(today)
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has condemned the US attack on areas near Iran’s Bandar Abbas, and expressed solidarity with Oman after “US officials’ threats” in a statement delivered on Thursday.
This follows US President Donald Trump’s threats to “blow up” Oman if it joins Iran in imposing fees on the Strait of Hormuz.
“The Strait is going to be open to everybody,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “It’s international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that, they’ll be fine.”
Oman, a strategic partner of the U.S. for more than 50 years, has played a key role in efforts to mediate a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran.
President Donald Trump said Friday during remarks in Florida that the United States would take over Cuba “almost immediately,” suggesting an aircraft carrier could be positioned offshore after the conflict in Iran.
The comments came the same day Trump signed an executive order significantly expanding U.S. sanctions on the Cuban government and its affiliates.
(March 5, 2025)
But while much attention was focused on Mr. Trump‘s threat to retake control of the canal, his administration trained its sights on Hutchison Ports, the Hong Kong-based consortium that manages the canal‘s key ports, at either end of the canal. As a result of BlackRock‘s deal with CK Hutchison Holding, those two key ports will be placed under American control.
The threat from Katz comes on the same day that President Trump amplified calls to kill Iranian leaders who won’t accept US demands for a deal. Katz’s rhetoric also echoes President Trump, who has previously threatened to send Iran back to the “stone age” by destroying all of its power plants.
Trump has also threatened to unleash “hell” on Iran, “blow up” the entire country, and at one point said an “entire civilization would die” if he escalated his bombing campaign.
President Trump on Thursday shared a post calling for the killing of Iranian leaders who won’t accept US demands, ramping up his threats against the country amid a very fragile ceasefire.
The post Trump amplified was written by Marc Thiessen, who served as a speechwriter for the George W. Bush administration. “If there are two factions in Iran, one that wants a deal and one that doesn’t, let’s kill the ones who don’t want a deal,” Thiessen said in a post on X where he was quoting himself from an appearance on Fox News.
„We are reloading with more power than ever before, and better intelligence,“ Hegseth said at a Pentagon news briefing. „We are locked and loaded on your critical dual-use infrastructure, on your remaining power generation, and on your energy industry. We‘d rather not have to do it.“
The American leader insisted on his message using an even more aggressive tone to emphasize the threat and make it clear that he would not back down. A warning that Trump has repeated in the strongest possible terms: „Open the fucking strait, crazy bastards, or you are going to live in hell. Wait and see. Praise be to Allah,“ he concluded.
It was the most insulting and tough warning of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who on this Sunday, loaded with insults, threatened the powers of the Iranian country, due to the blockade of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
In his post in Arabic, he implored regional leaders to take immediate diplomatic action. „Please, once again, do everything in your power before this madman turns the region into a ball of fire,“ the former IAEA chief wrote, directing his remarks at the neighbouring Gulf states.
The warning follows a sharp pivot in Washington‘s rhetoric, where Trump threatened the destruction of essential Iranian infrastructure and the forced reopening of the Strait of Hormuz if a peace agreement is not reached within the specified deadline.
ElBaradei also questioned the role of international institutions in preventing an all-out war. In a separate post written in English and addressed to the United Nations, he asked if „nothing can be done to stop this madness?“
Tehran attacked and set ablaze a fully loaded crude oil tanker off Dubai on Tuesday, despite a threat by President Donald Trump that the U.S. will obliterate Iran‘s energy plants if it does not agree to a peace deal and open the Strait of Hormuz.
Authorities in Dubai said the fire on the Kuwait-flagged Al-Salmi had been brought under control following a drone attack, with no oil leak and no injuries to the crew.
US-Präsident Donald Trump hat Iran eine Frist von 48 Stunden für die Öffnung der Straße von Hormus gesetzt und andernfalls mit einer Zerstörung der Energieanlagen des Landes gedroht. „Wenn Iran die Straße von Hormus nicht innerhalb von 48 Stunden ab genau diesem Zeitpunkt vollständig und ohne Bedrohung öffnet, werden die USA ihre verschiedenen Kraftwerke angreifen und zerstören“, erklärte Trump am Samstagabend (Ortszeit) in seinem Onlinedienst Truth Social.
“Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions — also known as the fake news — have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr wrote in a post on the social platform X.
“The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not,” he warned.
Amid surging oil prices and an unpopular war of choice in Iran, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is threatening not to renew the licenses of broadcasters for “running hoaxes and news distortions.” The Saturday post from Carr on X is not subtle: It explicitly warns broadcasters that they “have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up.”
Carr’s missive came in response to a Truth Social post on Saturday from President Donald Trump, which the FCC chair included in full as a screenshot.
(January 14, 2026)
President Claudia Sheinbaum is facing mounting pressure as U.S. President Donald Trump escalates rhetoric about striking Mexican drug cartels, following Washington’s military action in Venezuela and the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
Trump’s comments — including a Fox News interview in which he said the United States would begin “hitting land” against cartels — have sharpened concerns in Mexico.
You aren’t mad enough
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, Michele, I wanted to ask you about another topic. One month has now passed since Congress’s deadline for the Justice Department to release all files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but the DOJ says it’s made available less than 1% of those files. And you see many people are saying, “Is he going after Minneapolis, saying he’s going to take Greenland, you know, taking the president of Venezuela, and possibly threatening to bomb Iran to take attention away?” Could that be it? You see his sensitivity at the Dearborn auto plant, when a worker yelled “Pedophile protector! Pedophile protector!” and he turned around and gave him the finger and mouthed the words “F— you,” but said the curse.
MICHELE GOODWIN: Well, it’s certainly inconsistent with what were the campaign promises. The campaign promises to those who supported Trump, and those who didn’t, was that the files would be released, all of the files. Now, that’s not happened, so — and that’s critically important.
Britain can no longer avoid the costs of appeasing America’s predatory president
(…)
The word “crisis” is rooted in the Greek New Testament, referring to a decision, or judgement, in an unstable moment that forces a new clarity into being. While Trump’s exact motives for his aggression in our hemisphere remain opaque, our own predicament is now clearer. It is this: such is the new emerging order around us that we can no longer muddle through, finessing Trump’s instincts, hoping for the best so governments can focus on domestic political problems. Britain must choose.
(January 13, 2026)
Greenland’s energy minister asked British lawmakers for help in the face of “bewildering” U.S. aggression.
LONDON — The U.K. government must “dare to have principles” and help Greenland repel threats from Donald Trump, a senior minister in Greenland’s government told lawmakers in London.
White House envoy Steve Witkoff met secretly over the weekend with the exiled former crown prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, to discuss the protests raging in Iran, according to a senior U.S. official.
Trump schrieb in Großbuchstaben auch, dass Hilfe „auf dem Weg“ sei. Was er damit meinte, blieb unbeantwortet. Wegen der schweren Gewalt gegen Demonstrierende hatte Trump der iranischen Führung bereits zuvor mit militärischen Mitteln gedroht. Die USA nähmen die Lage im Iran sehr ernst, so Trump am Sonntag. „Das Militär befasst sich damit, und wir prüfen einige sehr drastische Optionen. Wir werden eine Entscheidung treffen.“
He said Trump’s warning of military action against Tehran should protests turn violent motivated “terrorists” to target protesters and security forces to invite foreign intervention. “We are ready for war but also for dialogue,” he added.
Araghchi also said Iran has footage of weapons being distributed to protesters, adding authorities will soon release confessions of detainees.
Díaz-Canel wrote that for “relations between the U.S. and Cuba to progress, they must be based on international law rather than hostility, threats, and economic coercion.”
He added: “We have always been willing to hold a serious and responsible dialogue with the various US governments, including the current one, on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual respect, principles of International Law, and mutual benefit without interference in internal affairs and with full respect for our independence.”
Díaz-Canel was quick to reject external interference in Cuba’s affairs.
“Cuba does not aggress; it is aggressed upon by the United States for 66 years, and it does not threaten; it prepares, ready to defend the Homeland to the last drop of blood,” said Díaz-Canel.
In an apparent reference to Trump, he said those who turn everything into a business, “even human lives,” have no moral authority to point fingers at his country.
A number of different agencies have been involved in helping prepare options for the president, officials said. More formal briefings are expected in the coming week, including on Tuesday, when Trump is expected to convene senior national security officials to discuss how to proceed.
Tehran will treat US military and commercial bases as targets for retaliation if Washington intervenes militarily in unrest-hit Iran, its hardline parliamentary speaker has warned.
“If the US takes military action towards Iran or the occupied territories, the US military and shipping centers will be considered legitimate targets,” Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said.
Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Besonders beunruhigend sei aus Sicht Grönlands und Dänemarks die Bereitschaft der Trump-Regierung, offen zu handeln, ohne sich erkennbar auf internationales Recht zu berufen. Die Aktion in Venezuela habe zudem die außergewöhnlichen Fähigkeiten der USA demonstriert, einschließlich erheblicher Geheimdienst- und Militärmacht.
Das Verhältnis zwischen den USA und Dänemark gleiche derzeit einer Katze, die mit einer Maus spiele, so Bertelsen. Die Machtverhältnisse seien extrem unausgeglichen. Die Vereinigten Staaten könnten Dänemark und Europa nach Belieben bedrohen und demütigen.