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A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
ISRAEL-IRAN WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
The U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear sites has widened its scope for a military response, Iran said today, adding, “Mr Trump, the gambler, you may start this war, but we will be the ones to end it.” While President Trump said Iran’s nuclear program had been “completely and totally obliterated” by the strikes, top U.S. officials say it is too soon to assess whether Iran still retained the ability to construct a nuclear weapon. Parisa Hafezi, Phil Stewart, and Maayan Lubell report for Reuters; Maggie Haberman, Farnaz Fassihi, Eric Schmitt, Aaron Boxerman, and Michael D. Shear report for the New York Times; Leo Sands and Abbie Cheeseman report for the Washington Post.
Trump yesterday floated the possibility of a leadership change in Iran, hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the “mission was not and has not been about regime change.” BBC News reports.
The United States does not plan to send ground troops into Iran and there is “no interest” in engaging in a “protracted conflict,” Vice President Vance said yesterday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also echoed the sentiment, saying yesterday that there are no plans for further attacks on Iran unless they “mess around” and attack Americans or U.S. military sites. Donica Phifer reports for Axios.
U.S. military and intelligence officials have reportedly detected signs that Iran-backed militias are readying to attack U.S. bases in Iraq, and possibly Syria, in retaliation for the U.S. strikes in Iran. Iraqi officials are working hard to prevent militia action, a U.S. official added yesterday. Eric Schmitt reports for the New York Times.
In the days before Trump gave the final order for the attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, Iran sent a private message to Trump saying that Tehran would respond to such a move by unleashing terrorist attacks on U.S. soil through the use of sleeper cells operating inside the country, sources told NBC News. Meanwhile, a memo sent Saturday from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said, “The threat of sleeper cells or sympathizers acting on their own, or at the behest of Iran has never been higher.” Freddie Clayton, Dan De Luce, Kevin Collier, Keir Simmons, and Carol E. Lee report; Tara Suter reports for The Hill.
Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan quietly worked to organize a meeting between top U.S. and Iranian officials in Istanbul this week, but the effort collapsed when Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who is in hiding for fear of being assassinated by Israel — could not be contacted to approve it, sources told Axios. Barak Ravid reports.
ISRAEL-IRAN WAR
The IDF today launched an “unprecedentedly powerful strike” against an expanded set of targets across Iran, the Israeli Defense Ministry said, as fears grow over the likelihood of a wider regional war. During the same period, at least 21 people were wounded yesterday after Iran launched a wave of missiles across four Israeli regions. The Washington Post reports; Haley Ott reports for CBS News.
Iran’s parliament has reportedly endorsed the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway that around 20% of the world’s oil and gas shipments pass through, state media reported today. The ultimate decision is now in the hands of the country’s top leaders. The Washington Post‘s Annabelle Timsit, Evan Halper and Josh Partlow report.
ISRAEL-IRAN WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
At the request of Iran, the U.N. Security Council met yesterday to discuss the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites. The resolution, proposed by Russia, China, and Pakistan, calls for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East, according to a draft viewed by Reuters. It is unclear when the council could vote on the text, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites, without specific reference to the United States or Israel. At the meeting, Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. condemned Washington’s involvement, telling members, “The timing, nature and the scale of Iran’s proportionate response will be decided by its armed forces.” Michelle Nichols reports for Reuters; Katie Wadington reports for The Hill.
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with Trump yesterday, with both leaders “reiterat[ing] the grave risk posed by Iran’s nuclear program to international security,” according to a readout of the call. Separately, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said today that he supported the U.S. strikes on Iran, saying “the information has been clear” that Iran had enriched uranium to 60% and “there is no other explanation for it to reach 60, other than engaging in a program that wasn’t about civilian nuclear power.” Kirsty Needham reports for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
A senior Iranian commander who was “one of the orchestrators” of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack was killed on Saturday in the city of Qom, south of Tehran, the Israeli military has said. Saeed Izadi was reportedly instrumental in arming and financing Hamas, and had been in charge of the Palestine Corps of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force. Iran has not reported Izadi’s killing and has previously denied involvement in Hamas’s attack. Frances Mao reports for BBC News.
The bodies of three hostages who had been killed in the Oct. 7 attacks, including an IDF soldier and two civilians, were recovered from Gaza on Saturday, following a special operation carried out by the Israel Security Agency and the IDF. Tamar Michaelis and Sophie Tanno report for CNN.
Israel has rejected a European Union report which says it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank, according to a document viewed by Reuters yesterday. The note, which was sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting today, said the bloc’s report was based on inaccurate information.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
At least seven people have been killed and 22 others injured in an overnight Russian missile and drone attack in the Kyiv region, the interior minister said today. Jaroslav Lukiv reports for BBC News.
Ukraine controls “90 square kilometers of territory” inside Russia’s Kursk region, Ukraine’s top military commander said yesterday, adding that its activity in the area has prevented Russia from sending a large number of troops to Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk. Reuters reports.
GLOBAL AFFAIRS
At least 22 people were killed and 63 others wounded yesterday in a suicide bomb attack at a church in Damascus, Syria’s health ministry said. The interior ministry said the attacker, who opened fire before detonating an explosive vest, was affiliated with the self-styled Islamic State group, though the group has not claimed responsibility at the time of writing. David Gritten reports for BBC News.
For the first time in 64 years, South Korea will have a civilian defense chief, with President Lee Jae Myung today nominating a five-term liberal lawmaker to the role. Ahn Gyu-back, a lawmaker from Lee’s Democratic Party, previously led a legislative panel that examined the circumstances of then President Yoon’s martial law decree. Kim Tong-Hyung reports for AP News.
Following a rare visit by a high-ranking U.S. official, Belarus has released Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a prominent dissident figure and the husband of exiled leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, along with 13 other political prisoners. Yuras Karmanau and Joanna Kozlowska report for AP News.
Some 57 soldiers have been kidnapped by local civilians in the Micay Canyon area of Colombia, the country’s military said today. The civilians are believed to be acting under pressure from the FARC rebel group, who had previously agreed a peace deal with the government in 2016. Jaroslav Lukiv reports for BBC News.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
Former Columbia student and pro-Palestinian advocate Mahmoud Khalil was released from immigration custody on Saturday, after being detained for over three months. A Department for Homeland Security spokesperson said U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz was overstepping his authority in releasing Khalil, and said the decision is “yet another example of how out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining national security.” Victoria Albert and Joseph De Avila report for the Wall Street Journal.
U.S. POLITICAL VIOLENCE
The Minnesota shooting suspect and his wife were “preppers” — people who go to extreme lengths to prepare for catastrophe events, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed Friday. Vance Boelter sent a message in their family group chat stating “something to the effect of they should prepare for war, they needed to get out of the house and people with guns may be showing up to the house,” the affidavit says. During the manhunt, Boelter’s wife also told authorities that her husband had given her a “bailout plan” to follow in an emergency, with officials believing that Boelter had started preparing for the rampage five days before his fatal attack on state Rep. Melissa Hortoman (D) and her husband and shooting state Sen. John Hoffman (D), and his wife. Gaya Gupta reports for the Washington Post.
The man accused of running Rep. Max Miller’s (R-Ohio) vehicle off a highway earlier this week has voluntarily turned himself in, authorities announced Friday. Feras Hamdan, 36, is awaiting a court appearance on an aggravated menacing charge, police say. Elizabeth Crisp reports for The Hill.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The Senate Parliamentarian yesterday rejected a provision in the Republicans’ broad domestic policy bill that aimed to restrict legal challenges to executive branch actions. The measure sought to curb the use of preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders by federal judges — legal mechanisms that have paused or delayed several of Trump’s directives. Catie Edmonson and Michael Gold report for the New York Times.
The families of victims of terrorist attacks in Israel can sue the Palestinian Authority, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday. The Palestinian Authority told the Supreme Court that because it does not “maintain any constitutionally meaningful connection to the United States,” allowing federal courts to exercise jurisdiction over claims “for alleged attacks in Israel and Palestine would violate due process.” However, in a unanimous ruling, the Court said it “recognized the national government’s interest in holding accountable those who perpetrate an ‘act of violence against’ US nationals — who, even when physically outside our borders, remain ‘under the particular protection’ of American law,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, adding, “So too the national government’s corresponding authority to make ‘the killing of an American abroad’ punishable as a federal offense ‘that can be prosecuted in (US) courts.” John Fritze reports for CNN.
A gunman opened fire on a Michigan church yesterday, injuring one person before being fatally shot by staff members, police said yesterday. The gunman has not been publicly identified but he is believed to be a 31-year-old local man who appeared to be suffering a mental health crisis, according to the Wayne police chief. Amanda Holpuch reports for the New York Times.
To comply with a Trump executive order, Microsoft recently helped suspend the email account of an International Criminal Court prosecutor in the Netherlands who was investigating Israel for war crimes. The company’s swift compliance with Trump’s order has stoked fears that the Trump administration might leverage U.S. tech dominance to punish adversaries, even in allied nations such as the Netherlands. Adam Satariano and Jeanno Smialek report for the New York Times.
Trump has launched a Kentucky MAGA, a super PAC devoted to defeating Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) in the May 2026 primary, Axios has learned. Trump’s senior political advisers Tony Fabrizio and Chris LaCivita will run the organization, with LaCivita saying the PAC would spend “whatever it takes” to defeat Massie. A Trump aide said the plans were in the works before Massie — who was one of two House Republicans to vote against Trump’s “big beautiful bill” last month — called Trump’s attacks on Iran unconstitutional. Alex Isenstadt reports.
Rhode Island’s Democratic-controlled state House on Friday approved legislation that would ban the sale of assault weapons. The proposal restricts only the sale and manufacturing, not its possession, while federal law prohibits people from crossing state lines to buy a firearm and bringing it back to a state where it is banned. Democratic Gov. Dan McKee said he plans to sign the proposal into law. Kimberlee Kruesi and Hallie Golden report for AP News.
A Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in each of the state’s public school classrooms is unconstitutional, a panel of three federal appellate judges on the Fifth Circuit ruled Friday. Sara Cline and Jack Brook report for AP News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
The Justice Department is unlikely to appoint an outsider to serve as special counsel to oversee politically sensitive criminal investigations, but it will likely assign a U.S. attorney to manage such cases if the need arises, a source told CNN. The news follows Trump repeating his call for a special prosecutor to investigate former President Biden, as he echoed his unsubstantiated claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Paula Reid and Casey Gannon report.
The Trump administration sent layoff notices to over 600 employees at Voice of America on Friday. The layoffs, known as reductions in force, will reduce staff at the federally funded news organization to around one-seventh of its head count at the beginning of 2025. Minho Kim reports for the New York Times.
Social Security has stopped publicly sharing key performance metrics, including benefit processing and wait times for its 1-800 number, data which customers and advocates have used to track the agency’s struggling customer service. The changes, which also include customers being urged to use an online portal for services rather than calling or visiting a field office, mark the latest sign of struggle amid Trump’s funding cuts. Meryl Kornfield and Hannah Natanson report for the Washington Post.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
In a sharp rebuke to the Justice Department, a federal judge yesterday ruled that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia should be freed from criminal custody as he awaits trial on human smuggling charges following his wrongful deportation to El Salvador. While Judge Barbara D. Holmes acknowledged that Garcia would likely remain in immigration custody, she ruled that Garcia was neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community. The government has appealed the order. Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times; Gary Grumbach reports for NBC News.
A federal judge in Massachusetts on Friday indefinitely blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students and scholars. District Judge Allison Burroughs directed the government to “immediately” prepare guidance to alert administration officials to disregard the revocation notice issued in May by the DHS, while ordering them to restore “every visa holder and applicant to the position that individual would have been absent such Revocation Notice.” Meanwhile, Trump said on Friday that he is “working closely” with Harvard University and could announce a deal within the next week. Devan Cole reports for CNN; Emily Berk, Kimmy Yam, and Gary Grumbach report for NBC News; Douglas Belkin reports for the Wall Street Journal.
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ICYMI: last week on Just Security
The Day After U.S. Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Program: A Policy and Legal Assessment
by Brianna Rosen, Tess Bridgeman, and Nima Gerami
Time for Rightsizing: Change is Coming to the UN Counterterrorism System
by Jordan Street
Dismantling CDC’s Global Work is Dismantling Our First Line of Biodefense
by Stephanie Psaki and Nikki Romanik
Posse Comitatus Act Meets the President’s “Protective Powers”: What’s Next in Newsom v. Trump
by Steve Vladeck and Ryan Goodman
