France’s ambassador to the United Nations said Paris has strongly condemned Iran’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests, as the French government weighs possible satellite communications support to help Iranians circumvent a near-total internet blackout.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Jerome Bonnafont described what he said was an escalation in repression by Iranian authorities and outlined France’s response, including sanctions and diplomatic pressure.

‘We have condemned very, very strongly, at the highest level, the repression against the popular movement in Iran,’ Bonnafont said. ‘This time it seems to me that the repression is even more violent than it used to be.’

His remarks come as France’s foreign minister confirmed Paris is studying the possible transfer of satellite terminals operated by Eutelsat to Iran, following a sweeping internet shutdown imposed by Iranian authorities during the unrest, and as the G7 issued a joint statement condemning Iran’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests. 

The foreign ministers of France, the United States and other G7 nations warned they were prepared to impose additional restrictive measures if Iran continues to violate international human rights obligations.

Earlier Tuesday, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, urged France to support designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization at the EU level during a call with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.

Asked whether France would back such a move, Bonnafont did not address the IRGC designation directly, instead emphasizing existing sanctions and international pressure.

‘There are sanctions against the police of the regime. And there are sanctions also against several individuals, more than 200 people in Iran for these reasons,’ he said.

‘What we have to do is to condemn and to address the right message to the people in Iran and to the regime, so that the regime stops with this massive repression.’

NATO and Europe’s defense responsibility

Bonnafont also addressed repeated calls from President Donald Trump for European allies to shoulder more of NATO’s defense burden, arguing that Europe is already moving in that direction.

‘There is a will by the Europeans to take the full responsibility of the protection of its own continent,’ he said.

He stressed that the approach reflects a long-standing French position. ‘It is a very old theme for the French governments that there has to be within NATO an autonomous, self-capable entity for European defense,’ Bonnafont said, referring to France’s long-standing advocacy for European strategic autonomy, a position repeatedly emphasized by President Emmanuel Macron.

Ukraine as a test case

Bonnafont pointed to Europe’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine as evidence that European governments are prepared to act collectively when core security interests are threatened.

‘Ukraine has been attacked by Russia four years ago. Now it has been invaded by Russia, and it has decided to resist and to fight for its independence, its territorial integrity, its sovereignty,’ he said.

He described European backing for Kyiv as both unified and extensive. ‘And Europeans are going in support of Ukraine. And what we are doing in terms of financial support is massive. What we are doing in terms of political support is unanimous,’ Bonnafont said.

According to the ambassador, France and the United Kingdom are working to organize what he described as a ‘coalition of volunteers’ to provide Ukraine with long-term security guarantees once negotiations with Russia become possible.

‘When Ukraine enters into discussion with Russia, and when Russia accepts to enter into discussion with Ukraine, and when the elements of a peace, sustainable peace, are put on paper, Ukraine can have security guarantees,’ he said.

Bonnafont also pointed to France’s domestic budget decisions as evidence that Europe is backing rhetoric with resources. ‘There is presently the negotiation of the next budget for France for 2026,’ he said. ‘It includes a strong increase in our defense budget, and it is the only budget that is going to be increased in our whole budget this year.’

UN reform and budget cuts

Beyond NATO and Europe’s defense posture, Bonnafont said France is pushing for institutional reform at the United Nations, where member states recently approved significant budget reductions. ‘The institution has to reform. It always has to reform,’ he said.

‘We decided by consensus with the American government and all the others a budget which presents a reduction of 20% of manpower and a reduction of 15% of the funds allocated to the U.N.,’ Bonnafont added. ‘Give me another example of a public structure that is capable of such an effort in such a short time,’ he said.

Despite the cuts, he defended the U.N.’s relevance. ‘Yes, we are serious about reform. Yes, we want it to be streamlined,’ Bonnafont said. ‘But yes, we need the U.N. for the world.’

UNRWA dispute and U.S. funding cuts

Asked about the U.S. decision to halt funding for several U.N. agencies, including UNRWA, Bonnafont defended the agencies, saying, ‘Organizations are more efficient when they are universal,’ adding that participation remains a sovereign decision for the United States.

A Senate Republican wants to crack down on childcare providers convicted of fraud with legislation that would, among a handful of tweaks to current law, require the fraudsters to pay back the misspent taxpayer money.

The bill from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, would amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act to impose harsher penalties on childcare providers convicted of fraud, and one of several moves in the upper chamber to tackle the sprawling Minnesota fraud scandal.

Cornyn’s bill, the Stop Fraud by Strengthening Oversight and More Accountability for Lying and Illegal Activity (SOMALIA) Act, is narrowly tailored toward addressing fraudulent activity in childcare and daycare centers, but the breadth and scope of the unfurling scandal goes beyond that.

Federal prosecutors estimate that up to $9 billion was stolen through a network of fraudulent fronts posing as daycare centers, food programs and health clinics.

‘The Minnesota scandal has exposed a deep-rooted, morally bankrupt fraud empire, and it is clear more must be done to rid our nation of these heinous criminals,’ Cornyn said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

The legislation would require mandatory permanent debarment from all federally funded child care assistance programs, repay misspent federal funds, require referral for federal criminal investigations, and require states to enforce the above bans and halt providers from evading debarment by restructuring the business or changing the business name.

There’s also an immigration component to the bill that would make non-citizens convicted of fraud deportable, bar them from asylum, adjustment of status, and subject them to mandatory detention and expedited removal.

Cornyn’s effort is one of many coming from the Senate GOP, where lawmakers are looking at several options to crack down on fraud, both in Minnesota and more broadly in the federal government.

Every Senate Republican joined in on a letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz last week, and demanded that he provide a paper trail on the state’s role in the scandal. And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., floated that budget reconciliation, the same procedure used to pass President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ could be used to deal with fraud.

And the Trump administration has moved to or threatened cancellation of federal funds to the state in the wake of the scandal.

‘I applaud President Trump for his efforts to end this corruption, and I’m proud to take it a step further with the Stop Fraud by SOMALIA Act, which would ensure these consequences are enshrined into law before any more funds are misused or sent overseas to fund American-hating terrorist networks like we saw in now-disgraced Governor Walz’s state,’ Cornyn said.

Democrats and Republicans are united in opposing U.S. military strikes against Iran to retaliate for the killing of protesters amid a wave of massive demonstrations against the Iranian government in recent weeks, according to a new national poll.

Seventy percent of voters questioned in a new Quinnipiac University survey said they think the U.S. should not get involved militarily in Iran, with 18% saying the U.S. should take military action.

The vast majority of Independents (80%-11%) and Democrats (79%-7%), as well as a majority of Republicans (53%-35%) said the U.S. should not get involved if protesters in Iran are killed while demonstrating against the regime.

The poll, conducted Jan. 9–12, comes as President Donald Trump has turned up the heat on the regime in Tehran, threatening strikes on Iran if its forces continue to kill demonstrators.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency announced Tuesday that nearly 2,000 people have been killed in the protests. Other reports say the death toll is over 3,000, with the real number likely to be even higher. 

The protests against Iran’s dire economic conditions, which have rapidly escalated in recent days, are seen as some of the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that installed the current system of clerical rule.

Trump took to social media earlier this week, urging ‘Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS.’

The president also said that ‘HELP IS ON ITS WAY,’ and apparently pointing to Iranian authorities, he warned, ‘They will pay a big price.’

Pointing to the possibility of Iranian authorities executing some of the protesters, Trump said in a CBS News interview this week, ‘If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action.’

And the White House confirmed on Monday that Trump was weighing whether to bomb Iran in reaction to the crackdown.

But seven in 10 questioned in the poll said that, in general, a president should first receive congressional approval before deciding to take military action against another country.

‘Talk of the U.S. military potentially intervening in Iran’s internal chaos gets a vigorous thumbs down, while voters signal congressional approval should be a backstop against military involvement in any foreign crisis,’ Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said.

But there’s a partisan divide, with 95% of Democrats and 78% of Independents saying a president should first receive approval from Congress, but Republicans, by a 54%-35% margin, saying congressional approval is not needed.

Trump last June ordered U.S. military strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities as part of Operation Midnight Hammer, amid fighting between Tehran and Israel.

Voters are also divided on Trump’s move earlier this month to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and bring them to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges. Forty-seven percent supported the president’s decision, with 45% opposed.

And there was an expected partisan divide, with 85% of Republicans supporting the military action to capture Maduro, with 79% of Democrats opposed. Independents were divided.

More than half of voters (57%) opposed the U.S. running Venezuela until Washington is satisfied that the government there will operate the way the U.S. wants it to. Nearly three-quarters (73%) said they opposed sending U.S. ground troops to Venezuela and 55% opposed the U.S. taking over the South American country’s oil sales.

‘Voters are divided on the merits of overthrowing Maduro. And while split on whether in the long run the people of Venezuela will be better off, they strongly disapprove of America’s temporary domain over Venezuela and are heartily against putting U.S. troops on the ground,’ Malloy noted.

Trump has also turned up the volume in his efforts to acquire Greenland from Denmark.

‘The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of national security,’ the president argued in a social media post Wednesday.

Trump’s push for the U.S. to acquire Greenland is causing tension with Denmark and other NATO allies who insist that the semiautonomous Danish territory should determine its own future. 

Trump officials are openly considering all options, including military force, to take Greenland, spurring bipartisan opposition from some in Congress.

According to the poll, 86% of voters said they would oppose military action to take over Greenland. And by a 55%-37% margin, voters said they opposed trying to buy Greenland.

But there’s a stark political divide, with more than two-thirds of Republicans supporting efforts to buy or capture Greenland.

The Trump administration is tearing up an Obama-era policy barring public schools participating in the National School Lunch Program from offering whole and 2% milk to students. 

A White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital that President Donald Trump will sign the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act Wednesday afternoon. 

The executive order dismantles restrictions laid out in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, signed by former President Barack Obama, which requires public schools in the National School Lunch Program to provide students with reduced-fat milk options. 

‘President Trump will sign into law a fix to the failed Obama policy that foolishly banned whole milk from public schools and barred children from the essential nutrients needed to grow, learn, and stay healthy,’ White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

‘This is common sense and great news for America’s children, dairy farmers, and parents who deserve choice, not big government mandates,’ Rogers said. ‘President Trump is delivering on his commitment to Make America Healthy Again!’

The National School Lunch Program is federally funded, and offers low-cost or free meals to students. Reduced-fat or fat-free milk will still be offered to students under the new order. 

The executive order comes just days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rolled out new dietary guidelines that prioritize healthy fats and full-fat dairy. 

The new order also comes days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture shared an image of Trump with a milk mustache, harkening back to the 1990s and 2000s ‘Got Milk?’ campaign, and said: ‘Drink up, America.’ 

In January 2025, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed her affinity for whole milk during her confirmation hearing, during an exchange with Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas.

‘Ms. Rollins, welcome. Would you agree with me that whole milk is the most nutritious drink known to humankind and belongs in our school lunches?’ Marshall said as he pulled out a carton of milk and poured it into a glass for himself. 

‘Senator, I don’t know that you’ve met my mom yet. This is all we had in our refrigerator growing up,’ Rollins said. ‘Not anything else, just whole milk.’

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Patrick Ward contributed to this report. 

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer’s press conference devolved into chaos Wednesday morning when an apparent activist repeatedly interrupted and confronted the Kentucky Republican about his plans to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings against the Clintons.

Comer addressed reporters after Hillary Clinton missed her scheduled deposition in the committee’s Jeffrey Epstein probe. 

Minutes after he began talking, however, a man who identified himself as a ‘citizen reporter’ started heckling him and the other Republicans present.

‘No, I’m still talking. I’m still talking,’ Comer snapped at the man when he first began interrupting his comments.

The man can be heard shouting, ‘Congressman, did you enter their sworn statements into the record?’ in reference to the Clintons.

‘Hey, get him out of here. You’re not even a reporter,’ Comer said.

A few minutes later, when announcing the committee would depose Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, the man began again, prompting Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., to comment, ‘Hey, the Cartoon Network called, and they want you to take your job back.’

‘I’m trying to answer questions. We’ve got a paid disrupter here. So this is — I feel like the Clintons have initiated the war room,’ Comer said.

The protester shot back, ‘Sir, I’m not paid, you’re paid by the people.’

Comer called for security to come at one point as the protester appeared to shout he was ‘having a conversation.’

He ended the event by telling the press, ‘It’s unfortunate this disruptor was here. We’ll be happy to answer questions throughout the day about this.’

But the chaos did not end there, as the man approached Comer when he began walking away.

He walked close by Comer, even appearing to make physical contact at one point, which prompted Capitol Police officers to separate the man from the GOP lawmakers.

The man appeared to be let off with a warning after police took a photograph of his identification.

The Trump administration’s special envoy announced Wednesday the launch of phase two of a plan to end the war between Israel and Hamas, which is to establish a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in Gaza. 

‘The US expects Hamas to comply fully with its obligations, including the immediate return of the final deceased hostage. Failure to do so will bring serious consequences,’ Witkoff said in a post on X. 

The new phase will consist of ‘moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance and reconstruction,’ he said. 

Witkoff didn’t offer new details about a potential Palestinian administration that would govern Gaza, which has faced a humanitarian crisis since the start of the war, which began after Hamas attacked Israel. 

As part of the news phase, Witkoff said the Trump administration expects Hamas to immediately return the final deceased hostage as part of its obligations under the deal.

The terror group’s failure to do so would result in ‘serious consequences,’ he said. 

The United States has been in talks with mediators in Egypt and other regional partners to ensure that Hamas complies with its obligations under the peace plan. 

Part of that includes the group giving up its heavy weapons and the launch of a ‘buy-back’ program for lighter weapons, according to the US official and two Arab diplomats, The Times of Israel reported. 

Meanwhile, Israel has made it clear it will not allow Turkish armed forces to operate inside Gaza, viewing the country as a destabilizing actor despite efforts by Ankara to present itself as a reconstruction partner. 

Fox News Digital’s Efrat Lachter contributed to this report. 

Republican lawmakers are jumping on a social media trend to show their support for the anti-regime protesters in Iran.

Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., and Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., posted photos of themselves using burning photos of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to light up a cigarette and a cigar, respectively. Both lawmakers used the caption ‘Smoke ’em if you got ’em.’

The lawmaker’s images mirror a social media trend in which people are using burning photos of Khamenei to light cigarettes and cigars. The trend emerged as the people of Iran hold increasingly intense protests against the Islamic regime. The movement against the regime has seen increasing support from abroad as world leaders back the people of Iran.

Khamenei’s regime has started to crack down on protests and even instituted a sweeping internet blackout to try to quell the unrest. Some have posited that the internet blackout was also meant to impede the spreading of information about and visuals of abuses committed against protesters by regime-backed forces.

Recently, the exiled Iranian crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, has publicly urged President Donald Trump and the U.S. to back protesters in Iran as they fight the decades-old regime.

Sheehy told Fox News Digital he takes the issue personally, saying Iran has participated in the torturing, kidnapping and killing of Americans across the globe, ‘including friends of mine.’

‘The Iranian regime are a bunch of murderous b——- who have been chanting ‘death to America’ for the past 46 years. They have backed up this chant by kidnapping, torturing, and killing thousands of Americans all over the world, including friends of mine. For me, it’s personal; it’s time to take out the trash,’ Sheehy said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital via email.

The senator also expressed his solidarity with the people of Iran and encouraged them to keep fighting the regime.

‘To the Iranian people — we applaud your courage, keep fighting, and know we fully support your brave efforts to topple this evil regime,’ he added.

Tenney’s office also spoke with Fox News Digital about the congresswoman’s post, praising the bravery of the people of Iran for standing up to the regime. Additionally, Tenney’s office expressed the congresswoman’s solidarity with the Iranian people.

‘The bravery of the Iranian people in the face of decades of oppression by a brutal, extremist regime is extraordinary. Men and women across Iran are risking their lives to stand up to authoritarian mullahs who have denied them basic freedoms for generations,’ Tenney’s office said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

‘The congresswoman stands firmly with the Iranian people and their demand for dignity and self-determination, and believes their courage must be recognized and amplified. Today, the Iranian people finally have an ally in the White House, President Trump, who has made clear that the United States stands with those fighting for freedom against tyranny,’ Tenney’s office added.

Trump has been vocal about his support for the people of Iran and has warned that the U.S. would be ready to step in if the regime used violence against protesters.

‘Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before,’ the president wrote in a Truth Social post on Jan. 10. ‘The USA stands ready to help!!!’