United States ruler Donald Trump said that he struck Iran a week early, and it prevented a nuclear war. Only eight months after bombing three Iranian nuclear sites, Trump once again put his finger on the trigger, preparing to attack the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program once again. According to a report by Time Magazine, Trump said he assumed Iran was not urgent enough when it came to diplomatic talks with the U.S. “When I heard that,” Trump says, “I said, you know, they’re going to hit first.” In the early hours of Saturday morning, February 28th, the start of the workweek in Tehran, Operation Epic Fury began. American long-range missiles and drones moved in concert with Israeli jets, striking hundreds of Iranian military installations: missile batteries, naval vessels, air-defense systems, and command centers. It was one of the region’s most expansive air operations in decades. The bombardment killed Khamenei, who presided over a repressive regime for 36 years. Iran Has Confirmed The Death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Also dead were a cluster of senior Iranian officials envisioned as potential successors. “I’ve killed all their leaders,” Trump says. “That room is gone.” The attacks also inflicted significant damage to…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The White House says “no one” will change the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda in response to an appeal by Angel Mom Angie Morfin.Morfin, whose 13-year-old son, Ruben, was executed by an illegal alien gang member, issued a heartfelt appeal to the administration to “make sure no other mother has to get the call I did.” This comes as incoming Homeland Security head Sen. Markwayne Mullin undergoes the Senate confirmation process and is expected to take the reins at the agency at the end of the month.Morfin emphasized she is hopeful that Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma, “will continue to listen to Angel Families and stand with us.”In response, Lauren Bis, DHS acting assistant secretary, told Fox News Digital that “our hearts break for the families and victims of illegal alien crime who’ve been completely abandoned and ignored by sanctuary politicians.”ORGANIZED AND TECHNOLOGICAL: ICE RESISTANCE GROUPS POSING GROWING DANGER, WARNS FORMER TOP NSA, DHS OFFICIAL Bis wrote in an emailed statement that “THIS is why we do what we do.” She noted that DHS is currently “targeting dangerous criminal illegal aliens to stop another preventable tragedy.”According to Bis, nearly 70% of arrests…

Editor’s note: This report has been updated.MacDill Air Force Base in Florida has lifted a shelter-in-place order that was enacted earlier Wednesday after officials said a threat had been made against the Tampa-based installation.“Shelter in place has been lifted and the gates are open and will resume normal FPCON Charlie operations,” the base, home of U.S. Central Command, said in a Facebook post. “The threat to MacDill Air Force Base has been cleared and we appreciate everyone’s patience and cooperation.”The shelter-in-place order came days after a suspicious device was found at the visitors center at the Dale Mabry Gate on Monday, causing traffic to be diverted to the Bayshore Gate, according to a local NBC outlet. After Monday’s incident, MacDill raised its security level to FPCON CHARLIE.“This posture allows us to implement deliberate security measures proactively,” the base said on social media earlier this week. “All personnel should remain vigilant, follow the direction of security forces, and report any suspicious activity immediately.”The base has been leading the United States’ military campaign against Iran, Operation Epic Fury, since the U.S. and Israel began their joint offensive on Feb. 28.Claire Barrett is an editor and military history correspondent for Military Times. She…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Lone wolf attackers inspired by extremist ideologies pose the most likely terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland, according to the 2026 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.The 34-page document was released by Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard Wednesday, who testified at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats alongside other key military and Trump administration officials.The 2025 threat assessment similarly warned that terrorist threats to the U.S. increasingly come from individuals acting alone or in small groups.The new report says ISIS and al-Qaeda remain intent on targeting the United States, but their ability to plan and execute complex attacks has been significantly degraded over time.CRITICAL SWING STATE CANDIDATES REVEAL WHERE THEY STAND ON DHS FUNDING AFTER SUSPECTED TERROR ATTACKS Officials warn that individuals radicalized online are increasingly carrying out or attempting attacks with little direction, often using simple tactics and requiring minimal coordination.”Jihadist narratives that address personal grievances may be attractive to individuals seeking validation of violent desires or moral clarity, even if they lack familiarity with Islam. Such content normalizes intolerance of other beliefs and persons and attracts followers to Islamism,” the threat report reads in…

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) — China does not currently plan to invade Taiwan in 2027 and seeks to control the island without the use of force, the U.S. intelligence community said on Wednesday, striking a measured tone on one of the world’s biggest potential flashpoints. The assessment in the intelligence agencies’ annual report on global threats comes as Beijing has stepped up pressure on Taiwan with frequent military drills, even as U.S. President Donald Trump has played down the risk of Chinese military action while he is in office. The Pentagon late last year said the U.S. military believed China was preparing to be able to win a fight for Taiwan by 2027, the centenary of the founding of its People’s Liberation Army, and was refining options to take Taiwan by “brute force” if needed.“China, despite its threat to use force to compel unification if necessary and to counter what it sees as a U.S. attempt to use Taiwan to undermine China’s rise, prefers to achieve unification without the use of force, if possible,” the U.S. intelligence agencies said in the report. The U.S. “assesses that Chinese leaders do not currently plan to execute an invasion of Taiwan in 2027,…

The killing of some senior Iranian politicians by the United States and Israel will not cripple the government, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said. He said the attempt to bring down Iran’s regime will be a failure despite the deaths. “I do not know why the Americans and the Israelis still have not understood this point: The Islamic Republic of Iran has a strong political structure with established political, economic, and social institutions,” Araghchi told Al Jazeera. Araghchi made the comments shortly after Iran confirmed the death of Ali Larijani, the country’s security chief and one of its most powerful politicians. Larijani was killed in an airstrike in a Tehran suburb on Tuesday during the war. “The presence or absence of a single individual does not affect this structure,” he added. “Of course, individuals are influential, and each person plays their – some better, some worse, some less – but what matters is that the political system in Iran is a very solid structure,” the diplomat said. The U.S. and Israel have killed a number of high-ranking Iranian officials and commanders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who died during the first wave of strikes on February 28th. Iran Has Confirmed The…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday said the bureau thwarted four terrorist attacks across the U.S. last December — including three inspired by ISIS — by tracking suspects both online and in person.Patel was testifying at the Senate Intelligence Worldwide Threats hearing on Capitol Hill when Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked about what measures the FBI was taking to stop foreign terrorist organizations from recruiting and influencing Americans online.Patel testified that foreign terrorist organizations, including ISIS, have become “all the more powerful” by moving their recruitment capabilities online.”What we have done is extended and expanded resources to environments like the Threat Screening Center, which allows us to collect biometric capabilities from all over the world,” Patel said, noting double-digit increases in those resources and the bureau’s intelligence production.FBI DISRUPTS ALLEGED ISIS-INSPIRED NEW YEAR’S EVE ATTACK PLOT TARGETING NC GROCERY STORE, FAST FOOD RESTAURANT Patel said the FBI has also increased its manpower to detect such threats online.”But what we’ve also done in the [counterterrorism] space specifically is expand the number of agents and intel analysts that go online and detect based on our biometric capabilities and intelligence that we have from the…

Editor’s note: This story originally appeared on Laser Wars, a newsletter about military laser weapons and other futuristic defense technology. Subscribe here.For decades, the U.S. military’s dream of high-energy laser weapons has been perpetually “five years away.” Now, the Pentagon says it wants to finally make them an operational reality within the next three.Speaking on a panel at the National Defense Industrial Association’s annual Pacific Operational Science and Technology conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, on March 9, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Critical Technologies Michael Dodd stated that the Defense Department plans on fielding directed energy weapons such as lasers and high-powered microwaves at scale within the next 36 months to defend service members from the threat of hostile drones, National Defense magazine reports.While the Pentagon has deployed a handful of laser weapons overseas in recent years for operational testing and officially designated “scaled directed energy” as a critical technology area in November, this accelerated push for widespread fielding comes as U.S. forces engaged in the Operation Epic Fury struggle to counter waves of Iranian Shahed drones raining down across the Middle East, according to fellow panelist Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering James Mazol.“We need to be…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The United States fell in the World Baseball Classic in a thriller on Tuesday night in Miami, while their All-Star closer kept a seat warm in the bullpen.Mason Miller did not enter the championship game against Venezuela after getting saves against Canada and the Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals and semifinals on Friday and Sunday, respectively.After Bryce Harper homered in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at two, it prompted a perfect scenario for a closer to enter the game in the ninth, as typically, closers pitch in tie games as the home team in the top of the ninth.  Instead, Mark DeRosa opted for Boston Red Sox reliever Garrett Whitlock, who gave up the winning run.DeRosa, who said before the game Miller was available, revealed that Miller’s availability was only under one condition.”Honoring the [San Diego] Padres,” DeRosa said, hinting that the Padres told DeRosa that Miller could only be used in a save situation. “Had we taken the lead, he was coming in, but I wasn’t going to bring him in into a tie game.” VENEZUELA HERO EUGENIO SUAREZ TAPS FAITH AFTER SHOCKING TEAM USA: ‘ALL THE…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Actor Jerry O’Connell said Tuesday he wasn’t going to do podcasts anymore following his recent interview on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast, during which he said his wife and children got “physical” with him after statements he made on election night in 2024.”Okay. @ClubRandom_ was my last podcast. Can’t do anything right. @x is mad at me. My family is mad at me,” O’Connell wrote on X, in response to a headline about Maher making fun of O’Connell for attending a Harris rally.O’Connell made headlines for revealing during the podcast that his wife, actress Rebecca Romijn, and their daughters “became physical” with him after he criticized the Democratic Party’s lack of planning on election night in 2024.The actor added in the post that he would go on the “Pardon My Take” podcast to discuss fantasy football, but that was it.BILL MAHER RIPS KAMALA HARRIS’ BOOK, SAYS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED, ‘EVERYONE SUCKS BUT ME’ It was unclear if his X post about quitting the genre was tongue-in-cheek. In another post to X, he said that he would go on Meghan McCain’s podcast as well, “BUT THAT IS IT.”O’Connell, known for his…