against language cutting $1.4 billion in costs by reducing the pay of Federal Reserve staff, cutting $293 million by reducing the Office of Financial Research funding, and cutting $771 million by eliminating the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said the provisions 'will need to be stripped from the bill' if Republicans hope to pass the legislation on their own. 'As much as Senate Republicans would prefer to throw out the rule book and advance their families lose and billionaires win agenda, there are rules that must be followed and Democrats are making sure those rules are enforced,' he said. Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate. If the provisions remain in place, they'd have to muster 60 votes for passage. MEANWHILE… Senate fiscal hawks, including Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), are demanding more spending cuts to reduce the deficit. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has already said he'll oppose the bill because of spending and the debt levels. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has a tough needle to thread, as he's been wooing Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who say spending cuts to Medicaid have gone too far. There's also the matter of how quickly to phase out Biden-era green energy tax credits, which is further dividing Republicans. Thune, who hopes to bring the bill to the floor for a vote next week, can only afford three GOP defections for the bill to pass. It's the same dynamic Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) faced in the House, where changes to satisfy one conservative faction created a rift with a different faction. Now, House Republicans from blue states are digging in, saying the Senate's changes to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap are unacceptable. 'We're not accepting that,' Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), a member of the SALT caucus, told The Hill on Thursday. 'That's the reality. Never gonna vote for that bill.' 💡Perspectives: • The Hill: Is the US in a debt-fueled national death spiral? • The Hill: How Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' stacks up against his 2017 tax bill. • The Atlantic: Democrats must confront their gerontocracy. • American Prospect: The scheme to scramble your nest egg. • Compact: The long, slow death of development. ON TAP Here's who's talking Sunday… NewsNation's 'The Hill Sunday': Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.). CNN's 'State of the Union': Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). Fox's 'Fox News Sunday': Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.). CBS's 'Face the Nation': Kaine; Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.); Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter; retired Gen. Frank McKenzie. NBC's 'Meet the Press': Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.). MSNBC's 'The Weekend': Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). IN OTHER NEWS Vice President Vance is traveling to Los Angeles on Friday to meet with the National Guard troops and U.S. Marines that President Trump deployed to quell protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Vance will tour operations and mobile command centers, and give brief remarks to military officials and Marines, the White House said. The anti-ICE protests in Southern California, which were at times marred by looting, vandalism and clashes with police, have largely abated. Still, tempers are running hot between California's Democratic leadership and the Trump administration over Trump's move to deploy thousands of California National Guard troops to keep the peace. The president also dispatched hundreds of U.S. Marines. A federal appeals court ruled late Thursday that Trump could keep the National Guard deployed in Los Angeles, for now, after the move was challenged by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in court. 'We emphasize, however, that our decision addresses only the facts before us. And although we hold that the President likely has authority to federalize the National Guard, nothing in our decision addresses the nature of the activities in which the federalized National Guard may engage,' the appeals panel wrote in its 38-page decision. Trump celebrated the ruling on social media: 'The Judges obviously realized that Gavin Newscum is incompetent and ill prepared, but this is much bigger than Gavin, because all over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done,' he posted on Truth Social. The Hill's Zach Schonfeld reports: 'Though the 9th Circuit's decision marks a victory for Trump in the legal battle, it may be short-lived. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who issued last week's decision invalidating the deployment, is set to hold a hearing Friday on whether to issue an indefinite injunction.' Separately, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pushed back on claims made by the Los Angeles Dodgers that the baseball team had turned away ICE agents who had 'requested permission to access the parking lots.' ICE called the allegations 'false.' Rather, DHS said Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 'vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement.' 'This had nothing to do with the Dodgers,' DHS said. Also on Friday, the Trump administration gave California a 60-day deadline to overhaul its sex education program or risk losing federal funding. ELSEWHERE… Rahm Emanuel, former President Obama's chief of staff, appears to be inching closer to running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028. 'I have something I think I can offer,' Emanuel said on CNN. 'But I haven't made that decision.' Emanuel, who has fashioned himself as a blunt truth teller, has criticized Democrats for being 'weak and woke.' Democrats are seeking a new identity after their sweeping losses and the nation's rightward shift in 2024. Hillary Clinton's former campaign chief Patti Solis Doyle told Mark Halperin that the Democratic Party is 'leaderless,' 'message-less,' and 'agenda-less.' 'We don't have any alternative ideas to the president and the Republicans right now,' she said. 'So, you know, I'm concerned, to say the least.' Democratic strategist James Carville said Thursday that part of the party's problem was that they acted as if Trump's base of working class voters 'didn't exist.' A similar debate is happening among factions on the right about how the Republican Party has changed in the age of Trump. Former Vice President Pence warned in a new essay that the conservative movement is being threatened by a 'populist fervor' and the 'transformation into the anti-woke movement.' 'An existential identity crisis now grips the American right,' Pence wrote in the essay, which was co-authored by a founder of the Heritage Foundation conservative think tank. 'A political movement once united by a commitment to limited government, moral order, and a robust defense of American ideals now appears fractured, its purpose clouded by populist grievances and ideological drift.' 💡Perspectives: • The Liberal Patriot: How everyday Americans can create healthier politics. • Gideon's: An anti-mandate for NYC's next mayor? • Whole Hog Politics: Land of Lincoln? Not so much for Red America. • Wall Street Journal: Is rioting acceptable? If so, how much? • L.A. Times: How Trump could sabotage L.A.'s World Cup and Olympics. Read more: • 'Heartbroken' Minnesota lawmaker, wife share details of attack. • Judge rejects 'Duffy Directive' tying grants to immigration cooperation. • Man arrested after GOP congressman run off the road, threatened. • NYPD investigating car bomb threat against mayoral candidate Mamdani. • Man charged with attempted kidnapping of Memphis mayor. Thanks for reading! Stay up to date with News Alerts from The Hill here. See you next time.
Bloomberg
38 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Trump Says Iran Wants to Speak With US, Not Europe
Bloomberg Markets: The Close President Donald Trump says two weeks is the maximum amount of time he will allow to pursue diplomacy with Iran while speaking with reporters. (Source: Bloomberg)
