A Timeline of Cardi B & Offset's Relationship
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The duo's relationship began in early 2017, and has since brought cheating scandals; a secret marriage; kids Kulture Kiari Cephus, Wave Set Cephus and a third whose name has not yet been revealed; and some hot collaborative tracks.
Cardi and Offset secretly married on Sept. 20, 2017, before the Migos rapper proposed to her on stage at Power 99's Powerhouse concert in Philadelphia in October that same year. According to the Fulton County Magistrate in Georgia, Cardi filed for divorce from Offset nearly three years later, on Sept. 15, 2020. The two eventually got back together weeks later, only for Cardi to file for divorce again in the summer of 2024.
There have been accusations of infidelity on both parts, but the couple previously maintained their love for each other. From super lavish gifts bestowed upon each other (and their children) to making their videos family affairs (see 'Jealousy'), Set and Cardi have been public about their feelings for each other, during both the peaks and valleys of their romance.
Billboard has compiled a timeline of the hip-hop power couple's relationship, from collaborating on music to filing for divorce to babies and beyond.
While it is possible that the two never met during recording, the pair were linked nearly a month prior to the Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 2 release. In a since-deleted Instagram post by Cardi B, she danced and made it rain in the club while teasing the collaborative track.
According to a Migos interview with Rolling Stone, Offset admitted that after watching Cardi rise as an artist, he had a publicist set up a dinner in New York with a group of women, including the Bronx rapper in early 2017. 'I was like, 'Damn, I am on her!' ' he said. 'I am like, 'S–t, I like Cardi B!''
However, it wasn't until the Super Bowl that the couple were first seen holding hands in public. Cardi B was also spotted in a live video streamed by Offset, which was later reposted by fan accounts.
On Valentine's Day, Cardi B posted an Instagram video of her and her 'babe' Offset. Judging by the pair's outfits and the stadium seats in the background, it's a video from their hot date to the Super Bowl earlier that month.
'I'm not saying I'm dating an Atlanta guy,' Cardi said during a Fader interview after being asked about the potential relationship. She refused to offer any further comment on the speculations.
Soon after, during a Migos interview with Tim Westwood, Offset only offered a playful smirk on the subject of Cardi B, while the rest of the group laughed. 'Shout out Cardi B,' said Migos member Quavo. Earlier that month, Westwood received the same silent treatment when he asked Offset about his relationship to the Bronx rapper.
Cardi B and Offset were seen at the Met Gala afterparty together at 1 Oak nightclub. According to reports, the couple appeared more smitten than ever. Cardi B dressed in a dazzling blush pink sheer dress, while Offset rocked a velvet turtleneck with chains.
'It's been a blessing, me meeting him and meeting his friends,' Cardi B told Fader about her friendship with Migos. 'I see how hard they work. And that motivated me to work even harder.' While she didn't confirm any romantic ties to the Atlanta rapper, she stated 'a lot of positive things came out of that [meeting].' Later that month, the two attended the BET awards separately.
While backstage at a Meek Mill concert, Cardi B and Offset appeared happier than ever as she flashed her personalized chain gifted to her by Offset. Celebrity jeweler Elliot Avianne posted the chain to his Instagram account with the caption: 'Bloody Moves.' The chain included a Cardi B-esque hand with red nails, rings and a red bandana.
In a since-deleted Instagram post, Offset posted a video rocking a massive ring on his pinky finger. However, Cardi B denied engagement rumors at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. 'It is not true,' she said to Us Weekly and other reporters.
Migos were on tour promoting their second album Culture in New Zealand on Cardi B's birthday, but that didn't stop Offset from posting adorable videos and photos of the two in honor of the big day. Offset shared an intimate video with his girlfriend, and a candid photo with the caption: 'H A P P Y B D A Y U ARE AMAZING TO ME YOU GOT IT OUT DA MUDD NO HELP NOBODY WAS BELIEVING AT FIRST BUT THAT MADE YOU GO HARDER U NOT WEAK U TAKE CARE YA WHOLE FAMILY AND ME —- I L O V E Y O U.'
In her true Cardi B style, she realized the negative implications of her beau not being in town for her birthday. 'Oh, my gosh, I'm not getting no dick on my birthday,' Cardi told Rolling Stone in her 2017 cover story. She wouldn't have anyway, as she noted, 'Because I got my period.'
In since-deleted Instagram posts, Cardi B captioned a selfie 'single' and a separate photo 'Peace nikka,' fueling rumors that she and Offset had broken up.
It wasn't long before Cardi B reacted to the slew of breakup rumors by sending out a series of hilarious tweets. 'Reasons why me and Offset got into it,' she began on Twitter, 'I thought he stole my purple blanket but it wasn't him so I'm still looking for the suspect.' The 'Bodak Yellow' star also added that 'on a serious note,' she is still head over heels for her man, who was 'gifted to [her] from Jesus.'
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Later that month, she explained the situation further on her Instagram Story. 'So listen babes, I exaggerated a lil bit earlier cause I was really upset and the Bronx girl in me always have to go to the extreme. I came to my senses now. I'm sorry … waffle house on me?' she wrote.
During a sold-out performance for Power 99's Powerhouse in Philadelphia, Offset got down on one knee to pop the question to the Bronx rapper on stage. Of course, the crowd went wild and Cardi B said yes. Later, she showed off the massive, $500,000 teardrop-shaped rock backstage.
Cardi B wrapped up her incredible year with the release of her single 'Bartier Cardi,' making sure to reference her fiancee Offset in the lyrics: 'Cardi put the p—y on Offset/Cartier, Cardi B brain on Offset.'
A video surfaced of what appeared to be Offset with another naked woman in a hotel. The Migos rapper reportedly claimed that his iCloud was hacked. Days later, a model named Celine Powell claimed to be pregnant with Offset's baby.
Although both Offset and Cardi denied the cheating rumors, Cardi was spotted without her engagement ring during a New Year's Eve public appearance.
In a since-deleted tweet, the Bronx rapper shared her opinion on the rumors surrounding her situation with Offset. 'Why is it a problem that I want to take my time with a decision on my relationship ?' she wrote. 'Why do I have to explain myself? I don't ask ya why you still with that man that lives with his mom, that don't pay your bills … Since when you guys had perfect relationship?'
In a since-deleted Instagram video, Cardi caresses Offset's neck and reveals his new 'Cardi B' tattoo.
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In a since-deleted Instagram post, Cardi B shared a video of her lip-synching and dancing along to a remix of the 2017 hit 'Ahora Dice.' After an internet troll commented asking the Bronx rapper to share her 'secret,' referring to a possible baby-bump stomach, Cardi fired back: 'No b*tch I'm just getting fat. Let me fat in peace.'
As Cosmopolitan's April cover star, Cardi B opened up about her situation with Offset. 'It's like everybody is coming down my neck like, 'Why are you not leaving him? You have low self-esteem.' I don't have low self-esteem … I know I look good,' Cardi told Cosmopolitan in an interview. 'I know I'm rich, I know I'm talented. I know I could get any man I want — any basketball player, football player. But I want to work out my s–t with my man, and I don't got to explain why. I'm not your property. This is my life … I'm going to take my time, and I'm going to decide on my decision … it's not right, what he f–king did — but people don't know what I did, 'cause I ain't no angel.' She wrapped up with a hilarious question for her haters: 'Since when are all these women dating pastors and deacons?'
Cardi B released the single 'Be Careful With Me,' that would later appear on her Invasion of Privacy album. While the entire song addresses the ups and downs of their relationship, in the chorus, the rapper gives a clear warning to — who else could it be? — Offset: 'Be careful with me/do you know what you doin'?/Whose feelings that you hurtin' and bruisin'?/You gon' gain the whole world/But is it worth the girl that you're losin'?'
After months of denying pregnancy rumors, Cardi announced that she was in fact, pregnant with Offset's baby. She also took the stage on Saturday Night Live to perform 'Be Careful With Me' in a dazzling white gown, accentuating her now-huge baby bump.
In an interview with GQ, Cardi B once again commented on the rumors surrounding her and Offset's rocky relationship. 'For a long time we was in love with each other but we didn't really trust in each other,' she said. 'It was like a competition of who's gonna hit each other up first. I don't want to hit him up first; he will hit me up first. People used to put things in my head: 'He gonna leave you. He be f–king with mad bitches.' People used to put things in his head: 'Cardi, she's a dog. Don't trust her.' We never really trusted each other because I always feel like he could get any girl he wants — what makes me think he's gonna want me? I think he felt the same way. N—as want to be with me, and bitches wanna be with him.'
She also mentioned that Offset is a great business partner. 'I don't really know the music business too well,' she admitted. 'So I always feel like people taking advantage of me, he's always making sure that I'm well taken care of or that I learn something.'
A pregnant Cardi B swept the crowd in a jewel-encrusted dress and matching headpiece, making her red carpet appearance with designer Jeremy Scott. Offset, on the other hand, attended the gala with his Migos members in Versace suits. Cardi B and Offset later attended the Met Gala afterparty together.
Rolling Stone's June cover featured pregnant Cardi with Offset kissing her belly alongside the caption, 'Cardi B & Offset: A Hip Hop Love Story.'
Cardi B took to Twitter to tell the spontaneous story of her marriage to Offset in Sept. 2017. While there was no ring or dress involved, the Bronx rapper ended her announcement with another message to her haters. 'Well now since you nosey lil f–ks know, at least you can stop saying I had a baby out of wedlock,' she wrote.
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According to TMZ, as a tribute to Offset, whose real name is Kiari Cephus, the couple decided to name their new daughter Kulture Kiari Cephus.
'When I got married with my dude, we still had a lot of doubts, because our relationship is not like everybody's,' she told W in an interview. 'He was always traveling, and I was always traveling. We're artists. So I used to see him, like, twice a week, and, you know, he's known for having different women, and I'm known for, like, not taking sh*t from guys. But we really loved each other, and we was scared to lose each other.'
In an interview with The New York Times, Offset hinted that he and wifey Cardi could possibly drop a joint album, Beyonce and Jay-Z style. 'I have no distractions,' he told The New York Times. 'And me and her? We haven't even dropped an album yet. That's a whole other realm.'
He also added that marrying Cardi was 'the best thing that's happened' to him. 'I'd seen [Cardi's] potential, her vision, her grind,' he said. 'Whatever she does, she's going to master it. She's like me … she brings excitement and pressure to me, but I like that … I have a wife and a child — that changed my whole everything. I was a young hothead, but now I understand the value of life.'
Cardi B shared a video to Instagram announcing her split from Offset after a long and emotional journey.
'There you go, peace and love,' she captioned the since-deleted Instagram video.
The rapper let everyone know how he felt about the breakup with one simple tweet: 'F— YALL I MISS CARDI.'
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The day after his 27th birthday, Offset took to social media to comment on their relationship again, this time with a very candid apology to his ex. 'I only have one birthday wish, and that's to get my wife back,' he said in a video posted to Instagram. He went on to apologize for 'breaking your heart, breaking our promise, breaking God's promise and being a selfish, messed-up husband' and made it clear that wasn't ready to give up: 'I wanna be able to spend the rest of my life with you.'
His apology turned into an even more public affair when he crashed Cardi's headlining set at Rolling Loud in Los Angeles that night. Offset showed up with a lavish floral arrangement that read 'TAKE ME BACK, CARDI,' a gesture that didn't go over so well. He and his flowers were quietly removed from the stage.
In a set of since-deleted videos shared on Instagram, Cardi thanked fans for their support — but politely told them to stop making Offset feel bad with negative comments on the Internet. 'Violating my baby father is not going to make me feel any better, because at the end of the day, that's still family,' she said.
'I'm not saying that I'm gonna get back together with him,' Cardi clarified. 'I just don't like that bashing online thing.'
Offset left his own thoughts on Twitter following his failed public apology to Cardi. 'All of my wrongs have been made public, i figure It's only right that my apologies are made public too,' he explained.
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TMZ reported that Cardi returned to their home in Atlanta for the first time since she split with him during the previous month. In an Instagram story, she posted a screenshot of her FaceTime call where Offset was kissing Kulture. 'I wanna go home,' she wrote. The TMZ report also mentioned the Migos rapper changed his cellphone number and is adhering to a 'no groupies' rule to show he's honest and faithful.
Cardi and Offset French kissed and made up ahead of the 61st Grammy Awards, where she was nominated for five awards, including album of the year. She eventually became the first female singer to win best rap album with Invasion of Privacy.
'Babe, I can't breathe,' she exclaimed to Offset, whom she brought on stage for her acceptance speech. 'You, husband, thank you. Nah, serious, because he was like, 'You gonna do this album, girl. We gonna have this baby. We gonna make this album.''
Cardi and Offset turned the red carpet even hotter at the 2019 BBMAs, where they smooched for their glam shots at the beginning of the night. Cardi, who led with 21 nominations and ended up winning for top rap female artist, posted an Instagram video of herself and Offset walking to the awards show with the caption, 'I love you babe. Thank you for always uplifting and encouraging me and loving my crazy a–.'
In support of his debut studio album Father of Four, Offset brought out wifey for his outdoor performance of 'Clout' on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Cardi shared a sweet backstage photo of her and her hubby on the second anniversary of their nuptials. '9/20/17 Happy marriage anniversary hubby. We keep learning and growing.Thats what marriage about,' she captioned the post.
Offset shared a touching video montage dedicated to his woman with his 'Don't Lose Me' track, which talks about winning her back, playing in the background. 'Today is our anniversary nobody believed it was real. We got married without nobody knowing because it was only between us and God! Now we have beautiful Kulture and a big family,' he wrote. 'I love you 4ever and after life.'
In her January 2020 cover story interview, the 'I Do' rapper publicly set the record straight for the first time why she stayed with Offset despite the cheating scandals.
'When me and my husband got into our issues—you know, he cheated and everything—and I decided to stay with him and work together with him, a lot of people were so mad at me; a lot of women felt disappointed in me,' Cardi said. 'But it's real-life sh–. If you love somebody and you stop being with them, and you're depressed and social media is telling you not to talk to that person because he cheated, you're not really happy on the inside until you have the conversation. Then, if you get back with them, it's like, how could you? You let all of us down. People that be in marriages for years, when they say till death do us part, they not talking about little arguments like if you leave the fridge open. That's including everything.'
Cardi also explained how priests were involved in their reconciliation process, which she believes concerns no one else except for the two of them. 'Everybody has issues. I believe in forgiveness. I prayed on it. Me and my husband, we prayed on it. We had priests come to us,' she continued. 'And we just came to an understanding like, bro, it's really us against the world. He has my back for everything, I have his back for everything, so when you cheat, you're betraying the person that has your back the most. Why would you do that? We have come to a clear understanding. For me, monogamy is the only way. I'll beat your a– if you cheat on me.'
After two years of house hunting, the two lovebirds locked it down together in their $5.8 million Atlanta mansion, complete with a gun range and wine cellar, just in time for Christmas. Cardi didn't mind showing off their 'dream house' to her 75 million Instagram followers by posted numerous IGTV videos.
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The couple's appearance at the 62nd Grammy Awards wasn't as PDA-packed as the year before. But this time around, the two are nominated for best rap performance for 'Clout.'
Offset wrote a sweet note for Cardi on Mother's Day underneath a candid family picture he posted on Instagram: 'Happy Mother's Day since I met you it's been love thank you for my beautiful daughter she smart with attitude like you and talented like us both my kids and you help me become a better guy all around Thank You WIFE !!!!'
But Cardi showed just how generous Offset can be when she posted up with her presents, including lime green and turquoise Hermès Birkin bags and 36 bouquets of red, gold and purple roses (with 36 flowers in each, making for a total of 1,080 roses).
Cardi returned the love to Offset on Father's Day by posting a picture of him with Kulture and her three half-siblings Jordan, Kody and Kalea. She separately posted an older video of Kulture saying 'Baba' while tugging on her napping father's braids. 'Happy Father's Day again !!! This still happens till this day but now she smacks him,' she captioned the cute clip.
Page Six reported officially celebrated the holiday at the newly reopened Tao LA, where their party was divided amongst different tables to abide by social distancing requirements amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cardi B filed for divorce from Offset on Sept. 15 after being married for three years, according to the Fulton County Magistrate in Georgia.
The filing on Fulton County website spells out Cardi B and Offset's real names in the contested divorce case titled 'Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar vs. Kiari Kendrell Cephus.' The court documents obtained by Billboard indicate that Cardi asked the court to award her primarily legal and physical custody of their child. Their hearing was scheduled for Nov. 4 at 10 a.m.
This came just five days before their third anniversary.
Days after filing for divorce, Cardi B explained why she was splitting from Offset. 'The reason for my divorce is not because of none of that s–t that ever happened before. It's not because of cheating,' she said on Instagram Live. 'I'm seeing people be like, 'Oh, he has a baby on the way.' That's a whole f–king complete lie. That's the second time people are trying to pin babies over here. No, that's bulls–t. I just got tired of f–king arguing. I got tired of not seeing things eye to eye.'
Two days before her 28th birthday, a billboard bearing a birthday wish popped up for Cardi B. In an Instagram video, the rapper showed off the big, pink sign, which featured a photo of her and daughter Kulture, with the message, 'Happy birthday mommy Love Kulture.' In the caption, Cardi thanked an unnamed 'sir' whom fans guessed was Offset.
Offset joined Cardi B to celebrate her 28th birthday in Las Vegas. After partying it up at a club — where he gifted her a Rolls Royce with a custom car seat for their daughter — the two were snapped sharing a kiss. The birthday girl and her friends then moved on to what appeared to be a lavish hotel room to continue the dancing. There, Cardi showed off some sexy moves, including twerking for Offset, who put his hand on his apparently not-so-estranged wife's behind. In one video shared to Instagram stories, Cardi jumps on the Migos rapper, who is lying down, to give him a horizontal lap dance of sorts.
In an Instagram Live, the 'WAP' rapper opened up about her relationship with Offset. 'When people be saying I be doing s–t for attention, with this and that, no, I'm just a crazy b—h,' she shared. 'One day I'm happy, the next day I wanna beat a n—a up … I just be starting to miss [him] … It's hard not to talk to your best friend. It's really hard not to talk to your best friend. And it's really hard to have no d–k.'
Offset's lawyer confirmed to Billboard that the divorce case filed by Cardi B was dismissed. Per the Fulton County Magistrate's website, it was dismissed without prejudice.
Cardi revealed that she and Offset were expecting their second child when she joined Migos for their 2021 BET Awards performance. She came out in a blinged-out black outfit that featured only mesh over her belly to show off her growing baby bump.
Cardi gave birth to the couple's second child, Wave Set Cephus, on Sept. 4, 2021, and seven months after his birth, the couple revealed the name and showed his face for the first time.
In the caption to the post, Cardi tacked on a trio of emojis that included a dinosaur, crashing wave and teddy bear. Offset also posted a pic with their son's name, in which Wave is again staring off adorably at someone off camera while chilling in his baby bath. He is, of course, rocking a neck full of chains, including a custom piece made up of a diamond-encrusted wave — featuring the child's name in jewels — adorned with a cute blue shark on an orange surfboard shooting the tube.
Over on Twitter, Cardi revealed that when Offset suggested the name Wave, 'I was sold! THAT HAD TO BE HIS NAME!'
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'We living our life normally, but deep down inside our hearts have been so heavy,' Cardi said in a since-deleted Twitter voice note according to People. 'I feel like if I talk about the incident so desensitized, I feel like if we talk about how we really feel or what motherf—kers really been going through, y'all will start saying, 'Oh, sympathy. Oh sympathy.' And we don't want no sympathy. We ain't no charity case. But no lie, I have been feeling so hopeless trying to make my husband happy.'
Cardi B stopped by the premiere of The Jason Lee Show and opened up about her relationship with Offset and how they worked through a rough patch in their marriage.
'Me and Offset, we was not seeing eye to eye. This was, like, the same year that I filed for divorce and everything,' the rapper told host and close pal Jason Lee. 'The main thing that was really bothering me, I'm gonna let him say it himself … I want him to say it because I feel like that's really part of his story.
'The main thing that I wanted him to stop and everything, he stopped and he changed. And it showed me that he wanted to change for me,' she continued.
Cardi also reflected on discovering she was pregnant with daughter Kulture when she and the Migos rapper 'wasn't on really good terms.'
'And I was so scared,' she said. 'I was scared to tell Atlantic, I was scared to tell my team because we had worked so hard. I had worked so hard and everything and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, like, what's gonna happen after this?' I just had this feeling, like, it's going to be OK.'
The Cardi B & Offset Meal at McDonald's launched, and included a blend of each of their go-to menu items plus their favorites to split on date night.
In Cardi B's section of the meal, fans will get a classic McDonald's cheeseburger paired with tangy BBQ sauce and a large Coca-Cola. Offset's meal, meanwhile, has a Quarter Pounder with cheese and a large Hi-C Orange Lavaburst juice. To top things off, the meal comes with a large order of french fries and a flakey apple pie to share.
'I love my man he really HIMothyyy,' Cardi wrote on Twitter alongside a video of the couple's foyer, which was decorated with nine massive bouquets of roses in tall glass vases. 'My man really is HIM!!!! I'm never getting off from him !!!!!!!!'
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The rapper took to Twitter Spaces to shut down Offset's apparent claims that she cheated on him. 'Listen. Don't pay attention that country man y'all,' she said in the three-minute clip, after singing the opening lines of Keyshia Cole's 'I Should Have Cheated.' 'Don't pay attention the country man. That Spaces the other day got motherf—ers spiraling and thinking s—. Come on now. I'm f—ing Cardi B, n—. I think sometimes mother—ers forget. I'm Cardi B. If I was giving this p—- to anybody it be not just anybody. Can't f— regular-degular-shmegular, 'cause they gonna tell the world. And I can't f— anybody in the industry, 'cause they gonna tell too. Y'all ever heard that Rubi Rose record where she says 'got a big a– mouth?''
She concluded, 'So please boy, stop acting stupid. Stop acting Stupid. Going crazy over a f—ing space. Don't play with me. What the f—. Stop playing. Thats all I'm gonna mother—ing say.'
Just hours before, Offset seemed to have posted and quickly deleted an Instagram Story accusing his wife of cheating on him.
Cardi and 'Set proved once again that the latest cheating allegation was behind them when they dropped their collaborative track 'Jealousy,' which calls out the haters who speculate about their marriage. What's more, the accompanying music video directed by Offset also features the couples two kids, as well as 'Set's three older kids from previous relationships.
'[Offset's family] is his No. 1 priority,' an insider told Billboard of the rapper's decision to include all of his kids in the music video. 'He's making sure they are involved.'
The Migos rapper appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast and opened up about how he re-established trust with Cardi B after he was caught cheating.
'First off by like respecting her position, right?' Offset told host Alex Cooper. 'Stop being selfish. You're married to this woman, be dedicated to this woman. And also, just like being more communicative about s–t. … If you don't like some s–t, tell me. And if I don't like some s–t, I'll tell you. We talk and communication is key. Not communicating f–ks s–t up.'
Cardi B sang her husband's praises in a tweet. 'So proud of my baby!!' she wrote at the time. 'Going against all odds… leaving his label, starting fresh, staying focused determined and not letting nothing break him… he did that!'
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The 'Bongos' rapper alluded to trouble in a pair of Instagram Stories in early December. 'You know when you grow out of relationships,' she first wrote in an all text message. She quickly followed that with a second that read, 'I'm of protecting peoples feelings…I GOTTA PUT MYSELF FIRST!'
After the cryptic messages, followers noticed that she and husband Offset had unfollowed each other on the social media platform, leading to speculation that the two were again experiencing trouble in their marriage.
After Blueface alleged in a since-deleted tweet that his ex-girlfriend Chrisean Rock had been intimate with Offset, the 'Jealousy' rapper insisted that he never hooked up with the 'Mr. Take Ya B—h' artist. 'I ain't never talk or touch that lady,' Offset tweeted in response to Blueface. (Chrisean also denied the allegation in her own tweet.)
The 'Bongos' rapper confirmed in an Instagram Live that she is single. 'I've been single for a minute now but I have been afraid to like — not afraid, I just don't know how to tell the world,' she said. 'I wanna start 2024, like, fresh, open. I don't know. I'm curious for a new life, for a new beginning. And yeah, I'm excited.'
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'This motherf—er really likes to play games with me at my most vulnerable time. When I'm not the most confident,' a teary-eyed Cardi said to her followers in a video captured by The Neighborhood Talk. 'He likes to play games with me because he knows that I'm not an easy girl.'
She continued, 'You've really been feeling yourself… because of your b—- a– album and s—. And you really been doing me dirty after so many f—ing years that I motherf—ing helped your a–. Not even a f—ing thank you that I got from your b—- a–.'
Though the 'I Like It' rapper didn't indicate what brought the emotions on, she concluded by noting, 'And it's so crazy that I have to go to the f—ing internet because whenever I tell you something you don't say s— to me and I'm so tired of it.'
Cardi revealed in an X live chat on Jan. 1, 2024, that not only had she and estranged husband Offset partied on New Year's Eve together, they were intimate. 'Was I clubbing with my baby father yesterday?' she told fans who tuned in. 'Yes. Did I got d—ed down yesterday? Absolutely baby… I need some d–k on New Year's Eve.'
For fans wondering whether the rappers were back together, Cardi shared that the answer was no. 'Did I say I was back together with somebody?' the 'WAP' rapper said, according to HuffPo.
Cardi dropped the music video for her new song 'Like What (Freestyle)' in which she channels Missy Elliott. At the end of the visual, it is revealed that the video was directed by Offset, who in late February urged the 'Bongos' artist to release her new album.
The pair was spotted in videos from fans appearing on the big screen while sitting together courtside at the New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night (April 30). Additionally, Offset took to his Instagram Stories to share a sweet video of Cardi hanging out in a home movie theater seat, dressed in a sleek plaid mini skirt and fluffy boots, paired with stacks of luxurious jewelry and a Birkin bag.
Offset made sure to shower Cardi with gifts on Mother's Day 2024, gifting her several large bouquets and three gleaming chain necklaces. Sharing photos of the haul on Instagram, the 'I Like It' artist gushed that she felt 'spoiled.'
In a candid interview with Rolling Stone for the star's cover story, Cardi opened up about why she and 'Set never seem to say broken up for long. 'It's not even about love,' she told the publication, revealing that she and her husband were 'thinking [their marriage] through.'
'We're best friends. And it's like, 'OK. Well, there was a time that I didn't have a best friend, or I didn't have a support system,'' she added. 'It's not even about 'How do you leave a partner?' How do you stop talking to your best friend?'
Cardi filed for a divorce from Offset a second time, her rep confirmed to Billboard. The rep also said that the decision was 'not based on any one particular incident … it has been a long time coming and is amicable.'
According to Page Six, who first broke the news, the 'WAP' artist requested primary custody of their kids.
Just one day after placing her second divorce filing, Cardi revealed that she was pregnant with her third child. 'With every ending comes a new beginning! I am so grateful to have shared this season with you, you have brought me more love, more life and most of all renewed my power! Reminded me that I can have it all!' she wrote in an Instagram announcement, showing off her bump in a glamorous maternity shoot.
'You've reminded me that I never have to choose between life, love, and my passion!' she added. 'I love you so much and can not wait for you to witness what you helped me accomplish, what you pushed me to do! It's so much easier taking life's twists, turns and test laying down, but you, your brother and your sister have shown me why it's worth it to push through!'
Cardi and 'Set's third child arrived on Sept. 7, 2024, the 'WAP' rapper revealed on Instagram five days after the birth. Sharing photos from the hospital, she wrote, 'The prettiest lil thing … 9/7/24.'
Things got ugly between the exes when 'Set accused Cardi — during her Instagram Live — of cheating on him while she was pregnant with their third child. She then tweeted, 'AND DID !!!!!!,' leading fans to wonder if she was confirming his accusation.
Cardi then slammed her estranged husband in her Live. 'I'm too much woman for you,' she said. 'I'm too much of a boss b—h for you. And I always been too good for you,' she said. 'All three of [our kids] — I don't regret none of them, but I regret you.'
Under clips of the livestream posted to DJ Akademiks' Instagram, Offset commented that Cardi is 'Insecure' and wrote, 'The fact u keep going shows you hurt leave along don't you got a n—a ain't we divorced.'
Cardi told followers on X Spaces she's taking proactive steps to make sure that this is her final breakup from Offset. 'Slowly but surely, everybody gotta go their separate ways,' she said at the time. 'My kids gotta get used to that, 'No, you're not going to come home every single day and your dad is gonna be here.' Slowly, but surely.'
'One thing I don't want to entertain is, 'Oh, we're in the same crib. Come upstairs, let's sleep together,'' she added. 'I don't want to entertain that. I don't want to sleep, I don't want to f—k, I don't wanna do nothin'. Because that's what keeps us being in the same trap. Oh, we sleep together, we cuddling, the next day we smiling and then guess what? The same day we're arguing, and we're back in that cycle. I don't want that cycle. That's why I'm not entertaining love.'
During a more peaceful stretch in their divorce, Cardi told fans on X Spaces that she hopes to achieve a 'healthy co-parenting relationship' with Offset.
'I feel like two weeks ago, there was a lot of beef,' she said. 'I feel like things are calming down right now. I don't want to have beef with anybody that I love … All the divorce things that happen, I want peace and I want friendship. I just want, like, a healthy co-parenting relationship, and co-parenting means no f–king, no flirting … I want peace. I want to be like my mom and my dad, they don't f–k with each other, they just there for me and my sister.'
The 'WAP' artist also gave an update on her single life: 'I've been having fun, but I feel like me being single and me having fun, I have to stop it because I don't want it to get in the way of my work … I'm paranoid to give people my time, I'm just playing around right now.'
In a string of since-deleted tweets, Cardi slammed her ex for being a 'dark cloud on anybody life he enters.'
'Bro I wish the worst on this man,' she wrote. 'I never hated somebody soooo much and these b—-es be so [thirsty] to have him please take this man off my hands this garbage bag is to heavy !!'
'I truly hate this dirty a– narcissistic piece of s–t,' she added. 'And his family and his friends never check him that's why he always going to be a piece of s–t Person.'
The Migos rapper made a guest appearance during Don Toliver's Rolling Loud set and celebrated his 33rd birthday in South Beach. Cardi pulled up to support him, but she remained in a separate section.
In a string of since-deleted tweets posted by TMZ, Offset accused Cardi B of focusing on 'd—' and trying to 'make me look bad.' He added, 'Drop the album and go up.'
Cardi quote tweeted his sentiments and responded, 'So dating because I'm single means I'm just worried about d—?? You sound like a dummy.. trying to be fake nice after you did what you wanted from the beginning trying to push a narrative to these people.'
She then urged 'Set to sign the divorce papers by adding, 'F— off and sign the papers TODAY.'
Offset continued his tirade, writing, 'When u split the custody I will [sign the papers] u ain't worried bout music u worried about d— everybody can see it all u talk about [is] d— and in clubs burnt no music no nothing just drama.'
He then added, 'Single and miserable check to last 10 spaces u mention me [laughing emoji] u getting hit the at the flex tho [laughing emoji] get ya flex on ma ma.'
Cardi B accused Offset and his mother, Latabia Woodward, of robbing her during an X Spaces, but didn't provide any context on the theft claims.
'I ain't listen after you and your momma robbed me,' she claimed. 'Yeah, you and your mom robbed me cold, wiped my nose. Told you stop f—ing playing with me … You just called your daughter for the first time this year, yesterday. Your newborn.'
The 'WAP' rapper went on to blast Offset for not playing the role of Santa Claus and failing to give their children any Christmas gifts. 'You love your kids so much and you didn't bought them s–t for Christmas,' she added. 'But you came to New York to buy your other kids gifts. But you didn't bought my kids s–t on purpose to spite me. Mind you, we was cool. We wasn't f—ing, but we was cool. Stop f—ing playing with me.'
Offset responded to Cardi's divorce filing about six months after she submitted. According to TMZ, the Migos rapper requested joint custody of their children, but agreed that Cardi's mansion will be the primary home for the kids.
He also asked the court to split up their properties and suggest what their child support obligations would be. Offset wants the two parties to cover their own legal fees for the divorce case.
Offset also filed for spousal support in his divorce from Cardi B. Earlier in May, the Migos rapper updated Cardi's divorce petition in New Jersey's Bergen County Superior Court with a request for an unspecified amount of alimony.
After learning of her estranged husband's spousal support filing, an enraged Cardi B exploded on Offset during an X Space on May 30. ''Cause now I'ma crash out and I don't give a f–k. You a b—h. N—a, you a f—ing b—h,' she began. Cardi B denied the reasoning behind Offset's spousal support request, as he told The Breakfast Club it was over Cardi 'asking for everything' and not letting him see their kids.
'You such a f–king p—y a– n—a,' she continued. 'Word to my mother, I want you to die, but I want you to die f–king slow. When you die, I want you to die slow in the bed. And when you die, n—a, you gotta think of me.' Cardi went on to claim that Offset has only seen their newborn daughter, Blossom, 'like five times' since she was born earlier this year.
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Los Angeles Times
32 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Trump wants NASA to burn a crucial satellite to cinders, killing research into climate change
By any reasonable metric, NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory has been a spectacular success. Originally designed to support a two-year pilot project, it has been operating continuously in space for more than 10 years and could continue doing so for three decades more. The data it produces 'are of exceptionally high quality,' NASA stated in a 2023 review, when it labeled the project 'the flagship mission for space-borne measurements' of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. So perhaps it isn't surprising that the Trump administration plans to shut the program down. It gets worse: The White House has given NASA instructions to destroy the spacecraft by plunging it to a fiery demise in the atmosphere. Knowledgeable scientists and engineers say that Trump could choose to temporarily mothball the orbiting observatory, leaving a skeleton staff in place at NASA to monitor its hibernation until cooler heads prevail at the White House. Destroying the spacecraft, however, will hamstring climate research for decades. The zeroing out of climate research budgets by the Trump White House, of which the cancellation of the OCO program is a part, is taking place just as the value of space-borne climate research has been rising sharply. 'The bottom line is that the societal and scientific benefit of this research increases almost exponentially with sustained and long-lasting measurements,' says Ben Poulter, an expert in greenhouse gas measurements formerly at NASA and now a senior scientist at the nonprofit Spark Climate Solutions. 'We're starting to see the positive impact of OCO-2 at helping to detect trends in greenhouse gas emissions and removals in natural ecosystems as the Earth undergoes the impacts of climate change.' Under the most recent Republican administrations, NASA's involvement in Earth science — that is, research into global warming and other climate change — has consistently come under fire. As I reported recently, these programs were specifically targeted by Russell Vought, currently Trump's budget director and an architect of Project 2025, in a 2023 unofficial budget proposal. There, Vought groused about NASA's 'misguided Carbon Reduction System spending and Global Climate Change programs.' He called for a 50% reduction in the budget for NASA Earth science research — a cut that made it into Trump's current proposed budget. The vastly reduced Earth science budget for NASA was passed by the House earlier this year, but it isn't part of the Senate version, which hasn't been passed. What isn't understood by Vought, Trump or the current acting director of NASA, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, is that Earth science was specifically made part of NASA's portfolio in the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, which created the agency. Among the agency's directives, the act stated, would be 'the expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere.' That's where climate change occurs. The effort to zero out Earth science alarmed more than 60 Democratic House members, who wrote Duffy on July 18 to warn that 'the scale of reductions to NASA Earth science would ... severely impair the use of Earth science data and research to improve our ability to forecast, manage, and respond to natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and wildfires, leaving the nation less prepared for the challenges of the future and impacting local communities' abilities to adapt and respond to severe weather and natural disaster events.' Trump's budgetary cheeseparing at NASA means the waste of billions of dollars already spent by taxpayers. As I reported before, the bulk of the cost of space missions is in the development of spacecraft and their launch; once that's done, the cost of maintaining a satellite in orbit is nominal. According to David Crisp, who led the OCO development team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena from the outset and is now a private consultant, the OCO program development and launch cost was about $750 million, but since the launch it costs only about $15 million a year to operate. That doesn't count the value of the lost data. Crisp reckons that Duffy and the administration 'decided that NASA should not do Earth science, and the fact that we have billions and billions of U.S. taxpayers' dollars invested in that enterprise right now and really valuable hardware in place, providing critical information to organizations across the world is irrelevant. I think what's going on here is that they've made a strategic move without taking into account tactical realities.' The average layperson — and that includes some White House officials making policy decisions about scientific endeavors — has no idea about the effort required to put a satellite into space and keep it there. The OCO project was typical. As described by Crisp, the process began in the mid-1990s as an inquiry into how carbon dioxide produced on Earth got absorbed by natural 'sinks' such as forests. The project won approval in 2001 from the George W. Bush administration. Environmental science wasn't the partisan football it later became. 'You could be a good Republican and still think this was a good thing to do,' Crisp told me. The first Orbiting Carbon Observatory was readied for launch in February 2009. 'It was a tremendous challenge, an instrument designed to make a measurement three or four times more difficult than anything ever attempted at JPL,' Crisp says. The launch was successful — for just over three minutes, at which point it failed, plunging rocket and satellite to a watery grave in the Indian Ocean. 'We'd spent eight years and $270 million and engaged more than 1,000 work-years of heroic effort,' Crisp recalls. NASA wanted to keep the project alive. For 10 months, Crisp and others beat down the doors of government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and commercial enterprise to find the money to preserve it, but this was in the teeth of the Great Recession, and no one signed on. But ultimately the Obama administration appropriated $50 million in December 2009 to restart the mission. Crisp's team built a carbon copy of the original satellite, and it was launched successfully on July 2, 2014. The original vision was to operate OCO-2 for two years as a proof-of-concept, showing that carbon dioxide could be accurately measured from space. Because of the peculiarities of the launch, however, it carried enough fuel to last 40 years. The reconstruction left enough spare parts in hand to build a twin instrument dubbed OCO-3, which was launched in May 2019 and installed on the International Space Station, where it is still operating. When I asked NASA for a response to widespread criticism of its actions by the scientific community, I got the same standardized reponse that others have received. It labeled OCO-2 and -3 'two climate missions beyond their prime mission,' and added that as the proposed budget has 'not yet been enacted, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.' What NASA believes the OCO 'prime mission' is, if not studying atmospheric conditions on Earth, is a mystery. Within weeks of its own launch, OCO-2 began producing data that would revolutionize climate science. Its applications went well beyond measuring carbon dioxide. OCO-2 was able to detect 'solar-induced fluorescence' in plants, an artifact of photosynthesis, which could be used as a 'reliable early warning indicator of flash drought with enough lead time to take action,' JPL reported last year. Those measurements, Crisp says, 'have been a bigger hit with the science community than the CO2 measurements.' And they're the product not of planning, but serendipity, a crucial feature of scientific progress. At this moment, OCO-2 seems destined for oblivion. Crisp says NASA staffers have been instructed to make a plan to move the spacecraft into a 'disposal orbit' that would incinerate it in the Earth's atmosphere within a few months. But that's expensive, requiring a detailed plan to ensure that its deteriorating orbit doesn't threaten other orbiting craft. The quick and dirty alternative would be to 'point the thing down and fire the thruster, which would basically produce an instantaneous reentry.' Which option will be chosen isn't clear. A third alternative is to place the craft in a sort of suspended sleep, so it could be started up again after Trump and his minions leave office. But that would require 24-hour monitoring to adjust the OCO orbit to avoid space junk — not an infrequent occurrence. (With OCO-3 attached to the International Space Station, it will remain in place, though nonfunctional, as long as the ISS stays aloft.) The plan to destroy OCO-2 is beyond shameful. Crisp says of the OCO hardware, 'these are national assets.... They are what made this country great. Tearing things down doesn't make it great again. It just tears things down.'


The Hill
32 minutes ago
- The Hill
Meta faces backlash over ‘sensual' chatbot conversations with children
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are seizing on new revelations about 'sensual' chatbot conversations Meta deemed acceptable for children, dragging the tech giant and its checkered past on children's safety back into the spotlight. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has long faced scrutiny over the impact of its social media platforms on children. As the company has expanded into artificial intelligence (AI) alongside the rest of the tech industry, it is grappling with both familiar and new, distinct problems. In an internal policy document obtained by Reuters, Meta featured examples of acceptable conversations between its AI chatbot and children, suggesting they could engage in 'conversations that are romantic or sensual' and describe them 'in terms that evidence their attractiveness' — examples Meta said were erroneous and have since been removed. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) slammed the tech giant Thursday, suggesting the revelations were 'grounds for an immediate congressional investigation.' He followed up with a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, saying the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism was opening a probe into the company's generative AI products. 'It's unacceptable that these policies were advanced in the first place,' Hawley wrote. 'Meta must immediately preserve all relevant records and produce responsive documents so Congress can investigate these troubling practices.' Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who has long championed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), pointed to the revelations as underscoring the need for such legislation. A spokesperson said the senator supports an investigation into the company. 'When it comes to protecting precious children online, Meta has failed miserably by every possible measure,' she said in a statement. 'Even worse, the company has turned a blind eye to the devastating consequences of how its platforms are designed. This report reaffirms why we need to pass the Kids Online Safety Act.' Democrats have also joined the backlash, with Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) questioning how the chatbot guidance was approved. 'META Chat Bots that basically hit on kids – f— that,' he wrote on X. 'This is disgusting and evil. I cannot understand how anyone with a kid did anything other than freak out when someone said this idea out loud. My head is exploding knowing that multiple people approved this.' Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) suggested the incident shows Meta is a company 'morally and ethically off the rails.' 'It seems clear that Mark Zuckerberg rushed an unsafe chatbot to a mass market just to keep up with the competition, consequences for its users be damned,' he said. 'I've long said that Section 230 does not protect generative AI bots like this, which are entirely created by the company, not users,' the senator continued. 'Meta and Zuckerberg should be held fully responsible for any harm these bots cause.' Wyden's concerns underscore a key difference between the problems that Meta has previously encountered as a social media company and the issues that plague recent AI developments. Previous scandals involved content on Facebook and Instagram that was generated by users, clearly giving Meta cover under Section 230 — a portion of the Communications Decency Act that shields companies from liability for user-generated content. Social media has increasingly tested the limits of this law in recent years, as some argue major tech companies should be held responsible for harmful content on their platforms. Meta felt the severity of this backlash in 2021, when Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked a tranche of internal documents. She later testified before Congress, alleging the firm was aware its products were harming children and teens, but still sought to profit off their engagement. In 2024, Zuckerberg was hauled before lawmakers to discuss Meta's child safety policies, alongside the CEOs of TikTok, Discord, Snapchat and X. Following a contentious exchange with Hawley, Zuckerberg turned around in the hearing room to apologize to dozens of parents and activists. 'I'm sorry for everything you have all been through,' he said at the time. 'No one should go through the things that your families have suffered.' However, the emergence of AI tools, like chatbots, has created new challenges for tech companies, as they make decisions about how to train AI models and what limitations to put on chatbot responses. Some, like Wyden, have argued these tools fall outside the protections of Section 230. Parent advocates said the newly reported documents 'confirm our worst fears about AI chatbots and children's safety.' 'When a company's own policies explicitly allow bots to engage children in 'romantic or sensual' conversations, it's not an oversight, it's a system designed to normalize inappropriate interactions with minors,' Shelby Knox, campaign director for tech accountability and online safety at ParentsTogether, said in a statement. 'No child should ever be told by an AI that 'age is just a number' or be encouraged to lie to their parents about adult relationships,' she continued. 'Meta has created a digital grooming ground, and parents deserve answers about how this was allowed to happen.' Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement Thursday that the company has 'clear policies' that 'prohibit content that sexualizes children and sexualized role play between adults and minors.' Additional examples, notes, and annotations on its policies 'reflect teams grappling with different hypothetical scenarios,' he added, underscoring that those in question have been removed. The latest firestorm threatens to derail Zuckerberg's apparent efforts to alter his and Meta's public image to one that is more palatable to conservatives. He validated conservative censorship concerns last year, writing to the House Judiciary Committee that his company had been pressured by Biden officials in 2021 to censor content related to COVID-19 — frustrations he later reiterated during an appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast. Zuckerberg also overhauled Meta's content moderation policies in January, announcing plans to eliminate third-party fact-checking in favor of a community-based program in what he described as an effort to embrace free speech. The move earned praise from President Trump. Like other tech leaders, the Meta chief also courted Trump's favor as he returned to office, meeting with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago and scoring a front-row seat to the inauguration.


Newsweek
33 minutes ago
- Newsweek
How Trump Used a Remote Island Base To Warn Iran
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Satellite imagery this week captured the drawdown of U.S. forces at the remote Diego Garcia naval base in the Indian Ocean, after the joint British-American military facility had played a central role in the Pentagon's campaign of signals and deception in the lead-up to U.S. airstrikes against Iran. In late March, analysts studying open-source imagery—like those taken by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 satellites—began noticing an increase in U.S. Air Force deployments to the coral atoll amid tensions in the Middle East. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later revealed that they were part of U.S. efforts to deter Iran and its proxies. The U.S. Defense Department and Iran's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to separate written requests for comment. Why It Matters Diego Garcia sits in the center of the Indian Ocean, a strategic, cross-regional location—2,000-3,000 miles from both Iran and China—that is key to U.S. power projection in both halves of the vast Indo-Pacific region. Permanently staffed by only a few hundred British and American troops, the remote island base allows the United States to rapidly respond to crises by pre-positioning naval and air assets near possible flashpoints. The base received public attention in spring amid a spike in U.S.-Iran tensions over Tehran's nuclear program, which was among the list of disputes U.S. President Donald Trump had sought to resolve upon his return to office. With diplomacy all but stalled between Washington and Tehran after the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear sites amid clashes between Israel and Iran in June, Trump has threatened to strike again if Iran's leaders don't return to the negotiating table for another nuclear deal. What To Know Unlike U.S. bases in Qatar and nearby states, Diego Garcia's remoteness put it beyond most Iranian missile capabilities, making it an ideal staging area. In the past, it has been used as a launchpad for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Later it became a hub for operations across the Middle East, South Asia and East Africa. But when Trump gave the order to strike Iran in June, the attack did not originate from Diego Garcia, with the Pentagon instead opting to fly seven B-2 bombers from Missouri in a move that largely avoided detection and therefore maximized surprise. A new ESA photograph captured on Monday, rendered in false color to avoid dense clouds, showed the end of Diego Garcia's temporary role as a tool for military signaling. Empty parking aprons were seen where U.S. jet fighters and strategic bombers once stood as clear warnings to Tehran. At its height in May, the surge in forces to the Indian Ocean base included F-15 fighter aircraft, B‑2 and B‑52 bombers, KC‑135 tankers and C‑17 military transport planes, according to publicly available analysis at the time, which preceded the two-week campaign of Israeli airstrikes on Iran's military infrastructure and Iranian ballistic attacks on Israeli territory. Drag slider compare photos "We probably ensured that Diego Garcia was ready, but ultimately, the president decided on a different plan that was really focused on trying to preserve security," retired U.S. Army General Joseph Votel, the former head of the U.S. Central Command and now a researcher at the Middle East Institute, told Newsweek. In a mission relying on deception, aerial refueling and near-total radio silence to strike Iran's nuclear sites, the B-2s from Whiteman Air Force Base flew a round-trip bombing sortie that lasted more than 30 hours, the Pentagon later said. A separate group of suspected decoy aircraft were routed to Guam and successfully mislead observers about U.S. intensions. "These decoys were probably to get Iran to refocus their attention on threats coming from Diego Garcia rather than from the U.S.," Shahin Berenji, an assistant professor at the U.S. Naval War College, told Newsweek. Operation assessments indicated that Iran's nuclear facilities were damaged and its enrichment program likely delayed by several months to years. However, the threat from Iran is not over, the subject-matter experts said, stressing that the visible reduction of U.S. forces at Diego Garcia did not necessarily reflect a shift in priorities in the CENTCOM area. What People Are Saying U.S. Army General (retired) Joseph Votel, former CENTCOM commander and current research fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Newsweek: "I think that the threat of Iran will continue to drive U.S. interests and U.S. military strategy in the region for the foreseeable future. [Iran's enrichment capability] certainly has been delayed…but it's not completely destroyed, and Iran has not taken off on a different path. So I think we have to continue to be concerned about that." Shahin Berenji, assistant professor at the U.S. Naval War College's Strategy and Policy Department, told Newsweek: "I would argue that given what happened in this past crisis, just because the U.S. doesn't have prepositioned forces in Diego Garcia, it doesn't mean it can't strike Iran with strategic bombers from the homeland." Berenji said his views were his own and did not represent those of the college. What Happens Next Diego Garcia will remain a key strategic hub for the United States in the Indo-Pacific region, even if it isn't used in every operation.