Trump Gives Big Update on Iran Amid Reports Of Cease-Fire Violations
Trump Gives Big Update on Iran Amid Reports Of Cease-Fire Violations
President Donald Trump is sharpening his message to Iran as crucial negotiations approach ending hostilities, cautioning that the country’s leaders are in a position of weakness while trying to exploit global shipping routes.
“The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short-term extortion of the World by using International Waterways,” Trump wrote on TRUTH Social.
Trump’s comment highlights growing frustration in the U.S. regarding threats to vital maritime routes, especially the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial chokepoint that carries a significant portion of the world’s oil supply. “The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” Trump added.
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The president also wrote, “Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft apparatus is nonexistent, Radar is dead.” He noted further that Iran’s missile and drone infrastructure has been “largely obliterated,” along with the weapons themselves, and said the country’s longtime leaders “are no longer with us.”
A senior U.S. delegation is preparing for direct talks led by Vice President JD Vance and including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser Jared Kushner. They are scheduled to travel to Pakistan, where they will meet with Iranian officials for discussions on Saturday.
“The only thing they have going is the threat that a ship may ‘bunk’ into one of their sea mines,” he wrote, adding that “all 28 of their mine dropper boats are also lying at the bottom of the sea.”
“We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World,” Trump said, listing China, Japan, South Korea, France, and Germany. Trump also said that multiple large tankers are enroute to the U.S. “to LOAD UP with Oil.”
Sen. John Fetterman told Fox News host Jesse Watters Thursday evening that much of the U.S. media was “carrying water” for Iran, likely to spite President Trump, though he refused to call out his fellow Democrats for the same thing.
Watters asked, “Senator, do some members of your party think Trump is more dangerous than the Iranians?” – a question that stems from criticism of the president over the murderous and terrorism-supporting regime in Tehran, despite the fact that Democrats have joined Republicans in condemning Iran’s nuclear weapons pursuits for decades.
“I can’t speak for my other Democrats, but the American media has, essentially, become — carrying water for Iran,” Fetterman said. “And they’re describing the kinds of circumstances, then they forget the way Iran has behaved.
“And why can’t we just call what Iran has been — and what it continues to do, those things? America is the force of good in the world, and holding Iran accountable, what they’ve done, is important,” he said.
Fetterman delivered a combative defense of U.S. military operations in Iran during a heated exchange last month with with former Daily Caller staffer and current CNN host Kaitlan Collins — and at one point bluntly told her, “You don’t have to cut me off here.”
Fetterman appeared on The Source as fallout continued from a Feb. 28 Tomahawk missile strike that hit the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school building in Minab, southeastern Iran. Iranian reports claim at least 175 people were killed, most of them children.
A preliminary U.S. military investigation later found the strike resulted from faulty targeting intelligence based on outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency. The intended target was reportedly an adjacent Iranian base.
Nearly 150,000 California Mail Ballots Rejected In Primary
California election officials are examining why nearly 150,000 mail-in ballots were rejected during the state’s June primary, with late-arriving ballots accounting for most of the increase.
The higher rejection rate comes despite years of election law changes designed to make voting more accessible and ensure more ballots are ultimately counted.
According to data compiled by the California Secretary of State’s office, 148,241 mail-in ballots were rejected during the June primary, representing 1.73% of all mail ballots returned.
That marks an increase from the 2024 primary, when 108,982 ballots were rejected, or 1.56% of all mail ballots cast.
The largest reason for rejection was ballots arriving too late to qualify under California law.
State data shows that 93,479 ballots were rejected because they failed to meet the state’s deadline requirements.
California allows mail ballots to arrive up to seven days after Election Day, provided they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
Voting experts believe many of the rejected ballots received postmarks dated after Election Day, making them ineligible to be counted even if they arrived within the seven-day grace period.
Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, said the timing of postal processing appears to be a significant concern.
“Ballots rejected due to lateness are caused primarily to being postmarked too late to count, not because they arrived too late to count,” Alexander said.
Election experts have questioned whether recent operational changes within the U.S. Postal Service may be contributing to delayed postmarks.
Earlier this year, a group of mostly Democratic U.S. senators wrote to the Postal Service expressing concern that mail-processing changes could affect ballot handling during federal elections.
Updated Postal Service procedures mean postmarks may reflect when mail is processed at regional facilities rather than when it first enters the mail system.
Because processing centers have been consolidated in some areas, election officials have warned that postmark timing could be affected.
Before the June primary, California election officials encouraged voters to mail ballots as early as possible because of potential postal delays.
The June election also featured a highly competitive race for governor, which some experts believe encouraged many voters to wait until the final days before casting ballots.
In addition to late-arriving ballots, approximately 44,000 ballots were rejected because election officials determined the voter’s signature did not match the signature on file.
Another 8,300 ballots were rejected because the return envelope did not contain a signature.
State records also show that 743 ballots were rejected because those voters had already cast another ballot.
Other rejected ballots involved missing ballots inside return envelopes or multiple ballots submitted in a single envelope.
The highest rejection rate in the state occurred in Tulare County, where 3.52% of returned mail ballots were rejected.
Alpine County and Merced County followed closely, each recording rejection rates of 3.36%.
California has frequently faced criticism for taking weeks to complete vote counting after major elections, largely because state law permits ballots meeting certain requirements to continue arriving after Election Day.
Following the June primary, President Donald Trump again criticized California’s election system, while the Department of Justice opened an investigation into election administration in Los Angeles County.
Election experts emphasize that the increase in rejected ballots should not be interpreted as evidence of widespread voter fraud.
A 2025 report by the Brookings Institution found documented cases of mail ballot fraud remained extremely rare, estimating roughly four cases for every 10 million mail ballots cast, The Associated Press reported.
State officials have not identified evidence of widespread fraud connected to the June primary, but the increase in rejected ballots is expected to receive additional scrutiny as election administrators evaluate whether changes in postal operations, voter behavior or election procedures contributed to the higher rejection rate.
