Politics
New Iranian leader Khamenei vows ‘never-ending’ revenge in first public statement
WASHINGTON — Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed retaliation Thursday against the United States and Israel and signaled that Tehran will continue to choke off the world’s most critical oil route, as the war strained global energy markets and raised new security concerns in the United States.
In his first public remarks since U.S.–Israeli strikes killed his father, former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba Khamenei swore revenge. The new leader, notably, did not appear in person for the televised statement. Instead, his written words were read aloud on Iranian state media.
“We will never retreat and vow to avenge the blood of our martyrs,” he said. “Our revenge will be never ending, not only for the late supreme leader, but also for the blood of all of our martyrs. … Those who killed our children will pay the price.”
The new leader expressed condolences to families who lost children in a strike on a girls school in Minab that killed more than 165 people, many of them children. He also warned that the war could expand, declaring that the continuation of the conflict “depends on the interests of the parties.”
The Associated Press, citing two sources, reported that outdated intelligence likely led to the United States carrying out the deadly missile strike on the elementary school. U.S. Central Command relied on target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, according to a person familiar with the preliminary finding.
Khamenei indicated that Tehran would maintain its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a key choke point through which 20% of the world’s oil supply is shipped. He also said he believes in friendship with his country’s neighbors, but that attacks on U.S. military installations in the region will continue. He described maintaining pressure on the passage as a necessary part of Iran’s war strategy.
His remarks came as attacks continued to disrupt shipping and energy infrastructure across the Persian Gulf. The war sent oil up 10% Thursday as hostilities in Iran drag on.
Reports from the region said Iranian forces have intensified strikes on vessels attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, leaving hundreds of ships stranded at its entrances and rattling global oil markets.
Two oil tankers were struck by explosives in Iraqi waters near the port of Basra. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed at least one crew member and set both vessels ablaze, according to the Associated Press. A third unnamed vessel was reported to have been struck by an “unknown projectile” near Dubai and Jebel Ali, causing a small fire, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported.
The latest incidents come after drone strikes targeted fuel storage facilities across the Gulf, including at energy sites in Bahrain and at the port of Salalah in Oman, an important hub for tankers seeking to bypass the Strait.
“They will pay the price. We will destroy their facilities,” Khamenei said. “It is necessary to continue our defensive activity, including continuing to close the Strait of Hormuz.”
A National Institutes of Health employee who was put on paid leave after organizing a public letter that criticized the Trump administration said on Friday that she had been reinstated — a move that followed the reinstatement of 14 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees who had signed a critical letter of their own.
The employee, Jenna Norton, was a key organizer of “The Bethesda Declaration,” issued in June 2025 and signed by nearly 500 N.I.H. employees, which deplored the degradation of medical research under Mr. Trump. The document spawned a wave of other public letters, including one known as the Katrina Declaration, signed by the FEMA employees, which warned that the agency risked repeating mistakes it had made during the Hurricane Katrina disaster more than two decades ago.
Dr. Norton, a program director at the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, was sent home with pay in November, when she tried to return to work after a 43-day government shutdown. She subsequently filed a whistle-blower complaint accusing her superiors of retaliating against her. She has emerged as a high-profile critic of the administration, speaking out on social media and in interviews.
This week, she received a four-sentence email telling her to return to work on Monday, she said, but it gave no reason for the reinstatement. A spokesman for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees the N.I.H., did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Dr. Norton.
Dr. Norton specializes in research aimed at eliminating disparities in the incidence and treatment of kidney disease. But an executive order Mr. Trump issued on his first day in office, ending government-sponsored “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs, led to the cancellation of many of the grants she oversaw.
Some have been reinstated as a result of lawsuits. “I wish I could say I was excited to return to my job,” Dr. Norton said in an interview, “but I’m very worried that that job doesn’t really exist anymore.”
When Dr. Norton was first placed on “nondisciplinary administrative leave,” health department officials gave various reasons. One said she had been put on leave because she had criticized the administration when she was supposed to be working. The N.I.H. director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, told an online publication, Just the News, that the health department was investigating Dr. Norton “for potentially violating the Antideficiency Act,” which bars federal employees from spending money beyond what Congress appropriates.
He also said that Dr. Norton might have violated communications policy, and that she did not have the “academic freedom” to speak out because she is not a full-time research scientist.
That is not true, said Debra S. Katz, the lawyer representing Dr. Norton in her whistle-blower case, which is still pending.
“Her participation as leader of the Bethesda Declaration is legal, First Amendment protected speech,” Ms. Katz said. “They went on a fishing expedition to try to find a reason to suspend and fire her, and there was none. So they have been left with an indefensible position, and forced to take her back.”
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President Donald Trump appeared to joke during remarks at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches in Florida Friday that the U.S. would be “taking over” Cuba “almost immediately,” while recognizing attendees including former Rep. Dan Mica.
“And he comes from, originally, a place called Cuba, which we will be taking over almost immediately,” Trump said.
“Cuba’s got problems. We’ll finish one first. I like to finish a job.”
TRUMP AIMS TO RESET WAR POWERS CLOCK WITH CONTROVERSIAL BID TO BYPASS CONGRESS
President Donald Trump speaks during an event at The Villages Charter School in Sumterville, Fla., on Friday. (Thomas Simonetti/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump then riffed on a hypothetical show of American force.
“On the way back from Iran, we’ll have one of our big — maybe the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier — the biggest in the world,” he said.
“We’ll have that come in, stop about 100 yards offshore, and they’ll say, ‘Thank you very much, we give up.’”
The president did not elaborate further.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for clarification if the remarks were hypothetical or outlining policy plans.
Politics
Your guide to the California Congressional District 27 race: Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley
- Jason Gibbs: Republican, Santa Clarita City Council member, mechanical engineer
Gibbs has been a member of the Santa Clarita City Council since 2020 and was chosen by his peers to serve as the city’s mayor in 2023. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering at Cal Poly and went on to work in the aerospace industry, according to his campaign website. He has lived in Santa Clarita for nearly a decade while raising two young children, his bio says, and has served on the local boards of the Boys and Girls Club, the Valley Industry Assn. and the Salvation Army.
- George Whitesides: Democrat, incumbent
Whitesides defeated Republican incumbent Mike Garcia to represent the 27th Congressional District in 2024. Whitesides worked on President Obama’s transition team in 2008 and served as NASA chief of staff during the Obama administration, according to his campaign bio. He was the first chief executive of Virgin Galactic, co-founded Megafire Action, a nonprofit that advocates for legislation to address the growing problem of massive wildfires, and was a board member for the Antelope Valley Economic Development and Growth Enterprise, his bio says.
Others:
- Roberto Ramos: Democrat, Marine veteran, UCLA master’s student
- Caleb Norwood: Democrat, college student
A representative for David Neidhart, a Republican candidate, said he has withdrawn from the race. His name still will appear on the ballot.
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