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FBI Director Kash Patel’s Emails, Photos Hacked by Iran-Linked Group

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By Al Jazeera. A group of Iran-linked hackers have said that they successfully gained access to the personal emails of Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), sharing photographs and documents from the United States official online.

The Handala Hack Team said on Friday that Patel would “will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims”.

The news outlets Reuters and CNN confirmed the breach, citing unnamed security officials and people familiar with the matter. The FBI and Department of Justice have yet to comment on the incident.

The hacking appears to have released some documents more than a decade old. Some of the emails show Patel’s travel and business correspondence. Others include photos of Patel beside an antique sports convertible, posing with a cigar in his mouth and standing in front of a mirror with a bottle of rum.

Patel is the ninth director of the FBI, and he began his tenure in 2025. But his leadership has been marked by controversy, with critics accusing him of misusing the federal law enforcement agency for personal travel and to carry out President Donald Trump’s priorities. (Read more from “FBI director Kash Patel’s emails, photos hacked by Iran-linked group” HERE)

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Iran-linked hackers breach FBI director’s personal email, publish photos and documents

By Reuters. Iran-linked hackers have broken into ​FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email inbox, publishing photographs of the director and other documents to the internet, the hackers and the ‌bureau said on Friday. . .

Alongside the photographs of Patel, the hackers published a sample of more than 300 emails, which appear to show a mix of personal and work correspondence dating between 2010 and 2019.

Reuters was not able to independently authenticate the Patel messages, but the personal Gmail address that Handala claims to have broken ​into matches the address linked to Patel in previous data breaches preserved by the dark web intelligence firm District 4 Labs. Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab -owned Google, which runs Gmail, ​did not respond to a request for comment. . .

Iran-linked hackers – who initially kept a low profile after the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes against the Islamic ‌Republic last ⁠month – have increasingly boasted of their cyber operations as the conflict drags on.

In addition to the hack against Stryker, Handala on Thursday claimed to have published the personal data of dozens of defense company Lockheed Martin employees stationed in the Middle East. In a statement, Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab said it was aware of the reports and had policies and procedures in place “to mitigate cyber threats to our business.” (Read more from “Iran-linked hackers breach FBI director’s personal email, publish photos and documents” HERE)

Vance Reportedly Rebukes PM in Difficult Call for Overselling Chances of Iran Regime Change

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US Vice President JD Vance held a tense phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week, in which he chided the premier for making overly optimistic predictions about the war in Iran, Axios reports.

Vance took Netanyahu to task over how likely the latter said regime change would be, the outlet reported.

“Before the war, Bibi really sold it to the president as being easy, as regime change being a lot likelier than it was. And the VP was clear-eyed about some of those statements,” a US official tells Axios, using Netanyahu’s nickname.

Following the call, a US official claims to the outlet that Israel is undermining Vance, who has taken a leading role in negotiating a ceasefire with the Islamic Republic. Vance, a longtime public opponent of open-ended foreign wars, is joining the talks alongside US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

The US official accused Israel of being behind reports that Iran wants to negotiate with Vance, seeing him as more amenable to reaching a deal to end the war. (Read more from “Vance Reportedly Rebukes PM in Difficult Call for Overselling Chances of Iran Regime Change” HERE)

Pentagon Considering Sending 10K Troops to the Middle East: Report

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By New York Post. The Pentagon is reportedly considering a plan to send an additional 10,000 troops to the Middle East amid the war with Iran.

The potential deployment would likely include infantry and armored vehicles and would be on top of the 5,000 Marines and sailors and roughly 2,000 members of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division who have already been dispatched to the region, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“All announcements regarding troop deployments will come from the Department of War,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the outlet. “

As we have said, President Trump always has all military options at his disposal.”

The reinforcements would provide President Trump with an even wider range of military operations, including potentially putting troops on the ground, as his administration pushes for a peace deal with Iran. (Read more from “Pentagon Considering Sending 10K Troops to the Middle East: Report” HERE)

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Additional 10,000 US Ground Troops Could Be Sent to Middle East: Report

By Newsweek. The Pentagon is considering the deployment of an additional 10,000 U.S. ground troops to the Middle East amid the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, The Wall Street Journal reports on Thursday, citing Defense Department officials with knowledge of the planning. . .

Those previously reported plans include potentially sending up to 3,000 paratroopers to join thousands of Marines moving toward the Middle East, augmenting an estimated 50,000 U.S. personnel already in the region.

The force would likely include armored vehicles and infantry, according to the Journal report. It is immediately unclear where the forces would be deployed, but would likely be within striking distance of Iran and Kharg Island, the report says.

The reported planning comes as the White House allegedly pushed a 15-point peace proposal, while regional attacks and counterstrikes continue, underscoring the risk of a broader escalation. (Read more from “Additional 10,000 US Ground Troops Could Be Sent to Middle East: Report” HERE)

Joe Kent Says FBI Stopped Him From Looking At Possible Iran Link To Would-Be Trump Assassin

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Former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent said Friday that the FBI stopped him from investigating the possibility that the attempt on President Donald Trump’s life in Butler, Pa. was linked to Iran.

Kent said the Bureau concluded would-be-assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, acted alone without adequately probing whether the Butler attempt was connected to an Iran-linked Trump assassination plot foiled the day before — and he also said the Bureau stopped his own investigation into the matter. The former Trump administration official — who on March 17 abruptly resigned from his post over the Iran war — made the allegation during his Thursday interview with “The Young Turks” host Cenk Uygur.

“Initially, we were just told, ‘Hey, Crooks, lone gunman, he was killed.’ And then Crooks was kind of an enigma, and we just didn’t hear much more about him, like there was literally nothing about the guy,” Kent told Uygur regarding the little-known 20-year-old gunman, whom a Secret Service sniper killed immediately after Crooks fired shots at Trump.

“Two days prior to Crooks taking the shot in Butler, there was a guy named Asif Merchant who was hired by the Iranians to come here and assassinate President Trump in retaliation for killing Qasem Soleimani,” Kent said. “When Merchant came over here, obviously … the FBI, was all over him.”

Authorities arrested Merchant, who admitted to being an agent of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on July 12, 2024, just one day before Crooks attempted to kill Trump. A federal grand jury convicted Merchant on March 6. (Read more from “Joe Kent Says FBI Stopped Him From Looking At Possible Iran Link To Would-Be Trump Assassin” HERE)

Traders Made Hundreds Of Millions In Suspiciously Timed Iran Bets

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Stock traders made oil bets totaling in the nine figures in a two-minute period just over a half hour before President Donald Trump revealed there had been “productive conversations” between the U.S. and Iran, the Financial Times (FT) reported.

Traders dealt more than 6,000 Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures contracts — collectively worth $580 million — between 6:49 a.m. and 6:50 a.m. ET Monday, according to the FT. At 7:23 a.m., Trump sent a Truth social post announcing the conversations between the two nations, which have been engaged in a war since Feb. 28.

Brent and WTI are the two main global oil price benchmarks. Both benchmarks’ trading values leaped simultaneously at 6:49 a.m., per the FT. It remains unknown whether one or multiple actors engaged in the trades, the outlet reported.

“If nobody goes to jail for this, we’ve entered the ‘every man for himself’ stage of empire decline,” economist Chris Martenson remarked in a Wednesday X post sharing the FT’s headline.

(Read more from “Traders Made Hundreds Of Millions In Suspiciously Timed Iran Bets” HERE)

US Sends 15-Point Plan to End War With Iran as Trump Says Regime Has Agreed to Scrap Nuclear Program

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The US has sent Iran a 15-point plan and cease-fire proposal to end the war in the Middle East — and President Trump claims the regime has already agreed to a critical part of the peace framework: No nuclear weapons.

“They’ve agreed,” Trump said Tuesday of his biggest demand. “They will never have a nuclear weapon. They’ve agreed to that.”

The peace plan was shared with Iranian officials Tuesday via Pakistan, according to the New York Times.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are reportedly seeking Tehran to agree to a monthlong cease-fire, during which the 15 points of the plan would be negotiated, according to Israel’s Channel 12.

The peace plan is believed to be based on the 15-point framework presented to the Iranian government last year, before Israel launched its 12-day war against the regime and the US bombed Iranian nuclear facilities in Operation Midnight Hammer, according to multiple outlets. (Read more from “US Sends 15-Point Plan to End War With Iran as Trump Says Regime Has Agreed to Scrap Nuclear Program” HERE)

Iran Worried Trump’s Negotiations Could Be Trap to Assassinate One of the Regime’s Last Surviving Political Leaders: Report

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Iranian officials fear that US cease-fire talks are a trap — an attempt to lure the regime’s last surviving leaders into an ambush where they can be assassinated, according to a report.

Leaders in Tehran worry that any face-to-face negotiations with the US and Israel to end the war would be a ruse to draw out Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Ghalibaf, a former paramilitary commander and one of the few senior Iranian leaders to escape the airstrikes, is wanted by the US to take part in any peace discussions. (Read more from “Iran Worried Trump’s Negotiations Could Be Trap to Assassinate One of the Regime’s Last Surviving Political Leaders: Report” HERE)

Trump Lays Out Terms For End To Iran War; Netanyahu Says Israel Will Continue to Attack Iran

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By Daily Caller. President Donald Trump on Monday outlined the conditions Iran would have to meet for Operation Epic Fury to end.

Trump announced Monday morning that talks had started between the United States and Iran, pausing a planned strike on Iranian power plants for five days. Trump spoke to reporters before boarding Air Force One en route to an event in Memphis.

“We’re looking for all of the things that we’ve been talking about,” Trump told reporters. “We want to see no nuclear bomb, no nuclear weapon, not even close to it, low-key on the missiles. We want to see peace in the Middle East. We want the nuclear dust, we’re going to want that, and I think we’re going to get that.”

“We’ve agreed to that, yes, we’ve agreed to that uranium … we want no enrichment, but we also want the enriched uranium,” Trump continued. “If this happens, it’s a great start for Iran to build itself back, and it’s everything that we want, and it’s also great for Israel and it’s great for the other Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, all of them, Kuwait and Bahrain in particular, so it’s great for all of them.”

Trump announced the start of Operation Epic Fury in a Feb. 28 post on Truth Social after negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program collapsed. Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, said in a March 2 interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity that Iranian diplomats declared the regime would keep enriching uranium and claimed to already possess enough material for nearly a dozen “dirty” weapons. (Read more from “Trump Lays Out Terms For End To Iran War” HERE)

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Netanyahu Says Israel Will Continue to Attack Iran Despite Trump’s Deescalation Post

By Mediaite. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country will continue “smashing” Iran while the United States discusses a potential deal to end the war with what’s left of Iran’s leadership.

Netanyahu shared the update in a video post a few hours after President Donald Trump said the U.S. and Iran have held “PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS” on a potential end to “HOSTILITIES”; Trump also announced a temporary halt on his plan to bomb Iran’s power plants, which was set to start on Monday night if Iran did not meet his deadline to “FULLY OPEN” the Strait of Hormuz.

Netanyahu — in a brief video posted on X — said that he had spoken with “our friend” Trump on Monday, and that he believes there is “an opportunity to leverage the tremendous achievements we have reached alongside the U.S. military to realize the goals of the war through an agreement that will safeguard our vital interests.”

He then said Israel will continue to strike Iran — as well as Lebanon — while the sides negotiate.

“We are smashing the missile program and the nuclear program, and we continue to deal severe blows to Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said.

(Read more from “Netanyahu Says Israel Will Continue to Attack Iran Despite Trump’s Deescalation Post” HERE)

Trump Says ‘Good and Productive’ Talks with Iran Delivers Pause in Military Strikes

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President Donald Trump flagged a pause in strikes targeting Iran and its power generation capabilities on Monday morning, taking to social media to declare his hopes for a peaceful resolution to hostilities sooner rather than later.

Trump says the U.S. and Iran have held talks on the “complete and total resolution of hostilities” in the Middle East driven by Operation Epic Fury.

The president says that, as a result of the diplomatic exchanges, he has postponed threatened future strikes on Iranian power plants and infrastructure. . .

In a post on Truth Social all in capital letters he says:

“I AM PLEASE TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

“BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WITCH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP”

(Read more from “Trump Says ‘Good and Productive’ Talks with Iran Delivers Pause in Military Strikes” HERE)

Only Nuclear War can Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions, IAEA Chief says

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The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Sunday warned that military strikes alone cannot eliminate Iran’s nuclear program, saying only extreme and unthinkable destruction would fully dismantle Tehran’s capabilities.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi, speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, said nuclear war is the only way to erase Iran’s nuclear program, just one day after Iran said its Natanz Nuclear Facility was hit in an airstrike.

“Anywhere, unless it was nuclear war and you go for destruction in an unfathomable way, which we hope, of course, will not be the case,” Grossi said when asked whether the war could end Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

On Saturday, following the airstrike on Natanz, Grossi called for military restraint to avoid a nuclear accident. Recent assessments have indicated damage, though no widespread radiation leaks have been reported.

Despite those attacks, Grossi stressed that Iran retains critical knowledge and technical capacity that cannot be eliminated through conventional military means. (Read more from “Only Nuclear War can Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions, IAEA Chief says” HERE)