President Donald Trump is flexing new leverage in the war in Ukraine — allowing the nation to use U.S. weapons to strike deep into Russia, weighing whether to provide Kyiv with Tomahawk cruise missiles and vowing Ukraine can take back all its land — while pressing China and India to slash purchases of Russian oil.

Ukraine supporters are cheering the shift, noting that after months of frustration over the grinding conflict, Trump appears to be changing tactics. From a combative February meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to his declaration last week that Ukraine could reclaim all of its original territory, the president is signaling a harder line on Moscow.

On ‘Fox News Sunday,’ Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg revealed that Trump had authorized long-range Ukrainian strikes inside Russia. Vice President JD Vance added that the administration is weighing whether to send Tomahawk missiles, a capability the Biden White House had denied. The weapons would be funded by European partners.

‘We’re certainly looking at a number of requests from the Europeans,’ Vance said. ‘It’s something the president’s going to make the final determination on.’

The U.S.-made Tomahawk has a range of about 1,500 miles, meaning Kyiv could theoretically target Moscow if Trump approves the transfer. Russia quickly issued warnings, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov questioning whether Ukrainians could operate such systems without American assistance.

‘Who can launch these missiles, even if they end up on the territory of the Kyiv regime?’ Peskov asked. ‘Can they be launched only by Ukrainians, or must it still be done by American personnel? Who provides the targeting? A very deep analysis is needed here.’

He dismissed the weapons as strategically meaningless. ‘There is no panacea that can change the situation on the fronts. There are no magic weapons, whether Tomahawk or others, that can alter the dynamics,’ Peskov said.

Still, Trump’s stance marks one of his most striking reversals. Last week, he suggested Ukraine could not only hold its ground but also return to its original borders, calling that ‘very much an option,’ while urging NATO nations to shoot down Russian drones and jets that cross into their airspace.

He added that Russia has been ‘fighting aimlessly for three and a half years in a war that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win. This is not distinguishing Russia.’

This month, Russian drones entered Polish and Romanian territory. Missile-carrying MiG-29 jets crossed into Estonian territory.

Eastern European officials say Moscow’s provocations are meant to test NATO unity. ‘Part of these provocations are to see: will there be solidarity? Will there be a clear decision within NATO to increase defense?’ Romanian foreign minister Oana Țoiu told Fox News.

The tougher tone follows Trump’s August summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, which produced few breakthroughs. Since then, Trump has ratcheted up pressure, urging Europe to accelerate its energy break with Moscow and coordinating a new sanctions package with U.S. allies.

‘Inexcusably, even NATO countries have not cut off much Russian energy and Russian energy products,’ Trump told the United Nations General Assembly. ‘China and India are the primary funders of the ongoing war by continuing to purchase Russian oil.’

The president has already imposed a 50% tariff on Indian goods, citing New Delhi’s reliance on Russian fuel. Officials suggest additional measures are under consideration if India and China do not curb their energy ties with Moscow.

The partisan messaging war over a looming government shutdown is heating up with a new memo sent to House Republicans by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

In a memo titled, ‘Debunking the Democrats’ Shutdown Delusion,’ sent to House GOP offices on Monday, obtained by Fox News Digital, Johnson is urging fellow House Republicans to keep the heat on Democrats in the government funding fight by arguing against their most often-used points in the ongoing battle.

‘Republicans have acted responsibly by advancing a clean, nonpartisan 24-page continuing resolution that keeps funding at current levels through November 21 with no partisan policy riders. It averts a government shutdown and ensures essential services and benefits continue uninterrupted for the American people,’ the memo said.

‘Meanwhile, Democrats are doubling down on false narratives as the threat of a Democrat-led government shutdown looms. Democrats — who once claimed that shutdowns would be ‘dangerous,’ ‘disastrous,’ and ‘self-inflicted harm’ to seniors, veterans, servicemembers, families, and the economy — are now actively trying to force one over policies completely unrelated to government funding.’

The memo first quoted Democrats’ attack that Republicans are working to end healthcare for millions of Americans, urging GOP lawmakers to fight back with ‘the current funding bill is a simple short-term funding extension with no policy changes and healthcare programs are fully funded at the current levels.’

‘Democrats want to hold September government funding hostage over an unrelated December policy fight of their own making. Policy debates can happen separately, and Democrats don’t need to shut down the government to do it,’ the memo said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and other Democrats are pushing for any government funding bill to include an extension of COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of 2025.

Democrats also released their own alternative funding bill that would have repealed Medicaid reforms in President Donald Trump’s big, beautiful bill – all points which Republicans have panned as nonstarters.

Republican leaders have signaled openness to discussing Obamacare extensions but have argued against including them in a seven-week short-term funding bill.

The memo also urges GOP lawmakers to criticize Democrats’ proposal, saying it gives ‘free healthcare for illegal aliens,’ ‘$500 million in taxpayer funding to prop up liberal news outlets,’ ‘a $50 billion cut in investments for improving rural health care,’ and ‘billions in funding for DEI and climate projects in foreign countries.’

On Democratic accusations that Republicans are using federal workers as ‘pawns’ in a government shutdown battle, the memo said, ‘If Democrats choose to force a shutdown, the Trump administration must be ready to responsibly manage the situation, including making tough personnel decisions to prioritize operations.’

‘But this disruption is entirely avoidable should Democrats support the responsible solution is on the table. If Democrats reject it, they alone will bear the blame for using federal workers as pawns in their political games,’ it said.

The memo also encouraged Republicans to point out that their short-term funding bill passed the House earlier this month with nearly entirely GOP votes, and that Democrats in the Senate were responsible for scuttling it earlier this month.

It comes after Johnson urged House Republicans on a conference call earlier to stay united on federal funding, arguing Democrats had ‘no credible argument’ in the fight.

Senate Republicans are expected to put the bill on the floor again sometime this week. If it fails to pass by midnight on Oct. 1, however, a partial government shutdown is all but certain.

Republican and Democratic congressional leaders left a meeting with President Donald Trump with no deal to avert a government shutdown as the deadline fast approaches. 

Leaders met with Trump on Monday for roughly an hour to negotiate a path forward to avert a partial government shutdown, but it appeared neither side was willing to budge from their position. 

Vice President JD Vance said after the meeting, ‘I think we’re headed into a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing. I hope they change their mind.’

‘If you look at the original they did with this negotiation, it was a $1.5 trillion spending package, basically saying the American people want to give massive amounts of money, hundreds of billions of dollars to illegal aliens for their health care, while Americans are struggling to pay their health care bills,’ Vance said. ‘That was their initial foray into this negotiation. We thought it was absurd.’

Democrats, however, have pushed back on assertions that they’re looking to salvage healthcare for anyone but the American people.

‘There was a frank and direct discussion with the President of the United States and Republican leaders. But significant and meaningful differences remain,’ Jeffries said. ‘Democrats are fighting to protect the health care of the American people, and we are not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of every day America, period.’

Congress has until midnight Oct. 1 to pass a short-term funding extension, or continuing resolution (CR), to avert a partial government shutdown. The House already passed a funding extension, but the bill was blocked in the Senate earlier this month. 

Republicans and the White House want to move forward with their ‘clean,’ short-term funding extension until Nov. 21, while Democrats have offered a counter-proposal that includes a permanent extension of expiring Obamacare tax credits and other wishlist items that are a bridge too far for the GOP. 

Vance appeared alongside Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought in a show of Republican unity after the meeting, but made clear both sides are still far apart.

Thune, holding up a copy of the funding extension, panned Jeffries and Schumer’s accusation that the bill was partisan in nature. 

Congressional Republicans argue that the House GOP’s is everything that Democrats pushed when they controlled the Senate: a ‘clean,’ short-term extension to Nov. 21 without partisan policy riders or spending, save for millions in new spending for increased security for lawmakers. 

‘To me, this is purely a hostage-taking exercise on the part of the Democrats,’ Thune said. ‘We are willing to sit down and work with them on some of the issues they want to talk about, whether it’s an extension of premium tax credits, with reforms, we’re happy to have that conversation. But as of right now, this is a hijacking.’

Neither Schumer nor Jeffries took questions after their remarks, but appeared slightly more optimistic than their GOP counterparts after the meeting concluded.

‘I think for the first time, the president heard our objections and heard why we needed a bipartisan bill,’ Schumer said. ‘Their bill has not one iota of Democratic input. That is never how we’ve done this before.’

Vance said he was ‘highly skeptical’ that it was Trump’s first time hearing the issue and said there was a bipartisan path forward on healthcare – but panned Democrats’ push to include an extension of COVID-19 pandemic-era Affordable Care Act (ACA) extensions in the bill.

‘We want to work across the aisle to make sure that people have access to good healthcare,’ he said, but added, ‘We are not going to let Democrats shut down the government and take a hostage unless we give them everything that they want. That’s not how the people’s government has ever worked.’

The meeting in the Oval Office comes after Trump canceled a previously scheduled confab last week with just Schumer and Jeffries. At the time, the president railed against their demands on his social media platform Truth Social and contended that congressional Democrats were pushing ‘radical Left policies that nobody voted for’ in their counter-CR. 

Democrats’ demands center on an extension to expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, though their counter-proposal also included language to repeal the healthcare section of the GOP’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ and a clawback of canceled NPR and PBS funding. 

Senate Republicans have argued that Democrats’ desires are unserious, and Thune has publicly said that Republicans would be willing to have discussions on the ACA subsidies, which are set to sunset at the end of this year, after the government is funded. 

Schumer insisted Democrats needed it addressed immediately, however, in a press conference back on Capitol Hill after the meeting.

‘We think when they say later, they mean never. We have to do it now, first because of the timing issue and second, because now is the time we can get it done,’ he said.

The White House is also leveraging the threat of mass firings should the government shut down that go beyond the standard furloughing of nonessential employees. Still, Schumer and Senate Democrats have not buckled. 

The Senate is expected to vote again on the bill on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth has blocked a new wave of terminations at Voice of America, offering harsh words for Kari Lake and saying the Trump administration’s conduct in his case would support civil contempt proceedings, if only the plaintiffs had asked.

In the 19-page ruling, Judge Lamberth halted the mass reduction in force at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and issued a warning that cuts would ‘cement’ VOA’s failure to meet legal obligations to provide reliable news.

Lamberth’s list of failures included statutory violations involving VOA shutting down mandated language services despite clear congressional directives.

He stated that VOA acknowledged its ‘radio presence’ had shrunk to a single 30-minute daily program in Dari and Pashto, leaving gaps in coverage for nations like North Korea and China.

Kari Lake was called out for admitting under oath that she hadn’t ‘given it a lot of thought’ whether Africa qualifies as a ‘significant region of the world’ under the law and confirmed VOA produces no programming for South America.

And Lamberth accused the Trump administration of misleading the court, going as far as to call it incredible to suggest the RIF was ‘uncertain’ while evidence showed it was already in motion.

The RIF notices covered both VOA and USAGM employees, and Lamberth rejected the government’s attempt to carve out non-VOA staff.

He accused Lake and her team of ‘thumbing their noses at Congress’s commands’ and showing ‘brazen disinterest’ in statutory duties — strong language worth including.

The contempt warning wasn’t just about tone; it was also tied to their failure to produce required documents about future RIFs, despite court orders.

Overall, the order keeps VOA’s workforce intact through Oct. 14, when Lake will be forced to work with her team to file a plan showing how they will restore the legally required programming.

The judge warned that their ‘disrespect’ for other rulings would have been enough to trigger a contempt trial.

‘Equity is allergic to rigidity,’ Lamberth wrote, pointing out the court’s power to stop executive overreach.

Let’s roll back the clock.

After the 2020 election, Donald Trump found himself the target of multiple investigations.

The flimsiest, and most partisan, was brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who somehow elevated the Stormy Daniels payoffs from a misdemeanor to a felony, and got a conviction.

Then there was Jack Smith, who launched two investigations — one involving classified documents, the other on allegations related to Jan. 6.

And in Georgia, Fulton County DA Fani Willis investigated Trump’s famous phone call to Brad Raffensperger — ‘I just want to find 11,780 votes’ — and some of Trump’s lawyers, such as Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis, pleaded guilty.

Beyond that, New York AG Letitia James filed a civil suit about inflated property values that led to a fine that has since grown to half a billion dollars — a penalty so outrageous that an appeals court threw it out on grounds of cruel and unusual punishment.

And what was the mindset of the media, the Democrats and at least half the country at that time?

It was that Trump had done a lot of bad things, and if he could be successfully prosecuted before the 2024 election, he could be knocked out of the race. 

But from Trump’s point of view, these were bogus cases brought by biased prosecutors — James had won election by vowing to go after him — and backed by unfair judges for the sole purpose of keeping him out of the White House.

Joe Biden may have kept hands off — Jack Smith was named special counsel by AG Merrick Garland — but to the president it was all a grand left-wing conspiracy.

And that’s why Trump feels entitled to payback.

That’s why James Comey was just indicted, with Trump firing his own U.S. attorney who believed there wasn’t enough evidence, replacing him with a loyalist whose job was to charge the former FBI director.

That’s why Tish James is now under investigation for alleged mortgage fraud, 

That’s why the Trump DOJ has just subpoenaed Fani Willis’ travel records from last year, and is investigating Sen. Adam Schiff.

To Donald Trump, this is all fully justified payback.

But he’s doing exactly what was done to him — going after political enemies — and doing it out in the open. He has ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue these cases, and fast, which is weaponizing the Justice Department against those he despises, in a way that no previous president has ever done. 

He pronounces these targets ‘guilty as hell’ — that alone would be a scandal in any other administration for prejudicing a trial — and celebrates the unveiling of indictments, such as calling Comey a ‘sick person,’ a ‘Dirty Cop’ and a ‘SLIMEBALL.’

So how does Trump justify doing what was done to him? He doesn’t. He’s never been big on consistency. And his MAGA base supports him no matter what.

Keep in mind that the perjury allegation — based on a vague exchange about a leak to the Wall Street Journal about the Clinton Foundation, ironically — was investigated by special counsel John Durham in the first term, and by the DOJ’s inspector general, and neither brought charges.

When Erik Seibert, the U.S. attorney in Virginia’s Eastern District, found insufficient evidence to charge Comey, Bondi pushed back in defense of the 15-year veteran, Still, Trump replaced him with White House aide and onetime beauty queen Lindsey Halligan, his former lawyer, who has never tried a criminal case. Halligan couldn’t even find the courtroom, and no prosecutor in the office agreed to accompany her, as is customary. Doesn’t matter. She had one job.

‘My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump,’ Comey said in a video.

Fourteen of the 23 grand jurors backed the two charges, just over the required minimum, and the jurors dismissed a proposed third count.

National Review’s Andy McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, called the indictment ‘so ill-conceived and incompetently drafted, he should be able to get it thrown out on a pretrial motion to dismiss.’

Dan Abrams, ABC’s chief legal analyst (and founder of Mediaite) said on ‘This Week’: ‘I don’t even think that many in the Trump administration believe they’re going to get a conviction. I think that there’s a 95 percent-plus chance that there won’t be a conviction. That it’ll either get dismissed by a judge, there’ll be a hung jury, there’ll be an acquittal. But I’m not certain that that’s the end goal here.’ 

In other words, making Comey’s life miserable and forcing him to pay legal fees may be satisfying enough.

Schiff, for his part, called the mortgage fraud allegation against him ‘the kind of stuff you see tinpot dictators do.’ .

But there’s a larger issue here than the culpability of Comey and the others. As a former Justice Department reporter, I know all too well that presidents are not supposed to intervene in criminal investigations, and that dates to a series of post-Watergate reforms after Richard Nixon’s attorney general went to prison.

But Trump does all this out in the open. There’s no need to rely on unnamed sources. When he issued a memo demanding investigations of his foes, he made it public. 

‘We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,’ the president wrote on Truth Social. He complained that ‘nothing is being done,’ demanding that Bondi investigate Coney, James and Schiff. And now he’s talking about targeting Democratic donor and activist George Soros.

The president also has a knack for letting his allies off the hook. After New York Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on corruption charges, Trump ordered the case dropped. Then he tried to lure Adams out of the race by offering him a job, to boost the chances of defeating the man he calls ‘Communist’ Zohran Mamdani. Adams, stuck in single digits, just dropped out, and don’t be surprised if he winds up as an ambassador.

When a deranged shooter in Michigan opened fire during a Mormon church service, and set the place on fire, killing at least four people, before being shot to death, Trump called it ‘horrendous’ and called Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the killer hated Mormons.

The president called it ‘another targeted attack on Christians.’

What Trump and Leavitt neglected to mention is that the murderer has a Trump/Vance sign in front of his house.

So despite the president’s insistence that left-wingers are responsible for virtually all political violence, here’s a case where a right-winger, and Trump fan, is responsible for cold-blooded mass murder. But one day there will a Democrat in the White House again, ready to use the same tactics unleashed by Trump.

Dartmouth professor Brendan Nyhan, who heads a watchdog group, told the New York Times: ‘Do Republicans want to give President AOC unilateral powers to determine which Defense Department programs she wants to fund?’

His forthcoming report says ’50 percent of Democrats now support restricting or shutting down Fox News, up from 37 percent in 2021.’ I would find that chilling, even if I didn’t work at Fox. Where is it written that the government should be shutting down news outlets?

The larger point is this: Trump believes he’s entitled to payback because of all the indictments aimed at him. The Democrats believe Trump has shattered the wall that protected criminal probes from White House interference. And so we plunge into an endless cycle of retribution, with each administration investigating the previous one and justifying it as getting even for their own mistreatment. 

: The news conference that President Trump was going to hold with Bibi Netanyahu yesterday turned into a non-conference when Trump, of all people, refused to take questions — not even the traditional two from each side. So they each gave lengthy speeches and left.

But the president achieved something remarkable. He got Bibi to go along with his plan to end the war in Gaza. Trump even said he’d personally head a peace board designed to protect Israel’s security, that Hamas would release the remaining hostages, and mentioned Oct. 7.

Honestly, it was probably shrewd not to be distracted by questions.

Here’s the problem: Hamas hasn’t agreed to anything yet, and has stuck by its insistence on a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces before any hostages are released. So the terrorist group is unlikely to agree.

If Hamas rejects the plan, Netanyahu said, ‘Israel will finish the job by itself.’

Then he said, ‘we can do this the easy way or the hard way’ — apparently unaware that was the much-condemned line that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr used to threaten action against Jimmy Kimmel.

Bibi also demanded an end to ‘incitement by the media,’ as if he or anyone else could tell the press what to do.      

The Trump administration is looking to cut funding for a program that provides permanent housing to the homeless, a move that may leave those the program aims to help back on the streets, according to a report.

More than 170,000 people could be at risk of experiencing homelessness when more than half the funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) permanent housing program is cut, Politico reported on Monday, citing three HUD employees, internal HUD documents and a person with knowledge of the Continuum of Care (CoC) program.

The cut funds will be moved to transitional housing assistance with some work or service requirements, according to the internal documents and those with knowledge of the situation. The cuts could have a greater impact on rural areas that have less access to city and state funds to supplement federal dollars, the people told the outlet.

‘When the subsidy and the support that goes along with those subsidies is removed, it puts people at grave risk,’ said the person with inside knowledge of the CoC program. ‘And most of these folks without these supports will likely end up back in emergency shelters or back on our nation’s streets.’

HUD Secretary Scott Turner wrote in a  Fox News Digital opinion piecei earlier this month about a ‘paradigm shift’ in the department’s approach to homelessness and housing.

‘But our goal is to let HUD use real, proven effective strategies, and there is no evidence that giving free apartments to the homeless without preconditions or participation requirements – like job training or treatment – leads to good outcomes,’ Turner wrote. 

‘There is evidence, however, that countless lives have been lost to overdoses in HUD-funded housing because of this failed ideology,’ the secretary continued.

Turner wrote that HUD wants to continue to help support work that aims to aid those experiencing homelessness and battling addiction to recover and become self-sufficient.

Permanent housing funding for 2026 is currently $3.3 billion and could be cut in half to $1.1 billion through the Trump administration’s effort, according to Politico. 

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uncovered that the Biden administration placed some Americans who resisted the COVID-19 mask mandate or were involved in the events of Jan 6, 2021, on prolonged TSA watchlists, including some on a no-fly list typically reserved for suspected terrorists.

Fox News Digital acquired the findings of an internal investigation conducted by the agencies that showed that then-President Joe Biden’s TSA initiated ‘Operation Freedom to Breathe’ in September 2021, roughly six months after the CDC relaxed the COVID-19 mask mandate, which targeted Americans who previously resisted mask mandates set forth by the Biden Administration. 

The initiative placed 19 Americans on various levels of intensive watchlists, with more than half added to the highest severity no-fly list, preventing them from boarding a flight in the U.S. entirely. Eleven of the individuals remained on watchlists until April 2022, when the national mask mandate was lifted by the Biden administration. 

‘Biden’s TSA Administrator [David] Pekoske and his cronies abused their authority and weaponized the federal government against the very people they were charged with protecting,’ Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News Digital. 

‘Biden’s TSA wildly abused their authority, targeting Americans who posed no aviation security risk under the banner of political differences,’ Noem added. ‘President Trump promised to end the weaponization of government against the American people, and we are making good on that promise.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Pekoske, but did not receive a response.

The investigation also concluded that Biden’s TSA placed roughly 280 individuals allegedly involved in the Capitol protests on Jan 6, 2021, on watchlists, including five on a no-fly list. 

Biden’s TSA ignored internal concerns raised by career intelligence officials and TSA’s Chief Privacy Officer that placing individuals on the list ‘is clearly unrelated to transportation security,‘ and that ‘TSA is punishing people for the expression of their ideas when they haven’t been charged, let alone convicted of incitement or sedition,’ according to emails from a top privacy official at TSA dated Jan 13, 2021, obtained by Fox News Digital.

Another TSA intelligence employee also expressed worry over watchlisting individuals allegedly involved in the Capitol protest, saying most individuals who were arrested ‘are technically curfew breakers,’ and that ‘I hope we don’t end up adding them [to a watchlist] on just the arrest,’ according to an internal email obtained by Fox.

Internal emails said that TSA mainly relied on the George Washington University Program of Extremism academic database and social media, rather than traditional sources like the FBI and local police, to determine which individuals should be placed on watchlists.

One individual, a national guardsman deployed to the Capitol for Biden’s inauguration on Jan 20, 2021 and was not present at the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, was added to a no-fly list because of bad intelligence from Biden’s FBI.

Another individual, the wife of a federal air marshal who was also not present at the Capitol on Jan 6, was added to a watchlist due to additional bad intelligence from the Biden FBI.

Americans allegedly involved with the events of Jan 6, 2021, who were not tied to unrelated, individual incidents, were removed from various watchlists on June, 28, 2021. 

A majority of Americans allegedly involved with the events of Jan 6, 2021, who were placed on watchlists were removed from them on June, 28, 2021, though some who had been charged remained watchlisted until they were cleared.

Sources at TSA say the Biden administration’s targeting of Americans is the most expansive use of putting U.S. citizens on a no-fly list in history. 

Noem told Fox News Digital that the agency will be ‘referring this case to the Department of Justice and for Congressional investigation.’

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston

Iraq is entering ‘a new phase’ of stability and growth, President Abdullatif Jamal Rashid said in an interview, declaring the country ‘100% safe’ as U.S. troops prepare to draw down after more than two decades on the ground.

While praising the U.S. for helping to defeat ISIS, Rashid stressed that Iraq now intends to stand on its own — maintaining ties with both the United States and neighboring Iran.

‘Americans have helped us in defeating terrorism… and I think Iraq is 100% safe and secure,’ Rashid told Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. ‘It’s a new phase in Iraq, really concentrating on improving the infrastructure.’

Those who served in Iraq in the early 2000s — through the War on Terror and a civil war — may not recognize it as the same place, according to Rashid.

‘We have started development in every field of life, and there are good opportunities for number of American companies, American businessmen, to be our partner in improving the situation in Iraq.’

Under this ‘new phase,’ Rashid said he wants Iraq to be defined less by conflict and more by commerce.

‘Our relationship with the United States is a long relationship. We want to make a stronger relationship… on trade, on investment, on energy and water.’

The timing is significant. The U.S.-led coalition that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 and later fought ISIS was scheduled under an agreement last year to begin its final withdrawal this September. That exact timeline is unclear, and the Pentagon has disclosed few details.

The issue is sure to dominate next month’s parliamentary elections, where a swath of Iraqis want the U.S. to adhere to its agreement and leave.

‘This is a hot button political issue,’ said Behnam Taleblu, fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), ‘with a timetable that was technically — or at least allegedly — already supposed to have started by then, is going to be something that we should be keeping our eyes on.’

American commanders have warned that ISIS cells remain active in rural areas, while Iran-aligned militias have targeted U.S. and Iraqi government facilities with rockets and drones.

Some argue the counter-ISIS mission is not over, and U.S. troops should remain. Others say the U.S. footprint lacks a clear purpose at this point.

‘The deterrent effect of U.S. forces there, I think, could be significant,’ said Taleblu.

Pressed on these concerns, Rashid dismissed talk of Iraq being ‘overrun with Iranian proxies’ as exaggerated and said Baghdad is determined to prevent outside powers from dictating its politics.

‘We want to keep our independence, our decision-making in Iraq as the Iraqis, not to be influenced by outsiders,’ he said.

On reports of militia attacks, Rashid claimed ignorance but insisted such actions would not be tolerated.

‘I’m not really aware of any groups [carrying out attacks]. We will not allow it. And these are against the Iraqi security and Iraqi independence,’ he said.

Still, the perception of Iranian influence remains a flashpoint in Washington.

‘Iranian influence has already taken over Iraq,’ Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital.

Tehran has close ties to Shiite parties that shape government coalitions in Baghdad, and it supports militias within the Popular Mobilization Forces that remain powerful players in the country’s security environment.

Iraq also relies on Iranian electricity and natural gas imports, while Iranian goods fill local markets, making Iraq one of Tehran’s most important trading partners despite international sanctions.

That reach, however, is not uncontested. Iraqi nationalist movements — including many Shiites — have resisted Tehran’s sway, and mass protests in recent years have condemned Iran’s role, sometimes targeting its consulates. Baghdad today remains a space of competing influence.

‘The Islamic Republic benefits from Iraq looking like Swiss cheese,’ said Taleblu, referring to Iranian pockets of influence across the country and its institutions.

‘Iran and Iraq are two neighbors,’ Rashid said, emphasizing that they had friendly relations. ‘We will not allow politicians from either [U.S. or Iraq] to be imposed on Iraqi people.’

Still others say Iran could take note of the Iraqi success story. In less than 20 years, the nation rose from decades of conflict and dictatorial leadership under Saddam Hussein to relative stability and democratic elections.

Rashid confirmed that Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government have resolved their dispute over oil exports, paving the way for flows to resume after months of disruption. ‘It’s a big deal,’ said Rashid, who himself is Kurdish by background.

The Iraqi presidency is reserved for a Kurd under an informal power-sharing agreement, while the prime minister is Shi’a Arab and the speaker of the parliament is Sunni Arab.

Rashid also pointed to November’s parliamentary elections as proof of democratic stability.

‘We are going to have elections in two months’ time in November. That’s really an indication of how stable the country is… We want the process to be fully democratic,’ he said.

But the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) — a state-sanctioned umbrella of mostly Shiite militias, some with close ties to Tehran — are seen by critics as a parallel power structure undermining Iraq’s sovereignty.

Rashid, however, argued that integrating all armed groups under the constitution strengthens, rather than weakens, the state.

And on foreign policy, Rashid tried to position Iraq as a bridge.

He welcomed growing recognition of a Palestinian state, cautiously praised Donald Trump’s push for peace in Gaza, and reiterated that war — whether in the Middle East or in Ukraine — ‘doesn’t solve any problem. It makes the problem more complicated.’

The U.S. secured the release of an American citizen being detained in Afghanistan following months of negotiations on Sunday, Fox News has learned.

The U.S. and Qatar jointly negotiated for the release of Amir Amiry, U.S. Special Envoy Adam Boehler told Fox News on Sunday.

‘When we went to Kabul to pick up George Glezmann six months ago, I asked to see Amir Amiry. He was brought to the airport gate and when he saw us he started to cry. Leaving an American was the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life and I promised him that we would come back for him,’ Boehler told Fox.

‘Amir Amiry became a citizen by putting his life at risk fighting for our country and our troops. Today we repay the favor. God bless America and God bless the President,’ Boehler added.

‘Throughout Mr. Amiry’s detention, Qatari diplomats remained in close communication with US officials and carried out regular health checks to ensure his wellbeing,’ a source familiar with Amiri’s detention told Fox News.

‘His release was facilitated by Qatari diplomats in close coordination with the team of the US Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, through Qatar’s role as the United States’ protecting power in Afghanistan,’ the source added.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio celebrated Amiry’s release, thanking Qatar in an X post Sunday afternoon.

‘Today we welcome home Amir Amiry, an American who was wrongfully detained in Afghanistan. I want to thank Qatar for helping secure his freedom,’ Rubio said. ‘@POTUS has made it clear we will not stop until every American unjustly detained abroad is back home.’

Amiry’s release comes roughly a week after the Taliban released an elderly British couple after eight months in captivity.

Barbie Reynolds, 76, and husband Peter Reynolds, 80, arrived in Qatar on Friday following months of negotiations between Qatar, the Taliban and Britain.  

The couple had lived in Afghanistan for 18 years, where they ran an education charity. Despite the ordeal, Barbie Reynolds said they would return to Afghanistan if they could. They are both Afghan citizens.

‘God is good, as they say in Afghanistan,’ she added at the Kabul airport.

Fox News’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report