The Pentagon on Thursday said it is seeking roughly $200 billion to sustain its war in Iran, as senior military officials acknowledge that the Islamic Republic retains “some capability” to attack American assets and allies in the Middle East. Asked about the figure during a press briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said “that number could move,” before adding in a blunt aside: “It takes money to kill bad guys.”“We’re going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we are properly funded,” Hegseth said.He asserted that the request would help fund the ongoing mission, accelerate replenishment of weapons systems that have been expended in the fight, and rebuild depleted stockpiles to prepare for future deployments.The White House on Sunday said the United States’ military campaign against Iran — dubbed Operation Epic Fury — had cost American taxpayers $12 billion as of that day. The opening salvo of the war was carried out by U.S. and Israeli forces on Feb. 28. Now nineteen days in, Hegseth declined to outline how or when the war could end, aside from underscoring that the U.S. was “very much on track.” “It will be at [President Donald Trump’s] choosing ultimately, where we say,…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A Muslim philanthropy group at Indiana University reportedly organized fundraising training programs with a Turkish nonprofit that the U.S. government recently sanctioned as a “sham charity” accused of secretly funding Hamas as well as Islamic revivalist Muslim Brotherhood.The Muslim Philanthropy Initiative, part of the School of Philanthropy, allegedly co-organized training programs alongside Hayat Yolu, according to a LinkedIn post and a local outlet report dating back as far as seven months ago. The Department of the Treasury last Thursday designated Hayat Yolu as a key player in a covert global network that uses the guise of humanitarian aid to raise money overseas. Officials say the group funnels funds to Gaza that directly support Hamas and its military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and serves as a financial hub and headquarters for the Muslim Brotherhood.”Hamas continues to finance its military wing by exploiting sham charities to support terrorist operations,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement on March 12. “The Treasury Department will not allow Hamas to misuse the charitable sector for its violent aims, and we will continue to target these networks wherever they operate.”ISRAEL UNMASKS IRAN-DIRECTED HAMAS CASH…

A U.S. F-35 fighter jet was forced to make an emergency landing after flying a combat mission over Iran, U.S. Central Command confirmed on Thursday. The pilot, who was able to guide the aircraft to a U.S. air base in the region, is in stable condition, a command spokesperson said. CNN first reported the incident, with sources telling the outlet the aircraft was struck by an Iranian munition. “We are aware of reports that a U.S. F-35 aircraft conducted an emergency landing at a regional U.S airbase after flying a combat mission over Iran,” Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins said in an emailed statement. The incident is under investigation. Prior to Thursday’s incident, the U.S. had lost four manned aircraft across the month of March. Six U.S. airmen were killed on March 12 when their KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq during combat operations. On March 1, three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were shot down by a Kuwaiti F/A-18 in a friendly fire incident. All six F-15 crew members ejected and were safely recovered.A total of 13 U.S. service members have been killed during combat actions against Iran and roughly 200 wounded. While the majority of the wounded…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Ukraine peace talks are on a “situational pause” as the Middle East conflict intensifies, the Kremlin said Thursday, even as Kyiv signaled negotiations could resume as soon as this weekend.Following reports in Russian media that the Kremlin had paused talks on Ukraine and that the Middle East conflict could push Kyiv toward compromise, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed the pause.”This is a situational pause, for obvious reasons,” Peskov told reporters when asked about the report, according to Reuters.Peskov added that as soon as “our American partners” could refocus on the Ukraine conflict, Moscow hopes the pause will end and new talks can begin, the outlet reported.UKRAINE TO MEET TRUMP ENVOYS AHEAD OF HIGH-STAKES GENEVA TALKS WITH RUSSIA AS WAR ENTERS FIFTH YEAR Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video posted on X that Kyiv has received signals from the U.S. that it is ready to resume talks aimed at ending the war.”There has been a pause in the talks, and it is time to resume them,” he said. “We are doing everything to ensure that the negotiations are genuinely substantive.”Zelenskyy added that a Ukrainian negotiating team is already on its way…

The United States is moving to bolster air defenses across the Middle East, notifying Congress of more than $16.5 billion in potential weapons sales aimed primarily at countering missile and drone threats. The packages include systems for the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Jordan, and range from advanced radar and air defense sensors to counter-drone technology and aircraft munitions, according to several statements released Thursday by the U.S. Department of State. The notifications come as missile and drone attacks have intensified across the Middle East during the war with Iran, putting pressure on air defense systems used to protect U.S. forces and regional allies. The State Department said the secretary of state determined that an emergency justified the immediate sale, allowing the administration to bypass the typical congressional review process under the Arms Export Control Act. Among the proposed sales is a long-range radar for the UAE that is designed to integrate with its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, for $4.5 billion. The UAE package also includes a $2.1 billion fixed-site system designed to counter small drones, as well as $1.22 billion in air-to-air missiles and a $644 million set of F-16 munitions and upgrades to support…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The body of missing University of Alabama student James “Jimmy” Gracey was recovered Thursday in Barcelona, Spain, after a days-long search, authorities confirmed.Police recovered the body at Port Olimpic, a marina just steps from the waterfront nightclub where Gracey was last seen.A spokesperson for Mossos d’Esquadra said the remains recovered at Port Olimpic have been identified as belonging to the 20-year-old junior, who was last seen early Tuesday morning at the waterfront Shoko nightclub.Gracey, of Elmhurst, Illinois, disappeared around 3 a.m. after visiting the Shoko restaurant and nightclub.AUTOPSY REVEALS WISCONSIN GRAD SCHOOL STUDENT’S CAUSE OF DEATH AFTER SHE DISAPPEARED WALKING HOME FROM BAR “He was with friends, but they got separated at the end of the night,” his mother, Therese Gracey, said. Gracey never made it back to the Airbnb he had rented with friends, his family said.Divers were seen entering the water with a stretcher at around 7:05 p.m. local time and returned to the dock with a body bag 10 minutes later.LONG ISLAND TEEN WHO VANISHED AFTER TRIP TO NYC FOUND DEAD IN BROOKLYN WATERS The discovery came after a search that included helicopters, boats, dive teams and motorcycle units,…

A pair of U.S. Navy counter-mine vessels that are homeported in Bahrain arrived in Singapore this week, according to a U.S. Fifth Fleet spokesperson.The Independence-class littoral combat ships USS Santa Barbara and USS Tulsa entered the U.S. Seventh Fleet area of responsibility earlier in the week, the spokesperson said, stopping first in Malaysia for a port call.Each ship is equipped with a mine countermeasures mission package designed to detect and destroy naval mines.“Tulsa and Santa Barbara are conducting scheduled maintenance and logistics stop in Singapore,” the spokesperson said. The two nations, according to the spokesperson, have an agreement to allow littoral combat ships to operate primarily from Singapore as a logistics and maintenance hub.As of Monday, the USS Canberra, the other Bahrain-based LCS with a mine countermeasures package, was in the Indian Ocean, parts of which are in the U.S. Fifth Fleet area of responsibility.RELATEDThe U.S. Navy previously deployed four Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships in the Middle East, but they were decommissioned in 2025 after each serving for over 30 years.Those minesweepers are made of wood and fiberglass and possess a nonmagnetic signature and low acoustic footprint that allows them to operate inside and near a mine zone. The vessels…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Five Mexican nationals were indicted on federal drug trafficking and weapons charges this week after authorities discovered a clandestine methamphetamine lab in Northern California, leading to the seizure of nearly 3,000 pounds of the drug, officials said.The Department of Justice said a federal grand jury returned a 10-count indictment Thursday against Luis Reyna Carrillo, 33, Mariana Vanessa Mendoza Camacho, 33, Juan Jesus Manriquez Diaz, 31, Alvaro Rosales, 44, and Manuel Juan Madrid Perez, 38, charging them with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, along with multiple drug trafficking and firearms offenses.”These illegal aliens allegedly operated a secret lab on American soil producing thousands of pounds of deadly drugs to poison our communities,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. “This clandestine and illegal operation has now been dismantled – we will continue protecting Americans from the dangerous results of the prior administration’s open-border policies.”Carrillo and his wife, Camacho, came to the U.S. in March 2021 and were given a notice to appear in court at a later date. Diaz was removed from the U.S. in 2018, while Rosales was removed in 2024.FEDERAL AGENTS ARREST 12 ALLEGED MEMBERS OF LA’S MASSIVE 18TH STREET GANG DRUG…

Pentagon staffers, former officials and IT contractors who work closely with the U.S. military say they are reluctant to give up Anthropic’s AI tools, which they view as superior to alternatives, despite orders to remove them. After a dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon over guardrails for how the military could use its artificial intelligence tools, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated the company a supply-chain risk on March 3, barring its use by the Pentagon and its contractors following a six-month phase-out.RELATEDBut the move is running into resistance, with some military users dragging their feet and others preparing to revert to Anthropic’s platform in anticipation of the dispute being resolved.“Career IT people at DOD hate this move because they had finally gotten operators comfortable using AI,” said one IT contractor. “They think it’s stupid.” The contractor said Anthropic’s Claude AI model “is the best,” while xAI’s Grok often produced inconsistent answers to the same query. Recertifying systems could take monthsThe complaints suggest uprooting Anthropic from the Pentagon’s networks will be neither quick nor painless. One contractor said recertifying systems that run on Anthropic’s products for military use could take months.Some Pentagon officials, staff and contractors spoke anonymously because they were…

Perhaps you’ve heard of The $64 Tomato by William Alexander. In it, he shares the details of just how expensive gardening can be when you are trying to create the perfect garden with the ideal produce. However, the problem is that this kind of gardening isn’t sustainable. It isn’t enough to get you through any type of crisis, it won’t really feed your family, and it isn’t sustainable gardening. But don’t worry, there’s a solution for that!  In this article, we’re going to give you plenty of ways to garden frugally and save money. Gardening frugally is about spending as little money as possible while maximizing as much yield as possible. Growing healthy, productive plants for less money is the goal of a frugal gardener.  Want to save this post for later? Click Here to Pin It On Pinterest! Choose The Right Plants Don’t fight your hardiness zone and climate Instead, choose plants that will do well in your hardiness zone, climate, and type of soil. Otherwise, it will be too hard for them to grow, and they’ll be more likely to die and need to be replaced. You can find your hardiness zone here. Then, try purchasing plants from the…