US intensifies strikes on Iran, disables ship to enforce blockade

Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, discussed recent U.S. military strikes against Iran as well as the unexpected release of an American citizen from Iran.

Schanzer says Trump is walking a delicate road between ramping up attacks on Iran without causing a massive escalation of the conflict.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has "no plans" to leave the Democratic Party but if it officially became the "anti-Israel party," count him out.

"My long-term concern has been with the Democratic Party, as I am a member of that, is that our party is going to back away and turn their back to Israel," he said Wednesday at the Hill Nation Summit in Washington, D.C.

"If our party ever becomes, and just makes it official, the anti-Israel party, that’s when I would leave because that’s been a moral clarity for me."

The news comes as Fetterman and fellow Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., launch a rare joint fundraising PAC called "Common Ground PA" this month, according to FEC filings, and Fetterman's breaks from Democratic Party votes have become increasingly apparent since he was elected in 2022 and took office Jan. 3, 2023.

"Though I was elected as a Democrat, I’m proud to serve all Pennsylvanians," Fetterman wrote in a May op-ed, delivering the age-old mantra that he has not changed from his principles, the party has. "It has become increasingly lonely to serve in that way, but I firmly believe it’s what is needed.

"My party cannot simply be the opposite of whatever President Donald Trump says. The president could come out for ice cream and lazy Sundays, and my party would suddenly hate them. Such pointless pile-ons and attacks are unproductive. The American people want us to work together to find solutions on issues they and our country face."

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Erick Mack.

This is an excerpt from an opinion article by Fox News contributor Hugh Hewitt.

"Can you or the American military or the Israeli military get to what’s left of their third string and their fourth string and their fifth string? Do you know where they are? Can you kill them?"

I posed those questions to President Donald Trump Monday, July 13.

"Yeah, I do, but we don’t want to talk about that," the president replied.

"But we certainly are watching, yeah," he added. "I know a lot about that subject. I know a lot, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about it right now."

Trump’s restraint about clearing the bench of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is interesting.

The public faces of the rump regime in Iran — President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi — don’t have any authority over the killers with the guns. (Trump puts the number of Iranians massacred by the regime over two days in January at 52,000, so we know the ruthlessness of the men in charge.) When the campaign against Iran by the U.S. and Israel opened on Feb. 28, those strikes devastated the first and second tiers of "leadership" in Iran. Pezeshkian and Araghchi were not important enough to be in the command bunkers.

Sixty-eight-year-old Ahmad Vahidi emerged from the wreckage and his "retirement" after the wipeout of the senior leadership of the Islamic Republic to take command of the IRGC. Imagine how utterly ruthless a benched and passed-over killer must be, and how many grudges he must hold against those who put him out to pasture in the first place.

Israel is moving closer toward a withdrawal from southern Lebanon after two days of talks with Lebanese officials in Rome this week, U.S. officials say.

Israel on Wednesday agreed to move forward with "pilot zones" where Israeli troops would withdraw and turn control over to the Lebanese military, the officials told the Associated Press.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that the talks were “productive” and the parties “agreed on the structure and guidelines for the pilot zone process, to be finalized and implemented in the coming days.”

There was no immediate statement from Lebanon or Israel on the outcome of the negotiations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Tuesday that some Iranian officials are "desperate" to strike a deal with the Trump administration amid renewed strikes and escalating U.S. pressure on Tehran.

"There are elements in the country, in the government, that are desperate to make a deal with the United States," Miller said.

"And we entered into an agreement that the Iranians violated, they attacked commercial shipping through this strait, and President Trump made clear: 'You do not cross the United States, you do not violate an agreement with the United States. You do not break your word with President Trump or America, and you attack shipping in violation of that agreement, and you will pay a hellish price,' and that is what has happened," he added.

Miller's remarks come as the Trump administration has resumed strikes against Iran following the collapse of a ceasefire that the White House says Iran violated by attacking commercial shipping.

Miller argued Tehran had grown accustomed to testing previous U.S. leaders without facing consequences but said Iranian leaders "made one vital mistake" by assuming they could do the same under Trump.

"They forgot that Donald Trump is the president of the United States," Miller said.

"One way or another, whether it be through bombing, whether it be through the blockade, whether it be through economic strangulation, whether it be through global pressure brought to bear, any or all of these things, one way or another, this country, this regime, will ultimately be forced to change its ways."

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Taylor Penley.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Iran has released an American woman who was "wrongfully detained" in the country for the past year and a half.

She was identified as Iranian American citizen Dena Karari by her attorney Jared Genser, who confirmed her release to Fox News. She was reportedly accused of espionage over her work with an American nonprofit helping impoverished children.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the woman was detained in December 2024, during the Biden administration and was recently allowed to leave Iran. 

"Iran has allowed an American Citizen, who was wrongfully detained in December of 2024 under the ‘presidency’ of Sleepy Joe Biden, to leave the Country," Trump wrote.

Karari is reportedly now safely outside Iran and in good condition following her release, according to Trump.

Her release marks the first time an American has been freed from Iranian custody since 2023, and represents a notable development amid ongoing military confrontations between Washington and Tehran.

Following her release, Trump thanked Iran for what he described as a "gesture of goodwill."

"The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran!" he wrote.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Bonny Chu.

In his first public appearance outside the White House since the NATO summit amid threats to his life by Iran, President Donald Trump said Wednesday he doesn't "think about it" and that his focus is on taking out the Iranian regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which he said has lost roughly 90% of its weapons capabilities due to continued strikes.

Trump made the remarks during an exclusive interview with FOX Business ahead of the annual Defense and Innovation Summit in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he also highlighted gains in U.S. defense and the economy and announced $10 billion in private investments for the defense industry.

The president said he was not concerned about threats from Iran, revealing that the U.S. carried out another strike on the country within the past 24 hours. He also suggested he could eliminate the IRGC the same way he defeated ISIS during his first administration.

"Well, we're going to be in good shape," Trump told FOX Business correspondent Edward Lawrence. "They've been depleted. Their weapons are down 91%. The drone capacity is way down. They still have, but not a lot. Their manufacturing capacity is down. Their rocket launchers and their missile launchers are way down. Their missiles are way down."

Trump said the U.S. is "building up" its military with the Defense Production Act and companies working to refill supplies and replenish American forces.

"We have to watch ourselves. You know, it's called America First. And we're building up our reserves very rapidly. And as you probably also know, the great companies that we have are now building plants, although not just taking one plant that they've used for a long time and doing overtime," he said. 

"We have four or five, six plants by each of the major companies being built, brand-new plants in different areas to make, as an example, you could say the Patriot [missile], which is so heavily sought, or the Tomahawk missile.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Bonny Chu and Edward Laurence.

A spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters warned Thursday that Tehran would unleash widespread military attacks across the region if the United States strikes the country's key infrastructure.

"If the recent threats by the empty-headed U.S. president to target the infrastructure of the Islamic Republic of Iran are carried out, then everything that, out of Iran's restraint, has so far remained intact — namely all infrastructure in the region — will be crushed under the powerful blows of Iran's armed forces," the spokesman, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, said in a statement.

Zolfaghari also said Iran would not allow the U.S. to intervene in the Strait of Hormuz "under any circumstances," calling it "Iran's invincible red line.

"Earlier this week, President Donald Trump threatened to expand military strikes and continue hitting Iran "very hard" unless it returns to the negotiating table.

"Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants," Trump said Tuesday in an interview with Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.

"Next week comes the bridges. We're gonna knock out all their power plants. We're going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate."