Good evening, everyone. It is officially the end of another long weekend reporting the news. Tonight we have several important updates, including the Trump Justice Department shutting down a key Epstein investigation into his New Mexico properties, Trump confirming that the war in Iran could last up to four weeks and that he expects additional American service member casualties, rising gas prices, and more.
This weekend reminded me again why I do this work. We covered the good news and the chaotic news. Through it all, we kept pushing forward because informing you is and always will be my goal. Chasing the truth is not cheap. It takes time, resources, persistence, and a willingness to keep digging long after others stop paying attention.
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Here’s the news:
- President Donald Trump said the U.S. expects further casualties after three U.S. service members were killed and five wounded in joint U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader and other senior leaders, defended the operation as “ahead of schedule” and necessary to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions, claimed major destruction of Iranian naval assets, and faced divided reactions in Congress as lawmakers prepared to consider a war powers resolution.
- Oil prices surged sharply and U.S. stock futures fell after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran killed its supreme leader, with crude jumping up to 12–14%, raising the prospect of higher gas prices within days, as markets reacted to fears of disruption in the Strait of Hormuz — a key route for over 20% of global oil supply — alongside shipping diversions and rising gold and natural gas prices.
- According to Reuters, U.S. average gasoline prices are expected to rise above $3 per gallon for the first time in over three months as the conflict with Iran disrupts global oil flows, posing potential political risks for President Donald Trump ahead of midterm elections, with analysts noting pump prices could cross the $3 mark after dipping as low as $2.85 in February and warning that gasoline prices will likely increase gradually following the surge in oil.
- Trump said U.S. combat operations in Iran are continuing “in full force” and will persist until all objectives are achieved, confirmed three U.S. service members have been killed with more casualties likely, vowed retaliation, and urged Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to surrender with immunity or “face certain death,” while again defending the strikes as necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining long-range missiles and nuclear weapons.
- President Donald Trump took no questions from reporters after landing at Joint Base Andrews amid escalating developments in the Iran conflict.
- A small drone hit the UK’s Akrotiri air base in Cyprus overnight, impacting the airfield and causing minor damage but no casualties, prompting authorities to order personnel to remain sheltered amid warnings of possible further strikes; unconfirmed reports suggested the drone may have been a Shahed 136, and the incident followed conflicting statements from UK and Cypriot officials over whether Iranian missiles had been fired toward Cyprus during escalating regional tensions.
- U.S. Central Command disputed Iran’s claim that it is targeting only military sites, calling it a “lie” and alleging Tehran has struck civilian locations including major airports, ports, hotels, and residential areas across Dubai, Kuwait, Iraq, Israel, Bahrain and Qatar, though NBC News said it has not independently verified the full list of sites.
- Congress will receive its first classified briefings on Iran on Tuesday from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, with the Senate session scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and the House briefing at 5 p.m. ET.
- Donald Trump told Fox News that 48 Iranian leaders were killed in joint U.S. and Israeli strikes, describing the operation as moving rapidly and calling it an extraordinary success after 47 years of conflict with Iran.
- Hezbollah has joined the conflict against Israel, with the Israel Defense Forces announcing that six rockets were launched toward Haifa in the latest barrage targeting northern Israel.
- U.S. Central Command confirmed that three U.S. service members were killed in action during operations against Iran, marking the first confirmed American deaths since strikes began, and Trump said in a Truth Social video that additional casualties are likely.
- Iranian state media reported that a missile strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab in southern Iran killed 148 people and wounded 95 others, making it the deadliest reported incident of the current U.S. Israeli bombing campaign so far.
- Trump said in an interview with The Atlantic that Iran’s new leadership wants to open talks with him and that he has agreed to negotiate, adding that they should have acted sooner.
- A Reuters Ipsos poll found that only 27 percent of Americans approve of the U.S. strikes that killed Iran’s leader, while about half of respondents, including one in four Republicans, believe Trump is too willing to use military force.
- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed he approved U.S. use of British military bases to strike Iranian missile facilities, saying the only way to remove the threat is to destroy the missiles at their storage sites or launchers.
- Amazon Web Services said objects struck one of its UAE data center availability zones, causing sparks and a fire that forced a temporary power shutdown and disrupted connectivity for several hours, as Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes hit sites across the UAE, though AWS did not confirm whether the incident was directly linked to the attacks.
- The French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle (R91) and its strike group have been ordered to cut short their deployment in the North Atlantic and Baltic Sea and immediately head to the Eastern Mediterranean amid the escalating conflict with Iran, in a move France says is to bolster regional stability, protect French interests and reinforce NATO’s southern flank in response to Iranian attacks on Gulf states.
Non-Iran News:
- The New York Times has confirmed that in 2019, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York under the Trump Justice Department asked New Mexico’s attorney general to halt the state’s investigation into alleged criminal activity at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch and turn over all evidence so the federal government could lead the case, but according to former state officials and newly unsealed emails, the federal inquiry failed to aggressively pursue the ranch-related allegations and ultimately stalled, with state officials later saying they never received meaningful follow-up despite urging federal authorities to seize the property.
- According to The Guardian, former officials allege that the Office of Refugee Resettlement has moved more than a dozen pregnant unaccompanied immigrant girls, some as young as 13 and many pregnant due to rape, to a single facility in south Texas where abortion is banned in nearly all cases, effectively restricting access to reproductive healthcare and potentially violating the Flores settlement and international human rights standards, while the Department of Health and Human Services denies the claims and says it is ensuring appropriate care.
- At least 22 people were killed during pro Iran protests in Pakistan and Iraq after U.S. Israeli strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with demonstrators storming the U.S. consulate in Karachi and attempting to breach the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad, while Hezbollah, Hamas and other Iran aligned groups mourned his death and regional reactions ranged from mass mourning in Lebanon and Yemen to celebrations in parts of Syria.
- An Arkansas father, Dillon Hess, who was speeding to take his son suffering an allergic reaction to the hospital will not face charges after a state trooper used a PIT maneuver to spin and pin his vehicle, with authorities saying the trooper was unaware of the medical emergency and an internal investigation now underway.
See you in the morning.
— Aaron
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