Friday, May 29, 2026

05/28 Links Pt1: UN envoy slams ‘political decision’ to blacklist Israel; US Probe of UNRWA: 1,500 Staffers Suspected of Hamas Ties; IRGC plotted to assassinate Ivanka Trump

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Thank You For the Hezbollah View
Twenty years ago, the great White House Press Secretary Tony Snow gave the world a memorable moment at the podium. Helen Thomas, the senior White House correspondent and anti-Semite—she told Jews to “get the hell out of Palestine” and go back to Poland and Germany—was ranting and raving about Israel’s actions in Lebanon during a war Hezbollah had started a week earlier.

“We have gone for collective punishment against all of Lebanon and Palestine,” she said, blaming the U.S. for not forcing Israel to stand down in the face of relentless attacks against its civilians.

To which Snow responded: “Well thank you for the Hezbollah view.”

I thought of this when I saw that Alex Crawford of Sky News had once again carpet-bombed the internet with her arsenal of ignorance.

After repeating Hezbollah talking points as if she were reporting the news, critics pointed out that the reason for Israel’s counteroffensive was to stop Hezbollah from firing into its northern towns. Crawford responded: “Israel was bombing and invading Lebanon long before Hezbollah existed.”

Now, this is technically true. Israel had reason to go into Lebanon before Iran planted its proxy force there. Crawford says this is “a point repeatedly brought up by Hez[bollah] supporters.” This is also correct: The reason Hezbollah repeats this talking point is to claim that the group itself is some kind of organic response to Israeli occupation.

Thus Crawford was demonstrating a common complaint against her: that she uncritically serves up Hezbollah propaganda. Israel did not cause Hezbollah’s rise: It had, with the diplomatic support of the Reagan administration, uprooted the Palestinian state-within-a-state occupying South Lebanon.
Iran's New 'Nuclear' Weapon: What Happens If the U.S. Declines to Fight for the Strait of Hormuz
Donald Trump appears on the cusp of an agreement to demilitarize, at least temporarily, the Hormuz Strait. Ancillary to this may be certain Iranian nuclear promises and U.S. sanctions relief. Whatever the actual details of this accord are, no matter whether it later, in part or entirely, falls apart, this agreement flows directly from Tehran dueling Washington to a standstill.

An indisputable truth: A massive bombing campaign by Israel and the United States has allowed Tehran to see the incomparable utility of the Strait of Hormuz as a weapon against the global economy and its primary enemies. A reanimated Islamist regime-and we don't doubt that senior commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps now think they are winning-might even refuse a generous nuclear deal because it's having so much fun humbling its foes.

If the Islamic Republic can hold Hormuz hostage, Tehran will severely wound America's self-confidence, reputation, and capacity. Even if some arrangement can be made to allow commercial traffic to pass without paying tolls, once most of the U.S. armada returns home, the odds of the warships returning aren't good. The odds of the Islamic Republic demanding tolls later are a near certainty.

The American and Israeli killings of Iran's leaders precipitated a shift within the regime, elevating those who had grown weary of what they regarded as Ali Khamenei's nuclear timidity in the face of mounting danger. A series of articles in Javan, a mouthpiece of the Revolutionary Guards, introduced a new doctrine dubbed "offensive deterrence." The series began by taking a swipe at the martyred supreme leader: "Iran's previous doctrine was defined in controlling tensions below the level of war, but the 40-day war was the starting point for deterrence through expanding the geography of crisis."

The new Iranian leaders highlighted the geographical weapon that the regime had always boasted about in its propaganda but never attempted to use: the Strait of Hormuz. The world economy's critical dependence on this route makes this source of income absolutely unsanctionable and transforms the structure of Iran's political economy from crude oil sales to sustainable transit income." Ali Nikzad, the deputy speaker of Parliament, went so far as to declare, "The Strait of Hormuz is Iran's atomic bomb."

Unless the United States is leaving the Middle East with its tail between its legs, a bloody struggle with the Islamic Republic will continue. Iran's revolutionary elite knows that. Do we?
Eugene Kontrovich: Trump Can Close Hamas's Front Office
Twenty-five U.S. senators and more than 90 representatives have urged President Trump to "take decisive action to fully dismantle UNRWA." The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has supported Palestinian radicalism for many decades, in the process becoming Hamas's front office.

Mr. Trump cut UNRWA's funding in 2018 and again in 2025, citing revelations that a dozen employees participated in the Hamas invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But U.N. agencies, and UNRWA especially, are designed to be insulated from accountability. UNRWA was created by the General Assembly in 1949 as a temporary mechanism to assist Arabs displaced during Israel's War of Independence. While it can be closed only by the General Assembly, strategically applied pressure from the U.S. could go a long way.

UNRWA pays its Gaza staff in U.S. dollars wired from a New York bank account. Those dollars need to be converted into Israeli shekels, Gaza's de facto currency. Hamas takes a substantial cut on every money exchange, turning UNRWA's payroll into a revenue stream. The U.S. Treasury can block the dollar transfers under existing sanction authorities.


UN places Israeli entities on sexual violence blacklist alongside Hamas
The United Nations has added Israeli entities to its blacklist of parties accused of committing sexual violence in conflict zones, placing them alongside Hamas and other terrorist organisations in a move that has sparked outrage from Israeli officials and Jewish advocacy groups.

According to reports first published by The Jerusalem Post, the Israel Prison Service will appear on the 2026 blacklist, while additional Israeli authorities have reportedly been placed under a monitoring framework for possible future inclusion.

The move follows Hamas being added to the same UN blacklist in August 2025 over sexual violence committed during the 7 October attacks and against hostages held in Gaza.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, accused the organisation of ignoring evidence submitted by Israel and making a politically motivated decision.

“The UN has added Israel to the blacklist of sexual violence in conflict zones, alongside the world’s most brutal terrorist organisations – Hamas and ISIS,” Danon wrote on X.

“This is a political decision! Disconnected from the facts and reality! Israel submitted evidence, documents, and detailed responses to every claim.

“We invited UN representatives to come to the field and examine things up close, and they, of course, chose not to do so.

“When facts don’t fit the narrative, at the UN, they simply change the narrative.”

Israel has repeatedly denied allegations of systematic sexual abuse within its detention facilities.
‘We are done with this UN secretary-general,’ Danon says, after Israel put on sexual violence ‘list of shame’
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is “disconnected from reality” after his office made the “political” decision to place Israel on a “list of shame” of parties suspected of committing sexual violence in conflict, according to Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the global body.

Danon said on Thursday that the Jewish state is freezing relations with the secretary-general’s office.

“We are done with this U.N. secretary-general,” he said.

The global body putting Israel on the list is “a moral disgrace that proves that Guterres has lost all credibility,” the Israeli envoy added.

The list includes Hamas and Islamic State—“the most depraved terrorist organizations in the world,” Danon said.

The Israeli envoy said that the Jewish state submitted evidence and detailed responses to U.N. allegations and invited representatives of the global body to examine the situation on the ground. The United Nations declined the invitation, he said.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for Guterres, told JNS that “we’ve seen the comments.”

“For our part, the secretary-general’s door remains open,” Dujarric said.

He downplayed Danon’s announcement, which he characterized as “more symbolic than anything,” and told JNS that “we will continue to work with the Israeli mission, as we do with the other 192 missions.”

JNS sought comment from the Israeli mission about what the envoy’s announcement means practically.

Guterres’s second and final term concludes at year’s end. His replacement has not yet been chosen.

Ties between Israel and Guterres have been particularly strained in the aftermath of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, after which the secretary-general was seen widely as having tried to justify the terror attacks. Israel has since declared him persona non grata.
JPost Editorial: UN's blacklist of Israeli entities is part of 'reckless game' erasing moral distinction
In yet another moral and institutional failure by the United Nations, the international body decided to add Israeli institutions to a blacklist of actors accused of committing sexual violence in conflict.

According to exclusive reporting by The Jerusalem Post’s Mathilda Heller, the UN has added the Israel Prison Service to its sexual-assault blacklist, which includes Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

Israel has claimed that heavy pressure was exerted on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to include Israeli entities on the list, following Hamas’s inclusion in August 2025, when Israel was also placed “on notice” for possible future inclusion.

In response, Israel froze relations with Guterres and canceled the planned visit of Pramila Patten, the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict.

In placing Israeli institutions alongside Hamas, the UN has practically collapsed the distinction between isolated criminal allegations and systematic sexual violence deployed as a weapon of war.

But while the UN deserves condemnation for this false equivalence, Israel must also recognize the dangerous vacuum created when allegations of abuse are not addressed decisively and transparently at home. Failure to pursue justice gives hostile international actors the ammunition they seek to further isolate and harass the Jewish state.

Hamas’s sexual violence against slain Israelis and hostages taken during and after the October 7 massacre was not the result of rogue individuals acting independently. Evidence collected from survivors, witnesses, hostages, and forensic investigations has pointed to widespread and coordinated acts of rape, mutilation, and sexual abuse committed during the attack.

By contrast, the allegations surrounding Israeli institutions involve individual incidents, not state policy.


UN envoy slams ‘political decision’ to blacklist Israel
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday condemned the decision to place Israel on a United Nations list of parties suspected of committing sexual violence in conflict, calling the move “political” and “disconnected from reality.”

Danny Danon said Jerusalem had submitted evidence and detailed responses to allegations and had invited U.N. representatives to examine the situation on the ground, but they declined to do.

“The U.N. has added Israel to the blacklist of sexual violence in conflict zones, alongside the world’s most brutal terrorist organizations—Hamas and ISIS,” Danon said in a statement posted on social media, rejecting the allegations and accusing the body of altering its narrative when facts do not align.

“We will continue to stand firm on the truth, and to expose these blood libels on every possible platform,” Danon’s statement concluded. “The truth will prevail.”
UN Watch: Hillel Reacts on i24 News: U.N. Blacklists Israel — “This is a modern blood libel” UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer joins i24 News with Nicole Zedeck to react to the U.N. placing Israel on the sexual violence blacklist alongside Hamas.

UN Watch: Hillel on i24 News: “So-called UN human rights experts are funded by China, Russia, and Qatar.” UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer joins i24 News with Nicole Zedeck to share UN Watch's latest report exposing how UN “experts” accepted significant funding from China, Russia, and Qatar before attacking the U.S., Israel, and the West.

EU sanctions Nachala, Regavim and other Judea and Samaria groups
The European Union imposed sanctions on Thursday against several Judea and Samaria advocacy groups and leaders, labeling them “extremist Israeli settlers and organizations” accused of “serious and systematic human rights abuses” against Palestinians in the territory.

Those sanctioned under the EU’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime include the Nachala Settlement Movement and its director, Daniella Weiss; the Regavim NGO and its director, Meir Deutsch; Hashomer Yosh and its president, Avichai Suissa; and Amana, the settlement-building cooperative affiliated with the Gush Emunim movement.

The EU accused the groups of supporting or facilitating violence, forced displacement and dispossession of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, which the bloc refers to as the West Bank. The sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans.

In a statement, Regavim said it was sanctioned for the “crime” of filing a petition with the Israeli courts against “an illegal European Union structure built at the foot of Herodium, on the edge of the Judean Desert Nature Reserve.”

According to the organization, the structure had been used as a school. Regavim said an engineering assessment submitted to the court found the building posed a safety hazard.

The NGO argued that the EU sanctions issued on Thursday are a “direct threat” to the judges who made the ruling, “who may become the next targets of sanctions if they rule in favor of law enforcement in Judea and Samaria.”


US Probe of Embattled UN Gaza Relief Agency Expands to 1,500 Staffers Suspected of Hamas Ties: UNRWA Could Soon Be Labeled a 'Foreign Terrorist Organization'
The federal investigation into staff at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency—the U.N. Gaza relief organization that's been closely linked to Hamas—will soon encompass at least 1,500 UNRWA-linked individuals suspected of terror ties. This unprecedented dragnet—reported here for the first time by the Washington Free Beacon—exposes an aid group brimming with Hamas operatives, and is generating momentum in Congress and the Trump administration for harsher sanctions on the embattled aid group, according to congressional staffers briefed on the matter.

The punitive measures up for consideration include stripping UNRWA of its diplomatic immunity under U.S. law, which would open it up to legal action from terror victims, and fully designating the aid organization as a foreign terrorist organization, according to three Trump administration officials and other sources tracking the matter in Congress.

These discussions have accelerated since the Free Beacon first reported in April that UNRWA and other U.N. agencies are stonewalling a federal probe into their ties to Hamas. The U.S. Agency for International Development inspector general's office, a law enforcement agency separate from the largely defunct USAID, has spent months independently unearthing evidence that multiple UNRWA employees participated in Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attack. The probe will soon expand to at least 1,500 suspected militants with UNRWA ties.

UNRWA, an official organ of the notoriously anti-Israel United Nations, is the only aid group with a large operation in Gaza, with as many as 13,000 Gazan employees and a large distribution network. U.N. officials have insisted for years that it is the only viable option for getting relief to Gazans. But Israel and its supporters have long claimed that UNRWA is fully infiltrated by Hamas and has cemented the terror group's control over aid distribution.

The USAID inspector general is currently working with the State Department in the latter's effort to build a blacklist that will ensure terror-linked UNRWA employees cannot circulate to other aid organizations within the U.N. system. The inspector general has already confirmed that one UNRWA school principal participated in the Oct. 7 attacks as a member of Hamas's East Jabaliya Battalion, and has flagged multiple others for the State Department.

"The USAID inspector general's cases, coming in droves, are corroborating the obvious parent-subsidiary relationship between UNRWA and Hamas in Gaza," a senior State Department official familiar with the investigation told the Free Beacon. "If UNRWA was not a U.N. organization, it'd be undeniably facing terrorist sanctions based on what USAID IG has uncovered." That ongoing USAID inspector general investigation, the source said, would logically lead to labeling UNRWA as a foreign terrorist group. If the probe "confirms that if it walks like an FTO and talks like an FTO and employs FTO personnel, a case exists that it should be an FTO."


Khaled Abu Toameh: Why Any Deal with Iran Is a Mistake
There can be no "good" deal with a jihadist regime that openly sponsors terrorism across the Middle East, brutalizes its own people, calls for the destruction of Israel, and continues to chant "Death to America."

Tehran sees diplomacy as a tactical weapon: a means to buy time, get intrusive foreign governments off their back, weaken international opposition, divide Western allies, and secure economic relief -- all while continuing its long-term strategic objectives as fast as the circumstances after President Donald J. Trump's term in office will allow.

Even if any new agreement does not contain sunset clauses allowing the Iranian regime eventually to resume advanced uranium enrichment activities legally after restrictions expire, the Iranian regime will view a "deal" as a green light quietly to continue rebuilding its nuclear weapons program. Such provisions do not eliminate the nuclear threat; they postpone them.

Already, Iran has reportedly already restarted much of its ballistic missile production and "could restore significant portions of its offensive drone capabilities within months."

Significantly, the response from the Arab and Muslim world to Trump's latest demand [to join the Abraham Accords] has been largely unenthusiastic. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have shown no public eagerness to comply, while Pakistan flatly rejected the idea. This silence and rejection underscore a larger reality: meaningful peace agreements cannot be manufactured for public relations purposes or used to obscure strategic failures elsewhere.

Worse, many of the supposedly neutral Middle Eastern countries "facilitating" the deal -- Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- have well-worn records of not being even slightly neutral.

Expanding peace agreements between Israel and Arab and Muslim countries is unquestionably a positive goal. Peace and normalization are in the interests of Arabs and Muslims no less than Israelis. The Abraham Accords demonstrated that cooperation with Israel promotes regional stability, security, economic growth, and technological advancement. Genuine peace, however, may not be able to be imposed through pressure or threats. Peace made at gunpoint rarely lasts. Arabs and Muslims might choose peace with Israel because they recognize that coexistence and regional cooperation serve their own national interests, not because they are being publicly pressured by the US president.

[B]y linking the Abraham Accords to the conflict with Iran, Trump risks creating the impression that normalization is being used to compensate for the failure to topple the Iranian regime or halt its nuclear ambitions. It almost appears as if the Trump administration understands that any forthcoming agreement with Tehran will be viewed by many in the Middle East as a weak and dangerous concession, and is therefore searching for a diplomatic achievement elsewhere to offset criticism.


John Spencer: THE MEDIA’S INVERSION OF HEZBOLLAH’S WAR AGAINST ISRAEL
The inversion keeps happening in plain sight. Hezbollah attacks Israel. Israel responds. Much of the Western press then presents the Israeli response as the escalation while Hezbollah’s attacks are compressed into a passing line or removed altogether. After months of repetition, the public absorbs a version of events detached from the actual sequence.

Two days after the United States and Israel launch Operation Epic Fury and Operation Roaring Lion against Iran on February 28, Hezbollah fires rockets into northern Israel. The March 2 attacks break the fragile ceasefire that has existed along the northern border since late 2024. Hezbollah makes the choice deliberately. It aligns itself with Tehran’s war effort instead of preserving stability inside Lebanon.

The headlines posted and amplified by major media outlets tell readers something very different. Titles such as “Israel Continues Its Escalation in Lebanon With New Evacuation Warnings” and “Israel pounds Lebanon with strikes, expands ground operations past security zone” dominate much of the coverage. Day after day, the emphasis falls overwhelmingly on Israeli operations, Israeli warnings, Israeli escalation, and Israeli airstrikes. Hezbollah’s attacks often appeared deep in the article, stripped of scale and frequency, if they appeared at all. Across much of the Western media landscape, the impression left for readers is that Israel drives the violence while Hezbollah simply exists somewhere in the background of the story that it actually starts.

The reality in northern Israel bears no resemblance to that framing. Communities such as Kiryat Shmona and Metula remain emptied for long stretches because Hezbollah continues firing rockets, drones, mortars, and anti-tank missiles across the border. Families cannot safely return to their homes while attack sirens continue sounding daily. Even during periods internationally described as ceasefires or de-escalation phases tied to the U.S.-Iran conflict, Hezbollah keeps launching drones and rockets toward Israeli territory.

The scale and persistence of the attacks rarely appear honestly in international coverage. By late March, Israeli officials report that more than 3,500 rockets, missiles, and drones had already been launched toward Israeli communities from Lebanon since March 2. Alma Research and Education Center separately documented roughly 779 Hezbollah attack waves between March 2 and March 21 alone, averaging nearly forty attacks per day. Even after the April 17 “ceasefire,” Hezbollah continues attacking Israel. Alma reports that from April 17 through May 24, Hezbollah carries out another 545 attack waves involving rockets, drones, FPV systems, and attacks against Israeli forces and northern communities. Hezbollah’s operational purpose remains unchanged. The terror organization seeks to keep northern Israel under constant pressure while much of the international conversation continues treating Israel as the initiator.
Andrew Fox: Israel is walking into endless war in Lebanon
Hezbollah (or, indeed, Tehran) made its choice on 8 October 2023. The day after Hamas’s massacre in southern Israel, it opened a second front from Lebanon, launching guided rockets and artillery at Israeli positions in what it called solidarity with Palestinians. The gesture became a grinding border war: thousands of projectiles, evacuated Israeli communities, and a strategic wound Israel could neither tolerate nor easily close. By September 2024, tens of thousands had been displaced on both sides of the border, and Israel formally made the safe return of northern residents a war aim.

Operation Northern Arrows achieved all that armed force could. It pushed Hezbollah’s launch teams, tunnels, command nodes, and anti-tank positions back from the border to the Litani River, proving that attrition in southern Lebanon would exact a direct price. No state could accept a militia’s veto over whether its citizens sleep at home.

However, the problem was far deeper. The November 2024 ceasefire architecture was familiar: UNSCR 1701, Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) deployment, UNIFIL monitoring, US-French oversight, Hezbollah’s supposed removal from the south, and Israeli withdrawal. It rested on an old assumption: that Lebanon could, with foreign backing, enforce sovereignty against the country’s most heavily armed political-military actor. The deal required LAF disarmament of Hezbollah under US-French monitoring, while Washington acknowledged Israel’s interim freedom to remove threats by force.

That caveat has now become the war. Where the LAF will not or cannot act, Israel strikes. Where Hezbollah rebuilds, Israel clears. Where civilians are near the target, Israel issues evacuation orders. On paper, this is enforcement. In practice, it is a rolling campaign without a credible end. This week, Israel expanded its area of operations and declared the area south of the Zahrani River a combat zone, roughly 2,000 square kilometres, after more than 270 strikes. More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced since March.
Secret Mossad branch revealed: 'We are not done with Iran. We are just getting started'
Rostam Ghasemi was a thorn in the side of Israel's intelligence community almost from the beginning. He joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1979, served as an officer in the Iran-Iraq War, was later appointed commander of a naval base and, in the early 2000s, became one of the central figures behind the strengthening of the Iranian army's special forces. After retiring from the military, he served as a senior government minister and as an adviser to the defense minister, and was known to be close to President Ebrahim Raisi. It is no wonder Israel followed his every move.

Ghasemi's future still lay ahead of him until one day in November 2022, he opened his phone and was stunned. The Iran International news site, operated by Iranian opposition figures, had published a photo taken during Ghasemi's visit to Malaysia. The photo showed the senior Iranian official embracing a young woman who was not his wife and, perhaps worse, was not wearing a hijab either.

The embarrassing photo spread across Iran like wildfire, against the backdrop of the fact that a few weeks earlier, young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini had been killed after she was arrested and brutally beaten by morality police precisely because she had not worn a hijab. "A bunch of filthy hypocrites," a popular Iranian blogger wrote on Twitter, one of many who shared the incriminating photo and expressed a broad public sentiment.

Within seconds, Ghasemi became the talk of the day in Iran, a stain on the face of the Islamist regime. Within a few days, he was forced to submit his resignation from the government. The official excuse was "his medical condition." A few months later, he did indeed die of cancer, or at least that is what was reported in Iran's official media.

It can now be revealed that the party responsible for leaking Ghasemi's embarrassing photo, and at such an explosive and sensitive time, was Israel's Mossad, which had held the photo since 2011. From the Mossad's standpoint, this was a double gain: removing a seasoned and shrewd military figure from a position of influence, while also fueling the hijab protests that were already roiling Iran at the time.
White House: US, Iran negotiators have agreed to MoU, but Trump’s approval still needed
The White House on Thursday confirmed that US and Iran negotiators have reached an agreement on a memorandum of understanding that will extend an ongoing ceasefire by 60 days, during which the sides will hold talks on curbing Tehran’s nuclear program.

However, a statement attributed to US sources that the White House sent to querying reporters clarified that US President Donald Trump still needs to sign off on the MoU.

A Channel 12 report — which was confirmed by the White House — quoted a US official as having said that Trump wants to take a couple of days to think about it before deciding whether to approve the MoU.

However, a diplomat from one of the countries involved in the mediating process told The Times of Israel that the Channel 12 report mischaracterized the state of negotiations and that a final okay from Iran was still needed as well.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news outlet cited a source close to Tehran’s negotiating team who also denied that the Islamic Republic had actually given its final approval of the MoU. The source claimed that the text of the agreement was still being finalized and that Iran would publicly announce its approval if and when it comes.

Israel did not issue an official response to Thursday’s developments, but Channel 12 cited senior Israeli sources who also maintained that Jerusalem has seen no indication that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has approved the terms and that therefore “Trump has nothing to approve” at this stage.


US denies Iranian claims of aircraft interception near Bushehr
No US aircraft were shot down near Bushehr, Iran, despite a claim made on Iranian state TV, US Central Command announced early on Friday.

Iran's state TV said early on Friday that a US aircraft was destroyed in Iran's Jam governorate in Bushehr, citing its governor, Masoud Tangestani.

Explosions were also heard near the Strait of Hormuz and Bandar Abbas, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news reported on Thursday night.

Tasnim later reported that the sounds came from exchanged fire made in warning to ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Semi-official Fars news agency also said on Thursday that Iran's armed forces carried out a missile launch operation from the southern region of the country toward specified targets, and that the destination of the missiles was not yet clear.

Iran targets US airbase
Earlier on Thursday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard said that it targeted a US airbase after the US military carried out what a Washington official said were strikes targeting an Iranian drone operation near the Strait of Hormuz, hours after US President Donald Trump rejected a report he was close to a compromise deal with Tehran.

The escalation in hostilities highlighted threats to the tenuous ceasefire between the US and Iran that took effect in early April, dampening hopes for a peace deal and sending oil prices surging again.
US conducts ‘defensive’ strikes, downs Iranian drones
U.S. Central Command on Thursday confirmed reports that American forces intercepted Iranian drones the previous day and prevented an additional drone launch by striking a ground control site in Bandar Abbas. CENTCOM also confirmed that Iran fired a ballistic missile at Kuwait.

“At 10:17 p.m. ET on May 27, Iran launched a ballistic missile toward Kuwait that was successfully intercepted by Kuwaiti forces. This egregious ceasefire violation by the Iranian regime occurred hours after Iranian forces launched five one-way attack drones that posed a clear threat in and near the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM stated. “All drones were successfully intercepted by U.S. forces which also prevented a sixth drone launch from an Iranian ground control site in Bandar Abbas.

“U.S. Central Command and regional partners remain vigilant and measured as we continue to defend our forces and interests from unjustified Iranian aggression,” the CENTCOM statement continued.

The U.S. military carried out overnight strikes in Iran targeting a military site and shot down four enemy one-way attack drones near the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strikes hit an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was preparing to launch a fifth drone.

A senior U.S. official also confirmed to Israeli journalist Barak Ravid early Thursday that Iran launched four one-way drones at a U.S. commercial ship and that the U.S. shot them down and attacked “another Iranian drone launching unit on the ground before it launched.”

The previously unreported actions occurred amid ongoing negotiations to end the three-month-old conflict that began Feb. 28 with joint American and Israeli military strikes against the Iranian regime. A ceasefire has been in place since April 8.

“These actions were measured, purely defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire,” the official said, according to Reuters.


Iran's Houthi Proxy Faces Red Sea Threat from Somaliland, a Pro-US African Nation
Iran is said to be 'deeply threatened' by the small African breakaway state, Somaliland, because of the potential for U.S., Israeli, and Western powers to use its deep-water port and airbase. Such moves would severely disrupt Iran's plan to use its proxy, Yemen's Houthi terror group, to attack Red Sea shipping.

Somaliland's Foreign Minister, Abdirahman Dahir Adam, told Fox News, "At a time when the Strait of Hormuz is under pressure and threats to the Red Sea are escalating, Somaliland has reiterated its longstanding offer to provide the United States with access along our coast. We have been clear about this in times of peace, and we are equally clear today."


Netanyahu says he told IDF to seize 70% of Gaza, well beyond terms of truce
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he ordered the Israel Defense Forces to take control of 70 percent of the Gaza Strip – well beyond the portion of the enclave that Jerusalem was allowed to temporarily continue occupying as part of an October 2025 ceasefire deal with Hamas.

“At this point, we are fully in control of 60% of the territory of the Gaza Strip… and my directive is to get to… 70%,” Netanyahu said, in Hebrew-language remarks delivered at a conference held by the Ein Prat Leadership Academy.

When one audience member shouted out that Israel should take “100 percent” of the territory in Gaza, Netanyahu responded, “First 70%. We’ll start with that.”

Netanyahu acknowledged last week that Israel already holds 60 percent of the territory in the Strip, significantly more than the roughly 53% allotted to Israel in the October ceasefire deal.

That truce, which secured the release of hostages held by Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza, left Hamas in de facto control of the remainder of the Strip.

The deal was envisioned as part of a larger process that would see the terror group disarmed and the enclave demilitarized, but progress toward that vision has stalled, as Hamas has refused to lay down its weapons and Israel has continued striking deep inside Gaza, while facing allegations that it is violating additional terms of the October agreement.
IDF strikes Beirut for first time in 3 weeks, as offensive in Lebanon intensifies
The Israel Defense Forces said it carried out a strike in a suburb of Beirut on Thursday, the first time in three weeks that Israel has bombed the area of the Lebanese capital, amid an escalating conflict with the Hezbollah terror group.

The military did not immediately give any further details.

An Israeli security source said the target was Ali al-Husni, the head of the missile force in the Imam Hossein Division, an Iranian militia that operates alongside Hezbollah.

It was not immediately clear whether he had been killed in the strike. The IDF said it would provide further details later.

According to Lebanese media, the strike took place in Shuwayfat, just south of the Lebanese capital.

Images and videos from the suburb of Shuwayfat showed white smoke billowing from a residential neighborhood. The area is close to Beirut’s international airport.

It marked the first Israeli strike on Beirut since May 6. A strike that day killed the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, Ahmed Ghaleb Balout.

Amid a fragile ceasefire in Iran, the IDF has mostly avoided striking the Lebanese capital at the request of the Trump administration. The US earlier this week approved Israeli plans to expand operations against Hezbollah, but warned Jerusalem against striking Beirut for fear that doing so could harm ongoing negotiations with Iran, Hebrew media widely reported, citing Israeli officials.


'Act of heroism': He was hit by a drone while trying to shoot it down to protect his fellow soldiers
Exactly one month ago, an IDF helicopter landed at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa carrying wounded soldier A., 26, from Gush Etzion, a reservist in the Golani reconnaissance unit.

While still in the field, A. understood that he had been very seriously wounded. Even so, when a young soldier from Rambam’s Ram 2 recovery unit called his father and held the phone to his ear, he told him without hesitation: “Dad, what’s up? I was wounded by an explosive device, but really lightly. I’m in the hospital. Everything is fine. They’re treating me.” Immediately afterward, A. was taken into the first of a series of surgeries he would undergo because of his injury.

Rambam receives the seriously wounded from the northern front. Those who come there hear from the wounded, their families and soldiers who visit them about how the drones sow fear from the skies. They speak of the stressful and frightening “buzzing” sound that signals the approaching threat, of protective measures only now beginning to arrive, and of stories of heroism. One of them is A.’s story.

“It happened in a drone attack exactly a month ago,” said his father, Eli, who has remained by his son’s side since the injury. “The Golani reconnaissance soldiers, including my son, were near the village of Qantara in Lebanon. At some point, a drone attack began. They entered a building and tried to take cover. Within a short time, one drone exploded on the building, followed immediately by another.

“About 20 minutes later, they noticed a third drone coming toward them. That is when A. decided to act. He understood that Hezbollah had apparently identified the force and assessed that if the drone entered the building, it would cause many casualties. He hoped that if he left the building, he would have a good chance of hitting the drone and preventing a disaster. He went out, opened fire with his personal weapon at the drone, emptied a magazine, but did not manage to bring it down. He knelt to change magazines, and then the worst happened — the drone hit him very badly.”

A. was hit by shrapnel that struck the center of his spine. On its way there, it hit one of his kidneys, which doctors had to remove.

“There is also a rib and a hand that were badly injured, and in addition, shrapnel throughout his body,” his father said.
IDF eliminates terrorist who killed soldier on May 19
Israel Defense Forces soldiers have eliminated the Hezbollah terrorist who killed IDF Maj. (res.) Itamar Sapir on May 19, the military said on Wednesday.

Sapir, 27, from the Samaria community of Eli, served as deputy company commander in the 7008th Battalion of the 551st Brigade. He was killed when Hezbollah terrorists fired from inside a church at Israeli forces operating in the village of Qouza.

“Following the incident, the soldiers returned fire and began a targeted operation in the area to eliminate the terrorist,” the IDF said in a statement on Wednesday.

“It can now be revealed that the terrorist who killed Maj. (res.) Itamar Sapir was eliminated through tank fire and a targeted Israeli Air Force strike, after being identified entering a structure in the church area,” it added.

The IDF also struck observation posts, a weapons storage facility and other Hezbollah structures in the area, according to the statement.

Sapir is survived by his wife and their 18-month-old son, his parents and three brothers. Their son, Maayan Yiftach, was named after IDF Capt. Yiftach Yaavetz, a close friend and fellow Maglan officer killed on Oct. 7, 2023, while defending Kibbutz Nahal Oz from Hamas terrorists.

Sapir “fought heroically against Hezbollah terrorists to defend our northern border,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week. “My wife Sara and I, together with all citizens of Israel, send our deepest condolences to his family and embrace them in this difficult hour,” the statement cointued. “May his memory be a blessing.”

Iranian-backed Hezbollah renewed its rocket and drone attacks on Israel on March 2, following the targeted killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during the opening stages of “Operation Roaring Lion” on Feb. 28.


The Brink: It’s a disaster: Trump’s former Iran envoy speaks out
In this episode of The Brink, Andrew and Jake are joined by former US Special Representative for Iran Elliott Abrams for a wide-ranging conversation on the aftermath of the Iran war, Donald Trump’s foreign policy, and the future of American power in the Middle East.

We examine the state of Iran’s nuclear programme after the 12-day war and ask whether the current negotiations are simply delaying the problem rather than solving it. Abrams warns that any sanctions relief risks strengthening the regime while doing little to address its missiles, proxy militias, or long-term ambitions.

The conversation also explores Hezbollah, Lebanon, and the wider collapse of Iran’s so-called Ring of Fire following October 7th. Abrams argues that while Israel severely weakened Iran’s regional network, the underlying threat remains unresolved unless the regime itself is ultimately confronted.

We also discuss Donald Trump’s approach to power and foreign policy. From the Strait of Hormuz crisis to Venezuela, NATO, and Ukraine, Abrams reflects on Trump’s strengths, weaknesses, and governing style, including the lack of long-term strategic planning inside the administration.

Finally, we look ahead to the future of American politics, the battle between traditional conservatives and the MAGA movement, and whether figures like Marco Rubio or JD Vance could define the next era of the Republican Party.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
04:55 Iran's Proxy Militia and Regional Dynamics
10:09 Nuclear Deal and Missile Concerns
15:12 Proxy Militia and Lebanon's Role
20:31 Economic Impact and Sanctions Relief
25:50 Trump's Negotiation Strategy and Military Planning
30:50 Lessons Learned and Future Prospects
35:50 Venezuela and Trump's Legacy


Ivanka Trump assassination plotted as revenge killing for Qasem Soleimani
A 32-year-old Iraqi man, accused of carrying out and planning attacks on US and Jewish targets, allegedly also plotted to assassinate US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, according to a news report.

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi allegedly pledged to kill Ivanka Trump in retaliation for the 2020 US drone strike in Baghdad that killed top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, The New York Post, citing sources, reported.

Al-Saadi had a map and blueprint linked to Ivanka Trump's Florida residence and had shared an image online that showed the area where she and her husband Jared Kushner own a home. The post allegedly included a threat in Arabic warning that “neither your palaces nor the Secret Service will protect you” and claimed revenge was “a matter of time.”

Entifadh Qanbar, a former deputy military attaché at the Iraqi embassy in Washington, told The Post that after Soleimani's death, Al-Saadi allegedly told people that Ivanka should be targeted “to burn down the house of Trump.” Another source also confirmed the alleged plot to the newspaper.

Al-Saadi was arrested in Turkey on May 15 and later extradited to the United States. The US Department of Justice has charged him in connection with 18 attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and the US.

Federal authorities have accused him of involvement in several incidents, including the firebombing of the Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam, a shooting near the US consulate in Toronto and the stabbing of two Jewish victims in London earlier this year. He is also accused of planning attacks on Jewish sites in Belgium and the Netherlands.


NY man sentenced to 10 years for role in Iran-backed plot to kill Iranian-American journalist
Jonathan Loadholt, 37, of Staten Island, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday for his role in an Iranian-backed plot to assassinate Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad.

Loadholt pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit stalking and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is the second defendant sentenced in the case after Carlisle Rivera, who received a 15-year prison term in January.

Federal prosecutors said Loadholt and Rivera were recruited by Farhad Shakeri, an alleged operative tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to surveil and kill Alinejad, one of the IRGC’s “principal targets” for outspoken opposition to the Iranian regime.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Loadholt conducted surveillance of Alinejad and used money provided by Shakeri to buy a firearm and burner phones. Authorities arrested him on Nov. 7, 2024, and recovered more than two dozen rounds of ammunition from his residence.

“With today’s sentencing, Jonathan Loadholt will pay the price for participating in a plot orchestrated by Iran to kill a journalist and human rights activist who criticized the Iranian government’s policies,” Donald Holstead, FBI assistant director, stated.





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