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Majority of Americans back Israeli airstrikes on Iran, poll shows

: More Americans support rather than oppose Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to a new national poll conducted before Israel’s Friday attack on Iran.

But the survey, released by the Ronald Reagan Institute, indicates that most Democrats and Republicans don’t see eye-to-eye on the issue.

According to the poll, which was first shared with Fox News on Friday, 45% of those questioned said they would support Israel conducting targeted airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities if diplomatic efforts between the U.S. and Iran fail.

Thirty-seven percent said they opposed Israeli airstrikes, with 18% unsure.

But the poll indicates a partisan divide.

Six in 10 Republicans said they support the airstrikes, but that backing dropped to 35% among independents and 32% among Democrats.

Twenty-seven percent of Republicans opposed the Israeli airstrikes, with a third of independents and just over half of Democrats opposed.

The poll was conducted before Israel’s unprecedented attack on Iran, named ‘Operation Rising Lion,’ which included strikes on both the Islamic State’s nuclear program and military leaders.

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Trump believes Israel’s strike on Iran could improve chances for nuclear deal: report

President Donald Trump said he thinks Israel’s strike on Iran probably improved the chances a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal will come to fruition, according to Axios. 

After an Axios reporter asked Trump whether he thought Israel’s strike jeopardized the administration’s efforts to strike a deal with Iran, the president reportedly responded, ‘I don’t think so. Maybe the opposite. Maybe now they will negotiate seriously.’ 

The president has urged Iran to make a deal ‘before there is nothing left,’ after Israeli Defense Forces began bombing the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile sites.

‘I couldn’t get them to a deal in 60 days. They were close. They should have done it. Maybe now it will happen,’ Trump added in his comments to the Axios reporter. 

Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement during his first term. The agreement restricted Iran’s development of nuclear weapons, but, in exchange, the U.S. and other countries agreed to ease sanctions against Iran’s economy. 

During former President Joe Biden’s tenure, the U.S. sought to return to the JCPOA, but after years of talks, nothing came to fruition.

Trump has signaled that a deal with Iran is among his top priorities but has repeatedly said the country will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. 

Iran has said the U.S. has not respected its right to enrich uranium for non-violent purposes for citizens. Media reports have suggested Trump has signaled an openness to letting Iran continue to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. 

Further nuclear talks between the two powers were scheduled for Sunday, but, after Israel’s attacks, Iran has said it no longer plans to participate in the talks. 

Iranian state media reported that Iran has announced it will be suspending its involvement in the negotiations ‘until further notice.’ 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for further comment. 

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How close was Iran to a nuclear weapon before Israel’s strike on Tehran?

Israel’s airstrikes on Tehran, Iran, on Friday morning marked a dramatic escalation in the proxy war between the two regional rivals, reigniting one of the most consequential questions in international security: Just how close was Iran to building a nuclear weapon?

While Israeli experts have warned for years that Iran was enriching uranium at a level that put it ‘weeks away’ from a nuclear weapon, in recent days, there has been a shift. According to Israeli intelligence sources, Iran was on the verge of assembling a crude nuclear device.

Beni Sabti, an Iran expert at the Institute of National Security Studies, told Fox News Digital the threat was urgent and specific: Tehran was pulling its materials together ‘in a secret place near Tehran to make a primitive warhead.’

Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum, said that since the Trump administration reinitiated nuclear negotiations, Israel had been collecting fresh intelligence that raised alarm bells.

‘There were a few things that stood out,’ Roman said, referencing activity at the Times Enrichment facility. ‘Iran reactivated an explosives manufacturing line, which could only be used to help that needed nuclear weapon… efforts to put the fissile material into a shape which could be used for a nuclear weapon – that was reactivated as well.’

Roman added that these developments mirrored work Iran halted in 2003, when it froze its military nuclear program. 

Experts believe Iran is enriching uranium to 60%, which puts it just below the 90% needed for a nuclear weapon, and have said there is no civilian use for 60% enriched uranium. 

However, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a Senate worldwide threats hearing in April Iran is not moving toward a nuclear weapon. 

‘The IC [intelligence community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapon program that he suspended in 2003,’ she said. 

‘The IC continues to monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program. In the past year, we’ve seen an erosion in the decades-long taboo in Iran of discussing nuclear weapons in public, likely emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran’s decision-making apparatus,’ Gabbard said. 

President Donald Trump on Friday noted he gave Iran a 60-day ‘ultimatum’ to make a deal, and Friday was day 61. Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran were scheduled for this weekend, but whether those talks will carry on as planned remains unclear. 

Not everyone is convinced Iran is actively building a bomb. Rosemary Kelanic, a political scientist and nuclear deterrence expert, urged caution about the narrative coming from Israeli officials.

‘Those in favor of this attack, including Israel, are going to do everything they can to try to make it look like Iran was on precipice of a bomb,’ Kelanic said. ‘But we need to be really critical in our thinking.’

U.S. intelligence assessments, she noted, have consistently judged that Iran was not pursuing an active weaponization program, even though it possessed enough enriched uranium to build a bomb. ‘Iran could have built a bomb back in 2022 if not earlier, and chose not to. That’s the reason that I think they don’t have one now.’

However, Kelanic warned that the Israeli strikes might push Iran to reconsider that restraint.

‘Their best path forward now, tragically, is to run a crash program and test a nuclear device as soon as they possibly can,’ she said. ‘Super risky to do that, but then maybe they can establish some kind of deterrence from Israel.’

The competing intelligence narratives reflect deep uncertainty about Iran’s intentions and even more uncertainty about what comes next. While Israel argues that its strikes disrupted a dangerous escalation, critics fear they may have accelerated it.

Kelanic suggested that even if the U.S. and Iran had come to a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program, Israel may still have carried out strikes on Iran. 

‘They just wouldn’t trust that Iran would actually give up nuclear weapons, right?’ she said. ‘If you think that they truly can never have it, and it’s an existential threat to Israel, etc, then the only thing you can do is either completely wreck Iran as a functioning state, turn it into a failed state, unable to ever get nuclear weapons.’ 

For now, time will tell whether Israel’s strikes decimate Iran’s nuclear capabilities or the decades-long threat will continue. 

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Character study shows team that stays true to itself wins NBA Finals

These NBA Finals are confusing.

Entering Game 3, the Pacers had led for only one minute and 53.3 seconds, with their time ahead in their lone victory spanning just 0.3 seconds. The Thunder had their star player, NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, set the record for most points scored by a player through two games (72) in his NBA Finals debut.

Yet, with their 116-107 victory Wednesday, June 11, the Pacers took a 2-1 lead over Oklahoma City and now sit two victories from their first NBA Finals title in franchise history.

Things could be very different. The Thunder were the best team in the NBA regular season (68-14) and appear to have the deeper team. But, in many ways, these NBA Finals are a case study of what happens in a clash of teams that — when they play to their strengths and style — are very tough to beat.

The question becomes: how does one get the other to play out of sorts?

A lot of it has come down to effort.

“I just thought they really outplayed us on both ends,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Wednesday after the game. “I thought they were in character in terms of their physicality, their pressure on defense. Then they were in character in terms of their pace on offense.

“They just stacked way more quality possessions in the fourth quarter than we did.”

That’s the essence: at this stage in the NBA postseason, with elite teams vying for championships, merely staying in character can mark the difference between winning and losing.

For the Pacers, the key appears to lie in speed and protecting the ball. Because when Indiana does that, it puts up more shots. And as the top shooting team this postseason (49.5%), more shots means more points. More points for this team also signifies fewer transition opportunities for Oklahoma City.

After committing six turnovers Wednesday in the first quarter, the Pacers committed just a single one in the second. Indiana, unsurprisingly, outscored Oklahoma City by 12 in the period. This was the run that set the tone for the rest of the game.

When the Pacers turning the ball over, they play right into Oklahoma City’s preferred style. Because the Thunder are at their best when they are physical and handsy on defense, deflecting passes and clogging the paint.

And when the Thunder force teams into turnovers, they can ignite on explosive and overwhelming runs that can put games away.

But when they don’t force turnovers, they can become too reliant on Gilgeous-Alexander to lift the team.

“They were aggressive,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the game. “I’m not sure how many points they had, but it felt like when they scored, we were going against a set defense, and it’s always harder against a set defense.”

Perhaps surprising some, the Pacers have been the aggressor on defense so far. As they have all postseason, relying on their youth, conditioning and athleticism, the Pacers have picked up the opposing team’s best player — Gilgeous-Alexander — full court, gradually wearing him down.

This has also slowed Oklahoma City’s offensive operation, forcing them to work in the halfcourt, which has been exposed this series as something of a weakness.

In the fourth quarter Wednesday, a weary Gilgeous-Alexander put up just three shot attempts and did not record a single assist.

Game 4 on Friday, June 13 (8 p.m. ET, ABC) becomes pivotal. The Thunder are still favored to even the series, but a 3-1 Indiana lead could become insurmountable. Can either team rely on its character to win the series?

It has felt, at times, like the difference has been levels of aggression and intention.

“When you execute the right way, whether it’s two years ago in some game that doesn’t seem very meaningful in mid-January or in Game 3 of the Finals, these guys see where important things are important, and hard things are hard,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.

“That’s a phrase I’ve used many times, hard things are hard. But our guys, they have made the investment, and it’s an ongoing thing. It’s like a great marriage; it’s a lot of work.”

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Oilers even series with dramatic OT win vs. Panthers: Game 4 highlights

The Edmonton Oilers have tied the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final after a major comeback that hadn’t happened in more than 100 years.

They had to overcome a 3-0 first-period deficit and a tying goal by Florida’s Sam Reinhart with 19.5 seconds left in regulation of Game 4 before Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl scored in overtime for a 5-4 victory and 2-2 series tie.

The Oilers are the first road team since the 1919 Montreal Canadiens to win a Stanley Cup Final game after trailing by three goals.

The Panthers appeared to be in command early in Game 4. Matthew Tkachuk had his first goals of the series, Aleksander Barkov had his first points and Anton Lundell scored in the final minute of the first period for a 3-0 lead.

‘We were kind of lollygagging around a little bit,’ Draisaitl told reporters. ‘It’s certainly not the time to lollygag around, especially after getting spanked in Game 3.’

How did the Oilers turn it around?

First, veteran Corey Perry spoke up during the intermission.

‘It was just honesty,’ Perry said. ‘We just had to realize where we were in the moment and kind of look ourselves in the mirror and how we were playing, what we were doing.’

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch also made the decision to pull Stuart Skinner and put backup goalie Calvin Pickard in net for the start of the second period.

If the goal was to shake things up, it worked. The Oilers stormed back to tie the game by the end of the second period.

‘We were a little too passive, watching the play develop too much,’ Reinhart said.

Pickard did his part, stopping Lundell on a breakaway after a turnover when it was 3-1 following a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins goal. In Game 3, Sam Bennett scored in a similar situation against Skinner to allow the Panthers to pull away.

‘He’s been nothing but spectacular for us,’ Draisaitl said of Pickard.

Darnell Nurse and Vasily Podkolzin tied the game and Jake Walman scored in the third period for a 4-3 lead. But Reinhart tied the game with Sergei Bobrovsky out for an extra skater. That was the only goal Pickard allowed on 23 shots as he improved to 7-0 in the playoffs.

Draisaitl, the runner-up to Hart Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck, gave Edmonton the win with his record-setting fourth overtime goal of the 2025 playoffs

‘He always scores big goals at big times and we’re going home with the momentum,’ Pickard said of Draisaitl.

The series heads to Edmonton, Alberta, after a long flight for Game 5 on Saturday, June 14.

‘The team that moves on from this and the team that recovers the fastest is going to have the bigger advantage on Saturday,’ Tkachuk said.

Highlights from Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers:

Oilers vs. Panthers highlights

Game 4 recap

Final score: Oilers 5, Panthers 4

Leon Draisaitl scores his fourth overtime goal of the 2025 playoffs, a record. He throws it one-handed toward the net and it goes in off Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola at 11:18. Series is tied 2-2.

Sam Bennett hits crossbar

Calvin Pickard gets his glove on Bennett’s shot and the puck clangs off the crossbar. Score still tied.

Overtime underway

Leon Draisaitl and Brad Marchand have the OT goals in this series.

End of third period: Panthers 4, Oilers 4

Jake Walman gives Edmonton the lead, but the Oilers can’t close it out. The Panthers press with Sergei Bobrovsky out of the net for an extra skater and Sam Reinhart scores from a tough angle to force overtime.

Score update: Panthers 4, Oilers 4

Sam Reinhart ties the game with 19.5 seconds left as the Panthers finally beat Calvin Pickard. We’re headed to overtime for the third time this series.

Sergei Bobrovsky on the bench

Panthers have extra skater. About two minutes left.

Score update: Oilers 4, Panthers 3

Defenseman Jake Walman rips a shot to Sergei Bobrovsky’s glove side for Edmonton’s first lead of the game at 13:36 of the third period.

Oilers power play

Sam Bennett goes off for tripping. Sergei Bobrovsky stretches out to make a pad save on Corey Perry in tight. Penalty is killed. About 10 minutes left in the third period.

Third period underway

Panthers have 89 seconds of a power play to start the period. Oilers kill it off.

End of second period: Oilers 3, Panthers 3

The Oilers had no answers for the Panthers in the first period. The opposite happened in the second period as the Oilers storm back to tie the game. Sergei Bobrovsky doesn’t look good on the second goal. Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch’s decision to insert backup goalie Calvin Pickard pays off as he stops Anton Lundell after a turnover when the score was 3-1. Shots were 17-10 Edmonton in that period.

Panthers power play

Leon Draisaitl goes off for elbowing. Calvin Pickard makes a save on Aaron Ekblad and 1:29 of the power play will carry into the third period.

Carter Verhaeghe hit

Evan Bouchard goes down after he’s hit from behind by Carter Verhaeghe. No penalty called. TNT reports that Bouchard heads to the dressing room.

Score update: Oilers 3, Panthers 3

Vasily Podkolzin ties it up after Darnell Nurse goes behind the net and throws the puck in front. Oilers have all the momentum.

Oilers power play

Aleksander Barkov, a penalty killer, is called for delay of game after putting the puck over the glass. Florida kills it off but Sergei Bobrovsky has to make a pad save as Connor McDavid enters the zone with speed and gets around Aaron Ekblad.

Score update: Panthers 3, Oilers 2

Darnell Nurse beats Sergei Bobrovsky up high from the left faceoff circle.

Calvin Pickard save

The Oilers goalie hasn’t been tested much since entering the game at the start of the second period, but he comes up big after an Anton Lundell steal and breakaway.

Oilers power play

Dmitry Kulikov called for holding the stick. Edmonton can pull within a goal here. The Oilers get some good looks but Sergei Bobrovsky stops Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Penalty is killed.

Score update: Panthers 3, Oilers 1

Oilers strike quickly on the power play on a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins goal. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl get assists after being held off the scoresheet in Game 3.

Oilers power play

Sam Bennett slashes Evan Bouchard as he breaks in toward the net.

Second period underway

3-0 Panthers. Oilers will need to stay out of the penalty box.

Oilers goalie change

Stuart Skinner is out. Calvin Pickard is in. Skinner wasn’t at fault there, but Oilers must be trying to shake things up.

End of first period: Panthers 3, Oilers 0

Dominant period by Florida, and penalties again cost the Oilers as Matthew Tkachuk gets two power-play goals. The first was on a 5-on-3. The Anton Lundell goal with 42 seconds left was a killer. Tkachuk gets his first goals of the series and Aleksander Barkov picks up his first points. Shots were 17-7 Florida. Stuart Skinner played well but it’s too much of a barrage.

Score update: Panthers 3, Oilers 0

Carter Verhaeghe checks Troy Stecher and feeds Anton Lundell in front. Did the referees miss a high stick there by Verhaeghe?

Score update: Panthers 2, Oilers 0

Matthew Tkachuk scores again on the power play. He passes to Sam Reinhart and then puts in the rebound of a Reinhart shot. Another assist for Aleksander Barkov.

Panthers power play

Mattias Ekholm high sticks Brad Marchand.

Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce in the building

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are in their hockey era.

Kelce, star tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, and Swift, a 14-time Grammy winner, traded in a football for a hockey puck on Thursday and traveled to Sunrise, Florida, for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers.

The duo was spotted walking to their suite at Amerant Bank Arena as nearby fans applauded. Kelce donned a red long-sleeve shirt and matching shorts, which he paired with a baseball cap and pair of white sneakers. Swift opted for an all-white, two-piece getup that she paired with white heeled boots and her signature red lip. – Cydney Henderson

Score update: Panthers 1, Oilers 0

The Panthers need just four seconds to score on the 5-on-3. After an Aleksander Barkov faceoff win, Mathew Tkachuk gets in position and beats Stuart Skinner through a screen at 11:42. That’s Barkov’s first point of the series. Oilers kill off second penalty.

Panthers power play

Evander Kane is called for high-sticking A.J. Greer. Kane got into penalty trouble in the last game. And it will be a 62-second 5-on-3 after Darnell Nurse takes down Aleksander Barkov.

Panthers dominate early

Shots are 8-1 Florida early. Stuart Skinner is keeping Edmonton in the game.

Stuart Skinner save

Stuart Skinner robs Sam Bennett. He’s looking good early.

Game 4 underway

Connor McDavid line vs. Aleksander Barkov line. Connor Brown, new to the McDavid line, sets up his captain for a good opportunity but Sergei Bobrovsky stops him.

When is Stanley Cup Final Game 4? Panthers vs. Oilers game time

The Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers will face off Thursday, June 12, at 8 p.m. ET at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida.

What TV channel is Panthers vs. Oilers Game 4 on?

TNT and truTV are broadcasting Game 4 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final. Kenny Albert will provide play-by-play, while Eddie Olczyk, Brian Boucher, Darren Pang and Jackie Redmond will provide analysis and reporting.

Stream the 2025 Stanley Cup Final on Sling

How to watch Panthers vs. Oilers Game 4

Date: Thursday, June 12
Location: Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida
Time: 8 p.m. ET
TV: TNT, truTV
Streaming: Max, Sling TV

Starting lines

The NHL roster report shows that Edmonton will start the Connor McDavid line and Florida will counter with the Aleksander Barkov line.

Oilers lines

Panthers lines

Oilers line changes

In addition to adding Jeff Skinner and Troy Stecher to the lineup, the Oilers are moving Connor Brown to the top line and moving Corey Perry down. The defense pairings will also be changed.

Goaltending matchup

Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky (14-6, 2.15 goals-against average, .916 save percentage) vs. Oilers’ Stuart Skinner (7-6, 2.84, .894). Skinner, who was pulled in Game 3, is 6-0 in Game 4s during his playoff career.

Connor Hellebuyck wins Hart Trophy; Leon Draisaitl is runner-up

Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets became the first goalie to win the Hart Trophy since Carey Price in 2014-15. His 47 wins ranked tied for second all-time and he had a league-best 2.00 goals-against average and eight shutouts. He finished second with a .925 save percentage.

Hellebuyck, who also won the Vezina Trophy, received 81 first-place votes and 1,346 total points. Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl was runner-up with 53 first-place votes and 1,209 points. Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (973 points) was the other finalist.

Florida Panthers’ leading scorers

The Panthers have 11 players with double-digit points, led by Sam Bennett (20), Carter Verhaeghe (19) and Brad Marchand and Matthew Tkachuk (18 each). Bennett is the playoffs’ leading goal scorer with 14.

Edmonton Oilers’ leading scorers

The Oilers have the top three scorers in the series: Connor McDavid has a league-best 31 points, followed by Leon Draisaitl (29) and Evan Bouchard (22).

Kris Knoblauch on lineup changes

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch is adding forward Jeff Skinner and defenseman Troy Stecher to the lineup. Forward Viktor Arvidsson and defenseman John Klingberg are coming out.

‘We felt like we could use a change and have those guys come in and give us a boost,’ he said. ‘We’ve seen it through the playoffs where we’ve made alterations to our lineup and it’s benefited us.’

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins injury update

Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had been considered a game-time decision on June 11 but indications are that he is in. ‘I still feel good right now,’ he told reporters in the morning. He played a little more than 15 minutes in Game 3.

Stanley Cup Final Game 4 odds: Panthers vs. Oilers betting lines

Spread: Panthers by 1.5
Moneyline: Panthers -145; Oilers +125
Over/Under: 6.5

Odds to win 2025 NHL Stanley Cup Final

Oilers +200
Panthers -250

2025 Stanley Cup Finals schedule

All times Eastern; (x-if necessary)

Game 1: Oilers 4, Panthers 3 (OT) | Story
Game 2: Panthers 5, Oilers 4 (2OT) | Story
Game 3: Panthers 6, Oilers 1 | Story
Game 4: Thursday, June 12, Edmonton at Florida | 8 p.m. | TNT, truTV
Game 5: Saturday, June 14, Florida at Edmonton | 8 p.m. | TNT, truTV
x-Game 6: Tuesday, June 17, Edmonton at Florida | 8 p.m. | TNT, truTV
x-Game 7: Friday, June 20, Florida at Edmonton | 8 p.m. | TNT, truTV

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Donna Kelce set to appear on ‘The Traitors’ Season 4

Donna Kelce, the mother of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, is having a busy NFL offseason.

‘The Traitors’ is reality competition show following a group of contestants in a Scottish castle who are secretly split into two groups: traitors and faithfuls. The faithfuls must determine who the traitors are and banish them from the game in order to win a grand cash prize.

The American version of the show, which airs on Peacock, has racked up several accolades since premiering in 2023, including an Emmy Award and, as NBC touted, being named the most-watched unscripted series in the country.

Here’s what to expect from Donna Kelce’s appearance on the show.

What is ‘The Traitors’? Why Donna Kelce was cast

‘The Traitors’ features a lineup of reality stars and other public figures on its cast. The first season of the American version consisted of a combination of regular people and big name stars, but the previous two seasons have strictly included the latter.

While the cast generally includes fan favorites from shows like ‘The Real Housewives,’ ‘Survivor’ and several other reality TV programs, there have also been a few wild card picks − which helps explain how Donna Kelce may have ended up in the group.

For example, last season saw a few celebrity relatives on the cast. Dylan Efron, the brother of actor Zac Efron, was one of Season 3’s winners. Sam Asghari, the ex-husband of pop star Britney Spears, was also on the show.

Who is Donna Kelce?

Donna Kelce is the mother of Travis and Jason Kelce, who are both known for their NFL careers.

While she has long been in the spotlight as a two-time NFL parent, her prominence rose in 2023 when her sons competed against each other in Super Bowl LVII, during which ‘Mama Kelce’ wore her signature split jersey.

Since then, she has appeared in ads for brands like Pillsbury and Ziploc and even made cameos in two Hallmark films last year.

Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at melina.khan@usatoday.com. 

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Inside Israel’s secret war in Iran: Mossad commandos, hidden drones and the strike that stunned Tehran

Israel’s overnight strike on Iran was not only one of the most ambitious aerial campaigns in recent history, it was the result of years of covert planning, surveillance and infiltration by Israeli intelligence. 

While dozens of fighter jets bombed nuclear and military targets across Iran early Friday morning, the groundwork had long been laid by Mossad agents working in lockstep with the Israeli military.

Code-named ‘Am Kelavi’ (Rising Lion), the preemptive operation was the product of unprecedented coordination between the Israeli air force, the Military Intelligence Directorate, Mossad and the country’s defense industries. For years, they worked ‘shoulder to shoulder’ to gather the intelligence files needed to eliminate Iran’s most sensitive military and nuclear assets.

A senior Israeli security official told Fox News Digital, ‘The Mossad worked with a huge number of people—a mass of agents deep inside Iran, operating at the highest level of penetration imaginable. Some of these agents were retrained as commando fighters to carry out mission-critical operations.’

That work culminated in what the official described as a three-layered strike. ‘We eliminated vast areas of Iran’s surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missile infrastructure, a massive number of senior scientists, and large portions of their air defense systems.’

‘We established a drone base inside Iran, and at zero hour, Mossad operatives retrieved them from hiding spots. We placed precision missiles on numerous vehicles and embedded additional missiles throughout the country, hidden inside rocks. We activated this entire array in precise coordination with the Israeli air force.’

Israeli jets launched simultaneous strikes on dozens of sites, including Iran’s primary uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. Located 1,500 kilometers from Israeli territory, Natanz had long been a critical part of Iran’s nuclear program. Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson, described it as an underground compound containing multi-level centrifuge halls and electrical infrastructure.

‘We inflicted significant damage on this site,’ Defrin said. ‘This facility was used by the IRGC to advance Iran’s project for acquiring nuclear weapons.’

Avner Golov, vice president of the Mind Israel think tank, told Fox News Digital, ‘The biggest success was hitting the Natanz facility and neutralizing Iran’s first wave of retaliation—the automatic response. 

‘We took out their opening move—the ballistic missiles that were meant to launch immediately, and the drones that were already on the way. The fact that scientists were eliminated—that’s the true achievement.’

However, far beyond the airstrikes, Israeli sources revealed that a massive intelligence and sabotage campaign was unfolding in parallel inside Iran. A former senior Israeli official told Fox News Digital, ‘There was activity inside Iran—an insane level of intelligence work.

‘They located the entire command center of the Iranian Air Force. All the commanders were together, and they were taken out in real time.’

According to the same official, Iran’s military had gathered its top air force brass in one facility as part of a publicized drill meant to project deterrence. Instead, it exposed them. ‘It was partly luck, but also planned—the ability to see them in real time and strike with precision,’ he said. ‘It’s a reminder of what happened in Lebanon—taking out contaminated leadership with surgical intelligence.’

That operation in Lebanon, often referred to as the ‘pagers’ operation, saw Israel infiltrate and sabotage Hezbollah’s command network using Chinese-made radios embedded with explosives. The current operation, Israeli experts say, was broader, deeper, and more strategically impactful.

‘I think this is so much more substantial,’ said Nadav Eyal, an Israeli journalist and analyst for ‘Yediot Ahronot’ newspaper. ‘What was done here was much more than the James Bond kind of type of pagers operation. It’s more about the infrastructure, intelligence needed to read devastating strikes on military installations, and the ingenuity of its intelligence services—electronic surveillance, things that it’s been developing for many years now.’

The Mossad’s infiltration campaign involved the quiet smuggling of sophisticated weaponry into Iran, hidden inside vehicles and embedded near strategic targets. In central Iran, precision-guided weapons were planted near surface-to-air missile batteries and launched on command. Disguised vehicles were also used to destroy Iran’s air defense systems at the moment of the strike. Meanwhile, explosive drones positioned near Tehran were activated to destroy long-range missile launchers at the Esfajabad base.

All of it took place under the watch of Iranian intelligence and succeeded without detection.

Israeli defense officials now say the mission represents one of the most successful intelligence-military integrations in the country’s history. If the Lebanon pagers stunned the world, the message from this strike is even clearer: nowhere is out of reach.

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AL ace still untouchable as 12-start streak reaches historic heights

And finally, he pounded his mitt and strutted off the mound to punctuate one of the most dominant stretches of pitching in major league history.

The Detroit Tigers left-hander won both the American League Cy Young Award and its pitching triple crown last season, yet somehow, in the season after, has only built upon those august accomplishments. Thursday night at Camden Yards, he capped a 12-start span in which he’s been virtually unhittable while driving the Tigers to the best record in the AL.

He shut out the Baltimore Orioles over seven innings, his fourth straight start of at least that length, and Detroit improved to 45-25 with a 4-1 victory.

Baltimore loaded its lineup with right-handed batters, yet advanced just one batter into scoring position. The Orioles did goad Skubal into showing his human side, however: He walked two batters for the first time in more than two months, yet in reality, was never in anything but full control.

While Skubal’s body of work is just coming together this season, his 12 starts dating from April 8 are historically surgical: He’s struck out 101 batters and walked just five. Since 1893, only Los Angeles Dodgers stalwart Clayton Kershaw – in 2015 and 2016 – and New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom in 2021 had similar stretches of precision and dominance.

On a night that felt like the first of summer, with the temperature touching a season-high 88 degrees, Skubal admitted to battling himself from the jump, when leadoff batter Jordan Westburg nearly took him out of the park to right field.

Seven innings, six strikeouts and three hits later, Skubal had conquered yet another foe – the Orioles and the elements.

“Listen, he’s one of the best in the league and will counter whatever they’re doing and stays in the fight a ton,” says Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. “He didn’t quite have the command he normally has, which doesn’t mean he had bad command tonight.

“It just means it was not perfection. If that’s your off day and it’s seven scoreless? Pretty good pitcher.”

Indeed, Skubal has been so good for so long – he’s earned the right to consider two so-so starts to begin this season the outlier – that any critiques of his work come off as so much nitpicking.

“I’ll go and work on my command in my bullpen,” Skubal deadpanned.

But seriously. If this is his worst of late?

“Twenty-four balls? How many throws?” asked Skubal, who was then informed he made 98 pitches.

“That’s pretty good. It just felt like my misses were bigger. But it’s two walks. It’s not the end of the world.”

Especially when the Tigers are just getting started. They’ve built an eight-game lead in the AL Central, are well on course to earn a first-round playoff bye and suddenly have a group seasoned by 2024’s stunning run to a wild card berth and trip to the AL Division Series.

Sure, Skubal is just a starting pitcher, albeit one with a 7-2 record, a 1.99 ERA, and a generational 111-9 strikeout-walk ratio. Yet there’s really no way to oversell his contributions to the Tigers, not when they’ve lost rookie Jackson Jobe to Tommy John surgery and still enjoy deploying Hinch’s “chaos” pitching plans that can zap the bullpen.

A Skubal start provides oxygen that can last the whole week, a benefit that’s immeasurable even within his 3.1 WAR entering Thursday, tops among AL pitchers.

“We can use the bullpen aggressively on both ends of his starts because he’s been so reliable,” says Hinch. “Now, he doesn’t have to be perfect. He doesn’t have to carry any more than his share of the responsibility.

“But I get to react accordingly to how he does for the next couple of days. So when he pitches well and deep into the game, we feel that benefit for two and three and four games until he gets on the mound again.”

That’s what made Thursday’s start so instructive. Skubal needed to wriggle out of a first-and-third jam in the second and was up to 48 pitches after three innings.

And then what? Consecutive nine-pitch innings in the fourth and fifth, all six outs coming on ground balls.

That’s value.

“That’s probably what I’m most proud of. I’m prouder of the grind-it-out than when you’re on early,” says Skubal, who nonetheless leads the AL in strikeouts.

His ERA over these dozen starts is 1.47, though Skubal stops short of calling it the greatest stretch of his career. He puts his ’24 finish – including three postseason starts – above this stretch.

“That’s the best I’ve thrown a baseball,” he says, “and I’ll continue to chase that and elevate my game.”

For now, he’s chasing deGrom and Kershaw and by the end of this season certainly looks like he’ll catch them in one regard: Multiple Cy Young awards.

Those trophies come as a result of the dominant days, the 13-strikeout shutouts like the one he authored four starts ago.

They also come on the nights that are a relative struggle, that end with 98 mph past rookie Coby Mayo and an exultation worthy of the toil.  

“I felt like I finished stronger than I started,” says Skubal. “That’s why the emotion came out.”

And summer’s just getting started.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Politics

Second federal judge sides against Trump’s election executive order

A second federal judge on Friday blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at overhauling elections in the U.S.

Trump’s March 25 executive order sought to compel officials to require documentary proof of citizenship for everyone registering to vote for federal elections, accept only mailed ballots received by Election Day and condition federal election grant funding on states adhering to the new ballot deadline.

‘The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,’ Judge Denise J. Casper of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts said in Friday’s ruling.

A group of Democratic state attorneys general had challenged the executive order as unconstitutional. 

The attorneys general said the directive ‘usurps the States’ constitutional power and seeks to amend election law by fiat.’

The defended the order as ‘standing up for free, fair and honest elections’ and called proof of citizenship a ‘commonsense’ requirement.

‘Despite pioneering self-government, the United States now fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections employed by modern, developed nations, as well as those still developing,’ Trump wrote in the executive order, titled ‘Preserving and protecting the integrity of American elections.’

‘India and Brazil, for example, are tying voter identification to a biometric database, while the United States largely relies on self-attestation for citizenship. In tabulating votes, Germany and Canada require use of paper ballots, counted in public by local officials, which substantially reduces the number of disputes as compared to the American patchwork of voting methods that can lead to basic chain-of-custody problems,’ he continued.

‘Further, while countries like Denmark and Sweden sensibly limit mail-in voting to those unable to vote in person and do not count late-arriving votes regardless of the date of postmark, many American elections now feature mass voting by mail, with many officials accepting ballots without postmarks or those received well after Election Day,’ he also said.

Casper also noted that, when it comes to citizenship, ‘there is no dispute (nor could there be) that U.S. citizenship is required to vote in federal elections and the federal voter registration forms require attestation of citizenship.’

Casper cited arguments made by the states that the requirements would ‘burden the States with significant efforts and substantial costs’ to update procedures.

The ruling is the second legal setback for Trump’s election order. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., previously blocked parts of the directive, including the proof-of-citizenship requirement for the federal voter registration form.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Iran claims right to nuclear prowess following Israel strikes, but remains silent on negotiations with US

Iran on Friday confirmed it will not end its nuclear programs despite the overnight attacks by Israel on its atomic facilities and apparent continued U.S. efforts to meet with Iranian counterparts on Sunday.

In a statement released by the Iranian government, Tehran claimed Israel’s attack proved it has a ‘right to enrichment and nuclear technology and missile capability.’

‘The enemy has caused our victimhood and legitimacy to be proven as to who is the aggressor and which regime threatens the security of the region,’ the statement said.

The comments not only followed Israel’s strike that killed seven top officials – including four military commanders, one official allegedly involved in the nuclear talks with the U.S., and two nuclear scientists – but also after the board of governors from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog on Thursday declared Iran is in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Despite the formal rebuke over its nuclear violations, including its substantial stockpiles of near-weapons-grade uranium, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed Tehran would continue to enrich uranium – the core hiccup in ongoing U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations. 

‘The cowardly nocturnal operation while the diplomatic process on the nuclear issue of Iran was underway is a sign of this regime’s fear of Iran’s power of persuasion and defense for the world,’ Tehran said Friday. 

Iranian political heads have claimed that the overnight strikes mean Tehran will not continue with nuclear negotiations with Washington, D.C., and that a meeting set with Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman on Sunday was off. 

However, the Trump administration has not confirmed these claims and neither has the Iranian regime. 

When asked if Iranian officials have notified the U.S. that Iran is withdrawing from nuclear negotiations, a US official said, ‘We still hope to have talks.’

Neither the White House nor the State Department immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s questions regarding the talks. 

President Donald Trump is set to hold a security meeting at 11 a.m. on Friday, when the future of the talks is expected to be addressed. 

Rich Edson contributed to this report. 

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