officials

One of the two detainees still missing after escaping from a New Jersey federal immigration detention center has been arrested, the FBI said Tuesday.

Franklin Norberto Bautista-Reyes, from Honduras, has been taken into custody, FBI spokesperson Amy Thoreson said in an email. Andres Felipe Pineda-Mogollon, from Colombia, is still missing from Thursday night’s escape, the bureau said.

Bautista-Reyes and Pineda-Mogollon and two other men busted out of the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark during reports of disorder there by breaking through a wall and escaping from a parking lot, according to U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, and Homeland Security officials.

All four men were in the country illegally and had been charged by local police in New Jersey and New York City, federal officials said.

Bautista-Reyes was charged in May with aggravated assault, attempt to cause bodily injury, terroristic threats and a weapon crime. Pineda-Mogollon, from Colombia, was charged with minor larceny and burglary crimes.

The details surrounding Bautista-Reyes’ capture were not immediately clear. Messages seeking information were sent to the FBI and the Homeland Security Department, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The FBI on Monday had increased the reward for information leading to their arrest to $25,000 from $10,000.

Joel Enrique Sandoval-Lopez, one of the other fugitives, was taken into custody in Passaic, N.J., on Friday, the day after the escape in nearby Newark. Then, on Sunday, Joan Sebastian Castaneda-Lozada surrendered to federal authorities in Milleville, N.J. Sandoval-Lopez, from Honduras, was charged with unlawful possession of a handgun in October and aggravated assault in February, officials said. Castaneda-Lozada, from Colombia, was charged with burglary, theft and conspiracy, authorities said.

A message seeking comment on behalf of the men was left Tuesday with the New Jersey public defender’s office. It’s unclear who may be representing the men.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat who’s been critical of President Trump’s immigration crackdown, cited reports of a possible uprising and escape after disorder broke out at the facility Thursday night and protesters outside the center locked arms and pushed against barricades as vehicles passed through gates. Much is still unclear about what unfolded there.

But GEO Group, the company that owns and operates the detention facility for the federal government, said in a statement that there was “no widespread unrest” at the facility.

Delaney Hall has been the site of clashes this year between Democratic officials who say the facility needs more oversight and the Trump administration and those who run the facility.

Baraka was arrested May 9, handcuffed and charged with trespassing. The charge was later dropped and U.S. Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver was later charged with assaulting federal officers, stemming from a skirmish that happened outside the facility. She has denied the charges.

Catalini writes for the Associated Press.

Israel’s aerial assault on Iran has destroyed the above-ground enrichment plant at Natanz, where there is now “contamination”, according to Rafael Grossi, chief of the United Nations nuclear watchdog.

Grossi delivered the update during an emergency UN Security Council meeting in New York on Friday, where he and other senior UN officials urged both Israel and Iran to show restraint to prevent a deeper regional conflict.

“I have repeatedly stated that nuclear facilities should never be attacked regardless of the context or circumstances, as it could harm both people and the environment,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

He reported radiological and chemical contamination inside the Natanz facility, where Iran was producing uranium enriched up to 60 percent. However, he added that the contamination is “manageable with appropriate measures”, and said the IAEA is ready to send nuclear security experts to help secure the sites if requested.

“I call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid further escalation,” he added.

UN Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo also urged both sides to show “maximum restraint at this critical moment”.

“A peaceful resolution through negotiations remains the best means to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme,” she told the council. “We must at all costs avoid a growing conflagration which would have enormous global consequences.”

Israeli ‘declaration of war’

The 15-member Security Council, also joined by representatives of Israel and Iran, met at Iran’s request after Israel struck several Iranian nuclear facilities and military sites in the early hours of Friday, and carried out assassinations of senior military officials and nuclear scientists.

Iran’s UN Envoy Amir Saeid Iravani told the emergency meeting that the attacks, which he described as a “declaration of war” and “a direct assault on international order”, had killed 78 people and injured more than 320.

He accused the US of providing Israel with both intelligence and political support for the attacks, the consequences of which he said it “shares full responsibility” for.

“Supporting Israel today is supporting war crimes,” he said.

The US representative, McCoy Pitt, insisted the US was not involved militarily in the strikes, but defended them as necessary for the self-defence of Israel.

He warned that the “consequences for Iran would be dire” if it targeted US bases or citizens in retaliation. “Iran’s leadership would be wise to negotiate at this time,” he said.

‘How long did the world expect us to wait?’

Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon cast its attack on Iran’s nuclear sites as “an act of national preservation”, claiming Iran was days away from producing enough fissile material for multiple bombs.

“This operation was carried out because the alternative was unthinkable,” said Danon. “How long did the world expect us to wait? Until they assemble the bomb? Until they mount it on a Shahab missile? Until it is en route to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem?”

“We will not hesitate, we will not relent, and we will not allow a genocidal regime to endanger our people,” said Danon

An Iranian counterattack on Israel took place while the UN meeting was in progress, with Iran firing waves of ballistic missiles at Israeli targets.

“Iran affirms its inherent right to self-defence,” said Iran’s Iravani, promising to respond “decisively and proportionately” against Israel.

“This is not a threat, this is the natural, legal and necessary consequence of an unprovoked military act,” he said.

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s UN ambassador, told the council Israel’s actions in the Middle East are “pushing the region to a large-scale nuclear catastrophe”.

“This completely unprovoked attack, no matter what Israel says to the contrary, is a gross violation of the UN Charter and international law,” he said.

McALESTER, Okla. — Oklahoma executed a man Thursday whose transfer to state custody was expedited by the Trump administration.

John Fitzgerald Hanson, 61, received a three-drug lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and was pronounced dead at 10:11 a.m., prison officials said. Hanson was sentenced to die after he was convicted of carjacking, kidnapping and killing a Tulsa woman in 1999.

“Peace to everyone,” Hanson said while strapped to a gurney inside the prison’s death chamber.

The execution began at 10:01 a.m. After the lethal drugs began to flow, a doctor entered the death chamber at 10:06 a.m. and declared him unconscious.

Hanson, whose name in some federal court records is George John Hanson, had been serving a life sentence in federal prison in Louisiana for several unrelated federal convictions. Federal officials transferred him to Oklahoma’s custody in March to follow through on President Trump’s sweeping executive order to more actively support the death penalty.

Hanson’s attorneys argued in a last-minute appeal that he did not receive a fair clemency hearing last month, claiming that one of the board members who denied him clemency was biased because he worked for the Tulsa County district attorney’s office when Hanson was prosecuted. A district court judge this week issued a temporary stay halting the execution, but that was later vacated.

Prosecutors alleged Hanson and accomplice Victor Miller kidnapped Mary Bowles from a Tulsa shopping mall. Prosecutors alleged the pair drove Bowles to a gravel pit near Owasso, where Miller shot and killed property owner Jerald Thurman. The two then drove Bowles a short distance away, where Hanson shot and killed Bowles, according to prosecutors. Miller received a no-parole life prison sentence for his role.

Thurman’s son, Jacob Thurman, witnessed Thursday’s execution and said it was the culmination of “the longest nightmare of our lives.”

“All families lose in this situation,” he said. “No one’s a winner.”

Bowles’ niece, Sara Mooney, expressed frustration that the litigation over Hanson’s death sentence dragged on for decades, calling it an “expensive and ridiculous exercise.”

“Capital punishment is not an effective form of justice when it takes 26 years,” she said.

During last month’s clemency hearing, Hanson expressed remorse for his involvement in the crimes and apologized to the victims’ families.

“I’m not an evil person,” Hanson said via a video link from the prison. “I was caught in a situation I couldn’t control. I can’t change the past, but I would if I could.”

Hanson’s attorneys acknowledged that he participated in the kidnapping and carjacking, but said there was no definitive evidence that he shot and killed Bowles. They painted Hanson as a troubled youth with autism who was controlled and manipulated by the domineering Miller.

Both Oklahoma Atty. Gen. Gentner Drummond and his predecessor, John O’Connor, had sought Hanson’s transfer during President Biden’s administration, but the U.S. Bureau of Prisons denied it, saying the transfer was not in the public interest.

Murphy writes for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON — When Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail to unleash the largest deportation campaign in U.S history, he said his second administration would start by going after people with criminal records.

But now, disappointed with the pace of arrests, the Trump administration is following through on his campaign promise: targeting anyone deportable.

Raids in California have taken place at courthouses, during scheduled check-ins with immigration authorities, at clothing factories, Home Depots, car washes, farms and outside churches. But officials say the state is hardly being singled out. Raids are coming for other sanctuary jurisdictions, too, said Tom Homan, President Trump’s chief advisor on border policy.

“This operation is not going to end,” he told The Times.

Across the country, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is stepping up new strategies and tearing down precedent to meet the White House’s demands. Homan acknowledged the pace of deportations had not met expectations and that while the administration still prioritizes removing those who threaten public safety and national security, anyone in the country illegally is fair game.

“I’m not happy with the numbers,” he said. “We need to find these people.”

Arrests are being made in places previously considered off limits, and the administration earlier this year rescinded a policy that prohibited enforcement actions in hospitals, schools or houses of worship. Agents who typically focus on drug and human trafficking are seeing their duties shifted to immigration enforcement.

The government is also now appealing to the public to help find and deport people in the country without authorization. The Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, released a poster on social media this week that depicts Uncle Sam urging people to call a hotline to “report all foreign invaders.”

And in Los Angeles, the National Guard and U.S. Marines were mobilized without the consent of state and local leaders — a tactic that Trump administration officials said could be repeated elsewhere. Trump claimed the deployments have been effective — “Los Angeles would be a crime scene like we haven’t seen in years,” Trump said Thursday — but local leaders have said the protests against ICE raids had not gotten out of control and that Trump’s actions only inflamed tensions.

As protests reached their seventh day in Los Angeles, incidents of violence lessened, though some tensions remained. Even so, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller wrote Wednesday on X that “America voted for mass deportations. Violent insurrectionists, and the politicians who enable them, are trying to overthrow the results of the election.”

California Democrats say the enforcement actions are about retribution against the state for its policies that protect immigrant residents, as well as an attempt to distract the public from congressional Republicans’ attempts to pass the president’s tax-and-spending bill, which would add more than $150 billion for immigration and border enforcement. They say the president is testing the bounds of his authority and wants protests to spiral so that he can crack down further by invoking the Insurrection Act to establish martial law.

Invoking the Insurrection Act would allow military troops to arrest civilians. Further unrest, Trump critics say, would be welcomed by the president.

“This is about if it bleeds, it leads,” said Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles). “So he has created and manufactured violence so that he can have a show on the television. But other people — older people, folks who are disabled, young people — are going to be bleeding when Medicaid gets cut, when people are evicted from their homes.”

While public attention has focused on the arrests of employees, the administration says it’s also looking at employers who hire workers in the country illegally.

“It’s not just about arresting illegal aliens, it’s about holding employers responsible too — but there’s a burden of proof,” Homan said. “If we can prove it, then we’ll take action.”

One former Homeland Security official in the Biden administration said immigration laws could be enforced without escalating public tension. “Why aren’t they doing I-9 audits instead of just going after people?” said the former official, Deborah Fleischaker, of forms used to verify an employee’s identity and eligibility to work in the U.S. “There are ways to do this in ways that are less disruptive and calmer. They are choosing the more aggressive way.”

In many ways, the current immigration crackdown reflects exactly what Trump said during the presidential campaign, when he declared that millions of people would be deported.

The new expansive approach appears to be a response to a late May meeting, first reported by the Washington Examiner, in which Miller lambasted dozens of senior ICE officials, asking them “Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?”

“Well, now they’re all of a sudden at Home Depots,” Fleischaker said.

Homan said the agency has recently arrested around 2,000 people a day, up from a daily average of 657 arrests reported by the agency during Trump’s first 100 days back in office. The increase is reflected in rising detention numbers, which have topped 50,000 for the first time since trump’s first presidency, according to TRAC, a nonpartisan data research organization.

Asked about complaints of overcrowding and substandard conditions in detention facilities, Homan acknowledged some facilities are overcrowded during intake. Some of the immigrants detained in California since Friday have been transferred to other states, he said.

“California has been pretty stringent and they want to shut down immigration detention,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we’re releasing these people. The less detention space we have in California, the more action they take in not helping us with detention beds, then we’ll just simply move them out of state.”

The work of immigration agents — sometimes hours of surveillance for a single target — can be slow. Jason Houser, who was ICE’s chief of staff under the Biden administration, said law enforcement agents, when given quotas, will always find the easiest way to fulfill them.

Miller, he said, knows ICE “doesn’t have enough resources or staff to get them to a million removals” by the end of the year.

Houser said that’s where the military troops come in. Homeland Security officials said military personnel already have the authority to temporarily detain anyone who attacks an immigration agent until law enforcement can arrest them. Houser predicted that soldiers could soon begin handling arrests.

Critics of the administration’s tactics, including former Homeland Security officials, said the White House’s strategy boils down to frightening immigrants into leaving on their own. It costs a few hundred dollars a day to detain an immigrant; deportation can cost thousands, and some countries are reticent to accept the return of their citizens.

“They arrest one, they scare 10,” said one former senior ICE official. “That’s a win.”

The former official, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely, said that’s an about-face from the Biden administration, during which agents answered to lawyers and precedent.

“Everything was vetted and vetted … to the detriment in some ways of the agency,” the former official said. “But to see them just doing whatever they want when they want, it’s a little stunning and it’s like, look at all the things we could’ve done if we had that attitude. But they seem to have so little regard for consequences, lawsuits, media, public opinion — they have no constraints.”

Homan said protests in Los Angeles have made enforcement actions more dangerous but have not prevented agents from making as many arrests as planned.

“If the protesters think they’re going to stop us from doing our job, it’s not true,” he said. “We’re going to probably increase operations in sanctuary cities, because we have to.”

Russian officials said Sunday that Moscow is still awaiting official confirmation from Ukraine that a planned exchange of 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action will take place, reiterating allegations that Kyiv had postponed the swap.

On the front line in the war, Russia said that it had pushed into Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russian state media quoted Lt. Gen. Alexander Zorin, a representative of the Russian negotiating group, as saying that Russia delivered the first batch of 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to the exchange site at the border and is waiting for confirmation from Ukraine, but that there were “signals” that the process of transferring the bodies would be postponed until next week.

Citing Zorin on her Telegram channel, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova asked whether it was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s “personal decision not to take the bodies of the Ukrainians” or whether “someone from NATO prohibited it.”

Ukrainian authorities said plans agreed upon during direct talks in Istanbul on Monday were proceeding accordingly, despite what Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, called Russian attempts to “unilaterally dictate the parameters of the exchange process.”

People rest in a metro station, being used as a bomb shelter, during a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday.

(Dan Bashakov/AP)

“We are carefully adhering to the agreements reached in Istanbul. Who, when and how to exchange should not be someone’s sole decision. Careful preparation is ongoing. Pressure and manipulation are unacceptable here,” he said in a statement on Telegram on Sunday.

“The start of repatriation activities based on the results of the negotiations in Istanbul is scheduled for next week, as authorized persons were informed about on Tuesday,” the statement said. “Everything is moving according to plan, despite the enemy’s dirty information game.”

Russia and Ukraine each accused the other on Saturday of endangering plans to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action, which was agreed upon during the talks in Istanbul, which otherwise made no progress toward ending the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to journalists during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine.

(Evgeniy Maloletka / Associated Press)

Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, led the Russian delegation. Medinsky said that Kyiv called a last-minute halt to an imminent swap. In a Telegram post on Saturday, he said that refrigerated trucks carrying more than 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian troops from Russia had already reached the agreed exchange site at the border when the news came.

According to the main Ukrainian authority dealing with such swaps, no date had been set for repatriating the bodies. In a statement Saturday, the agency also accused Russia of submitting lists of prisoners of war for repatriation that didn’t correspond to agreements reached Monday.

It wasn’t immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting claims.

Russia says it is heading into Dnipropetrovsk region

In other developments, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces had reached the western edge of the Donetsk region, one of the four provinces Russia illegally annexed in 2022, and that troops were “developing the offensive” in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. This would be the first time Russian troops had pushed into the region in the more than three-year-old war.

Ukraine didn’t immediately respond to the claim, and the Associated Press couldn’t immediately verify it.

Russia’s advance would mark a significant setback for Ukraine’s already stretched forces as peace talks remain stalled and Russian troops have made incremental gains elsewhere.

Russia and Ukraine exchange aerial attacks

One person was killed and another seriously wounded in Russian aerial strikes on the eastern Ukrainian Kharkiv region. These strikes came after Russian attacks targeted the regional capital, also called Kharkiv, on Saturday. Regional police in Kharkiv said on Sunday that the death toll from Saturday’s attacks had increased to six people. More than two dozen others were wounded.

Russia fired a total of 49 exploding drones and decoys and three missiles overnight, Ukraine’s air force said Sunday. Forty drones were shot down or electronically jammed.

Russia’s defense ministry said that its forces shot down 61 Ukrainian drones overnight, including near the capital.

Five people were wounded Sunday in a Ukrainian drone attack on a parking lot in Russia’s Belgorod region, according to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. Two people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at a chemical plant in the Tula region, local authorities said.

Russian authorities said early Sunday that Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports, two international airports serving Moscow, temporarily suspended flights because of a Ukrainian drone attack. Later in the day, Domodedovo halted flights temporarily for a second time, along with Zhukovsky airport.

June 2 (UPI) — A Romanian man on Monday pleaded guilty as the ringleader of a group making bomb threats and triggering “swatting” attacks against 75 U.S. public officials, including members of Congress, four religious institutions and journalists, the Justice Department said.

Thomasz Szabo, 26, was extradited from Romania to the District of Columbia in November, DOJ said in a news release.

Szabo and his co-conspirators reported false emergencies at government buildings, houses of worship, and private residences, including the homes of senior government officials, prosecutors said.

Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia, was charged with Szabo in August 2024 on one count of conspiracy, 29 counts of threats and false information regarding explosives, and four counts of transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce.

Szabo, who is also known as Plank, Jonah and Cypher, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of threats involving explosives.

He faces up to 15 years in prison for the two counts. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 23.

“This defendant led a dangerous swatting criminal conspiracy, deliberately threatening dozens of government officials with violent hoaxes and targeting our nation’s security infrastructure from behind a screen overseas,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

In late 2020, Szabo founded an online community that falsely reported threats at the addresses for the purpose of provoking a police response there, DOJ said. He was the moderator of chat groups.

The false reports included a threat in December 2020 to commit a mass shooting at New York City synagogues, and one in January 2021 to detonate explosives at the U.S. Capitol and kill President-elect Joe Biden.

Szabo publicized “swatting” activity to his followers and encouraged them to engage in behavior like that.

From Dec. 24, 2023, to early January 2024, DOJ said members of Szabo’s group committed swatting and bomb threats that included at least 25 members of U.S. Congress or family members, at least six current or former senior U.S. Executive Branch officials, at least 13 current or former senior federal law enforcement officials, multiple members of the federal judiciary and at least 27 current or former state government officials or family members of officials. Also targeted were religious institutions and remembers of the media.

“I did 25+ swattings today,” one subordinate bragged to Sazabi, and “creating massive havoc in America. $500,000+ in taxpayers wasted in just two days.”

Investigating the cases were the U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office and Criminal Investigative Division, the FBI’s Washington and Minneapolis Field Offices, and the U.S. Capitol Police.

In December, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger testified before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee about the need for more officers as the number of threats against members of Congress escalates.

Other agencies assisting were in Bucharest, Romania; south Florida, central Florida; Syracuse, N.Y.; western Washington State; South Dakota; southern Illinois; and northern New York.

“Today, Szabo pleaded guilty to a years-long conspiracy that targeted victims with swatting and bomb threats, including to government buildings, houses of worship and homes of government officials,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “Swatting endangers lives and will not be tolerated by the FBI. We are fully committed to working with our partners.”

“Anyone who hijacks police resources for senseless crimes like these will have to answer for their actions,” interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro in the District of Columbia said.

Szabo was born in Egypt and lived in Kuwait for 17 years.

June 1 (UPI) — Ahead of South Korea’s snap presidential elections on Tuesday, the nation’s diplomatic relations with North Korea and China have risen to the fore — and officials are investigating voting irregularities.

“The relations between South Korea and China have become the worst ever,” Lee Jae-myung, the left-leaning presidential candidate leading public opinion polls, said in remarks to The New York Times. “I will stabilize and manage the relations.”

The already historically low diplomatic relations between South Korea and North Korea, as well as its relations with China, further soured after then-South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was removed from office over imposing martial law in April, a move that was short-lived.

The bellicose North Korea has distance itself from South Korea following the failed 2019 Hanoi summit between Korean Korean Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump, which continued during Yoon’s conservative administration.

Pyongyang last year ended its founding goal of reunification and named South Korea its “principal enemy.”

The Yoon administration also shook a delicate diplomatic balance between Washington and Beijing. China was South Korea’s biggest post-Cold War trading partner, but the United States was its main military ally.

Early voter turnout was strong, but poll watchers expressed concern over irregularities. In past elections, the National Election Commission dismissed the irregularities as “simple mistakes” or “minor mistakes.”

The NEC has pushed back on claims of polling irregularities.

South Korean independent presidential candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn said on Sunday he is withdrawing from the race to support People Power Party’s Kim Moon-soo, local media reported.

“I will withdraw my efforts to supporting Kim Moon-soo to protect the government,” he said. My final task is to prevent election fraud. Fortunately, Kim has pledged to address election irregularities.”

Polling places are scheduled to receive ballots from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, which is a holiday because of the election.

“We are at a critical juncture,” Lee said on social media Sunday, “and it is in the hands of each and every one of you that we can return this country to its people, halt the retreat of democracy, and create a truly great Korea.

June 1 (UPI) — Ahead of South Korea’s snap presidential elections on Tuesday, the nation’s diplomatic relations with North Korea and China have risen to the fore — and officials are investigating voting irregularities.

“The relations between South Korea and China have become the worst ever,” Lee Jae-myung, the left-leaning presidential candidate leading public opinion polls, said in remarks to The New York Times. “I will stabilize and manage the relations.”

The already historically low diplomatic relations between South Korea and North Korea, as well as its relations with China, further soured after then-South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was removed from office over imposing martial law in April, a move that was short-lived.

The bellicose North Korea has distance itself from South Korea following the failed 2019 Hanoi summit between Korean Korean Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump, which continued during Yoon’s conservative administration.

Pyongyang last year ended its founding goal of reunification and named South Korea its “principal enemy.”

The Yoon administration also shook a delicate diplomatic balance between Washington and Beijing. China was South Korea’s biggest post-Cold War trading partner, but the United States was its main military ally.

Early voter turnout was strong, but poll watchers expressed concern over irregularities. In past elections, the National Election Commission dismissed the irregularities as “simple mistakes” or “minor mistakes.”

The NEC has pushed back on claims of polling irregularities.

Independent candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn withdrew from the race Sunday, saying he was shifting his efforts to supporting People Power Party’s Kim Moon-soo.

South Korean independent presidential candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn said on Sunday that he is withdrawing from the race to support People Power Party’s Kim Moon-soo, local media reported.

“I will withdraw my efforts to supporting Kim Moon-soo to protect the government,” he said. My final task is to prevent election fraud. Fortunately, Kim has pledged to address election irregularities.”

Polling places are scheduled to receive ballots from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, which is a holiday because of the election.

“We are at a critical juncture,” Lee said on social media Sunday, “and it is in the hands of each and every one of you that we can return this country to its people, halt the retreat of democracy, and create a truly great Korea.

Hundreds of British holidaymakers found themselves trapped in ‘inhumane conditions’ at a packed Spanish airport with just two booths open to check their passports

An emergency meeting has been called among top Spanish politicians after British travellers found themselves trapped in two-hour queues and “inhuman” conditions at the start of the school holidays, before even making it through passport control.

On Monday (May 26), around 500 UK holidaymakers found themselves stuck waiting on the tarmac at Tenerife South Airport for up to 45 minutes, before disembarking to find broken-down escalators and vast lines stretching in and out of the terminal to have their passports checked.

At the airport, some travellers reported seeing four officials manning just two passport control booths. As a result, passengers were crammed into a situation described as “claustrophobic” and “third world”.

Lourdes Tourecillas, a local resident who was returning from Bristol, told Canarian Weekly that, “Some parents lifted their children onto their shoulders to stop them from suffocating,” adding, “there were no toilets, and people were visibly distressed.”

READ MORE: Brits brace for summer holiday chaos as major UK airports threaten strike actionREAD MORE: Flight attendant begs Brits to stop ordering fizzy drinks on planes

The President of Tenerife’s ruling council, Rosa Dávila, has called an emergency meeting in light of the incident, with chaos and long queues becoming a common problem at the busy airport during peak tourism periods.

Dávila called the situation “unacceptable” but blamed the situation on the continued failure to provide sufficient staff for border checks ever since the UK left the European Union.

She added: “This is a structural issue. We can’t continue to operate with the same staffing levels we had pre-Brexit.”

A major issue facing travellers on Monday was the inability of the airport’s automated checking systems to process children’s passports. This meant families having to queue with kids and baggage for hours in sweltering, lengthy, lines to kick off their holidays.

The council’s President said she had written to mainland politicians, but received no meaningful response. “There’s a serious lack of respect towards Tenerife. We’re managing essential services locally, but without state support, we’re being left to fail,” she said.

Lope Afonso, Tenerife’s Tourism Minister, warned: “This is the first impression our visitors get. After hours on a plane, they’re met with long waits and no explanation. It’s not acceptable, and it’s hurting our brand as a quality tourist destination,” he said.

“Tenerife competes globally. Other countries have adapted their systems since Brexit. Why haven’t we?”

He also had a warning for summer travellers, if mainland politicians don’t take action, saying: “We need immediate solutions to avoid this happening again, especially with the busy summer season ahead.”

On World Hunger Day, Palestinians continue to starve in Gaza, a day after a chaotic rush on an Israeli- and US-backed distribution point delivering the first aid since Israel’s March blockade. Some Israelis oppose even this minimal relief. Here’s what they’ve been saying.

May 27 (UPI) — A court in Greece charged 17 members of the Hellenic Coast Guard and four officials in connection with a shipwreck in which as many as 650 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean Sea off the southern city of Pylos in June 2023.

Piraeus Naval Court deputy prosecutor Monday charged the captain of the coast guard vessel LS-920 with causing a shipwreck resulting in the deaths of 82 people — the number of bodies recovered — reckless interference with maritime transport and failure to provide assistance to a vessel in distress at sea.

The charges stem from an alleged bungled effort by the coastguards to tow the overloaded Adriana, which was attempting to smuggle 750 paying migrants to Italy from Libya, causing it to capsize, and then conspiring to cover it up.

Just 104 survivors were rescued. Another estimated 500 people beneath the deck of the fishing boat, including 100 women and children, remain missing, presumed drowned, according to the United Nations.

The 16 crew members were charged with being complicit in the criminal acts allegedly committed by the captain, while the then-chief of the Coast Guard and the supervisor of the National Search and Rescue Coordination Center in Piraeus were among four officials charged with “exposing others to danger.”

Under Greece’s legal system, charges do not necessarily mean a case will go to trial.

Legal counsel for the victim said the charges were “a substantial and self-evident development in the course of vindication of the victims and the delivery of justice.”

Greek authorities have consistently denied the allegations made by survivors, claiming instead that the Coast Guard had instructed nearby ships to resupply the Adriana with fuel, food and water to enable it to sail on to Italy as it was not in need of rescuing.

The Coast Guard initially declined to launch a disciplinary probe into the actions of the LS-920’s captain and crew.

However, analysis by the BBC, New York Times, The Guardian, other media outlets and human rights organizations of data and evidence from eyewitnesses found that the vessel was stationary for hours before it sank.

Critical video, call and radio traffic evidence between the Adriana and the Coast Guard, said to be unavailable due to equipment failure, which has since been leaked, appears to show the Coast Guard instructing the Adriana’s captain to tell the ships offering assistance that he wanted to continue to Italy.

In one of the tapes, a National Search and Rescue Coordination Center officer apparently coaches the captain of the Lucky Sailor, one of the vessels that resupplied the Adriana, about what he had seen and heard — “ok, ok, everybody screaming that they don’t want Greece and they want Italy? — and instructs him to make sure he records it in the ship’s log.

A trial of nine Egyptians accused of people smuggling and causing the disaster collapsed in May 2024 after a Greek court threw out the case, ruling it lacked jurisdiction because the Adriana went down 47 miles out at sea, meaning it was in international waters.

The coast guard defended its record, telling the BBC in February that it was internationally renowned for its humanitarian efforts, particularly as it had rescued more than 250,000 migrants from the seas around Greece in the past 10 years and detained at least 1,000 people smugglers.

North Korea has detained three shipyard officials over an accident during the launch of a new warship on Wednesday, state media has reported.

Parts of the 5,000-ton destroyer’s bottom were crushed during the launch ceremony, tipping the vessel off balance.

An investigation into the incident, which North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un described as a “criminal act”, is ongoing.

KCNA, North Korea’s official news agency, identified those detained as the chief engineer of the northern Chongjin shipyard where the destroyer was built, as well as the construction head and an administrative manager.

The report said that the three were “responsible for the accident”.

On Friday, KCNA said the manager of the shipyard, Hong Kil Ho, had been summoned by law enforcers.

Satellite images showed the vessel lying on its side covered by large blue tarpaulins, and a portion of the vessel appeared to be on land.

North Korea’s state media did not mention any casualties or injuries at the time, downplaying the damage.

KCNA reported that there were no holes on the ship’s bottom – contrary to initial reports.

“The hull starboard was scratched and a certain amount of seawater flowed into the stern section,” the agency said.

Kim said on Thursday the accident was caused by “absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism”.

He added that those who made “irresponsible errors” would be dealt with at a plenary meeting next month.

It is not clear what punishment they might face, but the authoritarian state has a woeful human rights record.

It is uncommon for North Korea to publicly disclose local accidents – though it has done this a handful of times in the past.

This particular accident comes weeks after North Korea unveiled a similar 5,000-ton destroyer, the Choe Hyon.

Kim had called that warship a “breakthrough” in modernising North Korea’s navy and said it would be deployed early next year.

WASHINGTON — President Trump is ordering a major overhaul of the National Security Council that will shrink its size, lead to the ouster of some political appointees and return many career government employees back to their home agencies, according to two U.S. officials and another person familiar with the reorganization.

The number of staff at the NSC is expected to be significantly reduced, according to the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive personnel matter.

The shake-up is just the latest shoe to drop at the NSC, which is being dramatically remade after the ouster early this month of Trump’s national security advisor, Mike Waltz, who had hewed to traditional Republican foreign policy on some issues.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been serving as national security advisor since the departure of Waltz, who was nominated to serve as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.

The move is expected to elevate the importance of the State Department and Pentagon in advising Trump on important foreign policy moves.

The NSC, created during the Truman administration to counter the emerging Soviet threat after the end of World War II, is an arm of the White House tasked with advising and assisting the president on national security and foreign policy and coordinating among various government agencies.

Trump was frustrated in his first term by political appointees and other advisors who he thought got in the way of his agenda.

There were roughly 395 people working at the NSC, including about 180 support staff, according to one official. About 90 to 95 of those being ousted are policy or subject-matter experts seconded from other government agencies. They will be given an opportunity to return to their home agencies if they want.

Many of the political appointees will also be given positions elsewhere in the administration, the official said.

The NSC has been in a state of tumult during the early going of Trump’s second term in the White House.

Waltz was ousted weeks after Trump fired several NSC officials, a day after the influential far-right activist Laura Loomer raised concerns to him about staff loyalty. Loomer has in the past spread 9/11 conspiracy theories and promoted QAnon, an apocalyptic and convoluted conspiracy theory, and took credit for the ouster of the NSC officials who she said were disloyal.

And the White House, days into the administration, sidelined about 160 NSC aides, sending them home while the administration reviewed staffing and tried to align it with Trump’s agenda. The aides were career government employees, commonly referred to as detailees.

This latest shake-up amounts to a “liquidation” of NSC staffing, with career government detailees on assignment to the NSC being sent back to their home agencies and several political appointees being pushed out of their positions, according to the person familiar with the decision.

A White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the overhaul, first reported by Axios, was underway. Andy Baker, the national security advisor to Vice President JD Vance, and Robert Gabriel, an assistant to the president for policy, will serve as deputy national security advisors, according to the White House official.

Waltz, during his short tenure heading the NSC, came under searing criticism in March after revelations that he added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on an encrypted messaging app that was used to discuss planning for a sensitive military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen.

Waltz has taken responsibility for building the text chain but has said he does not know how Goldberg ended up being included.

Loomer had encouraged Trump to purge aides who she believes are insufficiently loyal to the president’s “America first” agenda.

She also complained to sympathetic administration officials that Waltz was too reliant on “neocons” — shorthand for the more hawkish neoconservatives within the Republican Party — as well as what she perceived as “not-MAGA-enough” types, the person said.

It wasn’t just Loomer who viewed Waltz suspiciously. He was viewed with a measure of skepticism by some Trump loyalists who saw the former Army Green Beret and three-term congressman as too tied to Washington’s foreign policy establishment.

On Russia, Waltz shared Trump’s concerns about the high price tag of extensive U.S. military aid to Ukraine. But he also advocated for further diplomatically isolating Russian President Vladimir Putin — a position that was out of step with Trump, who has viewed the Russian leader with tolerance and admiration.

Waltz’s more hawkish rhetoric on Iran and China, including U.S. policy toward Taiwan, seemed increasingly out of step with Trump, who has favored military restraint and diplomacy toward some traditional adversaries — though not toward certain allies, such as his belligerent rhetoric about taking over Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal.

Associated Press writers Lee and Madhani reported from Washington and Kim from Fishkill, N.Y.

The administration of former US President, Joe Biden, knowingly allowed Israel’s genocide in Gaza to continue long after it had lost any clear military objective, with senior officials in Washington privately admitting it amounted to “killing and destroying for the sake of killing and destroying”. This damning assessment, along with revelations of political manipulation, diplomatic cover-ups and sabotaged peace efforts, comes from a bombshell investigation aired by Israel’s Channel 13. Details of the investigation have been translated by Drop Site News and shared on X.

The Biden administration allowed Israel unprecedented leeway to carry out its military offensive, despite the enormous death and devastation it inflicted on Gaza. Former Israeli ambassador, Michael Herzog, made a startling admission about Biden’s support: “God did the State of Israel a favour that Biden was the president during this period. We fought [in Gaza] for over a year and the administration never came to us and said, ‘ceasefire now.’ It never did. And that’s not to be taken for granted.” His remarks encapsulated a broader sentiment that the White House gave Benjamin Netanyahu all the political space he needed to execute the military offensive, which has claimed the lives of more than 52,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children.

READ: ICC judges order prosecutor to keep arrest warrant requests confidential in Gaza probes

The investigation, which included interviews with nine current and former US officials, reveals a deeply troubling portrait of US complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Former national security aide, Ilan Goldenberg, stated that the war amounted to “killing and destroying for the sake of killing and destroying”, with no viable political alternative ever established. Despite the White House’s public messaging about restraining Israel, the internal consensus appeared to be that the administration had no intention of exerting real pressure on the Occupation state.

The Biden administration also shielded Israel from allegations of war crimes, prompting a major backlash from staffers in the State Department. Lawyer Stacy Gilbert, for example, resigned in protest after being excluded from a key report that falsely claimed Israel had not violated US arms laws. Gilbert described the report as “shocking in its mendacity”, pointing out that aid obstruction and settler attacks were well documented, yet ignored. Meanwhile, Washington continued to certify Israeli compliance with US law, ensuring the uninterrupted flow of weapons.

The investigation also revealed that Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, deliberately sabotaged hostage negotiations in order to prevent a ceasefire. US officials confirmed that Netanyahu tanked talks out of fear that a deal would compel him to halt the war.

Despite public backlash, Biden’s private approach remained deferential. Even after reportedly telling Netanyahu he was “full of shit” and hanging up mid-call, Biden ultimately maintained support. After briefly halting a shipment of 2,000-lb bombs due to concerns about their use in densely populated areas of Gaza, Netanyahu publicly accused Washington of broader arms delays. Biden, rather than escalating pressure, resumed the shipment process shortly thereafter.

The Channel 13 exposé further confirms that Biden’s reluctance to push Israel was deeply tied to a failed diplomatic initiative with Saudi Arabia. A landmark normalisation deal was in sight, but it required Israeli recognition of Palestinian statehood. These were flatly rejected by Netanyahu’s far-right coalition. Former US ambassador, Jack Lew, said he found Israel’s refusal “shocking”, while Amos Hochstein expressed disbelief that such a strategic opportunity was squandered. Sources confirmed that Netanyahu deliberately stalled negotiations in hopes that President Trump would return to office and claim the diplomatic win for himself.

These revelations lend significant weight to long-standing accusations that the Biden administration has not only provided diplomatic cover for Israel’s propaganda by repeating lies, but also actively enabled what many view as a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Critics note that Biden himself amplified false Israeli claims, such as the widely discredited allegations of Hamas beheading babies, rhetoric that helped to dehumanise a population in order to carry out genocide.

OPINION: Advisory opinions will not stop genocide

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld, for now, President Trump’s decision to fire two agency officials who had fixed terms that were set by Congress.

By a 6-3 vote, the justices set aside rulings that would have reinstated Gwynne Wilcox to the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Both were appointees of President Biden.

The decision is the latest in which the court’s conservative majority sided with the president’s power to fire agency officials in violation of long-standing laws.

“Because the Constitution vests the executive power in the President, he may remove without cause executive officers who exercise that power on his behalf,” the court said in an unsigned order.

But the justices were quick to add the Federal Reserve Board is not affected by this decision.

“The Federal Reserve is a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity that follows in the distinct historical tradition of the First and Second Banks of the United States,” the court said.

President Trump has threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term extends to next year.

At issue is a fundamental dispute over whether the Constitution gave the president or Congress the power to set the structure of the federal government.

In 1935, the court ruled unanimously that Congress can create independent and “nonpartisan” boards and commissions whose members are appointed by the president for a fixed term. The court then drew a distinction between “purely executive officers” who were under the president’s control and members of boards whose duties were more judicial or legislative.

But in recent years, conservatives have questioned that precedent and argued that the president has the executive power to hire and fire all officials of the government.

Shortly after taking office, Trump fired Wilcox and Harris even though their terms had not expired. They sued contending the firings were illegal and violated the law.

They won before a federal judge and the U.S. court of appeals.

Those judges cited the Supreme Court’s 1935 decision that upheld Congress’ authority to create independent boards whose members are appointed by the president to serve a fixed-term.

Trump’s lawyers say the Constitution gives the president full executive power, including control of agencies. And that in turns gives him the authority to fire officials who were appointed to a fixed term by another president, they said in Trump vs. Wilcox.

Justice Elena Kagan filed an eight-page dissent joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“Today’s order favors the President over our precedent; and it does so unrestrained by the rules of briefing and argument—and the passage of time— needed to discipline our decision-making,” Kagan wrote. “I would deny the President’s application. I would do so based on the will of Congress, this Court’s seminal decision approving independent agencies’ for-cause protections, and the ensuing 90 years of this Nation’s history.”

The court said its decision was not final.

The NLRB was created by Congress in 1935 as a semi-independent agency tasked with enforcing the labor laws. Its general counsel serves as a prosecutor while the board‘s five members act as judges who review administrative decisions arising from unfair-labor claims brought by unions.

Under the law, the president appoints the general counsel who can be fired but board members have five-year terms. They may be fired for “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office,” but not simply because of political disagreements.

Trump could have controlled the board by appointing members to fill two vacancies. He chose instead to fire Wilcox, leaving the board without a quorum of three members.

Wilcox argued there was no reason to rush to change the law.

“Over the past two centuries, Congress has embedded modest for-cause removal restrictions in the structure of numerous multi-member agencies,” she said in response to the administration’s appeal. She noted that all past presidents — Republicans and Democrats — did not challenge those limits.

The Merit System Protections Board was created by Congress in 1978 as a part of a civil service reform law. Its three board members have seven-year terms, and they review complaints from federal civil servants who allege they were fired for partisan or other inappropriate reasons.

Trump’s decision to fire Harris also left the board without a quorum.

Vessel damaged as a result of ‘absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism’, state media says.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reprimanded officials over a “serious accident and criminal act” that resulted in damage to a newly built warship, state media has reported.

The 5,000-tonne destroyer suffered damage to its hull when a transport cradle detached prematurely during a launch ceremony in the northeastern city of Chongjin, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday, blaming the incident on “inexperienced command and operational carelessness”.

After witnessing the incident, Kim made the “stern assessment” that the accident was caused by “absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism,” which “could not be tolerated”, the KCNA said.

Kim “warned solemnly” that officials responsible for the botched launch “would have to be dealt with” at the next meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, and “censured them for the fault”, according to the KCNA.

Kim ordered the warship to be fixed in time for a plenary meeting of the party’s central committee in June, describing the vessel’s restoration as “not merely a practical issue but a political issue directly related to the authority of the state”, according to the KCNA.

South Korea’s military said Pyongyang appeared to have failed to complete a side-launch of the ship, and it had partially capsized.

Official admissions of incompetence are uncommon in North Korea, where the ruling Kim family enjoys a near God-like status.

The disclosure comes after Kim attended the launch of a “new multipurpose destroyer” equipped with “the most powerful weapons” on April 25.

In state media reports at the time, Kim hailed the vessel as “indispensable in building up our capability for stoutly defending our maritime sovereignty” and an “important starting point of our journey towards building an advanced maritime power”.

“I feel infinitely honoured to proclaim the birth of the first warship of a new generation,” Kim was quoted as saying.

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that federal law enforcement is investigating a social media post made by former FBI Director James Comey that she and other Republicans suggest is a call for violence against President Trump.

In an Instagram post, Comey wrote “cool shell formation on my beach walk” under a picture of seashells that appeared to form the shapes for “86 47.”

Numerous Trump administration officials, including Noem, said Comey was advocating for the assassination of Trump, the 47th president. “DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately,” Noem wrote.

Merriam-Webster, the dictionary used by the Associated Press, says 86 is slang meaning “to throw out,” “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to.” It notes: “Among the most recent senses adopted is a logical extension of the previous ones, with the meaning of ‘to kill.’ We do not enter this sense, due to its relative recency and sparseness of use.”

The post has since been deleted. Comey subsequently wrote, “I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.

“It never occurred to me,” Comey added, “but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”

Comey’s original post sparked outrage among conservatives on social media, with Donald Trump Jr. accusing Comey of calling for his father’s killing.

Current FBI Director Kash Patel said he was aware of the post and was conferring with the Secret Service and its director.

James Blair, White House deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs, noted that the post came at a delicate time given that Trump is traveling in the Middle East.

“This is a Clarion Call from Jim Comey to terrorists & hostile regimes to kill the President of the United States as he travels in the Middle East,” Blair wrote on X.

Comey, who was FBI director from 2013-17, was fired by Trump during the president’s first term amid the bureau’s probe into allegations of ties between Russian officials and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Comey wrote about his career in the bestselling memoir “A Higher Loyalty.”

He is now a crime fiction writer and is promoting his latest book, “FDR Drive,” which is being released Tuesday.

May 15 (UPI) — Criminals could be using AI to send malicious texts and voicemails impersonating United States officials, the FBI warned Thursday.

“Since April 2025, malicious actors have impersonated senior US officials to target individuals, many of whom are current or former senior US federal or state government officials and their contacts,” a release from the FBI said.

The bureau warned recipients not to assume that these calls and texts are authentic. The techniques are known as smishing and vishing and attempt to establish a rapport with the recipient before trying to get them to divulge sensitive personal information.

Once the scammers have established trust, they attempt to get victims to switch to a different messaging platform via a hyperlink and try to access personal financial and other sensitive information, the bureau said. And also attempt access to other information related to current or government officials.

The FBI did not disclose which officials have been target or whether any were convinced to divulge personal or government information.

May 15 (UPI) — The U.S. Treasury Department Thursday sanctioned two senior Hezbollah officials and two financial facilitators for what it said were roles in coordinating financial transfers to the group.

“Today’s action underscores Hezbollah’s extensive global reach through its network of terrorist donors and supporters, particularly in Tehran,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender in a statement. “As part of our ongoing efforts to address Iran’s support for terrorism, Treasury will continue to intensify economic pressure on the key individuals in the Iranian regime and its proxies who enable these deadly activities.”

Treasury sanctioned Mu’in Daqiq Al-‘Amili as a senior Hezbollah official involved in coordinating the delivery of cash from Iran to senior Hezbollah officials in Lebanon.

Jihad Alami was sanctioned for allegedly receiving and distributing the funding.

Treasury said following the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Amili “coordinated the delivery of at least $50,000 to Alami in Lebanon, which was collected from Iran likely for onward transfer to Gaza.”

Fadi Nehme, described by Treasury as an accountant and business partner of Hezbollah’s Chief of its Central Finance Unit, was also sanctioned as an alleged Hezbollah financial facilitator.

Treasury said Senior Hezbollah official Hasan Abdallah Ni’mah was sanctioned for his alleged role in funding and networking for Hezbollah across Africa. That included managing millions of dollars in transactions, according to the Treasury.

“As of August 2022, Ni’mah coordinated the delivery of hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars to the Hezbollah-aligned Islamic Movement of Nigeria,” the Treasury said in a statement. “Ni’mah has had longstanding connections with senior Hizballah leaders, including the now-deceased Hezbollah Secretary General Nasrallah.”

The Treasury Department said it will continue to intensify economic pressure on the key individuals in the Iranian regime and its proxies who enable these deadly activities.”

Treasury’s Faulkender said in a statement, “As part of our ongoing efforts to address Iran’s support for terrorism, Treasury will continue to intensify economic pressure on the key individuals in the Iranian regime and its proxies who enable these deadly activities.”