The Trump administration sanctioned nearly two dozen firms operating in Iran’s illicit international oil trade, as President Donald Trump delivered remarks in the Middle East – tempting the Islamic Republic with a ‘much brighter future’ should it come to a nuclear agreement with the United States. 

The sanctions, announced by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Tuesday, target firms that operate in Iran’s oil trade. 

Officials said the Iranian government allocates billions of dollars worth of oil annually to its armed forces to supplement budget allocations, underwriting the development of ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, and financing regional terrorist groups. 

Treasury Department officials said Iran’s Armed Forces general staff and its main commercial affiliate, Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars Company, continue to establish front companies and rely on buyers and facilitators to enable their sanctioned oil trade. 

Sepehr Energy often carries out its oil shipments through a series of ‘deals’ between multiple front companies that it owns or controls, according to the Treasury Department, creating the ‘illusion of non-sanctionable trade between separate entities.’ 

‘Many of the entities involved in Sepehr Energy’s oil shipments are part of an elaborate system of oil smuggling and money laundering, directly controlled by or acting on behalf of Sepehr Energy,’ the Treasury Department said, adding that it also controls Hong Kong-based front companies and uses them to’broker and receive shipments of Iranian oil delivered to independent so-called teapot refineries in China.’  

The sanctions came shortly after Trump delivered a speech in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, urging Iran to take a ‘new and a better path.’ The Trump administration is in talks with Iran for a new nuclear deal. 

The president, during his speech, though, warned of ‘massive maximum pressure’ if Iran does not come to an agreement. 

‘As I have shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be profound,’ Trump said. ‘If Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch… we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero.’

‘Iran can have a much brighter future, but we will never allow them to threaten America and our allies with terrorism or a nuclear attack,’ Trump said. 

Trump had announced a 60-day time frame to reach an agreement with Iran over its illegal atomic weapons program. The first U.S. negotiating session with Iran commenced April 12. 

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Iranian officials for a fourth round of nuclear talks over the weekend. 

The nuclear talks were ‘difficult but useful,’ Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations, offered more, describing the talks as being both indirect and direct, The Associated Press reported.

An ‘agreement was reached to move forward with the talks to continue working through technical elements,’ the U.S. official said. ‘We are encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future.’

The Trump administration has said the flawed 2015 Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, did not prevent Iran from building an atomic bomb. 

Before leaving for his trip to the Middle East, Trump reiterated his stance on Iran’s nuclear goals. 

‘You can’t have a nuclear weapon, but I think that they are talking intelligently,’ Trump said. ‘We’re in the midst of talking to them, and they’re right now acting very intelligent. We want Iran to be wealthy and wonderful and happy and great, but they can’t have… nuclear weapons. Very simple. So I think they understand that.’

A day before the start of talks, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei welcomed chants of ‘Death to America’ in Iran’s capital, Tehran. 

‘Your judgment is right,’ Khamenei told a crowd of supporters who called for the destruction of the U.S.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A lone House Democrat is moving to force a chamber-wide vote on his impeachment resolution against President Donald Trump.

Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., introduced his impeachment resolution as privileged on Tuesday afternoon, meaning leaders have two days of the House in session to take up the legislation.

House GOP leaders could move to table the motion, a procedural vote aimed to scuttle a piece of legislation without having lawmakers vote on the legislation itself.

But an impeachment vote will likely put vulnerable House Democrats in a tough spot. 

Democrats have struggled to unite behind a potent message since the 2024 election, and such a vote could be politically perilous for their most vulnerable members as they work to win back the House majority in 2026.

No Republicans are likely to support impeaching Trump, however, meaning Thanedar’s measure will likely fail.

This story is breaking and will be updated…

President Donald Trump went after Iran in his first major speech in Saudi Arabia, warning that Tehran must choose between never having a nuclear weapon or dealing with his wrath.

‘If Iran’s leadership rejects the olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure,’ Trump said during an address to business leaders in Riyadh.

‘The choice is theirs to make,’ he added.  

Though Trump said he wants to make a deal with Iran and see Tehran prosper, his comments came after he first went after the Iranian regime and accused it of not only deteriorating its own nation, but the region at large. 

‘Iran’s leaders have focused on stealing their people’s wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad. Most tragic of all, they have dragged down an entire region with them,’ Trump said. 

The president pointed to the ‘countless lives lost’ in Iran’s effort to prop up the former Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria – which collapsed in December – and accused its support of Hezbollah for the downfall of Beirut, which he said was ‘once called the Paris of the Middle East.’

‘Can you imagine all of this misery and so much more was entirely avoidable, absolutely avoidable,’ Trump said. 

Trump asserted the Biden administration’s removal of some sanctions on Tehran as the chief method in how Iran financed terrorist organizations, including Hamas, which he argued led to the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for President Joe Biden for comment on Trump’s claims.

‘If only the Iranian regime had focused on building their nation up instead of tearing the region down,’ Trump continued. ‘Yet I’m here today not merely to condemn the past chaos of Iran’s leaders, but to offer them a new path and a much better path toward a far better and more hopeful future.

‘In the case of Iran, I have never believed in having permanent enemies,’ he said. ‘Enemies get you motivated. 

‘In fact, some of the closest friends of the United States of America are nations we fought wars against in generations past,’ Trump pointed out. 

It is unclear how Trump’s negative comments toward Tehran could impact ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran. 

The Iranian representative to the U.N. Mission in New York did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions. 

: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fired the top officials leading the National Intelligence Council — whom whistleblowers describe as ‘radically opposed to Trump’ — and has moved the agency to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI, to ensure she can block any ‘politicization of intelligence,’ Fox News Digital has learned. 

Gabbard fired Mike Collins, who was serving as the acting chair of the National Intelligence Council, and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, Tuesday, senior intelligence officials told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out Langan-Riekhof for comment and did not immediately hear back, and couldn’t immediately find contact information for Collins. 

Collins also has whistleblower complaints against him for political bias and ‘deliberately undermining the incoming Trump administration,’ officials said. 

They added that Collins was closely associated with Michael Morrell, the former deputy director of the CIA who worked to write a public letter in 2020 claiming that Hunter Biden’s laptop had ‘all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,’ and to get signatures from top ex-intelligence officials. 

As for Langan-Reikhof, officials said she has been a ‘key advocate’ for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and is someone who whistleblowers allege is ‘radically opposed to Trump.’

Meanwhile, Gabbard is moving the National Intelligence Council from the CIA to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to ‘directly hold accountable any improper action and politicization of intelligence,’ Fox News Digital has learned.

Many intel community leakers are ‘career bureaucrats that are entrenched in Washington politics,’ officials said. 

‘It takes time to weed them out and fire them,’ one official told Fox News Digital, adding that ‘plans to eliminate non-essential offices within ODNI that we know are housing deep state leakers are underway.’

A CIA official told Fox News Digital Tuesday that the National Intelligence Council ‘has always been a DNI component. It makes sense for them to be physically located at DNI.’

The moves come as Gabbard has taken steps to root out leakers and alleged ‘deep state holdovers’ who officials say are politicizing intelligence analysis and ‘trying to sabotage President Trump’s agenda.’ 

So far, Gabbard has referred three intelligence community professionals to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution over alleged leaks of classified information. Fox News Digital first reported on those criminal referrals in April. 

An ODNI official at that time told Fox News Digital that the intelligence community professionals allegedly leaked classified information to the Washington Post and The New York Times. 

‘Politicization of our intelligence and leaking classified information puts our nation’s security at risk and must end,’ Gabbard told Fox News Digital in April. ‘Those who leak classified information will be found and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.’ 

A senior intelligence official told Fox News Digital Tuesday that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is investigating 12 other intelligence officials over alleged leaks of classified information. 

For example, officials told Fox News Digital that ODNI fired two bureaucrats in early May who they say leaked information from an assessment about the violent Tren de Aragua gang to the Times. Officials said those bureaucrats were ‘CIA detailees’ who were fired for ‘not following proper procedures.’ 

In April, Gabbard established a task force to restore transparency and accountability in the intelligence community. Fox News Digital first reported on the Director’s Initiative Group (DIG), which started by investigating weaponization within the intelligence community.

Officials said the group will also work to root out politicization and expose unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence. In addition, it will work to declassify information ‘that serves a public interest.’ 

Gabbard also has held to account employees who participated in sexually explicit National Security Agency chatrooms, and is pursuing action against those who have made unauthorized leaks of classified information within the intelligence community. 

All the while, officials have complained about the hold up in confirming intelligence nominees, which they say are ‘essential’ to enacting the Trump agenda.

Currently, ODNI is without its nominees for principal deputy director of national intelligence; National Counterterrorism Center; National Counterintelligence and Security Center; intelligence inspector general; and general counsel; among others.

Former President Joe Biden’s second campaign ruined former Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances of defeating President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, according to a top Democratic consultant. 

David Plouffe, former President Barack Obama’s campaign manager in 2008 and a senior advisor on Harris’ 2024 campaign, detailed how dire Biden’s run was for the Democrats in a new book, ‘Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.’ 

‘And it’s all Biden,’ Plouffe said in the book, authored by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, about Biden’s choice to stay in the race so long and how the White House assured him Biden was capable of winning another election. 

‘He totally f—ed us.’ 

As a result, Plouffe said that Harris’ brief campaign against Trump turned into ‘a f—ing nightmare,’ pointing the blame on Biden. 

Plouffe is far from the only one who believes that Biden undercut his own party running again in 2024 as his faculties began to decline. 

A senior White House aide described in the book that ‘we attempted to shield him from his own staff so many people didn’t realize the extent of the decline beginning in 2023.’ 

The aide, who ultimately departed the White House because they did not believe Biden should run in 2024, described Biden’s decision to run for a second term as a ‘disservice’ to the country and Democrats. 

‘I love Joe Biden. When it comes to decency, there are few in politics like him,’ the aide said in the book, which is slated for release Tuesday. ‘Still, it was a disservice to the country and to the party for his family and advisers to allow him to run again.’

Spokespeople for Biden and Harris did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

‘Original Sin’ details the 2024 election cycle and how Biden’s team orchestrated a cover-up to hide just how severely his mental faculties had suffered. 

The book is one of several that detail Biden’s decision to run in 2024 and assert the dramatic decline of his cognitive function. 

For example, the book, ‘Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History,’ also detailed how the White House kept Biden from socializing even with those he regarded as friends and allies.

However, that book, authored by Chris Whipple, a former producer for CBS’ ’60 Minutes,’ said that one White House aide suggested ‘walling Biden off from the world was a grave mistake.’ 

‘‘They were afraid he might say the wrong thing or might feed the mental acuity narrative,’ he told me. ‘And so he started seeing fewer and fewer people. They allowed his faculties to atrophy. But I think, like knives, they have to be sharpened. They get sharpened by rubbing them up against steel. And they don’t get sharpened by sitting in a drawer,’’ Whipple wrote.