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The race against time to destroy Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons program heats up amid fresh strikes

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The Iranian regime’s retention of key nuclear weapons facilities and its material for building atomic bombs — highly enriched uranium — has led to new efforts by the U.S. and Israeli militaries to take out the last vestiges of the regime’s program.

On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that, that it’s “Air Force Struck the Arak Heavy Water Plant—A Key Plutonium Production Site for Nuclear Weapons.” The Arak plant is located in central Iran.

Prior to Friday’s attack, an IDF spokesperson told Fox News Digital concerning Arak, that there is a “high estimation” that attacks on “uranium enrichment sites are part of the plan.” The IDF declined to answer more specific questions about its target list and if any ground operations to retrieve the nuclear weapons-grade uranium were being considered.

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Reuters, quoting regime media outlet Fars, reported that joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Friday hit the Khondab heavy water research reactor. 

A statement released by the IDF said, “Heavy water is a unique material used to operate nuclear reactors, such as the inactive Arak reactor, which was originally designed to have weapons-grade plutonium production capabilities. These materials can also be used as a neutron source for nuclear weapons.”

The IDF statement added that “The plant was a significant economic asset for the terror regime and served as a source of income for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, generating tens of millions of dollars for the regime each year.”

The regime’s foreign minister posted a condemnation of Israel and warned the Jewish state, “Iran will exact HEAVY price for Israeli crimes.”

According to an article published by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), “The IR-40 Arak, aka Khondab, Heavy Water Reactor and Heavy Water Production Plant date to the early 2000s… The reactor core design was ideal for making substantial amounts of weapon-grade plutonium for nuclear weapons.”

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Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital, “The one nuclear site which hasn’t been hit to date has been Pickaxe Mountain, so striking that site as part of Operation Epic Fury will be important to further degrade the Iranian nuclear program.”

A White House spokesperson referred Fox News Digital to President Trump’s cabinet meeting comments about Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Trump said on Thursday, “We’re free to roam over their cities and towns and destroy all of their crazy nuclear weapons and missiles and drones that they’re building.”

David Albright, a physicist, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security told Fox News Digital that with respect to key nuclear weapons facilities that remain, “The elephants in the tent are Natanz and Isfahan. There was an attack on Natanz that the Iranians revealed, but the Israelis said we are not aware of an attack. So it must have been the U.S.,” he claimed.

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He said that Natanz has enriched uranium. “The Iranians were doing recovery operations in the underground fuel enrichment plant there and continuing to build this pickaxe mountain tunnel complex, which could hold enriched uranium. Right next to it is another tunnel complex that was built much earlier, around 2007… And the Iranians sealed it up, fortified it. There is something obviously important there.”

Albright said U.S. and Israeli airstrikes “have not attacked the underground Isfahan site. We know, according to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency], highly enriched uranium is in that site.” He continued that, “There may be an enrichment plant under construction in that underground complex. We would like that site to be attacked.”

Albright warned that the war should not end like the previous U.S.-Israel war with Iran in 2025 with Tehran retaining the “crown jewels” of its atomic weapons program: highly enriched uranium and a number of centrifuges.

He warned, “You don’t want it to come out of this war with the same kind of nuclear weapons capabilities that it had at the end of June war with a higher incentive to build a bomb.” He added, that is why it’s so important “to finish the job,” in Iran. 

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Mamdani endorses planned NYC ‘No Kings’ rally, derides ICE as ‘rogue agency’

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should be abolished, blasting the federal agency as “rogue” and “reckless” as questions mount over the city’s handling of illegal immigration following the fatal subway killing of an elderly veteran.

During a news conference announcing new street safety efforts, the mayor said he has spoken to President Donald Trump about immigration enforcement operations in the city, claiming ICE a “rogue agency.”

“We’re making clear that no one is above the law in this city, that everyone has to follow the rule of law,” Mamdani said. “I have made clear to the president, both in our private conversations and our public conversations, about the fact that I believe that ICE is a rogue agency.”

Mamdani added that he believes ICE is “reckless” and “delivers nothing toward the furthering of the cause of public safety.”

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“I’ve also been public about my belief that ICE is an entity that should be abolished, and that is critically important in our city, where we’ve seen too many New Yorkers living in fear of even going to what would otherwise be routine immigration check ins,” he said. “… What we’ve had in the interim is a federal entity that has been operating with a level of impunity, and that has to come to an end.”

The mayor went on to support protests against the Trump administration, endorsing the “No Kings NYC” protest planned for Saturday in Manhattan.

“I think that rallies are an incredibly effective way for New Yorkers to both organize together and make it clear what their vision is for the city, for the state, for this country,” Mamdani said. “I think that what we’ve seen is that there’s an attempt to make many in our city feel as if they are alone, when they believe that ICE has no place in our city, when they believe that every single New Yorker who lives in this city belongs in this city, and should be made to feel as if such.

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“What these rallies are — are also an opportunity to realize that you are not in the minority when you have those beliefs. You are, in fact, one of a growing coalition of people who want to see a shred of decency, dignity and humanity come back to our city and our country’s politics.”

Reporters did not question Mamdani about the recent murder of 83-year-old Air Force veteran Richard Williams, who died after he was allegedly shoved onto New York City subway tracks by an illegal immigrant from Honduras. Mamdani has yet to publicly comment on the killing.

When asked if Honduran national Bairon Posada-Hernandez, 34, would be turned over to ICE, the mayor’s office referred Fox News to the Department of Corrections (DOC).

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A DOC spokesperson said the agency processes ICE detainers “consistent with local law,” which limits cooperation.

Under city law, ICE is only notified if there is a detainer backed by a judicial warrant (I-200 or I-205), and the person has a qualifying recent conviction for a violent or serious crime.

It is unclear if ICE will be notified or take custody of Posada-Hernandez, who has been deported from the U.S. four times, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

DHS officials have asked New York City to cooperate, saying, “Posada-Hernandez is a serial criminal and four-time deported illegal alien who NEVER should have been able to walk our streets and harm innocent Americans. He is now facing murder charges. We are calling on New York sanctuary politicians to not release this murderer. Please join us in praying for Mr. Williams’ family, friends, and loved ones.”

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Johnson accuses Democrats of taking government hostage over ‘crazy’ immigration agenda

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House Speaker Mike Johnson chastised congressional Democrats Friday, saying Republicans will not be part of any effort to reopen America’s borders and stop the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants. 

Johnson held a two-hour conference call with House Republicans Friday, saying they were all “united” in the party’s position to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to end the partial government shutdown that has injected chaos into air travel. 

“They have taken hostage the funding processes of government so that they can impose their radical agenda on the American people,” Johnson told reporters of Senate Democrats.  

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“The Senate Democrats have foisted upon this appropriations process their radical, crazy agenda,” he added. “We call it crazy because that’s what it is. They want to reopen the borders, and they want to stop the deportation of dangerous criminal illegal aliens. We have to do these basic functions of government.”

On Friday, the Senate advanced a bill to fund much of DHS, except for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol.

“The only thing standing between ending this chaos or not are House Republicans,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said. “There’s a bipartisan bill that emerged from the Senate with uniform support, and it should be brought to the floor immediately so we can pay TSA agents, so we can end the chaos at airports across the country and stop inconveniencing millions of Americans.”

Democrats have refused to fully fund DHS unless Republicans agree to new restrictions on federal immigration authorities. 

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“This gambit that was done last night is a joke,” Johnson said of the bill. “It is unconscionable to me that the Democrats would force some sort of negotiation at three o’clock in the morning and try to hoist this upon the American people and then get on their jets and go home for their holiday and pretend and think that we’re going to go along with that.”

Lawmakers have come under increased pressure to strike a deal to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents after many have resigned and lines at airports across the country have swelled daily because of staffing issues. 

On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to pay TSA agents despite Congress having not appropriated the funds for it. 

Johnson said Republicans will put forward a continuing resolution for all agencies under DHS to keep operating at their current funding levels. 

“The reason that we can’t accept this ridiculousness is because we’re not going to risk not funding the agencies that keep the American people safe,” he said. 

The shutdown began in February, weeks after federal agents shot and killed two people in separate incidents during immigration raids in Minnesota. Democrats have demanded changes to ICE and DHS and have refused to fund the agencies. 

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‘Dukes of Hazzard’ star John Schneider says Democrats secretly rely on Trump policies they publicly attack

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“Dukes of Hazzard” star John Schneider took aim at Democrats, accusing them of rejecting President Donald Trump’s ideas even as they benefit from them.

Schneider slammed Democrats as “nothing but an embarrassment” during Thursday’s episode of his podcast, “Drinks with Dee Dee and John.” 

Schneider and his wife, Dee Dee Sorvino, spoke at length about the ongoing war in Iran and touched on the State of the Union address.

“As my grandmother would say, ‘They continue to throw the baby out with the bathwater,’” he said. “They refuse to even consider that President Trump might have a good idea, that he might have just done something noble. He might have just done something that is for the good of everybody.

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“And here’s the ‘flaw in the slaw,’ as old Roscoe would say. All of these amazing things that President Trump and his Cabinet are doing to keep the world safe, to keep America great, to do all that. The Democrats are also benefiting from that.”

He criticized those who decline to help but still reap the benefits, saying, “That’s not how I was raised.”

Schneider also compared the effect of Trump’s policies to neighbors building a fence, arguing cooperation ultimately helps everyone.

“If you’ve got a property line between you and your neighbor and you wanna put up a fence, then what you do is you go over to your neighbor. You say, ‘Hey Charlie, I’m thinking about putting up a fence. Do you wanna split it with me? Or do you want to look at the back of the fence? What do you wanna do here?'”

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Schneider said the better choice would be to work together.

“Let’s split it. Let’s make a really nice fence,” he said, adding that refusing to share the effort “is not being neighborly.

“You’re supposed to help one another.”

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Schneider has been outspoken about his political beliefs after Trump took office. The actor suspected he was being blacklisted by Hollywood after being open about voting for Trump in the 2016 election.

“People talk about Hollywood as if it has autonomy,” he previously told Fox News Digital. “Hollywood is a line item on a billionaire globalist spreadsheet, really. So, Hollywood has to basically do what they’re told.

“I know a lot of people in Hollywood, and I don’t really believe that they are naïve enough to believe a lot of the things that they put forth as truth,” he added. “But, as a very old song used to say, ‘They owe their soul to the company store.’”

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