Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told air force officers in Teheran on Friday that nuclear talks with the U.S. ‘are not intelligent, wise or honorable.’

Khamenei added that ‘there should be no negotiations with such a government,’ but did not issue an order to not engage with the U.S., according to The Associated Press.

Khamenei’s remarks on Friday seem to contradict his previous indications that he was open to negotiating with the U.S. over Iran’s nuclear program. In August, Khamenei seemed to open the door to nuclear talks with the U.S., telling his country’s civilian government that there was ‘no harm’ in engaging with its ‘enemy,’ the AP reported.

President Donald Trump floated the idea of a ‘verified nuclear peace agreement’ with Teheran in a post on his Truth Social platform. In the same post, he also slammed ‘greatly exaggerated’ reports claiming that the U.S. and Israel were going to ‘blow Iran into smithereens.’

‘I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper. We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

In 2018, during his first term, Trump exited the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, saying that it was not strong enough to restrain Iran’s nuclear development. At the time, President Trump argued that the deal, which was made during former President Barack Obama’s second term, was ‘one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.’

Just days before his call for a ‘verified nuclear peace agreement’ with Iran, Trump signed an executive order urging the government to put pressure on the Islamic republic. He also told reporters that if Iran were to assassinate him, they would be ‘obliterated,’ as per his alleged instructions.

According to the AP, on Friday, Khamenei slammed the U.S. because, in his eyes, ‘the Americans did not hold up their end of the deal.’ Furthermore, Iran’s supreme leader referenced Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, saying that he ‘tore up the agreement.’

‘We negotiated, we gave concessions, we compromised— but we did not achieve the results we aimed for.’

Iran has insisted for years that its nuclear program was aimed at civilian and peaceful purposes, not weapons. However, it has enriched its uranium to up to 60% purity, which is around 90% the level that would be considered weapons grade.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi told Reuters in December 2024 that it was ‘regrettable’ that there was no ‘diplomatic process ongoing which could lead to a de-escalation, or a more stable equation.’

In addition to his remarks on Iran, President Trump made global headlines with his proposal that the US take over Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war rages on. Khamenei, according to the AP, also seemed to reference the president’s remarks on Gaza without mentioning them outright.

‘The Americans sit, redrawing the map of the world — but only on paper, as it has no basis in reality,’ Khamenei told air force officers, according to the AP. ‘They make statements about us, express opinions and issue threats. If they threaten us, we will threaten them in return. If they act on their threats, we will act on ours. If they violate the security of our nation, we will, without a doubt, respond in kind.’

The now-archived website for the virtually shut down United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has a page devoted to pushing DEI which a former employee whistleblower told Fox News Digital was part of a larger Biden administration effort. 

‘Each of us has a responsibility to address bigotry, gender discrimination, and structural racism and uphold individual dignity… This isn’t just one of our values; it’s our mission—one hand extended out to another to meet people where they are and treat others as equals,’ former USAID administrator Samantha Power, who previously served multiple roles in the Obama administration, is quoted as saying on the archived websites DEI page. 

The website explains that the USAID was ‘committed to a diverse, equitable, inclusive workplace where everyone has an opportunity to thrive’ and that it has implemented a DEI strategy that ‘commits USAID to improving and enhancing diversity throughout the Agency, enhancing inclusion and equity for everyone in the workplace, and strengthening accountability for promoting and sustaining a diverse workforce and an inclusive Agency culture.’

Mark Moyar, a USAID whistleblower who worked in the department from 2018 to 2019, spoke to Fox News Digital about how Power and others in the department made DEI a top priority. 

Samantha Power’s emphasis on DEI was part of a larger Biden administration effort to infuse DEI into every federal agency and we saw this with very negative effects all over the place and you have people taking time off from their jobs to attend these indoctrination sessions and clearly pushing the message that people are divided into oppressor groups and victim groups and that there’s this white rage and white extremism running all over the place, which is basically not non existent,’ Moyar explained. 

Moyar told Fox News Digital that ‘far left theories’ were given ‘legitimacy’ in the wake of the George Floyd movement in 2020 and that when DEI became a ‘central’ focus at USAID it resulted in other countries taking the United States less seriously. 

‘It’s particularly disturbing that not only were they pushing within the organization, they were actually funding DEI events all over the world, you know, DEI comic books or DEI workshops and so I think this can only undermine our image abroad because most people outside of this country recognized DEI for the silliness that it is and the divisiveness that it causes,’ Moyar, author of the book ‘Masters of Corruption: How the Federal Bureaucracy Sabotaged the Trump Presidency’, said. 

‘We also saw this as well with women’s empowerment that everything for Samantha Power had to be viewed through a gendered lens. So you had all these gender consultants as well as DEI consultants taking huge amounts of taxpayer money to do this sort of analysis. And I don’t think they really have anything to show for it and I think you’ll find what we found in other places where this has been pushed, that DEI only makes things worse. It divides people and group tensions between groups are worse than they were before.’

USAID found itself on the chopping block in recent weeks as part of President Trump’s plan to rid the federal government of waste along with his campaign pledges to rid DEI from the federal bureaucracy. 

‘For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight,’ the White House said Monday.

Musk has meanwhile slammed the agency as a ‘viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America,’ and reported in an audio-only message on X on Sunday that ‘we’re in the process’ of ‘shutting down USAID’ and that Trump reportedly agreed to shutter the agency.

Democrats have slammed the Trump administration’s efforts on USAID. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., accused Trump of starting a dictatorship while she protested outside USAID headquarters on Monday. 

‘It is a really, really sad day in America. We are witnessing a constitutional crisis,’ Omar said. ‘We talked about Trump wanting to be a dictator on day one. And here we are. This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like when you gut the Constitution, and you install yourself as the sole power. That is how dictators are made.’

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report

Despite Democratic tactics to delay the confirmation vote, the Senate confirmed Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Republicans backed Vought’s nomination, arguing he proved a qualified candidate for the role since he previously held the position during President Donald Trump’s first term. Democrats, however, raised multiple concerns about his nomination and said his views on the Impoundment Control Act, which reinforces that Congress holds the power of the purse, disqualified him from the role. 

Democrats held a 30-hour-long protest against Vought’s nomination, delivering speeches in the middle of the night on Wednesday in an attempt to delay the confirmation vote. 

The Senate, in a chaotic final floor vote on Thursday evening, voted to confirm Vought to lead the OMB, 53 to 47.

Democratic senators repeatedly injected themselves during the confirmation vote, protesting the nomination until the last second.

‘No debate is permitted during a vote,’ Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., told the lawmakers.

The OMB is responsible for developing and executing the president’s budget, as well as overseeing and coordinating legislative proposals and priorities aligned with the executive branch. 

Vought appeared before the Senate Budget Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for confirmation hearings, where he defended statements asserting that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional. 

The law, adopted in 1974, stipulates that Congress may oversee the executive branch’s withholdings of budget authority. But Vought encountered criticism from Democrats for freezing $214 million in military aid for Ukraine in 2019 — a decision that ultimately led to Trump’s first impeachment.  

‘You’re quite comfortable assuming that the law doesn’t matter and that you’ll just treat the money for a program as a ceiling … rather than a required amount,’ Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said Wednesday. ‘Well, the courts have found otherwise.’ 

In the 1975 Supreme Court ruling Train v. New York, the court determined the Environmental Protection Agency must use full funding included in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, even though then-President Richard Nixon issued orders to not use all the funding. 

Even so, Vought told lawmakers that Trump campaigned on the position that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional — and that he agrees with that. 

Vought’s statements on the issue left Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., ‘astonished and aghast’ during one confirmation hearing. 

‘I think our colleagues should be equally aghast, because this issue goes beyond Republican or Democrat,’ Blumenthal said on Jan. 15. ‘It’s bigger than one administration or another. It’s whether the law of the land should prevail, or maybe it’s up for grabs, depending on what the president thinks.’

Vought also faced questioning from Democrats on his views regarding abortion as an author of Project 2025, a political initiative conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation released in 2023 that called for policy changes that would implement a national ban on medication abortion. 

Other proposals included in Project 2025 include eliminating the Department of Education; cutting diversity, equity and inclusion programs; and reducing funding for Medicare and Medicaid. 

‘You have said that you don’t believe in exceptions for rape, for incest, or the life of the mother,’ Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said during a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. ‘Is that your position?’

‘Senator, my views are not important,’ Vought said. ‘I’m here on behalf of the president.’ 

Trump repeatedly has stated that he backs abortion in certain instances, and stated that ‘powerful exceptions’ for abortion would remain in place under his administration.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

American voters overwhelmingly elected President Donald Trump to carry out his ‘Make America Great Again’ agenda despite Democrats calling him a ‘threat to democracy.’ Now that Trump is back in the White House, Dems are delaying key cabinet appointments and vowing to ‘blow this place up’ in the name of democracy.

Several Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are calling for a halt to all of Trump’s cabinet nominations. Protests hosted by lawmakers have erupted in Washington, D.C., this week as Democrats rally against Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

‘God d—it shut down the Senate!’ Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., said during an anti-DOGE protest in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. ‘We are at war!’

While Democrats spent 2024 promising Americans they were the party who would protect democracy and uphold the rule of law in a post-Jan. 6 world, they are dancing to the beat of a new drum in 2025 by practicing civil disobedience. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told the crowd Tuesday, ‘We are here to fight back.’ 

‘We are gonna be in your face, we are gonna be on your a–es and we are going to make sure you understand what democracy looks like, and this ain’t it,’ Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, added. 

Democrats have doubled down on their call to action this week after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Americans to ‘fight’ Trump’s agenda ‘in the streets’ last week. 

‘We have to stand up and protest,’ Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, said at another rally in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. ‘When we come back here the next time, there should be hundreds of thousands and millions of people descending on Washington, D.C.’

‘We will fight their violation of civil service laws. We will fight their violation of civil rights laws. We will fight their violations of separation of powers. We will fight their violations of our Constitution of the United States of America. We will not shut up. We will stick up. We will rise up,’ Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., added. 

Democrats held an all-night session Wednesday protesting Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). 

Russell Vought, who served as OMB director during Trump’s first term, was a key architect of Project 2025. Democratic candidates and surrogates during the 2024 campaign cycle pointed to Project 2025 as proof of Trump’s ‘threat to democracy.’ Trump maintained he had nothing to do with it. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Vought is a ‘horrible, dangerous man’ at the rally Tuesday.

Democratic leaders and their constituents have spent all week protesting in major cities across the country. From Texas to California, protesters are speaking out against Trump’s ICE raids and federal government layoffs and the administration’s stance that there are two genders. 

Despite the Democrats’ protests, the Trump administration said it is following through on the agenda the American people voted for, and those who ‘incite violence’ should be held accountable. 

‘President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people to make this government more efficient,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. ‘For Democratic officials to incite violence and encourage Americans to take to the streets is incredibly alarming, and they should be held accountable for that rhetoric.

‘If you heard that type of violent, enticing rhetoric from our side of the aisle, from Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, I think there would be a lot more outrage in this room today. It’s unacceptable.’

President Donald Trump signed an executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday, in response to its May 2024 arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The order unveils financial sanctions and visa restrictions against ICC officials and their family members who support ICC investigations against U.S. citizens and allies. 

The White House also signed executive orders on Thursday instructing the Justice Department to establish a task force dedicated to weeding out ‘anti-Christian bias,’ and a review of all nongovernmental organizations that accept federal funds. 

The ICC is an independent, international organization based in The Hague and established under the Rome Statute, an international treaty that took effect in 2002. The court oversees global issues including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. 

The Trump White House claims that the U.S. and Israel are not subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC because the court poses threats to U.S. sovereignty and constitutional protections. Additionally, the White House has accused the ICC of politicization and said it has targeted Israel without holding regimes like Iran to the same standards.  

In September 2018, Trump said that ‘as far as America is concerned, the ICC has no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority.’

In May 2024, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, from the U.K., asked for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, whom Netanyahu fired in November 2024. The warrant paved the way for their arrest, should they visit any of the 124 countries that are party to the Rome Statute, including the U.K., France and Austria. 

Khan also issued arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif, who have all since been killed by Israeli forces. 

Khan said he issued these warrants against Hamas leaders for war crimes including murder, taking hostages as a war crime, torture and other inhumane acts, following the Palestinian militant group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Khan also said he issued the warrants against the Israeli leaders due to war crimes including starvation of civilians, directing attacks against a civilian population, persecution and other inhumane acts. 

In January, after Trump’s inauguration, the House also passed legislation that would sanction the ICC, but the measure failed to advance in the Senate.

Trump welcomed Netanyahu for a visit at the White House on Tuesday, where Trump signed an executive order reinstating his ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Iran. Trump also unveiled plans to rebuild Gaza, and described Netanyahu as the ‘right leader’ for Israel. 

‘He’s done a great job and we’ve been friends for a long time,’ Trump told reporters. ‘We do a great job also, and I think we have a combination that’s very unbeatable, actually.’

Netanyahu also voiced appreciation for his friendship with Trump and his support for Israel and the Jewish people.

‘I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again,’ Netanyahu said Tuesday. ‘You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House. And that’s why the people of Israel have such enormous respect for you.’

Trump previously issued sanctions against ICC officials in 2020, signing off on an asset freeze and family entry ban against them stemming from an ICC investigation into alleged U.S. actions in Afghanistan. 

Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report. 

The fight for control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections will be fought on a limited battlefield, a leading nonpartisan political handicapper predicts.

The Cook Political Report, as it unveiled its first rankings for the next midterm elections on Thursday, listed 10 Democrat-held seats and eight Republican-controlled seats as toss-ups. 

The GOP, when at full strength, will hold a razor-thin 220-215 majority in the House, which means the Democrats only need a three-seat gain in 2026 to win back the chamber for the first time in four years.

‘Another Knife Fight for the Majority’ is the headline the Cook Report used to describe the House showdown ahead.

And Cook Report publisher and editor-in-chief Amy Walter spotlighted in a social media post that a ‘Small playing field + volatile political climate = epic battle for House control.’

The 10 House Democrats whose re-elections are listed as toss-ups are: Reps. Adam Gray of California (CA-13); Derek Tran of California (CA-45); Jared Golden of Maine (ME-02); Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico (NM-02); Laura Gillen of New York (NY-04); Don Davis of North Carolina (NC-01); Marcy Kaptur of Ohio (OH-09); Emilia Sykes of Ohio (OH-13); Vicente Gonzalez of Texas (TX-34); and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington State (WA-03).

The eight Republicans spotlighted by the Cook Report as vulnerable are: Reps. David Schweikert of Arizona (AZ-01); Juan Ciscomani of Arizona (AZ-06); Gabe Evans of Colorado (CO-08); Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa (IA-01); Tom Barrett of Michigan (MI-07); Don Bacon of Nebraska (NE-02); Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania (PA-07); and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania (PA-10).

President Donald Trump recaptured the White House, the Republicans flipped control of the Senate, and the GOP held on to its fragile House majority in November’s elections.

That means Republicans will not only defend a razor-thin majority – when all 435 House seats are once again up for grabs in 2026 – but are also facing plenty of history, as the party in power traditionally faces electoral headwinds in the midterms.

But the Cook Report’s Erin Covedy and Matthew Klein noted that ‘though their majority is dangerously thin, in some ways, Republicans are starting out in a stronger position than they were in 2018. Trump’s latest victory was broad; he clawed back ground in suburbs that had lurched to the left since 2016 and made massive inroads in urban areas.’

They added that ‘almost all of the most competitive House districts moved to the right between 2020 and 2024 (Washington’s 3rd District was the lone exception).’

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella touted in a statement that ‘the math is in our favor, and it’s clear House Republicans are on offense for 2026.’

He also asserted that ‘House Democrats are in shambles — they don’t have a clear message and they’re incapable of selling voters on their failed agenda. We will work tirelessly to hold the Democrat Party accountable and grow our Republican majority.’

Courtney Rice, communications director for the rival Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, emphasized that ‘voters will hold House Republicans accountable for failing to lower costs while fostering a culture of corruption that benefits their billionaire backers.’

‘The political environment is in Democrats’ favor heading into 2026 — and with stellar candidates who are focused on delivering for their districts, House Democrats are poised to take back the majority in 2026,’ Rice predicted.