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There is reportedly a fatwa, or religious edict, against Donald Trump.Trump recently ratchetted up the language against Iranian officials on his social media, leading to a "murder fatwa" against him, according to an ex-insider. In 1989, Iran's Supreme Leader issued a fatwa against author Salman Rushdie.Lev Parnas, a former "trusted operative" of Trump, flagged the news over the weekend.In a post called "BREAKING: U.S. Intelligence Intercepts Iran’s Private Response to Strike — Fatwa Issued Against Trump," Parnas says, "After Trump’s latest unhinged Truth Social post attacking Ayatollah Khomeini, a second Grand Ayatollah — Noori Hamedani — issued an official murder fatwa against Donald Trump."He highlights the following quote:“Any insult to the Ayatollah Khamenei is an insult to the foundations of Islam. Any individual or state threatening or striking him or aiding in such a crime is Mohareb — an enemy of Allah.""This is unprecedented," he said. "The geopolitical fallout from Trump’s actions isn’t just theoretical — it’s personal, global, and explosive."Parnas continued:"At the same time, Putin and Trump’s carefully choreographed theater from last week is unraveling, just as I warned. And now Trump is teasing a 'major announcement' related to Russia tomorrow — a cryptic post that has my sources working overtime. I’m hearing this could involve a shift on sanctions, an energy deal, or even an announcement tied to Ukraine."Parnas isn't the only one reporting the news. Tehran Times also Sunday published similar claims in a story, "Fatwas draw a red line: No tolerance for threats against Ayatollah Khamenei."Read more here.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt strongly disputed details from an intercepted Iranian call that suggested damage to the country's nuclear program was not as extensive as President Donald Trump has claimed.On Sunday, The Washington Post first reported the existence of signals intelligence, which included Iranian government officials discussing the recent U.S. attack on nuclear facilities. "The communication, intended to be private, included Iranian government officials speculating as to why the strikes directed by President Donald Trump were not as destructive and extensive as they anticipated, these people said," the Post noted.For his part, Trump has claimed that Iran's nuclear program was "completely and totally obliterated."Leavitt did not deny that the call had been intercepted but disagreed with conclusions suggesting Trump's statements were wrong."It's shameful that The Washington Post is helping people commit felonies by publishing out-of-context leaks," she told the paper. "The notion that unnamed Iranian officials know what happened under hundreds of feet of rubble is nonsense. Their nuclear weapons program is over."A senior U.S. intelligence official also told the Post that "one slice of signals intelligence on its own does not reflect the full intelligence picture.""A single phone call between unnamed Iranians is not the same as an intelligence assessment, which takes into account a body of evidence, with multiple sources and methods," the person insisted.

President Donald Trump was brutally mocked over the weekend after he referred to Japan's leader as "Mr. Japan."The president made the statement during an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo about tariffs. As his July 9 deadline for tariff deals approached, Trump said he would rather send a letter to countries instead of negotiating."But I'd rather just send them a letter, a very fair letter, saying, congratulations, whether it will allow you to trade in the United States of America," Trump told Bartiromo. "You're going to pay a 25% tariff, or 20% or 40% or 50%. I would rather do that.""We'll send a letter and we'll say we would consider it a great honor, and this is what you'll have to do to shop in the United States," he opined. "We're like a department store to shop in the United States, and you'll pay a 25% tariff, or we wish you a lot of luck, and that's the end of the trade deal.""I could send one to Japan. Dear Mr. Japan, here's the story. You're going to pay a 25% tariff on your cars."Trump's statement was met with mockery online."His brain is peanut butter," commenter Leslie Jones wrote."If President Biden started a sentence with 'Dear Mr. Japan,' Republicans would never shut up about it and '25th Amendment' is all they'd be talking about," another commenter said. "This is f—ing INSANE.""Paging Jake Tapper," D. Villella joked."If Biden said that Maria would have leaped into the air to wave the DEMENTED flag on air," one person noted.Watch the video below from Fox News.

CNN host Jake Tapper did not get the answer he expected from Sen. Mark Warner when he pressed the Virginia Democrat over the success of Donald Trump surprise attack on Iran over a week ago.During his appearance on CNN's 'State of the Union," the chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence was asked by the CNN host, "So we still don't know the degree of the damage, but let me just ask you this as a basic just calling balls and strikes here: isn't the world safer today because of these strikes than it was nine days ago?" "If we don't end up seeing Iran attacking us through cyber or through proxies, if they --," Warner began before Tapper interrupted him."They were doing that," Tapper interjected as Warner continued, "If the ceasefire, if the ceasefire stays between Israel and Iran and Iran's program is set back for whatever period of time...""I just mean as of today," the CNN host interrupted again. "I'm not saying you're saying this for the rest of your life and you know, whatever, but as of today, we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. but as of today, isn't the world safe?" "I am glad that these capabilities have been cut back," Warner conceded before cautioning, "Do we know what Iran's next step is going to be? Do we? Are we going to be saying the same thing if Iran now tries to race to a bomb in the trunk of a car, because we don't have any inspectors on the ground, are we going to be say that as well if Iran launches major cyber attacks against us, when this administration has literally cut half of the folks who do cyber security at the federal government level?""So I think it's too early to tell, okay" he continued before adding, "Am I glad to see some of this capabilities taken out? Absolutely."You can watch below or at the link. - YouTube youtu.be

Someone who worked closely with Donald Trump and his associates is sounding the alarm about who the president is actually beholden to.Lev Parnas, whose story of working with Trump on issues that led to the president's first impeachment is told in a documentary called From Russia with Lev, used to work closely with Trump and his aides. More recently, Parnas, a former "trusted operative," reported that Trump plans to "stonewall" Congress on crucial war issues.On Thursday, Parnas wrote a piece called Trump’s War on Truth Explodes — Nuclear Lies, Media Attacks, FBI Abuse, in which he argues, "This week will go down in history — not just for what happened, but for how hard they’re trying to rewrite it.""And today, it only unraveled more. As I’ve been telling you, what we’re watching isn’t just an international crisis. It’s a coordinated disinformation campaign, a national security threat, and a blatant assault on democracy, all unfolding in real time," he wrote. He then noted that Pete Hegseth and Karoline Leavitt tried to "change the narrative" on the Iran strikes, saying that Trump's military attack "completely obliterated" the country's nuclear program."But it’s a lie. And they know it," the ex-insider said. "Instead of admitting what really happened, they’re now launching an FBI investigation — not into Trump’s actions, not into the strike that violated international norms — but into the truth-teller who exposed it. That’s right. The leaker who revealed that Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is still intact is now being targeted by federal agents."Parnas added that the media is "chasing noise," before doubling down on his reports about Trump's plans to stonewall Congress."My sources now confirm that Trump’s team plans to stonewall Congress. In today’s Senate briefing, officials gave only selective, cherry-picked info. Even Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s staunchest defenders, came out afterward and said it plainly: 'We still don’t know where the 900 pounds of uranium are,'" he wrote Thursday. "Let that sink in."According to Parnas, this is all "about how dictators stay in power — by rewriting history.""Trump started it with the 2020 election lie, saying it was stolen. He repeated it so much that tens of millions still believe it. Now he’s applying that same blueprint to foreign policy. He’s lying about the Iran strike. He’s lying about nuclear weapons. He’s even lying about our allies and enemies," Parnas wrote. "Meanwhile, Iran is canceling inspections. They’re cutting off access to international nuclear monitors. That means they can now develop a nuclear weapon without oversight — and Trump is letting it happen."Going further, Parnas noted that Iranian oil will now go to China, and said Trump is taking orders from another foreign leader."Trump claims he’s tough on China. But he just handed them discounted oil on a silver platter and let Iran resume nuclear development," the ex-operative said. "And if that wasn’t enough, Russian diplomats are now in D.C. — not making deals, but delivering Putin’s demands. Trump isn’t running foreign policy. He’s taking orders."Read the full post on Substack here.

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg on Thursday that President Donald Trump correctly stated they've reached a "deal" with China on trade. "We just signed with China yesterday, right?" Trump asked an advisor during an event at the White House. There were also no further details on what the deal was. In early June, the White House made a deal with China to return to trade levels from April before the two countries began slapping more tariffs on each other's goods, Reuters reported.According to Lutnick, a "deal" was signed two days ago — on Tuesday. As Bloomberg noted, there were no further details on the matter. The previous deal in early June said that after the two countries raised tariffs in a tit-for-tat battle in the global media, they would return to the tariffs decided in April. Two weeks ago, Lutnick said the 55% rate on Chinese imports is fixed and unalterable. When CNBC asked him whether the levels on China would not change, he confirmed, "You can definitely say that.""Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me," Trump said on Truth Social in early June, ABC News reported. It's unclear if this is the "deal" that Trump is referring to. That agreement would impose a 55% tariff on all goods imported from China.

President Donald Trump delivered a rambling speech Thursday afternoon, during which he appeared to claim he signed a trade deal with China. The comment came in passing, and the president didn't elaborate, despite intense interest over the ramifications of such an agreement. "We just signed with China yesterday, right?" Trump asked an advisor off to his right during an event at the White House. Neither he nor the White House has confirmed if there is a deal with China. There were also no further details on what the deal was. In early June, the White House made a deal with China to return to trade levels from April before the two countries began slapping more tariffs on each other's goods. Independent journalist and author of "Public Notice," Aaron Rupar, speculated that it wasn't real. "We've gone from '90 [deals] in 90 days' to Trump touting fake trade deals," he wrote on Bluesky. He also noted that in the same speech, Trump claimed, "We're cutting $1.7 trillion in this bill and you're not gonna feel any of it. Your Medicaid is left alone. It's left the same."Rupar called it a "brazen lie."Fans of Trump were quick to cheer that he accomplished his goal. If accurate, the deal would be just the second that his team has made in the past 85 days. Trump's goal was to reach 90 deals in 90 days. So far, he's reached one with the United Kingdon and a framework agreement with China. Others were confused, using several question marks or asking, "Huh?"The Kobeissi Letter, which provides commentary on global capital markets, noted that if the deal had occurred on Wednesday, "there was no announcement of this deal."Trump has frequently boasted of his perceived successes.A stock and options trader and retired orthopedic surgeon in Florida shared the comment from Trump with an emoji scratching his chin."There was no announcement of this deal yesterday," Yasir Mahmood also posted with a laughing emoji. "The theater never ends with this guy."

President Donald Trump's administration seemed to fail to convince Senate Democrats that Iran's nuclear program had been "obliterated."Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) spoke to reporters Thursday after emerging from the briefing."The allegations that we have obliterated their program just don't seem to stand up to reason," the senator said, adding: "I just do not think the president was telling the truth when he said this program was obliterated. They were certainly damaged under the program but there is a significant—there's still significant remaining capability for the Iranians.""I walk away from that briefing still under the belief that we have not obliterated the program," he continued. "The president was deliberately misleading the public when he said the program was obliterated."Republicans, however, sided with Trump. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) insisted that the nuclear program had been obliterated, but he also said the fight was not "over.""I don't want people to think that the danger is over, cause it's not," he insisted.Watch the video below from RSBN.