As Israel wages what it describes as an existential campaign against Iran, IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the war has reinforced a fundamental strategic shift in how Israel sees itself and its alliances, particularly with the United States and regional partners.

‘Israel was never part of this region. We thought we were part of Europe,’ he said. ‘Since the Abraham Accords started, we are having good relations with our neighbors. We are part of this region now.’

He described the 2020 agreements as transformative, building on the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. ‘The military cooperation is great. Some of the things are overt and some covert,’ Defrin said in his first English-language media interview since the beginning of the conflict. ‘Iran is a regional threat, and that is clear to everyone now.’

But he stressed the campaign against Tehran is not only regional.

‘It’s a worldwide problem, it’s a global problem, it’s a regional problem and it’s also an Israeli problem,’ he said. ‘They are not hitting only Israel.’

Months of Deception

The spokesperson revealed that the operation was preceded by months of strategic deception.

‘It was a strategic and operational deception,’ he said.

On the eve of the strike, senior officials deliberately maintained routine appearances.

‘Friday night we went to dinner at home. The chief of staff and I returned late in cars that were not our official vehicles. The official cars stayed at home, and we made sure that from satellite imagery it would not look like the Kirya (ministry of defense) was full while all the planes were armed and ready.’

He said Iran was caught off guard. ‘For many long months there was deception, so they were surprised. They fired what they had pre-planned in their preset response.’

‘A Mutual Operation’

The spokesperson said the strike that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was carried out in coordination with the Trump administration. ‘It was a mutual operation,’ he said. ‘The cooperation between us and the American military is amazing. We have mutual planning and mutual executing for the plans in Iran and beyond.’

He framed the operation as part of unprecedented U.S.-Israeli military coordination. The entire operation in Iran is a mutual and coordinated campaign,’ he said.

He also described a broader international dimension. ‘It’s a problem with the United States of America as well,’ he said, citing attacks by Iranian-backed groups that have killed American service members and threatened shipping lanes.

‘They are posing a threat to the Red Sea… the movement of naval ships in the Suez Canal dropped by 90% since the Houthis started shooting at ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait,’ he said. ‘It’s a global problem. It’s a terror regime. They are acting all over the world. And again, we had to act.’

He added that regional states increasingly understand the threat. ‘Israel is here to stay. You see the countries of the region placing their trust in Israel.’

Strike on Iranian Targets

Addressing reports that dozens of senior Iranian figures were eliminated in a strike on Tuesday, including claims that 88 members of Iran’s Assembly of Experts were killed, he dismissed the figures.

‘We struck a few targets involved in terrorism. We still don’t have any battle damage assessment. Once we have it, we will publish it. It’s too early.’

He emphasized that the targets were military. ‘We struck military targets,’ he said. ‘They are attacking population centers.’

According to the spokesperson, Israeli intelligence shows Iran is deliberately aiming at civilians ‘to exact a price,’ including launches toward civilian infrastructure.

War Aims

Explaining the decision to launch the campaign, the spokesperson described Iran as an imminent existential threat.

‘We didn’t have another choice, unfortunately. It’s an existential imminent threat. This is a terror regime,’ he said.

‘They declared it. Whatever they declared, they did.’

Asked whether regime change is an objective, he drew a distinction between military aims and political outcomes.

‘As a member of the military, I cannot say we have an aim to remove the regime,’ he said. ‘But definitely, we want to weaken it and create the conditions that one day this regime will be removed by its own people.’

As fighting expands to Lebanon following renewed Hezbollah fire, he reiterated Israel’s view of Iran as the head of a regional network.

‘Hezbollah is an octopus. The head of the octopus is in Iran.’

For Israel, he said, the campaign has clarified a strategic reality shaped by the Abraham Accords and deepened U.S. cooperation. ‘We are part of this region now.’

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Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave very different responses to House lawmakers last week when asked whether President Donald Trump should testify in their Jeffrey Epstein probe, newly released video shows.

Both testified to the House Oversight Committee behind closed doors for hours in their hometown of Chappaqua, New York.

Each was also asked by the Democratic side whether Trump should come before the committee himself, given his own known past ties to the late financier and sex trafficker.

‘Absolutely,’ Hillary Clinton answered when the question was posed by Democrats’ staff.

She cited the civil case involving writer E. Jean Carroll in which Trump was found civilly liable for defaming Carroll over her allegations that he sexually assaulted her, as well as the 34-count criminal verdict by a New York City court related to allegations he sought to cover up payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing in both cases.

Neither case relates to Epstein, but Hillary Clinton claimed it proved a ‘pattern’ of behavior that would be relevant to the committee’s probe.

‘I think that it would be in keeping with the scope of the investigation of this committee to set up a deposition with President Trump. I know he’s been deposed many, many, many times. He’s taken the Fifth Amendment many, many hundreds of times,’ she argued.

‘So I’m not saying you’re going to get a lot of information, but given what’s in the files, and given past and prior conduct, he would be on my witness list.’

Bill Clinton’s response was far more muted, however.

When asked by Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the committee’s top Democrat, whether Trump should be called in, the former president did not express support one way or another.

‘That’s for you to decide. But he did know him well, and I once had a brief discussion with him about it,’ Bill Clinton said.

Garcia attempted to move on to the next Democratic lawmaker before Bill Clinton cut in again, ‘I hate this, because I don’t believe I should inject anything, but I do not want to leave the impression, but since there was no follow-up question, he never — the president never, this is 20-something years ago, never said anything to me to make me think he was involved in anything improper with regard to Epstein, either.’

‘He just said, ‘We were friends. And then we had a falling out over a land deal, property deal.’ That’s all,’ Bill Clinton said.

He then said the conversation occurred on Trump’s golf course and that he ‘somehow’ knew that the former president had flown on Epstein’s plane.

‘And he said, you know, ‘We had some great times together over the years, but we fell out all because of a real estate deal.’ And he said, ‘I’m sorry it happened.’ That’s all,’ the former president said.

His deposition included far fewer dramatic moments on the whole than his wife’s, who was confronted by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and others during multiple explosive points in her own deposition.

At one point, Hillary Clinton even temporarily stormed out of her seat after it was discovered that Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., had run afoul of the deposition’s rules by posting a photo of the former secretary of state.

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent reactions to law enforcement, which some have interpreted as pushing back against the New York Police Department, likely won’t hurt him as much as previous mayors, a local crime expert told Fox News Digital, and could end up working to his overall political advantage. 

‘It may not hurt Mamdani in the way that it might hurt another mayor,’ said Manhattan Institute fellow Rafael Mangual. 

‘I do think that Zohran Mamdani is OK with being an opponent and a critic of the NYPD. I think he comes from a sort of ideological perspective that does not believe that the NYPD actually reduces crime. So, if the NYPD pulls back and crime goes up, I think he will see that as an opportunity to further criticize the NYPD and point to reasons why it should be defunded in favor of this Department of Community Safety and some of these other proposals that he would much rather invest in.’

Two significant events in the city indicate that the mayor will not defend the police department, according to Mangual, and could result in cops pulling back due to lack of support. They include an incident last month in Washington Square Park, dubbed ‘Snowballgate,’ where a mob of roughly 100 people pelted NYPD officers with snowballs, leaving two officers injured. 

Rather than condemning the assault, Mamdani appeared to downplay the violence, referring to the perpetrators as ‘kids’ taking part in a snowball fight. 

‘Mamdani did not come out in support of the NYPD in that incident. Instead, he seemed to kind of brush it off and even refused to call for the prosecution of the perpetrators,’ Mangual said, adding that the actions of the mob clearly qualified as an assault against police officers. 

‘Unfortunately, I think the mayor’s response was found wanting. He seemed unwilling to condemn it as an assault. He seemed unwilling to even say that it was something that shouldn’t be done in the future, and I think that is going to create a sense in the NYPD that this administration does not have their back.’

Perhaps more concerning, according to Mangual, was Mamdani’s reaction to a recent officer-involved shooting in Queens where, despite bodycam footage showing an officer being immediately attacked with a deadly weapon after entering a home at the owner’s invitation, Mamdani called on the district attorney to not prosecute the knife wielding suspect who was reportedly having a mental health episode. 

Additionally, Mamdani visited the attacker and his family after the incident.

‘For Mayor Mamdani to come out and not just meet with the family as if this individual is some sort of crime victim, but to also make an open call to the Queens DA not to prosecute the individual for the obvious and clear assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, I think is just completely irresponsible,’ Mangual said. 

‘But it also will reinforce that sense in the NYPD that I think is already existing: that this administration is an opponent, not a partner. And if that dynamic continues, and it reaches further down into the rank and file, I do think that the city is going to see a more reluctant police force at a time in which it needs it to be proactive.’

As a candidate, Mamdani attempted to distance himself from previous support of police defunding but faced backlash last month when he announced that part of his plan to balance the budget involves cutting the NYPD’s budget and canceling 5,000 new officer hires.

‘I think what we’ve seen in the early days of this administration is that Mamdani is not yet willing to position himself as an open partner of the NYPD,’ Mangual said. ‘He is still trying to make a decision about whether he is going to lean into his more natural identity of an opponent of the NYPD.’

The NYPD is ‘between a rock and a hard place’ under Mamdani, Mangual said, adding that officers will be ‘less likely to put their lives on the line for a city that they do not feel has their back.’

‘He’d be perfectly happy with a world in which he can say, ‘Look, the NYPD is a failure, it’s not keeping crime down, it’s time to try other approaches,” Mangual said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s office for comment. 

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The State Department revealed communications with Congress on getting Americans out of the Middle East as Democrats on Capitol Hill say the department is ‘refusing to help people leave the region.’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed concerns about Americans still remaining in the Middle East with reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday, telling U.S. citizens abroad that ‘we need to know where you are’ in order to successfully help them evacuate. 

‘9,000 Americans have been able to leave the region since the start of this war,’ Rubio said. ‘We have about [1,500] Americans that are requesting assistance with departure. We have identified and continue to identify charter flights, military flight options and expanded commercial flight options, meaning working with the airlines to send bigger airplanes with more seats.’

‘Here’s the message I want to deliver Americans who are in the Middle East and in need of assistance… we need to know where you are,’ Rubio added. ‘We need to have contact information for Americans that need assistance. They have to register with us because, as these options begin to open up and as they open up we have to be able to call you, we have to be able to reach you, we have to be able to know where you’re staying so we can get this information to you and coordinate appropriately.’

Rubio strongly encouraged Americans still remaining in the Middle East to utilize the department website to initiate the proceedings to safely evacuate.

The Department of State told Fox News Digital that the department has been in ‘constant contact’ with Congress, specifically related to getting stranded Americans back home. 

‘The State Department is in constant contact with members of Congress in order to provide American citizens in the Middle East with assistance and accurate information on the security situation in the region, State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘There is no greater priority than the safety of American citizens both at home and abroad.’

‘The State Department has reached over a thousand Congressional staffers with briefings on the security situation on the Middle East and continues to be in constant contact with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee to ensure that their constituents have the facts on available support and assistance,’ Pigott added.

Democrats in Congress have accused the Trump administration of not assisting in getting trapped Americans out of the area. 

‘So the State Department is forcing everyone to immediately leave the region but is also refusing to help people leave the region,’ Sen. Chris Murphy, D-CT posted to X. ‘The strike itself is illegal and disastrous but their lack of readiness for what comes next is unforgivable as well.’

‘Incompetence everywhere,’ Murphy added.

Sources at the State Department told Fox News Digital that they contacted the Consular on the Hill with approximately 130 emails and calls from 88 congressional offices through Monday evening, seeking information to provide constituents or request information about citizens in the region. 

The department also told Fox that they communicated with more than 1,300 congressional staffers, held three webinars covering the security situation, and have been in constant communication with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee on Embassy operating status, regional requests for additional interceptors, and other military equipment. 

The department says they made 60 emails and a dozen calls on policy-related questions, briefing requests, and general inquiries from Congressional offices.

Rubio told reporters on Tuesday he is confident that the administration will be able to safely evacuate all U.S. citizens out of the region. 

‘Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics,’ Rubio said. ‘They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons. They intend to develop those nuclear weapons behind a program of missiles and drones and terrorism [so] the world will not be able to touch them for fear of those things… now is the time to go after them.’ 

During an interview with Fox News Digital, Kristy Ellmer, from New Hampshire, described the ‘shock waves’ and ‘red bursts in air’ she witnessed while with her husband in Dubai.

‘We were just sitting on the beach. We hadn’t been watching the news or anything, just enjoying the morning,’ Ellmer said. ‘All of a sudden, we felt explosions.’

She was scheduled to leave Dubai on Sunday, though she dealt with flight cancellations for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

On Saturday, Iranian airstrikes hit Dubai International Airport as the country exchanged blows with the U.S. and its Israeli allies. 

She still remains in the region, hoping to get out of the country by the end of the week.

Fox News Digital’s Jessica Mekles contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump blasted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer Tuesday, saying, ‘This is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with,’ amid a lack of support for the United States and Israel’s joint military operation against Iran.

The president spoke in the Oval Office ahead of a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz Tuesday and took questions from reporters.

‘By the way, I’m not happy with the U.K. either,’ the president said, referring to Starmer blocking the United States’ use of U.K. bases to launch attacks on Iran.

Starmer initially blocked the U.S. from using British military bases, specifically Diego Garcia, for strikes against Iran during Operation Epic Fury. The U.K. later permitted the use of the bases for ‘defensive strikes’ after Trump’s complaints. 

The president referenced the Chagos Islands Tuesday, which are British territories in the Indian Ocean, saying it has taken ‘three, four days for us to work out where we can land there.’

‘It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised,’ he said.

Trump added, though, ‘This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.’

Later, the president said the United Kingdom has been ‘very, very uncooperative with that stupid island.’ 

‘It’s a shame,’ Trump said. ‘That country, the U.K., and I love that country, I love it.’

‘My mother was born there,’ he said. ‘My father was born. Right? He knows all about my father. My father was born there. So, you know, very places that you sort of automatically very, very feel warmly about.’

The president said again, ‘This is not the age of Churchill.’

Starmer has defended his decision to stay out of the conflict, saying the U.K. was ‘not involved in the ​initial strikes against Iran, and we will not join offensive action now.’ 

‘But in the face of Iran’s barrage of missiles and ⁠drones, we will protect our people in the region,’ Starmer said in an address Monday to Parliament. ‘President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the ​initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest. That is what I’ve done, and I stand by it.’

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Undersecretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby told lawmakers that the administration’s latest defense strategy proposal does not sideline the U.S.’ European allies, but rather it aims to go back to a ‘Cold War mentality’ with an emphasis on ‘burden sharing.’

The Pentagon policy chief was grilled on Tuesday as members of the Senate Armed Services Committee questioned the 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS).

The strategy outlines a shift in U.S. priorities to keep Washington engaged in Europe while also prioritizing defense of the ‘U.S. Homeland and deterring China.’ The NDS also calls for NATO allies, which it says are ‘substantially more powerful than Russia,’ to take responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., expressed doubts in his opening statement about leaving Europe to handle threats from Russia. The senator said that ‘any clear-eyed assessment of the military situation in Europe makes it clear we cannot fully delegate the Russia problem to our European allies.’

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the committee’s ranking member, called the NDS a ‘flawed proposal,’ and also expressed concerns about the strategy’s approach to Russia, which he said focused U.S. efforts on Moscow’s growing nuclear arsenal, as well as its advances in space and cyber spaces.

‘While I understand the logic of pursuing the right balance of U.S. military capabilities with those of our European allies, I do not accept the abdication of our clear national security interests in Europe by suggesting Russia is their problem to manage,’ Reed said in his opening remarks.

Colby told the senators that the strategy did not leave America’s allies in danger, saying it was meant to focus U.S. resources ‘realistically and prudently’ while accounting for ‘our allies’ and partners’ ability and will to meet those challenges.’ He described the strategy as going back to a ‘Cold War mentality’ that focused on U.S. allies doing their part to combat threats within their regions. The Pentagon policy chief noted that the U.S. has a network of allies with ‘tremendous military power.’

Colby said the model that the administration is pursuing is ‘NATO 3.0,’ which aims to have ‘wealthy European allies take the lead for the conventional defense of European NATO.’

‘In Europe and other theaters, allies will take the lead against threats that are less severe for us but more so for them, with critical but more limited support from the United States,’ he said.

Colby cited this when responding to concerns Wicker expressed during his statement, saying that the strategy recognizes European interests in the context of certain threats without leaving U.S. allies in the lurch. He said the strategy is a return to shared defense burdens and responsibilities.

‘I think this is a return to the Cold War mentality, when these were expected to be real military alliances with burden-sharing, and members of this committee in the 1970s and ’80s on both sides of the dais, would make a real point of making sure that our allies did their part. And we’re going back to that noble heritage,’ he said.

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President Donald Trump said U.S. military strikes on Iran have eliminated much of the regime’s anticipated leadership succession bench, raising new questions about who will emerge to lead the Islamic Republic after the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

‘Most of the people we had in mind are dead,’ Trump told reporters Tuesday. ‘So, you know, we had some in mind from that group that is, is dead. And now we have another group. They may be dead also based on reports. So, I guess you have a third wave coming in. Pretty soon we’re not going to know anybody.’

The president said the worst-case scenario would be someone taking over ‘who’s as bad as the previous person.’ 

‘That could happen,’ Trump said. ‘We don’t want that to happen. It would probably be the worse you go through this, and then, in five years, you realize you put somebody in who was no better. We’d like to see somebody in there that’s going to bring it back for the people, and we’ll see what happens with the people. You know, they have their chance.’

The remarks come as Israeli strikes hit the building in the holy city of Qom, Iran, associated with the country’s Assembly of Experts, the 88-member clerical body constitutionally responsible for selecting the next supreme leader, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Effie Defrin confirmed to Fox News Digital. 

‘We struck a few targets involved in terrorism,’ Defrin said. 

Iranian media has claimed the building was empty at the time of the strikes. Israel does not yet have a battle damage assessment, Defrin said.

The White House has said 49 top Iranian leaders were taken out in the opening phase of the campaign, which Trump said put the operation ‘ahead of schedule.’

Defense officials, however, have stressed the operation was not designed to force regime change.

‘This is not a so-called regime change war,’ War Secretary Pete Hegseth said. ‘But the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it today.’

That distinction now sits at the center of a critical geopolitical question: If the U.S. did not intend to overthrow Iran’s ruling system but has eliminated much of its top leadership and succession chain, what happens next?

How Iran’s succession process is supposed to work

Under Iran’s constitution, the Assembly of Experts selects a new supreme leader when the position becomes vacant. In the interim, a three-person council — composed of the president, the head of the judiciary and a senior cleric — carries out the leader’s duties until a permanent successor is chosen.

After Khamenei’s death, Iranian authorities moved to activate that constitutional mechanism. President Masoud Pezeshkian, judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei and senior cleric Alireza Arafi are overseeing the interim phase.

The structure is designed to prevent exactly the kind of vacuum that can destabilize authoritarian systems. But Trump’s assertion that multiple potential successors were killed has intensified uncertainty about whether Tehran’s clerical establishment still has a clear and viable path forward.

While Israeli officials have indicated that senior figures were targeted in recent strikes, Iran has not publicly confirmed a full list of clerical or succession-level casualties. The extent to which the Assembly of Experts itself was directly disrupted remains unclear.

Potential successors and reported losses

Judiciary chief Mohseni-Ejei has long been viewed as a senior insider within the succession framework and remains part of the interim leadership council.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had quietly begun preparing for a potential transition during last year’s 12-day war between Iran and Israel, according to prior reporting by The New York Times. 

Possible successors reportedly included his chief of staff Ali Asghar Hejazi, Mohseni-Ejei and Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Israeli officials have claimed Hejazi was killed in recent strikes, though Iranian authorities have not publicly confirmed his death.

Ayatollah Alireza Arafi has also been viewed by some analysts as a potential contender within the clerical hierarchy.

Trump’s claim that ‘second or third place is dead’ suggests U.S. intelligence assessed that multiple tiers of leadership were affected. However, no comprehensive public accounting of succession-ranking figures killed has been released.

Risk of power shifts 

Some analysts warn that wiping out multiple tiers of leadership risks creating the kind of power vacuum that has destabilized other countries after the removal of entrenched rulers.

After Moammar Gadhafi was removed in Libya in 2011, rival militias and competing governments fractured the country. The U.S. invasion of Iraq similarly led to prolonged insurgency and regional upheaval.

Iran’s situation is not identical. The country retains formal succession rules, centralized institutions and a functioning state bureaucracy.

But if clerical leaders struggle to agree on a successor, competing power centers could emerge.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which controls vast military, intelligence and economic assets, could move to consolidate influence if civilian religious leadership falters.

‘When clerics cannot agree, power does not disappear. It shifts,’ analysts at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote in a recent assessment, warning that sustained instability could empower the IRGC. ‘The most likely beneficiary of sustained instability is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.’

Domestic unrest and opposition figures

Iran’s leadership already has faced intense domestic unrest.

Nationwide protests erupted in late December 2025 concerning economic hardship and political grievances, prompting a sweeping government crackdown. Trump has claimed 32,000 people were killed during the regime’s response, a figure significantly higher than official Iranian statements and independent estimates.

To stifle communication and hinder coordination among demonstrators, Iranian authorities imposed a near-total internet blackout during the unrest and again after the start of U.S. strikes.

Outside the regime, opposition figures have positioned themselves as potential transitional voices in the event of broader political realignment.

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, has cast himself as a symbol of the opposition and a potential transitional figure who could steer Iran toward a democratic system if the clerical order collapses.

But Pahlavi lives in the U.S., and Trump said Tuesday someone within Iran might be more ‘appropriate.’ 

‘Some people like him, and we haven’t been thinking too much about that,’ Trump said. ‘It would seem to me that somebody from within maybe would be more appropriate. I’ve said that he looks like a very nice person, but it would seem to me that somebody that’s there that’s currently popular if there is such a person.’

Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran — a coalition of exiled opposition groups led by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) — advocates for the overthrow of the clerical regime and establishment of a democratic republic.

Both figures have international supporters, but their actual influence inside Iran remains uncertain and contested.

Not regime change — but what is it?

Critics of U.S. intervention in the Middle East often point to past regime-change efforts that produced instability rather than stability.

Trump has instead pointed to Venezuela as a more relevant comparison. 

In January, U.S. forces captured President Nicolás Maduro, and Vice President Delcy Rodríguez assumed power under Venezuela’s constitutional process. The country’s governing institutions continued functioning while Washington exerted influence through economic pressure, legal action over oil assets and diplomatic engagement rather than direct rule.

Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier that the Venezuela operation was a template for leadership that ‘takes over’ and one the United States can work with, suggesting the administration sees a pathway where entrenched systems adjust under pressure rather than collapse outright.

Whether Iran follows that model — maintaining institutional continuity despite devastating leadership losses — or whether deeper fractures emerge inside the clerical establishment remains one of the most consequential unanswered questions in the Middle East.

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President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the Iranian regime is ‘running out of launchers’ as its forces are ‘being decimated.’ 

The president made the remarks despite saying that the Iranian military is expected to ‘keep lobbing missiles for a while,’ according to Politico. The State Department is urging Americans to depart immediately from more than a dozen countries across the Middle East, warning of ‘serious safety risks’ as the Iran war intensifies. 

‘They’re running out, and they’re running out of areas to shoot them, because they’re being decimated,’ Trump told Politico. ‘They’re running out of launchers.’ 

Trump’s comments come as the Israel Defense Forces announced Tuesday that ‘targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in Tehran and Isfahan were struck.’

‘Throughout Iran, industrial sites used by the Iranian regime to produce weapons, particularly ballistic missiles, were targeted,’ the IDF said. 

‘Isfahan: Dozens of targets related to the ballistic missiles array, including launchers and missile storage sites, were struck,’ it added. 

The United States launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran and Israel launched its parallel campaign, Operation Roaring Lion, on Saturday. 

‘The Air Force personnel, the fighters — both women and men — the commanders and the technical teams, are doing amazing work in defense and offense. All of Israel must appreciate their contribution to the defense of Israel’s civilians and to striking those who seek our harm,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X on Tuesday.

‘We are on the fourth day of Lion’s Roar,’ he added. ‘We are roaring and we are acting.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday said the department is reviewing interviews with some individuals who crossed the border under former President Joe Biden to identify potential threats following the conflict with Iran.

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, questioned Noem during a DHS oversight hearing, asking about the ‘millions of people’ who entered the U.S. under Biden’s ‘open border policy’ and what steps Homeland Security has taken to protect against potential Iranian sleeper cells and related terrorism.

Noem replied that DHS works with intelligence agencies and law enforcement to investigate and find any threats on U.S. soil.

‘Not only that, we go back and we are getting some of the individuals in some of the programs that we may have concerns about looking at social media, also going through those interviews that are necessary for some of our programs that the Biden administration abused and perverted under their time there as well,’ Noem said.

‘We know that we have many dangerous individuals that came in unvetted, and we are working every single day to find them and to make sure that we’re preventing the next attack and preventing the next crime they may perpetuate against the American people,’ the secretary continued.

The comments come after the joint U.S.–Israel strikes on Iran on Saturday morning that officials say targeted Iranian leadership and key military installations.

The conflict has led American counterterrorism agencies to quietly monitor suspected sleeper cells on U.S. soil, stepping up surveillance amid heightened fears of possible retaliation from Iran-linked operatives or sympathizers, Fox News Digital previously reported.

The sleeper cell concerns came into full focus over the weekend when authorities say a Senegalese man opened fire at patrons of an Austin, Texas, bar while wearing a sweatshirt that read ‘Property of Allah.’

Fox News also learned Monday that a DHS memo was sent out over the weekend to various law enforcement agencies nationwide warning of potential cyberattacks and lone wolf physical attacks as a result of the U.S.-Israel bombing in Iran.

Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

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