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Jun 28, 2026 - World

Iranian state media has reportedly declared that the country now has "no choice but to obtain the atomic bomb," according to a post circulating online — a statement that, if accurate, would mark a dramatic escalation amid the ongoing exchange of strikes between the U.S. and Iran.The claim was relayed by the account The Hormuz Letter, which posted what it described as a breaking statement from Iranian state media. According to that post, Iranian state media argued the country must "absolutely reach nuclear deterrence" before current negotiations can be conducted, framing the pursuit of a weapon as necessary to remove what it called "the military option for the occupation and partitioning of Iran" from the table.The reported statement seized the attention of David Pyne, an America First conservative who posts under @AmericaFirstCon and who has been sharply critical of the administration's handling of Iran. Pyne argued the development vindicated his earlier warnings about the consequences of President Donald Trump's approach."Iran is responding to Trump's continued nuclear threats against it by building more nuclear missiles just as I predicted they would do," Pyne wrote. He contended that "Trump's war on Iran hasn't reduced Iran's nuclear threat in any way" but had instead "served to greatly magnify and expand Iran's nuclear threat against the US and Israel."Pyne went further, delivering a stinging assessment of the president's broader record."Trump's disastrous foreign policy and endless unwinnable wars make Jimmy Carter look like a veritable foreign policy genius by comparison," he wrote.The reported statement also caught the attention of Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, who reacted with unease. "Ugh. Hope it's just bluster; fear it is not," McFaul wrote, sharing the same post.The reported declaration comes against the backdrop of a rapidly deteriorating ceasefire, with the U.S. carrying out repeated strikes on Iranian targets in recent days and Trump himself warning that "the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist" if forced to "militarily complete the job." Trump has also continued to insist that "Iran will never have a Nuclear Weapon."The Iranian framing — that only a nuclear deterrent can forestall foreign intervention — runs directly counter to the administration's stated goal of ending Tehran's weapons ambitions, and underscores the risk that the military campaign could harden rather than halt Iran's nuclear drive.

Jun 28, 2026 - World

Document appears to have been subject to conflicting interpretations on key issues of Lebanon ceasefire and strait of HormuzThe sudden eruption of fresh hostilities in the Gulf – just 10 days after Iran and the US signed a memorandum of understanding to end the conflict – threatens to put the two countries back on the path to war.It appears the deliberately opaque wording in the memorandum has been unable to withstand the pressure of conflicting interpretations, and as a result supporters of the deal inside Tehran are on the back foot. Statements to the effect that Iran’s government should never have agreed to reopen the strait of Hormuz are proliferating – and not just among the country’s hardliners. Continue reading...

Jun 28, 2026 - World

A senior U.S. defense official has explained why the American military keeps returning to bomb the same Iranian targets it has already struck repeatedly since the conflict began in late February, according to Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin.In a post on social media, Griffin said she pressed the official on why the U.S. has had to go back and restrike sites that have been hit multiple times since February 28, when the war began. The answer, she reported, was that Iran has rebuilt its air defense and missile systems along the Strait of Hormuz in the months since the U.S. bombing campaign wound down on April 7.That reconstitution, the source told Griffin, is why the military is now having to strike areas like Qeshm Island and Sirik that it had already targeted in the past."In the time since the cease fire on 7 April, Iran has reconstituted — thus the targets around the Strait of Hormuz," the official told Griffin.The official acknowledged the scale of the damage already inflicted on Iranian positions while making clear that Tehran has adapted."There is a LOT that is damaged… a LOT… but they moved things around," the source said.Griffin noted that roughly 10 weeks had passed since the April ceasefire was announced — a window during which, by the official's account, Iran was able to rebuild enough capability to draw fresh U.S. strikes.The reporting offers a window into the cyclical nature of the campaign, in which previously degraded Iranian systems are repaired and repositioned, prompting renewed American attacks. The post was amplified by conservative commentator Erick Erickson.I asked a senior defense official why the US has had to go back and restrike these sites that have been hit multiple times since February 28 when the war began. I was told Iran has reconstituted its air defense and missile systems along the Strait of Hormuz since the US bombing…— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) June 27, 2026

Jun 28, 2026 - World

A British columnist's phone call with Trump was so "strange" that he began looking for a way to end it.Financial Times columnist Ed Luce recounted the interaction during an episode of The Mona Charen Show. Luce said that, at the request of his editor, he called Trump around the start of the Iran war."I wondered about the usefulness of this," Luce said about the call, which he described as "very strange." The call even reminded him of "Alice in Wonderland," Luce said.Luce said that he had called Trump before, saying, "He's perfectly friendly. He answers my questions, and sometimes talks for quite a long time."In this phone call, Trump "started repeating himself" after 15 minutes, Luce said. "I contrived to end the call, which I never expected. I said, 'Mr. President, I know you're really busy.'"Luce said Trump started to ask him questions about the Iran war, like, "Should I take the oil? Should I take Kharg Island?""The response I gave was, 'I'm not qualified to answer that, Mr. President,' and I tried finding out, 'Is this an option you're considering?'" Luce said. "But it became very clear to me, and everyone else really, by about between the 7th and 10th of March, very early on into Operation Epic Fury, that he was looking for an offramp."However, the show's host, conservative writer Mona Charen, added that "people who are members of his golf club" say that Trump often asks for advice from random people."He would just bump into people on the links, and he would say to any random golfer, 'So what should I do about North Korea and the nukes?'" Charen said. "It's just mindboggling."

Jun 27, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump issued a stark threat against Iran on Saturday night, warning that the country could cease to exist if it continues attacking, as he announced a new round of U.S. strikes targeting Iranian military sites.In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said American aircraft had hit Iranian missile and drone storage locations along with coastal radar sites, accusing Tehran of breaching the ceasefire yet again."United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!" Trump wrote, adding an exasperated, "It is very possible that they will never learn!"The president then escalated to an explicit warning about the conflict's potential trajectory."There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started," Trump wrote. "If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!"The post came amid a rapidly deteriorating ceasefire, with U.S. and Iranian forces exchanging fire following attacks on commercial shipping near the Strait of Hormuz.In a separate post minutes earlier, Trump amplified a quote from adviser Stephen Miller attacking Democrats, linking to a Fox News video.