TV News LIES

President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Navy is exiting "effective immediately" as the U.S. naval blockade has become a key issue in the war and as Iran grows more aggressive on the waters, seizing two ships on Wednesday.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced Secretary John C. Phelan’s exit Wednesday afternoon without elaborating on what prompted the move. The former Trump campaign donor’s departure comes as Iran tightens its grip over the Strait of Hormuz and as Trump says he will not call off his blockade of Iranian ports.

A ceasefire between the United States and Iran remains in effect after Trump extended the break in hostilities. But tensions on the water remain high. Iran views the naval blockade as an act of war and has signaled it is holding up further peace negotiations. The president says he’s waiting on the Islamic republic to deliver a "unified proposal" for peace.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized two vessels for alleged maritime violations and escorted them to Iran's shores, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The ships were the first seized since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began Feb. 28.

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House Democrats will introduce six articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday accusing him of abuse of power, war crimes and other serious wrongdoing.

Why it matters: The measure has virtually no chance of passing this Congress, but it is the latest sign that Democrats have coalesced around Hegseth as their new top target in https://www.axios.com/2026/04/15/iran-war-pete-hegseth-congress-impeachment-articles-democrats-reflecting-search-interest-orderTrump's Cabinet.

Democrats previously pushed to impeach former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and former Attorney General Pam Bondi, both of whom were ousted by Trump in recent months.
With his longstanding scandals and now the conflict with Iran, Hegseth is a prime candidate to become the party's latest boogeyman.

What they're saying: "This is just anothehttps://www.axios.com/2026/04/15/iran-war-pete-hegseth-congress-impeachment-articles-democrats-reflecting-search-interest-orderr Democrat trying to make headlines as the Department of War decisively and overwhelmingly achieved the Presidents' objectives in Iran," Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement to Axios.

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President Trump says the U.S. military began a blockade of Iranian ports on Monday, drawing threats of retaliation from Iran, after talks between the U.S. and Iran failed to reach an agreement over the weekend.

"Right now we have a blockade," Trump said Monday. "They're doing no business."

In a social media post earlier, he reiterated his threat to Iranian ships that tried to interfere. "Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED," he wrote.
https://www.npr.org/2026/04/13/nx-s1-5783445/iran-war-updates
It was the latest tactic to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — by blockading the strait outright.

Trump says Iran has charged tolls for some ships to pass and laid mines in the strait, amounting to "WORLD EXTORTION." He said Sunday that he had instructed the Navy "to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran."

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Former Columbia University student and Palestinian rights activist Mahmoud Khalil is now a step closer to being deported from the US after the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a final removal order in his case on Thursday. 

The judges who make up the BIA do not operate as an independent judiciary. The BIA falls under the control of the executive branch of government - in this case, the Trump administration.

The same applies to all immigration courts, which operate under the purview of the Department of Justice. 

Khalil's lawyers maintain that the decision to remove him from the country is in direct retaliation for his pro-Palestine speech. They are going to appeal, they said in a statement.

Khalil has a separate, ongoing federal case regarding what his team said were violations of his constitutional rights, which means he cannot be rearrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or deported until that case is closed.

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Israel’s cabinet has secretly approved a record number of new settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli news channel i24NEWS.

Amid the war on Iran, the government ratified 34 new settlements in a single decision – more than half the total approved during the previous record-setting year of 2025.

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are widely regarded as illegal under international law.

Sources told i24NEWS that the Israeli army’s chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, who attended the meeting, did not explicitly oppose the plan but expressed concerns over limited personnel and suggested phasing the rollout to a smaller number of sites at a time.

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Hundreds of doctors in the UK have signed a petition accusing the country's medical regulator of fostering an “environment of fear” by pursuing what they say is a politically motivated campaign against the prominent British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sittah.

The petition, organised by Health Workers 4 Palestine, calls on the leadership of the General Medical Council (GMC) to resign after the regulator said it would challenge the outcome of an independent tribunal which cleared Abu Sittah of wrongdoing following a complaint brought by a pro-Israel advocacy group over an article he had written for a Lebanese newspaper.

The petition also raised concerns about financial governance at the regulator, after noting that legal costs in the Abu Sittah case reportedly exceed £200,000 - an amount that requires approval from the GMC’s most senior leadership.

Last week a second medical regulatory body, the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA), said it had joined the GMC in challenging the tribunal's judgment in favour of Abu Sittah.