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The race against time to destroy Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons program heats up amid fresh strikes
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.”
STRIKES MAY SET IRAN BACK — BUT LIKELY WON’T END NUCLEAR PROGRAM, UN WATCHDOG CHIEF SAYS
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.
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.
A Florida fisherman changed his luck recently in a big way.
Captain Jose Rodriguez Jr. of Cudjoe Key, Florida, takes clients out four to five times a week on a Florida Keys fishing charter to reel in trophy fish. But he’d never come close to catching a monster 500-pound swordfish.
On Feb. 18, Rodriguez, along with a Pennsylvania family, landed a giant 480-pound swordfish, one of the largest of its kind caught in the Keys in recent years.
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“It was definitely a fight and a struggle,” Rodriguez, who helps run the family business, Above & Below Fishing Adventures, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“We fought the fish for five hours, and it took us at least another half hour to control the fish on the side of the boat before we could pull it over the side,” he said.
The Florida Keys are known for drawing in large species like swordfish, but landing one of this size requires specialized deep-sea techniques and is considered quite rare.
“Everyone’s in search of a nickel, which is 500 pounds, but it rarely happens in the Keys,” said Rodriguez, 25.
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When he started the fishing trip, it seemed like a “normal” day, he said. A Pennsylvania couple had chartered the boat to celebrate their son’s high school graduation.
As Rodriguez first spotted the swordfish, he knew it was large, but he wasn’t sure how massive it would be.
“Then my mate and I got a really good eye on it, and we basically sealed the deal,” he said.
At first, the Pennsylvania family didn’t realize the importance of what was happening, he said. But the two children aboard were big supporters.
Once the swordfish was caught, there was plenty of work to be done. For starters, there was no simple way to store a fish that huge.
“A fish that big actually lies on the back deck with ice bags on top of it with towels,” Rodriguez said. “There’s really no other spot” for it.
Then he and his mate sprayed it with saltwater to bring the core temperature down.
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When they were ready to filet the fish, they completed the process on the boat.
They didn’t have a crane to lift the fish.
“Not everyone’s prepared to catch a 500-pound fish,” the captain said.
Only a few such accomplishments have been documented in the last decade, according to available material.
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In 2019, Captain Nick Stanczyk landed a legendary 757.8-pound broadbill off Islamorada, marking one of the largest recreational swordfish ever caught in the U.S., as noted by Pelagic Gear.
In 2018, Patrick Vincent, along with Captain Stanczyk, caught a massive 600-pound swordfish off Islamorada, as Wild Open Spaces reported.
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In terms of Rodriguez’s catch, there were about 50–70 people in his community who came to admire the fish.
“We had well over 200 pounds of meat to use,” he said.
The Pennsylvania family only took 20-30 pounds of it.
They decided to donate the rest of the fish to people in the town.
“The whole community was eating swordfish that day,” Rodriguez said, chuckling.
When asked if he felt like a local celebrity, he said, “Almost, yeah. Everybody knows about it. … It’s just about being in the right place at the right time, and it ended up happening to me.”
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Rogan, Dave Smith speak about how Trump’s Iran war broke his coalition, could hand country right back to Dems
Podcaster Joe Rogan spoke with comedian and libertarian podcaster Dave Smith Thursday about how the historic coalition President Donald Trump united has fractured after broken promises on policy.
Over the past year, numerous podcasters who gave friendly interviews with Trump or outright endorsed him have since called out his administration, accusing it of betraying key policy promises to Trump’s voters.
Smith, who is Jewish, has been a frequent critic of Israel and its influence on American foreign policy.
The comedian marveled in particular at how, after decades of wars in the Middle East that have not benefited Americans, the very presidential candidate who ran on preventing similar conflicts would be the one to start a new one with Iran.
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“That was the one thing that he was saying that was so promising to so many people that were independent that were on the fence,” Rogan recalled.
“They’re like, ‘This guy wants no wars. All right. Look, he wants closing the border, which I think is a great idea. He wants no wars. That’s enough. Let’s go.’”
Smith, recalling how he endorsed Trump in the past, said the Democratic alternative was “the party who bragged about, first off, insane woke s— like poisoning the minds of children in a really grotesque and abusive way.
“They gave us open borders, flooding the country with people. They gave us all types of COVID tyranny based on pseudoscience. They gave us the most reckless foreign policy in American history, which was this proxy war on Russia’s border.”
The problem, he said, is that Trump squandering the historic coalition and mandate he won will deliver the country right back to the Democrats all over again.
“After ’24, this coalition came together where Donald Trump, for the first time ever, wins the popular vote, wins every single swing state, and really more remarkably, won the youth and the culture,” Smith recalled, arguing Trump went from a cultural pariah to becoming a uniting figure.
“That whole coalition has been destroyed over this war,” he said. “And now he’s going to hand the country right back over to these Democrats who we’ve been fighting so hard. All for what? All for a war that Netanyahu wanted?”
When Fox News Digital contacted the White House, a spokesman replied, “What matters most to the American people is having a commander in chief who takes decisive action to eliminate threats and keep them safe, which is exactly what President Trump is doing with the ongoing successful Operation Epic Fury.
“President Trump campaigned proudly on his promise to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, which is what this noble operation is seeking to accomplish. The President does not make these incredibly important national security decisions based on fluid opinion polls, but on the best interest of the American people.”
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Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss eligible for sixth college season after NCAA’s appeal denied by judge
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss is eligible for a sixth season of college football after a Mississippi judge denied an NCAA appeal.
The NCAA formally rejected his request for a sixth year of eligibility Jan. 9 because he and his team could not provide evidence he had an “incapacitating injury or illness” when he did not play for Division II Ferris State in 2022 because of apparent respiratory issues.
Chambliss then sued the NCAA, and a judge ruled last month that the NCAA “operated in bad faith” by trying to keep Chambliss ineligible for next season, a decision the NCAA appealed.
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The NCAA argued Chambliss “exhausted his eligibility” to play Division I football since he had already played four seasons in a five-year period.
Ole Miss came within a quarter of advancing to the College Football Playoff championship game, losing a 31-27 thriller to Miami in the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 8.
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The Rebels’ postseason was mired in controversy when Lane Kiffin opted to take the LSU head coaching job. Athletic director Keith Carter said Kiffin would not be able to coach the team in the playoffs if he left, resulting in a he-said, he-said between Kiffin and players about how the breakup went down in the locker room.
However, several coaches, including offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., went back and forth between LSU and Ole Miss for the playoff games.
The Rebels and Tigers will meet in Week 3 in Oxford.
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
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