Extra: 'Crackdowns, Mayhem & Unrest,' A Look Inside Iranian Oppression
In the wake of the conflict in Iran, this week we spoke with Dr. Nazee Moinian, a PhD in Iranian foreign policy and an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute.
In the wake of this instability in Iran, she has been in touch with Iranian citizens who gave us a glimpse into their opinions about the Israeli strikes on their country and American strikes on Iran's nuclear sites.
Today on Fox News Rundown Extra, we will share our entire interview with Dr. Nazee Moinian about how Iranian citizens feel about their leadership right now and what rising up would look like in a country where its people are unarmed.
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an hour ago
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GOP Rep. Thomas Massie Bites Back After Trump Calls for His MAGA Banishment
Exiled Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie has blasted Donald Trump for declaring 'war' on him after criticizing the president's strikes in Iran. Massie was one of the first Republicans to publicly call out Trump's involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict. Last week, he partnered with House Democrats in an attempt to introduce a war powers resolution to 'prohibit involvement in Iran.' Since the strikes, Massie has appeared on various news programs expressing his disapproval while Trump has banished him from MAGA ranks. Trump's Truth Social rant Sunday saw an exasperated president label Massie as 'weak, ineffective' and, brutally, 'not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is.' The president added, 'Actually, MAGA doesn't want him, doesn't know him, and doesn't respect him. He is a negative force who almost always Votes 'NO,' no matter how good something may be. He's a simple minded 'grandstander' who thinks it's good politics for Iran to have the highest level Nuclear weapon, while at the same time yelling 'DEATH TO AMERICA' at every chance they get.' Trump's screed also read, 'MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER Thomas Massie like the plague!' On his X account, Massie made a brief right of reply to Trump's 328-word onslaught. Tagging Trump directly, Massie said the president, 'declared so much War on me today it should require an Act of Congress.' He signed off with the hashtag #sassywithmassie. In an interview with Fox News Digital published after Trump's post on Sunday, Massie clarified he felt 'misled' by the president's actions, and was not alone in the MAGA camp. 'I didn't think he would let neocons determine his foreign policy and drag us into another war.' Massie continued, 'Other people feel the same way, who supported Trump—I think the political danger to him is he induces a degree of apathy in the Republican base, and they fail to show up to keep us in the majority in the midterms.' Libertarian-leaning Massie, who has represented Kentucky since 2012, is no stranger to clashing with Trump over politics. The president labeled Massie a 'grandstander' in 2020 and called for his removal from the Republican Party over a COVID-19 relief package; then endorsed him in 2022 after he won multiple primary challenges. Massie told CBS' Face the Nation Sunday that Trump's decision to bomb the Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan facilities made it 'a good week for the neocons and the military industrial complex who want war all the time.' 'We are exhausted,' he said. 'We are tired from all of these wars, and we're non-interventionists. I mean, this was one of the promises. I mean, are you going to call President Trump's campaign an isolationist campaign? What he promised us was, we would put America first.' In another interview, on CNN's Inside Politics, Massie said he found the notion that this wasn't an act of war was 'ludicrous.' 'This is a hot war,' Massie said. 'There are two nations, Israel and Iran, trading volleys of missiles every night. Every day. And we're a co-belligerent now in this war.' He also said he represented 'the base of the MAGA party that got Trump elected.' Following Trump's super-sized post, the pile-on from conservatives against Massie continued. Far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer even fired off a top-shelf expletive, re-posting a tweet from last October where she called him a 'petty b---h.' She then added a brand new comment, 'So glad everyone is finally waking up to what a massive c--t Thomas Massie is.' Loomer then posted, 'I'm not going to get nuked for Thomas Massie and Tucker Carlson.' White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair posted on X, '(I don't care) if Thomas Massie opposes some things, including last night's action. But he doesn't, he opposes everything. Never engages constructively.' Trump adviser Chris LaCivita reposted Blair's message, adding 'Oh he knows what time it is …it's Times Up!" LaCivita told NBC News on Sunday he and another Trump advisor, Tony Gabrizio, are actively planning to unseat Massie in a new super PAC or political action committee.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump Says He Gave Iran Permission to Bomb U.S. Base in Qatar and…Well, Mostly Crickets?
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM's Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. When political scientist Seth Masket shared this story on Bluesky yesterday, I couldn't believe it was real. The right-wing Washington Times reported that at a press conference at the NATO Summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday, Trump revealed that he had given Iran permission to bomb the U.S.'s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in retaliation for the American bombing of their nuclear sites. 'They said, 'We're going to shoot them. Is one o'clock OK?' I said it's fine,' Trump said. 'And everybody was emptied off the base so they couldn't get hurt, except for the gunners.' I poked around for other major coverage of this extraordinary admission, and landed only on a transcript of the press conference. And yes, amid a characteristically meandering monologue, Trump actually said that he let a foreign adversary bomb an American military installation. But this story has pretty much come and gone with virtually no attention and certainly none of the outrage commensurate with what Trump said. Let's consider what Trump's verbal diarrhea here could mean. Suppose he is (for once) telling the truth. Wouldn't that represent the most shocking dereliction of duty one could imagine for the commander-in-chief? (A high crime or misdemeanor, perhaps?) Is he saying he let Iran get its retaliation out of its system with what he called 'a very weak response' to bring an end to hostilities? Perhaps Trump simply was rambling incoherently as he basked in his new 'daddy' glow at NATO. What would have happened if a Democratic president, particularly one named Joe Biden, had said he let a foreign adversary fire on an American military installation? As you consider that hypothetical, keep in mind that House Republicans are currently spending their precious oversight time investigating the former president's mental acuity. Trump loyalists are taking up his charge to attack any journalist who reported on intelligence contradicting Trump's claim to have 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear sites in last weekend's strikes. The tenor of this authoritarian campaign is that reporters are not permitted to contradict the president. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth came out swinging against his former Fox News colleague, national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin, in an early morning press conference yesterday. In response to a question from Griffin about whether the Pentagon was certain that Tehran had not moved highly enriched uranium from the Fordow site prior to the American strike, Hegseth lashed out, 'Jennifer, you've been about the worst, the one who misrepresents the most intentionally what the president says.' Later in the day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt went after CNN's Natasha Bertrand, after Trump had demanded she be 'thrown out like a dog.' Leavitt claimed Bertrand is 'being used to push a fake narrative to try to undermine the President of the United States and more importantly the brave fighter pilots who conducted one of the most successful operations in United States history.' CNN issued a statement standing by Bertrand's reporting. Meanwhile Senate Democrats remain unconvinced of Trump's obliteration claims following a classified intelligence briefing yesterday. Trump ally Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who also attended the briefing, struggled to save face for the president, telling reporters afterwards, 'The real question is, have we obliterated their desire to have a nuclear weapon.' Graham went on to tread lightly around Trump's feelings. 'I don't want people to think that the site wasn't severely damaged or obliterated,' he said. 'It was. But having said that, I don't want people to think the problem is over, because it's not.' Following a pattern of dangerous social media attacks on perceived political enemies, some Senate Republicans have begun to assail Elizabeth MacDonough, the nonpartisan Senate Parliamentarian who has struck numerous provisions out of the GOP's One Big Beautiful Bill. NBC reports: 'The WOKE Senate Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Harry Reid and advised Al Gore, just STRUCK DOWN a provision BANNING illegals from stealing Medicaid from American citizens,' Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., wrote on X. 'This is a perfect example of why Americans hate THE SWAMP.' 'THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP,' he said. MacDonough was appointed by then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 2012, and is well-respected by leaders on both sides of the aisle. But Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, also said MacDonough needs to go and called for term limits for parliamentarians. 'She's been here since 2012; she has a lot of power,' Marshall told reporters. 'I don't think anyone should stay here that long and have power where she doesn't answer to anybody.' While other Senate Republicans seem less eager for such a fight, their failure to firmly and publicly tamp down these inflammatory statements in the current climate is disheartening, to say the least. At Mother Jones, Mark Follman reports on the dangers of Trump's dismantling of the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3), a Department of Homeland Security initiative tasked with developing evidence-based community programs to prevent political violence and terrorism. The administration has diverted resources from this and other programs to fund Trump's brutal deportation agenda. 'We're at real risk of normalizing political violence as a part of our democracy,' CP3's former director William Braniff told Follman. '[W]hen these norms are accepted at a societal level and encouraged at a political level, they become entrenched and really difficult to reverse.' The Republican goal of eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion and 'gender ideology' is aimed squarely at rolling back hard-won civil rights protections for people who aren't white, straight, or cisgender. The Trump administration is carrying out this agenda, in part, through investigations and pressure campaigns against educational institutions, threatening to cut their federal funding. Yesterday, the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services announced it is investigating the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League over trans girls playing sports, part of what it says is a 'larger initiative to defend women and restore biological truth to the Federal government.' In another arena, the New York Times reports the Justice Department is pressuring the University of Virginia to fire its president, James Ryan, 'over what the department says is the school's disregard for civil rights law over its diversity practices.' In other words, the Department of Justice, which historically has enforced civil rights laws protecting against race discrimination, is now strong-arming educational institutions it claims have discriminated against white people. The Washington Post reports this morning that staffers from Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are setting up shop at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with a 'goal of revising or eliminating dozens of rules and gun restrictions by July 4.' DOGE might want to run roughshod over it, but there's a legal process for amending or ending federal regulations. You can count on litigation over any such efforts, not to mention public outcry. According to the Associated Press, in a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought committed to restoring funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting if the Senate votes down a House-passed 'rescissions' package to make billions of dollars in DOGE-led cuts permanent. Earlier this week I linked to a piece in Wired, reporting that Edward Coristine, the 19 year-old Department of Government Efficiency staffer also known as Big Balls, no longer worked for the federal government. The New York Times had matched Wired's reporting, and then, yesterday, issued a correction. Coristine, who before joining DOGE had been fired from a job at a data security firm for leaking company information, is now a 'special employee' at the Social Security Administration. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, asking her to 'denaturalize' and deport New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, falsely claiming he failed to disclose material support for terrorism prior to becoming a U.S. citizen. The House Homeland Security Committee has launched an investigation into hundreds of religious organizations and even entire denominations, claiming they were 'involved in providing services or support to inadmissible aliens during the Biden-Harris administration's historic border crisis.' Ominously, the letter the committee is sending religious organizations includes questions about their federal government funding through grants or contracts, their provision of services to immigrants, and whether they have ever sued the government.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump's Israel-Iran ‘Ceasefire' Could Be Falling Apart Already
President Donald Trump claimed his promised ceasefire between Israel and Iran was officially in effect early Tuesday morning despite doubts over whether it will hold. 'THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!' Trump pleaded on Truth Social, even though the status remained unclear. Iran's foreign minister had said in response to Trump's ceasefire announcement that his country had yet to make a 'final decision' on its military's course of action after Trump proclaimed that it had agreed to a ceasefire with Israel. Several hours later, Iranian state TV reported a ceasefire had begun. However, Israel claimed Iran continued to send missiles after the proposed ceasefire time, warning the public to take shelter. Four people died after an earlier Iranian missile attack struck a building in the city of Beersheba, according to the Associated Press. Under the terms described by the president on Monday, the ceasefire would bring an end to missile strikes from both sides in a matter of hours. The hostilities began on June 13 when Israel attacked Iranian military and nuclear facilities. 'It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED!' Trump wrote on Truth Social. Trump said that Iran would begin a ceasefire first, followed by Israel 12 hours later. 'During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL,' he wrote. 'On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, 'THE 12 DAY WAR.'' When asked on Monday about the ceasefire's duration, Trump had high hopes. 'I think the ceasefire is unlimited. It's going to go forever,' he told NBC News reporter Yamiche Alcindor. 'I don't believe they will ever be shooting at each other again.' Trump added: 'It's a great day for America. It's a great day for the Middle East. I'm very happy to have been able to get the job done. A lot of people were dying and it was only going to get worse.' But things weren't looking positive hours later. Emergency flights were delayed and some planes were forced to circle over the Mediterranean Sea as missile launches from Iran were still being detected after Trump's ceasefire deadline for Iran, according to the Associated Press. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi had said that any cessation of strikes by his country was contingent on Israel adhering to the agreement's provisions. 'As Iran has repeatedly made clear: Israel launched war on Iran, not the other way around,' he posted on X several hours after Trump's initial ceasefire announcement. 'As of now, there is NO 'agreement' on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations,' Araghchi continued. 'However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards. The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.' In a follow-up post, Araghchi said that the 'military operations of our powerful Armed Forces to punish Israel for its aggression continued until the very last minute, at 4am' local time. 'Together with all Iranians, I thank our brave Armed Forces who remain ready to defend our dear country until their last drop of blood, and who responded to any attack by the enemy until the very last minute,' he added. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump was still posting incessantly on Truth Social late into Monday night, claiming in one missive that 'Israel & Iran came to me, almost simultaneously, and said, 'PEACE!' 'I knew the time was NOW. The World, and the Middle East, are the real WINNERS! Both Nations will see tremendous LOVE, PEACE, AND PROSPERITY in their futures,' he added. In another, he suggested his attack on Iran brought about the ceasefire. 'In a certain and very ironic way, that perfect 'hit,' late in the evening, brought everyone together, and the deal was made!!!' he wrote. Trump's statement came hours after Iran fired missiles at a U.S. air base in Qatar in retaliation for its involvement in strikes on Iran's nuclear sites over the weekend. No one was injured in the strikes. Early Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel had agreed to the ceasefire announced by Trump, saying his country had achieved all its war goals over the 12 days of attacks. He also warned that 'Israel will respond forcefully to any violation' of the deal. In Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson said the ceasefire was 'a big sigh of relief here on Capitol Hill. 'We certainly hope and pray and trust that Iran will end its nuclear enrichment program,' he told reporters. 'They'll heed the calls of the rest of the world and that we can have peace in the Middle East and peace in Israel.' Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance said on Fox News minutes after Trump's announcement that they had been working on a statement earlier Monday afternoon. 'We were actually working on that just as I left the White House to come over here. So that's good news, that the president was able to get that across the finish line,' Vance said. Vance also echoed Trump's claim that the U.S. military's bombing of nuclear sites over the weekend prevented Iran building a nuclear weapon, even though Israeli sources have said Iran moved uranium before the attacks. 'Iran is incapable of building a nuclear weapon with the equipment they have, because we destroyed it,' he argued. That mission, one military official told The New York Times, was carried out despite Trump himself being the 'biggest threat to opsec,' meaning operational security, due to his social media posts telegraphing the bombings. Nevertheless, Trump has moved on. 'Congratulations, world,' Trump wrote in all-caps a few hours before announcing the ceasefire. 'It's time for peace!'
