Trump admin backchanneled with Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in push for deal: report
President Donald Trump's peace negotiators reportedly attempted to reach the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership, going around their Iran counterparts and Middle East contacts to try to end the war and battle over the Strait of Hormuz, getting a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that had ultimately failed.
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Iran in deeper isolation, Trump to ‘lay seeds’ for regime’s end, says ex-Navy SEAL
Tehran is more isolated than ever before across the Middle East, with Gulf states aligned against Iran, Navy SEAL veteran Mike Sarraille said Sunday while adding that President Donald Trump now needs time to prepare for the end of the regime.
“He has got Iran where he wants them, with both the blockade, the economic sanctions,” Sarraille said on “Fox Report” Sunday.
“It just comes down to time,” he added before describing how Washington’s measures were “crippling to Iran.”
“You pair it with probably some additional military strikes on their infrastructure, but additionally, what the commentators are missing is diplomatically.
“We are seeing an aligned Middle East that we've not seen before, at least in our lifetimes, you know, with a recent pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan, an attack on one is an attack on all, and then also a Red Sea maritime coalition that was signed by 14 Gulf states.”
“So that alignment is ultimately going to be the biggest strategic miscalculation by Iran. They've aligned the entire region against them.
“They are further isolated. Again, we just have to give President Trump time to lay the seeds for what could be the end of days for this regime.”
Sarraille’s comments came ahead of Monday’s expiration of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in June.
Oil prices hold steady as Hormuz tanker traffic slows, US-Iran deal stalls
Oil prices held in early trading Monday as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slowed over the weekend and no deal emerged between the United States and Iran to end the war.
Brent crude futures rose 20 cents, or 0.2%, to $88.72 by 11:50 p.m. GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 5 cents to $82.35 a barrel, Reuters reported.
Both contracts rose more than 5% last week after attacks targeted tankers operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the Strait of Hormuz and a Saudi Aramco refinery
Trump hails new Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan defense pact as ‘big, bold’ step
President Donald Trump on Sunday welcomed a new defense deal between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, calling it an important step toward regional security.
“Very happy to see that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan have recently, and finally, signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement,” Trump said in a post shared on Truth Social.
“It shows how the Middle East is coming together, and how Countries will finally be able to defend themselves in a more meaningful way”
“Congratulations to the Great Leadership of the three Nations mentioned. THIS IS A BIG, BOLD, AND IMPORTANT FIRST STEP — WOW!” Trump added
Trump orders South Korea drill cuts, says Seoul rejected Iran denuclearization request
President Donald Trump said Sunday he has ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” upcoming joint military drills with South Korea, arguing that they are expensive and hostile to North Korea given his relationship with Kim Jong Un.
“Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea,” Trump said in a post shared on Truth Social.
Trump / Jong Un / Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images
“These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful,” he added before stating that he had instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to substantially “reduce the Joint Military Exercises!”
Trump also announced he had asked South Korea’s president if the country would like to join the United States in the “Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” and said the response was: “No thanks!”
Pence hails USS Abraham Lincoln crew after ‘consequential’ deployment
Former Vice President Mike Pence praised the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln on Sunday before offering thanks for what he called a “job well done” after the aircraft strike carrier's Middle East deployment.
Pence also added comments by CENTCOM chief, Admiral Brad Cooper.
"The Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is a strong team of high-achieving Americans standing tall with immense, justified pride in everything they accomplished…History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era," Cooper had said.
CENTCOM chief praises USS Abraham Lincoln crew after ‘awe-inspiring’ visit
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Brad Cooper praised the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln on Sunday after visiting the aircraft carrier amid reports of concerns about mental health and conditions while stationed in the Middle East.
In a statement posted on X, Cooper also described his recent visit to the Lincoln as “awe-inspiring” and said he wished “every American could see the crew in action” before citing “camaraderie, teamwork and resilience.”
Cooper acknowledged that prolonged service at sea is “uniquely challenging and tough,” but said the Lincoln had the fewest mental health cases among the Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers.
He credited the ship’s leadership, particularly senior enlisted leaders, with making mental health and crew resilience a priority.
Iran warns Trump he could find himself ‘hiding in a food truck’ amid Hormuz standoff
The head of Iran’s parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Commission urged President Donald Trump on Sunday to focus on his own safety rather than warn Terhan over the Strait of Hormuz.
“The U.S. president ought to worry about his own security rather than his endless bluffing regarding the Strait of Hormuz, before he ends up hiding in a food truck,” Ebrahim Azizi wrote on X.
Netanyahu warns ‘Don’t let them win’ as election ad features Mojtaba Khamenei, Mamdani, Erdogan
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared an image of a Likud election campaign billboard on Sunday that featured Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem beneath the slogan, “They want Netanyahu to lose.”
Netanyahu posted a photo of the billboard on X with the message: “Don’t let them win.”
Israel is scheduled to hold its next Knesset election on Oct. 27, with Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party campaigning to remain in power
Israel's Ben-Gvir calls for killing ‘30 to 40’ people in Gaza nightly
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for killing “30 to 40” people in Gaza every night as he criticized Israel’s recent reduction in strikes on the enclave.
Speaking on a podcast with former hostage Rom Braslavski, Ben-Gvir said Israel should carry out broader targeted killings, extending beyond people who pose an immediate threat.
“There are people there who are not worthy of life," he said. "They shouldn’t live.”
Ben-Gvir, who oversees Israel’s police and prisons but does not control the military, also renewed his call for Palestinians to leave Gaza and for Israeli settlements to be reestablished there.
“It’s no secret, I disagree with the prime minister," he said. “I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night. Not just those who pose an immediate threat — there are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people.”
The remarks come as the Trump administration pushes a Gaza peace plan calling for an end to military operations, Hamas disarmament and an Israeli withdrawal.
“I see all of Gaza as ours,” Ben-Gvir in the interview. “Settlements not just in Gush Katif but throughout Gaza, encouraging as much emigration as possible, sending them to their countries, and for the terrorists, no emigration, nothing, just to kill them one by one.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Israeli strikes hit Gaza as Trump envoys push peace plan
Israel carried out fresh airstrikes in Gaza on Sunday even as President Donald Trump’s envoys met regional mediators in Cairo to advance a new peace plan.
The Israeli military said it targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in Khan Younis and Nuseirat.
Palestinian medics said at least five people were wounded in one strike on a tent encampment, with one later dying from their injuries.
A separate strike on an apartment in Nuseirat wounded several others.
The renewed strikes come as Washington calls for an immediate halt to military operations under Trump’s Gaza roadmap, which envisions Hamas disarming and Israeli forces withdrawing from the enclave.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Trump envoys meet Gaza mediators as peace push intensifies
President Donald Trump’s envoys met Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators in Cairo on Sunday in a renewed push to advance the administration’s Gaza peace plan.
Jared Kushner and Gaza envoy Nickolay Mladenov joined talks that also included Hamas officials in some sessions, according to a diplomatic source.
Kushner also met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The envoys are expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday as Washington presses both sides to move forward with a plan calling for an end to military operations, Hamas disarmament and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Iran touts $30,000 bounty for killing or capturing US troops
Iran’s military has announced a $30,000 reward for anyone who kills or captures a U.S. service member, with the bounty doubled if claimed by a woman, according to state media, Agence France-Presse reported Sunday.
Army chief Amir Hatami said the program was created after requests from Iranians seeking to financially support such actions. He did not specify where or when the attacks were expected to occur.
There is no known deployment of U.S. ground forces inside Iran beyond an April rescue mission for a downed American pilot, as fighting has remained concentrated in southern Iran and around the Strait of Hormuz.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and CENTCOM for comment Sunday morning.
GOP Rep Don Bacon: Trump should ‘say less,’ prepare Americans for a longer Iran war
President Trump needs to level with Americans about the Iran war, arguing the administration set unrealistic expectations early on that the conflict would end quickly, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said Sunday.
“This is going to be a longer-term fight, and I think that he needed to set appropriate and honest expectations here,” Bacon told CBS's “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
The U.S. still holds the advantage over Iran, according to Bacon, but he urged Trump to stop publicly predicting an imminent deal and instead keep economic and military pressure on Tehran.
“The president should say less, keep the pressure on: This blockade is crippling to Iran, and we need to keep that blockade ironclad,” Bacon added.
Bacon also criticized Trump’s response to concerns about the USS Abraham Lincoln’s prolonged deployment, saying the president should acknowledge the toll that long deployments take on service members and their families.
Iran war carrier shuffle sends dangerous signal to China, retired Navy captain warns
The prolonged Iran war is stretching the U.S. carrier fleet and forcing Washington to pull critical naval power away from the Pacific at a dangerous moment, retired Navy Capt. Brent Sadler warned Sunday.
“The reality is we are operating in a world where we need 15 carrier strike groups – we only have 11," Sadler told “The Sunday Briefing,” after the replacing the long-deployed USS Abraham Lincoln with the USS George Washington highlighted a deeper shortage of available carriers.
"We need to build more ships. That's the simple solution – it's the core problem – to deal with an increasingly dangerous world.
"It's going to take time, but the world isn't going to wait for us.”
Sadler also warned that moving the George Washington from the Pacific to support the Iran mission could send the wrong message to Beijing.
“When you take an aircraft carrier like the George Washington at the moment that the Chinese are at the peak of their most complex and aggressive military exercises in the Southern Theater Command in South China Sea, and you move it to a fight against Iran," Sadler postulates, "it provides and sends a signal that we're not going to be present.”
Arab, Muslim nations condemn Israel’s rejection of Trump Gaza plan
Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan jointly condemned Israel’s rejection of President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan Sunday.
They warned the move could undermine efforts to end the war.
In a joint statement, the countries said Israel’s rejection threatens intensified U.S. diplomatic efforts and accused the Israeli government of obstructing peace efforts in Gaza and the broader Palestinian territories.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had rebuked the Hamas terrorist deal, saying: "It needs to be genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament."
Reuters contributed to this report.
"The Foreign Ministers of UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, KSA, and Egypt condemn the declared Israeli rejection of the Road Map for completing the implementation of US President Trump’s Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, as endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2803, and the Israeli rejection of Palestinian statehood."
Dem Sen Gallego: Trump team ‘way over their head’ in Iran war
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., blasted the Trump administration’s handling of the Iran war Sunday, arguing that problems aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln reflect a broader failure to plan for the conflict or explain how it will end.
“There is a lot, a lot of fear that this administration and the Secretary of Defense are way over their head,” Gallego told ABC’s “This Week” that he had recently seen messages and photos from a Lincoln crew member’s spouse that he said contradicted claims that problems aboard the carrier had been resolved.
He also pushed back against calls for Congress to approve another $17 billion for military operations without a clearer strategy.
“What is the end goal here?" he asked. "How are we going to get out of this quagmire? What is actually the mission?”
Gallego warned that Congress should not keep funding an open-ended conflict without answers, saying he does not want the U.S. pulled into “another 20-year war.”
Gov. Wes Moore blasts Trump over Iran war, parrots allegations on USS Lincoln conditions
Maryland Democrat Gov. Wes Moore sharply criticized President Trump on Sunday over reported conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and the broader conduct of the Iran war.
“The response of the president of the United States pisses me off,” Moore, an Army veteran, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that service members deserve missions that are “explainable,” “understandable” and “winnable.”
“Right now, frankly, we’re not seeing any of those things taking place with this war in Iran that he started.”
Victoria Coates: New Iran sanctions likely this week, with China in the crosshairs
The Trump administration is likely to unveil another round of sanctions on Iran this week, according to former deputy National Security Advisor Victoria Coates on Sunday.
Coates predicted the measures could take aim at Tehran’s economic ties with China.
“We’re probably going to get more sanctions on Iran, coming this week,” Coates told "Sunday Morning Futures."
“They probably are going to be China related.”
The expected sanctions could also feed into President Donald Trump’s agenda with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of their planned September meeting.
The comments come as Washington looks for additional ways to squeeze Iran economically while the war and disruption in the Strait of Hormuz continue.
Bab el-Mandeb Strait faces growing threat as Houthi attacks raise fears of a second Hormuz
Iran-backed Houthi attacks are turning the Bab el-Mandeb Strait into another pressure point in the Iran war, threatening a critical shipping route linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
The threat intensified after the Houthis attacked the Egyptian-owned cargo ship Tihamah, killing crew members and, according to Yemen’s Coast Guard, striking again after rescuers arrived.
Tanker traffic through the strait has also fallen sharply since the Houthis declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia last month.
The waterway is not as vulnerable as the Strait of Hormuz because ships can reroute around Africa, but doing so adds time and cost.
With Hormuz already disrupted, escalating attacks near Bab el-Mandeb could put additional pressure on global energy and commercial shipping.
Read Fox News' Efrat Lachter full report.
Iran truce 60-day deadline nears as Hormuz attacks, Hezbollah tensions flare
Monday will mark 60 days since the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding, with little apparent progress toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz or resolving Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Iran continued attacks in the strait over the weekend, with a bulk carrier reporting a projectile strike Saturday after an Emirati oil vessel was targeted a day earlier.
President Donald Trump said Friday the U.S. blockade effectively controls which ships can pass through the waterway.Tensions are also rising on Israel’s northern front after Hezbollah wounded three Israeli soldiers in what Israel called a ceasefire violation, prompting new Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
Initial reports indicated both Hezbollah operatives and civilians were killed, while Hezbollah has threatened a response.
Fox News' Trey Yingst contributed to this report.