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Sep 2, 2026 - World

Trump's new nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia could make ending his war with Iran even harder, foreign policy analyst Trita Parsi warned Wednesday, because it opens the door for Tehran's regional rival to enrich uranium, the very capability U.S. bombs are meant to strip from Iran.The 30-year agreement, sent to Congress for review, would hand U.S. firms the lead role in building the kingdom's civilian nuclear program and, after a two-year study, could permit enrichment at a plant on Saudi soil operated by the United States. Critics note it does not require Riyadh to accept the Additional Protocol, the U.N. nuclear watchdog's most intrusive inspection regime. Enrichment is dual use: the same process that fuels a power reactor can, pushed further, yield the core of a bomb.Critics have seized on the contradiction that Washington is at war to force zero enrichment on Iran, which insists its program is peaceful, while smoothing the path for the Saudis. Parsi delivered a blunt takedown."Washington is providing Riyadh a pathway to the bomb," even as it demands Iran give up enrichment entirely. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) said the administration's "hypocrisy is matched only by their recklessness," accusing it of letting Saudi Arabia pursue nuclear weapons technology "under the guise of preventing an Iranian nuclear bomb." Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) warned the deal would "set off a nuclear race in the region."The move also cuts against decades of policy aimed at denying Iran the very technology now on offer to Riyadh. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as a senator, even co-sponsored a 2019 bill that would have required Saudi Arabia to forgo enrichment.Trump has insisted the alarm is overblown, shouting on Truth Social, "There will be no enrichment of material!" He added that the pact hinges on Riyadh normalizing ties with Israel through the Abraham Accords. Rubio, for his part, has insisted the deal has "safeguards in place."The clash comes as the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran, launched in late February, grinds on. Parsi and other analysts say the double standard hands Tehran a fresh grievance and a reason to walk away from talks, raising the odds the fighting drags on. Blocking the Saudi deal, meanwhile, would take a two-thirds vote in both chambers, a bar even critics concede is steep.

Sep 2, 2026 - World

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) became the first Republican lawmaker to call for President Donald Trump to replace Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.The retiring North Carolina Republican voted to confirm the former Fox News host to lead the Pentagon, but he said Hegseth's purge of the military's top ranks – including the resignation this week of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll – has created a leadership void during a time of war and showed he's not up to the job."I thank @SecArmy Dan Driscoll for his leadership to our Army and service to our country," Tillis posted on X. "Dan was the right man at the right moment to lead our Soldiers and Army, civilians."Driscoll is among at least 20 generals, admirals and civilian defense leaders who have been fired or pushed out since Hegseth became defense secretary, according to a CBS News review, including the Army, Navy and Air Force's top uniformed officers."Our understanding and assumptions of warfare are being challenged in places like Ukraine and Iran, and Dan understands the old way of doing business no longer applies," Tillis added. "He and [former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy] George began a transformative period of innovation in how we array our forces and equip our Soldiers. He challenged our legacy approach to manning and procurement. Most of all, he cared deeply about the men and women in our Army formations and quickly earned their respect."Before his nomination, Hegseth criticized officers he viewed as too focused on diversity initiatives, and as secretary he abruptly dismissed Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti in February 2025, along with other senior leaders, often without public explanation. A source told CBS News that Black and female officers have been disproportionately removed from promotion lists, and no active-duty four-star women currently serve."If we had a @SecWar who maintained the same priorities and forward-thinking, he would be fighting to retain talented leaders like Dan and the many flag officers he has forced into retirement," Tillis wrote. "Instead, he is creating a leadership void at the top of our military ranks.""I served on Senate Armed Services for 8 years and as chair or ranking member of the Personnel and Readiness subcommittee," Tillis added. "I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country. He is intimidated by competence and retreats to ginning up culture wars instead of soberly attending to the vital work of our national defense and the health and well-being of our fighting force. I urge the President to find a new leader at the Pentagon who will retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it."

Sep 2, 2026 - World

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) drew laughs from a CNN political panel on Wednesday after insisting she would not discuss a personal detail about her Democratic opponent — before blurting it out anyway. The moment came during Collins’ interview with Politico’s Jonathan Martin, who asked whether the personal life of Maine Democratic candidate Troy Jackson should be considered fair game in their Senate race.“Well, I’m not going to bring up the fact that the mother of his two children is his second cousin," Collins replied. “I don’t know whether people know that or not.”“I think you just mentioned it,” Martin quickly pointed out.“Well, in Aroostook County, you know,” Collins said.The clip drew immediate laughter on the CNN set of “Inside Politics with Dana Bash.”“But I’m not going to bring that up,” Bash joked Wednesday. “The thing that I’m going to say — something I’m not going to bring up.”“That was so well crafted,” CNN political director David Chalian added, chuckling.Chalian said that Collins “clearly didn’t mind talking about it,” even as she tried to suggest it would not become “a centerpiece of her campaign.”But he doubted that Jackson’s relationship would decide the race, instead suggesting that Collins's relationship with President Donald Trump would likely matter more to Maine voters.“And how she navigates being a Republican running for reelection in this environment from a state that was not hospitable to Donald Trump in any of the times he ran for office,” he said.“She’s using what she can,” Bash concluded, “given the fact that Troy Jackson is a local politician and elected official.”

Sep 2, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump's administration has been accused of a war crime after a missile strike hit a wedding and, according to an Iranian humanitarian group, killed a child and three others, reports show.The Iranian Red Crescent Society said four people were killed and more than 50 injured after shrapnel from a U.S. missile struck a home in Sirik, on Iran's Strait of Hormuz coastline, where a wedding was underway, according to the report, reported the BBC.Iran has launched missile and drone strikes against U.S. targets across the Persian Gulf region after American forces resumed attacks on Iran this week, escalating a conflict that reignited after the strike that hit a wedding ceremony, according to the report.The U.S. military said it was aware of the reports but denied targeting noncombatants. "The U.S. military never targets civilians," Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins said on behalf of U.S. Central Command.Centcom said the strikes followed "recent attempted attacks" by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and on American forces. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed retaliation, and by early Wednesday had fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at a U.S. Marine base in Jordan's Aqaba. Jordanian forces said they intercepted 13 missiles, destroying 10, with three landing in remote areas and no casualties reported. Kuwait's military said its air defenses responded to Iranian fire, explosions were reported in Bahrain, and a U.S. base in Iraq's Kurdistan region was hit, damaging a maintenance center and warehouses.The exchange follows a monthlong pause after the U.S. and Israel launched wide strikes on Iran in late February, prompting Iranian retaliation against Israel, U.S. bases and Gulf allies, and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.A ceasefire extension known as the Memorandum of Understanding, signed in June, has since expired.Washington has paired its renewed strikes with a fresh sanctions campaign announced in August, targeting Iran and its trading partners.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said allies have pledged support for the effort. Iranian officials have dismissed the sanctions as a continuation of prior pressure they said was tied to Washington's military failure in the earlier conflict.

Sep 2, 2026 - World

The Justice Department's first-ever prosecution of protesters of the Trump administration under a church-protection law now faces dismissal, with defendants arguing President Donald Trump ordered it out of spite.Most of the more than 30 people charged over a January ICE protest inside a St. Paul church asked a federal judge on Aug. 31 to throw out the case, according to a joint motion filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota.A large slate of lawyers argued the government charged their clients as political payback at the behest of the president as part of a selective and vindictive prosecution, the motion states.The defendants were reacting to Trump's directives, which "caused terror, violence, and murder in Minnesota" when they entered Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18, prompted by the knowledge that its pastor David Easterwood also worked for the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office, their attorneys argued. Federal charges followed within days. Federal agents arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and activist, on Jan. 22, and then-Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrest on social media, claiming that NAACP leader Levy Armstrong "allegedly played a key role in organizing the coordinated attack on Cities Church." A grand jury indicted nine defendants a week later, and a superseding indictment in February added 30 more people.Days earlier, Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother of three, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.The Trump administration's crackdown on protesters continued following the church arrests. Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at the VA hospital, was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol officer on Jan. 24 while protesting peacefully in Minneapolis, the motion says. The shootings occurred during Operation Metro Surge, which sent as many as 2,000 federal agents and officers into the Minneapolis area for what the motion describes as one of the largest single-city Homeland Security mobilizations in years.Those arrested at the Minnesota church, including Armstrong and others, pleaded not guilty in February to conspiracy against rights."They have altered the facts, just as they altered my image as a way of trying to criminalize nonviolent, peaceful protests and lawful dissent against their unlawful and unjust actions," Armstrong told Democracy Now!, referring to an administration photo that appeared digitally altered to show her crying.The activist's protests were based on the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a law Congress passed to stop violence against abortion providers. The law covers places of worship. No one had ever been criminally charged under the law's place-of-worship provision in its 30-year history, according to the motion.The vindictive prosecution motion notes that the charges are "unequal, oppressive" and have "a clear and dangerous chilling effect on the Defendants and anyone else who wants to voice their opposition to U.S. Government policies"The motion argues that the Justice Department brought the case "at the direction and behest of President Donald J. Trump" and to fulfill a "mission to satisfy the personal animosities of its chief client, Donald Trump." "Sadly, this is not at all hyperbole, but the cold hard facts behind this prosecution," the motion says of the department's approach.While these defendants face felonies, people convicted of blocking abortion clinics went free. Trump pardoned 24 people convicted of FACE Act violations within days of taking office in 2025, some of whom had been convicted in multiple jurisdictions, according to the motion.One pardoned defendant had live-streamed her intent to "terrorize this place" the day before she barricaded a Manhattan clinic door, crushing a worker's hand with such force that three people were needed to pry the door open, the motion says."The record shows that individuals who engaged in the same or much more serious and violent conduct, whether at a progressive liberal church or an abortion clinic, were treated differently," the motion says.Anti-abortion activist Mark Houck was charged with shoving an elderly clinic escort to the ground twice and was acquitted at trial, the motion says. He then sued the government, and a district judge dismissed every claim as not plausible.The administration reportedly agreed to pay Houck more than $1 million to settle the case on appeal without ever filing a brief in defense of the government, according to the motion."Not only were such similarly situated individuals not prosecuted, they were in many instances rewarded with large monetary payouts from the Justice Department," the motion says.Two other church disruptions drew no federal charges at all, the motion says. Protesters in Orlando, Florida, rose during a children's sermon at an LGBTQ-affirming church in March 2025 and shouted "Synagogue of Sin!" at the congregation, according to the motion.Republican congressional candidate Valentina Gomez stood up during a service at a Texas church in November 2025 and said that "homosexuality is a sin and whoever supports that is worthy of death," the motion says.Neither incident produced a federal investigation or a FACE Act charge, according to the filing.The dismissal motion is not the only trouble facing prosecutors. U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko ordered the Justice Department in July to hand over grand jury testimony and evidence so he could determine whether the government misled jurors while seeking the indictment.Journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort filed their own motions to dismiss in August, with Fort arguing that she was covering the protest as a reporter."The invasion of Cities Church was a planned, coordinated effort to disrupt a worship service and interfere with religious exercise that placed congregants, including children, in fear for their lives," Doug Wardlow, litigation director at True North Legal, said in February on behalf of the church.Defendants asked the court to dismiss the case outright, or to grant them access to internal Justice Department communications and hold a hearing where they could present evidence, according to the motion.