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President Trump's Homeland Security nominee, Senator Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, struck a softer tone at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, reflecting the administration's efforts to project a more moderate tone toward immigration enforcement.
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Mr. Kent is under investigation for a possible intelligence leak, according to people familiar with the situation. The inquiry is said to predate his resignation this week as the top U.S. counterterrorism official.
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(First column, 1st story, link)
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The nominee for homeland security secretary suggested that he had observed war firsthand but declined to provide details, which he said were "classified."
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The senator sounded a warmer and fuzzier tone at his D.H.S. confirmation hearing than President Trump often has, the latest sign that the administration wants to project a more moderated approach.
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On Wednesday, the director of national intelligence and C.I.A. director contradicted one of the justifications the Trump administration had given for its attacks on Iran.
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A day of strikes on energy facilities and testimony in Washington to members of Congress.
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Tulsi Gabbard faced bipartisan scrutiny over the administration's justifications for the Iran war.
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The director of national intelligence provided the Senate Intelligence Committee with mixed messages about the state of Iran's nuclear program before the war began.
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The Trump administration is escalating threats against news organizations, with President Trump suggesting outlets should face "treason" charges for disseminating false information. Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, has also threatened to revoke broadcasters' licenses over their coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. This all comes as allies of President Trump consolidate their control over several major media outlets. Paramount Skydance, led by Trump ally David Ellison, is poised to acquire Warner Bros., which includes CNN.
"They want these companies to be afraid," says Craig Aaron, CEO of Free Press and Free Press Action. "As we've seen, whether it's lawyers, universities, media companies, when the bullying works, you just get more and more bullying."
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A top national security official resigned from the Trump administration Tuesday in response to the war on Iran. "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby," Joe Kent, who served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, wrote in his resignation letter.
We speak with Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned in 2023 to protest the Biden administration's Gaza policy. He says Kent is at least the 16th U.S. official in the last few years to resign over policy related to Israel, spanning both the Biden and Trump administrations.
"We know that there is a very visible, very vocal debate happening in the Democratic Party on that topic. It's clear that there is also a very vocal debate happening within the right wing of American politics," says Paul.
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Oil prices surged past $100 a barrel this week as the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran threatens global energy supplies and the broader economy. Iranian officials say no oil will be allowed to leave the Middle East until the bombardment stops, raising fears of disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which about 20% of the world's oil and gas flows. This comes as Israel has struck oil depots in Tehran, blanketing the capital in smoke and toxic rain.
"What we're seeing is just one of the clearest depictions yet of the frailty of a global order that is grounded in fossil fuels. All sides in this war are using fossil fuels as a weapon of war," says independent investigative journalist Antonia Juhasz, who reports on energy and climate.
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As the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran enters its third day, dragging much of the Middle East into armed conflict, we speak with two Iranian American scholars about the situation.
"It's quite a devastating attack on the infrastructure of the country, both in terms of the state infrastructure and civilian infrastructure," says Golnar Nikpour, associate professor of modern Iranian history at Dartmouth College. She notes that far from leading to a popular uprising against the government, as President Trump has encouraged, the U.S.-Israeli attacks have forced Iranians to worry about their immediate safety from the bombs.
"These attacks are causing much suffering for Iranian people, and it's destroying the space in which Iranians were struggling for social justice and civil liberties," says Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, a fierce critic of the government who was once imprisoned on death row in Iran but who nevertheless opposes the war. "I'm very pessimistic about the possibility of a regime change in Iran without having a clear idea of what is going to replace it."
According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, more than 550 people have been killed in Iran since Saturday, when the U.S. and Israel began an intense bombing campaign and assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A number of other top Iranian officials have also been killed. Iran has retaliated by launching missiles targeting Israel, as well as U.S. allies across the region, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Cyprus, where an Iranian drone hit a British air base. Fighting has also resumed between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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