Iran fires on 2 ships in Strait of Hormuz after Trump extends ceasefire

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., suggested Wednesday that President Donald Trump is losing credibility with Iran by making threats only to repeatedly back down.

Trump made the statement while speaking with reporters at the U.S. Capitol amid Trump's latest extension of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.

"This President has a tendency of threatening to bring down terror on countries that don't see things his way, and at the last minute, he relents. I think you lose a lot of credibility once you've done that a number of times," Durbin told reporters.

EXCLUSIVE:  U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack is pushing back after backlash over remarks seen as equating Israel with Hezbollah, insisting his comments reflect "realism" and not a change in U.S. policy.

Barrack appeared to equate America’s closest ally in the Middle East with a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, suggested Turkey should soon regain access to the F-35 program despite its purchase of Russia’s S-400 system, and argued that only "powerful leadership regimes" have succeeded in the region.

In exclusive written answers to Fox News Digital’s questions, Barrack rejected accusations that he was softening the administration’s stance toward Hezbollah or Iran, and argued that President Donald Trump’s "peace through strength" approach requires a more pragmatic reading of the Middle East.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Efrat Lachter.

President Donald Trump says it is "possible" that peace talks with Iran could start again within as soon as Friday, the New York Post reported.

Trump issued the statement in a text message to the outlet, saying the talks could begin within the next "36 to 72 hours."

Peace talks were expected to begin on Wednesday, but Iran's divided leadership failed to come forward with a "unified proposal."

Retired Admiral William McRaven joined Fox News on Wednesday and warned of Iran's threats to attack the energy infrastructure of its Gulf neighbors if the U.S. targets Iran's own energy infrastructure.

Iranian officials issued the threat as talks failed to kick off in Pakistan on Tuesday. McRaven warned against the U.S. escalating its military strikes, advocating instead for a temporary lifting of sanctions to encourage negotiations.

This is an excerpt from an opinion article by Majeed Gly, a Kurdish-American immigrant and president of the American Kurdish Committee.

Americans are debating whether this war was worth it. Thirteen soldiers have come home in caskets. Hundreds more carry wounds. No one takes that lightly. Least of all someone like me — who chose this country and wears its flag by choice, not by birth.

I was born on the Iranian border and raised in the shadow of its wars. I have seen firsthand what these policies do to the people of this region. I still travel across the Middle East — I was in Erbil, Riyadh and Dubai just recently. I know what people say when the cameras are off. It is not anger at America. It is relief.

But here is what the critics are missing. For millions of people across the Middle East, this war did not start on Feb. 28. It started decades ago. What changed is that a president decided to stop managing the problem and start confronting it. The people of the region noticed. I promise you — they noticed.

What most Americans never hear is what those people actually want. Not war. Not jihad. Not martyrdom. Across the Gulf, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, 140 million people are under the age of 30. They want what any young American wants: a job, a stable country and a future that is not hostage to someone else’s ideology. New leaders in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kurdistan and Syria are building toward exactly that. When I sit with young professionals in Erbil or Riyadh or Dubai, they talk about startups. They talk about AI. They talk about opportunity.

And this is not theory. Look at what happens when stability takes root. The UAE was empty desert 50 years ago. Today it is a global center of commerce where millions of people — including Americans — live, invest and build. The Kurdistan Region of Iraq, encircled by hostile forces, built one of the most open societies in the Middle East. It became the largest safe haven for persecuted Christians in the region. And despite a severe economic embargo by Iran-backed forces, Kurdistan built a stable, multibillion-dollar economy that houses nearly all U.S. forces in Iraq. People move there because it works. These places are not exceptions. They are previews of what the entire region can become.

What stops it, every time, is the same force. Iran-backed armed groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen — all taking orders from Tehran, all blocking the future the rest of the region is trying to build. For 45 years, one capital has exported instability to every corner of this region — not because Iranians want it, but because a small circle of men in power profit from it.

Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg (Ret.) is urging the U.S. to "finish the job" against Iran, calling for the seizure of strategic islands, crippling its energy sector and arming insurgents inside the country after a fragile ceasefire was extended in a bid to keep negotiations alive.

"Let’s not negotiate anymore. Let’s just walk away. Let’s finish the job," Kellogg said Tuesday on "Hannity."

Kellogg, who previously served as a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia under the Trump administration, argued that Iran’s damaged leadership and economic collapse present an opportunity to intensify pressure rather than pursue diplomacy.

He highlighted Iran’s "fractured" command structure as a point of weakness, arguing that the U.S. should compound pressure through economic and military means to force the regime to "buckle."

"As I say, let's create more problems for them and try to figure this out," Kellogg said.

"That's why I keep going back to take something like Kharg Island or seize the islands in the Strait of Hormuz with ... the ARGs that you've got there, and you've got elements of the 82nd [Airborne]. They can take Kharg Island."

"All of a sudden, now you're creating and compounding the problem for them [Iran] to try to solve, and I don't think they can solve it because they don't have the leadership left that can figure this out."

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Taylor Penley.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of the Iranian armed forces, has blocked President Masoud Pezeshkian’s presidential appointments and erected what sources described as a security cordon around Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, a report published Tuesday by Iran International said.

The IRGC effectively has assumed control over key state functions, the report claimed.

"It was always a matter of when, not if, the IRGC was going to step forward even more than it has in the last three decades," Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

Pezeshkian has reached a "complete political deadlock" as tensions between his administration and the military leadership deepen, according to the report.

The reported shift could have major consequences far beyond Iran. 

Analysts say a more powerful IRGC likely would mean a more confrontational Iran, less willing to compromise in talks with Washington and more inclined to continue military escalation across the region. With U.S.-Iran negotiations already faltering and uncertainty growing over whether Tehran will even send negotiators to the next round of talks, the rise of the Revolutionary Guard raises fresh doubts about who actually is making decisions in Iran and whether any civilian official can still speak for the regime.

"But it’s a mistake to assume this is some sort of coup," Ben Taleblu said. "This has been the process in Iran for years now, as the regime has chosen conflict over cooperation and emboldened its security forces at every juncture."

Pezeshkian’s recent effort to appoint a new intelligence minister collapsed after direct pressure from IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi, sources told Iran International, arguing that all proposed candidates, including former Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, were rejected.

Vahidi reportedly insisted that under wartime conditions, all critical and sensitive positions must be chosen and managed directly by the Revolutionary Guard until further notice.

"By any standard, Vahidi is considered a radical even within the regime’s hardline elite, and his rise is a warning that Tehran’s war machine now calls the shots," Lisa Daftari, foreign policy analyst and journalist, told Fox News Digital.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Efrat Lachter.

An Israeli special operations veteran argued that taking Iran's Kharg Island stronghold will "always be on the table" Wednesday.

Israeli veteran Aaron Cohen made the statement as tensions in the Strait of Hormuz continue to rise, with Iranian forces firing on at least three vessels Wednesday.

Kharg Island serves as the main export hub of crude oil for Iran, making it absolutely essential for the regime.

Iranian state media reports that Iranian forces have taken custody of two trade vessels in the Strait of Hormuz after opening fire on the ships Wednesday.

Reports say the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have taken custody over the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca and Liberia-flagged Epaminondas and are bringing them to Iran.

Reports said Iran fired on a third vessel in the strait as well, but did not take it into custody.

International ship tracking from Marine Traffic shows both vessels stationary off the coast of Iran in the strait.

News of Iran's assault on the vessels first came from the United Kingdom Maritime Operations, which reported an IRGC gunboat had caused significant damage to the bridge of one of the container ships.

President Donald Trump's new ceasefire with Iran will be a short one, Fox News' Sean Hannity reported Tuesday night.

Hannity cited multiple unnamed sources who told him the ceasefire is expected to be brief.

The U.S. said the truce is expected to continue until Tehran presents a "unified proposal" for peace talks to continue in Pakistan.

In what appears to be the second recent maritime incident in the region, a cargo ship has reportedly been fired upon near Iran, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre noted.

"UKMTO has received a report of an incident 8NM west of Iran. A master of an outbound cargo ship reports having been fired upon and is now stopped in the water. Crew are safe and accounted for. There is no reported damage to the vessel," the UKMTO warning notes.

A prior UKMTO notice had noted a report that a container ship was fired upon by an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gun boat near Oman.

"UKMTO has received a report of an incident 15NM northeast of OMAN. The Master of a Container Ship reported that the vessel was approached by 1 IRGC gun boat, no VHF challenge that then fired upon the vessel which has caused heavy damage to the bridge. No fires or environmental impact reported. All Crew reported safe," the UKMTO warning stated.

President Donald Trump said Iran is “collapsing financially” as tensions over the Strait of Hormuz continue to escalate.

“They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately- Starving for cash! Losing 500 Million Dollars a day,” Trump said. “Military and Police complaining that they are not getting paid. SOS!!!"

The comments echoed a similar post from Trump earlier Tuesday, when he said the Iranian regime is trying to “save face” over the closure of the strait.

“Iran doesn’t want the Strait of Hormuz closed; they want it open so they can make $500 million a day (which is, therefore, what they are losing if it is closed!),” Trump wrote in the earlier post.

“They only say they want it closed because I have it totally BLOCKADED (CLOSED!), so they merely want to ‘save face,’” he added.