Iran on Friday said the U.S., as a ‘backer’ of Israel, ‘shall be held fully accountable’ for the series of strikes Jerusalem levied overnight against Tehran, its nuclear and military facilities, and top officials – deepening retaliatory concerns over U.S. bases near Iran.

The U.N. Mission to Iran sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council condemning the attacks that killed four military commanders, one Iranian official allegedly involved in the nuclear talks with the U.S., and two nuclear scientists, and said that Israel’s ‘conduct’ in the region ‘poses a serious threat to international security.’

But earlier this week, just days ahead of a planned meeting between Washington and Tehran in Oman to discuss nuclear negotiations, Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh threatened to hit U.S. bases in the Middle East, should Israel once again directly strike the Persian nation. 

‘Some officials on the other side threaten conflict if negotiations don’t come to fruition,’ Nasirzadeh said, according to Reuters following early reporting that Jerusalem was considering a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. ‘If a conflict is imposed on us … all U.S. bases are within our reach, and we will boldly target them in host countries.’ 

The Trump administration announced a partial evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Iraq and authorized military dependents to leave locations across the Middle East, but it remains unclear how many Americans are expected to depart from the region. 

President Donald Trump on Thursday said the decision was made out of an abundance of caution and told reporters ‘I had to do it.’

‘We have a lot of American people in this area. And I said, we got to tell them to get out because something could happen soon, and I don’t want to be the one that didn’t give any warning and missiles are flying into their buildings,’ he added in reference to the feared military escalation between Israel and Iran.

Defense officials in October 2024 said some 40,000 service members were stationed throughout the Middle East, many of which are in striking range of Iran. 

The U.S. military has at least 19 sites spread across the region, eight of which are considered to be permanent, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. 

These sites are located in countries that border or are geographically near Iran, including Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates. 

But Iran’s lack of immediate defensive response to Israel’s Thursday night strike has prompted questions over whether Tehran would be able to pick a fight with the U.S. and create a third front. 

‘Given the fact that in January 2020, Iran launched short-range, precision strike ballistic missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq for killing Qasem Soleimani – the regime’s chief terrorist – this is not a theoretical exercise,’ Iran expert with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Benham Ben Taleblu told Fox News Digital. ‘The regime has proven an ability to land blows at these bases before.

‘It is possible, and it’s not theoretical, given that the regime has done this in the past and lived to tell the tale,’ he added. 

Ben Taleblu said he believes that Iran, at this moment, is looking to make sure the U.S. is not only uninterested in engaging in direct conflict against Tehran, but could even distance itself from Israel.

‘There is a political element to the regime continuously threatening America, which is to try to take advantage of the desire for de-escalation that exists in America,’ the expert added. ‘To try to put as much daylight between America and Israel as possible, and to turn America from an ally or partner of Israel, into just observer of yet another Middle East crisis. 

‘This is how Tehran is politically, trying to put America on the sidelines when militarily, it might struggle – militarily, it would struggle,’ Ben Taleblu added.

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. 

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. 

: 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.

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.

Far-left House Democrats are hammering Israel for its Thursday night strikes on Iran.

Members of the House’s progressive ‘Squad,’ already critical of Israel’s war on Gaza, are denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a ‘war criminal’ after his government launched attacks on Tehran and surrounding areas.

‘Israel has once again bombed Iran, a dangerous & reckless escalation. The war criminal Netanyahu wants to ignite an endless regional war & drag the US into it,’ Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., wrote on X. ‘Any politician who tries to help him betrays us all. The American people do not want this.’

Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., claimed Israel would drag the U.S. into war in the Middle East.

‘The Israeli government bombing Iran is a dangerous escalation that could lead to regional war. War Criminal Netanyahu will do anything to maintain his grip on power,’ Tlaib wrote.

‘We cannot let him drag our country into a war with Iran. Our government must stop funding and supporting this rogue genocidal regime.’

Omar said, ‘Regardless of what [President Donald Trump] thinks, Israel knows America will do whatever they want and feels confident about their ability to get into war and have the American government back them up. Israel also knows they can always rely on getting America to protect and serve its needs.’

‘Everyone in America should prepare themselves to either see their tax dollars being spent on weapon supplies to Israel or be dragged into war with Iran if this escalates,’ Omar said.

Washington and Tehran have been engaged in talks about a new Iran nuclear deal aimed at reining in the Islamic republic’s uranium enrichment.

Trump posted on Truth Social Friday morning that Iran now had a ‘second chance’ to come to the table after Israel’s strikes.

Democrats, meanwhile, were more concerned.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ that he thought Israel’s strikes, which it called preemptive, were a bid to scuttle those talks.

‘It appears as if this was an attempt by Israel to scuttle Donald Trump’s negotiations with Iran. Of course, our preferred pathway here to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is diplomacy,’ Murphy said.

U.S. officials have been warning Iran not to respond to what Israel has said will be a multi-strike operation.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and her DOGE subcommittee are launching an investigation into Planned Parenthood on Friday.

Greene is sending a letter to Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson, questioning whether the nonprofit is commingling ‘federal funds and using them for unpermitted purposes.’

Federal funds are barred from being used for abortions under a measure called the Hyde Amendment. President Donald Trump has also taken executive action toward affirming the Hyde Amendment and blocking federal dollars from organizations that provide transgender healthcare to youth.

However, Greene’s letter suggested she is accusing Planned Parenthood of doing both.

‘Despite receiving 39 percent of its annual revenue from federal funds intended for essential health services, such as cancer screenings and wellness exams, Planned Parenthood is increasingly using its resources to offer abortions to its patients,’ Greene wrote.

Greene said the data show that the ‘latest Planned Parenthood annual report shows that it performed more than 400,000 abortions, an increase of 23 percent over the last 10 years.’

The letter also accused Planned Parenthood of providing ‘gender-affirming care’ with ‘allegedly little to no medical or psychological evaluation.’

An annual report by Planned Parenthood, cited by Greene, showed 45 ‘affiliate health centers’ providing hormone therapy for so-called ‘gender-affirming care.’

However, Greene said other gender transition services were reported as ‘other procedures,’ including pediatric care and infertility services as well, which she said obscured the ‘true number of transgender services provided.’

‘Planned Parenthood’s official policy varies by state, but some Planned Parenthood health centers will provide cross-sex hormones to minors as young as 16 years old with parental consent,’ Greene wrote, while also accusing the group of ‘not consistently adhering to its own parental consent policies.’

To assist her probe, Greene is seeking Planned Parenthood’s non-public financial statements from between January 2020 through June 2025, as well as a list of its independent affiliate health centers, informed consent documents, and other documentation.

Notably, that period includes when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the issue of abortion back to the states in June 2022.

Republicans have long targeted Planned Parenthood, accusing the nonprofit of misusing federal dollars despite the longstanding anti-abortion funding measure.

The group’s supporters, meanwhile, have held it up as a key nationwide provider of women’s healthcare – which they believe has only gotten more critical after the high court’s June 2022 decision.

Greene’s panel, which is under the House Oversight Committee, is opening the probe weeks after House Republicans passed their version of Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ which includes a provision to block federal funds from organizations that provide abortions.

Fox News Digital reached out to Planned Parenthood for comment but did not immediately hear back.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi called Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Friday following airstrikes on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility, an Israeli presidential spokesperson told Fox News. 

Grossi told Herzog that the facility was severely damaged in the strikes, according to Israeli media reports. 

‘We are currently in contact with the Iranian nuclear safety authorities to ascertain the status of relevant nuclear facilities and to assess any wider impacts on nuclear safety and security,’ Grossi said in a statement. 

‘At present, the competent Iranian authorities have confirmed that the Natanz enrichment site has been impacted and that there are no elevated radiation levels. They have also reported that at present the Esfahan and Fordow sites have not been impacted.’ 

‘This development is deeply concerning. I have repeatedly stated that nuclear facilities must never be attacked, regardless of the context or circumstances, as it could harm both people and the environment. Such attacks have serious implications for nuclear safety, security and safeguards, as well as regional and international peace and security,’ Grossi continued. 

‘As Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and consistent with the objectives of the IAEA under the IAEA Statute, I call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid further escalation. I reiterate that any military action that jeopardizes the safety and security of nuclear facilities risks grave consequences for the people of Iran, the region, and beyond,’ he also said. 

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that ‘Overnight, Israeli Air Force fighter jets, guided by precise intelligence from the Intelligence Directorate, struck the Iranian regime’s uranium enrichment site in the Natanz area.’ 

‘This is the largest uranium enrichment site in Iran, which has operated for years to achieve nuclear weapons capability and houses the infrastructure required for enriching uranium to military-grade levels. As part of the strikes, the underground area of the site was damaged. This area contains a multi-story enrichment hall with centrifuges, electrical rooms, and additional supporting infrastructure,’ according to the IDF. 

‘In addition, critical infrastructure enabling the site’s continuous operation and the Iranian regime’s ongoing efforts to obtain nuclear weapons were targeted,’ it said. 

Fox News’ Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report. 

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. 

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.