PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Mike Tomlin era in Pittsburgh is over.

The longest-tenured head coach in major American professional sports stepped down from his job leading the Steelers on Tuesday after yet another quick playoff exit.

The announcement came a day after the end of his 19th season in Pittsburgh, where he was a relative unknown when he was hired to replace Bill Cowher in early 2007 before carving out his own Hall of Fame-worthy chapter in team history.

“I am deeply grateful to Art Rooney II and the late Ambassador (Dan) Rooney for their trust and support,” Tomlin said in a statement released by the team. “I am also thankful to the players who gave everything they had every day, and to the coaches and staff whose commitment and dedication made this journey so meaningful.”

Art Rooney II, who took over for his Hall of Fame father as team president in 2003, lauded Tomlin for his dedication to the franchise and his uncanny ability to churn out competitive teams year after year in an era when parity is the norm.

“It is hard for me to put into words the level of respect and appreciation I have for Coach Tomlin,” Rooney said in a statement. “He guided the franchise to our sixth Super Bowl championship and made the playoffs 13 times during his tenure, including winning the AFC North eight times in his career. His track record of never having a losing season in 19 years will likely never be duplicated.”

Tomlin won one Super Bowl and went to another during his first four seasons in Pittsburgh before the club settled into a pattern of solid if not always spectacular play followed by a playoff cameo that ended with the Steelers on the wrong side of a blowout.

The 53-year-old Tomlin won 193 regular-season games in Pittsburgh, tied with Hall of Famer Chuck Noll for the most victories in franchise history. But their resumes diverged when it comes to the playoffs. While Noll won four Super Bowls in the 1970s, Tomlin went just 8-12 in the postseason, losing each of his last seven playoff games, all by double-digit margins.

The last came Monday night, when the AFC North champions squandered some early momentum before getting drilled 30-6 by Houston, the most lopsided home playoff loss in team history.

There were chants of “Fire Tomlin!” as the clock kicked toward zero, though they weren’t nearly as impassioned as they were in late November while the Steelers were getting pushed around by Buffalo in a loss that dropped their record to 6-6.

Tomlin did his best to tune out the noise and his team responded, the way it seemingly always did during his tenure. Pittsburgh won four of its final five games, including a sweep of Baltimore that gave the club its first AFC North title since 2020.

The optimism, however, dimmed once the Texans asserted themselves. The NFL’s top-ranked defense suffocated Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh’s offense while the league’s highest-paid defense wilted late.

It was a familiar and frustrating pattern for a place where, as Tomlin noted not long after his introduction, “the standard is the standard.”

And while that remains the case for a team whose members walk by six Lombardi Trophies every day on the way to work, the results had plateaued. The Steelers finished with 9 or 10 wins in each of Tomlin’s final five seasons, often doing just enough to squeak into the playoffs before being exposed by a more talented opponent.

Tomlin had two years left on the contract extension he signed in 2024, with the club holding the option for 2027.

His departure leaves the Steelers looking for a head coach for just the third time since they hired Noll in 1969.

Pittsburgh likely won’t lack for attractive candidates. The club’s stability — the team has had just three head coaches since 1969 — combined with its ability to remain competitive even without a franchise quarterback for the last half-decade means whoever gets the job will be given substantial leeway to get the team back to the top.

The announcement came as somewhat of a shock. Tomlin learned long ago to tune out his detractors, and in the final question he fielded as head coach, he painted an upbeat picture about the team’s future.

“I’m always feel optimistic about what we’re capable of doing in terms of putting together a group, certainly,” he said Monday night.

And with that, he stepped off the dais and into a future that will not lack for options. Long one of the most charismatic people in football, Tomlin could step into television if he wants, as Cowher did after retiring, with no looking back.

Yet it seems just as likely that he will have his choice of jobs if or when he wants to coach again. Players defended Tomlin — almost uniformly popular within the locker room — to the end.

Tight end Pat Freiermuth called Tomlin “one of the best coaches I’ll ever play for, probably the best. In my opinion his message hasn’t got stale. I believe in him.”

Freiermuth added that his belief extended to general manager Omar Khan, who will be in charge of finding the right person for one of the most attractive coaching gigs in any league.

Tomlin’s two predecessors are in the Hall of Fame. Tomlin could very well find himself getting fitted for a gold jacket of his own. Yet rather than try to come back next year and break Noll’s record for regular-season wins, he opted to, as Noll once famously put it, “get on with his life’s work.”

And the Steelers will try to find the right person to help them return to the standard that the franchise lives by, one it clutched at but never quite grasped during Tomlin’s final years.

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Iranian state television acknowledged Tuesday that the Islamic Republic has lost “a lot of martyrs” in ongoing anti-government protests sweeping the country, a report said. 

The development comes as at least 2,000 people have been killed in the demonstrations, according to an activist group. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency announced that 1,847 of the dead were protesters and 135 were members of Iran’s security forces. Other reports say the death toll is over 3,000, with the real number likely to be even higher. 

A news anchor on Iranian state TV read a statement claiming “armed and terrorist groups” led the country “to present a lot of martyrs to God,” The Associated Press reported. Iranian state TV said officials will hold a funeral Wednesday for the “martyrs and security defenders” who have died in the protests.

Iran’s regime has been trying to crack down on the protests, which began in late December with shopkeepers and bazaar merchants demonstrating against accelerating inflation and the collapse of the rial. The unrest soon spread to universities and provincial cities, with young men clashing with security forces.

US OPENS NEW AIR DEFENSE OPERATIONS CELL AT QATAR BASE THAT IRAN TARGETED IN RETALIATORY ATTACK

“The killing of peaceful demonstrators must stop, and the labelling of protesters as ‘terrorists’ to justify violence against them is unacceptable,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement Tuesday. 

The U.S. Virtual Embassy Iran issued a warning earlier today telling American citizens who are still in the country to leave immediately.   

President Donald Trump later urged the people of Iran to “take over” the country’s institutions, saying he has canceled all meetings with the Iranian regime until its crackdown on unrest ends.

IRAN’S ‘DISTINCTIVE’ DRONE DEPLOYMENT SEES DEATH TOLL SOAR AMID VIOLENT PROTESTS

Trump made the announcement on social media, vowing that those responsible for killing anti-regime demonstrators will “pay a big price.” Iran had previously claimed it was in contact with U.S. officials amid the protests. 

“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.”

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“I have canceled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” he added. 

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom, Efrat Lachter and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Over the course of 2025, US President Donald Trump was consistently vocal about his desire to bag the Nobel Peace Prize, claiming to have ended eight wars since returning to office — an assertion which has been contested by war experts.

Fast-forward to 2026, and the frenzy around the topical matter has already resurfaced, after Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Machado said she wanted to “share” her award with Trump following the US’s capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro on 3 January.

“I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him [Trump] that the Venezuelan people […] want to give it [the Nobel Peace Prize] to him and share it with him”, Machado — who was awarded the prize for promoting the democratic rights of Venezuelans — told Fox News on 5 January.

Trump initially said it would be “very tough” for Machado to play a role in Venezuela’s future government due to a lack of “support or the respect within the country”, instead supporting acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who served as vice president under Maduro.

However, Trump began to change his tune after Machado offered to share the Nobel Peace Prize, qualifying her willingness to share the prize as a “great honour”.

What are the facts?

In reality, only the Nobel Prize Committee can decide if a prize is shared, and this can be for up to a maximum of three individuals. Meanwhile, the peace prize specifically can also be given to organisations, as well as individuals.

On 9 January, the Nobel Prize Committee issued a statement honing in on the facts: once a Nobel Prize is announced, the decision is final. After this point, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred.

Ahead of Machado’s trip to the US to meet with Trump on Thursday, journalists asked Trump whether her role in a future Venezuelan government could be influenced by the offer to share the Nobel Peace Prize. In response, Trump indicated that it could be.

In theory, nothing is barring Trump from being nominated and potentially receiving the prize.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, typically made up of five members appointed by Norway’s parliament, shortlists nominations and consults experts before awarding the peace prize.

Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel said in his will that it should go to the person who has done the most for “fraternity between nations” and the abolition of standing armies.

Trump has received nominations in the past, and other US presidents have won it before.

Most recently, Barack Obama received it in 2009 “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” — a decision Trump has repeatedly criticised.