#us-military-strikes

#us-military-strikes

the strikes are a continuation of our conflict with [the Islamic State]. It's been, you know, around the world, Iraq, Syria. You're seeing it now in Nigeria.

Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said Tehran would not permit inspections of facilities struck by the US until the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) establishes a clear framework for such visits, according to Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency. If there are established procedures for the post-war situation, the agency should announce them so that we can act accordingly, Eslami said.

Venezuela has told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that the United States has continental ambitions over much of Latin America as it wages an unofficial war to remove the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. It's not just about Venezuela. The ambition is continental, Venezuela's UN ambassador, Samuel Moncada, told a meeting of the 15-member UNSC on Tuesday. The US government has expressed this in its National Security Strategy, which states that the future of the continent belongs to them, Moncada said.

On September 2, United States President Donald Trump released grainy footage of a missile obliterating a fishing boat off Venezuela's coast. Eleven people died instantly. The administration called them narcoterrorists. Venezuelan sources identified them as fishermen. Since then, the US military has conducted at least 22 strikes, killing 87 people, with investigations revealing that the first attack included a second strike to kill two survivors clinging to wreckage a potential war crime under international law.

If you're working for a designated terrorist organization and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you. Let there be no doubt about it, Hegseth said during his keynote address at the Reagan National Defense Forum. President Trump can and will take decisive military action as he sees fit to defend our nation's interests. Let no country on earth doubt that for a moment.

The paper reported that US forces hit the targeted boat once, then hit it again the second strike killing two survivors clinging to the wreckage. According to the Post, the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, had issued a verbal command to kill them all. Now that incident is under congressional scrutiny, with even some Republicans uneasy about what appears to be a clearcut case of a war crime.

Franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy and inclusivity, the publishing house Kids Can Press said in a statement Monday night. We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent or unauthorized use of Franklin's name or image, which directly contradicts these values. The statement comes after Hegseth posted a doctored book cover on X showing Franklin dressed for war and firing rocket-propelled grenades from a helicopter at boats below.

This month saw another deadly U.S. military strike on a civilian vessel, suspected of drug trafficking, in international waters. As these strikes have escalated, questions have only increased around their lawfulness. At the same time, President Donald Trump last week accused Democratic lawmakers of "treason" for producing a viral video noting that members of the military must remain vigilant in the face of potentially unlawful orders from the commander in chief.

United States President Donald Trump's administration has drafted a legal opinion stating that US military personnel involved in military strikes off the coast of Latin America are immune from prosecution, The Washington Post and the Reuters news agency have reported. The Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel provided the White House with the opinion on the issue of criminal liability for the strikes on vessels in the Caribbean, the outlets reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The Republican-led House of Representatives is expected to approve a funding bill today that will bring an end to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Most Democrats denounced it because it doesn't address health care subsidies that are expiring at the end of the year. Some Democrats have called for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to be ousted from his leadership role, even though he voted against the plan.