WACO, TEXAS — Two of this primary season’s fiercest rivals have one thing in common: unflinching support for President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, are both leaning into their relationship with Trump and their record of support over the years as they vie for the Republican nomination in Texas’ contentious Senate primary. While it’s a crowded primary, including Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, all eyes are on Paxton and Cornyn. 

And as they push for Trump’s coveted endorsement in the final stretch of their intense campaign, their support of the president has remained unwavering.

Paxton told Fox News Digital outside his final campaign event ahead of the March 3 primary that he believed Trump ‘did the right thing’ with Operation Epic Fury. When asked what voters were saying, he said, ‘No one wants foreign wars.’

‘But the reality is, when you’ve got a country that’s trying to build nuclear weapons, that is willing to use them, and that has demonstrated terrorist activity for decades, 40 or 50 years, you’ve got to deal with that, or eventually it comes to you,’ Paxton said.

Cornyn had a front-row view of Trump’s decision.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan ‘Raizin’ Caine said Tuesday during a press conference at the Pentagon that Trump gave the go-ahead to launch Operation Epic Fury while en route to Corpus Christi, Texas, to promote his energy agenda.

Cornyn and others from the Texas delegation were on Air Force One when Trump gave the order. When asked by Fox News Digital whether he was aware of the plan while traveling with the president, Cornyn said Trump was ‘a very cool customer.’

‘He asked us whether we supported a strike on Iran,’ Cornyn recalled. ‘The members of Congress who were there in the cabin of Air Force One all raised our hands and said we did support that, recognizing the gravity of the decision and that only the president, as commander in chief, could make it.’

In Washington, D.C., lawmakers are grappling with the decision, with members of both parties calling for a vote to limit Trump’s war powers in the region. Both Paxton and Cornyn said they are open to debate on the matter.

Cornyn argued it comes down to a simple choice.

‘I want to know who’s standing on the side of American peace and security, and who’s standing on the side of a nuclear-armed Iran,’ Cornyn said. ‘I think that’s the choice.’

How long the country remains involved in the operation remains an open question. Trump said in a video address that the U.S. would continue operations ‘until all of our objectives are achieved,’ but later suggested it could take ‘four weeks or less.’

Some Senate Democrats, including Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., argued the strike was ‘the same dangerous and foolish decision’ former President George W. Bush, a fellow Texan, made more than two decades ago in the Middle East.

‘I think the president is doing his best to get in and out. Bush was into nation-building, a very different approach to things. I do not think that’s Trump’s idea here or his endeavor,’ Paxton said. ‘I’m very confident that he’s going to do whatever he can to take them out, and he’s encouraging the people in Iran to take their country back.’

‘He’s not encouraging us to move in and help them do that,’ Paxton added. ‘We’re just taking out the bad guys, and then it’s up to them to build their country in a way that they see fit.’

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Vice President JD Vance confirmed Monday that negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program collapsed after U.S. officials concluded Tehran’s claims ‘did not pass the smell test,’ prompting President Donald Trump to authorize Operation Epic Fury.

Speaking on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ Vance said U.S. envoys — including Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Jared Kushner — had conducted rounds of ‘deliberate’ talks in Geneva with the Iranian delegation.

The discussions were aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief and averting a broader conflict, he said, but ultimately broke down.

‘But the Iranians would come back to us and they’d say, ‘Well, you know, having enrichment for civilian purposes, for energy purposes, is a matter of national pride,’’ Vance said.

‘And so we would say, ‘OK, that’s interesting, but why are you building your enrichment facilities 70 feet underground? And why are you enriching to a level that’s way beyond civilian enrichment and is only useful if your goal is to build a nuclear bomb?’’ he said.

‘Nobody objects to the Iranians being able to build medical isotopes; the objection is these enrichment facilities that are only useful for building a nuclear weapon,’ Vance clarified.

‘It just doesn’t pass the smell test for you to say that you want enrichment for medical isotopes, while at the same time trying to build a facility 70 to 80 feet underground,’ he explained.

Vance spoke as Operation Epic Fury ended its third day. Launched on Feb. 28, U.S. and Israeli forces carried out coordinated precision strikes deep inside Iran aimed at crippling Tehran’s missile arsenal and nuclear infrastructure.

A key issue had been Iran enriching uranium to high levels, including material around 60% purity — a fraction of weapons-grade but far above limits set under the 2015 nuclear deal — keeping international alarm high over proliferation risks.

‘We destroyed Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon during President Trump’s term,’ Vance told Watters. ‘We set them back substantially. But I think the President was looking for the long haul,’ he said.

‘Trump was looking for Iran to make a significant long-term commitment that they would never build a nuclear weapon, that they would not pursue the ability to be on the brink of a nuclear weapon.’

‘He wanted to make sure that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon, and that would require fundamentally a change in mindset from the Iranian regime.’

‘The President is not going to rest until he accomplishes that all-important objective of ensuring that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon, not just for the next few years, not just because we obliterated for dough or some other.’

‘There’s just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multiyear conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective,’ Vance added while describing that the administration would prefer to see ‘a friendly regime in Iran, a stable country, a country that’s willing to work with the United States.’

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Iranian drone strikes forced Qatar to halt liquefied natural gas (LNG) production Monday, jolting global energy markets and raising fears about supply disruptions as Tehran increased its attacks on regional infrastructure.

QatarEnergy, the state-owned giant and one of the world’s largest LNG producers, suspended operations at two facilities after drones launched from Iran hit the sites, according to reports.

Qatar’s Ministry of Defense also said in a statement, that two drones hit facilities in the country, though no casualties were reported.

The attacks also targeted a water tank at a power plant in Mesaieed and a key energy installation in Ras Laffan.

Qatar’s Ras Laffan complex is the world’s largest LNG export facility, making it one of the most critical energy hubs in the world.

About 20% of global LNG trade transited the Strait of Hormuz in 2024, primarily from Qatar, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Markets reacted Monday with Europe’s benchmark natural gas futures surging by the largest margin since the 2022 energy crisis triggered by the Ukraine war, Bloomberg reported.

Bloomberg also reported Dutch TTF natural gas prices rose by 50% after news of the shutdown. Asian LNG prices also recorded gains as traders tried to assess the scale and length of the disruption.

‘The threat to security of supply is here and now,’ Simone Tagliapietra, an analyst at Bruegel, told Bloomberg. ‘The extent of it will depend on the duration of the shutdown, but we are now into a new scenario.’

In Saudi Arabia, another drone attack caused a fire at the kingdom’s Ras Tanura oil refinery, forcing a partial shutdown there as well.

Saudi authorities have not reported casualties, but the attack heightened fears of broader instability in the Gulf’s energy corridor, according to reports.

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President Donald Trump on Monday sent an official notification to Congress about the U.S. strikes against Iran, in which he attempted to justify the military action in the now expanding conflict in the Middle East.

In a letter obtained by FOX News, Trump told Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that ‘no U.S. ground forces were used in these strikes’ and that the mission ‘was planned and executed in a manner designed to minimize civilian casualties, deter future attacks, and neutralize Iran’s malign activities.’

This comes after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran on Saturday as part of Operation Epic Fury, triggering a response from Tehran and a wider conflict in the region. The strikes killed the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other military leaders.

Trump wrote that it is not yet possible to know the full scope of military operations against Iran and that U.S. forces are prepared to take potential further action.

‘Although the United States desires a quick and enduring peace, not possible at this time to know the full scope and duration of military operations that may be necessary,’ Trump wrote. ‘As such, United States forces remain postured to take further action, as necessary and appropriate, to address further threats and attacks upon the United States or its allies and partners, and ensure the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ceases being a threat to the United States, its allies, and the international community.’

‘I directed this military action consistent with my responsibility to protect Americans and United States interests both at home and abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests,’ he added. ‘I acted pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive to conduct United States foreign relations.’

Trump said he was ‘providing this report as part of my efforts to keep the Congress fully informed, consistent with the War Powers Resolution,’ as some Republican and Democrat lawmakers attempt to restrain the president’s military action, which they affirm is unconstitutional without congressional approval.

The president also accused Iran of being among the largest state sponsors of terrorism in the world and purported that the ‘Iranian regime continues to seek the means to possess and employ nuclear weapons,’ even after the White House said in June that precision strikes at the time ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.

‘As I previously communicated to the Congress, Iran remains one of the largest, if not the largest, state-sponsors of terrorism in the world,’ Trump said in the letter on Monday. ‘Despite the success of Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER, the Iranian regime continues to seek the means to possess and employ nuclear weapons. Its array of ballistic, cruise, anti-ship, and other missiles pose a direct threat to and are attacking United States forces, commercial vessels, and civilians, as well as those of our allies and partners.’

‘Despite my Administration’s repeated efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution to Iran’s malign behavior, the threat to the United States and its allies and partners became untenable,’ he continued.

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

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X’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok has begun rolling out its first beta version of Grok 4.20, which Elon Musk and X say will provide not only better performance and new features but also the least ‘politically correct’ platform in terms of liberal bias. 

Over the past week, users on X, including Musk, have been touting search results from Grok showing ‘non woke’ answers to questions about popular cultural issues and figures compared to results from Anthropic’s Claude, Open AI’s ChatGPT, and Google’s Gemini. 

‘Grok 4.20 is BASED,’ Musk also posted on X last week. ‘The only AI that doesn’t equivocate when asked if America is on stolen land. The others are weak sauce.’

Musk’s post included screenshots of ChatGPT saying the ‘short answer’ is ‘yes’, Claude ultimately saying ‘yes’ and Gemini saying the answer is ‘complex’ while Grok responds with ‘No.’

In another post shared by Musk, the AI platforms are asked for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ if President Donald Trump is ‘racist.’

Grok responded with ‘No’ while Gemini responded by saying the answer is not as simple as ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Claude and ChatGPT also declined to respond with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’: arguing it’s a more nuanced issue. 

‘Grok 4.20 is the only non-woke AI in existence, engineered to pursue maximum truth, and deliver unfiltered, evidence-based answers where every other major model has been lobotomized by the woke mind virus,’ an xAI spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

The recent attack on Iran by the United States and Israel also provided examples on social media of Grok results appearing less ‘biased’ than other platforms, including a post showing what happened when each platform was asked a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question about whether Trump was ‘right’ to authorize the strike. 

Grok responded with ‘yes’ while ChatGPT said ‘no’ and both Gemini and Claude argued that the situation was too nuanced to respond definitively one way or the other. 

‘In times of split second decision making by our nation’s top leaders — it’s clear which AI our military should be using,’ ‘The Katie Miller Show’ host and former DOGE adviser Katie Miller posted on X. ‘Truth-seeking is @grok’s best feature.’

Various websites have attempted to track the political leanings of artificial intelligence platforms, including Dartmouth College’s Polarization Research Lab, last updated in 2025, which ranked Gemini as the least political. In early 2025, a Manhattan Institute report concluded Grok was a close second to Gemini in terms of political bias. 

An OpenAI spokesperson pointed Fox News Digital to its public ModelSpec which defines how ChatGPT should behave and ‘assume an objective point of view’ and said ‘we actively test and measure political bias in ways that mirror real-world use and publish our findings, including evaluations across hundreds of prompts and real production traffic, where detectable political bias is rare (fewer than 0.01% of responses show any detectable political bias) and continues to decline with newer models.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Anthropic and Google for comment.

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Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., described the recent U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran as a defensive measure, saying, ‘Israel was determined to act with or without us’ following a classified briefing on Monday evening.

Johnson told reporters after the briefing that Israel viewed Iran’s capabilities as an existential threat and was prepared to conduct operations regardless of U.S. participation. He said Israel’s assessment shaped American deliberations, and it was ‘determined to act in their own defense here, with or without American support.’

The speaker said administration officials had to weigh risks to U.S. forces, regional assets and interests before supporting the operation. 

‘They had to evaluate the threats to the U.S., to our troops, to our installations, to our assets in the region and beyond. And they determined, because of the intelligence that we had, that a coordinated response was necessary,’ Johnson said.

Johnson said he guarantees that if the U.S. had not acted, the Trump administration would have been hauled in by Congress and asked why they waited if they had ‘existential intelligence, knowing that that would happen.’

‘I am convinced that they did the right thing,’ he said.

Rubio confirmed that Israel was prepared to act against Iran and said the president ‘made a very wise decision.’  

‘We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces,’ he told reporters. ‘And we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.’

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., a top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, emerged from the briefing and said he did not believe there was an ‘imminent threat’ prior to Saturday’s strikes. 

‘There was no imminent threat to the United States of America by the Iranians. It was a threat to Israel,’ he said. ‘We equate a threat to Israel is the equivalent of an imminent threat to the United States. Then we are in uncharted territory.’ 

‘We have seen the goals for this operation change now, I believe 4 or 5 times,’ he went on.

Rubio insisted the operation was not about Iranian regime change but about taking out its capabilities as a threat to the region – focused on ballistic missiles and naval capacity. 

He did not say whether strikes would extend to nuclear facilities.

‘I do believe there is more than adequate justification for our American and Israeli actions,’ Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told reporters he believes there is ‘more than adequate justification for our American and Israeli actions,’ without saying more.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital in an interview afterward that he felt administration officials did a good job of illustrating the threat level faced by the U.S. in the days leading up to the strikes.

‘I think that’s largely been very open source. The president laid that out, you know, very clearly. It does go beyond that to what I can’t get into, but it goes beyond that. I’m sure it’ll come out in the administration’s good time, but it’s not for me to say,’ Mast said.

‘But the more immediate nature of threats — I’m going through the negotiations with [Special Envoy Steve Witkoff], [Jared Kushner], Rubio, others that were a part of having those conversations and throughout that 10-day window of, you know, let’s call it countdown to make a deal, the threats that were going on in that window is probably the high-side information that you have.’

He also said there was a lot of daylight between what Democrats and Republicans in the briefing considered an ‘imminent threat.’

‘It’s like, for me as a soldier, right, if I see an enemy machine gun nest, that to me, given that it’s an enemy machine gun nest, is an imminent threat,’ Mast said. ‘To Democrats, unless that machine gun is burning up its barrels firing at you, it’s not yet an imminent threat. And those are the two separate ways that we’re looking at it.’.

On February 26th, the U.S. launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran in coordination with Israel. The offensive campaign has resulted in the death of 49 top Iranian leaders, including the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Six U.S. service members have lost their lives in Iranian counterattacks. 

The opening phase of the conflict struck more than 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours, according to Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. American B-2 bombers flew 37-hour round-trip missions from the continental United States to hit underground facilities with penetrating munitions, he added.

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Iran is conducting ‘indiscriminate’ targeting of vessels across the Gulf of Oman and the wider Persian Gulf following the launch of U.S.-Israeli strikes under Operation Epic Fury, according to a maritime intelligence firm.

Windward AI noted the sanctioned Palau-flagged tanker Skylight was hit as the conflict across the Middle East entered its second day, with the tanker also holding Iranian nationals among the crew and ties to the regime.

‘Analysis of vessel affiliations, targeting patterns, and cargo data points to a strategy of indiscriminate area denial — not precision targeting — aimed at demonstrating Iran’s capability to disrupt the Strait and deter commercial shipping,’ the firm said Monday.

Iran has been retaliating with missiles and drones targeting U.S. and allied positions across the region, including in Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which links the Gulf of Oman to the Persian Gulf, is the world’s most critical energy chokepoint.

While three other vessels were reported attacked since the hostilities escalated Feb. 28, Windward described Skylight as ‘the highest-risk vessel in the group and the most anomalous target.’

The UKMTO Operation Centre also later confirmed attacks on Skylight, MKD Vyom and Hercules Star, warning of significant military activity across the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, the North Arabian Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.

Skylight had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in December 2025, and was used to transport Iranian petroleum products, according to reports.

It was operated by United Arab Emirates-based Red Sea Ship Management LLC, which Windward noted has documented ties to front companies linked to Iran’s Ministry of Defense.

The vessel had been at anchor since Feb. 22 and carried 20 crew members — 15 Indians and five Iranians.

‘The Skylight anomaly — striking a vessel with an Iranian crew, Iranian operational ties, and active OFAC sanctions — is the single strongest piece of evidence against deliberate targeting by affiliation,’ Windward said.

Reuters also reported March 1 that the Palau-flagged tanker was hit off Oman’s Musandam Peninsula in the Gulf of Oman, injuring four.

Oman’s Maritime Security Center said in a post on X that Skylight was attacked about 5 nautical miles north of Khasab Port, caught fire and was evacuated.

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warned that some traditional U.S. allies are ‘hemming and hawing about the use of force’ as Washington presses forward with its campaign against Iran, raising fresh questions about NATO cohesion at a moment of escalation.

Spain has refused U.S. permission to use certain bases for strikes on Iran, calling for de-escalation and adherence to international law. Turkey has criticized the operation and warned of broader regional destabilization, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he was ‘saddened’ by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death and denied that Turkish territory was used in the campaign. 

In a statement released on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that, ‘The outbreak of war between the United States, Israel and Iran carries grave consequences for international peace and security.’ He added, ‘The ongoing escalation is dangerous for all. It must stop.’

During Monday’s media briefing, Hegseth drew a sharp contrast between Israel and what he described as hesitant allies. ‘Israel has clear missions as well, for which we are grateful. Capable partners, as we’ve said since the beginning. Capable partners are good partners, unlike so many of our traditional allies, who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force.’

The criticism reflects growing frustration inside the administration that while some European capitals have issued statements of support, operational backing has not matched the rhetoric.

President Donald Trump also voiced dissatisfaction with allied hesitation. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Trump said he was ‘very disappointed’ in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for initially blocking U.S. use of British bases and that Starmer took ‘far too much time’ to reverse course.

The United Kingdom later authorized U.S. use of key facilities, including Diego Garcia, after raising initial legal objections and following a drone strike on RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.

Justin Fulcher, former senior adviser to Hegseth, told Fox News Digital the moment represents ‘an absolutely critical inflection point where NATO should act in a unified way in support of what the United States is doing.’

He framed the issue as larger than the current campaign. ‘Symbolically, the U.S.-NATO alliance is critical when looking at actually restoring deterrence globally,’ Fulcher said, arguing that visible unity would send a message not only to Tehran but to other geopolitical rivals watching how the alliance responds under pressure.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has sought to downplay suggestions of division.

‘I spoke with all the key European leaders over the weekend,’ Rutte said on Fox News. ‘There is widespread support for what the president is doing.’

He added, ‘Europe is stepping up, is doing what is necessary to make sure this operation can go ahead and deliver all the enablement necessary.’

Germany has struck a more cautious tone. Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned in Sunday that strikes risk an Iraq- or Afghanistan-style quagmire and that Europe would bear the consequences.

At the same time, he said Berlin would not ‘lecture’ the U.S. ‘We recognize the dilemma,’ he said, explaining that repeated attempts over past decades had not put Iran off trying to acquire nuclear weapons or oppressing its own people. ‘So we’re not going to be lecturing our partners on their military strikes against Iran.’

‘Despite all the doubts, we share many of their aims,’ he said.

Fulcher contrasted the current hesitation with the strong reactions from some NATO capitals during past alliance disputes, including tensions surrounding Greenland.

‘When you look at Greenland, that was obviously a very touchy subject for some countries in the Alliance,’ Fulcher said. ‘Iran for decades has been a huge promoter and funder of terrorism all across the globe — attacks that have happened in Europe, in many NATO and European countries,’ he said. ‘For me, it is quite shocking that we’re seeing a difficult time for many NATO members to fully unify and step up in support of the United States and what the U.S. and Israel is doing in Iran.’

He argued that Europe has a significant strategic incentive to see Iranian capabilities degraded.

‘I think actually Europe and NATO have the most to gain from neutralizing the threat that emanates from Iran,’ Fulcher said. ‘When you look at whether the ballistic missile threat or some of the state-sponsored terrorism threats, Europe has been on the receiving end of much more of these threats than the United States has in some cases.’

He stressed that support should extend beyond public endorsements.

‘Some of our European allies can do a lot more to not just support with words, which should be the bare minimum here, but also support with actual tangible action,’ Fulcher concluded.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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As Democrats line up to denounce President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint strikes on Iran’s ruling regime, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is doing the opposite, forcefully defending the operation and rebuking members of his own party who call it reckless.

The Pennsylvania Democrat, who has increasingly staked out unapologetic pro-Israel positions, has openly questioned why critics from both the far-right and far-left are making hay over the strikes, arguing the operation was necessary to counter Tehran’s aggression. His stance is widening a visible fracture inside the party over how far to back Israel amid escalating regional tensions.

On Monday, Fetterman wrote that he’s ‘not sure why it’s controversial to anyone to appreciate and celebrate wiping out 49 leaders of one of the most evil regimes in recorded history,’ after Trump announced the potentially four-week mission was ahead of schedule after discovering several top Iranian officials being targeted were reportedly in the same area and could be taken out at once.

After the initial strike on Saturday, Fetterman reposted an image from the ‘Israel War Room’ that showed a Wanted-style poster of Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei with the word ‘Eliminated’ burned across it.

‘Let’s see who grieves for that garbage,’ Fetterman captioned.

The former Pennsylvania lieutenant governor later credited Trump, saying in a statement that he ‘has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region.’

‘God bless the United States, our great military, and Israel.’

He also openly questioned members of his own caucus, who have otherwise agreed that Iran cannot be permitted to nuclearize.

‘Every member in the U.S. Senate agrees we cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon,’ he wrote on X.

‘I’m baffled why so many are unwilling to support the only action to achieve that. Empty sloganeering vs. commitment to global security — which is it?’

He said Saturday he would be a ‘hard no’ if Democrats forced a war powers resolution vote to claw back Trump’s authority.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Richmond press on Monday that he intends to press for a vote on a War Powers Resolution he filed in January focused on Iran.

Kaine wondered aloud in a separate public statement whether Trump is ‘too mentally incapacitated to realize we had a diplomatic agreement with Iran…’

‘The Senate should immediately return to session and vote on my War Powers Resolution to block the use of U.S. forces in hostilities against Iran. Every single Senator needs to go on the record about this dangerous, unnecessary, and idiotic action,’ Kaine said.

Fetterman was not the only Democrat to sound off on critics of the Iran strike. Former New York Mayor Eric Adams, who is also a former NYPD officer, lambasted what he called the political fringes for ignoring the human rights abuses, mass murder and attacks on Americans committed by Khamenei, 86, and his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Rep. Gregory Landsman, D-Ohio, also praised the operation against Iran and compared the killing of Khamenei to taking out Usama bin Laden, but stopped short of endorsing Trump’s broader plans.

‘There’s a lot of folks in Congress who don’t trust this president and I’m one of those people. In the end I trust the generals and I trust our military,’ he told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

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The Islamic Republic’s opaque and fractured governing system following the killing of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, selected radical cleric Ayatollah Alireza Arafi to its interim leadership council on Saturday.

Ben Sabti, an Iran expert at the Institute of National Security Studies in Israel, said, ‘His name was brought up in the last two or three years. He is not a kind of politician but is part of exporting the revolution from the propaganda side.’ A foundational pillar of the birth of the 1979 Islamic Republic was to export its violent Shiite ideology and foster radical Islamist revolutions across the globe.

‘He’s been marinating in Khomeinist ideology his entire career. Khomeinism is a threat to U.S. interests,’ Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital.

The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s ‘Death to America’ pledge is a core feature of Khomeinism, according to experts.

According to a UANI report, Arafi has long been agitating against the U.S. and Israel. ‘America will take its wish for Iran to abandon production of military hardware to the grave,’ he is quoted as saying, and in a 2019 Friday prayer sermon he announced, ‘We will stay with our imam and leader to the end, when we humiliate [global] arrogance. Together with the Sayyed of the resistance, we say: Oh great leader of the world of Islam, we will be with you until the end, when the arrogant people in the world are defeated, and Israel is erased.’

Brodsky continued, ‘The fact that Iran’s system elevated Alireza Arafi to membership on the interim leadership council is a signal that he could be a leading candidate to replace Ali Khamenei as supreme leader. 

Arafi is also being watched in Washington. In an interview with Fox News Digital on Sunday, Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, described Arafi as ”a very hard-line cleric.’

He noted, ‘Arafi has been promoted through the ranks — heading Iran’s seminary, leading Al-Mustafa University, and serving as a member of the Guardian Council and Assembly of Experts. Additionally, he has been Friday prayer leader of Qom, which is the center of the Iranian clergy. This provides him with religious, educational and government experience to replace Khamenei as supreme leader.’

According to UANI, Arafi promised ‘death’ to protesters who knock over the turbans of Iranian Islamic clerics. ‘Those who attack the turbans of the clergy should know that the turban will become their shroud,’ Arafi said.

Brodsky added, ‘Arafi helped make Al-Mustafa University into a training ground and recruiting center for the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]. Al-Mustafa University was later sanctioned by the U.S. government under counterterrorism authorities. A weakness in his candidacy to replace Khamenei is that he has never been a core member of the military-security establishment in Iran and has never led a branch of the Islamic Republic’s government apparatus.

‘He is also not a Sayyid. [sign of high respect for people of lineage from the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Shiite tradition.] But his serving on an interim leadership council will expose him to foreign policy and security issues to a greater extent, and position him as a formidable contender. Alireza Arafi is an indoctrinated follower of Khomeinism and spearheaded an effort to further Islamize Iran’s university and seminary system,’ he said.

According to Iran Wire, an independent Iranian diaspora news outlet, ‘Alireza Arafi is a prominent hardline cleric, a member of the Guardian Council and the head of Iran’s seminaries, positions that place him at the center of the country’s religious establishment. His selection matters because the third member of the Temporary Leadership Council must be a theologian chosen by the Expediency Discernment Council — and Arafi is widely seen as a staunch loyalist to the core ideology of the Islamic Republic.’

Mardo Soghom, a veteran journalist and Iran expert, told Fox News Digital, ‘What I can say at this point is that there is no unified government with sufficient control over the country. The foreign minister admits the IRGC is on its own. Arafi would never have the authority or the control Khamenei had. It is a compromise candidate whom the IRGC can control and is not a threat to two factions.’

Mariam Memarsadeghi, senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and founder and director of the Cyrus Forum for Iran’s Future, told Fox News Digital, ‘The regime or what remains of it is no different from a terrorist group. Now that the U.S. and Israel are bombing the U.S. and Israel, every leader the terror group chooses will be rightly eliminated. The Iranian people are elated. All decent human beings who believe in freedom should be elated.’

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