US launches second day of strikes as Iran responds with attacks on Gulf neighbors

This is an excerpt from an opinion article by Robert Maginnis senior fellow for National Security at the Family Research Council.

In the months leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, I served as a strategist at the Pentagon, where I had unusual access to military thinking, intelligence assessments, and senior-level discussions. I regularly attended meetings hosted by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Richard Myers.

From the outside, it looked like Washington spoke with one confident voice. The Bush administration telegraphed certainty, and much of the media echoed it.

That was not my view.

The more information I received, the more questions I asked. What would victory look like? How many troops would be required? What would follow after Baghdad fell? Were we prepared for a prolonged occupation? Did we fully understand the political, tribal, religious, and regional forces we were about to unleash?

Those questions were swept aside by confidence in America's military superiority.

The regime fell quickly. The war did not.

What followed cost America more than 4,400 military deaths, over 32,000 wounded, and more than two trillion dollars. The conflict created the conditions that gave rise to ISIS, a threat that still plagues the region.

One hundred days into the Iran war, I find myself asking many of those same questions again.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Ct., suggested President Donald Trump could start another world war with his actions in Iran on Thursday.

Blumenthal made the statement while discussing issues with reporters on at the capitol, arguing Trump is "no longer in control" of the conflict.

"We are no longer in any kind of cease fire, even in name, there is no cease fire. There is a war. The danger now more than ever is that this war will spiral out of control. What we're seeing in real time is the kind of miscalculation that caused World War One. What we are, what we're seeing now in real time is the potential for miscalculations spiraling out of control, just as World War One began, just as other conflagrations have started, and the President is no longer in control, he is no longer a guiding force here, he is reactive and indecisive and impulsive, and that is a recipe for disaster," Blumenthal said.

"We are watching disaster unfold in real time with the gravest of costs and consequences to the American people, and most immediately to brave service men and women right now in harm's way," he added.

Fox News senior strategic analyst Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.) joined Fox News on Thursday to speak on President Donald Trump's warning to Iran of "hitting very hard" amid stalled negotiations to open the Strait of Hormuz and disarm their nuclear program.

Trump is threatening full re-escalation after weeks of a ceasefire with Tehran.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted President Donald Trump's statement calling for the U.S. to take over Iran's Kharg Island on Thursday.

Schumer made the statement while speaking on the Senate floor, calling the war in Iran a "fiasco."

"On Iran for weeks, Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio have insisted their disastrous war in Iran is over. How stupid do they think the American people are? This morning, Trump said he plans to take Kharg Island, which could even mean putting American boots on the ground," Schumer said.

"It doesn't take a military genius to see that Trump's fiasco of a war with Iran never ended. Not when American, not with American helicopters being shot down. Not when American when American bases are being attacked and American troops are coming under fire," he added.

President Donald Trump says it has been his long-standing preference for the U.S. to "take Kharg Island" from Iran to assume total control of their oil and gas markets.

Trump compared the potential action to the U.S. operation in Venezuela.

Retired Brigadier General John Teichert joined "Fox & Friends" on Thursday and urged President Donald Trump to "strike the heart" of Iran's regime.

Trump himself announced that the U.S. will conduct a wave of strikes against Iran for the third day in a row on Thursday.

He also says the U.S. is planning to seize Iran's Kharg Island in the future.

President Donald Trump confirmed that the U.S. attempted to deliver arms to the Iranian people in an effort to overthrow the regime in Tehran, but regional allies "let us down."

Trump made the statement during an on-air interview with "Fox & Friends," saying the the U.S. delivered weapons to the Kurds, regional adversaries of Iran, but he believes they kept the weapons for themselves rather than distributing them.

"The Kurds let us down," Trump said. "But I'll remember that, Kurds."

He went on to say that he was initially opposed to the plan, saying he suspected the Kurds would "keep the weapons."

President Donald Trump raged against the ongoing media coverage of the war in Iran on Thursday, claiming that even Iranian officials have said they are surprised at how well they are doing "in the papers."

Trump made the statement during an interview on "Fox & Friends" minutes after he announced more airstrikes against Iran planned for Thursday night.

The president went on to praise the reporting of Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. will be continuing strikes against Iran on Thursday as peace talks appear to have come to a standstill.

"The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT," Trump warned.

Trump also revealed plans for the U.S. to take over Kharg Island, a key military and oil production hub for the Iranian regime.

"At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America," he wrote.

The U.S. has previously carried out airstrikes on Kharg Island, but no action has been taking to seize it.

Fox News host Jesse Watters detailed the latest U.S. strikes against Iran on "Jesse Watters Primetime," highlighting the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports.

President Donald Trump revealed on Wednesday that the U.S. has snuck hundreds of millions of dollars worth of oil through the Strait of Hormuz without Iran's knowledge.

Meanwhile, U.S. forces have disabled more than a dozen vessels seeking to flout the U.S. blockade.

U.S. Central Command says its forces disabled a third oil tanker attempting to violate the U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz late Wednesday night.

CENTCOM wrote in an update on X that the vessel was attempting to transport Iranian oil. It is the third vessel U.S. forces have disabled this week.

"U.S. Central Command acted against Guinea-Bissau flagged M/T Jalveer as it attempted to transport oil from Iran through the Gulf of Oman. A U.S. aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles into the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from U.S. forces," CENTCOM wrote in a statement.

In total, CENTCOM says its forces have disabled nine non-compliant vessels, redirected 135 ships that complied, and allowed 42 vessels supporting humanitarian aid to pass since initiating the blockade on April 13.

This is an excerpt from an opinion article by counterterrorism analyst Erfan Fard.

For nearly half a century, American policymakers have debated how to negotiate with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The real question is whether Washington is still misdiagnosing the problem. Iran is not simply a diplomatic adversary but a regime whose strategy is built on terrorism, proxy warfare and hostility toward the United States.

Why does Washington continue to treat the regime as a negotiating partner when decades of evidence suggest it is a national security threat? The answer lies in a misunderstanding of its nature. Successive administrations have often analyzed Tehran as a conventional state pursuing national interests. It is not. The regime was born as an ideological project built on hostility toward America, Israel and the Western order.

The conflict did not begin with the nuclear issue, sanctions or regional expansion. It began in 1979, when Iran was transformed from a key American ally into a revolutionary headquarters. The seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was more than a diplomatic crisis; it signaled that the new regime would derive legitimacy through permanent confrontation.

Washington's misperception of the regime dates back to the revolution itself. Many American policymakers viewed the upheaval through the lens of anti-monarchical politics rather than Khomeinist ideology. The result was the greatest strategic loss of the Cold War: America lost a key ally and gained a radical state aligned with anti-Western forces across the Middle East.

The rebellious coalition surrounding Iran’s then-leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini extended beyond traditional clerics and included Islamic terrorist actors aligned with broader anti-Western movements. What emerged was not merely a new government but a transnational ideological project. Washington underestimated that transformation then and has often underestimated it since.

Khomeinism became the ideological engine of the regime, combining religious absolutism, anti-Westernism and political violence. This is why Washington has repeatedly misunderstood Tehran. The Islamic Republic is not merely a regime with whom America has policy disagreements. It views survival and confrontation as inseparable, while anti-Americanism, hostility toward Israel and the export of revolution remain central to its identity.

President Donald Trump says he wants to sign an a peace agreement with Iran in Switzerland if he is successful in securing a deal.

Trump revealed the detail in an interview with Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst on Thursday, even as hostilities between the U.S. and Iran are at their hottest point in weeks.

Vice President JD Vance says negotiations are taking place with both Iran's political leadership and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Analysts say the IRGC has proven to be the more radical of the two and has repeatedly stalled talks.

The U.S. has carried out strikes against Iran for two straight days this week in response to the shoot-down of an Apache helicopter by Iran.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday revealed that top Iranian officials had called him directly to request a halt to U.S. bombing attacks, according to Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.

The exchange, which marks a rare and critical moment of direct engagement between Trump and Tehran leadership, came as the president said Washington had delivered “vicious” and “violent” strikes earlier in the day.

The president also told Fox News the U.S. operation involved the deployment of 49 Tomahawk missiles alongside fighter jets targeting radar and air defense systems. The strikes reportedly hammered positions about 40 miles outside Tehran and along Iran’s southwestern coast on the Persian Gulf.

Trump warned that the United States is prepared to rapidly escalate military action if Tehran does not soon sign an agreement to end the ongoing crisis.

“We'll bomb the S— out of them tomorrow,” Trump warned, going on to admit that the ceasefire with Iran is "the most violated ceasefire in the history of the world."

Vice President JD Vance told Yingst that negotiations were taking place with a variety of figures within Iran's regime.

"We're certainly dealing with both the very highest levels of the political leadership, but also the IRGC," Vance said.

Fox News' Trey Yingst contributed to this report.