Salem News Channel

Read More...

An exclusive CNN K-File investigation delves into Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul El Saed. The investigation uncovered over 100 videos on his YouTube channel that were made private before his Senate campaign. CNN reviewed archived transcripts, revealing controversial topics such as replacing the Second Amendment's right to bear arms with a constitutional right to health care, dismissing concerns about the southern border, and questioning the ethics of football. El Saed cited reasons like air pollution and PTSD among veterans for discouraging Fourth of July fireworks. His campaign asserts these videos do not reflect his current beliefs. While some videos were deleted, a February 2023 podcast episode on football ethics remains online. This investigation highlights El Saed's past commentary and the selective deletion of content, raising questions about his stance on various American traditions and institutions.

Read More...

How Were The Polls So Wrong About Francesca Hong_

Read More...

President Donald Trump's administration said that Medicaid will stop paying for gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments for transgender minors and the state Children's Health Insurance Program won't pay for the treatments for those under 19. The announcement is the latest in a series of policies from the administration aimed at transgender people that began the day Trump returned to office last year. The policy is to take effect Oct. 13. It is not clear how much taxpayer funding is going to cover gender-affirming treatments for transgender youth now. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not respond to questions about the policy on Tuesday. At least 27 states have already banned gender-affirming care for those under 18. Even in states that haven’t, many major hospitals have stopped providing some of the treatments. And gender-affirming surgeries for minors are rare. Puberty blockers and hormone treatments are more common. The policy calls for Medicaid and CHIP to continue to pay for mental health treatment for transgender minors but phase out coverage of hormone treatments that are used both to block puberty and to produce sex-related physical changes for those already receiving them as of April 2027. Trump said in a social media post Tuesday that he directed Dr. Mehmet Oz, the CMS administrator, to make the change. “We are not going to pay for our innocent children to undergo these barbaric surgeries and practices, which result in unthinkable and irreversible harm to their young bodies,” Trump said in his post. Advocates for LGBTQ+ young people look at it differently. GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders legal director Josh Rovenger said the rule “is putting up barriers between parents and their ability to make the best medical decisions for their children” and would face a legal challenge. “The Trump administration is terrorizing trans youth and their families with these kinds of actions, and it has to stop,” Human Right Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement. HRC is already suing the administration for efforts to bar gender-affirming care coverage under federal employee benefit plans. The American Medical Association and most other major medical organizations support access to gender-affirming care, though the American Society of Plastic Surgeons said earlier this year that it found “insufficient evidence” that the benefits of chest, genital and facial surgeries on minors experiencing gender dysphoria — or the unease a person may have because their assigned gender and gender identity don't match — outweigh the risks. The administration has already announced it would cut off Medicaid and Medicare funding for hospitals that provide gender-affirming care for minors, along with barring transgender athletes from sports competitions for girls and women and blocking people from being able to choose male, female or X to designate their sex on passports. It also released a report last year urging therapy only for transgender youth and not broader gender-affirming health care. Most of the changes have faced legal challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court let the administration's passport policy stand and allowed states to enforce the sports bans. A lower court ruled against the administration's declaration that called the treatments unsafe and ineffective. A challenge over the policy targeting hospitals is still pending.

Read More...

HOPKINS, Minn. (AP) — A man killed his partner and their child at a Minnesota home daycare Wednesday before taking his own life, police said. Authorities said six other children were at the daycare in Hopkins, but none were injured, and all have been reunited with their parents. Hopkins Police Chief Brent Johnson said another parent called police after witnessing the attack while arriving to drop a child off at the home. Johnson declined to say how the victims were killed or what weapon was used. Johnson said police believe the two adults who died owned the daycare.

Read More...

Officials say an Army Apache attack helicopter crashed in a central Texas field, killing both people on board and sparking a wildfire that forced several homes to be evacuated. Officials from nearby Fort Hood announced the AH-64 Apache helicopter had crashed Wednesday. A spokesman for the Bell County Sheriff’s office confirmed that both occupants died. No cause of the crash was immediately announced. Fort Hood’s criminal investigation division is leading the crash investigation.

Read More...

Lawyers for the man charged with killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk say he shouldn't be eligible for the death penalty because the shooter "hit the intended target” during the assassination last year at a Utah event attended by thousands of people. Defendant Tyler Robinson's attorneys say prosecutors have not proven that others who attended Kirk's event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10 were endangered by the shooting — a potentially aggravating factor under state law that would make it a capital crime. The defense lawyers also disputed claims that Robinson targeted Kirk over his political views. Prosecutors alleged that Robinson told his roommate that he killed the activist because he “had enough of his hatred." But the defense said that was not enough to prove what could have motivated Robinson, after searches of his apartment, computers and telephone failed to produce anything beyond that one statement. The arguments were contained in documents filed late Tuesday as the defense tries to block the case from proceeding to trial. Prosecutors last month presented what they call “overwhelming” evidence against Robinson, including DNA tests that tie him to the suspected murder weapon and apparent confessions by the defendant. His defense attorneys during that hearing questioned the reliability of the prosecution's evidence, but they didn't offer any alternative theories for Kirk's assassination. The defense made no mention of DNA in Tuesday's filing. Robinson has not yet entered a plea in the case. He turned himself in a day after Kirk was killed. Closing arguments in the preliminary hearing are scheduled for Sept. 1. Judge Tony Graf will then decide if the case can proceed to trial and on what charges.

Read More...

CHICAGO (AP) — First responders and utility crews worked overnight into Wednesday clearing roads from trees and wires that were downed during severe storms in the Midwest that unleashed tornadoes, heavy rains and flash flooding while knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers. A 4-year-old boy was killed when a tree fell on a home in Geneva, Indiana, during Tuesday's storms, the Jennings County Sheriff's Office said. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine said a resident of Roseville died during a health emergency when first responders, faced with flooded roads, couldn’t reach them. Officials in Portage, Indiana, were investigating whether the severe weather played a role in a reported house explosion that killed a person. Lightning struck a prison complex southwest of Cleveland on Tuesday, injuring 16 incarcerated people who were hospitalized, according to the Ohio Department of Corrections. Their conditions weren't immediately known. The storms inflicted a wide swath of damage from the Chicago area to western Pennsylvania, and the National Weather Service said threats of severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall will continue over the next few days in the Midwest, Ohio Valley and central Appalachians. More than 700,000 customers were without power Wednesday morning in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia, according to poweroutage.us. The National Weather Service said it confirmed three tornadoes in counties south of Chicago. Water rescues were reported during heavy rains in several states including Ohio, where DeWine sent 40 Ohio Army National Guard members to help in two counties east of Columbus. Tornado warning sirens howled Tuesday as the skies darkened in the Chicago area. All flights were temporarily stopped at Chicago’s two major airports, and officials warned of delays as the backlog was cleared. Photos posted on social media from the Chicago area and across the state line in Indiana showed flooded roads, trees tangled in power lines and homes with gashes in their roofs. “No power. It was very scary. We were down in the basement,” said Javid Jenkins of Homewood, a Chicago suburb. “We’re built for snow. We’re built for cold. We’re not built for this.” Jenkins, 54, said he was driving around for gas to fire up a generator to preserve food in his refrigerator. Forecasters said a wind gust of 99 mph (159 kph) was recorded in Gary, Indiana. Elsewhere there were numerous reports of gusts of 80 mph (128 kph) or more at personal weather stations. Preliminary information indicated that the intense system that swept from Iowa into Indiana over several hours qualified as a derecho, the weather service's Storm Prediction Center said Tuesday evening. Derechos are prolonged straight-line wind events that unleash heavy rainfall and travel far distances. The damage they cause is sometimes comparable to the destructive forces of tornadoes or hurricanes. “Total devastation. No roof,” said Kerry Hourigan, standing outside her home of 25 years in Tinley Park, another Chicago suburb. “Stupid thing, but my focus was I just bought a new barbecue grill, and I have no idea where that is. It’s disappeared.” Meteorologist Scott Baker said the Midwest was on the outer edge of a “ring of fire,” bringing waves of excessive moisture, instability and storms. Dayton, Ohio, set a daily rainfall record with 2.07 inches (5.25 cm), shattering a mark set in 1915, the weather service said. Forecasters said multiple rounds of rain would cause flood hazards in the Ohio Valley through early Friday.

Read More...

President Donald Trump's administration said that Medicaid will stop paying for gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments for transgender minors and the state Children's Health Insurance Program won't pay for the treatments for those under 19. The announcement is the latest in a series of policies from the administration aimed at transgender people that began the day Trump returned to office last year. The policy is to take effect Oct. 13. It is not clear how much taxpayer funding is going to cover gender-affirming treatments for transgender youth now. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not respond to questions about the policy on Tuesday. At least 27 states have already banned gender-affirming care for those under 18. Even in states that haven’t, many major hospitals have stopped providing some of the treatments. And gender-affirming surgeries for minors are rare. Puberty blockers and hormone treatments are more common. The policy calls for Medicaid and CHIP to continue to pay for mental health treatment for transgender minors but phase out coverage of hormone treatments that are used both to block puberty and to produce sex-related physical changes for those already receiving them as of April 2027. Trump said in a social media post Tuesday that he directed Dr. Mehmet Oz, the CMS administrator, to make the change. “We are not going to pay for our innocent children to undergo these barbaric surgeries and practices, which result in unthinkable and irreversible harm to their young bodies,” Trump said in his post. Advocates for LGBTQ+ young people look at it differently. GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders legal director Josh Rovenger said the rule “is putting up barriers between parents and their ability to make the best medical decisions for their children” and would face a legal challenge. “The Trump administration is terrorizing trans youth and their families with these kinds of actions, and it has to stop,” Human Right Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement. HRC is already suing the administration for efforts to bar gender-affirming care coverage under federal employee benefit plans. The American Medical Association and most other major medical organizations support access to gender-affirming care, though the American Society of Plastic Surgeons said earlier this year that it found “insufficient evidence” that the benefits of chest, genital and facial surgeries on minors experiencing gender dysphoria — or the unease a person may have because their assigned gender and gender identity don't match — outweigh the risks. The administration has already announced it would cut off Medicaid and Medicare funding for hospitals that provide gender-affirming care for minors, along with barring transgender athletes from sports competitions for girls and women and blocking people from being able to choose male, female or X to designate their sex on passports. It also released a report last year urging therapy only for transgender youth and not broader gender-affirming health care. Most of the changes have faced legal challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court let the administration's passport policy stand and allowed states to enforce the sports bans. A lower court ruled against the administration's declaration that called the treatments unsafe and ineffective. A challenge over the policy targeting hospitals is still pending.

Read More...

Aug 12 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt would depart her role at the end of the month to spend more time with her family. "Serving as the White House Press Secretary over the past year and a half has been the honor and adventure of a lifetime," Leavitt said in a post on social media site X. "Karoline will now be one of my top outside advisors, and an influential voice within the Republican Party, as we work to defy History, and conclusively win the Midterm Elections," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Leavitt joined Trump's 2024 campaign and served as transition spokeswoman before Trump selected her to be White House press secretary, becoming the youngest person to be appointed to the role.

Read More...

NBC's resident data guru Steve Kornacki was absolutely dumbfounded last night as the Wisconsin Democrat gubernatorial primary results took a bizarre turn. The DSA-backed candidate was leading by double digits—and then, out of absolutely nowhere, moderate Democrat David Crowley jumped ahead . Kornacki nearly lost it on live television when he discovered the votes had been miscounted because of five misplaced thumb drives. Maybe now the Democrats will get on board with election integrity. --- M and M EXTRA: Two iconic talk radio hosts. One unfiltered daily conversation. No scripts. No spin. Just Mike Gallagher and Mark Davis breaking down the news the way it should be — with decades of experience and zero apologies. If you love smart unscripted talk show chemistry, you’re in the right place. --- Like & Subscribe to M and M Extra Live ?? / @mandmextra ?? Weekdays at 12 PM ET Watch The Mike Gallagher Show Live ?? salemnewschannel.com/watch-live ?? Weekdays 9 AM – 12 PM ET Listen to The Mark Davis Show ?? 660amtheanswer.com/listenlive ?? Weekdays at 7AM - 10AM CT

Read More...

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has done the unthinkable—she just signed a bill legalizing abortion up to the moment of birth . The new law decriminalizes late-term abortions and gives medical professionals a blank check to make a "judgment call" about whether to end an innocent baby's life. It's painful. It's disgusting. Massachusetts is now the 11th state to allow this atrocity. And it shows just how little the far-left values human life. --- M and M EXTRA: Two iconic talk radio hosts. One unfiltered daily conversation. No scripts. No spin. Just Mike Gallagher and Mark Davis breaking down the news the way it should be — with decades of experience and zero apologies. If you love smart unscripted talk show chemistry, you’re in the right place. --- Like & Subscribe to M and M Extra Live ?? / @mandmextra ?? Weekdays at 12 PM ET Watch The Mike Gallagher Show Live ?? salemnewschannel.com/watch-live ?? Weekdays 9 AM – 12 PM ET Listen to The Mark Davis Show ?? 660amtheanswer.com/listenlive ?? Weekdays at 7AM - 10AM CT

Read More...

Hugh Hewitt and his guest question the quality and electability of today’s Democratic candidates, pointing to controversial statements and positions that could hurt them with voters. They argue that weak candidates can cost a party elections, citing the 2022 midterms as an example. The panel also examines sweeping policies like Medicare for All and the challenges they could create.

Read More...

Hugh Hewitt questions whether we should trust today’s polling numbers after major misses in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and elsewhere. With polls again showing razor-thin races in Georgia and North Carolina, the segment highlights why voters should be skeptical of polling models that have repeatedly gotten elections wrong. John Roberts and Steve Kornacki attempt discuss delays and technical issues in election-night reporting.

Read More...

A two-count indictment was unsealed Wednesday charging 11 individuals with conspiring, over the course of more than a decade, to orchestrate more than 1,000 sham marriages to fraudulently obtain immigration status for foreign nationals, primarily citizens of the People’s Republic of China. Some individuals paid up to $100,000 per sham marriage, according to the indictment. “This Department of Justice is rooting out fraud everywhere — including in our immigration system,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The individuals who were arrested today allegedly orchestrated elaborate schemes to illegally obtain citizenship for foreign nationals through sham marriages. Schemes like this are a deliberate affront to the United States and our laws and will not be tolerated under the Trump Administration.” “The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly operated a nationwide and international, multimillion-dollar marriage fraud scheme, using participants to abuse United States immigration laws for their own profit,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York. “Today’s arrests have dismantled a central component of one of the largest marriage fraud schemes charged in United States history. As this prosecution shows, we and our law enforcement partners will relentlessly pursue those seeking to corrupt and exploit our nation’s lawful immigration system.” “As alleged, this decade-long scheme turned marriage fraud into an international business model arranging countless sham marriages and causing hundreds of fraudulent Green Card applications to be submitted to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services,” said Acting Executive Associate Director John Condon of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). “Through the Homeland Security Task Force, HSI and our partners will continue to dismantle criminal networks that undermine the rule of law, exploit federal laws, and profit from fraud.” The defendants were arrested this morning and are expected to be arraigned today. The defendants are: Amy Cheng, also known as “Amy Zhou,” 72, of Brooklyn, New York; Xiao Mei Chan, also known as “Carmen;” 64, of Queens, New York; Christine Lu, also known as “Lily,” 52, of Queens; Jing Yan Ye, also known as “Serene,” 43, of Staten Island, New York; Xiao Yan Chen, also known as “Anna,” 48, of Brooklyn; Gang Zheng, also known as “Michael” and “Mike,” 61, of Queens; Anthony Cheng, 47, of Staten Island; Michelle Duenas, 35, of Staten Island; Angela Duenas, 26, of Staten Island; Sigrid Cetino, 32, of Peekskill, New York; and Erika Johnson, 43, of Ossining, New York. According to the indictment, from at least 2016 through July 2026, the defendants operated a nationwide and international marriage fraud network that arranged sham marriages between foreign nationals — primarily citizens of the People’s Republic of China — and United States citizens. Although based principally in New York City, the network allegedly arranged sham marriages throughout the United States and overseas including in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Vanuatu, and China. The network included facilitators who oversaw the scheme and identified foreign-national customers; recruiters who found willing United States citizens and helped ensure their continued participation; and assistants who prepared immigration paperwork and coordinated the submission of fraudulent lawful permanent residency (Green Card) applications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The scheme also relied on marriage officiants, attorneys, tax preparers, insurance providers, and other service providers. Foreign nationals paid facilitators as much as approximately $100,000 for a sham marriage and assistance obtaining lawful permanent resident status. Facilitators, in turn, allegedly paid participating U.S. citizens up to about $30,000 — generally in installments tied to milestones in the Green Card application process — and paid recruiters commissions of as much as approximately $5,000 for each citizen recruited. In total, the defendants and their co-conspirators recruited hundreds of U.S. citizens to enter into sham marriages.

Read More...

WASHINGTON, Aug 12 (Reuters) - A threat that Air Force One could be targeted by a shoulder-fired missile prompted the Secret Service to secretly move President Donald Trump onto an unmarked government jet during a trip to Turkey last month, a person briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. The threat emerged on the final day of Trump's visit to Ankara for the NATO summit amid heightened tensions with Iran, the source said. The Secret Service deemed the threat to be credible and imminent, prompting an extraordinary operation to conceal the U.S. president's movements. The source declined to say where the intelligence came from. Trump and a small group of aides used a catering truck to surreptitiously switch from the big blue-and-white presidential aircraft to a smaller, nondescript C-32A jet for the flight out of Turkey on July 8, while Air Force One departed separately carrying senior administration officials, White House staff and the traveling press corps, according to the source. Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he made the switch at the direction of the Secret Service, which is charged with presidential security. He flew from Ankara to a refueling stop in Britain without incident. "I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk," Trump told reporters, without providing evidence. "I think it was at ?greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for." The Washington Post first reported details of the operation this week, more than a month after it was carried out. The New York Times reported that U.S. officials were alarmed to discover that Iranians knew where Trump was staying in Ankara, including the exact floor of his hotel. On board the Air Force One jet now seen as a decoy were U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who the source said was briefed on the maneuver; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; White House communications director Steven Cheung; and a number of other aides plus the typical 13-person press pool that included a Reuters correspondent and photographer. White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, executive assistant Natalie Harp and director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta made the move in the catering truck with Trump, the source said. Some media commentators ?and lawmakers have questioned whether the operation left Trump's aides and journalists traveling with him at risk aboard the plane presumed to be carrying the ?president. The source said it was determined that it was in Trump's best interests to keep the ruse secret as hostilities escalated with Iran, which borders Turkey. Turkish officials did not immediately comment on the threat.

Read More...

BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. military is on track to pull all of its forces out of Iraq by the end of September, officials said Wednesday, marking the end of a presence that started with the 2003 invasion against Saddam Hussein. Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind down the much smaller U.S.-led operations against the Islamic State group. U.S. troops pulled out of bases in most areas of Iraq last year but maintained a presence in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region. Bases there have regularly come under attack since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met with Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads the U.S. Central Command, on Wednesday. Al-Zaidi said in a statement afterward that he had affirmed Sept. 30 as the “fixed and final date for ending the military mission of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Iraq and completing the departure of its forces.” A U.S. official confirmed that the U.S. expects to complete its pullout by Sept. 30, but declined to say how many troops remain in Iraq or where they would be redeployed. “The United States, Iraq and coalition partners have achieved tremendous success in defeating ISIS and now the Iraqi security forces, including the Peshmerga and other Iraqi Kurdistan Region security forces, will lead the fight against terrorists in Iraq,” the official said. Two Iraqi Kurdish officials said a drawdown of U.S. troops and military equipment from Erbil began about three weeks ago. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The U.S. presence in Iraq grew to more than 170,000 troops at the peak of counterinsurgency operations in 2007. In December 2011, the final combat troops departed. But in 2014, the rise of the Islamic State group and its capture of a wide swath across Iraq and Syria brought U.S. forces back at the Iraqi government's invitation. After IS lost its hold on territory it once claimed, coalition military operations ended in 2021. The U.S. maintained about 2,500 troops in Iraq for training and to conduct counter-IS operations with Iraq’s military. Iraq also wants to disarm non-state groups Iraq's prime minister has also set a Sept. 30 deadline for non-state armed groups in Iraq to give up their weapons, saying they will have no justification to carry arms once the foreign troops withdraw. Some Iraqi militias have justified their existence by pointing to the U.S. military presence, which they describe as an occupation, although the current U.S. mission came at the invitation of the Iraqi government after IS militants rampaged across the country in 2014, seizing large swaths of territory. It seems unlikely that the Iraqi government will meet its deadline for disarming non-state groups. Some of the country’s most powerful Iran-backed militias and have said they have no intention of giving up their weapons.

Read More...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States in is control of the Strait of Hormuz. "The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT! Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, “A WALL OF STEEL,” and there is nothing Iran can do about it," he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Read More...

Peggy Flanagan, the Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, has been nominated by the Democrats as their candidate for the United States Senate race. A socialist, Flanagan has drawn the attention of Republicans who are criticizing her affiliations with leftist groups and her stance on issues like the transgender agenda and fossil fuels. In a discussion with political expert Dustin Grage the focus is on how Republicans should approach their campaign against Flanagan. Grage suggests that tying her to figures like Bernie Sanders and leftist organizations might be effective, given her connections to these groups. The conversation also touches on internal Democratic polling that indicates a close race, making Minnesota a key battleground in the fight for Senate control.

Read More...

DUBAI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it. The comments were a further blow to hopes of a swift resolution to the crisis, following attacks on shipping in the region on Tuesday that pushed oil prices higher. The deal agreed in June declared an "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts", but quickly unravelled, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying it was "over" on July 7 and Iran's foreign ministry declaring it "suspended" a week later. The U.S. accuses Iran of failing to honour an agreement under the deal to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route. Tehran says Washington has reneged on its commitments, including lifting a blockade of Iranian ports and releasing frozen Iranian assets. "One of the issues that is being discussed via mediators is the U.S. returning to the interim agreement and defining a timeframe for implementing the commitments. There has been absolutely no progress on this issue," the Iranian source said. There was no immediate comment from Washington. Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28. Iran has struck U.S. assets and infrastructure in countries including Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. BOTH SIDES STEP UP RHETORIC The June interim ceasefire agreement set a 60-day period, extendable by mutual consent, within which Iran and the U.S. were expected to reach a final deal limiting Tehran's nuclear programme and lifting U.S. sanctions. The Iranian source dismissed a report on Wednesday from Turkey's Anadolu news agency that quoted Pakistani government sources as saying they had agreed to extend that 60-day period. "There is no talk of an extension because, from Iran’s perspective, there is no period that began and therefore nothing to extend. The United States violated the interim agreement 48 hours after it was reached and withdrew from it a few days later," the source told Reuters. Both Iran and the United States have stepped up rhetoric in the past two days. Iran's top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, said on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless the U.S. accepted Iran's conditions to end the war. That followed a new demand from Trump on Monday that Iran should pay compensation for people killed in 50 years of wars, attacks and protests. Throughout the conflict, Trump has alternated between threats of escalation and claims that a peace deal is imminent. Speaking to reporters after a visit to Ohio on Tuesday, Trump said: "Iran is going fine, going just absolutely fine." "We have a country that has been the bully of the Middle East for 50 years, really 51 if you think about it ... and they're no longer the bully of the Middle East." ATTACKS ON SHIPPING The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman and the entrance to the Gulf, handled a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flow before the war. Benchmark Brent crude futures have surged since the start of the war in February, hitting a peak of $126 a barrel, roughly 75% above pre-war levels, with choppy trade reflecting concerns over disruptions to Gulf oil supplies and shifting signals on peace talks. Those concerns were compounded by separate attacks on shipping on Tuesday. At the southern end of the Red Sea, four crew members were killed in an attack by Iran-backed Houthis on a small cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, the first deadly strike on shipping by the group since the start of the war. The U.S. military, meanwhile, said a U.S. Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles to disable the steering gear of a Panama-flagged cargo ship. The ship ignored repeated warnings to stop violating a naval blockade on Iranian ports, the U.S. Central Command said. Maritime sources told Reuters the vessel was hit off Pakistan while sailing into the Gulf of Oman. Brent futures rose 35 cents, or 0.4%, to $89.26 a barrel on Wednesday, heading for a sixth day of gains.

Read More...