Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to avenge the death of his father, former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a Saturday morning barrage of posts on X.
"We pledge to avenge your pure blood and the blood of all the martyrs of these two [recent] wars by taking revenge against the criminal, disgraceful murderers. This vengeance is what our nation is demanding, and this must definitely be done," Khamenei wrote.
The 86-year-old Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28 in joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes that struck his compound in Tehran.
"The criminal, disgraceful murderers of the martyred Leader, whose names are fully documented from the highest to the lowest ranks, will carry their dream of a peaceful death in bed to the grave," the new supreme leader added in his social media screed.
Iran held official funeral services for Ali Khameni over the past week, with state media reporting that more than 40 million people attended some portion of the week-long ceremonies.
Mojtaba Khamenei thanked the funeral goers in his Saturday morning post thread.
"I extend my heartfelt gratitude for the incredible, enemy-shattering, and historic turnout of tens of millions of people across Iran and Iraq," he wrote.
Retired Navy Capt. Brent Sadler said Saturday that Iran's ruling regime is increasingly focused on maintaining its grip on power at home, arguing its greatest threat comes from its own people rather than the United States.
"Their primary concern is being able to stay in power and stay alive. Their threat is their own people," Sadler said on FOX News Live. He pointed to widespread anti-government protests and the regime's crackdown on demonstrators as signs Tehran remains under significant internal pressure.
Sadler said the Iranian regime's public threats and rhetoric are aimed in part at projecting strength domestically as it seeks to preserve control following recent military setbacks.
He also argued Syria's new government could play an important role in preventing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from reestablishing its foothold in Lebanon, calling the current moment "an interesting historic moment" for the U.S., Israel and Lebanon to weaken Hezbollah.
Sadler's comments came as the Trump administration continues pressing Iran over attacks in the Strait of Hormuz while also pursuing diplomatic talks through Omani mediators.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., claims to have been detained by Israeli settlers armed with U.S.-made firearms while visiting the West Bank.
Khanna and his team were surrounded by a group of West Bank settlers near the Palestinian village of Khirbet Zanuta on Wednesday, his office told The New York Times. The settlers were armed with American-made M4 machine guns, Khanna's office said.
When soldiers from the Israeli Defense Forces arrived, Khanna claimed they sided with the settlers. The situation only defused after Israeli police officers arrived and dispersed the settlers and their vehicles blocking the U.S. congressional group's path, according to the Democrat's office.
"If they will do this to an American congressman, imagine what is happening to Palestinian families who are just trying to live," Rep Khanna told Fox News Digital in a statement.
"I am grateful to David Brownstein of the American embassy for helping rescue us. I expect Israel will prosecute the violent settlers and IDF soldiers who detained American citizens," Rep. Khanna said.
The Times first reported details of the alleged incident on Saturday.
Reached by Fox News Digital, a representative for Khanna's team said she could confirm the details reported by the Times. Khanna also spoke to Reuters about what allegedly transpired.
"I'm certainly probably the first American politician who's been detained by the IDF and Israeli settlers," Khanna said in a Reuters video.
"We were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed," Khanna said. "And these hoodlums come in with machine guns, an M4, an American-made machine gun, and they detain us. They block off the road, and then they call the IDF and the IDF is on their side, not on the side of the Americans."
This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News Digital's Robert McGreevy.
{{#rendered}}The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday released video it said shows alleged Hezbollah operatives transferring anti-tank missiles into a building inside the security zone in southern Lebanon before an Israeli airstrike targeted the site.
According to the IDF, the alleged Hezbollah members first moved anti-tank missiles from a vehicle into the structure before additional weapons were brought inside. The Israeli military said it then carried out an airstrike to "remove the threat."
The IDF said secondary explosions were visible after the strike, which it said confirmed weapons were stored inside the building.
Israel earlier announced it had targeted alleged Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon as U.S.-backed diplomatic efforts continue over a phased Israeli withdrawal from parts of the border region.
The video was released as U.S. officials work with Israel and Lebanon to implement a framework agreement that calls for a phased Israeli withdrawal from designated "pilot zones" in southern Lebanon while the Lebanese army assumes responsibility for security in those areas.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Saturday there is little evidence Iran has moderated its behavior, pointing to threats against President Donald Trump after images emerged of mourners carrying "Kill Trump" flags during funeral ceremonies for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Speaking on Fox News, Huckabee said Iran's rhetoric has remained consistent for decades despite reports of renewed diplomatic contacts between Washington and Tehran.
"I think it's important for Americans to understand that what the Iranians are saying and doing is nothing that they haven't been doing for 47 years," Huckabee said. "This is a long standing Death to America chant that they've had. They really haven't changed."
Huckabee also referenced public reports that Israeli intelligence alerted U.S. officials to an alleged Iranian plot targeting Trump, though he said he could only comment on information already in the public domain.
His remarks came as reports suggested Iranian officials had privately told the Trump administration that recent attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz were carried out by rogue hardliners rather than Tehran's leadership. Huckabee said he hopes there are moderates within the Iranian government but added, "we don't see any what I would call significant evidence that there is a real peaceful part of the Iranian regime."
Diplomatic talks between Lebanon and Israel are expected to move forward in Rome next week after a Lebanese official told AFP that Beirut plans to take part, despite previously conditioning its participation on further Israeli withdrawals from southern Lebanon.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiations publicly, said only that "Lebanon will participate."
The development follows a visit by a U.S. military delegation to Beirut on Saturday, where officials met with the Lebanese military to discuss implementing a U.S.-brokered framework agreement intended to reduce tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border.
The agreement calls for a phased Israeli withdrawal from designated "pilot zones" in southern Lebanon, with the Lebanese army assuming responsibility for security in those areas. Israel has said it will only complete the withdrawal once it determines Hezbollah forces have been eliminated from the zones.
The Rome meeting is expected to continue discussions over implementing the agreement as diplomatic efforts unfold alongside continued Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon.
{{#rendered}}Israeli forces launched an airstrike in southern Lebanon on Saturday, saying they targeted alleged Hezbollah operatives moving anti-tank missiles and other weapons into a building, as U.S. officials met with Lebanese leaders over a proposed Israeli withdrawal from parts of the border region.
The Israel Defense Forces said it first observed several alleged Hezbollah members transferring anti-tank missiles from a vehicle before additional operatives allegedly brought more weapons into the same building. The military said it then carried out an airstrike on the site but did not provide a casualty count.
The strike came as a U.S. military delegation met with Lebanese military officials in Beirut to discuss implementation of a U.S.-brokered framework agreement that would begin an Israeli withdrawal from designated "pilot zones" in southern Lebanon.
Under the agreement reached in late June, the Lebanese army would assume responsibility for security in those areas after Israeli forces withdraw. Israel has said it will only complete the pullback once it determines Hezbollah forces have been eliminated from the zones.
The continued Israeli military operation highlights the fragile security situation along the Lebanon-Israel border, even as U.S.-backed negotiations seek to advance the withdrawal agreement and reduce tensions in the region.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi revealed details from his Saturday meeting with Omani foreign affairs minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi in a social media post.
The pair, according to Araghchi, discussed the countries' bilateral relations, particularly relating to the Strait of Hormuz, which is straddled by both nations.
"Araghchi and Albusaidi also exchanged views on appropriate mechanisms for the safe transit of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, in accordance with Article 5 of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding," a message posted to Araghchi's Telegram channel read.
Oman's representative stressed the importance of diplomacy, the post also revealed.
"The Foreign Minister of Oman, emphasizing his country's principled stance on utilizing diplomacy to prevent the escalation of tensions in the region, expressed hope that with the full implementation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between Iran and the United States, we will witness an improvement in the security situation in the region," the post read.
A U.S. military delegation met with the Lebanese military in Beirut to discuss an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) drawback from southern Lebanon, the AFP reported Saturday, citing a Lebanese military official.
"The American military delegation arrived and began meetings with the Lebanese army command to discuss the mechanisms for implementing the first pilot zone from which the Israelis will withdraw, allowing the Lebanese army to deploy,” the official told the AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“This is the main objective the American military delegation is bringing to Lebanon… it is the translation and implementation of the framework agreement," the official added.
Israel agreed in June to a U.S.-negotiated plan to begin a drawdown in Lebanon after launching a military campaign to combat the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.
{{#rendered}}Global oil demand in 2026 is set to decrease for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, due largely to impacts from the Iran war, but U.S. demand continues to increase, according to an International Energy Agency (IEA) report published Friday.
While global production fell by an average of one million barrels per day (mb/d), U.S. consumers actually gobbled up more oil, increasing usage in the second quarter of 2026, according to the report.
Despite gas prices surging 50% since May, U.S. consumers bucked global trends to keep buying.
“Even though it’s a really political price that people pay a lot of attention to, if you are in the higher quintiles of income in the U.S., you might grumble about it, but you’re not really driving less just because of that increase in prices,” Daniel Sternoff, senior fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, told the Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this post.
Iran's foreign minister Abbas Aragachi arrived in the Omani capital of Muscat on Saturday for high-level talks with Omani mediators over the Strait of Hormuz.
Aragachi's dispatch comes days after the U.S. unleashed a barrage of missile strikes in Iran in retaliation for Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian officials told the U.S. in private that the attacks were a mistake and blamed them on hardliners in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), CBS News reported, citing U.S. officials.
The U.S., however, is pushing Iranian officials to make their apology public, giving them a Saturday deadline to do so, according to an Axios report.
America is also sending a high-level negotiation team to meet with Omani mediators on Saturday. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are among those from the U.S. side expected to be there.
Iran's state-operated media outlet Mehr reported explosions east of Tehran on Saturday, citing ordinance disposal.
"Mohammad Qomi, the governor of Pakdasht County, said the blast heard in eastern Tehran on Saturday morning resulted from a planned operation to destroy old ammunition and was not related to any accident or security threat," the outlet wrote.
Qomi, according to Mehr, assured the Iranian public that the explosions were pre-planned and were no reason for concern.
The reports followed a series of U.S. strikes across Iran on Wednesday and Thursday morning in response to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
{{#rendered}}President Donald Trump on Friday warned Iran that the United States would "decimate and destroy" the country if Tehran carried out an assassination attempt against him.
"1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president said he had already directed the U.S. military to be prepared to retaliate if Iran carried out an assassination attempt against him.
This is an excerpt from a story by Michael Sinkewicz.
The Trump administration has given Iran until Saturday to publicly commit to ending attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz or face unspecified consequences, according to an Axios report citing three U.S. officials.
Axios reported the administration wants Tehran to publicly acknowledge the strategic waterway is open, commit to stopping attacks on commercial vessels and recognize that all shipping lanes through the strait will remain open without tolls.
According to Axios, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to meet Saturday with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi in Muscat as regional mediators work to ease tensions and revive nuclear talks.
One U.S. official told Axios that if Iran does not make a public commitment, “it is not gonna be a great day for them.”
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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