Summary Iran rejects ‘excessive, illogical’ US demands while Trump mentions ‘progress’ with a ‘more reasonable regime’. Trump again threatens to destroy Iran’s energy sites and Kharg Island. White House is seriously considering a ground operation to seize Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile, but also wants Tehran to negotiate handing it over willingly. Bazan oil refinery in Israel’s northern city of Haifa is on fire after a second apparent Iranian missile strike of the war. Iran accuses Israel of more ‘false flags’ – after Kuwait water desalination plant hit. Iran Again Rejects ‘Excessive’ Demands Iran has once again stated that it has rejected the latest “US demands” as “excessive and illogical,” according to state Tasnim, also confirming that it did not participate in the weekend Pakistan-hosted summit attended by the foreign ministers of Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. “We have never had any direct negotiations with the United States. What has been raised are messages received through intermediaries indicating the US desire to negotiate,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in a press conference on Monday. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is expected in China on Tuesday for talks with his Chinese counterpart, after Beijing made clear it is ready to back a Pakistan-mediated peace effort. Egypt’s…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A Minnesota man was sentenced on Monday to more than a year in prison after pleading guilty to creating fake invoices to a nonprofit that falsely claimed it served 1.5 million meals to children in need within seven months.Abdul Abubakar Ali, of St. Paul, Minn., was one of nearly 100 defendants charged in the “Feeding Our Future” fraud scheme, which the Department of Justice (DOJ) claims exploited a federally-funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ali pleaded guilty in 2022 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, but he was initially charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the DOJ.The nonprofit, Youth Inventors Lab, allegedly acted as a shell company to submit millions of dollars in fraudulent reimbursement claims for meals that were never served, FOX9 Minneapolis reported.GOP SENATOR’S SOMALIA ACT WOULD FORCE MINNESOTA FRAUDSTERS TO REPAY STOLEN TAXPAYER FUNDS According to his guilty plea, Ali submitted fake invoices for technology services from his company, Bilterms Solutions, to Youth Inventors Lab. The Justice Department claimed the Youth Inventors Lab received more than $3 million in reimbursements, of which Ali personally…

ROME — U.S. military aircraft heading from the United States to the Middle East have been refused permission to stop off at an air base in Italy, an Italian government source has told Defense News.The request to land at Sigonella air base in Sicily was issued to Italian authorities after the aircraft had already taken off from the U.S., Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on Tuesday.Italy has a longstanding deal with the U.S. to allow it to use Sigonella for regular military flights, while permission for use of the base by flights not covered by the agreement must be granted by the Italian parliament.In a speech to parliament this month, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, “The bases used by the U.S. in Italy derive from agreements signed in 1954 and which have been updated since then by various governments. According to those agreements there are technical authorizations when it comes to logistics and non-kinetic operations that do not involve, put simply, bombing.”She added that for any other kind of use of bases, “it depends on parliament.”Since permission to land was requested by the U.S. after the jets took off from the United States, there was no time for…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Vice President JD Vance, who converted to the Roman Catholic faith as an adult, will be releasing a book about the story of his conversion later this spring.HarperCollins Publishers imprint Harper told the Associated Press Tuesday that his book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” will be released June 16. Vance is among many Millennials and members of Gen Z who are rejecting the secularism of recent years and converting specifically to the Catholic Church.”The story of how I regained my faith, of course, only happened because I had lost it to begin with,” Vance, 41, said in a statement to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR). “The interesting question that hangs over this book, and over my mind, is why I ever strayed from the path. Why the Christian faith of my youth failed to properly take root.”NCR suggested the move to release a book may indicate Vance’s political ambitions. Vance is widely considered a likely 2028 candidate for the Republican nomination.VANCE VISITS CHURCH WHERE CHRISTIANS BELIEVE JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED, RESURRECTED AMID ISRAEL-HAMAS CEASEFIRE “Presidential hopefuls often, though not always, release books before launching a campaign, giving them a moment in…

An ammunition technician specialist at the School of Infantry West stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, has been federally indicted for stealing Javelin Missile Systems, AT4 antitank weapons and ammunition “so lethal that the public cannot legally possess it,” the District Court of Arizona charges.Andrew Paul Amarillas, a 23-year-old corporal in the Marine Corps, was stationed at Camp Pendleton from February 2022 through January 2026, during which he allegedly embezzled and stole U.S. military property and ammunition with the intent to resell them in Arizona, the district attorney charges.According to a March 24, 2026, court filing, Amarillas has been charged with several federal crimes related to the theft and possession of government property.Stolen Javelin Missile Systems (Department of Justice)Amarillas has been an active-duty Marine since 2021, joining shortly after he graduated from high school in Glendale, Arizona.“Defendant is an active-duty U.S. Marine. But instead of faithfully serving his country, he has been stealing weapons and ammunition from the military base at which he was stationed for several years. … The full extent of how much Defendant stole, to whom he all sold it, and how it has been used is not yet known—though law enforcement is working feverishly to find out,”…

United States President Donald Trump told the Financial Times that he could “take the oil in Iran” and seize the export hub of Kharg Island. At the same time, Iran has said that the proposals made by the U.S. in order to facilitate a ceasefire are “unrealistic.” “Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said. “It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.” The White House and the U.S. State Department didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment. Simulation: Extended Strait of Hormuz Closure Could Affect $1.2 Trillion in Global Trade Trump also commented on Monday morning with a warning that the U.S. would “completely” obliterate Iran’s electric generating plants, oil wells, and Kharg Island if the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz is not “immediately” reopened and a peace deal is not reached “shortly.” Iran has not yet commented on Trump’s latest remarks, according to a report by CNBC.  The Economic Damage Caused By This War Will Stretch To The End Of The Decade Trump also said his favorite thing to do would be to “take the oil” in Iran. “My favourite thing is…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The Department of Homeland Security is firing back at comedian Jimmy Kimmel, accusing the late-night host of ridiculing Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s blue-collar roots.In a statement to Fox News Digital, a DHS spokesperson defended Mullin’s journey from a family plumbing business to the president’s Cabinet.”Secretary Mullin represents the best of blue-collar America, and failed comedian Jimmy Kimmel chooses to ridicule him for it,” the agency said.The disagreement began after Kimmel mocked Mullin’s qualifications during his show last week. He compared the former senator’s qualifications to those of the famous Nintendo character Mario, a plumber.SEN RAND PAUL GRILLS MULLIN ON PAST COMMENTS ON ASSAULT: ‘TELL IT TO MY FACE’ “He’s the now-former senator of Oklahoma. Before he was elected to the Senate, Markwayne Mullin was a low-level MMA fighter and a plumber. That’s right. We have a plumber protecting us from terrorism now. It worked for Super Mario. Why not Markwayne?” Kimmel said.Mullin attended college on a wrestling scholarship before leaving to take over his family’s plumbing business when his father became ill. Before becoming Homeland Security Secretary, Mullin represented Oklahoma in the House and Senate for over a decade.FCC BOSS VOWS TO ‘REBALANCE’…

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that he made a secret wartime trip to the Middle East to meet with American troops fighting in Operation Epic Fury.Hegseth, speaking during a press briefing at the Pentagon, asserted that morale is high and service members are determined to “finish the mission.” He declined to disclose the precise location of the bases that he toured over the weekend. More than a month into the joint U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran, Hegseth warned that the coming days could prove pivotal, even as the broader course of the conflict remains unsettled. “The upcoming days will be decisive. Iran knows that, and there’s nothing they can militarily do about it,” he said. “We have more and more options, and they have less.” Pressed on whether the influx of newly arrived Marines and Army paratroopers might be used in ground operations on Iranian territory, Hegseth offered no indication either way.“You can’t fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do or what you are not willing to do, to include boots on the ground,” Hegseth said. “Our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we could come at…

Modularity is the holy gospel in military circles these days. Distilled to its essence, a modular weapon system uses a single basic chassis that can then be customized to perform specific missions. Think of it like Barbie dolls for gun guys. By mixing and matching accessories, you can be ready for a hard day at the office, a vigorous romp through the woods, or a festive night on the town. Author Will Dabbs shoots an Artillery Luger, one of several variations of the famed Georg Luger design. Springfield Armory has gone all in on modularity. Their superlative Echelon pistol is built around a removable, serialized Central Operating Group (COG). The COG is a steel chassis that can be fitted with sundry slides, frames, and assorted ditzels to make the gun into pretty much whatever you wish it to be. And then there is their extensive line of AR rifles. The Springfield Armory SAINT’s all orbit around common receivers. There’s one size for 5.56 and another for 7.62, but those two basic designs can be had as carbines, long rifles, and handguns. That’s the cutting edge in modern small arms design. The extensive family of P.08 Luger pistols by Georg Luger…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! FIRST ON FOX—Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., is calling for answers from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte following reports that a group hosted abortion support doula trainings for teenagers as young as 14 years old at the university.”Recent reports indicate that UNC-Charlotte provided space for a training organized by Youth Abortion Support Collective — affiliated with Advocates for Youth — which targeted participants ages 14-24 and introduced them to ‘tools, resources, and skills for abortion support work,’” Harris said in a letter obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital to Sharon Gaber, chancellor of UNC-Charlotte. “Allowing the abortion industry to recruit and train impressionable minors as young as 14 years old on a public university campus is deeply inappropriate and raises serious concerns about the responsible use of public resources and the university’s priorities,” the letter reads. CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY IN CHICAGO COVERS ‘ABORTION CARE SERVICES’ THROUGH STUDENT HEALTH PLAN An event invite from the Youth Abortion Support Collective (YouthASC), a nationwide group of young people working for abortion access run by Advocates for Youth, advertised the Nov. 15-16 training at UNC Charlotte last year, saying it was open to teens as young as 14.”This…