Senate Republicans are accusing their Democratic counterparts of playing ‘political games’ as the caucus appears ready to escalate the standoff over funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

There’s been little movement to reopen DHS during the weekslong partial shutdown, leading to outcry from Republicans over long wait times and missed flights at airports across the country. Some Democrats are threatening to continue their blockade of DHS funding unless serious action is taken to rein in President Donald Trump’s war powers in the Middle East. 

‘We shouldn’t let Republicans debate other legislation until they bring a war authorization to the United States Senate,’ Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told NOTUS on Monday.

Murphy, the top Democrat on the appropriations panel overseeing DHS funding, has helped lead his party’s push to withhold funding for the department absent sweeping reforms to immigration enforcement.

His new threat to freeze Senate business over Trump’s Iran strikes underscores that some Democrats are prepared to extend the funding fight despite mounting impacts on air travel. 

The Senate rejected a bipartisan resolution last week that would have narrowed Trump’s ability to launch future strikes on Iran. However, Murphy is signaling that Democrats’ attempts to limit the president’s power to wage war against Iran are just getting started. 

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., the chair of the Senate Homeland Security funding panel, scoffed at Murphy’s edict.

‘The delay tactics we’re seeing from Democrats don’t change the fact that, because of their political games, lines at airports are growing, and the people tasked with keeping our homeland safe are being forced to do so without a paycheck,’ Britt said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Britt, who Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., tapped to lead DHS negotiations with Senate Democrats, accused her counterparts of refusing to sit down with Republicans as the partial shutdown enters its fourth week. 

‘I urge my Democratic colleagues to stop putting politics above people and do what’s right for the security of our nation,’ she said. ‘That starts with having a conversation so that we can find a pathway forward.’

Airports nationwide reported a spike in absences among Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees on Monday. Roughly 50,000 TSA personnel — who are employed by DHS — are reporting to work without pay after receiving just a fraction of their salaries last week. 

The agents will not receive another paycheck until the partial shutdown ends. 

The New Orleans airport on Monday advised passengers to arrive at least three hours before their flight, citing a shortage of TSA employees. Passengers traveling through the Houston airport system have also been urged to arrive four to five hours before their departure.

‘The shutdown is having very real consequences, and hardworking federal aviation workers, the airline industry and our passengers are being used as a political football once again,’ Chris Sununu, CEO of Airlines for America and former New Hampshire governor, said in a statement. ‘This is simply unacceptable and un-American.’

TSA employees were also forced to forgo pay during the record-breaking government shutdown in late 2025.

A majority of Democratic lawmakers in both chambers voted to continue the DHS shutdown last week despite new security concerns over Trump’s military operation in Iran. The bipartisan measure that Democrats overwhelmingly opposed would fund DHS through the remainder of the fiscal year.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has demanded that federal immigration officers stop wearing masks and obtain judicial warrants before entering homes and businesses, among other reforms, in order to unlock funding for the agency.

Senate Democrats and the White House have been negotiating, but a deal has yet to materialize. The last counteroffer from the administration came nearly two weeks ago but has so far not been accepted by congressional Democrats. 

Some Republicans hoped that Trump’s decision to tap Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to lead DHS could soften Democrats’ opposition, but the party has continued to take a hard line against funding the agency. Democrats had advocated for outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s ouster as part of their numerous demands.

A Democratic blockade of Senate business would jeopardize the passage of a bipartisan housing bill aimed at growing the supply of affordable homes, which is currently under consideration in the upper chamber. Trump-endorsed voter ID legislation would also be impacted, but Democrats were already expected to widely oppose the measure, known as the SAVE America Act.

Fox News Digital reached out to Murphy’s office for additional comment.

Iranian Kurdish opposition groups say they are prepared to challenge Tehran but are holding back for now as the war between the United States, Israel and the Islamic Republic continues to unfold.

Khalid Azizi, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that Kurdish forces are closely watching developments but have no plans to launch a ground offensive at this stage.

Reports in recent days have suggested that President Donald Trump spoke with Mustafa Hijri, the leader of KDPI, as Washington explores possible Kurdish involvement in pressure on Iran. 

Azizi declined to confirm or deny whether such a conversation took place.

Azizi himself has firsthand experience with Iran’s military retaliation. 

In 2018, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles at the KDPI headquarters in Koy Sanjaq in Iraq’s Kurdistan region during a leadership meeting, killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens.

‘We have been targeted by the Islamic Republic,’ Azizi said. ‘The first Iranian missile was sent to my headquarters and I was personally injured in that attack.’

Despite the risks, Azizi said Kurdish resistance remains strong after decades of confrontation with Iran. 

‘The Iranian Kurdish resistance movement is actually very strong because we have been on the ground since the Iranian revolution,’ he said.

Azizi spoke from Washington, D.C., where he said Kurdish representatives were meeting with policymakers and institutions to discuss the situation in Iran and the role Kurdish groups could play if the conflict evolves.

But for now, Kurdish groups say they are waiting to see how the broader war develops.

‘We are ready and our party is well organized,’ Azizi said. ‘But right now we do not have any intention to enter Iranian Kurdistan because the ground forces in this war have not been a topic.’

‘It’s very easy to start a war,’ he added. ‘But it will be more complicated how to end this war.’

The KDPI is one of the oldest Kurdish opposition movements fighting Iran’s Islamic Republic. The group is a member of the Socialist International and operates primarily from bases in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and has been in armed and political opposition to Tehran since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Azizi said Kurdish political movements have recently taken a significant step by forming a joint alliance aimed at coordinating their political strategy.

‘We have managed to create a unity among the Kurdish political parties,’ he said. ‘This has been welcomed by the Iranian Kurdish people and by different Iranian political parties.’

The alliance, known as the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan, brings together several historically divided Kurdish factions that oppose the Islamic Republic.

Azizi said the future of Iran will ultimately depend on whether Iranians themselves rise up against the regime.

‘If you look at the goal of the United States and Israel in this war, they have been targeting the Iranian military, security and political institutions. In this aspect Iran has been weakened,’ he said.

‘But the regime still remains in power because people are not on the streets and there is no alternative right now to replace this regime.’

Azizi urged Western governments to focus not only on the military campaign but also on helping Iranian opposition movements coordinate politically.

Iran, he said, is a multi-ethnic country whose future stability will depend on building a democratic system that includes all of its communities.

‘The path and the roadmap for rebuilding Iran must be based on the participation of all ethnic groups,’ Azizi said. ‘Iran is a multi-ethnic society.’

For now, he said, Kurdish fighters remain in a holding pattern.

‘We have the ability and we have the capacity,’ Azizi said. ‘But it is not easy right now for us to make any decision regarding entering Iranian Kurdistan.’

President Donald Trump said he wants to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, saying it would be an ‘honor’ to do so in an effort to help other nations that rely on the vital Middle East waterway.

Trump was speaking with reporters in Florida on Monday, when he was asked about the global energy choke point, which has been disrupted amid back-and-forth attacks between Iran and Israel and the United States. 

At about 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, the Strait of Hormuz is between Iran and Oman and carries roughly 20 million barrels a day and about one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas, making it a top-value target when conflict in the region erupts.

‘We’re really helping China here and other countries because they get a lot of their energy from the Straits,’ Trump said. ‘We have a good relationship with China. It’s my honor to do it.’

Trump is slated to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month. While touting the United States’ new energy partnership with Venezuela, Trump noted that China gets its oil through the strait. 

‘I mean, we’re doing this for the other parts of the world, including countries like China,’ he said. ‘They get a lot of their oil through the straits.’

‘We have a very good relationship with President XI (Jinping) and China,’ he added. ‘I’m going there in a short period of time, and we’re protecting the world from what these lunatics are trying to do, and very successfully I might add.’

The U.S. will also waive all oil-related sanctions on some countries in an effort to reduce energy prices amid the conflict in the Middle East, Trump said.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps took to Iranian State TV vowing it would ‘not allow [the] export of a single liter of oil.’

Later, Trump reaffirmed his position on the strait in a fiery Truth Social post.

‘If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far. Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a Nation, again — Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!,’ he wrote.

‘This is a gift from the United States of America to China, and all of those Nations that heavily use the Hormuz Strait. Hopefully, it is a gesture that will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your attention to this matter!’

President Donald Trump said he is ‘not happy’ with Iran’s choice of a new supreme leader but that early results from Operation Epic Fury have been ‘way beyond expectation.’

Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been installed as the next supreme leader.

‘I don’t believe he can live in peace,’ Trump said in an interview with Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.

The president touted what he described as the success of the joint U.S.-Israeli military operation.

‘Way beyond expectation in terms of result this early,’ Trump said.

More than 5,000 targets have been hit by the U.S. military since the operation was launched on Feb. 28, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Monday.

‘When we attacked them first, we knocked out 50% of their missiles and if we didn’t, it would have been a much harder fight,’ Trump said.

He framed the opening strike as decisive and necessary.

‘No other President had the guts to do it…I don’t want some president who hasn’t got the courage in five years or in ten years to go in. It’s like a gun slinger, where he draws his gun first.’

‘If we waited three days, I believe we would have been attacked.’

Trump described what he called a surprise element in the timing of the operation.

‘Breakfast attacks are unusual and they were misled because they thought we weren’t going at that time and all that… And they just met. It was very, very surprising. And they all met together and it was open.’

‘If they would’ve had a bomb, they’d have used it on Israel and other parts of the Middle East. I think, and probably us, if they could get it there, but it would have been tough.’

Trump said Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner told him Iran claimed it had enough enriched uranium to build 11 nuclear bombs.

‘I said, you know, they’re not playing this smart. Because they’re basically saying that I have to attack them. They should have just said, ‘We’re not going to build a nuclear missile.”

Asked whether he would be willing to speak with Iranian leaders, Trump said: ‘I’m hearing they want to talk badly.’

‘It’s possible, depends on what terms, possible, only possible… You know, we sort of don’t have to speak anymore, you know, if you really think about it, but it’s possible.’

Trump also said he was taken aback by Iran targeted Gulf countries in response to the American and Israeli attacks.

‘One of the things that surprised me most was when they attacked countries that were not attacking them,’ he said.

The president also weighed in on reports of a strike that hit a girls school. Iranian state media and UNICEF estimates put the death toll at roughly 165 to 180 people, most of them young schoolgirls, with dozens more injured. The figures have not been independently verified.

‘It’s only under investigation, but we are not the only ones with that particular rocket,’ Trump said.

Vietnam’s trade ministry is urging businesses to encourage employees to work from home to curb fuel consumption as the country grapples with supply disruptions and sharp price increases triggered by the U.S.-Israeli war involving Iran.

In a statement on Tuesday, the government said Vietnam has been among the nations hardest hit by the turmoil due to its heavy reliance on energy imports from the Middle East. Citing a report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, it called on companies to ‘encourage work-from-home when possible to reduce the need for travel and transportation.’

Fuel prices have surged since the end of last month, with gasoline up 32%, diesel rising 56% and kerosene climbing 80%, according to data from Petrolimex, the country’s top fuel trader. Long lines of cars and motorbikes were seen at petrol stations in Hanoi on Tuesday.

The ministry also urged businesses and individuals not to hoard or speculate on fuel.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Minh on Monday held calls with leaders of Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to secure additional fuel and crude oil supplies. The government has also removed import tariffs on fuels through the end of April in a bid to ease pressure on the market.

President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran have made for volatile crude markets, with prices surging to $120 a barrel in the U.S. over the weekend before dipping back to just over $80 on Monday night as Trump spoke to a Republican retreat in Florida.

Prices have stabilized after Trump assured investors the Strait of Hormuz will be safe for oil tankers in the Middle East, a notorious chokepoint for the largely dismantled Iranian regime.

The situation in the region remains tenuous as Iran has announced Mojtaba Khamenei as the next supreme leader, a decision that Trump told Fox News that he ‘was not happy’ about.

‘I don’t believe he can live in peace,’ Trump said from Air Force One.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday they would not let any oil out of the Middle East until U.S. and Israeli attacks cease, a threat that had prompted Trump to threaten to hit Iran ’20 times harder’ if it blocked exports.

Despite the defiant rhetoric from both sides, investors placed strong bets Tuesday that Trump would call off his war soon, before the unprecedented disruption it has caused to energy supplies causes a global economic meltdown.

‘I’m hearing they want to talk badly,’ Trump said, as the Department of War has claimed 50 Iranian naval vessels have been sunk and Trump is suggesting the war objections are weeks ahead of schedule, if not nearly ‘complete.’

‘It’s possible,’ Trump added of engaging the new Iranian leadership, descendants of the deceased leaders, but said it ‘depends on what terms, possible, only possible.’

‘You know, we sort of don’t have to speak anymore, you know, if you really think about it, but it’s possible,’ he said.

Fox News’ Trey Yingst and Reuters contributed to this report.

Some House Republicans are getting worried over the prospect of colleagues quiet-quitting after losing their primary races as election season heats up, threatening to whittle down the GOP’s already perilously slim majority.

House Republicans will likely only be able to lose two votes on any party-line measure after a special election in a deep-red Georgia district this week. 

Some told Fox News Digital they’re worried, however, that their colleagues could begin missing key votes before the end of their terms if their ambitions for higher office do not go as planned.

‘It’s a real problem,’ one House Republican who was granted anonymity to speak candidly told Fox News Digital. ‘Is one of them going to be gone for his runoff? Will another not come back at all because he’s mad? Is another one not going to come back because he lost?’

Asked if such absences could translate to Republicans losing a functional majority in the House, that GOP lawmaker said, ‘We could, that’s why everybody’s nervous about it.’

In the Lone Star State alone, two House Republicans are guaranteed not to be returning next year after last week’s primaries. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, lost his bid to unseat Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is headed for a runoff with state Attorney General Ken Paxton. And Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, faced an upset against a primary challenger running to his right, conservative state lawmaker Steve Toth.

Neither has indicated they will be skipping House votes for the remainder of the term due to those losses, but Hunt’s attendance record has already generated frustration among his colleagues.

Aside from them, there are 18 other House Republicans currently vying for different positions in upcoming primaries and general elections.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., a high-ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, told Fox News Digital that he too was worried about GOP attendance as election season heats up.

‘Our margins are as razor-thin as they can possibly be, so we need everybody to show up,’ he said. ‘So yeah, that could potentially be an issue. I hope it isn’t.’

Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital, ‘I think it’s a concern.’

‘I hope that they recognize the moment. There’s still a lot of lane left in this Congress, and people have put their faith in their elected representatives to get the job done. So they need to be here,’ Fry said.

But the election season starting up is not the first time this Congress — or even this year — that worries about the GOP’s margins have flared up.

For example, a small group of Republicans was able to join with Democrats to successfully force a vote on extending expired Obamacare subsidies that the GOP largely opposed. And just last month, President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy faced a public setback when a similarly small number of GOP lawmakers voted with Democrats to rebuke it.

Neither of those measures will likely be taken up in the Republican-held Senate, but it’s a testament to the slim margins Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is presiding over.

And aside from the legislative setbacks seen earlier this year, the sudden, tragic death of one House Republican and abrupt resignation of another have served to further whittle down the conference’s numbers.

Car accidents and other health problems have also at times forced the House to amend its schedule. It’s prompted House GOP leaders to warn their lawmakers to be as cautious as possible when outside of Washington.

‘The margins are really, really close. A few of us were in a car the other day, driving … if that became an accident, that would have tipped the scale,’ Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., told Fox News Digital back in January. ‘It’s a big deal to change power outside of a normal election cycle.’

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters last week that attendance is ‘always a concern’ but was optimistic about navigating through it.

‘We’ve had elections along the way, and yet we’re still able to move our agenda,’ Scalise said. ‘We track people that have surgeries, tell us in advance, and we work around that. But at the end of the day, we’ve been able to move President Trump’s agenda and our agenda, and get the things done for the American people that we ran on.’

One week into the war with Iran, U.S. officials say American and Israeli forces are moving toward ‘complete control’ of Iranian airspace — clearing the way for deeper strikes, a broader target list and a conflict that appears to be expanding rather than winding down.

In briefings this week, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine described what they called near-uncontested airspace over key corridors, a shift that allows sustained bombing operations deep inside Iran. 

‘We are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives,’ Hegseth said in a press briefing Tuesday morning. 

Caine said U.S. forces have now struck more than 5,000 targets in the first 10 days of operations, including dozens of deeply buried missile launchers hit with 2,000-pound penetrating bombs.

The message from Washington is one of overwhelming military advantage. 

But the broader picture, rising oil prices, expanding drone warfare, strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure, and regional spillover touching NATO territory, suggests a conflict that is growing in scope even as U.S. officials project confidence in its trajectory.

Leadership hardens in Tehran

Amid the intensifying conflict, Iran’s Assembly of Experts has selected Mojtaba Khamenei — son of the recently deceased Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — as the country’s new supreme leader, consolidating authority within the clerical establishment and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at a pivotal moment.

The succession, only the second since the 1979 revolution, signals continuity rather than recalibration in Iran’s posture. Mojtaba Khamenei had long been viewed as a potential successor and is closely aligned with hard-line factions inside Iran’s security apparatus.

President Donald Trump criticized the selection, saying the leadership change would not alter U.S. objectives and suggesting it reflects the same entrenched power structure Washington has sought to weaken. The administration has made clear that military operations will continue regardless of who occupies the supreme leader’s office.

Rather than opening a diplomatic off-ramp, the transition appears to reinforce the likelihood of a prolonged confrontation.

‘Uncontested airspace’

Hegseth said Tuesday that the U.S. and Israel had achieved ‘total air dominance’ over Iran and were ‘winning decisively with brutal efficiency.’ 

‘That doesn’t mean they won’t be able to project,’ Hegseth said. ‘It doesn’t mean our air defenders still don’t have to defend. They do. But that is strong evidence of degradation.’ 

‘Most of their higher-end surface-to-air missile systems are not factors at this point in time,’ Caine said. 

‘Fighters are moving deeper with relative impunity,’ he added, noting there is ‘always some risk.’

Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the U.S. military’s Central Command, also reported that Iranian ballistic missile launches had dropped by roughly 90% from the opening days of the conflict, while drone attacks had fallen by more than 80%, attributing the decline to sustained strikes on launchers and infrastructure.

Still, officials have cautioned that air superiority does not mean every threat can be stopped. Iranian missiles and drones continue to be launched, and some have required interception across the region.

A shift in munitions and message

Hegseth said the campaign is transitioning from expensive standoff weapons like Tomahawk cruise missiles to 500-, 1,000- and 2,000-pound precision gravity bombs — a shift he said reflects confidence that Iranian surface-to-air missile systems have been suppressed in key areas.

He described the U.S. stockpile of such bombs as ‘nearly unlimited’ and warned that Washington’s timeline ‘is ours and ours alone to control.’

The emphasis on gravity bombs is more than rhetorical. It signals a move toward sustained, high-tempo operations designed not only to hit active threats but to degrade Iran’s ability to regenerate its missile force.

Drones redefine the fight

Even as missile launches decline, unmanned systems remain central to the war.

Iran has leaned heavily on drones — including Shahed-style loitering munitions — to strike energy facilities, pressure U.S. bases and disrupt shipping near the Strait of Hormuz. Compared to ballistic missiles, drones are cheaper and easier to deploy in volume, allowing Tehran to sustain pressure despite losses elsewhere.

In response, the United States has deployed a Ukraine-tested counter-drone interceptor system to the region. Ukrainian specialists, drawing on experience defending against Iranian-designed drones used in the Russia-Ukraine war, are assisting in strengthening base protection.

The drone fight underscores a key dynamic: while U.S. forces may dominate the skies, lower-cost unmanned systems can still impose risk and strain air defenses.

Energy at risk

The Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil and major liquefied natural gas shipments transit — has become one of the most consequential flashpoints of the war.

Drone attacks and Iranian threats sharply have reduced commercial traffic, driving up insurance costs and forcing some vessels to reroute. Oil prices have climbed above $100 per barrel amid fears that disruptions could persist.

Israeli strikes on Iranian oil facilities, and Iran’s retaliatory targeting of regional energy infrastructure, signal that energy assets are now active targets. Reports of strikes affecting water and desalination plants further suggest the war is expanding beyond strictly military sites.

If instability in Hormuz stretches for weeks, analysts warn, global energy markets could tighten quickly, translating into higher gasoline prices and renewed inflation pressure in the United States.

Trump warned Monday that Iran will be hit ’20 times harder’ than it already has if it threatens ships in the Strait. 

NATO proximity and regional backlash

The war has edged closer to NATO territory. Two Iranian ballistic missiles were intercepted near Turkish airspace, raising the risk of broader alliance involvement.

Iran has also struck Azerbaijan, drawing sharp condemnation from Baku and angering Turkey, Azerbaijan’s closest ally. Notably, Iran has not seen a unified regional bloc mobilize in its defense, highlighting its relative diplomatic isolation even as it escalates militarily.

Industrial mobilization

Despite Hegseth’s assertion that certain offensive munitions are plentiful, sustaining air and missile defense operations is resource-intensive, and inventories of high-end interceptors were already under strain before the conflict began.

Iran has attempted to degrade radar systems tied to platforms such as THAAD and Patriot batteries. While U.S. commanders say launch rates have declined sharply, interceptors are expensive and produced in limited quantities.

Trump convened major defense contractors last week to press for accelerated production of interceptors and related systems. Expanding output could require congressional funding if the campaign continues at its current pace.

The battlefield now extends beyond launch sites and into supply chains.

Rising casualties

The Pentagon has confirmed seven U.S. service members have been killed and eight seriously injured in Iranian strikes.

In Iran, the U.S. claims over 50 top Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have been taken out. Iran claims more than 1,000 people have been killed in the strikes and approximately 175 people, including many schoolchildren, were killed in an attack on a girls’ elementary school in Minab. 

No group has claimed responsibility, and investigations are ongoing.

The incident has intensified scrutiny over civilian protection as the conflict widens.

No quick off-ramp

A little more than one week in, the trajectory points toward expansion rather than containment.

U.S. officials project confidence in air dominance and sustained strike capacity. Iranian leadership has consolidated under a hard-line successor. Energy markets are volatile. Drone warfare continues to test defenses. The conflict has brushed NATO territory and struck civilian infrastructure.

The central question is how far the conflict will spread, and whether military momentum can outpace the economic and geopolitical costs mounting across the region.

Nearly 28,000 Americans have returned from the Middle East, according to the State Department, which outlined a large-scale evacuation effort as Senate Democrats escalated criticism over the conflict in Iran.

A top State Department official, in a letter to Senate Democrats first obtained by Fox News Digital, noted that since fighting in Iran escalated following Operation Epic Fury, the agency has ‘taken proactive, rapid action to support Americans in the region.’

That has included chartered flights, ground transport from closed-airspace areas and round-the-clock crisis staffing.

Paul Guaglianone, the State Department’s senior bureau official of legislative affairs, wrote in a letter to several Senate Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that before the strikes, the agency ‘planned immediate measures to protect and evacuate U.S. citizens.’

The letter comes as diplomats and officials have faced ‘multiple direct strikes from the Iranian regime.’

‘The professionalism and competence of America’s diplomatic corps are inspiring,’ Guaglianone wrote. ‘The Department has taken all necessary steps to protect its safety, both in the region and at posts worldwide.’

‘Despite ongoing threats, our diplomats remain active and focused,’ he continued. ‘They continue to communicate with our allies and partners and advance American diplomatic interests.’

His letter responds directly to criticism from Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who argued that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration have ‘not prioritized getting experienced ambassadors in place in the Middle East,’ leading to a breakdown in evacuating diplomats and Americans since the strikes began.

The lawmakers noted that three ambassadors were dismissed in Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt ‘without explanation,’ and that the administration is behind in finding replacements and filling vacancies.

‘Of the 14 countries where the Department urged Americans to urgently leave last Monday, only six have confirmed ambassadors,’ the lawmakers wrote. ‘There are currently no pending nominees before the Senate for ambassadorships in the Middle East. As a result, many key posts are without experienced senior leadership at a time of crisis.’

‘Simply put, abrupt decision-making and lack of planning by State Department leadership to ensure the safety and security of its own staff left our personnel and their families unnecessarily at risk,’ they continued. ‘Days into the conflict, the Department still appears caught off-guard and lacks a clear, comprehensive plan to safeguard American personnel, their families or other Americans in the region.’

Guaglianone noted that the agency is providing frequent updates to more than 106,000 Americans enrolled in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, operating a 24/7 call center with no wait times and responding quickly to congressional inquiries while coordinating closely with lawmakers to assist constituents.

He also wrote that the agency is chartering additional planes for Americans as more commercial flights become available in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Oman, and that ground transportation is being offered to expand relocation options for Americans in places with closed airspace.

Americans in Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel who complete the Crisis Intake form receive direct outreach about upcoming charter aviation and ground transportation options from the agency.

‘At this time, nearly one in three American citizens who requested help departing turn down U.S. government-provided transportation options when contacted,’ Guaglianone wrote. ‘Some American citizens wish to remain in-country, while others prefer an alternative departure option.’

Mexican drug cartels are increasingly calculated in their targeting decisions, often avoiding deliberately attacking American tourists and citizens out of concern it could prompt intensified U.S. retaliation, according to experts.

Following last month’s killing of Ruben ‘Nemesio’ Oseguera Cervantes, known as ‘El Mencho,’ the powerful leader of the Mexican Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt joined ‘Fox & Friends’ and had a warning for the drug gangs: ‘The Mexican drug cartels know not to lay a finger on a single American, or they will pay severe consequences under this president.’

Analysts say actions by President Donald Trump — including the designation of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and high-profile operations abroad such as the capture of Nicolás Maduro and the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei in Iran — have reinforced cartel perceptions of heightened risk. 

Mexican drug cartels have long operated with a primary objective: protect revenue streams and avoid actions that could trigger an overwhelming government response. Security analysts and former U.S. officials say that calculus often includes avoiding the deliberate targeting of American tourists and citizens inside Mexico.

‘Of course, drug cartels are afraid of President Trump since he declared them terrorist organizations. That may be one of the reasons why they don’t attack American citizens or tourists,’ cartel expert and activist Elena Chávez told Fox News Digital.

She said the cartels ‘modernized and are well-informed about what is happening, especially because they know there are bounties on their heads. That’s why they fear the United States, even more so since Trump became president and declared the cartels terrorist organizations. Of course, they monitor all of this and have people who keep the leaders informed about how things are moving. The price on ‘El Mencho’s’ head in the United States was very high.’

Adding to the pressure, Trump spoke Saturday at the newly minted Shield of the Americas Summit in Florida — a coalition of 12 Latin American and Caribbean nations — coming together to take on the cartels, among other policies. 

‘We have to knock the hell out of them because they’re getting worse. They’re taking over their country. The cartels are running Mexico. We can’t have that. Too close to us,’ Trump warned.

‘Right now, there must be more than a million Americans coming to Mexico to spend their vacations in their homes. The drug cartels don’t mess with them or their homes. They know there’s no way to avoid a reaction from the United States if they mess with its citizens. There’s an unwritten rule that says you shouldn’t mess with American citizens; if you do, you’ll suffer retaliation from the United States. And even more so now with the Trump administration’ Samuel González, national security expert and former prosecutor of the specialized unit on organized crime, told Fox News Digital.

While high-profile killings of Americans in Mexico have occurred, experts describe them as isolated and liabilities to cartel interests rather than part of a strategic campaign.

‘There are several precedents that demonstrate why the cartels are particularly careful not to touch American citizens. One of the most important was the Camarena case: the kidnapping, torture, and murder of DEA agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena in 1985 in Mexico, perpetrated by leaders of the Guadalajara Cartel (Rafael Caro Quintero, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo) in retaliation for the destruction of ‘El Búfalo’ marijuana ranch.

‘This crime marked a turning point in the anti-drug relationship between Mexico and the U.S., prompting the DEA’s ‘Operation Leyenda’ to capture those responsible and revealing the complicity between drug traffickers and high-ranking Mexican officials.’

He added, ‘Another case is that of Agent Zapata. On Feb. 15, 2011, gunmen from ‘Los Zetas’ cartel killed Special Agent Jaime Zapata of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE/HSI) and shot Agent Victor Avila on a highway in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The murder triggered intense pressure from the United States on Mexico to combat the cartels, resulting in the capture of several implicated Los Zetas members, including Julián Zapata Espinoza, alias ‘El Piolín.’

‘All these precedents are examples of why the cartels learned that it is not in their best interest to attack American citizens.’

Security experts say cartels closely monitor political rhetoric in Washington, particularly statements suggesting unilateral U.S. military action or expanded cross-border operations. Public debate over labeling cartels as terrorist groups has resurfaced in recent years, with some lawmakers arguing it would provide additional tools to disrupt financing and logistics networks.

According to former federal officials, cartels’ avoidance of deliberately targeting Americans is rooted less in ideology and more in risk management. High-profile attacks on U.S. citizens can generate intense media coverage, diplomatic strain and increased enforcement operations that disrupt trafficking routes.

Director General of the National Citizen Observatory, Francisco Rivas, told Fox News Digital: ‘Drug traffickers are much more afraid of attacking a foreigner than a Mexican because crimes against foreigners are prosecuted much more severely by the Mexican authorities. The greater media pressure when the victim is a foreigner creates more incentive for the police and prosecutors to investigate a kidnapping, extortion, disappearance or homicide.’

‘In Mexico, more than 90% of intentional homicides and disappearances are related to people who had specific contact with the cartels, primarily for business reasons. The problems tourists experience in Mexico are the same as they might encounter in Miami, London, Rome or Paris: robberies, fraud and even some extortion, but these are proportionally marginal. Most crimes suffered in Mexico are suffered by Mexicans, and most violent crimes involve Mexican victims linked to cartels,’ he said.

While millions of Americans travel to Mexico each year without incident, law enforcement officials emphasize that criminal violence remains widespread in regions where cartels operate.

Authorities on both sides of the border maintain that cartel decision-making is driven by financial incentives and survival calculations. Actions perceived as likely to trigger direct U.S. retaliation are widely viewed by analysts as counterproductive to those interests.

President Donald Trump is vowing to reject signing any new bills into law until the SAVE America Act is passed by the Senate, a tall order with just 53 Republicans seated and the 60-vote filibuster threshold a high hurdle.

‘Great Job by hard working Scott Pressler on Fox & Friends talking about using the Filibuster, or Talking Filibuster, in order to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, an 88% issue with ALL VOTERS,’ Trump wrote Sunday morning on Truth Social. ‘It must be done immediately.’

‘It supersedes everything else,’ Trump added. ‘MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE.’

The vow to halt all new law signings is a new one coming from the White House and notable because of the Senate hesitation to follow the urgings of Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to force the Senate to bring the bill forward through the talking filibuster.

‘I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed,’ Trump’s post continued, ‘AND NOT THE WATERED DOWN VERSION – GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY – ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL: NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS: NO TRANSGENDER MUTILIZATION FOR CHILDREN! DO NOT FAIL!!!’

While Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has publicly acknowledged a willingness to bring a vote on the SAVE America Act before the upper chamber, there is hesitation within the Republican Party about forcing the talking filibuster under the current Senate rules.

The talking filibuster would force Democrats to speak on the Senate floor to argue against a voter identification position widely supported by Americans, as Trump noted, but it would also force Republicans to sit in attendance with a quorum. That has been rebuked by longtime Senate GOP veterans as something that would ‘waste time.’

Former Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been publicly opposed to forcing a talking filibuster because of the time constraints it would force on the Senate GOP, and he remains one of the few Senate Republicans not signing on to support the SAVE America Act.

Another development that clouds the SAVE America Act filibuster is the recent appointment of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to serve as the next Department of Homeland Security secretary, perhaps resigning from the Senate by the end of March.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mullin’s office for comment. McConnell’s office declined to comment on Trump’s Truth Social vow to block all new law signings amid the standoff on the DHS funding that has the government in a partial shutdown and the Senate sitting on the House-passed SAVE America Act.

‘We’re going to have a vote on this, but in terms of what the president is willing to sign, Maria, we need to get the Department of Homeland Security funded,’ Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Maria Bartiromo on ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’

‘The Democrats have blocked that right now. And the greatest threat to the American people today is terrorism. So I want to make sure that the Democrats work with us to pass and fund the Department of Homeland Security, because I’m worried about the lone wolf, the sleeper cells and the cyber terrorism that’s coming our way because of what Iran is telling people around the world to do to continue this reign of terror,’ Barrasso said.

Getting to 60 votes in the Senate is unlikely with just Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., as the lone potential Democrat vote to side with the Senate GOP on the SAVE America Act.

‘The Democrats are against so many of the things that I think help this country,’ Barrasso added to Bartiromo. ‘They’d rather stand with illegal immigrant criminals than with the safety and security of the American people. I want to get the SAVE Act to the floor. I want to have a vote.’

‘That’s the next step on this need to get the Department of Homeland Security open and funded,’ he continued. ‘The Democrats are bowing to the liberal left: The people that want to eliminate ICE, the people that want open borders again, and the people that really aren’t looking out for the best interest of the American people.

‘As the president said in the State of the Union, it is the first duty of the American government to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens. But that’s what not one single Democrat stood up for that when every Republican stood and cheered loudly.’

Barrasso, the Senate GOP member whipping up support, considers the SAVE America Act ‘common sense.’

‘You want to make sure that only citizens can vote,’ he concluded to Bartiromo. ‘You want to make sure that when people show up, they have a photo ID to prove they are who they say they are. You need a photo ID to buy a beer, to board a plane, all of those things. And it’s 90% popular with the American people. The only people against this are the Democrats because they want to make it easier to cheat.’