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.

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.

Acting AG Blanche Fires Back at Obama’s DOJ Criticism

Posted July 21, 2026

Former President Barack Obama sharply criticized the Trump administration this week over what he described as growing political influence inside the United States Department of Justice, prompting an aggressive response from Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defending both the administration’s prosecutions and President Donald Trump’s authority over the executive branch.

The escalating public dispute comes as the Justice Department faces mounting scrutiny over a series of criminal investigations and indictments involving several longtime Trump critics and political adversaries, including former FBI Director James Comey.

Obama raised the issue during an interview with Stephen Colbert on CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that aired Monday night.

“The White House shouldn’t be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever,” Obama said during the interview. “The idea is that the attorney general is the people’s lawyer. It’s not the president’s consigliere.”

Obama suggested the principle of DOJ independence may ultimately need to be codified into law by Congress, arguing that the justice system risks becoming politicized if presidents are perceived as directly targeting political opponents through federal prosecutions.

The comments immediately triggered pushback from the Trump administration.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson accused Obama of hypocrisy, arguing that his administration played a central role in the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation.

“Barack Hussein Obama is the king of weaponization,” Jackson said in a statement, referencing declassified documents related to the FBI’s Russia probe.

But the administration’s most extensive response came Wednesday from Blanche during an interview with CBS News in Phoenix.

Blanche forcefully rejected accusations that the DOJ is engaged in political retaliation and defended the president’s constitutional authority over the executive branch.

“Article Two says, ‘the executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States of America,’” Blanche said while holding a pocket copy of the Constitution during the interview. “It does not say that the Attorney General stands off to the side.”

Blanche emphasized that the attorney general serves within the executive branch and argued that presidents are fully entitled to direct priorities involving law enforcement, immigration, drugs, and national security.

“To the extent that President Trump calls me and says that he thinks we have a problem in this country, whether it’s the scourge of drugs, illegal immigration, every American wants him to do that,” Blanche said. “And he should.”

The acting attorney general also dismissed accusations that the DOJ is pursuing politically motivated cases against Trump critics.

“We are absolutely doing nothing but what we should be doing at the Department of Justice,” Blanche said. “I wake up with a very clean conscience every morning.”

The public clash comes amid multiple high-profile investigations involving Trump adversaries.

Most notably, Comey was recently indicted after prosecutors alleged a 2025 Instagram post featuring seashells arranged to form the numbers “86 47” constituted a threat against Trump, the 47th president. Prosecutors argue “86” is commonly understood slang meaning “to eliminate” or “get rid of.”

Blanche defended the case, arguing threats against the president must be treated seriously given recent assassination attempts and escalating political extremism.

Last year, Trump publicly urged then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue prosecutions against Comey, James, and Sen. Adam Schiff, writing on social media that “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED.”

Blanche declined to discuss private conversations with Trump when asked whether the president personally directed prosecutions.

“But rest assured,” Blanche said, “he has much better, bigger and important things to do than to worry about me doing my job.”

Blanche also turned Democrats’ criticism back against them by pointing to the multiple criminal prosecutions Trump himself faced before returning to office, including cases brought by state prosecutors in New York and Georgia as well as federal investigations overseen by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

“So I welcome criticism. Let’s go,” Blanche said. “But if you’re sitting in a glass house, you ought not throw stones.”