US Political News and Trump’s China visit
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Hegseth: Iran ‘suffering the consequences’ after refusing a deal
US Secretary of War in statement following the launch of Operation Epic Fury: For almost fifty years, Iran has targeted and killed Americans. Unlike any previous president, President Trump began dealing with this cancer.
Mar 1, 2026, 2:15 AM (GMT+2)
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth released a statement on Saturday night following the start of Operation Epic Fury against the regime in Iran.
“Overnight, on President Trump’s orders, the Department of War commenced OPERATION EPIC FURY - the most lethal, most complex, and most-precision aerial operation in history," said Hegseth.
He added, “The Iranian regime had their chance, yet refused to make a deal - and now they are suffering the consequences. For almost fifty years, Iran has targeted and killed Americans, always seeking the world’s most powerful weapons to further their radical cause. Last night, unlike any previous president, President Trump began dealing with this cancer."
“We will not tolerate powerful missiles targeting the American people. Those missiles will be destroyed, along with Iran’s missile production. The Iranian navy will be destroyed. And, as President Trump has said his entire life, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon," stressed Hegseth.
Related articles:
- 'This moment in history requires moral clarity'
- Mamdani, Harris condemn strikes on Iran
- Jewish leaders back decisive action against Iran
- Regime successor to Khamenei ‘doomed to fail’
“Our warriors are the best in the world, and they are fully unleashed to achieve our objectives. May God’s providence protect them in this vital mission," concluded Hegseth.
Davey Crockett
Elite Member
Iranians clash with protestors over U.S. strikes
The Iranian regime has been responding violently to protesters within its own country, killing and jailing an unknown number.
By Andrew Rice | The Center Square
Published: March 1, 2026 6:11pm
(The Center Square) -
Iranian nationals celebrating the death of Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday clashed with protestors criticizing the Trump administration’s military actions in Iran.
As many as 50 Iranian nationals chanted, cheered, played music and danced outside the White House on Saturday, according to organizers. The Center Square spoke with several Iranian nationals who expressed joy about Khamenei’s death.
One Iranian national, Niki, who asked to be referred to by her first name only, moved to the United States three months ago after persecutions of Iranian regime protestors became more deadly. She described the community in Iran as one big family.
“All of the people in Iran are like our family, there’s no difference,” Niki said. “When we see that people are murdered, people are suffering in our country, there’s no doubt that we will suffer here too.”
The Iranian regime has been responding violently to protesters within its own country, killing and jailing an unknown number.
Niki said she hopes a democratic process will prevail in Iran after the military actions. She called on the Iranian people to hold elections and install a leader who represents the people.
“We have very good politicians, very good people, very intelligent and smart people that are in prison in Iran,” she said. “If they are freed, I’m sure that they will find a good leader between the people who are now in Iran.”
Several Iranian nationals brought homemade signs that denounced calling the military actions a war with Iran. Others banged on drums and declared messages of hope. Many had signs thanking President Trump for the United States’ military action.
“We don’t see it as a war with the Iranian people,” Mo, an Iranian national who has lived in the United States for 10 years, said. “We see it as a humanitarian intervention.”
He also called on the Iranian people to take power of the government and hold democratic elections.. He said he would visit the country again if it was opened up and it became safer to do so.
Mo pointed to Reza Pahlavi, an activist and Iranian dissent leader in exile in the United States, to lead the country after the Ayatollah’s death.
“We trust him and his teams after these things calm down,” he said. “The solution will be a referendum; people can freely vote for what type of government they choose.”
Alongside the Iranian people’s celebrations, several protestors gathered to criticize the Trump administration’s actions in Iran. Robert Chase, a progressive activist, questioned whether Khamenei’s death would lead to lasting change in Iran.
“There will eventually be another Ayatollah, presumably, because that is the structure of their government,” Chase said. “None of our goals have really been realized, just the decapitation of some of the more visible and vocal people opposing the United States, but there’s plenty more of them.”
Lawmakers have vowed to hold a vote on a War Powers Resolution to halt further military action in the country. Chase said he was skeptical that such a resolution would pass in Congress without a Democratic majority in either chamber.
“He campaigned as an isolationist, he’s governed as a would-be imperialist,” Chase said.
Overall, Chase cast doubt on a shift to democratic government in Iran and a major change in the country’s political outlook.
“There’s certainly not any hope of political changes in Iran, as a result of these attacks short of picking a new supreme leader,” Chase said. “I don’t know what there is to celebrate.”
Two Rare Moments of Honesty in Media Coverage of Iran
On tape, he acknowledged that his producer had texted him not to focus on that aspect of the scene. “They don’t want us to focus on this.”
“Well, I am.”
Posted by Ben Smith Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 05:00pm 21 Comments
For years, the legacy press has perfected the art of reframing anything that might reflect well on President Trump’s foreign policy. If there’s visible support, minimize it. If there’s gratitude, bury it. If the optics complicate the script, move the camera. Sunday, for once, that didn’t fully work.
Let’s look here at home, in the US, in Texas:
A CBS Austin reporter stood in front of a large crowd at the Texas Capitol openly praising President Trump’s actions in Iran. That alone was notable. What made it remarkable was what happened next. On tape, he acknowledged that his producer had texted him not to focus on that aspect of the scene.
That is not spin. That is not interpretation. That is a reporter saying, in real time, that he was being nudged away from a narrative complication and choosing to stay with what viewers could plainly see. A pro-Trump crowd reacting positively to the strike was news. He covered it anyway. In an era of careful framing and selective emphasis, that kind of refusal stands out.
Even international media could not change the narrative:
A Sky News Australia anchor closed her editorial with a direct message to the late Supreme Leader, delivered in Persian and ending with a blunt condemnation. No throat-clearing about nuance. No ritual reminder that “both sides” have grievances. Just a moral judgment about a regime whose record speaks for itself.
It was sharp. It was unapologetic. And it cut through the fog that so often surrounds commentary about Iran’s theocracy.
Even here at home, some coverage has been forced to acknowledge what is happening beyond the Beltway echo chamber. As RedState put it:
That is the larger story pressing through the cracks. Crowds in Texas openly praising the strike. Iranians in diaspora communities expressing gratitude rather than fury. Commentators unwilling, at least in isolated moments, to sanitize their verdict on a brutal regime.
No, the legacy media have not suddenly converted. But on a day of historic consequence, reality proved harder to suppress. Two moments. Two bright spots. And a reminder that sometimes the truth forces its way onto the screen anyway.
Watandar
Trusted Member
Lol pay some lapdog to stage some mini rallies and then make a big deal of them on the news. Typical media deceit. The American people are not and were not in favor of this completely unnecessary war.Two Rare Moments of Honesty in Media Coverage of Iran
On tape, he acknowledged that his producer had texted him not to focus on that aspect of the scene. “They don’t want us to focus on this.”
“Well, I am.”
Posted by Ben Smith Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 05:00pm 21 Comments
For years, the legacy press has perfected the art of reframing anything that might reflect well on President Trump’s foreign policy. If there’s visible support, minimize it. If there’s gratitude, bury it. If the optics complicate the script, move the camera. Sunday, for once, that didn’t fully work.
Let’s look here at home, in the US, in Texas:
A CBS Austin reporter stood in front of a large crowd at the Texas Capitol openly praising President Trump’s actions in Iran. That alone was notable. What made it remarkable was what happened next. On tape, he acknowledged that his producer had texted him not to focus on that aspect of the scene.
That is not spin. That is not interpretation. That is a reporter saying, in real time, that he was being nudged away from a narrative complication and choosing to stay with what viewers could plainly see. A pro-Trump crowd reacting positively to the strike was news. He covered it anyway. In an era of careful framing and selective emphasis, that kind of refusal stands out.
Even international media could not change the narrative:
A Sky News Australia anchor closed her editorial with a direct message to the late Supreme Leader, delivered in Persian and ending with a blunt condemnation. No throat-clearing about nuance. No ritual reminder that “both sides” have grievances. Just a moral judgment about a regime whose record speaks for itself.
It was sharp. It was unapologetic. And it cut through the fog that so often surrounds commentary about Iran’s theocracy.
Even here at home, some coverage has been forced to acknowledge what is happening beyond the Beltway echo chamber. As RedState put it:
That is the larger story pressing through the cracks. Crowds in Texas openly praising the strike. Iranians in diaspora communities expressing gratitude rather than fury. Commentators unwilling, at least in isolated moments, to sanitize their verdict on a brutal regime.
No, the legacy media have not suddenly converted. But on a day of historic consequence, reality proved harder to suppress. Two moments. Two bright spots. And a reminder that sometimes the truth forces its way onto the screen anyway.
57 minutes ago
Ana Faguy and Regan Morris
Washington DC and Los Angeles
BBC reports as Iranian Americans celebrate on the streets of Los Angeles
Fatemeh Shams watched with bated breath as her native country came under military attack from the US and Israel over the weekend.
Living in the US since 2009, she is among Iranian-American exiles who have opposed the Tehran regime from afar, and so she does not mourn the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Saturday's bombing.
"We all have very mixed feelings about what's happening," Fatemeh, based in Philadelphia, told the BBC. "On the one hand, we are extremely happy that our killers... they no longer breathe.
"The fact that [Khamenei] was killed in less than a moment, after 38 years of corruption and crime, it kind of feels that we didn't have any control over the justice we had been fighting for."
She is not the only member of the Iranian diaspora in America with mixed feelings. Some expressed concerns about the death toll and how long the conflict might last.
But many rallied across the US to celebrate Khamenei's death, in cities from Boston to Washington DC and Los Angeles.
On Sunday in LA - a city sometimes dubbed Tehrangeles as it is home to more than a third of the 400,000 Iranian immigrants in the US - police closed streets outside a federal building so demonstrators could celebrate.
The Iranian-American crowd waved flags while a plane circled in the sky above, trailing a banner that said, "THANK U TRUMP".
Hoda Zeaighamnia danced in the streets with her three children - one of whom was just days old when the family fled Iran.
Her daughter, Donya Cheshmaghil, told the BBC: "I was born in Iran. My family was forced to flee because we're not Muslim and they're very oppressive against anyone that's not Muslim.
"We're hoping this leads to regime change. We're very grateful for the US for finally intervening. The people in Iran have been asking for this. This is what the people in Iran want."
Her sister, Mona Cheshmhehil, said: "I'm sorry that it just had to take so many lives being lost for this to happen, but right now all we can think about is we're just so happy to have the chance to go back, see where we came from.
"We couldn't have thought this would happen."
Monuments toppled and celebratory dancing in Iran's streets [video in original]
However, a day earlier outside LA city hall, there was anger.
Actress Jane Fonda was among a few hundred who gathered to protest.
"You may wage this war in our name, but not with our consent," Fonda, 88, a longstanding anti-war activist, shouted to the crowd.
In other US cities, demonstrators for and against the military action made their voices heard.
"We don't call it a war," Sherry Yadegari, of Atlanta, Georgia, told AFP news agency. "We call it the Iran Rescue Operation."
But at a protest in New York, Layan Fuleihan, an activist, told AFP: "Bombing people does not help them free themselves.
"If Trump cared about democracy or if he cared about the well-being of Iranian people, he would have lifted the brutal sanctions on the Iranian economy that have made it impossible for everyday working Iranians to find enough to put food on their table."
An anti-war protest in Washington DC
Divisions were laid bare, too, among US Congress members with Iranian heritage.
Congresswoman Stephanie Bice, an Oklahoma Republican whose father is half-Iranian, posted on X: "Now is the time for Iranians to stand up and take back their nation and bring lasting peace to the Middle East."
But Yassamin Ansari, an Arizona Democrat whose parents fled the 1979 Iranian Revolution to come to the US, expressed some misgivings.
She said in a statement she wanted a free Iran, but did not want the US embroiled in "another endless war in the Middle East".
Back on the streets, many Iranian-Americans were prepared to set aside questions about what comes next and enjoy the downfall of an ayatollah whose regime killed thousands of people this year to crush widespread protests.
"This is a great day," Meraa Tcheshmaghio, told the BBC at LA's protest on Sunday. "Our country has been wanting this for a while.
"It's beautiful. It really is."
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2lgvg5rl1o
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75evve6l63o
Davey Crockett
Elite Member
Davey Crockett
Elite Member
AZ_HighCountry
INT'L MOD
Folks, word of caution:
Think about what you're about to post before you post it.
Think about what you're about to post before you post it.
Davey Crockett
Elite Member
Looking for updates, came across this propaganda piece with over 106,000 views!
At my job, come across some very remarkable opinions, often wonder where they get their news and views.
AZ_HighCountry
INT'L MOD
One can only imagine. I've heard X / Facebook / Instagram are known to be reliable sources.
Davey Crockett
Elite Member
Well, it's not like the Iranian mullahs haven't considered themselves at war with "The Great Satan" since they took power. All that Trump does is recognize facts that others have ignored.
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