Tag: iran

Trump is strategizing means to seize Iran’s nuclear stockpiles, sources say

The Trump administration has been strategizing methods and options to secure or extract Iran’s nuclear materials, according to multiple people briefed on the discussions, as a U.S.-Israel-led military campaign against Tehran enters a more uncertain phase. 

The timing of any such an operation — if President Trump were to order it — remained unclear Friday night. One source said he has made no decision yet. 

But planning has centered on the possible deployment of forces from the secretive Joint Special Operations Command, the elite military unit often tasked with the most sensitive counter-proliferation missions, two of the sources told CBS News. 

A White House spokeswoman said it’s the Pentagon’s job to make preparations.

A spokesperson for the Pentagon didn’t immediately comment. 

Mr. Trump in a Truth Social post Friday evening said: “We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran.”

The private deliberations on the nuclear material come amid an evolving conflict that in its opening focused on degrading Iran’s conventional military capabilities — including air defenses, missile systems and key infrastructure tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

That initial wave of strikes carried out by U.S. and Israeli forces was intended to blunt Iran’s ability to retaliate across the region. However, despite the onslaught from the air, Iran has been able to counterstrike on Israel and U.S.-allied countries in the Gulf region, and has halted most oil shipments by threatening ships. 

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Pete Hegseth’s War on Journalists (and Iran Too)

Last fall, nearly the entire Pentagon press corps was banned from the Pentagon after refusing to sign Pete Hegseth’s loyalty oath, which would have bound them to only report information “authorized” by the government (FAIR.org, 9/23/25). They were quickly replaced by pundits from Hegseth-approved outlets like One America News, Gateway Pundit and Lindell TV, which is “Pillow Guy” Mike Lindell’s pet project.

But once the Iran War got underway, it dawned on Hegseth that a Defense secretary needs to communicate with the whole country, not just the narrow slice of it reached by his favorite right-wing pundits. So Hegseth reversed course, asking the major networks to bring their cameras back to the Pentagon. They agreed, but on one condition: Some of their reporters had to be allowed to return to the press briefing room, too.

So back they came, albeit now at the back of the room. Few of these reporters—who represent outlets you’ve actually heard of, like ABC, NBC and the New York Times—are called on. Hegseth, a former Fox News weekend host, instead fields questions almost exclusively from handpicked media personalities seated in the front rows. (I’d call them reporters, but if they signed Hegseth’s 2025 oath, as most did, they’re anything but.)

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IDF Iron Dome Operator Arrested, Charged With Spying For Iran

There’s quite obviously been Israeli intelligence inroads into Iran, which at times US and Israeli officials themselves have boasted about, with Tehran recently announcing efforts to round up and arrest “traitors” – and there’s even in some cases been executions of the accused.

Inside Israel, there are also fears of locals spying for Israel – but the phenomenon remains much less common (as far as anyone knows). That’s why the latest headlines are likely a shock to the Israeli establishment. On Friday an Israeli reservist tied to the country’s missile defense network has been charged with serious security offenses after allegedly working with Iranian intelligence.

Police have identified Raz Cohen, a 26-year-old from Jerusalem, who served in the Iron Dome unit, as the alleged culprit. It’s been revealed he was arrested March 1, merely one day after the joint US-Israel war on Iran kicked off. “These included passing sensitive security information to the Iranian agent during December 2025, including details about how Iron Dome works, locations of Israeli Air Force bases, and the locations of Iron Dome batteries,” writes Times of Israel.

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Americans can thank Netanyahu, his lackeys in Congress for $1T ‘Israel First tax,’ Iranian FM says

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s top diplomat, posted a screengrab of a Washington Post article titled, “Pentagon Seeks More Than $200 Billion in Budget Request for Iran War,” and wrote that “ordinary Americans” can thank Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his lackeys in Congress for the new tax bill — that will end up being much, much higher.

“We’re only three weeks into this war of choice, imposed on both Iranians and Americans. This $200b is the tip of the iceberg. Ordinary Americans can thank Benjamin Netanyahu and his lackeys in Congress for the trillion-dollar “Israel First tax” that’s about to hit the U.S. economy,” he posted.

The Iran War continued to escalate before Araghchi’s post, and President Donald Trump appears to be so rattled that he is posting incoherent messages on Truth Social, including one that blamed Israel for bombing Iran’s vital South Pars gas reserve “out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East.”

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Switzerland Temporarily Suspends Arms Exports to the United States Due to Its Neutrality in the War Against Iran

The Swiss Government announced that it will not grant new licenses to export war materiel to the United States while the armed conflict with Iran continues.

This is based on the Swiss federal law on war materiel, which strictly prohibits exports to countries involved in active international armed conflicts.

According to the official statement, “the export of war materiel to countries involved in the international armed conflict with Iran cannot be authorised for the duration of the conflict.”

The United States, which in 2025 was the second-largest buyer of Swiss armaments, now faces blocked new authorizations, although existing ones are not immediately revoked.

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Trump administration making heavy preparations for potential use of ground troops in Iran

Pentagon officials have made detailed preparations for deploying U.S. ground forces into Iran, multiple sources briefed on the discussions told CBS News. 

Senior military commanders have submitted specific requests aimed at preparing for such an option as President Trump weighs moves in the U.S.-Israel-led conflict with Iran, the sources said. 

Mr. Trump has been deliberating whether to position ground forces in the region, sources said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. It was unclear under what circumstances he would authorize the use of troops on the ground. 

“No, I’m not putting troops anywhere,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday when asked about ground troops, but quickly added: “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you.”

Officials at U.S. Central Command referred questions from CBS News to the White House and Pentagon. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement: “It’s the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the Commander in Chief maximum optionality, it does not mean the President has made a decision, and as the President said in the Oval Office yesterday, he is not planning to send ground troops anywhere at this time.”

The military has also held meetings to prepare for how to handle the possible detention of Iranian soldiers and paramilitary operatives if the president decides to put American boots on the ground – including where the Iranians would be sent, two sources said. 

The U.S. is preparing to deploy elements of the 82nd Airborne Division into the Middle East region. 

The planning involves the Army’s Global Response Force and the Marine Corps’ Marine Expeditionary Unit. 

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Iran War Is Putting Israel First

Reagan Carney, a really fine young man with whom we go to church, told me a few days ago that the University of Tennessee Young Republicans had a board on which members could express their opinions about the war in Iran.

The board had only one question: “Is the Iran war putting America first?” At that point, 10 had signed under the Yes; 70 had signed under the  No.

This confirmed a story which ABC News ran on March 7 quoting Jack Posobiec of Turning Point  USA and the conservative publication, Human Events.

Posobiec said: “For the younger end of the spectrum inside MAGA, foreign intervention is just off the radar….They see it as prioritizing foreign interests….” He said MAGA is split by age with more support for the Iran war among older conservatives.

The ABC story led this way: “President Donald Trump’s decision to carry out strikes on Iran has further exposed a fracture among some of the President’s fiercest supporters inside MAGA world—one that many supporters say will only widen with every week the conflict continues.”

Like the Tennessee students, the great majority realize this war is being fought at the insistence of Israel at tremendous expense for U.S. taxpayers. This is Israel’s war. Iran’s total military budget is only a little over one percent of ours. Iran was no threat to us at all.

In 1999, Charley Reese was voted as the most popular columnist in a vote by thousands of C-Span viewers. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2013, but many things he wrote are just as true today.

In 2002, he said in a column: “The truth is this: The terrorist attacks against the United States are a direct result of our one-sided support of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians.”

He added: “The big pushers for war with Iraq are the usual suspects—Americans with a long record of pretending to speak about America’s interests when in fact they are pushing an Israeli agenda.” Today, switch the word Iran for Iraq.

In 2005, Reese wrote: “Propaganda aside, our actions have created the almost universal hostility toward the United States in the Arab world. Our actions have been to support Israel 100 percent while it kills and brutalizes the Palestinians….” Think Gaza where many thousands of little children were starved and killed.

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United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, and Canada Will Now Join US to Keep the Strait of Hormuz Open

The leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, and Canada have now signaled they will join the United States in a coalition to secure and keep open the critical Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil chokepoint the bloodthirsty Iranian regime has turned into a terrorist kill zone.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, the radical Islamic mullahs in Tehran launched a desperate campaign of economic terrorism after U.S. and Israeli strikes hammered their nuclear sites and terror infrastructure.

Iran mined the strait, attacked unarmed commercial vessels, targeted oil facilities, and effectively closed the waterway that carries nearly 20-25% of the world’s oil supply.

President Trump refused to let America shoulder the entire burden alone. He blasted the freeloading “allies,” took to Truth Social, and demanded that nations dependent on Middle Eastern oil step up and send warships.

“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated,” Trump said.

He even threatened to “finish off” Iran and let NATO and Asia handle the mess if they wouldn’t get in gear. As we reported, the initial responses from Europe were weak and uninspiring, classic globalist foot-dragging.

Now, with Iran’s attacks growing more brazen and the Strait’s security directly tied to global oil flows, those same allies are signaling that they are prepared to stand with the United States.

That does not yet mean all seven countries have announced warship deployments.

The joint statement so far supports that they have formally backed efforts to keep passage open and are ready to contribute, while some governments are still working through what their exact role will be.

Britain, for example, has been publicly discussing possible deployments, including ships and mine-countermeasure assets, but final national commitments appear to remain in motion.

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Senate Again Rejects Effort to Restrict Trump’s Iran War Powers

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday once again rejected a motion to discharge S.J. Res. 118, a joint resolution to withdraw American armed forces from military actions in Iran sans Congressional approval. The motion was shot down in a 47–53 vote.

The measure, introduced by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), is an attempt to invoke the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to require explicit congressional approval for ongoing U.S. military involvement in the region.

The motion was rejected mostly along party lines, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) providing the lone Republican supporter and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) voting with Republicans.

“If there’s anything that is plain in that Constitution, it is that a president does not have the power to unilaterally bring a nation and its treasure, to bring a nation and its men and women into conflict without a say of Congress,” Booker said on the Senate floor.

“This is not a partisan issue. This is not a left or right issue. It is a right or wrong, do you stand with the Constitution of the United States of America?”

The U.S.-led military campaign against Iran entered its third week on Wednesday as Iran engages in retaliatory strikes across the region, disrupting global energy flows and driving up oil prices. Iran launched missiles and drones late Wednesday night a toward Israel and several Persian Gulf countries, continuing a trend of targeting its neighbors.

The Israel Defense Forces, as well as defense measures in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, have responded to Iran’s attacks. Israel conducted strikes in Tehran Tuesday, killing Ali Larijani, a top Iranian security official, as well as Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Basij force.

Meanwhile, Brent crude prices have skyrocketed above $100 per barrel as Middle East oil exports have been halted. Strikes against Iranian gas fields have contributed to the increase in oil prices. Two Canadian cargo ships are stranded in the Persian Gulf, unable to pass through the waterway.

U.S. intelligence says Iran’s regime remains in power, but it’s deteriorated.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Responds to Claims that His Nation Dragged President Trump into War with Iran 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has broken his silence regarding unfounded allegations that the Jewish State strong-armed President Trump into going to war with Iran.

As TGP readers know, the ongoing war with Iran has divided big-name conservative influencers (though ordinary GOPers remain solidly behind Trump). Some have claimed that Netanyahu is controlling Trump and actually calling the shots when it comes to American foreign policy.

Disgraced former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who quit on Wednesday, piled on as well.

He stated in his resignation letter that Iran posed no imminent threat to America and asserted we started the war because of “pressure from Israel” and its “powerful American lobby.”

Netanyahu decided to respond to these allegations during a press conference on Thursday. He called any claim that Israel forced America to go to war with Iran just another piece of fake news.

The Israeli Prime Minister then posed a question that almost everyone would say no to: Does anyone think Trump takes orders from other human beings?

Netanyahu closed by praising Trump for always putting America first.

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