We are nearly halfway through the first year of the second Trump administration, and the American people are seeing something unprecedented in American politics in the 21st Century: the development and implementation of a grand strategy. 

Critics and talking heads have tried to paint President Donald Trump as brash and careless, especially when it comes to foreign relations and international affairs. Nothing could be further from the truth. Since the beginning, Trump has been clear that America’s interests are his interests, and he has designed America’s grand strategy around American priorities. 

Critics say the Trump Doctrine is causing chaos. Not so. The chaos caused by the flawed designs of previous presidents and their advisers in this century alone made it necessary for a radical course correction. In other words, what Trump has done this year has also opened up new opportunities for collaboration and commerce in regions that were overlooked in previous administrations. The Middle East is a case in point.  

For decades, the only narrative coming out of the region was conflict. Trump saw past that and identified opportunities for trade, commerce and cooperation. This has directly led to a transformation in foreign relations with many Middle Eastern and Gulf countries and new partnerships that have the potential to revolutionize America’s engagement in the area — as well as the American economy. 

That was not Trump’s only goal. On his trip to the region, he also laid the groundwork for the now-apparent isolation of Iran. No one wants the Iran problem. Even Syria — a long-term Iranian ally — is watching from the sidelines. 

The Trump administration has also simultaneously put to bed the blanket ‘isolationist’ and ‘warmonger’ caricatures, which hold no water after strategic strikes against Iranian uranium enrichment facilities. These were calculated strikes that sent two important messages. 

First, it was a reminder that America supports its allies. Israel has been fighting against constant opposition long before the second Trump administration began. The lone beacon of democracy in the Middle East, it has done an admirable job of weakening the state and non-state actors that threaten not only the existence of the state of Israel but also democratic values that undergird all free societies.  

Israel has stood boldly when other nations have cowered. And they did it without asking for help. This is something that has set Israel apart. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has always acknowledged that Israel must fight for itself and has ultimate responsibility for its own defense. 

Trump honored that position and leveraged America’s unmatched military to support Israel through bombings that neutralized targets that were important to America, Israel, and the rest of the free world. 

This reminded America’s other allies that the Trump administration is ready and willing to work in tandem when priorities are aligned. The fact that this happened ahead of the NATO meeting demonstrates just how comprehensive the new American doctrine is. It is also not a coincidence that NATO agreed to support Trump’s recommendation of 5% of GDP going toward defense spending. 

The second message that Trump has sent is that he is always open to diplomacy. In fact, it is his preference. Iran was repeatedly warned against using force. They were encouraged to find a peaceful solution and explicitly told the consequences if they continued to violate the JCPOA agreement. Only when it became clear that Iran was not interested in negotiations was military force used.  

The Trump administration has also simultaneously put to bed the blanket ‘isolationist’ and ‘warmonger’ caricatures, which hold no water after strategic strikes against Iranian uranium enrichment facilities. 

Importantly, that was not the end of the story. Quickly after the strikes were completed, Trump again began working toward peace, personally working with top officials to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Force was only ever used in an effort to bring both parties to the negotiating table. 

These are not the actions of a warmonger or an isolationist. They are the actions of a peace strategist. Someone who is unashamed to put his country first on the world’s stage but opens the hand of friendship and cooperation to those willing to join together to achieve shared goals. Sounds a bit like President Ronald Reagan, who ended the Cold War without firing a shot.  

President Donald Trump declared last week that Iran’s underground nuclear facilities bombed by the U.S. were ‘obliterated,’ while adding the U.S. and Israeli strikes delivered ‘monumental damage to all nuclear sites in Iran.’ 

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed that message in a briefing, saying the ‘CIA can confirm that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran’s nuclear program has been severely damaged by recent targeted strikes.’

Israeli intelligence sources told Fox News Digital that strikes on Natanz, Fordow and Esfahan caused severe and possibly irreversible damage to Iran’s known enrichment infrastructure. ‘We hit the heart of their capabilities,’ one official said. 

But despite the overwhelming success of the mission, questions remain about what survived – and what might come next. Analysts warn that while Iran’s declared facilities have been largely destroyed, covert elements of the program may still exist, and enriched uranium stockpiles could resurface.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director Rafael Grossi said in an interview with CBS on Saturday that although ‘it’s clear that what happened in particular in Fordow, Natanz, [and] Isfahan—where Iran used to have, and still has to some degree, capabilities in terms of treatment, conversion, and enrichment of uranium—has been destroyed to an important degree,’ the threat remains. 

Nuclear experts say that while Iran’s nuclear progress has been dealt a historic blow, the regime may still retain the technical know-how and residual capabilities to reconstitute its program over time – especially if it chooses to go dark.

A detailed assessment released Tuesday by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) found that Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, followed by U.S. bunker-busting strikes, ‘effectively destroyed Iran’s centrifuge enrichment program.’ But authors David Albright and Spencer Faragasso cautioned that ‘residuals such as stocks of 60%, 20%, and 3-5% enriched uranium and centrifuges manufactured but not yet installed… pose a threat as they can be used in the future to produce weapon-grade uranium’.

Jonathan Ruhe, director of foreign policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), echoed that concern in an interview with Fox News Digital.

‘The threat now is certainly much reduced,’ Ruhe said. ‘But the threat from here on out is going to be much more difficult to detect because Iran could try to rebuild covertly. They don’t need much space or time to enrich 60% to 90%. And the IAEA has said for years that Iran likely retains some secret capability.’

Ruhe added that while Israeli intelligence was likely aware of attempts to move uranium before the strikes, ‘any planning assumption going forward must consider Iran’s residual capacity – even if it’s diminished.’

John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, said critics who argue the program wasn’t completely destroyed are missing the bigger picture.

‘Can everything be rebuilt eventually? Sure. But there’s no question the program was rolled back – years, if not more,’ Spencer told Fox News Digital. ‘People fixate on how many pounds of uranium are missing. But building a bomb requires much more than material. You need the conversion, the metallurgy, the delivery system – all of which were hit.’

Dr. Or Rabinowitz, a nuclear proliferation scholar at Hebrew University and visiting associate professor at Stanford, noted that many unknowns remain.

‘There’s no verified answer yet to what happened to the 60% enriched uranium – or to the other feedstocks at 20% or 3.5%,’ Rabinowitz said. ‘If Iran has access to advanced centrifuges, they could in theory enrich back to weapons-grade – but we don’t know how many centrifuges survived or in what condition they are.’

She also explained that even if Iran retains the material, converting uranium gas into metal for a bomb requires a specialized facility. ‘From what we know, that conversion facility in Isfahan was bombed. Without it, Iran faces a significant bottleneck,’ she said. But she warned that nuclear weapons technology is not insurmountable: ‘This is 1940s science. If North Korea could do it, Iran could too – eventually.’

According to the ISIS report, ‘extensive damage’ was confirmed at nearly all major Iranian nuclear and missile facilities, including the destruction of uranium metal conversion plants, fuel fabrication centers, and the IR-40 Arak heavy water reactor. The report noted that the Israeli and U.S. strikes ‘rendered the Fordow site inoperable,’ citing high-resolution satellite imagery of deep bunker penetrations.

Rabinowitz also emphasized that the intelligence picture is still developing in real time. ‘The Israelis and the Americans are now hard at work to generate the most accurate intelligence picture they can,’ she said. ‘Without having my own sources in the Mossad, I can guarantee the Israelis are monitoring internal Iranian communications, trying to figure out what the Iranians have figured out. As they learn more, so will Israel and the U.S.’

As debate continues over whether the strikes were enough to permanently disable Iran’s nuclear ambitions, analysts agree on one point: Iran’s assumption that it could push forward without consequence is gone.

During a press conference on Friday. Trump was asked if he would bomb Iran’s nuclear program again if it was restarted. He told reporters, ‘Sure without question.’

An unelected Senate parliamentarian should not be deciding what stays and what doesn’t in the so-called ‘Big, Beautiful Bill,’ Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., told Fox News Channel in an interview that earned President Trump’s approval.

Conservatives were furious on Thursday morning after learning Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled several key reforms and tweaks to Medicaid in the Senate GOP’s version of President Trump’s bill did not pass muster with Senate Rules. One senator, Roger Marshall, of Kansas, called for MacDonough to be replaced.

Steube was a guest on FOX Report on Sunday morning, when host Jon Scott asked him where he stood on whether the parliamentarian should have been overruled or even fired. He agreed with Marshall.

‘Yeah, I had called for her to be fired,’ Steube said. ‘I don’t think that one person who’s unelected, who got appointed over a decade ago, should be the one deciding what stays in and what doesn’t.’

Lawmakers across the U.S. were elected by their constituents to make those decisions; not the parliamentarians, he said.

At the moment, Republicans hold majorities in the House and the Senate. MacDonough was appointed by the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who was a Democrat.

Steube questioned why current Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., would not replace MacDonough with a Republican appointee.

‘We’ve certainly called for that,’ Steube said. ‘Thune has said he’s not going to do that, so they’re going to move forward.’

Scott noted that MacDonough has said she is supposed to be call balls and strikes, not make political decisions. When Scott asked Steube if he thought MacDonough was working for the Democrats, the lawmaker noted she was appointed by one.

‘What House lawmakers that have been elected by the people passed by a majority of the House of Representatives and sent over to the Senate are now getting struck by one person who was appointed by Harry Reid,’ Steube said. ‘I certainly don’t think that’s what the American people voted for.

Trump later posted about Steube’s interview on Truth Social.

‘Great Congressman Greg Steube is 100% correct,’ the president wrote. ‘An unelected Senate Staffer (Parliamentarian), should not be allowed to hurt the Republicans Bill. Wants many fantastic things out. NO!’

Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.

Iran acknowledged on Sunday that an Israeli strike on Tehran’s notorious Evin prison last week killed dozens of people.

Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir posted on the office’s official Mizan news agency website that the strike killed at least 71 people, including staff, soldiers, prisoners and members of visiting families. Officials did not provide a breakdown of casualty figures.

The Washington-based Human Rights Activists in Iran said at least 35 of those killed were staff members and two were inmates. Others killed included a person walking in the prison vicinity and a woman who went to meet a judge about her imprisoned husband’s case, the organization said.

Jahangir said some of the injured were treated on site, while others were taken to hospitals. Iran has not said how many were injured.

Iran had also confirmed on Saturday that top prosecutor Ali Ghanaatkar had been killed in the attack. Ghanaatkar’s prosecution of dissidents, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, had led to widespread criticism by human rights groups.

Israel carried out the strike on June 23 as its Defense Ministry said it was attacking ‘regime targets and government repression bodies in the heart of Tehran.’ The facility was known to hold many of Iran’s political prisoners and dissidents.

The prison attack came near the end of 12 days of Israeli strikes, which Israel claimed killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites.

The status of Iran’s nuclear program remains unclear, even after President Donald Trump said American strikes on June 22 ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ in an interview Sunday that Iran’s capacities remain, but it is impossible to assess the full damage to the nuclear program unless inspectors are allowed in, which Iranian officials have not authorized.

‘It is clear that there has been severe damage, but it’s not total damage, first of all. And secondly, Iran has the capacities there, industrial and technological capacities. So if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again,’ Grossi said.

Grossi said Iran could have centrifuges spinning enriched uranium ‘in a matter of months.’

‘Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there,’ he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The top Democrat in the Senate plans to inflict maximum pain on Senate Republicans in their march to pass President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ before lawmakers even get a chance to debate the legislative behemoth.

Indeed, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., plans to force clerks on the Senate floor to read the entirety of the GOP’s 940-page megabill. His move to drain as much time as possible will come after Republicans vote on a key procedural test to open debate on the legislation.

‘I will object to Republicans moving forward on their Big, Ugly Bill without reading it on the Senate floor,’ Schumer said on X. ‘Republicans won’t tell America what’s in the bill

‘So Democrats are forcing it to be read start to finish on the floor,’ he said. ‘We will be here all night if that’s what it takes to read it.’

Indeed, staffers were seen carting the bill onto the Senate floor in preparation for the all-night read-a-thon.

Schumer’s move is expected to take up to 15 hours and is designed to allow Senate Democrats more time to parse through the myriad provisions within the massive legislative text. Ultimately, it will prove a smokescreen as Senate Republicans will continue to march toward a final vote.

Once the bill reading is done, 20 hours of debate evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans will begin, likely early Sunday morning. Democrats are expected to use their entire 10-hour chunk, while Republicans will go far under their allotted time.

Then comes the ‘vote-a-rama’ process, where lawmakers can offer an unlimited number of amendments to the bill.

Democrats will again look to extract as much pain as possible during that process, while Republicans, particularly senators that have lingering issues with key Medicaid and land sale provisions, will continue to try and shape and mold the bill.

The last time clerks were forced to read the entirety of a bill during the budget reconciliation process was in 2021, when Senate Democrats held the majority in the upper chamber.

At the time, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., demanded that the entire, over-600-page American Rescue Act be read aloud. Schumer, who was the Senate Majority Leader attempting to ram then-President Joe Biden’s agenda through the upper chamber, objected to the reading. 

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned Saturday of the dangers of politicians using heated rhetoric against judges. 

‘It becomes wrapped up in the political dispute that a judge who’s doing his or her job is part of the problem,’ Roberts said in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the Judicial Conference of the Fourth Circuit, a gathering of judges and lawyers. 

‘And the danger, of course, is somebody might pick up on that. And we have had, of course, serious threats of violence and murder of judges just simply for doing their work. So, I think the political people on both sides of the aisle need to keep that in mind.’

Roberts didn’t name anyone but appeared to be referencing President Donald Trump and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer when he said he’d felt compelled to speak out against rhetoric by Democrats and Republicans in the past. 

Trump has criticized judges many times over the years, including calling for the impeachment of a judge who ruled against a deportation policy earlier this year, referring to him as ‘radical left’ and a ‘lunatic.’ 

Roberts responded at the time, saying, ‘For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.’

In 2020, Roberts condemned Schumer for saying that Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch would ‘pay the price’ regarding an abortion rights case during Trump’s first term. 

‘You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,’ Schumer said at a rally outside the Supreme Court at the time. ‘You will not know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.’

Schumer later said he was referring to the political price he believed Senate Republicans would pay, but he said, ‘I shouldn’t have used the words I did, but in no way was I making a threat. I never, never would do such a thing, and Leader McConnell knows that.’ 

Roberts, at the time, said of Schumer, ‘Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All members of the court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.’

In April, an armed man who was arrested outside of Kavanaugh’s home pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate the justice. 

Roberts’ remarks came after the Supreme Court issued the final decisions of its term, handing the Trump administration a win Friday by limiting judges’ ability to block his agenda through court orders. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Senate Republicans rammed President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ through a procedural hurdle after hours of tense negotiations that put the megabill’s fate into question. 

Speculation swirled whether Republicans would be satisfied by the latest edition of the mammoth bill, which was released just before the stroke of midnight Saturday morning.

Nearly every Republican, except Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., all voted to unlock a marathon 20-hour debate on the bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., could only afford to lose three votes.

Though successful, the 51-49 party line vote was not without drama.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., flipped his vote from a ‘no’ to ‘yes’ in dramatic fashion, as he and Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, made their way to the Senate floor accompanied by Vice President JD Vance.

Vance was called in case he was needed for a tie-breaking vote, but only his negotiating services ended up being used.

No lawmaker wanted to be the fourth and final decisive vote to kill the bill. Republican leadership kept the floor open for nearly four hours while negotiations continued – first on the Senate floor and then eventually in Thune’s office.

The bill won’t immediately be debated thanks to Senate Democrats’ plan to force the reading of the entire, 940-page legislative behemoth on the Senate floor, which could drain several hours and go deep into the night.

The megabill’s fate, and whether it could pass its first test, was murky at best after senators met behind closed doors Friday, and even during another luncheon on Saturday.

Lingering concerns in both chambers about Medicaid — specifically the Medicaid provider tax rate and the effect of direct payments to states — energy tax credits, the state and local tax (SALT) deduction and others proved to be pain points that threatened the bill’s survival.

However, changes were made at the last-minute to either sate holdouts or comply with the Senate rules. Indeed, the Senate parliamentarian stripped numerous items from the bill that had to be reworked.

The Medicaid provider tax rate was kept largely the same, except its implementation date was moved back a year. Also included as a sweetener for lawmakers like Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and others was a $25 billion rural hospital stabilization fund over the next five years.

Collins said that she would support the bill through the procedural hurdle, and noted that the rural hospital stabilization fund was a start, but whether she supports the bill on final passage remains to be seen.

‘If the bill is not further changed, I will be leaning against the bill, but I do believe this procedural vote to get on the bill so that people can offer amendments and debate it is appropriate,’ Collins said.

Tillis, who is also concerned about the changes to Medicaid and would like to see a return to the House GOP’s version, said that he would not vote in favor of the bill during final passage.

The SALT deduction included in the House GOP’s version of the bill also survived, albeit the $40,000 cap will remain intact for five years. After that, the cap will revert to its current $10,000.

Other sweeteners, like expanding nutrition benefit waivers to Alaska and a tax cut for whaling boat captains, were thrown in, too, to get moderates like Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, on board with the bill.

Lee announced that he withdrew his open lands sale provision, which proved a sticking point for lawmakers in Montana and Idaho. 

Still, Republicans who are not satisfied with the current state of the bill will use the forthcoming ‘vote-a-rama,’ when lawmakers can offer an unlimited number of amendments, to try and change as much as they can before final passage. 

Democrats, however, will use the process to inflict as much pain as possible on Republicans.

Once the amendment marathon concludes, which could be in the wee hours of Monday morning, lawmakers will move to a final vote to send the bill, which is an amendment to the House GOP’s version of the ‘big, beautiful bill,’ back to the lower chamber.

From there, it’s a dead sprint to get the package on the president’s desk by July 4.

In a statement of administration policy obtained by Fox News Digital, Trump signaled that he would sign the bill.

‘President Trump is committed to keeping his promises,’ the memo read. ‘And failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal.’ 

Lawmakers from across the aisle are reacting to President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ passing a key Senate vote on Saturday night.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who flipped his vote from a ‘no’ to ‘yes’ in dramatic fashion, said in a statement that the mammoth bill is a ‘necessary first step’ to fiscal sustainability and cleaning up the mess left by the Biden administration.

‘Biden and the Democrats left behind enormous messes that we are trying to clean up – an open border, wars, and massive deficits,’ Johnson said. ‘After working for weeks with President Trump and his highly capable economic team, I am convinced that he views this as a necessary first step and will support my efforts to help put America on a path to fiscal sustainability.’

The 51-49 vote went along party lines, with only Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., voting against unlocking a marathon 20-hour debate on the bill.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was among the Democrats against what he called a ‘radical’ bill.

‘Senate Republicans are scrambling to pass a radical bill, released to the public in the dead of night, praying the American people don’t realize what’s in it,’ Schumer said in a statement. ‘If Senate Republicans won’t tell the American people what’s in this bill, then Democrats are going to force this chamber to read it from start to finish.’

The bill will not immediately be debated thanks to Senate Democrats’ plan to force the reading of the entire, 940-page legislative behemoth on the Senate floor.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., however, said he was ‘proud’ to work with Trump on the bill and ‘put our nation on a path to balance the budget after years of Democrats’ reckless spending.’

Trump has said that he wants the bill, which must pass the Senate before being sent to the House for a vote, on his desk by July 4.

Trump called the Senate vote a ‘great victory’ and directly praised Sens. Johnson, Scott, Mike Lee, R-Ariz., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., in a post on his Truth Social platform.

‘They, along with all of the other Republican Patriots who voted for the Bill, are people who truly love our Country!’ Trump wrote. ‘As President of the USA, I am proud of them all, and look forward to working with them to GROW OUR ECONOMY, REDUCE WASTEFUL SPENDING, SECURE OUR BORDER, FIGHT FOR OUR MILITARY/VETS, ENSURE THAT OUR MEDICAID SYSTEM HELPS THOSE WHO TRULY NEED IT, PROTECT OUR SECOND AMENDMENT, AND SO MUCH MORE. GOD BLESS AMERICA &, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!’

In a second post, Trump wrote, ‘VERY PROUD OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY TONIGHT. GOD BLESS YOU ALL! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!’

Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.