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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America strikes Iran again — has Washington planned for what comes next?

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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First lady Melania Trump presided over the United Nations Security Council meeting Monday, declaring that the United States ‘stands with all of the children throughout the world,’ in a historic speech calling for ‘peace through education,’ amid the U.S. military involvement in Iran.

The speech marked the first time a first lady from any country — and the first time a sitting U.S. first lady — presided over the Security Council as its members consider education, technology, peace and security.

The United States assumed the United Nations Security Council presidency Monday, just days after the U.S. and Israel launched a massive joint military operation against Iran over the weekend known as ‘Operation Epic Fury.’

The attacks left major leaders dead, including Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The joint military operation is expected to carry on for days, as the U.S. military continues to target military and ballistic missile sites that pose an ‘imminent threat.’

President Donald Trump warned over the weekend against Iranian retaliation, saying that if Iran were to ‘hit very hard,’ they would be met with ‘a force that has never been seen before.’

But the first lady’s appearance at the United Nations was scheduled before Operation Epic Fury began.

‘The U.S. stands with all of the children throughout the world,’ the first lady said Monday. ‘I hope soon — peace will be yours.’

The U.N. Security Council consists of 15 member states, with five permanent members: the United States, China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and 10 nonpermanent members elected for two-year terms, including Bahrain, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Greece, Latvia, Liberia, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia.

‘Collectively, your mission to maintain security while upholding the responsibility of preventing conflict during times of both war and peace is significant, must be applied evenly, and should never be carried out lightly,’ she said. ‘Peace does not need to be fragile.’

The first lady’s speech focused on education, saying that it ‘shapes the core of their country’s belief system.’

‘A nation that makes learning sacred protects its books, its language, its science, and its mathematics — it protects its future,’ she said. ‘This leads to something powerful — to greater understanding, moral reasoning, and tolerance of others. Peace.’

The first lady stressed that children raised in cultures rooted in intelligence ‘develop confidence, innovate, build, compete, and maintain a deep value system.’

‘Their knowledge fosters empathy for others, transcending geography, religion, race, gender, and even local norms,’ she said. ‘They become caring people.’

On the contrary, the first lady said that children raised in a culture ‘rooted in ignorance are surrounded by disorder, and sometimes even conflict.’

‘These societies are filled with rigid thinkers who embrace prejudice and shun human dignity,’ she said. ‘When a nation restricts thought, it restricts its own future.’

The first lady said education is a ‘fundamental human right,’ but added that ‘so many children and young adults are banned from attending secondary schools and universities.’

‘The cost is not abstract,’ she said. ‘A society that excludes vast segments of its population can realize only a fraction of its potential. Societies rules by knowledge and wisdom are, therefore, more peaceful.’

The first lady declared that ‘knowledge is power,’ and said, ‘We must capture this positive energy and ignite it across continents to transform our world — throughout our digitally connected human race.’

‘Intellect blossoms humanity’s fundamental needs: shelter, food security, clean water and healthcare.’

‘The global community must facilitate complete access to technology so that every individual can reach their full potential through education,’ she said. ‘We must strive to achieve connectivity in the most remote locations and the furthest distances from our cities.’

The first lady said the objective ‘is entirely feasible and is already on the way.’

‘Today, roughly 6 billion individuals, about 70% of people on planet Earth, have a mobile device and use the internet,’ she said. ‘If our nations band together, we can close the technological divide, empowering all to reach their full potential.’

‘From a solitary farmer on a remote Greek island to a quiet genius in Somalia or a dreamer in uptown Manhattan, anyone can read the vast treasury of human knowledge, created over centuries, which is now codified and accessible through artificial intelligence,’ she continued.

The first lady went on to question whether a ‘single digital nation-state’ could be inevitable.

‘Perhaps this idea isn’t so farfetched, since digital currency and payment systems via blockchain, plus AI’s massive factual database is already revolutionizing media and financial markets,’ she said. ‘We are in the age of imagination — a period when technology can be free and unrestricted by land borders.’

She added: ‘Now is the time for our generation to elevate our children above ideology through access to wisdom.’

The first lady said artificial intelligence is ‘democratizing knowledge’ and creating a ‘new reality for our children by disrupting the traditional academic path to information.’

‘Let’s connect everyone to knowledge through AI, including those in the most remote geographic regions of our world,’ she said. ‘AI can provide us with an understanding of each other’s needs and the needs for your children.’

The first lady said artificial intelligence is ‘redefining who gets to participate in the global economy of ideas.’

‘I believe our shared intellectual future will prove to be a more secure, harmonious, advanced civilization,’ she said. ‘The path to peace depends on us taking responsibility to empower our children through education and technology.’

The first lady stressed that ‘conflict arises from ignorance, but knowledge creates understanding, replacing fear with peace and unity.’

‘Security Council members, I encourage you to pledge to safeguard learning in our communities and promote access to heightened education for all,’ she said. ‘I implore you to build a future generation of leaders who embrace peace through education.’

The speech comes as the first lady continues her push as a champion of online protection of children and youth through her ‘Be Best’ initiative launched during the first Trump administration.

In 2025, the first lady garnered support on Capitol Hill for the passage of the Take it Down Act, which was signed into law by the president in May 2025. The law punishes internet abuse involving nonconsensual, explicit imagery.

The first lady also launched a nationwide Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge, which invited every student and educator across the nation to ‘unleash their imagination and showcase the spirit of American innovation’ by visiting AI.gov to sign up.

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