This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Shortly before direct nuclear negotiations are set to begin between the U.S. and Iran in Oman, Tehran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has executed a dramatic political U-turn.
After publicly denouncing talks with Washington as "unwise, irrational and dishonorable" in a televised speech on March 2, he has now quietly agreed to sit at the same negotiating table. This abrupt reversal isn't just a diplomatic maneuver – it reflects the regime's acute fear of internal collapse.
With protests simmering amid economic hardship and a deepening water crisis, Tehran's leadership is facing unprecedented domestic pressure. The fear of a looming uprising, combined with growing international resolve, has forced the regime into a corner.
Iran's appalling global record on executions
According to Amnesty International, Iran was responsible for 64% of all recorded executions worldwide in 2024. That staggering figure reflects a deliberate strategy of mass repression, particularly after the regime lost key regional strongholds – including its strategic influence in Syria and Lebanon.
Khamenei once justified Tehran's involvement in the Syrian conflict by declaring: "If we don't fight there, we'll have to fight here, inside Iran." With that regional buffer eroded, the regime has turned its tools of suppression inward, accelerating executions to instill fear and deter dissent.
Repression fueled by manufactured enemies
Authoritarian regimes often rely on external threats to justify domestic repression. Iran's clerical regime is no different. For over four decades, slogans like "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" have served as both political cover and ideological glue. As one regime insider admitted, "That slogan did more for us than ten intelligence agencies could have."
But the real target of Tehran's brutality has always been internal – the Iranian people and an organized democratic opposition demanding justice and change.
The international cost of silence
Tehran's crimes have long spilled beyond its borders. In 1988, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa that led to the execution of some 30,000 political prisoners – an act widely described as a crime against humanity. But the global community largely turned a blind eye. That inaction emboldened the Khomeini regime, paving the way for further bloodshed in Iraq, Syria and Gaza.
Every time unrest threatens the regime at home, Tehran tries to ignite conflict abroad. Its tactics are predictable. Its brutality, meanwhile, continues to escalate.
Reform is not an option
Rooted in hardline radical theocracy and political absolutism, the Islamic Republic has proven fundamentally incapable of reform. Calls for moderation have either been suppressed or co-opted by the regime to buy time and legitimacy.
Any genuine reform would require freedom of expression, legal accountability and political pluralism – principles that directly contradict the regime's core DNA.
Direct talks: A fracture in the regime's armor
The decision to pursue direct talks with Washington is not just a diplomatic shift – it's a seismic ideological rupture. The regime built its identity on opposition to the West. Now, facing internal collapse, it is compromising the very pillars of its supposed legitimacy.
This contradiction is not lost on the regime's hardliners – including parts of the Revolutionary Guards and intelligence apparatus – who see these negotiations as a betrayal. That tension may soon erupt, opening space for a broader social uprising.
Peace in the region starts with accountability in Iran
Denuclearization is essential, but is not enough. The Iranian people – who have borne the brunt of the regime's brutal repression and whose economic future has been sacrificed on the altar of uranium enrichment – need more than empty gestures. They need real international solidarity.
Back in 2002, it was the Iranian opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI, that revealed the regime's secret nuclear sites. Today, NCRI continues to push for regime change – from within. But the international community must take concrete steps for this to occur.
Conditioning political and trade relations on an immediate halt to executions in Iran is one such step. It's not only a moral imperative; it's a strategic necessity to prevent future bloodshed and ever-widening regional instability.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Adam Schiff, formerly a California congressman and now a U.S. senator, long has been one of the attack dogs the Democrats have sicced on President Donald Trump.
He was integral to the failed impeach-and-remove campaigns during Trump's first term. He claimed repeatedly and publicly that he had seen evidence of the Trump campaign's collusion with Russia, quite an accomplishment as a special counsel determined there wasn't any.
And his attacks on Trump have surged again during the president's second term.
This time he made a video to announce he is writing to the White House to demand answers about insider trading.
That would be related to the stock market surge on Wednesday when Trump announced publicly that he was pausing tariff plans against dozens of nations that are negotiating with the U.S. to make the international trade table more level.
Markets exploded, surging 4%, 5% or more in just minutes.
So Schiff is claiming there has been "insider trading."
His campaign, however, was the immediate subject of ridicule on social media.
A report at Twitchy was on top of the news: "Democrat Senator Adam Schiff says President Donald Trump telling the entire world to buy stock is insider trading. He's so mad about it that he's writing a letter to the White House. Oh, and it'll be extra stern. Count on it! Did we mention he recorded a video to announce his letter? Of course, he did. … Trump needs to buy some birds and cage them in the Oval Office. Schiff's silly letter could then be put to good use lining the bottom of the cage where it will catch all kinds of attention."
Meanwhile, there are those who are suspicious of Schiff's own recent behavior:
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The United States, with its First Amendment protections for religion and speech, probably protects prayer by citizens more than anywhere else in the world, even though there are some organizations in America that regularly complain prayers should not be protected speech, and it should be regulated or even banned.
Those demands for censorship often claim that counseling, including prayers, regarding a person's issues with the LGBT agenda, including their unwanted same-sex attractions, should be banned, and they have worked toward that censorship goal. Actually, some jurisdictions have adopted such limits through laws that now are under challenge.
Actually, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, American leaders from the White House down periodically have called for voluntary prayer in times of tragedy, disaster and more.
"Those who signed the Declaration of Independence believed that God hears and answers prayer, as they 'appeal[ed] to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of [their] intentions,'" the organization confirmed. "The First Amendment protects the right to pray in public."
Court cases have affirmed a public school coach's right to pray privately on the football field after a game, the right to pray before legislative meetings, and much more.
However, one of America's allies, Australia, has turned the other direction, threatening citizens with five years in jail if they pray at the wrong time and about the wrong subject.
A report at the Washington Stand explains, "The government of the Australian state of New South Wales explains the newly enacted Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024 allows 'prayer' or expression of any 'religious belief' only if it is not 'directed to changing or suppressing an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity.'"
The government presumes the ability to determine when speech is "attempting to change someone's LGBTQIA2S+ status."
The law actually revolves around mind control, as it warns that "praying with or over a person with the intent to change or suppress their sexuality or gender identity is unlawful. It is unlawful even if that person has asked you to pray for them to be able to change or suppress their sexuality or gender identity," according to a state report in Australia.
There, even Christian pastors must mind their words, as they have permission to make "statements of belief or principle about gender, sexuality, marriage, celibacy or homosexuality in documentation or on a website."
But those are allowed only if "the statement is not targeted at an individual to change or suppress their sexual orientation or gender identity."
Arielle Del Turco, of the Center for Religious Liberty at Family Research Council, told the Stand, "This is a terrible new law in this Australian state, and they aren't even trying to hide it. According to the state government's own admission from their website, this law will prevent a pastor or any believer from praying with someone who is asking for prayer for freedom from gender identity issues."
Promoters of the law claimed it is to help children, since they should not be told "something is wrong with them and that they need to be fixed."
But it actually is a "radical apostasy law – criminalizing conversion one way while promoting it the other," Christian website writer Kurt Mahlburg, said.
The ideological agenda is being pursued in Australia just as U.S. Vice President JD Vance has warned of the West's decision to back away from conscience rights.
He cited threats by the Scottish government to residents whose prayers, in private places, "can be seen or heard" near abortion business outlets.
Del Turco also documented how eight British Christians were arrested for praying outside abortion businesses.
In the U.K., the Christian Institute multiple times has battled such censorship agendas.
The Stand reported, "A total of 22 U.S. states make it illegal to practice reparative therapy: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington. So does the District of Columbia. But thanks to the First Amendment, none do — or can — presume to regulate the content of people's prayers."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
For about a week in early 2023, the United States was under a threat from a high-altitude Chinese spy balloon that flew across North American airspace, carrying intelligence-gathering equipment.
It eventually was shot down by the Air Force off the coast of South Carolina, and investigators then claimed it apparently had not sent information back to China.
Joe Biden described the situation as "not a major breach" and Chinese officials claimed it was a meteorological device that was blown "off course."
Now, however, a report from Fox confirms that Biden administration officials "held private talks with Beijing counterparts … and discussed the implications the balloon's publicity would have on the relationship between the U.S. and China."
This was before the American public was informed of the situation.
"An internal State Department readout of the talks between [then-Secretary of State Antony] Blinken and a top Chinese diplomat said Blinken stated that if the presence of the balloon were revealed publicly, it could have 'profound implications for our relationship' with China, particularly amid efforts to stabilize the bilateral relationship with Beijing," Fox reported, citing Trump administration officials familiar with the documents.
"Former Secretary Blinken advocated strongly to tell the American people about China's rogue balloon, which is exactly what happened," a spokesperson for Blinken told Fox, in a statement that claimed he "has a long history of being tough on China while actually delivering results."
Another State Department official also consulted with "Chinese counterparts," according to the report.
"A readout from that discussion says that the official claimed the longer it took to mitigate the issue would only increase the likelihood that news of the balloon would become public, posing greater challenges managing the situation," the report said Trump officials explained.
Eventually, the Pentagon issued a statement that the balloon had been detected, but even then White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre said Biden got a briefing, but she did not provide details in issuing a statement.
Fox was told by a "former Biden administration official" that State summoned Chinese Diplomate Zhu Haiquan Feb. 1, 2023, to tell him China should remove the balloon, and that the U.S. could take its own action.
Marco Rubio, then a senator and now secretary of State, said Biden's failure to address the threat earlier was the "beginning of dereliction of duty."
The Pentagon eventually confirmed China's claim it was a weather balloon off course was not the truth.
"This was a PRC surveillance balloon," a defense official said, explaining it was to monitor sensitive military sites across the U.S.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President Donald Trump has ordered all security clearance authorizations removed from the "Anonymous" secrets leaker who boasted during his first term that he was a Deep Stater in the government actively working to undermine a duly election president.
The leaker, who identified himself as Miles Taylor, also is being put under investigation.
Taylor was employed in the government during Trump's first term in the Department of Homeland Security. He wrote, anonymously, in the leftist New York Times, that he was "part of the resistance" fighting Trump's agenda from inside the government.
He later released a book under the same moniker, and ultimately confirmed he was "Anonymous" when he broke cover and admitted he was working to oppose Trump's re-election.
In an executive order, Trump now has ordered the Department of Justice to investigate Taylor.
Trump warned, "Miles Taylor was entrusted with the solemn responsibility of federal service, but instead prioritized his own ambition, personal notoriety, and monetary gain over fidelity to his constitutional oath. While serving as an administrative staff assistant at the Department of Homeland Security, Taylor stoked dissension by manufacturing sensationalist reports on the existence of a supposed 'resistance' within the federal government that 'vowed' to undermine and render ineffective a sitting president."
The order continued, "He illegally published classified conversations to sell his book under the pseudonym 'Anonymous,' which is full of falsehoods and fabricated stories. In so doing, Taylor abandoned his sacred oath and commitment to public service by disclosing sensitive information obtained through unauthorized methods and betrayed the confidence of those with whom he served."
The results cannot be allowed, Trump wrote.
"Where a government employee improperly discloses sensitive information for the purposes of personal enrichment and undermining our foreign policy, national security, and government effectiveness –- all ultimately designed to sow chaos and distrust in government — this conduct could properly be characterized as treasonous and as possibly violating the Espionage Act, and therefore makes such employee ineligible for access to national secrets."
It now is, he wrote, "against America's interests to allow those associated with Taylor to access our nation's secrets."
So the order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi and the director of national intelligence, "and all other relevant executive department and agency (agency) heads to immediately take all action as necessary and consistent with existing law to suspend any active security clearances held by Miles Taylor, in addition to individuals at entities associated with Taylor, including the University of Pennsylvania, pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with the national interest."
Further investigated will be his conduct where it was "contrary" to standards for federal workers as well as where he was "involved the unauthorized dissemination of classified information."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Ever since President Donald Trump took office for his second term, he's been cracking down on the open borders scenario demanded by Joe Biden.
And he's been encouraging those who are in the U.S. illegally to simply go back.
Voluntarily.
And some of them are.
A new report reveals that about 5,000 illegals have left the United States on their own.
The Trump administration had been urging that action, pointing out that illegals actually could be fined up to $998 for every day they stay in the country illegally.
The administration even reworked Biden's' CBP One app that facilitated illegals' entries into the United States into CBP Home, encouraging them to self-deport.
Fox reported, "The number of immigrants who have opted to self-deport over the last month using the CBP Home app is over 5,000, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data shared with Fox News Digital."
The Trump administration has released a promotion explaining, "Self-deportation is safe. Leave on your own terms by picking your departure flight."
The government's promotion explains that fines are a potential punishment for refusing to leave, or promising to leave and then failing to follow through.
America First Legal senior counsel James Rogers told Fox the self-deportation push is working because of the "credible threat of enforcement."
"Our nation's immigration laws impose severe penalties on aliens who are illegally in the country. The only reason there is a large population of illegal immigrants residing in the United States is because prior administrations have failed to enforce these laws passed by Congress," he explained. "Everyone knows this, including the aliens who have been illegally living here. The current trend of illegal aliens self-deporting proves that even just the credible threat of enforcement can be enough to get many illegal immigrants to comply with our laws and leave the country."
Another warning from the government explains that if an illegal leaves voluntarily, they could apply to return, a privilege that will be denied to those who force the government to deport them.
From Tricia McLaughlin, of the Department of Homeland Security, was this message: "Illegal aliens should use the CBP Home app to self-deport and leave the country now. If they don't, they will face the consequences."
Trump, himself, has said, "Leave now and self-deport voluntarily. If they do, they could potentially have the opportunity to return legally at some point in the future."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President Donald Trump has paused a new surge in higher tariffs for at least 75 nations who did not "retaliate" against his campaign to level the trading playing field for American companies and consumers, announcing a 90-day reprieve from those costs.
But for a combative China, which responded with 84% tariffs to Trump's campaign for fairness for Americans in international trading, he exploded the rate that Chinese companies will be charged for shipping goods into America to 125%.
Roughly, that would mean a Chinese car that costs $40,000 would be delivered to the United States for an estimated $90,000.
"Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World's Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable. Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non-Monetary Tariffs and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90-day PAUSE and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump said.
Making international trade fair again has been one of the main agenda points for a second Trump term in the White House.
Markets worldwide have been in turmoil for the past few days, following his announcement of reciprocal tariffs, essentially charging countries and companies that ship goods into the United States the same tariff as what those nations charge American companies for delivering goods to their consumers.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke to reporters after the president's announcement, as Leavitt chided the media for "clearly missing the Art of the Deal." Watch:
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President Donald Trump's tariffs on imports from other nations, announced to be reciprocal to what those nations charge to import American products, are having a wide range of effects.
They're intended to level the playing field so that America is not paying extraordinarily high costs to sell products in other nations, yet giving products from those nations free access to American consumers, likely the biggest retail market in the world.
Those charges have just kicked in, and some nations already are approaching American officials about negotiating for a resolution that would equalize the system.
Others, like China, have responded with higher tariffs for American products.
But American Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has explained to Tucker Carlson that China cannot win that battle.
"We are the debtor nation, we have the trade deficit," he said. "The surplus nation is in the weaker position, because of the Chinese business model, and Tucker by the way the Chinese business model and the economy are the most unbalanced, imbalanced in the history of the modern world. We've never seen anything like this in terms of their export level relative to their GDP relative to their population.
"It is going to be very difficult for them to try to change the model….. they're in a deflationary, recessionary depression right now. They are trying to export their way out of it, and we can't let them do that."
Essentially, China's economy is built largely on the revenue it gets from selling products to America and Americans.
That production is too large for its own population, and Bessent compared it to the tale of the "Sorcerer's Apprentice," in which a magic spell goes awry and a magician's helper sets in motion a spell that he cannot control or stop, and it continues doing the same chore, carrying a bucket of water, to injurious ends.
Bessent said, "That's their business model, it's not going to stop."
He said it likely will take some time, but the goal is for Americans to consume less and produce more, and Chinese to consume more and produce less.
There still would be "rivalry," he said, but on a level playing field.
He warned China cannot survive without America's markets.
Tariff announcements have been at the 10% rate, 24%, 50%, 84,% and even 104%. As a result, markets worldwide have been in turmoil for several days. Experts predict that ultimately there will be agreements that will stabilize international trade at a more equal level.
Bessent also explained in another interview, "It's unfortunate that the Chinese actually don't want to come and negotiate because they are the worst offenders in the international trading system. I can tell you that this escalation is a LOSER for them.
"They have some very smart economists, academicians, technocrats within their bureaucracy and they would be telling the leadership that we do not have the edge here.
"Their exports to the U.S. are five times our exports to China, so they can raise their tariffs, but – so what?"
A report at Revolver said, "President Trump isn't just talking about taking on the globalists—he's actually doing it. While every other politician over-promises and under-delivers, Trump is putting America first where it counts: in a full-blown economic war with China. With a jaw-dropping 104% tariff, Trump is officially resetting the so-called 'Great Reset.'"
It said, "This is a fight that must happen if we truly want to Make America Great Again. We lost our edge because globalism hollowed us out. Now, Trump is putting the fight right back in their faces, and he's not bluffing. He's bringing 'The Art of the Deal' to the global stage—and according to our own Treasury Secretary, it's a fight China simply can't win."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., made an unqualified announcement on CNN: "We encourage people to get the measles vaccine."
He also said government "should not be mandating those," but did not mention any concerns about safety. One might point out that the calculus of risks and benefits is different when there is an outbreak, or that the risk of triggering a neurodevelopmental disorder appears to be less in children older than three years.
Some people have moral concerns about the use of a product developed using aborted human fetuses. In immunosuppressed persons, the vaccine is neither effective nor safe. Children under one year of age are not eligible to be vaccinated with MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine).
Hence, it is important to note, writes Dr. Peter McCullough, that there is an alternative: measles immunoglobulin (Ig), derived from donor blood. This provides passive protection with antibodies for a period of time and can be given to pregnant or susceptible individuals.
A recent review of nine studies involving 660 patients who received either Ig or measles vaccine showed effectiveness ranging from 76%-100% for Ig and from 83%-100% for the vaccine.
Post-exposure prophylaxis is recommended within 6 days for Ig or 72 hours with the vaccine.
This option, which may be safer and morally acceptable to many, should not be ignored.
For additional information:
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
In response to President Donald Trump's April 7 announcement that the U.S. will engage directly with Iran to begin "very high level" talks on that country's nuclear program this coming Saturday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is pushing back, suggesting the discussions, to be held in Oman, will be indirect.
A nuclear-armed Iran – which for several decades has been one of the world's most brutal and autocratic Islamic theocracies – is totally out of the question, in the Trump administration's view.
To size up the coming showdown, WorldNetDaily spoke to retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt, once the second-highest-ranking U.S. military official at NATO.
Considering that Iran is one of the most well-endowed countries in the world in terms of oil and natural gas, Holt questioned the country's need for thousands of nuclear centrifuges in the first place. Whether it needs nuclear power or not, "What cannot be argued," Holt told WND, "is the fact that Iran has a multitude of centrifuges capable of bringing uranium to an enriched state that is considered weapons grade."
So what range of responses is the U.S. considering, should the Iran talks go badly? Noting America's B-2 stealth bombers recently deployed to Diego Garcia and captured in satellite photos, Holt said, "The United States could have easily brought those stealth airplanes into Diego Garcia in the middle of the night, hanger them, and no one would have known they were there."
Yet, he noted, they are intentionally on full display, "because," said Holt, "the president is sending a very clear message, showing Iran not only what the stick looks like, but that he's got every ability to use it." He added, "In order to have a deterrent, that deterrent has to be credible so they see we're not bluffing."
Does that mean the U.S. will strike Iran?
"It's not the president's preference," Holt told WND, adding, "The president has done something really important and very wise in terms of strategy." That is, Trump has left open the option of either moving Iran towards an acceptable outcome peacefully or by force if necessary.
Holt says within Trump's strategy there are three possible options: First, the U.S. president compels Iran to accept a peaceful solution. Second, he said, Trump "certainly has the preponderance of forces and logistics in place to remove any nuclear weapons manufacturing capability that Iran possesses." And finally, as WND has reported on extensively, "There could be a revolution from the Iranian people, pushing [Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei] out of the picture." With Iran's currency falling to a record low against the U.S. dollar, it's not out of the question for the Iranian people to throw off their widely hated leadership, prompted even further as their economy crumbles.
Contextualizing the Iran problem with the larger crises in the Middle East, Holt also warned that whatever becomes of U.S. negotiations with Iran, "it does not relieve the fact that Syria has essentially become a terror state." That, he says, is something the U.S. may not be able to ignore. "If the sun sets on the Iranian problems in the next year or so, Syria then becomes our big problem."
"You've got villains on the decline [in Iran], but you've got villains on the ascendancy [in Syria]," Holt stressed, arguing that wise and successful "U.S. foreign policy" in the Middle East "is ever more important at this time, rather than just going to the stick and dropping bombs."