Rubio Defends New US Sanctions on Cuba, Targeting Military-Run Conglomerate GAESA

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Rubio Defends New US Sanctions on Cuba, Targeting Military-Run Conglomerate GAESA

(Headline USA) U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday defended the Trump administration’s decision to slap new sanctions on Cuba, the largest of which is against Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.

In addition to GAESA and its leader, the sanctions announced Thursday include Moa Nickel, a Cuban joint venture with Canada’s Sherritt International, which immediately announced it would withdraw from the business, ending a 32-year presence on the island.

The May 1 executive order and the new designations announced May 7 significantly expand the legal authority through which the U.S. government can levy sanctions on third-country nationals and firms, explained Lee Schlenker, a research associate at the Quincy Institute’s Global South program, a Washington think tank.

“Not only are they subject to having their assets frozen but their U.S. accounts as well as their travel to the U.S., that of their shareholders, investors or employees,” said Schlenker. “This is bound to have an extremely significant impact of the presence of foreign companies” in Cuba.

Economist Pavel Vidal, a Cuba expert at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, told The Associated Press that the measures are “very concerning” for an economy already “practically paralyzed.” The U.S. has blocked fuel shipments to Cuba since January, further escalating the island’s yearslong economic crisis. Vidal noted that the new sanctions would likely deter GAESA’s remaining partners, saying that “very few will risk defying them.”

The new measures amount to “total isolation,” said Vidal, driven by the fear they instill in international banks, insurers and corporations.

As an expert who has analyzed GAESA’s internal documents, Vidal noted that the conglomerate’s deep reach into nearly every sector of the Cuban economy makes any connection to the island a potential liability under the new U.S. rules.

According to Vidal, GAESA commands nearly 40% of Cuba’s gross domestic product. As of early 2024, the conglomerate held $14.5 billion in liquid reserves, with annual revenues triple the size of the entire Cuban state budget.

Established in the 1990s under military control, GAESA was the Cuban Armed Forces’ strategic response to the economic collapse that followed the Soviet Union’s fall and the tightening of U.S. sanctions in place at the time.

Despite being state-owned, GAESA’s accounts are exempt from audits by the Office of the Comptroller General. Gladys Bejerano, the entity’s director, admitted to this lack of oversight in a 2024 interview; shortly thereafter, she retired.

For years, until his death in July 2022, Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja served as GAESA’s general manager. As the son-in-law of former President Raúl Castro, he was a pillar of the family — a legacy continued by his son, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro. While the younger Castro officially serves as his grandfather’s chief bodyguard, he has recently emerged as a pivotal intermediary in sensitive discussions with the U.S.

This week’s sanctions also added Ania Guillermina Lastres to the U.S. blacklist. As the successor to López-Calleja, she currently serves as GAESA’s executive president, overseeing the conglomerate’s vast international financial interests.

Based on the limited information available, GAESA oversees dozens of retail outlets — selling everything from food and clothing to home appliances — as well as a sprawling service network that includes car rentals and travel agencies. Notably, it also manages Cuba’s financial institutions, currency exchange bureaus, and the administration of the country’s major hotels.

In remarks to the press Friday, Rubio said the sanctions were not on the Cuban people and he referred to GAESA as a company that “is taking anything that makes money in Cuba and illegally putting it into the pockets of a few regime insiders.”

Cuban authorities maintain that the sanctions constitute “collective punishment” designed to strangle the island’s economy, arguing the Trump administration’s policies show a disregard for the welfare of the Cuban people in favor of political leverage.

The new sanctions on Havana come under the weight of a U.S. energy blockade that has caused sweeping water and power outages along with severe gas and water shortages.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Judge Who Oversaw Utah Gerrymander Resigns for Affair w/ Plaintiff’s Attorney

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Judge Who Oversaw Utah Gerrymander Resigns for Affair w/ Plaintiff’s Attorney

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) With partisan battle lines being drawn nationwide in a legal showdown over redistricting, Utah may be next in line after the judge who forcibly gerrymandered a congressional seat for Democrats stepped down in disgrace.

Diana Hagen, a justice on the Utah Supreme Court resigned Friday in a letter to Gov. Spencer Cox.

Hagen had joined in the court opinion for League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature, which forced the red state to redraw its Republican-friendly maps in 2024.

Although Utah’s map currently has Republicans representing all four seats, the courts said it must redraw the maps ahead of the 2026 election to create a Democrat-favorable district around Salt Lake City.

The case centered on a 2018 ballot initiative that sought to create an independent voting commission to draw the maps. The legislature later passed its own 2020 law that limited the commission to an advisory role, but the courts determined it lacked the authority to do so.

Hagen subsequently recused herself from the proceedings after her ex-husband leaked text messages showing that she had been conducting an affair with attorney David Reymann, who was representing the plaintiffs in the redistricting case.

Although an independent investigation by the Judicial Conduct Commission found the allegations against Hagen had “very little credibility,” she continued to face pressure to resign over the perceived conflict of interest.

In her letter of resignation, Hagen cited the extra scrutiny on her private life and the toll it had taken on her family.

“They do not deserve to have intensely personal details surrounding the painful dissolution of my thirty-year marriage subjected to public scrutiny,” she wrote.

In a terse press release acknowledging the resignation, Cox’s office said only that additional information about filling the vacancy would be forthcoming.

With previous rulings against the Utah legislature having been unanimous, it is unclear that Hagen’s departure will change the calculus.

Moreover, the seat’s current occupant, RINO Rep. Blake Moore, voiced support for Proposition 4, the ballot initiative that would turn his own seat blue.

Under the new maps, Moore will run in a different district, with Riley Owen, an Oxford-educated naval intelligence officer and CEO, running in the newly blue-leaning District 1.

Ben Sellers is a freelance authored writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

Trump Assassination Suspect Levels Claims Against Blanche, Pirro

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Trump Assassination Suspect Levels Claims Against Blanche, Pirro

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner is seeking to disqualify two top DOJ officials, citing what his attorneys claim to be a conflict of interest.

The suspect, Cole Allen, filed a motion through his attorneys Thursday, asking the court to remove Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro from the prosecution.

The defense attorneys claim the Justice Department officials must be disqualified because they were present during the alleged assassination attempt and therefore cannot be considered impartial overseers of the case.

“To guard against the unavoidable potential for individual and institutional abuse, prosecutors must endeavor to be ‘disinterested’ in the outcomes of the cases they oversee,” Allen’s legal team wrote.

They added that a Justice Department employee “must recuse where he or she is a participant in the events alleged in the indictment, particularly where they are an alleged victim of said events.”

Allen’s legal team further argued that both Blanche and Pirro could be witnesses, targets or victims in the case. As such, they hold influence over the case’s key developments, including potential charges, plea deals or sentencing in the event a conviction is returned by a jury.

Allen faces a grand jury indictment on four felony counts, including attempted assassination of a president, assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence and interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony.

His next court appearance is scheduled for May 11.

If convicted, Allen faces life in prison without parole.

Assault Victim Refused to Testify Against Suspect. He Then Allegedly Killed NYC Teacher

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Assault Victim Refused to Testify Against Suspect. He Then Allegedly Killed NYC Teacher

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A woman who declined to testify against a repeat offender accused of assaulting her now says she regrets the decision after the suspect allegedly went on to kill a retired New York City teacher weeks later.

The suspect, Rhamell Burke, is accused of shoving 76-year-old retired teacher Ross Falzone down a flight of subway stairs on Thursday, leaving him with fatal injuries. Burke’s criminal record reportedly includes assault on a police officer, assault on a stranger and two other offenses, according to media reports.

One of Burke’s previous alleged victims, a 23-year-old woman, told the New York Post on Friday that she chose not to cooperate with prosecutors because she did not want to put “another black man in jail.”

“I regret it 100% and I actually feel really bad that a man lost his life,” she said.

The woman told the outlet that on April 2, Burke approached her and a friend on a Manhattan subway before becoming aggressive when she rejected his apparent advances.

Burke reportedly yanked her by the back of her head, tried to push her to the ground and also kicked her friend.

“My friend freaks out, runs away, and then he grabs me by the head and pushes my head down, trying to like maybe throw me on the ground or something,” she said. “But I didn’t, I resisted as much as I could. I didn’t fall, and then I immediately opened up the car and then ran towards my friend.”

As chaos unfolded, the train stopped at a nearby station, allowing the women to escape while Burke allegedly chased after them. Police officers were nearby and quickly arrested him, she told the Post.

“We started running a little bit, but then thank God the cops were right there because, I mean, we kept thinking about, imagine that there were no cops, we would have had to literally run for our lives,” the woman continued. “They immediately arrested him. It was shut down really fast by the cops and we respected that.”

Burke was seemingly taken to Bellevue Hospital on Thursday—just two weeks after he was originally detained—but was released shortly afterward.

Within hours, Burke allegedly shoved Falzone down subway stairs at another station. The retired teacher died before 3 a.m. Friday after suffering a traumatic brain injury along with fractures to his spine and ribs. Authorities are investigating the case as a homicide.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appeared to place blame on the hospital system following the incident.

“New Yorkers deserve answers. That is why I’ve directed NYC Health + Hospitals to conduct both an immediate investigation on what steps should have been taken to prevent this tragedy and a comprehensive review of their psychiatric evaluation and discharge protocols,” he said.

Nick Fuentes Admits He’s Actually a ‘Moderate Democrat’

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Nick Fuentes Admits He’s Actually a ‘Moderate Democrat’

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Notorious social-media troll Nick Fuentes once again set about confusing critics by declaring himself to be a “non-woke, moderate Democrat” during a recent podcast.

Fuentes, known for his provocative anti-Semitic statements and other controversial stances, has been derided by many on the Left as a standard-bearer for the alt-Right movement. However, he regularly expresses his opposition to President Donald Trump.

“I think the GOP needs to be destroyed,” he said in the viral clip that circulated on X last week.

“I think the corrupt, criminal government of Trump needs to be slowed down,” he continued. “We need to impeach The Orange. It’s time to put this n***a in a peach. Trump needs to be placed inside of a crystal — he needs to be impeached. This fat orange tiny hands needs to be impeached.”

Fuentes went on to reveal that he opposed the two main frontrunners who are likely to succeed Trump as the MAGA mantle-carriers, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“We have to burn down the whole party,” he said.

While many high-profile “America First” advocates — including influential podcasters Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones — have broken rank with Trump for failing to live up to his campaign promises, skeptics have long suspected that Fuentes may be a deep-state plant intended to subvert and discredit the conservative movement.

“If your favorite ‘rightwing influencer’ is now admitting he’s actually a Democrat, it means you fell for one of the most blatant psy-ops in American history,” wrote the X account @OldeWorldOrder.

Fuentes’s apparent disclosure — if true — follows on the heels of a bombshell revelation by the Justice Department that it had criminally indicted leaders of the Southern Poverty Law Center for secretly funding extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan in order to push the false perception that racism and white supremacy were more prevalent in America than they really were.

Some linked Fuentes’s false-flag operations to those of Richard Spencer, the alleged right-wing extremist who helped to serve as a catalyst for the SPLC-funded 2017 riots in Charlottesville, Va.

Calls like Fuentes’s to “burn down” the GOP also echo the alarming spike in violent rhetoric from the extreme Left, including numerous arson incidents and assassinations of perceived political enemies.

Yet, some maintain that Fuentes’s inflammatory polemic amounts to little more than a rhetorical flourish, and that his claims to be a Democrat were part of a double-con to gain control of the GOP.

“You have it backwards, dumbass. Hes [sic] using this as cover so he can take over the right wing surreptitiously,” wrote X user @tremulant08. “He literally SAYS IT EVERY NIGHT.”

Fuentes acknowledged in the video that his top-three priorities were matters that have long held pride of place in the MAGA and “America First” agendas.

“I care about affordability. I care about foreign interventions. I care about the border,” he said.

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

Court Strikes Tariff, Trump Moves Ahead with Replacement

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Court Strikes Tariff, Trump Moves Ahead with Replacement

(Brett Rowland, The Center Square) President Donald Trump’s administration signaled Friday it intends to appeal a federal trade court’s ruling striking down his 10% global tariff as unlawful, while simultaneously pressing ahead with a separate round of import taxes that could take effect as early as July.

American businesses have paid $166 billion in tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Those tariffs, which the Supreme Court struck down in February, are in the process of being refunded to the importers who paid them. An additional $8 billion was collected from the Section 122 tariff, which was struck down Thursday, according to We Pay the Tariffs, a coalition of nearly 1,200 small businesses that opposes tariffs. The Yale Budget Lab, a nonpartisan policy research center, estimated the Section 122 tariffs would cost the average U.S. household between $600 and $800 per year.

A Federal Reserve Bank of New York report, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, and a Duke University study all concluded that Americans are paying nearly the entire cost of tariffs, not foreign countries as the White House has maintained.

“President Trump has lawfully used the tariff authorities granted to him by Congress to address our balance of payments crisis,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told The Center Square on Friday. “The Trump administration is reviewing legal options and maintains confidence in ultimately prevailing.”

Trump’s U.S. Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, said Friday the administration expects to prevail on appeal.

“They essentially said that Congress passed a law that can’t be used, which we all know in the legal community, that’s not how law should be interpreted,” Greer told Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” show. “They should be interpreted to be used. So we’re confident that on appeal we’ll be successful.”

The Court of International Trade’s decision on Thursday only applied to two small businesses and the state of Washington. That means the government is still collecting the tariffs on all other importers.

Michael Lowell, partner and chair at Reed Smith’s Global Regulatory Enforcement Group, said the narrow ruling leaves the next move to the administration.

“Without a universal injunction, the ball’s really in the government’s court on what comes next,” he said. “It’s almost certainly an appeal to the Federal Circuit court of appeals.”

The lone dissenting judge, Timothy Stanceu, argued the majority invented a measurement standard and warned that under the majority’s logic, a federal statistics agency could repeal a law simply by changing how it measures economic data.

Phillip Magness, a senior fellow at the Independent Institute, said Trump’s path ahead is “becoming increasingly difficult.”

“The Supreme Court has already ruled against the administration in the IEEPA tariff case, and the Court of International Trade is showing growing impatience over delays in refunding unlawfully collected tariffs,” he said.

While the expected appeal plays out in the courts, the administration has been building its next tariff vehicle. Greer’s office launched Section 301 investigations on March 11 against 16 economies, including most of the United States’ top trade partners. Hearings on those investigations ended Friday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in April the new tariff regime could go into effect in July.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the president to impose tariffs after the U.S. Trade Representative investigates and finds that a foreign country’s trade practices are unfair or discriminatory. Greer cited what he called structural overproduction that displaces U.S. manufacturing.

Critics say the administration is stretching the law again. Magness said in March that Greer was offering “a tautological redefinition” of unfair trade practices that “basically treats any exportation of any good to the United States for almost any reason as if it is evidence of an ‘unfair’ trading practice.”

Alfredo Carrillo Obregon, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said the Section 122 tariffs “were always meant to be a bridge” to future tariff actions.

“We can expect more tariff announcements in the coming months,” he said.

That’s something small businesses can’t afford, said Dan Anthony, executive director of We Pay the Tariffs.

“Small businesses cannot afford a repeat of the IEEPA refund headaches now playing out,” he said.

With midterm elections approaching, public skepticism of the administration’s tariff agenda is growing. The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll conducted in March found that 42% of voters believe American consumers primarily pay for tariffs, while just 12% say foreign countries bear the burden.

Magness previously told The Center Square the political costs may become more visible as the Midterm election nears.

“Not all have made the connection yet that tariffs are tantamount to a tax increase on affected goods,” he said. “I suspect this connection will become more pronounced as the election approaches.”

U.S. Farmers Struggling with High Price of Fuel, Fertilizer as Bankruptcies Rise

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U.S. Farmers Struggling with High Price of Fuel, Fertilizer as Bankruptcies Rise

(Thérèse Boudreaux, The Center Square) As Congress continues working on the long-overdue federal farm bill, American farmers entering planting season are facing a grim financial landscape.

Due to the U.S.-Iran conflict and the Trump administration’s tariffs, American farmers are getting slapped with higher operational costs, which not only raise the cost of consumer goods but also threaten small farmers’ already fragile financial solvency.

The U.S. lost more than 156,000 farms between 2017 and 2025, according to 2026 U.S. Census data. From 2024 to 2025 alone, farm bankruptcy filings jumped by 46%, the Farm Bureau reported.

“Uncertainty around the availability and price of fertilizers and energy is already influencing decisions on input use, crop management, and investment, with direct consequences for yields and future supply,” the National Farmers Union warned in April.

“Fertilizer costs have risen sharply since the beginning of the crisis, while crop prices have remained largely stable – a combination that is squeezing farm margins at historically poor levels, leaving farmers with limited capacity to absorb further shocks.”

Before hostilities in Iran began, President Donald Trump’s tariffs on agricultural inputs including farm machinery, agricultural chemicals, and fertilizer squeezed the country’s agricultural sector, though the Trump administration did attempt to offset some of the consequences by distributing $12 billion in one-time bridge payments to American farmers.

The ongoing military hostilities in Iran are inflicting even more damage due to trade disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, which have spiked the costs of fuel and fertilizer.

Diesel fuel prices have increased by roughly 45%, per data from Farm Bureau, while about 70% of farmers surveyed said they cannot afford the amount of fertilizer they need

According to news reports, the cost of doing business has risen 25% for some American farmers since the conflict began in February.

Unfortunately, recent forecasts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture do not offer much hope of relief.

Total farm debt is projected to break records in 2026, reaching roughly $625 billion, according to the department’s “U.S. farm sector financial indicators” report, while total production costs are projected to top $478 billion.

The actual numbers will likely be higher, as the USDA released its analysis before the Iran conflict began.

U.S. domestic policy over the past few decades has also contributed to the agricultural sector’s financial woes.

Due to the structure of federal subsidies for crop insurance, most insurance providers are incentivized to cater to large agribusinesses, rather than small and beginner farms.

A 208-page report commissioned by Farm Action in 2024 revealed that, between 2012 and 2019, the largest 10% of U.S. farms by crop sales received 56% of all crop insurance premium subsidies.

Meanwhile, the bottom 50% of U.S. farmers received less than 3% of all crop insurance premium subsidies during that same period.

“This concentration is not attributable to large farms simply insuring more acres,” the report notes. “Over the same period, the average amount of premium subsidies per acre received by farm operations in the top 2% by crop sales ($40.54) was almost double the benefit received by farms between the 50th and 80th percentile and over eight times the benefit received by farms in the bottom 50%.”

Congress has kept federal crop insurance policy mostly on autopilot since 2018, the last time it passed a federal farm bill.

Though supportive of some measures, advocacy groups for small and family-owned farms have criticized the upcoming farm bill, which recently passed the U.S. House, for not including adequate support or reforms.

“Instead of rebalancing the rules in favor of independent farmers and rural communities, this bill largely preserves a status quo that benefits the largest corporations,” Farm Action’s Research and Policy Director Sarah Carden said.

“[W]e will continue urging Congress to use this opportunity to restore competition to the food and agriculture system, rebuild local and regional supply chains, and support farmers in feeding their communities healthy food.”

Scientists Take Soil Samples Outside Home of a Man Convicted of Killing Kristin Smart

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Scientists Take Soil Samples Outside Home of a Man Convicted of Killing Kristin Smart

(Headline USA) Scientists specializing in human decomposition and soil took samples from the ground Thursday outside a home connected to the man convicted of killing 19-year-old college student Kristin Smart in 1996. Her body was never found.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant Wednesday on the home of Susan Flores, whose son Paul Flores was convicted in 2022 of killing Smart. Authorities have not answered questions about what prompted the search.

Tim Nelligan, an expert in soil vapor testing, confirmed by phone Thursday that he was on the premises, gathering samples from the yards of Flores and a neighbor. He said is team has, in general, “come up with a methodology to assess soil vapor” and its relation to “human cadaver decomposition,” but that he could not discuss the current investigation.

Smart went missing from California Polytechnic State University in May 1996 after returning from an off-campus party. Prosecutors alleged she was killed during an attempted rape and that the last person she was seen with was Paul Flores, a fellow student. She was declared legally dead in 2002.

The decades-old case has captivated the public, fueled in part by a podcaster who helped investigators by bringing forward additional witnesses. Chris Lambert of the “Your Own Backyard” podcast first reported the search of the home in the central coast town of Arroyo Grande, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles.

Attempts to reach Susan Flores for comment Wednesday and Thursday were not successful. She has never faced criminal charges related to the case.

Nelligan and other scientists poked instruments into the soil and pulled up long tubing. Soil vapor sampling, which is an evolving science, involves collecting underground gas samples to detect volatile organic compounds associated with human decomposition.

Lambert, the podcaster, said he did not know much about the search, but was optimistic investigators could locate Smart’s body. He said past searches of Susan Flores’ home have never been thorough.

“This property in particular has been overlooked for quite some time,” he said Thursday in front of the house.

Paul Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, were arrested in 2021.

Prosecutors alleged Smart’s remains were buried on Ruben Flores’ property and later moved. He was acquitted of accessory charges. That property is different from the one currently being searched.

Paul Flores was sentenced in March 2023 to prison, where he has been physically attacked at least twice.

In 2024, a judge ruled that Paul Flores must pay just over $350,000 to Smart’s family for costs they incurred after her death.

The family has said it would forgo restitution if Flores would tell them where the woman’s body was. Flores’ attorney, Harold Mesick, said in 2024 that the defense did not know where her remains are. Flores maintains his innocence.

The county district attorney’s office said Wednesday it was helping the sheriff’s office with the investigation.

“While those responsible for Kristin’s death — and those with knowledge of her whereabouts — could provide answers at any time, we remain firmly committed to using every lawful tool available to locate Kristin’s remains and to support her family until she is brought home,” District Attorney Dan Dow said in a statement.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

Iran Warns the US Against Attacks on its Oil Tankers and Other Ships but Ceasefire Appears to Hold

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Iran Warns the US Against Attacks on its Oil Tankers and Other Ships but Ceasefire Appears to Hold

(Headline USA) Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy on Saturday warned that any attack on Iranian oil tankers or commercial vessels would be met with a “heavy assault” on one of the U.S. bases in the region and enemy ships, even as a tenuous ceasefire appeared to be holding.

Iranian state TV reported the warning a day after the United States struck two Iranian oil tankers, casting doubt on the month-old ceasefire that the U.S. has insisted is still in effect. The U.S. military said the tankers were trying to breach its blockade of Iran’s ports.

Meanwhile Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s regional headquarters, said it arrested dozens of people it alleged had links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Washington awaits Iran’s response to its latest proposal for a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping and roll back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. And Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran to help negotiate a settlement remains on the table.

Bahrain says arrests were linked to Guard funding attempt

Bahrain said it had arrested 41 people it said are part of a group affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard. The interior ministry said investigations confirmed they were in contact with the Guard and collected funds “with the aim of sending them to Iran” to support its “terrorist operations.”

The small Persian Gulf island is led by a Sunni Muslim monarchy but, like Iran, has a majority Shiite population. Rights groups have said the kingdom has used the war between Iran and the U.S., which bases its Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as an excuse to crack down on dissent.

Iran issued a warning to Bahrain: “Siding with the U.S.-backed resolution will bring severe consequences. The Strait of Hormuz is a vital lifeline; do not risk closing it on yourselves FOREVER,” Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission of Iran’s parliament, said on social media.

Iran has mostly blocked the critical waterway for global energy since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, causing a global spike in fuel prices and rattling world markets.

The U.S. has imposed its own blockade of Iran’s ports. U.S. Central Command said on Saturday its forces had turned back 58 commercial ships and “disabled” four since the blockade began April 13.

Britain’s defense ministry said it was deploying a warship to the Middle East to join a potential mission to protect commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz once hostilities end.

The ministry said the HMS Dragon will “preposition” in the region, ready to join a U.K.- and French-led security plan. France announced this week it was moving its aircraft carrier strike group into the Red Sea in preparation.

Britain and France have led meetings involving several dozen countries on a coalition to reestablish freedom of navigation in the strait. But they stress it won’t start until there is a sustainable ceasefire and the maritime industry is reassured ships can go through the strait safely.

U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran doesn’t accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program. On Friday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the country was not paying attention to “deadlines,” according to state-run IRNA.

Diplomacy continues. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country has been in contact with the U.S. and Iran “day and night” in an effort to extend the ceasefire and reach a peace deal.

Russia’s foreign ministry said that it, as well as Saudi Arabia, was calling for diplomatic efforts to reach a “sustainable, long-term agreement” to end the war.

Separately, Putin told reporters in Moscow that taking enriched uranium from Iran to help negotiate a settlement would allow everyone to see “how much of it there is, and where it is located,” and “all of this would be placed under the control of the IAEA,” the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Egyptian and Qatari top diplomats reiterated that diplomacy is the sole path to a solution, according to a readout of a phone call between the two foreign ministers.

Still publicly unseen and unheard since the war began is Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, fueling speculation about his status.

On Friday, a top Iranian official said Khamenei was in “complete health” and eventually would appear in public. Mazaher Hosseini, affiliated with the office of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war, made the comment at a pro-government gathering. Hosseini said Mojtaba, Khamenei’s son, had knee and back injuries in the war’s opening attacks but they’ve largely healed.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

 

Left-Wing Influencer Flirts with ‘Violent Revolution’ Calls after Redistricting Loss

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Left-Wing Influencer Flirts with ‘Violent Revolution’ Calls after Redistricting Loss

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Virginia Supreme Court’s decision to reject the state’s redistricted map triggered what critics called an extreme response from a high-profile leftist influencer: “violent revolution.”

The remarks came from Hasan Piker, a far-left social media personality known for a long history of inflammatory rhetoric, including past remarks suggesting America “deserved” 9/11 and comments about Republican officials that sparked widespread backlash.

Piker made the comments on Friday via X after Virginia’s highest court ruled that the Democrat-backed ballot measure violated the commonwealth’s constitution.

In his posts, Piker singled out the Virginia Supreme Court, referenced the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings against racial gerrymandering and criticized Tennessee over congressional redistricting battles.

He then declared that “those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.” Piker also argued that “democracy is a pressure valve for the public. this kind of systemic disenfranchisement will inevitably lead to chaos.”

Critics on X quickly interpreted the remarks as flirting with political violence.

Conservative podcast host Ben Shapiro wrote: “The Cartier communist will lead a violent revolution from his multimillion dollar mansion.”

Journalist Laura Loomer accused Piker of helping normalize extremism, calling him a “tool to manufacture consent for assassination culture and a communist and Islamic takeover of America.”

Another critic wrote: “This guy is a millionaire nepo-baby who grew up literally riding a pony, and wears Cartier glasses while driving million dollar cars; and then he goes and tells poor people to risk their lives engaging in violent revolution while he gets rich by streaming about it.”

The controversy followed a major legal defeat for Virginia Democrats after the state’s high court ruled that lawmakers failed to properly amend the commonwealth’s constitution before placing the redistricting measure on the ballot.

According to the court, constitutional amendments in Virginia must pass the legislature twice with an election held in between the votes. Democrats approved the measure once before the 2025 elections, but the first vote occurred after early voting had already begun. The second vote occurred after the election with Gov. Abigail Spanberger already in office.

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